i^Je barter's (Ptcitt^Ig. 



165 



man and that their uses are beneficial to all, for they 

 afford an innocent, instructive and enjoyable occu- 

 pation to those who have leisure time ; a health 

 giving relaxation to those whose energies are taxed 

 to the utmost in this age of severe competition ; and 

 they exercise an elevating, humanizing influence, 

 on the Artisan and Mechanic. 



[This paper, obligingly presented to us by Mr. 

 Bui], was prepared for die Intornational Horticul- 

 tural Congress, in London, and has an interest for 

 Horticulturist all over the world. The relations of 

 Horticulture to Botany have become very close 

 within the past few years. It is not so very long 

 since the Editor of the Botanical Magazine regret- 

 ted that Geraniums produced seeds, because the 

 seedlings upset botanical classifications ; but now 

 these very changes brought about by horticulture 

 have really been the making of true Botanical 

 Science. Ed.] 



DOES HYBRIDIZING CHilNGE THE FRUIT 

 AS WELL AS ITS PROGENY ? 



BY MR. CHARLES CRUCKNELL, POTTSVILLE, PA. 



I am aware that many different forms of fruit 

 will occur on trees of the same kind, growing under 

 different circumstances. Nay even on the same 

 tree so many different forms are seen as may well 

 arrest the attention, and call forth the unanswered 

 enquiry. What has caused this ? 



Soil, pruning, training, climate, and the use of 

 particular kinds of fertilizers effect the fruit to a 

 certain extent, but all these agents combined will 

 not explain the great difference, we see in fruits 

 growing on the same tree. For if a dozen fruit be 

 growing on a single tree and only one of that num- 

 ber exhibits a striking peculiarity of form, different 

 from the rest, we can give no reason why these 

 agencies effect only the one fruit that will not apply 

 with equal force to the remaining eleven. Conse- 

 quently we have to look beyond thes:i external 

 causes for some other agent that will be likely to 

 change the nature of the one fruit without mate- 

 rially altering the others. 



We have been so longhand so persistently taught 

 the old doctrine that hybridization changes not the 

 fruit itself, but the progeny thereof, that it is with 

 extreme difficulty we can bring our minds to believe 

 otherwise, and it takes a certain amount of moral 

 courage to assert that this old axiom of the science 

 of horticulture is false. Your paper on this subject 

 some time ago gave it some hard knocks, and nothing 

 but hard knocking will ever upset it. 



I have a Belle Lucrative tree growing here, the 

 fruit of which was uniform in shape excepting one 







small branch whereon grew four or five pears so 

 unlike this variety, that I examined the trunk to 

 see if a bud had been inserted. But no, the bark 

 had not been disturbed. Then why should these 

 few pears differ so in shape from the rest? Nine 

 out of every ten fruit-growers would have pronounced 

 them the "Vicar of Winkfield." Can it be that 

 the flowers of this particular branch were hybridized 

 from our "Vicars" growing close by? and the 

 fruit thus came to be "Vicars" instead of the nor- 

 mal condition of the Belle Lucrative? 



How shall we account for the many variations 

 which we see every day, unless on the supposition 

 that hybridization is the immediate cause of it. To 

 say these are but "Sports" proves nothing, and is 

 at best but a vague statement made to lull enquiry 

 to sleep for the present and prevent many from in- 

 vestigating this subject, who have rare opportuni- 

 ties for so doing, and the necessary leisure at hand 

 to throw some light on this very obscure subject. 



Probably the fruits and flowers which show this 

 sporting character most, will be found on experi- 

 menting with them to be the most readily hybridi- 

 zed ; if so, this would strengthen the argument of 

 hybridization changing the nature and shape of the 

 fruit as well as the progeny grown from its seed, 

 and would throw additional light on a subject with 

 which at present we appear to be playing at "Blind 

 Man's Buff." In the words of Bossuet, we should 

 "never be weary of examining into the causes of 

 great changes ; for nothing will ever be of so much 

 service to our instruction. ' ' 



NORWAY SPRUCE HEDGES. 



BY MR. F. L. HARRIS, GARDENER TO H. H. HUNNE- 

 WELL, ESQ., WELLESLEY, MASS. 



In the March number of the Monthly you ask 

 "Can any one tell if a Norway Spruce hedge would 

 turn horned cattle?" 



Doubtless such a hedge would if planted thick 

 enough,— say not less than nine (9) inches or a foot 

 apart. When planted thus, as the trees increase in 

 size and age, the main trunk becomes so stout that 

 they nearly touch each other, forming a barrier no 

 cattle can penetrate. 



I think we have no evergreen so well adapted as 

 the Norway for such a purpose ; and when its true 

 merits become more generally known, its value, 

 both as a useful and ornamental hedge plant, will sup- 

 plant all else. The White Pine, however, 1 think 

 second in importance to it, — when planted in the 

 same way, — forming a thick and impenetrable fence, 

 besides its great value as a shelter in exposed situa- 

 tions. 



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