8 



HORTICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



DEN, and the botanical characters are evidently the 

 same. I translate a few extracts : "They [the 

 flowers] have no petals, but are composed of an 

 ovary with fifteen cells disposed in two tiers, five in 

 the lower tier and ten in the upper, each cell contain- 

 ing two ovules. The calyx is double, of which the five 

 outer divisions are lanceolate, sharp and spreading, 

 and the five inner ones are smaller and alternate 

 with the outer ones. The styles are fifteen, of 

 which five are borne in the center, corresponding to 

 the lower cells and the others to the upper cells. 

 The five styles in the center are joined at the base, 

 and form a separate parcel ; the others are equally 

 distributed upon the circumferance and form a 

 circle about the first. We have found no trace of 

 petals [one row of the 'calyx' answers to petals, 

 however], neither of stamens. This singular 

 flower appears to approach the proliferous flowers 

 of botanists." 



The structure of all these apples is essentially 

 the same, but the fruit of the fig-apple is very dif- 

 ferent from that which I have described above. 

 The apple is certainly not necessarily seedless, 

 neither is it coreless nor flowerless. Yet, in a 

 popular sense, it may be called a bloomless apple. 

 It appears to possess no value aside from its curi- 

 osity. L. H. Bailey. 



[Note from the t^Iiiited States Pomologist.] 



There having been much said in the public press 

 within the last year or two about a so-called bloom- 



less, seedless and coreless apple, which has been 

 introduced to public notice by G. W. Robinette, of 

 Flag Pond, Virginia, I have, after repeated trials, 

 succeeded in getting specimens of the fruit this fall. 

 Mr. Robinette sent me four specimens, and they 

 have both core and seeds. Each specimen had a 

 very large cavity beneath the calyx, which in every 

 case was about one-half of an inch deep and nearly 

 that wide. This aperture was surrounded by a 

 number of rather rudimentary sepals, at the base 

 of which were little swellings that in nearly every 

 case contained seeds. There seemed to be two or 

 three sets of sepals, one above the other, instead 

 of the normal five. From what Prof. Bailey showed 

 the readers of The American Garden last July in 

 regard to the peculiar flowers of this variety, it is 

 evident that it is not bloomless by any means, al- 

 though the petals were wanting. The ripe fruit 

 proves conclusively that it is not only neither seed- 

 less nor coreless, but that it has two or more cores 

 and seeds in abundance. 



The quality of the apple is tolerably good, but 

 in size it is small, and in color it is of a dull green- 

 ish yellow with dull or faint splashes of red. My 

 opinion is that the variety is practically worthless 

 so far, as a fruit, but is quite interesting as a curi- 

 osity. Any one who plants the trees of this variety 

 will be disappointed, except in having their curi- 

 osity satisfied. H. E. VanDeman. 



Washington. D. C, November., iSSg. 



HORTICULTURE IN T 



A LITTLE " 



A pathetic story credited to the Charleston 

 News attd Courier is going the rounds about a 

 shoemaker who willed to his brother an ornamen- 

 tal flower box or pot. The box was filled with shoe 

 pegs, shoemaker's awls, " et cetera." He had not 

 curiosity enough to look into the matter, but care- 

 fully lifted the flower pot, with its "et cetera," 

 into an old chest. Some years later he lifted it out 

 and gave it, the shoe pegs, awls, and " et cetera," 

 and all to his little girl for a plaything. He died. 

 The widow put in a geranium and it grew in the 

 pot all one summer in the cemetery near Charles- 

 ton, over the dead man's grave. In fall the ger- 

 anium and soil were turned out and again the pot 

 became a child's plaything. She smashed it, when 

 lo and behold ! they had never noted that the 

 wooden flower pot had a false bottom, and that 



IE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



IIRY TALE." 



there were besides some half dollars, one hundred 

 and thirty-five dollars in nice crisp bank notes that 

 had been concealed therein ! 



That reporter should have been a gardener. If 

 the water could get through the false bottom the 

 bank notes would have soon moulded and rotted. 

 If not a drop could get through, the geranium would 

 not have grown at all. No one could grow a ger- 

 anium in a pot with the hole utterly covered up. 

 A pond lily might grow in a pot of water but a 

 geranium would not. 



They talk of teaching horticulture in the public 

 schools ; and yet millions of intelligent people will 

 gulp that story down as gently as a sucking babe, 

 with delightful confidence in its verity ! We might 

 have horticulture taught ; but where are the teach- 

 ers ? Thomas Meehan. 



