Читать книгу American Pomology. Apples - John Aston Warder - Страница 3

DIFFICULTIES IN THE OUTSET—APPLE A GENERIC TERM, AS CORN IS FOR DIFFERENT GRAINS; BIBLE AND HISTORIC USE OF THE WORD THEREFORE UNCERTAIN—ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD—BOTANICAL CHARACTERS—IMPROVABILITY OF THE APPLE—NATIVE COUNTRY—CRUDE NOTIONS OF EARLY VARIETIES—PLINY'S ACCOUNT EXPLAINED—CHARLATAN GRAFTING—INTRODUCTION INTO BRITAIN—ORIGINAL SORTS THERE—GERARD'S LIST OF SEVEN—HE URGES ORCHARD PLANTING—RECIPE FOR POMATUM—DERIVATION OF THE WORD—VIRGIL'S ADVICE AS TO GRAFTING—PLINY'S EULOGY OF THE APPLE: WILL OURS SURVIVE AS LONG?—PLINY'S LIST OF 29—ACCIDENTAL ORIGIN OF OUR FRUITS—CROSSING—LORD BACON'S GUESS—BRADLEY'S ACCOUNT—SUCCESS IN THE NETHERLANDS—MR. KNIGHT'S EXPERIMENTS—HYBRIDS INFERTILE—LIMITS, NONE NATURAL—LIMITS OF SPECIES—HERBERT'S VIEWS—DIFFICULTIES ATTEND CROSSING ALSO—NO MULES—KIRTLAND'S EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS OF—VAN MONS' THEORY—ILLINOIS RESULTS—RUNNING OUT OF VARIETIES.

In attempting to trace out the history of any plant that has long been subjected to the dominion of man, we are beset with difficulties growing out of the uncertainty of language, and arising also from the absence of precise terms of science in the descriptions or allusions which we meet respecting them. As he who would investigate the history of our great national grain crop, the noble Indian maize, which, in our language, claims the generic term corn, will at once meet with terms apt to mislead him in the English translation of the Bible, and in the writings of Europeans, who use the word corn in a generic sense, as applying to all the edible grains, and especially to wheat—so in this investigation we may easily be misled by meeting the word apple in the Bible and in the translations of Latin and Greek authors, and we may be permitted to question whether the original words translated apple may not have been applied to quite different fruits, or perhaps we may ask whether our word may not originally have had a more general sense, meaning as it does, according to its derivation, any round body.

The etymology of the word apple is referred by the lexicographers to abhall, Celtic; avall, Welsh; afall or avall, Armoric; aval or avel, Cornish; and these are all traceable to the Celtic word ball, meaning simply a round body.

Worcester traces the origin of apple directly to the German apfel, which he derives from æpl, apel, or appel.

Webster cites the Saxon appl or appel; Dutch, appel; German, apfel; Danish, æble; Swedish, aple; Welsh, aval; Irish, abhal or ubhal; Armoric, aval; Russian, yabloko.

Its meaning being fruit in general, with a round form. Thus the Persian word ubhul means Juniper berries, and in Welsh the word used means other fruits, and needs a qualifying term to specify the variety or kind.

Hogg, in his British Pomology, quoting Owen, says, the ancient Glastonbury was called by the Britons Ynys avallac or avallon, meaning an apple orchard, and from this came the Roman word avallonia, from this he infers that the apple was known to the Britons before the advent of the Romans. We are told, that in 973, King Edgar, when fatigued with the labors of the chase, laid himself down under a wild apple tree, so that it becomes a question whether this plant was not a native of England as of other parts of Europe, where in many places it is found growing wild and apparently indigenous. Thornton informs us in his history of Turkey, that apples are common in Wallachia, and he cites among the varieties one, the domniasca, "which is perhaps the finest in Europe, both for its size, color, and flavor." It were hard to say what variety this is, and whether it be known to us.

The introduction of this word apple in the Bible is attributable to the translators, and some commentators suggest that they have used it in its general sense, and that in the following passages where it occurs, it refers to the citron, orange, or some other subtropical fruit.

"Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples."—Songs of Solomon ii, 5.

