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Show 34.6 FRUITR. CIIAI', X. characters. With resp ct to the shape of tho fruit, we have conclusive evidence that it is extremely variable: Downing74 gives outlines of tho plums of two seedlings, nn.mely, the red and imperiuJ gages, raised from tho greengage; and the fruit of both is more elongated than that of tho greengage. Tho ln.tter has a very blunt bl"Oad stone, whereas tho stone of the imperial gage is " oval and pointed at both ends." These trees also differ in their manner of growth: "tbe greengage is a very sllOrtjointed, slow-growing tree, of spreading and rather dwarfish habit;" whilst its offspring, the imp rin.l gage, "grows freely and rises rapidly, and has long dn.rk shoots." 'rho famous Washington plum bears a globular fruit, but its offspring, the emerald drop, is nearly as much elongated as the most elongated plum figured by Downing, namely, Manning's prune. I have made a small collection of tho stones of twenty-five kinds, and they graduate in shape from tho bluntest into tho sharpest kinds. As characters derived from seeds aro generally of high systomn.tic importance, I have thought it worth while to give drawings of tho most distinct kinds in my small collection; and they may be seen to difl"or in a smprising manner in size, outline, thickness, prominence of tho ridges, and st..<tto of surface. It deserves notice that the shape of tho stone i · not always strictly correlated with that of the fruit: thus the Washington plum is spherical and depressed at tho polo, with a somewhat elongated stone, whilst tho fruit of tho Goliath is more elongated, but the stone less so, than in tho Washington. .Again, Donyor's Victoria and Goliath boar fruit closely resembling each other, but their stones arc widely different. On tho other hand, tho Harvest and Black Margate plums are very dissimilar, yet include closely similar stones. Tho varieties of tho plum aro numerous, and differ greatly in size, shape, quality, and colour,-being bright yellow, green, almost white, blue, purple, or rod. There a1·o some cmious varieties, such as the double or Siamese, and the Stone less plum: in tho latter the kernel lies in a roomy cavity sunounded only by the pulp. Tho climate of North America appears to bo singularly fl.wourable for tho production of new and good varieties; Downing describes no less than forty, seven of which of first-rate quality have been recently introduced into England.76 Varieties occasionally arise having an innate adaptation for certain soils, almost as strongly pronounced as with natural species growing on the most distinct gcoloiical formations; thus in America the imperial gage, differently from almost all other kinds, " is peculiarly fitted for dry l~r;ht soils whore many sorts drop their fi·uit," whereas on rich heavy soils tho fruit is often insipid.76 l\1y father could never succeed in making the Winc-Som yield even a moderato crop in a sandy orchard ncar Shrewsbury, whilst in some parts of tho same county and in its native Yorkshire it bears abundantly: one of my rela- 74 'Fruits of .America,' pp. 27G, 278, 314, 284, 27G, 310. Mr. Rivers raised (' Gard. Clnon.,' 1SG3, p. 27) from tho Prune-pcohc, wllich bears largo, rounrl, rod plums on stout robust shoot~, a :;codling which bears oval, smaller fruit on shoot~:~ that arc so slender as to be almost pendulous. 76 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1855, p. 726. 76 Downiug's 'Fruit Trees,' p. 278. CIIAI'. X. CHERRIES. 34:7 tions also repeatedly tried in vain to grow this variety in a sandy district in Staffordshire. Mr. Hivers has given 77 a number of interesting facts, showing bow truly many varieties can be propagated by seed. Tie sowed the stones of twenty bushels of tho greengage for the sake of raising stocks, and closely observed the seedlings ; " all bad the smooth shoots, the prominent buds, and the glossy leaves of the greengage, but tho greater number had smaller leaves and thorns." There are two kinds of damson, one the Shropshire with downy shoots, and the other tho Kentish with smooth shoots, and these differ but slightly in any other respect: Mr. Rivers sowed some bushels of tho Kentish damson, and all tho seedlings had smooth shoots, but in some the fruit was oval, in others round or roundish, and in a few tho fruit was small, and, except in being sweet, closely resembled that of tho wild sloe. Mr. Rivers gives several other striking instances of inheritance: thus, ho raised eighty thousand seedlings from the common German Qnctsche plum, and "not one could be found varying in the least, in foliage or habit." Similar facts were observed with the Petite Mimbollc plum, yot this latter kind (as well as the Quctschc) is known to have yielded some well-est..<tblished varieties; but, as Mr. Rivers remarks, they all belong to the same group with the Mirabelle. C'he·l'l'ies ( Prumts cerasus, avium, &c.).-Botanists believe that our cultivated cherries are descended from one, two, four, or even more wild stocks.7s That tt1cre must be at least two parent-species we may infer from the sterility of twenty hybrids raised by Mr. Knight from the morello fertilized l>y pollen of the Elton cherry; for these hybrids produced in all only five cherries, and one alone of these contained a seed.79 Mr. 'I'hompson so has classified the varieties in an apparently natural method in two main groups by characters taken from the flowers, fruit, and leaves; but some varieties which stand widely separate in this classification are quite fertile when crossed ; thus Knight's Early Black cherry is the product of a cross between two such kinds. Mr. Knight states that seedling cherries are more variable than those of auy other fruit-tree. 81 In the Catalogue of the Horticultural Society for 1842, eighty varieties are enumerated. Some varieties present singular characters: thus the flower of the Cluster cherry includes as many as twelve pistils, of which tho majority abort; and they are said generally to produce from two to five or six ebonies aggregated together and borne on a single peduncle. In the Ratafia cherry several flower-peduncles arise from a common peduncle, upwa1·ds of an inch in length. The fi·uit of Gascoigne's Heart has its apex produced into a globule or drop : that of the white 77 ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1863, p. 27. 'agcrct, in his 'Pomologio Phys.,' p. 34G, enumerates five kind .. which can Le propagated in Franco by seed : see also Downing's ' lPl'Uit 'l'roes of America,' p. 305, 312, &c. 78 Compare Alph. De Uandollc, ' Ucogruph. Bot.,' p. 877; Bentham anrl Targioni-Tozzotti, in 'Hort. Joumal,' vol. ix. p. 163; Godrou, 'Do l'E~pece,' tom. ii. p. 92. 79 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v., 1824, p. 295. ao Ibid., second series, vol. i,, 1835, p. 248. 81 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 138. |