June 20, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



195 



have heard of fat pigs, learned pigs and precocious pigs, 

 but it was left to his sympathetic pen to portray tlie 

 well-bred, conscientious, pains-tal<ing pig, the pig whose 

 superior education alone makes him worth from sixty 

 to seventy dollars. This comparison of the mental, and, 

 if one dares to say so, the moral qualities of pigs and dogs, 

 would delight any comparative psychologist. It is also 

 interesting to read of the tricks of truffle poachers and the 

 intricacies of the laws for their punishment. Nothing 

 seems wanting, except, perhaps, some notice of the lives 

 of the distinguished ^(zs//'QHo;«es whose talents were un- 

 selfishly devoted to the preparation and digestion of truf- 

 fles. Even art is made to contribute to the value of the 

 book, the frontispiece being a reproduction of M. Paul 

 Vayson's Truffle Hunter, exhibited in the Salon of 1886. 



//' G. Parlour. 



The Domestication of Wild Fruits. 



THERE are two reasons why we should attempt the im- 

 provement of our more promising wild fruits. First, 

 there is a prospect that they may become valuable addi- 

 tions to our orchards or gardens ; and second, the culture 

 of these fruits offers a favorable opportunity to study the 

 influence of changed conditions upon the characters and 

 properties of these plants. 



Regarding the first of these propositions we are not justi- 

 fied in assuming that all the fruits not now in cultivation 

 are incapable of improvement. To argue that they must 

 have been tried and found wanting in prehistoric times, 

 because history gives no record of their culti\'ation, would 

 be quite unwarrantable. Neither are we justilied in as- 

 suming that because no attempt has been made to improve 

 them, success is sure to follow systematic efforts. Our 

 knowledge is hardly sufficient to prophesy what may l)e 

 the outconie in submitting any given wild fruit to the 

 experiment of systematic and prolonged cultivation. 



To the scientific horticulturist the second proposition 

 offers a more hopeful field of labor than the first. Whether 

 the attempt to domesticate a wild fruit proves suc- 

 cessful or not, from an economic point of view, it can 

 hardly fail to add to our knowledge. The origin of our cul- 

 tivated fruits, and especially the degree of their present ex- 

 cellence that may be ascribed to man's aid, is, to a consid- 

 erable extent, involved in obscurity. The submitting of a 

 hitherto untested wild fruit to cultivation, and the systematic 

 studj" of the changes that result from such treatment, may 

 throw light upon the historical development of our present 

 cultivated fruits, and what is of still greater importance, it 

 may furnish valuable hints for their further improvement. 



The Juneberry {A7}ie/aHcJiier Ca?iadensis), in some of its 

 varieties, possesses qualities that commend it for experi- 

 ments in domestication. It belongs to the Rose Family, 

 and is thus botanically related to the best fruits of tem- 

 perate climates. The plant is hardy, prolific, and exhibits 

 remarkable variation. The fruit in its best natural state is 

 of fair quality, attractive in appearance, sufficiently large 

 to admit of convenient gathering, firm enough to bear car- 

 riage ; and it keeps for a considerable time after being picked. 

 In stature the species varies from a low shrub to a tree thirty 

 to forty feet in height, and forms, grouped within the same 

 botanical variety, sometimes exhibit nearly as much 

 variation in height. The fruit is often very small, dry and 

 seedy, and utterly worthless for any economic use ; but in 

 certain varieties it attains a diameter of fully half an inch, 

 is sweet, fairly juicy, and delicately flavored. 



Thus far, the finest fruit has been found on a form which 

 is said to have come from the Rocky Mountains, and 

 which is the only one I have attempted to cultivate. It ap- 

 pears to have been first brought to public notice by Dr. 

 Hall, of Davenport, Iowa, who grew it and advertised the 

 plant for sale about ten years ago. Mr. Benjamin G. 

 Smith, of Cambridge, introduced it into Massachusetts, and 

 received a silver medal from the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society for it. Through the courtesy of Mr. Smith 



a few plants of this variety were sent to the New York Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station in the year 1S82. 



