530 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



1844, the second in 1849, which contains a great number of facts 

 as to hybridation. 



The duration of the ilowers of hybrids is much longer than 

 those of the parent plants, and they are in all cases much larger 

 than those of the parents. 



Crosses in forest trees may result in producing timber of greater 

 durability and much more rapid growth. Chemists have estab- 

 lished the fact that the seed is richer in carbon than any other 

 part of the plant. 



Mr. Klotzsch crossed the Pinus nigricans with the Sylvestris — 

 Quercus robur with Quercus pedunculata, two kinds of alder and 

 two-of elm. Their seeds produced trees which are in eight years, 

 one third larger than those from the seed of the parents, all 

 planted on the same day and in like circumstances. 



The Secretary read the following letter from Dr. Underbill of 

 Croton Point : 



Croton Point Vineyards, April 15^'i, 1856. 

 Hon. Henry Meigs, Secretary of the New-York Farmers' Club, 



Dear sir : I herewith send you a lot of grafts of choice pdums 

 for the use of the members of the Club and Institute. They 

 were cut from very fine healthy trees which surround and hang 

 over the water of my small artificial lake. The trees have been 

 producing very fair — I may say beautiful fruit for a number of 

 years, entirely exempt from the ravages of the curculio. I com- 

 menced the experiment over eight years ago — have about two 

 hundred trees, the largest portion have come into bearing, and 

 over fifty have produced fine crops of fruit fur a number of years, 

 free from the attacks of not only the curculio, but all other in- 

 sects. I am trying the same experiment with the apricot and 

 nectarine, and I have no doubt of a favorable result, though my 

 trees have not been planted long enough to produce a crop of 

 fruit. When passing througli the country, I notice the plum 

 trees marked by disease, covered with knots and decaying limbs, 

 the fruit stung and tailing prematurely to the ground, in sight, 

 perhaps, of a deep valley, rich in all that makes nature prolific, 

 with the virgin soil that once gave freshness and vigor to the 

 verdure that covered a hundred hills — a fine rivulet running 

 through it fed with perennial springs — in other instances a 

 morass partly covered with stagnant waters. 1 cannot help 

 saying to myself, why will the owner of the fiirm spend his time 

 experimenting on articles of doubtful character, that may or may 

 not prove useful as chemical agents, and leave a deposit — nature's 



