OK F*UIT TREE«. Qgl 



m the parifti of Ecloe, on the banks of the Severn ; and, about F^fls refpeain^ 

 r r r ' . 1 r . . • engrafted fruits, 



fixtj' or leventy years ago, many Icions were taken trom this their degree of 



tree by Mr. Bellamy, and engrafted on feedling flocks about pcrmaucncc, &ca 

 Rofs. Thefe are now grown old ; and, to afcertaln the age 

 of the variety, 1 went with Charles Edwin, Elq. to Ecloes, 

 in hopes of feeing the primogenious of this family. The 

 proprietor of the efiate acquainted Mr. Edwin that it had 

 cea(ed to bear years ago, and was cut down. Thole at Ro(s 

 are but poor bearers now, and 1 fliould fuppofe the variety 

 muft be 14^) years old, though Marftiall, who wrote in the 

 year J 7 86, mentions thefe trees were prolific, and he fuppofcs 

 the fort to be about eighty years old ; but, from prelent ex- 

 perience, it muft be much more. The Tinton Squafti-pear 

 is of Glouceftecfliire; the Barland and Old-field were near 

 Ledbury, Herefordihire. The two laft pears clearly bear the 

 names of the two fields where they were raifed. The Bar- 

 land fell about fix years ago, vifibly from weight and longe- 

 vity, which was fuppofed to l?ave been about 200 years. 

 There had beeif many other names of efiimation handed down 

 to us, though the realities are now totally worn out, and have 

 ceafed to exili. Can any better proof be defired, that en- 

 jjjrafted fruits are not permanent, then the regret we feel for 

 the lofs of thefe old valuable fruits. t 



To make my paper as fliort as convenient, I have dwelt 

 only on the apple and pear ; yet all the engrafted fruits are 

 under the fame predicament of the feed not producing its like, 

 and the ofifspring in time falling into a nothingnefs of growth 

 and bearing, though that fpace of time muft certainly depend 

 on the natural longevity and hardnefs of the fort, foil, pofition, 

 care, &c. All thefe are more fully exprelTed in the papers 

 publiflied in the different volumes of the Tranfadions of this 

 Society, and the two volumes of the Orchardift, wherein the 

 4?vhole fyftem is extended, to form a rational culture ibr the 

 management of Standard Fruits. 



It fliould be remembered, that as I am now alluding to tlie 

 flate of adual permanency, fifty years are to be accounted as 

 nothing; and as often as we come to that point, we are com- 

 pelled to refort to our firft affertion, ** That engrafted fruits 

 are not permanent, they being continued from elongations, 

 and not raifed as a repetition of feeds." This is the only 



rational 



