Mixed production of the Spanish Chesnut, Sfc. 77 

 BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 



Art. X. — Experiments on a valuable variety of fruit, pro- 

 duced betiveen the Spanish Chesnut, and the Maryland 

 Cinquapin — in a letter from William Prince, Esq. to 

 the Hon. Samuel L. Mitchill. 



(Read before the Lyceum of Natural History, at New-York, Oct. 15, and 

 communicated for insertion in this Journal.) 



Flushing, Oct. 14, 1820. 

 Dear Sir, 



Knowing the interest you take in the various phe- 

 nomena of nature, I wish to call your attention to one of 

 its most curious operations, the production of new va- 

 rieties in the vegetable kingdom. I herewith send you 

 a specimen of a new and valuable Chesnut, accidental- 

 ly produced in the following manner : — about the year 

 178S, the large Spanish chesnut was first imported into 

 this country. I planted some of the nuts, and obtained 

 bearing trees — beneath one of which, I had planted the 

 fagus pumila or chinquapin of the southern states, which 

 produce fruit when not more than two feet in height. The 

 farina of the blossoms of the large Spanish chesnut, fell on 

 the stiles of the flowers of the little chinquapin, whose fruit, 

 when ripe, I planted, and in the spring when they came up, 

 1 observed several of the plants had leaves resembling the 

 Spanish chesnuts — those plants far outgrew the others, and 

 have produced a new fruit, partaking of the chinquapin in 

 its abundant prolificacy, and of the Spanish chesnut in the 

 improved size of its fruit, which is larger than the com- 

 mon American Chesnut. The quality of the fruit you will 

 be able to judge of by those I send you. 



This is a satisfactory evidence of the improvement that 

 may be made by mixing the different kinds of European 

 and American fruits; and I have no doubt great improve- 

 ment might be made in the American grape, if the seeds 

 were sown from vines whose blossoms had been previously 

 impregnated by the farina of the best foreign sorts. Vines 



