THE 
I 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to the ^' TBOPICAL AQPiICULTUBIST. 
June :— • 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magazine for 
Vol. 
XL1 
JUNE, 1900. 
[No. 12. 
THE NEW SCIENCE OP HORTICULTURE. 
HE article oii Seedless Plants, taken 
over from the Louisiana Planter, 
is an interesting contribution in 
many ways, but there is mere than 
one point in it which are apt to 
give rise to discussion, 
We note that the means by which the horticul- 
turist creates seedless varieties of fruits are by 
selection, starting with lusi natures as in the 
case of the naval orange. This particular instance, 
however, presents special abnormality, which it 
would be a mistake to suppose is always associ- 
ated with the seedless conditions as the following 
extract from the above article would lead one to 
imagine: "In the effort to produce a monstrosity 
the seeds were apparently neglected." Against the 
accepteiice of this as a general condition we would 
submit the fact that fruit monstrosities containing 
an abundance of good seed are by no means un- 
common, while seedless fruits occur which present 
no abnormal structure. The plantain and papaw 
are instances of the latter. Again, there i-i the 
theory advanced with regard to the iirst-men- 
tioned that " the use of suckers for purposes of 
propagation gradually made the seeds of less and 
less value, and that following out the law of nature 
the seeds, becoming useless organs, degenerated," 
But what is the explanation of the seedless condi- 
tion in papaws ? The freak of nature which produ- 
ces seedless fruit sometimes as an exception 
(briugal) and again as a rule (plantain) is appa- 
rently not to be so easily theorised about. One 
thing, however, seems to be pretty clear, and that 
is, that cultivation tends towards the eliminfttieai 
of seeds as regards their size and number, "while the 
" wild state " tends to produce the opposite effect 
of seed development. The wild mango (appro- 
priately called " eta-amba"=seed mango) is neftrty 
all seed, while the wild orange is pretty full' 'of 
seeds ; on the other hand the so-called seedless .pa- 
paw, which preserves this character when growa ia 
good soil or when liberally cultivated, prodtfCeB 
abundance of seed when allowed to run wild or 
grown on poor soil. It would thus seem tiiat a 
special effort is put forward by plants growreg -un- 
der unfavourable conditions to propagate their 
species, and that in a wild state, in the general 
struggle for existence among plant life, speeialpro- 
Tision is made by nature for reproduction of the 
species. 
We would now consider for a momeat the 
following passage in the above-mefnliotied 
article : " That the seeds are really immaterial to 
the welfare of the plant is evidenced by the fact 
that perfect fruits are often developed whether 
the blossoms are fertilised or not." We take it 
that by fertilization is here meant the actuiil result 
of fertilization, the conversion of an ovule into 
a seed, i.e., the formation of an embryo capable of 
development into a new plant. If so, we take no 
exception to the sense of the passage ; if Bot, we 
cannot see our way to accept the dictum. 
The transformation of an ovary either alone or 
in conjunction with such other parts of the iiower 
as go to form edible succulent fruits, is felWaya 
associated with the development of seed as the 
6 suit of fertilization, We do aot of courjse 
