THE ASSOCIATION OF CHARACTERS 257 



portant trees, and numberless new varieties have been pro- 

 duced. Among them, more than once it has been the aim 

 of the breeder to obtain seedless fruits, and shortly after 

 the time of Van Mons some such types have been propagated 

 and introduced into trade, but without any noticeable suc- 

 cess. In European gardens, here and there, and not even 

 rarely, some old tree is still testifying of these attempts. They 

 belong to more than one variety, as for instance the "Berga- 

 motte sans pepins" and "Riha's Kernlose Butterbirne." 

 But as yet no breeder has succeeded in combining the lack 

 of seeds with other desirable qualities. Of late, in America, 

 the Spencer Seedless Apple Company at Grand Junction, 

 Colorado, promises to introduce a new and better seedless 

 variety of apples. 



Now the lack of seeds is directly correlated with some 

 other valuable qualities. In the first place not only the 

 kernels are absent, but also the core, and the whole heart 

 of the fruit consists of succulent and eatable tissue. No 

 labor has to be spent in boring out the core, when preparing 

 the apples for conservation, and no useless parts heighten 

 the freight in shipping. These, however, are not the most 

 important qualities of seeclless fruits. Quite on the contrary, 

 the relation of the seeds to the nourishment of the tree is 

 preponderating. The seeds contain the germ of a new tree, 

 and the nutriment necessary for its first development. For 

 a large part this consists of albuminous substances and their 

 production exhausts the tree to a much higher degree than 

 the many times more voluminous, but only sugary tissues of , 

 the whole apple. Seedless trees, therefore, are much less 

 exhausted by their fruits than ordinary varieties. Their 

 harvest will be larger with the same consumption of manure 

 \>r with the same extension of the foliage and roots, which 

 absorb the nourishment and prepare and send it to the fruit. 

 Experience has shown the high significance of this relation 



