THE ORIGIN OF NEW FRUITS. 



305 



cients, therefore the means of obtaining cross- 

 bred varieties artificially could not have existed 

 prior to the discovery of the sexes in plants, nor 

 in all probability for many years afterwards. 

 Among the first to promulgate the theory of suc- 

 cessfully raising fruits from seeds, and the ad- 

 vantage of raising successive generations of the 

 same seedling, was Dr Van Mons of Brussels, 

 who published his views thereon in the " Jour- 

 nal d' Agriculture des Pays Bas," in which he 

 recommends sowing only the seeds of existing 

 varieties of the highest merit, and asserts that, 

 by doing so, varieties will be produced with a 

 much greater chance of improvement than if pa- 

 rents of much less merit were employed. In this 

 view he is supported by the late Mr G. Lindley, 

 who says, in " Guide to the Orchard," — " In 

 sowing seeds for the purpose of procuring im- 

 proved varieties, care should be had, not only 

 that the seeds be taken from the finest existing 

 kinds, but also that the most handsome, the 

 largest, and the most perfectly ripened speci- 

 mens, should be those that supply the seed. A 

 seedling plant will always partake more or less 

 of the character of its parent, the qualities of 

 which are concentrated in the embryo when it 

 has arrived at full maturity. How this concen- 

 tration takes place, we are as ignorant as why 

 certain constitutional peculiarities are in man 

 transferred from father to son, and from gene- 

 ration to generation ; but we know that it does 

 take place. Now, if the general qualities of a 

 given variety are concentrated in the embryo 

 under any circumstances, it is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that they will be most especially concen- 

 trated in a seed taken from that part of a tree 

 in which its peculiar good qualities reside in the 

 highest degree. For instance, in the fruit of an 

 apple growing upon a north wall there is a 

 smaller formation of sugar than in the same 

 variety growing on a south wall ; and it can be 

 easily understood that the seed of that fruit 

 which is itself least capable of forming saccha- 

 rine secretions, will acquire from its parent 

 smaller power of the same nature than if it had 

 been formed within a fruit in which the saccha- 

 rine principle was abundant. It should, there- 

 fore, be always an object with the gardener, in 

 selecting a variety to become the parent of a 

 new sort, to stimulate that variety by every 

 means in his power, to produce the largest and 

 the most fully-ripened fruit it is capable of 

 bearing." The correctness of these opinions is, 

 however, denied by others. Many of our finest 

 varieties of fruits have been no doubt produced 

 by means similar to the above ; but by far the 

 greater number are of accidental origin. The 

 writings of Mr Knight, the late Dean of Man- 

 chester, Dr Lindley, and a host of others, have 

 thrown much light on this subject in this coun- 

 try ; and the physiological authorities on the 

 Continent have contributed abundantly also. 



The following excellent fruits may be instanced 

 as a few of the many that have been originated 

 by artificial means : the Napoleon pear was 

 raised by Dr Van Mons at Louvain ; the Marie 

 Louise, by the Abbe Duquesne in Belgium ; 

 our English Hacon's incomparable, by Mr Ha- 

 con of Downham Market, Norfolk ; the highly 



esteemed Gansel bergamot, by Lieut.-General 

 Gansel near Colchester, from a seed of the 

 autumn bergamot ; Coe's golden drop plum was 

 produced by a market-gardener of that name at 

 Bury St Edmunds, from a stone of the green 

 gage, the blossom of which had been impreg- 

 nated by the white magnum bonum, the two 

 trees growing near to each other in his garden ; 

 the Downton imperatrice was raised by Mr 

 Knight of Downton Castle, from a seed of the 

 white magnum bonum, fertilised by the pollen 

 of the blue imperatrice ; the Pitmaston orange 

 nectarine was raised from a seed of the common 

 Elruge by Mr Williams of Pitmaston ; the Acton 

 Scott peach was raised by Mr Knight, and is the 

 offspring of the noblesse impregnated with the 

 red nutmeg ; the almond peach was raised by 

 the same gentleman from a seed of the sweet 

 almond, the blossom of which had been impreg- 

 nated by the blossom of a peach. The male 

 parent of the Downton strawberry was the old 

 black, while the female was a kind of scarlet ; 

 and in the case of the Elton cherry, the father 

 was the White heart, while the mother was the 

 Graffion, &c. 



The spontaneous change of character in fruit. — 

 Mr Knight states in the second volume of the 

 "Hort. Trans.," p. 160, that he had a tree of the 

 white magnum bonum plum forty years old, 

 which one year produced on one of its branches 

 red fruit perfectly like the red magnum bonum. 

 He also mentions one of his May Duke cherry- 

 trees, which some years previously had con- 

 stantly on one of its branches oblong fruit, 

 ripened later, and of greater weight than those 

 on the other parts of the tree. But the most 

 extraordinary instance we know of spontaneous 

 production is that of the excellent and well- 

 known Hunt's tawny nectarine, the origin of 

 which is stated by Mr George Lindley, in "Guide 

 to the Orchard," p. 282, to have been, not through 

 the seminal process, but, as it appears, by a spon- 

 taneous effort in nature to enlarge the parts of 

 fructification of the flower of Fairchild's nec- 

 tarine, by which was produced this admirable 

 variety, so superior to that from which its origin 

 is dated. Mr Lindley remarks, " There appears to 

 me a great singularity in this accidental change 

 of character, and to some it may appear incred- 

 ible ; but I state it as a fact that has happened 

 under my own inspection, being perfectly satis- 

 fied that it had never been observed previously 

 by any other person." After enumerating several 

 similar instances, Mr Lindley proceeds, "These, 

 with many other instances of spontaneous pro- 

 duction which might be enumerated, lead me to 

 conclude that we may possibly have other varie- 

 ties, both of plants and fruits, which have not 

 originated from seed." 



Peach and nectarine fruit has been frequently 

 produced on the same tree, and even on the 

 same branch. The first instance of this extra- 

 ordinary freak is recorded in the correspondence 

 between Peter Collinson, an eminent English 

 botanist, and Linnaeus ; and the last, which we 

 had an opportunity of seeing some years ago, 

 was in the extensive fruit-gardens of the late Mr 

 John Wilmot of Isleworth. The tree was of the 

 Royal George variety, and seldom failed in pro- 