These plants, which were well rooted layers, were set 

 out in a moderately fertile clay loam, and have since re- 

 ceived the same culture that is given to Raspberries. 

 They have now grown into rather straggling shrubs about 

 four feet high, though Mr. Smith states that on his grounds 

 plants set some years earlier have attained the height of 

 six feet. The shrub appears perfectly hardy in the climate 

 of Geneva. It varies considerably in productiveness in 

 different seasons, but during the past three years has 

 borne at least a fair crop. The fruit, a miniature pome, 

 varies in size from a fourth to a full half inch in diameter, 

 and in its external appearance bears a striking resem- 

 blance to that of the Huckleberry, being deep purple in 

 color, and having, like that fruit, a persistent and pro- 

 truding calyx. The flesh is white, or slightly pinkish, and 

 has a peculiar delicate, faintly aromatic flavor that is not in 

 the least unpleasant, although lacking in intensity. With 

 sugar and cream, the flavor is perceptibly heightened, and 

 some persons who have tasted it in this way call it delicious. 

 The seeds are small, soft, and though inclosed in carpels, 

 are little noticeable in eating the fruit. 



It should be said that this plant is not without its enemies. 

 A fungus, Rcestelia penicUlata, attacks the foliage and fruit in 

 some localities, though I have not seen it at Geneva. 

 The curculio infests the fruit to some extent, and the 

 English sparrow takes his share, but all these obstacles 

 have not prevented good crops from our trial-grounds. 



The most promising field for improvement in this fruit 

 doubtless lies in the growing of seedlings, and in the 

 crossing of varying forms. I have made sufficient experi- 

 ments todenK.instrate thatthe seedlings may be very readi- 

 ly grown ; and I have a considerable number now on trial, 

 though none of them have fruited as yet. I hope to secure 

 plants of other varieties,' and from distinct local- 

 ities, in order to try the effects of cross-fertilization. One 

 reason why I have been especially interested in this fruit is 

 that it offers an opportunity to test a hypothesis. I have 

 been struck by a coincidence that in almost all our 

 fruits and vegetables, a pale flesh is accompanied by a 

 mild flavor, while a dark-colored flesh is accompanied by 

 a rich flavor,* and in fruits that contain much acid, the 

 acid almost always increases with the depth of color in the 

 flesh. The fruit of the only form of the Ainelaiichier with 

 which I am well acquainted has a white, or very nearly 

 white, flesh, and while the flavor is, as has been stated, 

 quite delicate, it is too little marked to render the fruit 

 generally popular. If by gro'\\'ing seedlings, or by cross- 

 fertilization, we can secure varieties that have a darker- 

 colored flesh, I should expect that they would have a 

 more pronounced flavor, and might then rank among our 

 delicious fruits. It is in this direction that I am chiefly 

 working. „ ^. ^ ^ 



Geneva, N.Y. ^- -J- '^OJJ. 



New or Little Know-n Plants. 



Pitcairnia Jaliscana.f 



THE order BromeliacecB is scarcely represented within 

 the limits of the United States aside from the few 

 species of Tillaudsia which are found in Florida, and the 

 Spanish Moss {T. usneoides) which drapes the trees so 

 abundantly in the swamps and river bottoms of the South 

 from the Dismal Swamp in Virginia to Texas and Mexico. 

 In the extreme western borders of Texas a single species 

 oi Hech/iahs.a been found as an outlyer of the ^Mexican 

 flora, and in southern Florida a West Indian species of 



*A papergivinij a larsre amount o£ data bearing upon tliis subject was con- 

 tributed by the writer to the American Naturalist, for 1884, pp. 1203-1210. 



t Pitcairnia Jaliscana, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xxii. 456. Acaulescent : 

 basal bracts spinosely margined, and witli attenuate, barbed appendages ; pro- 

 duced leaves furfui-aceous' beneath, entire, linear, a foot long or more, by three 

 or four hues broad: flowering stem glabrous, with numerous bracts : fl-iral bracts 

 mostly colored, dilated, much longer than the erect pedicels; pcl-i's scarlet, 

 linear, nearly two inches long, twice longer than the acuminate colored sepals; 

 stamens and style slightly exserted. 