"As the apple-tree (citron) among the trees of the wood, * * * I sat me down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."—Sol. ii, 2.

* * * "I raised thee up under the apple-tree."—Solomon viii, 5.

"A word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."—Prov. xxv, 11.

The botanical position of the cultivated apple may be stated as follows:—Order, Rosaceæ; sub-order, Pomeæ; or the apple family and genus, Pyrus. The species under our consideration is the Pyrus Malus, or apple. It has been introduced into this country from Europe, and is now found in a half-wild state, springing up in old fields, hedge-rows, and roadsides; but, even in such situations, by their eatable fruit and broad foliage, and by the absence of spiny or thorny twigs, the trees generally give evidence of a civilized origin. It is not that the plant has changed any of its true specific characters, but that it has been affected by the meliorating influences of culture, which it has not been able entirely to shake off in its neglected condition. Sometimes, indeed, trees are found in these neglected and out-of-the-way situations, which produce fruits of superior quality—and the sorts have been gladly introduced into our nurseries and orchards.

Very early in the history of horticulture the apple attracted attention by its improvability, showing that it belonged to the class of culture-plants. Indeed it is a very remarkable fact in the study of botany, and the pivot upon which the science and art of horticulture turns, that while there are plants which show no tendency to change from their normal type, even when brought under the highest culture, and subjected to every treatment which human ingenuity can suggest, there are others which are prone to variations or sports, even in their natural condition, but more so when they are carefully nursed by the prudent farmer or gardener. These may be called respectively the plants of nature and the plants of culture. Some of the former furnish human food, and are otherwise useful to man; but the latter class embraces by far the larger number of food-plants, and we are indebted to this pliancy, aided by human skill, for our varieties of fruits, our esculent vegetables, and the floral ornaments of our gardens.

The native country of the apple, though not definitively settled, is generally conceded to be Europe, particularly its southern portions, and perhaps Western Asia: that is, the plant known and designated by botanists as Pyrus Malus, for there are other and distinct species in America and Asia which have no claims to having been the source of our favorite orchard fruits. Our own native crab is the Pyrus coronaria, which, though showing some slight tendency to variation, has never departed from the strongly marked normal type. The P. baccata, or Siberian crab, is so distinctly marked as to be admitted as a species. It has wonderfully improved under culture, and has produced some quite distinct varieties; it has even been hybridized by Mr. Knight, with the cultivated sorts of the common Wilding or Crab of Europe, the P. Malus. Pallas, who found it wild near Lake Baikal and in Daouria, says, it grows only 3 or 4 feet high, with a trunk of as many inches diameter, and yields pear-shaped berries as large as peas.

The P. rivularis, according to Nuttall, is common in the maritime portions of Oregon, in alluvial forests. The tree attains a height of 15 to 25 feet. It resembles the Siberian Crab, to which it has a close affinity. The fruit grows in clusters, is purple, scarcely the size of a cherry, and of an agreeable flavor; sweetish and sub-acid when ripe, not at all acid and acerb as the P. coronaria.3

Among the early writers upon the subject of pomology, we find some very crude notions, particularly in regard to the wonderful powers of the grafter, for this art of improving the Wilding by inserting buds or scions of better sorts, and thus multiplying trees of good kinds, was a very ancient invention. Pliny, the naturalist, certainly deserves our praise for his wonderful and comprehensive industry in all branches of natural history. In regard to grafting, which seems to have been well understood in his day, he says, that he had seen near Thuliæ a tree bearing all manner of fruits, nuts and berries, figs and grapes, pears and pomegranates; no kind of apple or other fruit that was not to be found on this tree. It is quaintly noted, however, that "this tree did not live long,"—is it to be wondered that such should have been the case? Now some persons may object to the testimony of this remarkable man, and feel disposed to discredit the statement of what appears so incredible to those who are at all acquainted with the well-known necessity for a congenial stock into which the graft should be inserted. But a more extended knowledge of the subject, would explain what Pliny has recorded as a marvel of the art. The same thing has been done in our own times, it is a trick, and one which would very soon be detected now-a-days by the merest tyro in horticulture, though it may have escaped the scrutiny of Pliny, whose business it was to note and record the results of his observations, rather than to examine the modus of the experiment. By the French, the method is called Charlatan grafting, and is done by taking a stock of suitable size, hollowing it out, and introducing through its cavity several stocks of different kinds, upon each of which may be produced a different sort of fruit, as reported by Pliny. The needed affinity of the scion and stock, and the possible range that may be successfully taken in this mode of propagation, with the whole consideration of the influence of the stock upon the graft, will be more fully discussed in another chapter.

