some of our fruits, like oranges, can hardly realize how great has been the improvement within historic times in the character of certain pears, apples, and so on.
The term historic is used advisedly, for there are prehistoric fruits which might serve as a point of departure in the consideration of the question. In the ruins of the lake-dwellings in Switzerland[1] charred apples have been found, which are, in some cases, plainly of small size, hardly equaling ordinary crab-apples. But, as Dr. Sturtevant has shown, in certain directions there has been no marked change of type; the change is in quality.
In comparing the earlier descriptions of fruits with modern accounts it is well to remember that the high standards by which fruits are now judged are of recent establishment. Fruits which would once have been esteemed excellent would to-day be passed by as unworthy of regard.
It seems probable that the list of seedless fruits will be materially lengthened, provided our experimental horticulturists make use of the material at their command. The common fruits which have very few or no seeds are the banana, pineapple, and certain oranges. Others mentioned by Mr. Darwin as well known are the bread-fruit, pomegranate, azarole or Neapolitan medlar, and date palms. In commenting upon these fruits, Mr. Darwin[2] says that most horticulturists "look at the great size and anomalous development of the fruit as the cause and sterility as the result," but he holds the opposite view as more probable—that is, that the sterility, coming about gradually, leaves free for other growth the abundant supply of building material which the forming seed would otherwise have. He admits, however, that "there is an antagonism between the two forms of reproduction, by seeds and by buds, when either is carried to an extreme degree, which is independent of any incipient sterility."
Most plant-hybrids are relatively infertile, but by no means wholly sterile. With this sterility there is generally augmented vegetative vigor, as shown by Nageli. Partial or complete sterility and corresponding luxuriance of root, stem, leaves, and flower may come about in other obscure ways, and such cases are familiar to botanists.[3] Now, it seems highly probable that, either by hybridizing directed to this special end, or by careful selection of
- ↑ Carbonized apples have been found at Wangen, sometimes whole, sometimes cut in two, or, more rarely, into four pieces and evidently dried and put aside for winter use.… They are small and generally resemble those which still grow wild in the Swiss forests; at Robenhausen, however, specimens have occurred which are of larger size, and probably cultivated. No trace of the vine, the walnut, the cherry, or the damson has yet been met with, but stones of the wild plum and the Primus padus have been found." Lubbock, loc. cit., p. 217.
- ↑ Animals and Plants under Domestication (American edition), vol. ii, p. 205-209.
- ↑ Gray's Botanical Textbook, vols, i and ii.
