1876.] 
A.MMRICAN AGrRIO ULj T UlilST. 
303 
most cases it took them two days and nights to 
make a trip, as they followed the fruit and received 
the money for it before they returned home, but 
now they can make from one to three trips daily. 
As the telegraph also now connects with the lead¬ 
ing stations on the line of their railroads, these cai- 
ters are enabled to learn daily the prices for w hich 
their berries sell, consequently know what they 
can afford to pay, and if their statement is ques¬ 
tioned by the pickers, they have but to produce the 
telegram to confirm their assertions. 
In some instances one or more persons locate 
themselves at a prominent depot to buy such fruit 
as may be brought in from sections where there are 
no carters, or perhaps a picker having several bush¬ 
els to dispose of, concludes not to sell to the cart¬ 
ers, thinking he may get more money for his fruit 
at the station, which is generally the case, as there 
is more competition among these buyers. Persons 
accustomed to go in the woods and pick these ber¬ 
ries forborne consumption, cannot bear to eat them 
after they reach the cities on account of their being 
“ mussed.” 
I know of no more appropriate word for the con¬ 
dition they are in, for they are not mashed. I do 
not wonder at them, but when we consider the 
jolting and handling they receive, you will not be 
surprised. Let me at the close of this article call 
your attention to these changes, not merely out of 
curiosity, but to show you why. fruit should be 
handled more carefully by transportation compan¬ 
ies, than it is. First, the pickers place them in 
their baskets, then they are measured, turned out 
into the boxes of the purchasers, then carted around 
over roots and stumps, until all are loaded, then to 
the depot where they are placed in the cars, then 
on the boat, then on the dock, then on the carts, 
taken to the store, where they are again placed in 
wagons to be carted over the stones of the city. 
These are the least of the handlings they receive, 
for they are often reshipped to other cities, to un¬ 
dergo another series of changes of like character. 
How Flowers are Fertilized. 
BY PROF. ASA GRAY. 
ARTICLE VII.—FALSE INDIGO AND RED CLOVER. 
A correspondent, evidently a keen observer, and 
who thinks that we make too much of cross-fertil¬ 
ization, mentions Red Clover as a self-fertilizing 
flower, and the blue False Indigo ( Baptisia australis), 
as a cross-fertilizer. We have an idea that there is 
not much difference between them in this respect, 
but from what is generally understood about Clover, 
and from what we had seen of the False Indigo, we 
should have expected our correspondent to put it 
just the other way. Both belong to the pulse fam¬ 
ily, the plan of whose flowers and the arrangement 
for fertilization we propose to illustrate in a later 
article. Both are like Bleeding Hearts (of Article 
V), in one particular, namely, in having stamens 
and pistil shut up together in such a way that the 
stigma readily gets dusted with pollen from the sur¬ 
rounding stamens. So these flowers may be self- 
fertilized, but for all that, they are capitally ar¬ 
ranged for cross-fertilizing, and actually secure the 
advantages of that method in a fair proportion of 
instances. How it is done, our illustrations next 
month may make clear. When we took our first 
look at the Baptisia blossoms this year, and saw 
how readily its stigma took pollen from its own 
stamens, we wondered why our esteemed corre¬ 
spondent hit upon this as a cross-fertilizer, but on 
inquiring we were told that when the flowers were 
protected from the bees, the plants set no fruit. 
Upon our next visit, in a sunny afternoon, we saw 
the honey-bees at work, and appreciated the admi¬ 
rable arrangement for cross-fertilization through 
their agency. Alighting on the four petals which 
stand forward and loosely enclose the pistil and ten 
stamens, the bee thrusts its head down into the 
flower between these and the upper or standard 
petals; its position and weight open and slightly 
depress the sac, and this brushes the stigma and 
the anthers against the hairy abdomen of the bee, 
the hind legs all the while actively moving among 
the anthers. In this way, passing from flower to 
ffower, it was plain to see how the bees did the 
work of cross-fertilization. 
Now as to red clover, the arrangement is essen¬ 
tially the same as in Baptisia and the rest of the 
pulse family, except that the flowers are crowded in 
a dense head, the petals are all united below into a 
prolonged tube, honey-bearing at bottom, and the 
filaments of the stamens are united. That some 
pollen reaches the stigma from contiguous anthers, 
at least when the flowers are jostled, is certain, and 
some self-fertilization must thus be effected if its 
own pollen acts. Yet Mr. Darwin found long ago, in 
England, that while 100 unprotected heads of red 
clover matured 2,700 seeds, the same number of 
heads protected from bumble-bees produced not a 
single seed. And in this country it is generally 
understood that the first Red Clover crop, which is 
in blossom before our bumble-bees abound, seeds 
sparingly, while the second produces seed freely. 