Though it be claimed and even admitted that the wild apple or crab was originally a native of Britain, and though it be well known that many varieties have originated from seed in that country, still it appears from their own historians that the people introduced valuable varieties from abroad. Thus we find in Fuller's account, that in the 16th year of the reign of Henry VIII, Pippins were introduced into England by Lord Maschal, who planted them at Plumstead, in Sussex.

After this, the celebrated Golden Pippin was originated at Perham Park, in Sussex, and this variety has attained a high meed of praise in that country and in Europe, though it has never been considered so fine in this country as some of our own seedlings. Evelyn says, in 1685, at Lord Clarendon's seat, at Swallowfield, Berks, there is an orchard of one thousand golden and other cider Pippins.4 The Ribston Pippin, which every Englishman will tell you is the best apple in the world, was a native of Ribston Park, Yorkshire. Hargrave says: "This place is remarkable for the produce of a delicious apple, called the Ribston Park Pippin." The original tree was raised from a Pippin brought from France.5 This apple is well-known in this country, but not a favorite.

At a later period, 1597, John Gerard issued in an extensive folio his History of Plants, in which he mentions seven kinds of Pippins. The following is given as a sample of the pomology of that day:—

"The fruit of apples do differ in greatnesse, forme, colour, and taste, some covered with red skin, others yellow or greene, varying infinitely according to soil and climate; some very greate, some very little, and many of middle sort; some are sweet of taste, or something soure, most be of middle taste between sweet and soure; the which to distinguish, I think it impossible, notwithstanding I heare of one who intendeth to write a peculiar volume of apples and the use of them." He further says: "The tame and grafted apple trees are planted and set in gardens and orchards made for that purpose; they delight to growe in good fertile grounds. Kent doth abounde with apples of most sortes; but I have seen pastures and hedge-rows about the grounds of a worshipful gentleman dwelling two miles from Hereford, so many trees of all sortes, that the seruantes drinke for the moste parte no other drinke but that which is made of apples. * * * Like as there be divers manured apples, so is there sundry wilde apples or crabs, not husbanded, that is, not grafted." He also speaks of the Paradise, which is probably the same we now use as a dwarfing stock.

Dr. Gerard fully appreciated the value of fruits, and thus vehemently urges his countrymen to plant orchards: "Gentlemen, that have land and living, put forward, * * * * * graft, set, plant, and nourish up trees in every corner of your grounds; the labor is small, the cost is nothing, the commoditie is great, yourselves shall have plentie, the poor shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve their necessitie, and God shall reward your good minde and diligence." The same author gives us a peculiar use of the apple which may be interesting to some who never before associated pomatum with the products of the orchard. He recommends apples as a cosmetic. "There is made an ointment with the pulp of apples, and swine's grease and rose water, which is used to beautify the face and to take away the roughness of the skin; it is called in shops pomatum, of the apples whereof it is made."6 When speaking of the importance of grafting to increase the number of trees of any good variety, Virgil advises to

So high an estimate did Pliny have of this fruit, that he asserted that "there are apples that have ennobled the countries from whence they came, and many apples have immortalized their first founders and inventors. Our best apples will immortalize their first grafters forever; such as took their names from Manlius, Cestius, Matius, and Claudius."—Of the Quince apple, he says, that came of a quince being grafted upon the apple stock, which "smell like the quince, and were called Appiana, after Appius, who was the first that practiced this mode of grafting. Some are so red that they resemble blood, which is caused by their being grafted upon the mulberry stock. Of all the apples, the one which took its name from Petisius, was the most excellent for eating, both on account of its sweetness and its agreeable flavor." Pliny mentions twenty-nine kinds of apples cultivated in Italy, about the commencement of the Christian Era.7

