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VOL. XLIX. NO. 2102. NEW YORK, MAY io, i 89 o. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
HYBRID CASTOR-OIL PLANTS. 
Three years ago the R. N.-Y. planted seeds of the vari¬ 
ous kinds of castor-oil plants offered by seedsmen, such as 
Ricinus Gibsonii, Cambodgensis, sanguineus and Afri- 
canus, for the purpose of crossing them. It is about as 
easy to cross the flowers of ricinus as those of maize. In 
the former the males and females are separate flowers, 
though on the same raceme, while in the latter the sexes 
are separated by the distance between the tassel which 
terminates the plant and the ears beneath. The male 
flowers (tassel) of the corn plant are above the females 
(silk), while the male flowers of the castor-oil plant are 
below the females. In the one case the pollen to fertilize 
the pistils must go down, in the other case up. Nature, 
however, which reverses the position of the sexes in these 
The crossed seeds were planted last year and our 
photo-illustration, Fig. 89, shows the bed of hybrid plants, 
all of which were intermediates between their parents, 
without any marked characteristics either in habit or in 
the shape or color of leaf, that would justify their intro¬ 
duction as “splendid acquisitions.” We have, however, 
saved lots of seed for this season’s planting, looking to the 
possibility of more interesting developments. 
NOTABLE TREES. 
A PIECE OF AMATEUR WORK. 
The following account of the trees found on the remark¬ 
able little place which I now own is taken, in substance, 
from the account written by a local reporter: On Liberty 
belonging to it. Mr. Clark has but one apple tree, and 
although much larger than the pear, it is 10 or 12 years 
younger. This tree is a seedling from the roadside, near 
Washington Lake, in New Windsor. Although scores of 
grafts have died or have been cut out because of unfruit¬ 
fulness, there are now on the tree more than 200 varieties. 
Mr. Clark inserts buds or grafts as occasion offers, one 
upon another, to the end of the chapter on the branch, the 
main object being to observe the growth and test the fruit. 
On this tree may be seen, at the same time, all the shades 
of color known to the apple, and varieties ripening in all 
seasons—from the Early Harvest to the Newtown Pippin 
and Roxbury Russet. This shows, also, that the leaves 
and wood of the graft are true in furnishing color as well as 
other characteristics. It may be set down as a fact, that the 
HYBRID CASTOR-OIL PLANTS. From a Photograph. 
two genera provides accordingly a different method of dis¬ 
tributing the pollen. Corn pollen is heavy and falls unless 
wafted away by the wind. This, as has often oeen shown, 
is necessary to an abundant harvest of grain, since the 
silk (pistils) of a given piant are not always receptive when 
the pollen of that plant is shed. Many of us are familiar 
with the way in which kalmia flowers are fertilized. The 
ten anthers are held over in as many pockets of the wheel¬ 
shaped corolla by rather long, elastic filaments until the 
anthers are ready to burst. No longer held so firmly in the 
pockets, the tension of the bent filaments, or anther stalks, 
releases the anthers and the pollen grain is carried, like a 
stone thrown from a sling, with considerable raindity 
towards the stigmas of the central pistils, sometimes hit¬ 
ting, sometimes missing them. The pollen of the castor- 
oil plant is very light and fine. When the air is dry and 
the sun bright the anthers are bursting every moment. We 
see a little cloud of dust which rises like a puff of smoke, 
at length enveloping the female flowers above. This 
alone, it would seem, serves to pollenate the feathery, moist 
stigmas, though insects may often be seen visiting both 
the pistillate and staminate flowers. In the artificial cross- 
fertilization of castor-oil flowers we have merely to remove 
the male flower buds and to apply foreign pollen to the 
females, protecting them meanwhile from other pollen 
by a covering of tissue-paper. 
street, in the city of Newburgh, N. Y., is located the garden 
or city lot (50 by 100) formerly owned by Mr. E. H. Clark, 
a retired gentleman with a taste for pomology, the evi¬ 
dences of which have sometimes appeared at our horticul¬ 
tural and agricultural fairs. Mr. Clark, as an invalid, 
busied himself for amusement in grafting and budding 
pears and apples, and during the past 40 years has made a 
very remarkable collection of fruit. The pear tree upon 
which has been grown the largest collection, was planted 
in 1S40, being then three years old. Mr. Clark commenced 
grafting and budding upon this stock soon after planting, 
and has continued ever since at intervals. He has now 221 
varieties on this one tree, a large proportion of which have 
grown fruit and are now bearing; they range in period of 
ripening from the earliest to the latest; many of the grafts 
bear annual crops, but there are also many that, like 
apples, bear only biennially. A large proportion of these 
grafts were sent to Mr. Charles Downing for trial, and 
each variety has been carefully labeled. Almost all the 
specimens have been tested by Mr. Downing and others, 
and so far as known are true to name and character as 
given by foreign tree-growers and home nurserymen. The 
sap has in many instances risen through half-a-dozen 
kinds of pear wood before reaching the outermost twigs, 
and in its descent from the leaves upon the different 
grafts it has given to each fruit the distinctive character 
Fig. 89. 
rising sap in trees is characterless and remains so until it 
is changed through the action of the leaves. Nature will 
be true to herself, though all men (nurserymen) may at¬ 
tempt to prove her false. 
In addition to Mr. Clarke’s collection of apples and pears, 
he has also several varieties of grapes in a high state of culti¬ 
vation. His display of fruit at our annual horticultural exhi¬ 
bition astonished everyone in quality, quantity and variety. 
Strangers asking of him the size of his orchard, were com¬ 
pletely nonplussed at his reply: “One apple tree, three 
pear trees and a few grape vines.” On this small lot, SCLby 
100 feet is a comfortable house and a small two-story build¬ 
ing dignified by the name “barn,” where once a cow was 
kept, while on the second story many swarms of bees were 
made happy. Under Mr. Clark’s management, this bee 
department of the “ farm ” was very successful. Trouble¬ 
some swarming was a rare occurrence. The south side’of 
the second story of the barn was closeted off with a suc¬ 
cession of boxes six by 12 inches, and entered by the bees 
through small holes in the building. When there were 
indications of swarming Mr. Clark skillfully removed the 
queen to a new box and the work would proceed with¬ 
out any confusion. Mr. Clark always kept poultry and 
carefully prevented their trespassing on the neighbors’ 
grounds, thus keeping on friendly terms with all. 
MRS. M. W. MEAD, 
