May 23, 1891. 
THE GAKDENING WOKLD 
605 
THE APPLE BLOSSOM. 
There is much to be learned from an orchard or col¬ 
lection of Apples in bud and bloom ; and the greater 
the number of kinds grown the more room will there 
be for observation and facts to be deduced therefrom. 
We have early, medium, and late-flowering kinds, and 
it would be important to fruit growers in general to 
know whether those kinds which flower at any par¬ 
ticular season fruit with more certainty than others. 
This might be ascertained by systematic note-taking 
for a number of consecutive years, commencing with 
the earliest trees that come into bloom and leaving off 
with the latest. An idea has prevailed for many years 
that Court Pendu Plat fruits well because it escapes 
late frosts, and is also termed the “ wise Apple ” because 
the flowers are protected by the foliage. Evagil is 
equally late or nearly so, for the buds of both in most 
cases were small on the 16th inst. Now the former is 
a late-keeping Apple, while the latter is mid-season. 
On the other hand, we find that some of the early- 
flowering varieties set well, including Lord Suffield, 
Yellow Jngestrie, and Duchess of Oldenburg. On the 
same date as the above mentioned, half of the blossom 
of the last three kinds had fallen and the young 
fruits had commenced to swell. All are well known to 
be fruitful varieties, and it 
would be of importance to 
learn that all other early 
kinds also fruited well. 
Notes taken for one year 
only would not give a correct 
estimate, as there is so 
much variation from year to 
year. Fruit trees, after 
bearing heavily, require time 
to recruit, independent of 
weather, and if the latter be 
unfavourable, of course the 
time required will be longer. 
Some varieties are less pro¬ 
lific than others, and it may 
be that certain kinds require 
a longer time to recruit 
than others, judging from 
the fact that they do 
occasionally bear heavily. 
It would require ten years 
at least before the average 
bearing capabilities of a 
collection of trees could 
be properly estimated ; and 
notes of observation should 
be made both on a collection 
in full bearing and also on 
young trees grafted on the 
Paradise or other dwarfing 
stock. 
The variation amongst 
Apple blossom, besides 
earliness and lateness, is 
also considerable, both with 
regard to size, shape of the 
petals, and colour; and a 
more important fact is the 
relation of the colour of the 
unopened buds to that of 
the fruit. It is usual for 
vegetable physiologists to regard it as an established 
fact that, as a rule, there is a correlation of homologous 
parts, so that if the leaves of a plant are dark, we 
might expect the corolla and carpellary leaves to be 
dark also. There is not sufficient variation amongst 
the leaves of different varieties of Apples to make it 
noteworthy ; and, on the other hand, botanists may 
refuse to acknowledge that there is any correlation 
between the petals and the fruit of an Apple, because 
the former is the homologue of a leaf, while the 
latter is merely the receptacle or upper portion of the 
fruit stalk which has grown around the ovary. It is 
both curious and interesting to note the contrast, 
however, which exists between the colour of the petals 
while in bud and that of the fruit when mature. 
The buds of Lord Suffield are of a deep reddish 
purple, and are still very dark externally, even when 
fully expanded ; yet the fruit is light in colour. The 
same might be said of Manks’ Codlin, the fruit of 
which is very pale. The flowers of Stone’s Apple or 
Loddington’s Seedling are notable for their great size, 
each individual bloom measuring from 2 ins. to 2} ins. 
in diameter. They are of an intense red in bud, and 
three or four of the outer petals are deep rose externally, 
even when fully expanded, and yet the large fruit is 
pale green. Lord Grosvenor had dark red buds and 
a pale yellow fruit. That of the Duchess of Oldenburg 
is yellow streaked with red, the former colour being by 
far the most prominent, yet the buds in the early stage 
are crimson fading to a deep rosy purple. 
Varieties, on the contrary, having very pale buds 
and white flowers have nearly always very dark fruits 
when mature. A good instance of this is "Worcester 
Pearmain, which is notable for its almost uniformly 
rich red colour, and yet the buds are pink or flesh 
coloured, and the flowers at a short distance appear 
pure white. The same might be said of the flowers of 
Norfolk Beefing, and yet the fruit is of a dull, dark, 
bronzy red. The buds of Cellini are of a soft rose, and 
blush when open, but the fruit is heavily streaked with 
red or crimson. That of Gravenstein is yellow streaked 
with red, while the outer petals are slightly tinted with 
pink. 
A series of a third type might be given, including 
Yellow Ingestrie, in which the white flowers are 
slightly tinted with pink, and the fruit yellow. Bed¬ 
fordshire Foundling has pale green fruits flushed with 
russet, and the flowers are pink in bud. Cox’s Orange 
Pippin has warm rosy red buds, and the yellow fruit is 
streaked with red and russet ; the latter, under glass, 
is almost wholly yellow. The question might well be 
SlIORTIA GALACIFOLIA. 
put whether the intensity of the red colour in the Apple 
blossom has any relation to the hardiness of the 
flowers and their relative immunity from injury by late 
spring frosts. 