Alas! for human vanity and apple glory! Where are now these boasted sorts, upon whose merits the immortality of their inventors and first grafters was to depend? They have disappeared from our lists to give place to new favorites, to some of which, perhaps, we are disposed to award an equally high meed of praise, that will again be ignored in a few fleeting years, when higher skill and more scientific applications of knowledge shall have produced superior fruit to any of those we now prize so highly; and this is a consummation to which we may all look forward with pleasure.

In this country the large majority of our favorite fruits, of whatever species or kind, seem to have originated by accident, that is, they have been discovered in seedling orchards, or even in hedge-rows. These have no doubt, however, been produced by accidental crosses of good kinds, and this may occur through the intervention of insects in any orchard of good fruit, where there may chance to be some varieties that have the tendency to progress. The discoveries of Linnæus, and his doctrine of the sexual characters of plants, created quite a revolution in botany, and no doubt attracted the attention of Lord Bacon, who was a close observer of nature, for he ventured to guess that there might be such a thing as crossing the breeds of plants, when he says:—"The compounding or mixture of kinds in plants is not found out, which, nevertheless, if it be possible, is more at command than that of living creatures; wherefore it were one of the most noteable experiments touching plants to find it out, for so you may have great variety of new fruits and flowers yet unknown. Grafting does it not, that mendeth the fruit or doubleth the flowers, etc., but hath not the power to make a new kind, for the scion ever overruleth the stock." In which last observation he shows more knowledge and a deeper insight into the hidden mysteries of plant-life than many a man in our day, whose special business it is to watch, nurse, and care for these humble forms of existence.

Bradley, about a century later, in 1718, is believed to have been the first author who speaks of the accomplishment of cross-breeding, which he describes as having been effected by bringing together the branches of different trees when in blossom. But the gardeners of Holland and the Netherlands were the first to put it into practice.8

The following extract is given to explain the manner in which Mr. Knight conducted his celebrated experiments on fruits, which rewarded him with some varieties that were highly esteemed:—"Many varieties of the apple were collected which had been proved to afford, in mixtures with each other, the finest cider. A tree of each was then obtained by grafting upon a Paradise stock, and these trees were trained to a south wall, or if grafted on Siberian crab, to a west wall, till they afforded blossoms, and the soil in which they were planted was made of the most rich and favorable kind. Each blossom of this species of fruit contains about twenty chives or males (stamens,) and generally five pointals or females (pistils,) which spring from the center of the cup or cavity of the blossom. The males stand in a circle just within the bases of the petals, and are formed of slender threads, each of which terminates in an anther. It is necessary in these experiments that both the fruit and seed should attain as large a size and as much perfection as possible, and therefore a few blossoms only were suffered to remain on each tree. As soon as the blossoms were nearly full-grown, every male in each was carefully extracted, proper care being taken not to injure the pointals; and the blossoms, thus prepared, were closed again, and suffered to remain till they opened spontaneously. The blossoms of the tree which it was proposed to make the male parent of the future variety, were accelerated by being brought into contact with the wall, or retarded by being detached from it, so that they were made to unfold at the required period; and a portion of their pollen, when ready to fall from the mature anthers, was during three or four successive mornings deposited upon the pointals of the blossoms, which consequently afforded seeds. It is necessary in this experiment that one variety of apple only should bear unmutilated blossoms; for, where other varieties are in flower at the same time, the pollen of these will often be conveyed by bees to the prepared blossoms, and the result of the experiment will in consequence be uncertain and unsatisfactory." * * *

In his Pomona Herefordiensis, he says:—"It is necessary to contrive that the two trees from which you intend to raise the new kind, shall blossom at the same time; therefore, if one is an earlier sort than the other, it must be retarded by shading or brought into a cooler situation, and the latest forwarded by a warm wall or a sunny position, so as to procure the desired result."

