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Show 34.8 FllUI'J', '. CHAI'. X. II ungarian Gean has almost tranl:>parent flo!::ill. 'l'ho Flemir:;h eheny is " a very odd-looking fl'uit," mnch flattened at il10 summit and base, with tho latter deeply funowecl, and borne on a stont voq short foot::>talk. ln the Konti>;lt cheny tho stone adheres so firmly to tho footst:1lk, that it can be drawn out of tho fief:lh; and this renders tho fruit well fitted for (lrying. Tho Tobacco-leaved chony, according to Sagerot and Thompson, produces gigantic loaves, more than a foot and sometimes oven eighteen inches in length, and half a foot in breadLil. Tho Weeping cherry, on the other hand, is valuable only as an ornament, and, according to Downing, is " a charming little tree with slender weeping branches, clothed with small almost myrtle-like :foliage." There is also a peachleaved variety. Sagorct describes a remarkable variety, le g1·iottie1· de la Toussaint, which bears at tho sawo time, even as late as September, flowers and fruit of all degrees of maturity. 'rho fruit, which is of inferior quality, is borne on lonb', very thin footstalks. But the extraordinary statement is made that all tho loaf-bearing shoots spring from old Hower-buds. Lastly, thoro is an important physiological distinction between those kinds of chorrief:l which bear fruit on young or on old wood; but Sagoret positively assortf:l that 11 Big11rroau in his garden bore fruit on wood of both ages.~2 Apple ( l'yms rnal11s).-The one source of doubt felt by botanists with respect to the parentage of tho apple is whether, besides P. mutus, two or throe other closely allied wild forms, namely, P. ace1'ba and p1·u co.c or pamdisiucct, do not deserve to be ranked 11s distinct species. Tho J>. prceco.c is supposed by some authors 8 3 to bo the parent of the dwarf paradise stock, which, owing to the :fibrous roots not penetrating deeply inio tho ground, is so largely used for grafting; but tho paradise stock, it is asserted,~4 cannot be propagated true by seed. The common wild crab varies considerably in England; but many of the varieties arc believed to be escaped seedlings. 85 Every one knows the great difference in the manner of growth, in tho foliage, flowers, and especially in the fruit, between tho almost innumerable varieties of tho apple. The pips or seeds (as l lwow by comparison) likowi. e differ considerably in shape, size, and colour. 'l'ho fruit is adapted for eating or for cooking in different ways, and lweps for only a few weeks or for nearly two years. Some few kinds have the fruit covered with a powdery secretion, called bloom, like that on plums; 82 These several statements arc taken from tl10 four following works, which may, I believe, l;o trusted. 'fhompson, in 'llort. 'l'ntnsaet.,' see above; Sagorot';; 'PomoJogio Phys.,' 1830, pp. 358, 364·, 367, 370; 'Catalogue of the Fruit in tho Oardcu of Hort. Soc.,' 1842, pp. 57, 60; Downing, ''f.hc Fruits of America,' 1845, pp. 189, 195, 200. 83 Mr. Lowe states in his 'Floro. of Madeira' (quoted in 'Gard. Uhron.,' 1 62, p. 215) that tho P. malus, with its nearly sessile fruit, ranges farthc:1· south than tl.Jc long-stalked P. acerba, which is entirely absent in Madeira, tho Canaries, and apparently in Portugal. 'l'his fact supports tho belief that these two forms del:lervo to be called 1:1pecics. But tit clmraetcrs separating them nrc of slight iiUportancc, and of a ](ind known to Ytuy in otlwr cultivated fruit-trcos. 84 See' Journ. of Hort. Tour,' by Deputation of tho CoJcdonian Hort. Soc., lo~3, p. 459. 85 ll. C. Watson, 'Cybole Britannjca,' vol. i. p. 334. CnAP, X. APPLES. 34!) and "it is extremely remarkable that this occurs almost exclusively among varieties cultivated in Russia." 8G Another Russian apple, the white .Astracan, possesses tho singular property of becoming transparent, when ripe, like some sorts of crabs. The UJi i etoile has :five prominent ridges, hence its name; tho npi noir is nearly black : the twin cluster pippin often boars ii·uit joined in pairs.87 The trees of the several sorts differ greatly in their periods of leafing and flowering; in my orchard the Oourt Fendu Plat produces its leaves so Jato, that during several sp1·ings I have thought it· dead. Tho Tiffin apple . scarcely boars a loaf when in full bloom; tho Cornish crab, on the other hancl, boars so many loaves at this period that tho flowers can hardly bo soon. 88 ln some kinds the fruit ripens in midsummer; in others, late in tho autumn. These several differences in leafing, flowering, and fruiting, are not at all necessarily correlated; for, as .AndJ:ew Knight has remarkoc1,89 no one can judge from the e&rly flowering of a new seedling, or fi.·om tho early shedding or change of colour of the loaves, whether it wm mature its fruit early' in the season. The varieties differ greatly in constitution. It is notorious that our summers arc not hot enough for the Newtown Pippin,9° which is the glory of tho orchards ncar New York; and so it is with several varieties which we have imported from tho Continent. On the other hand, onr Court of Wick succeeds well under tho severe climate of Canada. Tho Cal?Jille 1·ougr. de Micoud occasionally bears two crops during the same year. Tho Bnn Knot is covered with small excrescences, which emit roots so readily that a branch with blossom-buds may be stuck in the ground, and will root and bear a few fruit even during the fiTst year.\>1 Mr. Rivers has recently Jescribod 9 ~ some seedlings valnahle from their roots running ncar the surface. One of these seedlings was remarkable from its extremely dwarfed size, "forming itself into a bush only a few inches in height." .. Many varieties arc particularly liable to canker in certain soils. But perhaps the strangest constitutional peculiarity is that tho Winter Majetin is not attacked by the mealy bug or coccus; Lindley 93 states that in an orchard in Norfolk infested with those insects the Majotin was quito fr·ee, though the stock on which it was gmfted was affected : Knight makes a similar statement with respect to a cider apple, and adds that he only once saw these insects just above tho stock, but that three days afterwards they entirely disappeared; this apple, however, was raised from a cross between SG Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' vol. vi., 1830, p. 83. 87 See' Calnloguu of l!..,ruit in Garden of liort. Soc.,' J 842, an(l Downing's ' A mcrican Fruit Tl'(•cs.' as Lomlon's • Gnrclcnor's Magazine,' vol. iv., 1828, p. 112. 89 ''l'hc CultUl'c of the Apple,' p. 13. Van Mons mak s tho snmc remnrk on the ponr, 'Arbres l!"ruitiers,' tom. ii., 1836, p. ·J.l4. 90 Lind loy's 'llorticultmo,' p. 11 G. See ldso Knight on tho Applo-'l'rco, in ''l'ransact. of Hort. Soc.,' vol. vi. p. 229. 9t 'Transact. Ilort. Soc.,' vol. i., 1812, p. 120. 92 'Journal of Horticulture,' l\farch 13th, 1866, p. 1.04. 93 ' Transact. IIort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 68. For Knight's case, see vol. vi. p. 547. When the corcus first appeared in this country, it i.· said (vol. ii. p. 163) that it was more injurious to crab-stockl:J than to tho nppJcs graflcd on them. |