142 CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



said of other varieties in which the stamens are obsolete. 1 

 have had some plants of the Hudson Bay for three years, in 

 a position where they cannot very easily be impregnated by 

 other kinds, during which time they have not borne one 

 berry, while other plants of the same variety, exposed, have 

 been productive. A difference in the formation of the flowers 

 on diflferent plants is not confined to cultivated kinds, but 

 may be seen in those growing wild in the fields, the pistil- 

 late plants of which I have often examined with a magnifying 

 glass, to see if I could discover any pollen, but have never 

 been able to find it ; I am forced, therefore, to believe that 

 pistillate plants, both wild and cultivated, are absolutely 

 devoid of pollen, and cannot, therefore, produce any fruit 

 except when impregnated by others. 



I am also convinced, from observation and theory, that one 

 kind will never change to the other by off-sets. The runner 

 bearing the same relation to the plant producing it as a tree 

 grown from a bud does to the tree from which it was taken. 

 It may, then, be asked, how does it happen that there are 

 pistillate and staminate plants of the same variety ? I answer, 

 it is not the fact, unless they have sprung from seed, or the 

 plants have been taken from the fields in a wild state. 



That pistillate plants are surer and better bearers than 

 staminate plants, is, I think, generally true (provided, of 

 course, that they are impregnated). And it would seem 

 reasonable to infer that when but one of the sexual organs is 

 complete, the other will have more strength. Plants, there- 

 fore, that are perfect in both organs, require a higher state of 

 cultivation. There is, however, a wide difference in the pro- 

 ductiveness of diff'erent kinds, that are perfect in both organs, 

 some being much more liable to blast than others. 



G. W. Huntsman. 



Flushing, L. /., July 14, 1846. ^^ ,y 