We must distinguish between hybrids proper and crosses, as it were between races or between what may have been erroneously designated species, for there has been a great deal of looseness in the manner of using these terms by some writers. A true hybrid9 is produced only when the pollen of one species has been used to fertilize the ovules of another, and as a general rule these can only be produced between plants which are very nearly allied, as between species of the same genus. Even such as these, however, cannot always be hybridized, for we have never found a mule or hybrid between the apple and pear, the currant and gooseberry, nor between the raspberry and blackberry, though each of these, respectively, appear to be very nearly related, and they are all of the order Rosaceæ.

In hybrids there appears to be a mixture of the elements of each, and the characters of the mule or cross will depend upon one or the other, which it will more nearly resemble. True hybrids are mules or infertile, and cannot be continued by seed, but must be propagated by cuttings, or layers, or grafting. If not absolutely sterile at first, they become so in the course of the second or third generation. This is proved by several of our flowering plants that have been wonderfully varied by ingenious crossing of different species. But it has been found that the hybrid may be fertilized by pollen taken from one of its parents, and that then the offspring assumes the characters of that parent.10

Natural hybrids do not often occur, though in diœcious plants, this seems to have been the case with willows that present such an intricate puzzle to botanists in their classification, so that it has become almost impossible to say what are the limits and bounds of some of the species. Hybrids are, however, very frequently produced by art, and particularly among our flowering plants, under the hands of ingenious gardeners. Herbert thinks, from his observations, "that the flowers and organs of reproduction partake of the characters of the female parent, while the foliage and habit, or the organs of vegetation, resemble the male."

Simply crossing different members of the same species, like the crossing of races in animal life, is not always easily accomplished; but we here find much less difficulty, and we do not produce a mule progeny. In these experiments the same precautions must be taken to avoid the interference of natural agents in the transportation of pollen from flower to flower; but this process is now so familiar to horticulturists, that it scarcely needs a mention. In our efforts with the strawberry, some very curious results have occurred, and we have learned that some of the recognized species appear under this severe test to be well founded, as the results have been infertile. Where the perfection of the fruit depends upon the development of the seed, this is a very important matter to the fruit-grower; but fortunately this is not always the case, for certain fruits swell and ripen perfectly, though containing not a single well developed seed. It would be an interesting study to trace out those plants which do furnish a well developed fleshy substance or sarcocarp, without the true seeds. Such may be found occasionally in the native persimmon, in certain grapes, and in many apples; but in the strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry, the berry which constitutes our desirable fruit, never swells unless the germs have been impregnated and the seeds perfect. In the stone-fruits the stone or pit is always developed, but the enclosed seed is often imperfect from want of impregnation or other cause—and yet the fleshy covering will sometimes swell and ripen.

One of the most successful experimenters in this country is Doctor J.P. Kirtland, near Cleveland, Ohio, whose efforts at crossing certain favorite cherries, were crowned with the most happy results, and all are familiar with the fruits that have been derived from his crosses. The details of his applying the pollen of one flower to the pistils of another are familiar to all intelligent readers, and have been so often set forth, that they need not be repeated in this case—great care is necessary to secure the desired object, and to guard against interference from causes that would endanger or impair the value of the results.

Van Mons' theory was based upon certain assumptions and observations, some of which are well founded, others are not so firmly established. He claimed correctly that all our best fruits were artificial products, because the essential elements for the preservation of the species in their natural condition, are vigor of the plant and perfect seeds for the perpetuation of the race. It has been the object of culture to diminish the extreme vigor of the tree so as to produce early fruitage, and at the same time to enlarge and to refine the pulpy portion of the fruit. He claimed, as a principle, that our plants of culture had always a tendency to run back toward the original or wild type, when they were grown from seeds. This tendency is admitted to exist in many cases, but it is also claimed, that when a break is once made from the normal type, the tendency to improve may be established. Van Mons asserted that the seeds from old trees would be still more apt to run back toward the original type, and that "the older the tree, the nearer will the seedlings raised from it approach the wild state," though he says they will not quite reach it. But the seeds from a young tree, having itself the tendency to melioration, are more likely to produce improved sorts.

