51 



press purpose, knowing how little even the 

 botanical terms are understood by the far- 

 mers, and many gardeners in the country. 



Mr. Knight, in his Pomona Herefordien- 

 sis, says, " It is necessary to contrive that the 

 two trees from which you intend to raise the 

 new kind, should blossom at the same time ; 

 therefore if one is an earlier sort than the 

 other, it must be retarded by shading, or 

 brought into a cooler situation, and the latest 

 forwarded by a warm wall or a sunny situa- 

 tion, so as to procure the blossoms at the same 

 period/' 



The apple blossom contains about twenty 

 stamina or males, which are represented in 

 Plate I. No. 3. and generally five pointals 

 or females, which form the centre of the 

 cup or cavity of the blossom, as in Figure 

 No. 4. The males stand in a circle, just 

 within the bases of the petals, or flower 

 leaves, and are formed of slender threads, 

 each of which terminates in a small yellow 

 ball or anther, as in Fig. 5. As soon as 

 the blossoms are nearly full grown, as in Fig. 

 1 . they must be carefully opened, and all the 

 male stamina cut or extracted, so as not to 

 injure the pointals or females, which will then 

 appear as in Fig. 4. The blossoms are then 

 closed again, as in Fig. 1. and suffered to 



E 2 



