Table Of Contentii
Fruit Growing
BY
R. T. DIXON, B.A.
Head of the Rural Studies Department
and Second Master, Oldborough Manor
Secondary School, Maidstone
PERGAMON PRESS
OXFORD · LONDON · EDINBURGH · NEW YORK
TORONTO · PARIS · BRAUNSCHWEIG
iii
Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford
4 & 5 Fitzroy Square, London W.l
Pergamon Press (Scotland) Ltd., 2 & 3 Teviot Place, Edinburgh 1
Pergamon Press Inc., 44-01 21st Street, Long Island City, New York 11101
Pergamon of Canada Ltd., 6 Adelaide Street East, Toronto, Ontario
Pergamon Press S.A.R.L., 24 rue des Écoles, Paris 5C
Vieweg & Sohn GmbH, Burgplatz 1, 33 Braunschweig
Copyright © 1966 Pergamon Press Ltd.
First edition 1966
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-29059
Printed in Great Britain by A. BROWN AND SONS LIMITED HULL
This book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
resold, hired out, or otherwise disposed
of without the publisher's consent,
in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which
it is published.
(2743/66)
/. What Is a Fruit?
A PERFECT flower consists of sepals, petals, stamens, and pistil.
These form respectively the calyx, corolla, androecium, and gynae-
cium (see Fig. 1). The parts are attached directly or indirectly to
the receptacle, the swelling at the top of the flower stalk. When a
flower has been fertilized some of these parts shrivel and may drop
off. The petals do so, and often the stamens and upper part of the
pistil. In some plants, parts other than the petals remain attached
but in a more or less shrivelled condition. After fertilization the
lower part of the pistil, the ovary, swells and ripens and the ovules
it contains develop into seeds. This then constitutes a true fruit
(see Fig. 2).
The gynaecium consists of one or more sections called carpels,
each containing a seed or seeds. The pea and bean have only one
carpel, the apple five, and the raspberry many. The carpels may be
united and form a simple fruit as the tomato, or may be separate
and form a compound fruit such as the blackberry.
Some fruits (often called false fruits) develop from the recep-
tacle in addition to the ovary (see Fig. 3). The receptacle of the
apple grows, becomes succulent, and surrounds the true fruit which
is the core. It is the receptacle you eat. The receptacle of the straw-
berry also enlarges and becomes juicy. The carpels, however, are
separate and are the pips on the surface of the fruit.
The pineapple does not originate from one flower, but from a
whole spike of flowers, the persistent parts of which unite to form
one fruit. Similarly, the mulberry is formed from a cluster of
flowers.
Thus:
1. All fruits develop from flowers, usually from the ovary, but
in some plants from the receptacle and ovary.
1
2 FRUIT GROWING
2. In most plants flowers must be fertilized before fruits will
develop.
3. The gynaecium may contain one or more carpels.
4. The carpels may unite to form a simple fruit, or be separate
and form a compound fruit.
5. Some fruits develop from clusters of flowers.
Germinating
Stiqma pollen grains
FIG. 1. Flower section showing fertilization. (By courtesy of East
Mailing Research Station.) This figure illustrates fertilization of a
flower. Pollen grains have been transferred from stamens to the
pistil. Here they absorb the sugary liquid it secretes and are stimu-
lated into growth. Each grain contains two nuclei. One, the tube
nucleus, controls the growth of a pollen tube which penetrates through
the style to an ovule, entering it via the micropyle. The other, the
generative nucleus, divides into two and passes down the tube to the
ovule. The tip of the tube breaks down, and the two male nuclei join
one with the egg nucleus and the other with the secondary nucleus of
the ovule. The first by cell division and differentiation becomes the
embryo plant, and the second by similar means becomes the food
store for it, i.e. the endosperm. When development of the seed is
complete, it loses water and becomes hard. It is then said to be ripe.
WHAT IS A FRUIT ? 3
Remains of
Style
Flower
No trace of Petals, Sepals
or Stamens
FIG. 2. The plum. A true fruit.
Eye basin Calyx lobes (Sepals)
Apple flower
Core lines
Swollen
Receptacle
Stalk cavity
Fruit ~ vertical section Wealthy
Remains of all parts except petals
Swollen Receptacle.
Core lines
Ovary of five Carpels
Fruit-transverse section
FIG. 3. The apple. A false fruit.
Assignment I
1. Early in the summer term, pick and study under a hand lens
the flowers of as many kinds of fruits as are grown in the school
garden. Are there several pistils or only one ? Where there is one
count the divisions of the stigma (the top of the pistil). Make a note
of your observations.
2. When the fruits develop count the carpels of each kind of
fruit. Is the number of carpels constant for each kind of fruit ?
How many seeds are there in each carpel ? Are the fruits simple or
compound ? True or false fruits ?
3. Arrange your findings in table form:
A B C D E F G
Kind of Sepals Petals Pistils Divisions Carpels Simple or
fruit to pistil compound
Can you find any connection between B and C; and between E
and F?
4. If possible obtain a green fig (not a dried one). Cut it open
and study it. Find out what you can from an encyclopaedia about
the "fruit" of the fig.
5. Which vegetable that you may grow in your school green-
house develops a fruit without being fertilized ? (It belongs to the
marrow family.)
6. Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable ?
Make a list of fruits grown as vegetables.
4
2. The Fruits We Grow
THE fruits grown in England are classified as (1) tree fruits;
(2) soft fruits.
Tree fruits are apples, pears, plums, damsons and cherries, and
the much less common peaches, quinces, and medlars.
Soft fruits include :
(a) The bush fruits : gooseberries, red, white and black currants.
(b) The cane and bramble fruits; raspberries, blackberries,
loganberries, and the hybrid bramble fruits.
(c) Strawberries.
Growing fruit well entails much work.
In winter spray trees and bushes to destroy pest eggs (see Chapter
25). Plant new trees and bushes when needed (see Chapter 31).
Cultivate and dress the soil with manure or fertilizer.
In spring and summer spray against diseases and pests. Mulch
soft fruits. Thin too heavy crops of fruit. Prune trained forms of
fruit trees (see Chapter 16). Pick soft fruit.
In autumn harvest and store, where necessary, the tree fruits
(see Chapter 34).
Fruit growing has its hazards. In spring late frosts may kill the
blossoms. The summer may bring hailstorms to ruin a promising
crop, or be too cool and wet for ripening the fruit, or even be too
hot and dry for good growth. Always there are pests and diseases
to combat.
5
Assignment 2
1. Make a table of the fruits grown in your school garden under
the classified headings at the beginning of this chapter.
2. Turn to the chart entitled "The Fruit Year" (page ii).
Make two lists:
(a) Of the operations on the chart which are performed in
your school garden.
(b) Of the things done to the fruit in your school garden which
are not on the chart.
Record these in the form of a diary.
FIG. 4 (a). Chief producing areas of apples and pears.
6
THE FRUITS WE GROW 7
FIG. 4 (b). Chief producing areas of plums and cherries.
3. Study the two maps (Fig. 4 (a), (b) ) showing the distribu-
tion of apples and pears and of plums and cherries in England and
Wales. Make a list of the counties growing each fruit, one for each
fruit.
(a) Which counties are the most important for fruit growing ?
(b) Which is the most widely grown fruit ?
(c) Which is the least widely distributed fruit ?
4. Compare the distribution maps with others showing the rain-
fall and the amount of sunshine. Can you see any connection be-
tween the three ?
5. For what purpose are apples grown in Somerset, Devon and
Cornwall ? What other areas are well known for this product ?
6. Use a geological map and try to explain the gap extending
from Dorset to the Wash, which is clearly shown on both maps.