He thinks there is a limit to perfection, and that, when this is reached, the next generation will more probably produce bad fruit than those grown from an inferior sort, which is on the upward road of progression. He claims that the seeds of the oldest varieties of good fruit yield inferior kinds, whereas those taken from new varieties of bad fruit, and reproduced for several generations, will certainly give satisfactory results in good fruit.

He began with seeds from a young seedling tree, not grafted upon another stock; he cared nothing for the quality of the fruit, but preferred that the variety was showing a tendency to improvement or variation. These were sowed, and from the plants produced, he selected such as appeared to him to have evidence of improvement, (it is supposed by their less wild appearance), and transplanted them to stations where they could develop themselves. When they fruited, even if indifferent, if they continued to give evidence of variation, the first seeds were saved and planted and treated in the same way. These came earlier into fruit than the first, and showed a greater promise. Successive generations were thus produced to the fourth and fifth, each came into bearing earlier than its predecessor, and produced a greater number of good varieties, and he says that in the fifth generation they were nearly all of great excellence. He found pears required the longest time, five generations; while the apple was perfected in four, and stone fruits in three.

Starting upon the theory that we must subdue the vigor of the wilding to produce the best fruits, he cut off the tap roots when transplanting and shortened the leaders, and crowded the plants in the orchard or fruiting grounds, so as to stand but a few feet apart. He urged the "regenerating in a direct line of descent as rapidly as possible an improving variety, taking care that there be no interval between the generations. To sow, re-sow, to sow again, to sow perpetually, in short to do nothing but sow, is the practice to be pursued, and which cannot be departed from; and, in short, this is the whole secret of the art I have employed." (Arbres Fruitiers.)

Who else would have the needed patience and perseverance to pursue such a course? Very few, indeed—especially if they were not very fully convinced of the correctness of the premises upon which this theory is founded. Mr. Downing thinks that the great numbers of fine varieties of apples that have been produced in this country, go to sustain the Van Mons doctrine, because, as he assumes, the first apples that were produced from seeds brought over by the early emigrants, yielded inferior fruit which had run back toward the wild state, and the people were forced to begin again with them, and that they most naturally pursued this very plan, taking seeds from the improving varieties for the next generations and so on. This may have been so, but it is mere assumption—we have no proof, and, on the contrary, our choice varieties have so generally been conceded to have been chance seedlings, that there appears little evidence to support it—on the contrary, some very fine varieties have been produced by selecting the seeds of good sorts promiscuously, and without regarding the age of the trees from which the fruit was taken. Mr. Downing himself, after telling us that we have much encouragement to experiment upon this plan of perfecting fruits, by taking seeds from such as are not quite ripe, gathered from a seedling of promising quality, from a healthy young tree (quite young,) on its own root, not grafted, and that we "must avoid 1st, the seeds of old trees; 2d, those of grafted trees; 3d, that we must have the best grounds for good results"—still admits what we all know, that "in this country, new varieties of rare excellence are sometimes obtained at once by planting the seeds of old grafted varieties; thus the Lawrence Favorite and the Columbia Plums were raised from seeds of the Green Gage, one of the oldest European varieties."

Let us now look at an absolute experiment conducted avowedly upon the Van Mons plan in our own country, upon the fertile soil of the State of Illinois, and see to what results it led:—

The following facts have been elicited from correspondence with H.P. Brayshaw, of Du Quoin, Illinois. The experiments were instituted by his father many years ago, to test the truth of the Van Mons' theory of the improvement of fruits by using only the first seeds.

Thirty-five years ago, in 1827, his father procured twenty-five seedling trees from a nursery, which may be supposed to have been an average lot, grown from promiscuous seed. These were planted, and when they came into bearing, six of them furnished fruit that might be called "good" and of these, "four were considered fine." One of the six is still in cultivation, and known as the Illinois Greening. Of the remainder of the trees, some of the fruits were fair, and the rest were worthless, and have disappeared.

Second Generation.—The first fruits of these trees were selected, and the seeds were sown. Of the resulting crop, some furnished fruit that was "good," but they do not appear to have merited much attention.

