298 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
tee considered two worthy of special notice : the 
Luxuriant. — A large, flattened, globose fruit, 
very uniform in shape and size, of a very good 
flavor, and remarkably sweet; and the 
New Jersey. — A crimson, conical, white- 
fleshed and showy fruit of very good quality. 
Lady of tiie Lake. — A new seedling by J. 
Scott, of Brighton, Mass. A short-conical fruit, 
of good size ; scarlet, inclining to crimson ; mod- 
erately firm, sweet, and of fair flavor. Some of 
our Massachusetts friends think that in this fruit 
will be found all the good qualities of the Wil- 
son's Albany without its objectionable acidity. 
Wilder's No. 13. — A conical berry of excel- 
lent shape, and remarkably uniform in size. It 
is not among the largest, but large enough. 
The surface is firm, and of a brilliant scarlet, 
presenting that polished appearance so notice- 
able in the Triomphe de Gaud and La Con- 
stante. Flavor remarkably delicate and pleas- 
ing. This is the result of years of experiment, 
and the one among thousands of seedlings con- 
sidered by its originator as combining the most 
desirable qualities. A cross between La Con- 
stitute and Hovey's seedling. We hope that 
Col. Wilder will accede to the wishes of his po- 
mological friends, and allow this excellent and 
handsome fruit which cost him so much labor 
to produce to bear his distinguished name. 
Romeyn's Seedling. — This new variety ,which 
we noticed last year, has appeared again at the 
various shows. The plants we have seen at the 
exhibitions, said to be of field culture, were 
abundantly fruitful. The fruit is much like 
the Triomphe de Gaud, but it is claimed to 
be better, more hardy, and more productive. If 
such is the case, it will soon become popular 
without the use of extravagant advertisement-. 
Barnes' Seedling proves to be an excellent' 
market fruit. It has been exhibited from Ten 
Eyck Bros., Monmouth Co., N. J., by S. B. 
Couover, in packages taken from a lot sent to 
market, and attracted much attention by its 
large size, firmness, and general good qualities. 
Cremont — This old variety is now so rare as 
to have all the interest of a new one. It origi- 
nated in Louisiana, and had its day of popular- 
it)'. It ranks among the large varieties, ami is 
regarded as particularly valuable for forcing. 
Mal-Formkd Fruits. — Every year we have 
more or less specimens of mal-formed fruits 
sent to us. These are 
often interesting, but it 
is not always conve- 
nient for us to place 
litem on record. Acom- 
mon departure from 
the usual manner of 
growth is the complete 
union of two or more 
fruits, as we have seen 
in the cases of cherries, 
cucumbers, melons, ap- 
ples, and especially to- 
matoes. Another freak 
is the production of one 
fruit within another. 
A similar thing is often 
seen in roses, when a 
bud is produced in the 
center of a flower, and 
sometimes another bud from the center of the 
second flower. Mr. W. S. Gates, of Erie Co., 
N. Y., sent us a specimen of a young pear in 
which this state of things is plainly shown, as 
seen in the engraving. The end of the flower 
stalk which usually terminates in the base of 
the flower kept on growing, and produced 
another flower above the first one, and the 
fruits resulting from the two became consoli- 
dated. The foreign journals have within the 
past year figured a number of similar cases. 
EltliWXA. 
Shrubs with Showy Berries— Callicarpas. 
Our natural autumn landscape is rich enough 
with the man)' tints of the ripened foliage. We 
can add to the charm of autumn in our gardens 
and grounds by the u~e of those trees and 
shrubs which bear showy fruit. In planting 
for summer effects we should not forget those of 
the later season, and in all places where shrubs 
are grown at all, some of those bearing bright 
berries should be introduced. What is more 
brilliant than a Burning-bush {Euonymm), or 
a Black Alder (lice ?•< rticillata), when lighted 
by a declining October sun? Bed berries we 
have in abundance, and the Snowberry affords 
us a pure white. We wish to call attention to 
a quite neglected shrub which gives us an un- 
usual color, a rich purple. The Callicarpa of 
our Southern States (C. Americana), is found 
from Virginia southward; it is a graceful shrub 
three or four feet high, which bears clusters of 
inconspicuous flowers in the axils of the leaves. 
