NATIVE SEEDLING FRUITS. 69 



same way for the tendency of some of them to rot at the core. 

 He would select seed from medium sized, solid specimens of pears, 

 and the same with strawberries. Among flowers, the semi-double 

 camellias, fertilized with very double kinds, produce flowers so 

 hard that they will not open, but single flowers fertilized with the 

 pollen of double kinds produce flowers sufliciently double. 



Mr. AYilder said that there was some truth in Mr. Hovey's re- 

 marks. Some of Mr. Clapp's seedling pears were raised from the 

 Flemish Beauty, which has a tendency to rot at the core. He 

 would suggest whether this tendency may not be caused b}^ sow- 

 ing the seeds of high bred varieties, but the subject is little under- 

 stood, and it should be noted that others of Mr. Clapp's seedlings, 

 presenting evidence of the highest refinement, ai"e remarkable for 

 their keeping qualities. All agree on the desirability of hardiness 

 and vioorous constitution : but we must have excellence of eatinar 

 quality in fruits, and two great points are fine form and pleasing 

 color. From the time of Henr}' VIH. a red apple has sold better 

 than a yellow one. 



President Parkman said that there were two methods of produc- 

 ing new varieties : first, hybridizing, — - attempting, as Mr. Moore 

 has said, to combine the best qualities of two varieties, but often 

 succeeding in combining only the worst. The other method may 

 be called, in the language of the day, evolution or development. 

 The question is whether we may expect this latter method to pro- 

 duce from our wild grapes varieties equalling or approaching the 

 foreign in quality. 



Mr. Moore expressed the belief that whoever lives thirty years 

 will see such grapes, if the progress of the last thirty years con- 

 tinues. He has five hundred seedlings planted to fruit, and never 

 covers one, but keeps them on the trellis all winter. If one is to 

 be killed, the sooner the better. When the Concord winter kills 

 it is because the wood is not ripe ; people manure heavily to pro- 

 duce large fruit, and produce unripe wood. The wood of the Isa- 

 bella is soft, unlike that of the Concord. "When he wants to raise 

 seedling strawberries he puts some pistillates away from any other 

 plants, except the staminate which he desires to fertilize them. 

 Ordinarily there is one strawberry on a vine better than the others, 

 and he selects that one for seed. 



Henry F. French asked. What makes buds winter kill? Down- 

 ing had a theory that when the temperature fell to a few degrees 