-•*$*.- 
HYBRIDS AND PEDIGREE 
BREEDING. 
Your pithy leader on florists’ flowers at p. 489 re¬ 
kindles an ancient desire of mine to raise a murmur 
against the apathy existing amonggardeners, particularly 
of our private gardens, in seeking after the knowledge 
and practice of systematic crossing and pedigree 
breeding. Generally speaking, this simple and in¬ 
teresting branch of the gardening art has been the 
work of a comparatively small band of specialists, 
some of whom have laboured and are still labouring 
under the most adverse climatic circumstances and incon¬ 
veniences, especially those who live in the smoky fogs of 
large cities, hence it is a notorious reality that our 
garden hybrids are not numerous, the Philageria being 
one of the most conspicuous we have, partaking of the 
character of two distinct species, intermediate between 
the shrubby Philesia and that beautiful climber the 
Lapageria. Much good work, however, has long been 
done in the raising of improved strains of florists’ 
flowers, vegetables, and fruits, and latterly considerable 
attention has been devoted to the encouragement of 
improved stocks of agricultural roots and cereals ; but 
so far as I have seen, all this has been a rule of thumb 
sort of business, merely a matter of selection and 
weeding out of rogues, with an almost entire absence of 
intelligent artificial fecundation. 
The pedigree breeding of garden hybrids and varieties 
was evidently known and followed by some of the 
ingenious old gardeners and florists of fifty years ago, 
and doubtless of still earlier times, but it was, it seems, 
a custom in those days to keep secret such mysterious 
functions. Even during my early career at the old 
Exeter Nursery there were vestiges of these absurd 
notions, but now, thanks to the gardening press and 
the School Boar!, this traditional prejudice, the result 
of past enmities and ignorance, is dying out, and 
gardeners of the present generation often meet together 
in their respective districts, and freely discuss and 
exchange opinions on all matters relating to their craft 
—some going even further than this by ventilating 
their knowledge and experiences, frequently with 
considerable zest and intelligence, either in the form of 
treatises, or paragraphs in the gardening journals. 
“ There is still a wide field for hybridisers.” These 
were the words of my 
esteemed and lamented 
friend the late Mr. John 
Domiuy but a short time 
before his death, and formed 
the ending of one of the last 
of our many happy little 
gossips together. I quite 
agreed with him, because my 
own conviction is that what 
has already been done with 
scientific breeding of plants 
is simply a prelude to what 
might be expected from the 
coming generation of hybri¬ 
disers. Again, apart from 
proving an impetus to the 
production of novel kinds, I 
believe that it would pay 
any leading nurseryman to 
gather together a collection 
of our garden hybrids and 
varieties in the form of a 
free exhibition. All things 
eventually find a level, and 
as it is pretty certain that 
our plant collectors have ran¬ 
sacked every quarter of the 
globe, there can be but few 
more unknown plants to 
expect from that source. 
Sooner or later it must be¬ 
come a fashion to cultivate 
garden hybrids and varieties. 
The late Mr. Pince was 
very fond of hybridising, 
working most assiduously 
on many classes of plants, 
and with much success. 
His seedling Fuchsias were 
very popular in their day, 
and his Gesnera exoniensis 
was a thing of beauty and joy for ever ; but the hardy 
Rhododendrons were his greatest hobby, and some of 
his fine seedlings, such as Agamemnon, Aurora, Bellona, 
Countess of Devon, Countess Morley, Clio, Circe, Dione, 
Diana, Eva, R. fimbriatum roseum, Galatea, R. globosa 
rosea, Imperial, Imogen, Juba, Miss Charlotte Buller, 
Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Parker, Miss Bosville Duran, 
Orlando, Othello, R. purpureum grandiflorum, Rosa¬ 
mond, Rodanthe, Rosalind, Rosabella, Thetis, Titania, 
Talisman, and Vulcan, are standard sorts to this day. 
Mr. Pince died in 1871, after a long and useful life, 
and was succeeded by his nephew, Dr. Woodman, who 
for many years carried on the once great Exeter Nur¬ 
sery with much spirit and enterprise, and he, too, took 
more than ordinary interest in hybrids and pedigree 
breeding. His most noteworthy seedling was Begonia 
Woodmanii, a cross between B. Veitchii and B. Pearcei, 
having the brilliant flowers of the former with the 
beautiful foliage of the latter. Mr. S. Pope was our 
chief propagator then, and shortly after left us to enter 
the service of the firm who have since become so famous 
for their fine Begonias. Dr. Woodman’s name is also 
closely associated with the Cineraria, for it was during 
his regime that those sensational varieties of unap¬ 
proachable beauty, known as the “WoDder of the 
West” strain, were raised .— JV. Napper, Chelsea, 
