366 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



AVG. 



it cannot pass it, leaving the part below without 

 this fibrous matter, unless there should be twigs 

 and leaves below the girdle, and consequently no 

 growth. This is my theory; please set me right 

 if I am in the wrong, remembering that I am a 

 young farmer. L. w. c. 



Globe Village, June 20, 1853. 



For the i\'ew Enslnnd Farme.r. 

 CROSS FERTILIZATION. 



Mr. Editor : — My experience does not corres- 

 pond with the theory of your correspondent of 

 June 22ii, in relation to producing fruit trees from 

 seeds. He says, "the farmer selects his best ap- 

 ples for eating and the market, and makes the rest 

 into cider. The pomace he plants for a nursery. 

 These seedlings will be of the poorest kind." I 

 think it best to select seeds from young, healthy 

 and unworked trees, and these are generally un- 

 palatable apples, fit only for cider. What is the 

 aim of nature? It is to furnish a healthy repro- 

 duction of the plant, having the characteristics 

 of the parent or parents, as the case may be. And 

 to continue its species it must have perfect seeds. 

 The object to be attained by the fruit grower is 

 pulp, not seeds. It is a well known fact, that 

 when we obtain a good fruit, it has a good and 

 large pulp, with small seeds. With many of our 

 good stone fruits, the seeds will not germinate. — 

 Therefore we must not begin with fruita that have 

 reached their highest limit of perfection. 



In these days of cross breeding, when the prin- 

 ciple has been reduced to a science, will it be good 

 policy to plant seeds from good trees, which he 

 says are the production of seed of two varieties, 

 mixed by the pollen ? It is obvious to all ac- 

 quainted with fruit or plants, that there are cer- 

 tain limits in crossing plants. The ofispring of 

 many of our crossings, (being mules) will not pro- 

 duce perfect seeds. Seeds produced by crossing 

 are found to possess a character composed of the 

 characteristics of both their parents, although 

 some may be superior to their parents. Would it 

 not be a better way to plant seeds produced by 

 cross fertilization, than those gathered promiscu- 

 ously from a good fruit-bearing orchard ? Certain- 

 ly a much larger proportion of our seedlings would 

 bear good fruit, therefore we should need fewer 

 trees, because we could have a few seeds of each 

 crop. While in the other way they might all be 

 crossed by the earliest blossoming tree in the or- 

 chard, and in that case would all have the same 

 male parent. Each seed has a pistil, and at its 

 summit the stigma. Some fruits, as the strawber- 

 ry, have many pistils. By cross breeding,each pistil 

 may be impregnated by the same male, by keep- 

 ing the flower covered with a gauze bag. A stig- 

 ma once impregnated, cannot be impregnated 

 again. In the natural method of impregnation, 1 

 think it would be an uncertain business. It might 

 be fertilized by its own pollen — or a part of the 

 seeds, or a part of a tree might be so fertilized. 

 The stigaui is not always iu a right condition to 

 receive the pollen. It may be too late, or too 

 early. The wind or insects may bring pollen from 

 different and far off trees, and ca'*h seed may be 

 fertilized by pollen of different trees. Such being 

 the case, can we adopt his mode of planting seeds 

 with a reasonable prospect of success ! M. Poi- 

 teau informs us, that the celebrated Duhamel, 



during the long course of his scientific career, 

 planted the seeds of all the best fruits that were 

 eaten at his table, and not one produced fruit wor- 

 thy of cultivation. This French mode has long 

 since exploded. The Belgians are admitted to be 

 the gardeners of the world, and as their mode of 

 producing new fruits has been more successful than 

 any other, will it not be better to follow them ? — 

 Their theory is, that in proportion as a fruit is re- 

 moved from a wild state or state of nature, byre- 

 productions, or by planting the seeds of the last 

 production, the fruit will become ameliorated un- 

 til it reaches the highest state of perfection of 

 which it is susceptible, which is usually about the 

 fourth or fifth generation, and that from this point 

 it deteriorates or passes back to its original quali- 

 ties. 



Remark-s. — We believe there is much more talk 

 than actual knowledge upon the subject of the 

 above communication. We know not that we are 

 prepared to endorse fully the leading idea of our 

 friend N. Are the labors of the past all to be 

 thrown away ? Are our labors to be of no use to 

 posterity ? Would we improve our apples, must we 

 go back to the native crabs ? Would we improve 

 our stock of cattle, must we go to the buffaloes on 

 the prairies of the West, or to the wild herds of 

 the Tartars on the steppes of Central Asia? — 

 Would we improve the race of men, must we seek 

 our wives among savages, or train up the children 

 of savages instead of our own ? 



Has it ever been demonstrated that native stocks 

 do not deteriorate with the lapse of time ? But 

 we leave the subject to our correspondents. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A NEV/ WEED. 



Mr. Editor : — I send you here enclosed a speci- 

 men of weed, found on the farm belonging to Wm. 

 C , in the town of T , N. II., and is no- 

 where else to be produced, in this vicinity. When 

 first discovered, which was five or six years ago, 

 there were but a few sprigs ; now it covers nearly 

 the half of an acre. It is very troublesome, and 

 difficult to eradicate. No one that has seen it, 13 

 able to identify its name ; and, as I presume you 

 are a botanist, you may be able to give me informa- 

 tion respecting it. Such information, if in your 

 power, will be gratefully received. 



W. K Y. 



Tuftonborough, N. H. 



Remarks. — The plant enclosed is the "snap 

 dragon," or "toad flax," {Antirrhinum linaria.) 

 It is not supposed to be a native, but that it has 

 been introduced. It is, however, very common by 

 the road-sides about Boston, and is now probably 

 following the fashion, and taking a trip to the 

 mountains. It is a perennial, and should be im- 

 mediately exterminated by mowing when in flower, 

 as it seeds abundantly, and by plowing. Every 

 farmer should be willing to do something for the 

 public good, even though he be not immediately 

 rewarded thereby — so plow it under. 



