LIGHT FROM THE SOCIETIES. 



255 



Foreign and Native Trees and Plants.— Like the horse, 

 the dog, and other domestic animals, the Vitis vinifera, 

 from its long association, has become thoroughly sub- 

 servient to man's uses and purposes. He may train it 

 almost as he will, and yet it patiently submits, always 

 yielding its precious treasure in the season of harvest. 

 While it may be strong and vigorous, it is yet compara- 

 tively compact in its habit of growth, seemingly pre- 

 ferring to ramble near the surface of the ground rather 

 than to mount, as will our American species, to the top- 

 most branches and crags within its reach. Yet, again, 

 the old world grape may be pruned to mere stumps, as 

 a result of its long discipline, if not of its natural tame 

 a»d domestic habit, while our American grape will 

 utterly rebel and refuse to yield fruit, if not to live, 

 when subjected to such a rigid regimen. 



The American wild cherry {Pi-unus ccrastina) is a 

 much bolder straggling grower than its European con- 

 gener the domestic cherry (Cerasus sylvestris), or even 

 its more nearly allied foreign relative, the Mahaleb 

 (C Mahaleb). Our native wild plums [Primus Chicasa 

 and P. Americana) are each bolder and less symmetri- 

 cal in their habit of growth than the European species 

 (/". domesticus). The native gooseberry {Rihes hirtel- 

 lum) and the native wild currant [Kibes floridum) are 

 stronger and more robust in habit than are the domes- 

 tic gooseberry of Europe (A', grossularia) or the in- 

 troduced garden currant (7?. rubriim). None of the 

 varieties of foreign raspberries [Rubus idadeus) will 

 compare in boldness of growth and rambling habit with 

 our native species [R. strigosiis or A', occidcntalis). 

 The native strawberry [Fragaria Virginiana) un- 

 questionably furnishes some of the most rampant grow- 

 ers belonging to the genus. In the genus pyrus (the 

 pear and apple) we have but few native examples for 

 comparison. The American wild crab [P. coronaria). 

 however, while it may not be more vigorous than is /'. 

 malus, the cultivated apple from Europe, it is prob- 

 ably when left to itself less symmetrical in its form of 

 growth. 



Perhaps none of the introduced roses will compare 

 with some of the native species in luxuriance of growth. 

 None of the foreign junipers are so loose and straggling 

 in their habit of growth as the common red cedar [Juni- 

 fierus Virginiana). The Lombardy poplar [Popidus 

 dilatata) is much more symmetrical and compact in its 

 form and less robust in habit than either of our well- 

 known American species. When we compare the several 

 introduced species of arbor-vitas (thuja) with our native 

 species [T. occidcntalis), we find the same general re- 

 sults are obtained. The American larch (Larix Ameri- 

 cana, tamarack) is not stronger, but is certainly less 

 compact in its growth than is L. Eiiropcca, the introduced 

 species. Tilia Americana, the basswood or linden of 

 our forests, differs essentially from its compact-growing 

 European cousin [T. Europcca). The Norway maple 

 [Acer platanoides), though a vigorous, strong grower, 

 assumes without artificial restraint or training a low, 

 compact and beautiful form, very readily distinguished 



on these accounts from our native maples. The native 

 ash (fraxinus) of the various species is perhaps with- 

 out exception a more slender and taller-growing tree 

 than its European relative [F. excclsn). The Scotch 

 and Austrian pines [Pinus sylvestris and P. Anstriaca) 

 are each bold, strong growers, but yet short-jointed and 

 compact in habit as compared with P. resinosa our 

 northern red pine, or P. Strobus the majestic white 

 pine of Michigan and Canada. The balsam-fir [. Ibies 

 balsamea), indigenous to the northern borders of the 

 United States, is a much more aspiring tree than the 

 noted silver fir (A. pectinata) of European origin. The 

 horse-chestnut [.Ssculus Ilippocastanum) is a more 

 compact and yet a more vigorous grower than its Ameri- 

 can cousin, the buckeye (^iE. glabra), and the same may 

 be said of the Norway spruce [Abies excclsa), when 

 compared with the wild spruces of our Canadian forests. 

 — From paper by W. H. Ragan, read be/ore the In- 

 diana Horticultural Society. 



Careful Selection for Improving Fruits.— My neigh- 

 bor William Steele recently paid I6600 for a two-year- 

 old heifer which had never given milk, nor was there an 

 absolute certainty that she would make a successful 

 breeder. Why was such a price paid ? Because she 

 was the ideal type of one of the most illustrious families 

 of the shorthorns. Her ancestors on both sides for many 

 generations had been uniformly the greatest prize-takers 

 at the largest stock shows in this country and Europe. 



Plants are male and female, and governed by all the 

 laws that rule the breeding of animals. Plants are sub- 

 ject to disease, and transmit their constitutional weakness 

 with as much certainty as do animals, and manifest as 

 great a tendency to revert and take on defects of ancestors. 

 Look at the prize-winners at horticultural shows — people 

 go through their orchards picking a specimen from this 

 tree and from that until the exhibit is made up. The 

 individual tree that is loaded year after year with the 

 finest fruit, true to type, high in color, rich in flavor, its 

 perfect foliage and smooth trunk indicating perfect health 

 and hardiness, is entirely ignored in the awards. 



The same is true of superior individual vines or plants. 

 They die in oblivion. I do not believe there is a com- 

 mercial nurseryman in America to-day who seeks out 

 these trees and plants and makes a special feature of 

 propagating from them. It is a universal rule of nur- 

 serymen to take scions from nursery rows or any tree 

 most convenient of the variety desired. Downing points 

 out clearly that a graft from a diseased tree will" trans- 

 mit the disease to the healthy stock even if grafted a 

 dozen times in succession. I believe this has more to 

 do with failure of orchards than any other cause. 



Year after year the strawberry-grower digs up plants 

 between the rows where they have stood unprotected — 

 freezing, thawing and heaving, under water or dried by 

 the winds of winter — until their constitutional vigor is 

 utterly destroyed. I do not know of a strawberry-grower 

 whose plants are not more or less mixed with seedlings 

 or spurious plants. No attention whatever is paid to 

 selection. 



