198 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
September, 
tree, Benthamia fragifera^ ScJnnus Mulli^ Cupressus thurifera^ Phoenix dactylifera^ 
Chcmicerops humilis^ and Jubmi spectabilis were killed by cold, the Cypress of 
California showed not the least sign of suffering. It therefore resists the colds 
of the exceptional winters of the south of France, and is equally insensible to 
the strong heats of the summer. It has another quality which recommends it to 
horticulturists, that of bearing up against long droughts ; it never requires to be 
watered. As a landscape tree. Professor Martins adds, the Californian Cypress 
figures very well in the middle of a grass-plot; its drooping branches, lifted at 
their tips, but spread over the soil, form a large bush, whose rather glaucous 
verdure is well set off by the deep green of the lawn, while the habit contrasts 
agreeably with that of its congeners of fusiform or thin pyramidal outline.—T. M. 
THE DECAY OF FRUITS. 
’his important matter has been made the subject of certain investigations by 
Dr. Brefeld, who has recently reported the result of his inquiries to one of 
the learned Societies of Berlin. He assumes it to be a universally recognised 
fact that a rotten Apple will infect a sound one with which it may be in 
contact, since we cannot conceive infection in the absence of an active agent pro¬ 
ducing it, and calling forth and determining the form of the phenomenon. Dr. 
Brefeld’s investigations embraced the examination of rotten fruits Of various kinds, 
from the most widely diverse localities, and at different seasons of the year. The 
tissue was invariably found to be exhausted and withered, the cells had lost their 
turgidity, the protoplasm-sac was contracted, and cell-sap dispersed in the inter¬ 
cellular spaces. With certain exceptions, alluded to below, the entire mass of 
cells was found to be permeated in all directions by the easily-seen mycelium of 
fungi, but the threads were merely interlaced among the cells, never piercing the 
cells themselves. The fungi present consisted of very common moulds of two dis¬ 
tinct kinds—one with broad, dense tubes without partitions, the other with 
narrower, frequently septate tubes, both being very much branched. The former 
consisted mainly of Mucor stolonifer, more rarely of M. racemosus^ and the latter 
of Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium glaucum. 
There seems to be no doubt that these parasites are nourished by the cell- 
sap which has escaped into the intercellular spaces, but the most important 
question for elucidation was whether these fungi are the cause of decay, or 
simply accompanying conditions. To determine this point, several series of ex¬ 
periments were undertaken with the pure fungus and perfectly sound fruit. 
Spores were thickly sprinkled over sound fruit, and to make the experiment more 
conclusive, the spores were conveyed to the fruit in water, and the fruit after¬ 
wards placed under a bell-glass in a moist atmosphere. As might have been 
expected, the fruit remained sound, the spores failing to germinate altogether, or 
germinating only very sparingly. In consequence of the absence of a nourishing 
fiuid, the spores possessed no power to attack the tissues of the fruit. 
