September 29, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



381 



sorts in point of time have had greater chance to vary and 

 deteriorate from their original type, due to differences in 

 soil, culture and, as much as anything, to the different 

 ideals of various growers. For example, the old Wilson as 

 it originated probably does not now exist, if we may judge 

 from the fact that of a number of samples of Wilson sent 

 to Cornell Experiment Station a few seasons since, no two 

 were enough alike to be called by one varietal name. It 

 seems manifestly unfair to compare the old, run-out sorts, 

 although bearing the original name and tracing their 

 genealogy back to the original plant, with new, undete- 

 rio'rated kinds. A comparison of old and new pistillate va- 

 rieties reveals as great a range of productiveness as is found 

 among the staminates. Hence the two classes should not 

 be contrasted in the popular, unscientific manner since 

 there is, after all these years of biased selection, no just 

 basis for comparison. 



In the experiments conducted at Cornell University all 

 the plants were of as uniform development as possible, and 

 in the cases where the plants were grown from cuttings, 

 these were taken from individual specimens so as to reduce 

 the factor of individuality to a minimum. The subjects 

 were divided into three groups, as in 1896, the first blos- 

 soming naturally, the second suffering from emasculation 

 in each alternate blossom, and the third being castrated in 

 every flower. 



The only annual which gave any results this season was 

 the Alonzoa. The formation of its blossoms and its early 

 and profuse flowering make it an exceptionally good sub- 

 ject to operate upon. The flowers may be opened and the 

 stamens removed without injuring the development of the 

 corolla. As with the Clarkia in 1S96, the plants whose 

 flowers were exsected produced several times more flowers 

 and were more robust and vigorous than the non-exsected, 

 while the "half-and-half" group was intermediate. Although 

 practically even at the start, the exsected group had at the 

 close a bushy development of axillary shoots which were 

 covered with scores of tiny flower-buds. The natural group 

 had hardly any of these side-shoots. It seems safe to con- 

 clude that Clarkia and Alonzoa find pollen-bearing an 

 exhaustive process, and from these two cases we might fur- 

 ther suppose that plants having a long period of bloom 

 might show the effects of pollen production, while species 

 with shorter blooming periods might, and probably would, 

 show no effect at all. 



Geranium and Nasturtium were the only cutting-grown 

 plants which proved at all satisfactory. In each case the 

 conclusions were much the same as given above. Nas- 

 turtium is a very useful subject since its stamens may be 

 removed in a bunch with little danger of injuring the flower. 



To summarize : Whether this production of pollen is the 

 exhaustive process it seems to be, has yet to be proved. 

 If it is exhaustive, it is reasonable to suppose that plants 

 like the Corn, the Pine and others of their class would tend 

 to reduce the amount of pollen produced and would expend 

 their energies in other directions. On the other hand, it 

 seems evident that the Strawberry has either found this 

 process exhaustive and has thus tended to develop unisexual 

 varieties, or that the increasing popularity of pistillate sorts 

 as crop producers, which has presumably sprung from a 

 misconception of the relative merits of the two classes, has 

 led to biased care in selection — selection which has con- 

 stantly tended to reduce the number of good staminate 

 varieties at the same time augmenting the number and the 

 attributes of the pistillates. 



Again, if pollen production is exhaustive, it seems 

 probable, as was stated above, that plants which have a 

 long period of bloom would show the claimed evil effects 

 very decidedly, whereas plants which blossom during only 

 a short period and produce only a few flowers, would not 

 show them. In other words, the minimum of evil should 

 go with the minimum of blossoming both in time and 

 quantity, and the maximum of depletion with the maximum 

 of flowering. It is altogether probable, however, that if 

 the process is depletive, it has been, is being, and will be 



answered by each species for itself, so that it will at no 

 time exceed the plant's powers. By the law of natural 

 selection, that species which would perpetuate itself must 

 conserve all its force or become extinct. 



Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. M. G. KaillS. 



Baron Von Mueller's Services to California. 



"j\ /TANY times since the death of Baron Ferdinand Von 

 IV J. Mueller, the Australian botanist, I have regretted 

 that his friends and correspondents in California did not 

 long ago make some public and especial acknowledgment 

 of his great services. It is true that these services were 

 widely appreciated, and that he often received evidences 

 of the affection he inspired, but the fact remains that his 

 work for California was so remarkable that it deserves 

 public recognition. If state legislatures were sensible of 

 such benefits as Baron Von Mueller rendered this state 

 they would take pleasure in passing resolutions to show 

 their appreciation of this and similar services. 



My own correspondence with this lovable man com- 

 menced more than twenty years ago, and continued at 

 intervals until his death. In this correspondence the 

 benefits were chiefly on one side, for the few notes upon 

 plant-life that I could offer and the small collections of 

 Pacific coast seeds that I occasionally sent him were un- 

 worthy of comparison with his lavish and thoughtful gifts. 

 It was plain that he loved with all his heart to extend the 

 culture of trees and plants and that he took a personal 

 interest in each correspondent. It seemed, too, that he 

 had acquired much knowledge of our California conditions, 

 and felt himself responsible in some degree for the horti- 

 cultural development of our state. In the course of a wide 

 correspondence with botanists, collectors and various offi- 

 cials in different parts of the world, I may say that I have 

 never met any person who was more unselfishly interested 

 in the work of plant distribution. 



Baron Von Mueller's interest in California matters led 

 him to carry on a correspondence with several hundred of 

 our leading florists, gardeners, nurserymen, collectors and 

 amateur horticulturists. This correspondence extended 

 through so many years and his letters were so invariably 

 accompanied by packets of seeds that trees and plants from 

 his distribution are now to be found in every part of Cali- 

 fornia. Wherever one sees a plant which is not generally 

 known he is likely to find, upon inquiry, that the seed 

 came from Baron Von Mueller. 



It would, of course, be expected that our older collections 

 of Eucalypts and Acacias were largely created through his 

 cooperation, but it is a surprise to find that he not only 

 gave California its oldest specimens of leading Australian 

 species, but that we received from him many species from 

 south Africa, India and other parts of the world where he 

 had correspondents. Under his management the Melbourne 

 Botanic Garden became a kind of international clearing- 

 house for the rarest seeds many years before they were 

 common in the trade. 



A list of species naturalized in California through the 

 efforts of this one botanist would be much too long to print 

 here. I believe, however, that such a list would include 

 the leading Casuarinas, all our more valuable Atriplexes, 

 many brilliant shrubs now comparatively common here, 

 Araucaria Bidwilli, Aberia caffra, and fully fifteen species 

 of Acacias and Eucalypts. I know of several fine Hakeas 

 grown from seed sent by him man)' years ago. This sum- 

 mer Mr. G. P. Rixford, of San Francisco, after sixteen ) r ears 

 of waiting, bloomed a noble Iris (I. Robinsoniana) from 

 one of five seeds received from Baron Von Mueller. This 

 plant is figured on page 255 of the current volume of 

 Garden and Forest. Perhaps for years to come new 

 species of plants will be arriving at maturity here, to 

 strengthen our grateful memory of this old botanist. 



In later years the Baron had a habit of placing certain 

 favorite seeds in every consignment. All his packages, 

 which once were rather conventional as regards appear- 