In the autumn these fruits assume a most beau- 
tiful violet purple color, and make the shrub 
highly ornamental. The engraving shows a 
branch of half the natural size. From the color 
of the fruit, the shrub is called at the South the 
French Mulberry. It is not, however, related 
to the Mulberry, but belongs <p the Verbena 
Family. The name, Callicarpa, is from the 
Greek, signifying beautiful fruit. A Japanese 
and a Chinese species are in cultivation. The 
Callicarpas succeed in any rich garden soil, and 
late iu the season prove to be very attractive. 
Varieties Produced by Pruning. 
The Gardeners' Chronicle (London), gives an 
abstract of a paper read before the Linnsean 
Society by Mr. B. Clarke, on the production of 
varieties by pruning. His idea is that the modifi- 
cations produced by pruning are in a degree 
perpetuated by seed, and that by constantly 
pruning the offspring of such plants in the same 
way a variety or race may ultimately be estab- 
lished. He suggests Indian corn as a suitable 
subject for experiment, and publishes the fol- 
lowing suggestions for those Americans who 
wish to try it. The results, whether confirming 
Mr. Clarke's views or not, would be interesting, 
and doubtless some of our readers will feel dis- 
posed to experiment. We do not look for any 
present increase of the corn crop from this pro- 
cess. We have not tested what can be done by 
selection of seed from the corn as it now grows. 
"The whole of the male flowers are to be cut off 
by cutting the stem across, a week or fortnight 
before the first flowers would begin to open, 
and the female left to be fertilized by other 
plants close at hand; this would, if repeated 
three years, it may be expected, produce a 
variety having only half the usual quantity of 
male flowers; and if so, there would be a pro- 
portionate increase of flowers on the lower part 
of the stem, which it may be confidently ex- 
pected would be female, i. c, an increase in the 
number of spikes of females, or cobs, as they 
are called when matured. If the plants left for 
the purpose of effecting fertilization had the up- 
per half, or two-thirds of the male inflorescence 
removed before the flowers opened, the variety, 
if produced, would take a shorter time by a 
year or two. One plant having all the male 
flowers removed, placed between two having 
the upper half or two-thirds of them removed, 
would, it is believed, be the better way of 
making the experiment in the first place. If 
the male flowers were removed very early by 
splitting the sheathing leaves open, the experi- 
ment might perhaps be less successful as re- 
gards utility, in consequence of the growth of 
the plant being checked ; but varieties departing 
further from the original type might be expect- 
ed. In one of the plants so treated, the upper 
spike of female flowers produced a quantity of 
male flowers at its apex. Supposing, then, that 
the increase of female flowers amounted to only 
one-fifth, this would lie, for the United States 
alone, an increase of produce amounting in 
value to more than £100,000,000 per annum." 
Blackberries and Raspberries. — Some 
one writes to ask why these fruits so unlike in 
some respects are both 
called Jlnbus by bota- 
nists. The difference 
in the two is not so 
great as it appears. The 
fruit, as we term it, of 
both is not a simple 
fruit, but a collection of 
fruits. The grains of 
which the berries are 
made up is each a distinct fruit, the result of a 
distinct pistil. Each grain is in structure like a 
minute plum. The grains iu the raspberry co- 
here slightly to one another, but when ripe they 
have a very slight attachment to the end of the 
stem on which they are placed — receptacle, as it 
is called, — and the mass slips off, leaving the re- 
ceptacle as in the engraving. In the blackberry 
the grains adhere closely to the receptacle, 
which becomes more or less juicy and eatable. 
