\ 



t 



r 



181 



An examination of a few samples of plums gave the follow- 



m 



k 



ing- figures : 



Variety. 



No. Samples 



Smith's Orleans, 

 Jefferson, 

 Frost Gage, 

 Suisse, 

 Fellenberg, 

 Golden Gage, 

 Bingham, 

 Blecker's Gage, 

 Hudson's Gage, 

 Pond's Seedling, 



lO 



TO 



8 



ID 

 lO 

 lO 

 lO 

 ID 

 lO 



lO 



Fruit Grs. 



736.0 



' 348.4 



245.3 

 439.0 



3S3.5 

 379.6 



511. 8 

 279-3 

 254-9 

 517.7 



Av. Wt, 

 Seed Grs, 



18.2 



8.5 

 8.6 



13-4 

 17.0 



13.9 



25.1 



13-9 

 X3.1 

 19.0 



Per Cent. W(. of 

 Seed to Fruit 



2.47 

 2.44 



3-50 

 3.05 



4-43 



3.66 



4.90 



4-98 



5-13 

 3.67 



Pomegranate. Punica granatum^L. (Lythrarie.^). 



This is a peculiar baccate many-celled fruit, having a tough 

 rind formed by the calyx, enclosing two rows of carpels placed 

 above each other. The seeds are immersed in pulp, and are at- 

 tached irregularly to the parieties, base and center. This pulp 

 is apparently formed by the placentas. It is a fruit in much es- 

 teem in many localities in the Orient. Ibn-al-awam', a Moor- 

 ish-Spaniard of the twelfth century, describes eleven varieties. 



The pomegranate, with the ancients, was a mystical fruit, on 

 account o( the profusion o( its seeds, typifying procreation, in- 

 crease and abundance. There are many varieties. Capt. Bur- 

 ton- describes three in Arabia. The Shajui^ almost stoneless, 

 and an exceedingly fine fruit; the 7/^r^/and the Misri, from the 

 context seeding, and not of as fine quality. Barnes^ says Kaja 

 is famed for its pomegranates without seed, although by far the 

 finest are brought from villages half way up the mountains. The 

 tree only grows in a few Afghan villages. Harlan* enumerates 

 the seedless pomegranates from Jillalabod among the fruits in the 

 markets of Cabul. Barnes^ in his Travels in Bokhara, remarks on 

 the pomegranate seeding in Magenderan as a remarkable pecu- 

 liarity. In India, the best fruits, having sweet juice and very 



1 Le Livre de I'Agric.d* Ibn-al-a\vani, XS64, i. 252. 



2 Pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca, i. 388. 



3 Cabul, 1S42. 



4 J. Harlan, U. S. Pat. Off. Rept. 1S61, 530. 



5 Darwin, An. and PI. ii. 205, note. 



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