Third Generation.—From first seeds of the above, one hundred trees were produced, some of which were good fruit, and some "even fine," while some were very poor, "four or five only merited attention." So that we see a retrogression from the random seedlings, furnishing twenty-five per cent, of good fruit, to only four or five per cent. in the third generation, that were worthy of note.

Fourth Generation.—A crop of the first seed was again sown, producing a fourth generation; of these many were "good culinary fruits," none, or very few being of the "poorest class of seedlings," none of them, however, were fine enough "for the dessert."

Fifth Generation.—This crop of seedlings was destroyed by the cut-worms, so that only one tree now remains, but has not yet fruited. But Mr. Brayshaw appears to feel hopeful of the results, and promises to continue the experiment.

Crops have also been sown from some of these trees, but a smaller proportion of the seedlings thus produced were good fruits, than when the first seeds were used—this Mr. Brayshaw considers confirmatory evidence of the theory, though he appears to feel confidence in the varieties already in use, most of which had almost an accidental origin.

He thinks the result would have been more successful had the blossoms been protected from impregnation by other trees, and recommends that those to be experimented with should be planted at a distance from orchards, so as to avoid this cross-breeding, and to allow of what is called breeding in-and-in. If this were done, he feels confident that "the seedlings would more nearly resemble the parent, and to a certain extent would manifest the tendency to improvement, and that from the earliest ripened fruits, some earlier varieties would be produced, from those latest ripening, later varieties, from those that were inferior and insipid, poor sorts would spring, and that from the very best and most perfect fruits we might expect one in one thousand, or one-tenth of one per cent., to be better than the parent." This diminishes the chance for improvement to a beautifully fine point upon which to hang our hopes of the result of many generations of seedlings occupying more than a lifetime of experiments.

Mr. Brayshaw, citing some of the generally adopted axioms of breeders of animals, assumes that crosses, as of distinct races, will not be so likely to produce good results, as a system of breeding in-and-in, persistently carried out. This plan he recommends, and alludes to the quince and mulberry as suitable species to operate upon, because in them there are fewer varieties, and therefore less liability to cross-breeding, and a better opportunity for breeding in-and-in. He also reminds us of the happy results which follow the careful selection of the best specimens in garden flowers and vegetables, combined with the rejection of all inferior plants, when we desire to improve the character of our garden products, and he adopts the views of certain physiologists, which, however, are questioned by other authorities, to the effect that violent or decided crosses are always followed by depreciation and deterioration of the offspring.

The whole communication referring to these experiments, which are almost the only ones, so far as I know, which have been conducted in this country to any extent, to verify or controvert the Van Mons' theory, is very interesting, but it is easy to perceive that the experimenter, though apparently very fair, and entirely honest, has been fully imbued with the truth and correctness of the proposition of Van Mons, that the first ripened seed of a natural plant was more likely to produce an improved variety, and that this tendency to improvement would ever increase, and be most prominent in the first ripened seeds of successive generations grown from it.

The theory of Van Mons I shall not attempt in this place to controvert, but will simply say that nothing which has yet come under my observation has had a tendency to make me a convert to the avowed views of that great Belgian Pomologist, while, on the contrary, the rumors of his opponents, that he was really attempting to produce crosses from some of the best fruits, as our gardeners have most successfully done in numerous instances, in the beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables of modern horticulture, have always impressed me with a color of probability, and if he were not actually and intentionally impregnating the blossoms with pollen of the better varieties, natural causes, such as the moving currents of air, and the ever active insects, whose special function in many instances appears to be the conveyance of pollen, would necessarily cause an admixture, which, in a promiscuous and crowded collection, like the "school of Van Mons," would at least have an equal chance of producing an improvement in some of the resulting seeds.

The whole subject of variation in species, the existence of varieties, and also of those partial sports, which may perhaps be considered as still more temporary variations from the originals, than those which come through the seeds, is one of deep interest, well worthy of our study, but concerning which we must confess ourselves as yet quite ignorant, and our best botanists do not agree even as to the specific distinctions that have been set up as characters of some of our familiar plants, for the most eminent differ with regard to the species of some of our common trees and plants.