This is attributed either to the abundance of bum¬ 
ble-bees in the latter part of summer, or partly to 
the shorter tube of the later flowers, which makes 
their honey more accessible, and therefore more at¬ 
tractive, to other bees and species of insects. In 
Germany, according to Herman Muller, other in¬ 
sects than bumble-bees take part in the fertilization 
of red clover, so that Darwin’s well-known chain of 
causation, which reads like a chapter from “ The 
House that Jack Built,” must be taken with some 
qualification, at least out of England. Concluding 
that red clover in that country is fertilized only by 
bumble-bees, he remarks that the number of bum¬ 
ble-bees depends on the number of field mice, which 
destroy their combs and nests, and that the num¬ 
ber of mice depends on the number of cats in the 
neighborhood, so that an increase in the number of 
cats which catch the mice, which destroy the nests 
of the bumble-bees, which fertilize the red-clover 
blossoms from which they suck honey, might di¬ 
minish the amount or tend to terminate the exist¬ 
ence of red clover in any district. Some one, we 
believe in New England, added another link to this 
chain by suggesting that, as the number of cats 
kept depends on the number of old maids, these 
worthy members of the community might in certain 
cases be unwittingly the cause of the failure of the 
clover crop. But, coming down to sober facts, it 
is obvious that our early red clover sets a fair quan¬ 
tity of seed before bumble-bees are abundant, and 
some of this seed is likely to come from self-fertil¬ 
ization. Yet we do not learn that our critical-cor¬ 
respondent has tested this, as Mr. Darwin did, by 
shielding clover-heads from all insects, and noting 
the result. On the other hand, the fuller fertility 
later in the season, when the clover-heads are 
largely visited by bees, goes to show that cross-fer¬ 
tilization takes place and is advantageous, if not 
absolutely necessary. To show that these flowers 
and all others .of the pulse family, are constructed 
for crossing by means of flying insects, and that 
while some may be, others cannot be self-fertilized, 
will be our task in the next article. 
- - «•»-<» -- *-<»- - 
Horticultural Clogs. 
Mr. A. Moffett, Iowa, finding that pruning his 
vineyard, when the ground was covered with wet 
snow or a slight covering of mud over frozen 
A CLOG FOR THE GARDEN. 
ground, was conducive to cold feet and consequent 
discomforts, devised a pair of clogs to overcome 
the difficulty. The device is shown in the engrav¬ 
ing, and consists of blocks of the shape here given, 
made of any light wood; an excavation is made 
for the Heel of the boot, and two holes are bored 
for straps, by means of which it can be fastened at 
the heel and toe. They are made high enough to 
keep the feet well up out of the snow or mud. Mr. 
M., instead of running to the patent office with his 
contrivance, gives it for the benefit of his brother 
horticulturists. In a large vineyard one can not al¬ 
ways wait until the surface is in a condition to al¬ 
low the pruning to be done with comfort, and wc 
have no doubt that this clog—or as Mr. M. sug¬ 
gests, wooden shoes, would much facilitate opera¬ 
tions. Wooden shoes are not to be had everywhere, 
but any one can make a clog of this kind. Though 
this is not the season that such an affair is required, 
we give it now rather than run the risk of having 
it crowded out at pruning time. 
THE HOTfEHOm 
jggT" For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
o - 
Where shall tile Home- l>c i 
Of course we shall settle ourselves where there 
seems a reasonably good chance to obtain the neces¬ 
saries of life. The place where one can make money 
fast is not always the place where one can get a 
good living—since it is very true that “man cannot 
live by bread alone.” To most people, the “neces¬ 
saries of life” include, besides food, shelter, and 
raiment, certain social and educational advantages, 
as good neighbors, congenial friends, nearness to 
church, school, and post-office. Important as these 
considerations are in selecting a residence, not less 
than any, or than all together, is the question of 
health, since upon health depends the ability to en¬ 
joy other blessings. It is unwise to seek a perma¬ 
nent home in any place where there is serious mala¬ 
ria. Malaria means bad air, which may be simply 
damp air, so conducive to consumption as well as 
other diseases. It may be miasm, which is air poi¬ 
soned by floating particles of putrifyiug animal or 
vegetable matter, the air of some swamps and un¬ 
drained low lands—also such air as becomes the pri¬ 
vate inheritance of many families on account of 
their ignorance or carelessness. People go thous¬ 
ands of miles in search of pure air, and the change 
only benefits them until they have had a chance to 
create about them the same kind of bad air from 
which they sought to escape. They charged upon 
the State they left, the blame for diseases which 
were simply the result of their own disobedience to 
sanitary laws. Probably there are unliealthly loca¬ 
tions in every State, and no one who would have a 
healthy home should make it in or near a swamp, 
or on badly drained land. 
The building site should be at least level with the 
surrounding land, and somewhat elevated if possi¬ 
ble. It is uncomfortable to mount a steep hill 
whenever you go home, and a house too much ele¬ 
vated above the surrounding country takes the full 
force of all storms. But this is better than to have 
your yard and cellar flooded by rains running from 
land sloping towards your house. Even the water 
that pours from your roof may become a nuisance 
if there is no provision for its escape from the soil 
close around the house. If it is not treasured up 
in cisterns, it should easily run away from be¬ 
fore the doors and windows. The dirt thrown from 
the cellar may make a sufficient slope for this pur¬ 
pose. A house set low seems more hospitable than 
one which is entered by a flight of several steps ; 
but we must remember that the air near the ground 
is more apt to be damp and unwholesome than 
that which is higher above the surface of the earth. 
If you can choose the situation for your house— 
if you are looking at various “ lots ” with a view 
to purchasing, or if you are studying the compara¬ 
tive advantages of several building sites upon your 
farm—consider beforehand where you can arrange 
all outside conveniences so that they may be handy 
and wholesome. Think, too, of the effects of sun 
and shade—how to secure plenty of sunshine for 
winter, and plenty of shade for summer comfort 
