Improvement of Edible Fruits, 273 



Seedlings of this fruit are, if we can credit what is written and 

 said of it, less inclined to depart from the properties or quali- 

 ties of the parent, than most others of our improved fruits. 

 In America, they are in common and general cultivation. No 

 trouble is bestowed in either layering (which is practicable), or 

 budding them. Sowing a quantity of the stones, they are sure 

 to pick out from among the seedlings as many good sorts as 

 they may wish to cultivate : few of these may be exactly like 

 the parent ; some may be superior, but all are passable, espe- 

 cially if the young trees have been selected by a skilful hand ; 

 and this he is enabled to do, merely from the appearance of 

 the wood and leaves. Many new sorts have lately been ob- 

 tained and brought into notice in this country ; and this facility 

 of the peach to multiply its varieties will no doubt be taken 

 advantage of by propagators. 



Of the Nectarine. — ^This, it is allowed by all writers, is 

 certainly a child of cultivation : there being no wild plant from 

 which it could be derived, except the almond. It is therefore 

 a collateral branch with, or rather of, the peach : of this no 

 better proof can be given, than the circumstance that necta- 

 rines are sometimes produced by a peach tree. It is, however, 

 a variety, as distinct in appearance as in some other of its 

 delectable qualities ; and altogether a valuable acquisition, 

 worthy its name, and a place in every collection. 



Of the Vine. — ^The value and transcendant excellence of 

 this foreign fruit is too well known to require any extended ac- 

 count in this paper ; as a native of the southern verge of the 

 northern temperate zone, it only requires its natural degree of 

 heat to bring it to perfection. The growth is luxuriant, is fer- 

 tile, easy of management, and as it requires support, obedient 

 to the trainer's will. Many excellent varieties are in our stoves 

 and vineries ; differing in hardness, size of bunches, and in 

 colour and flavour of fruit. These, it is likely, have been 

 gained from seeds ; and as its cultivation has been primaeval 

 with the inhabitants of the earth, no wonder it received, for its 

 unequalled utility, their chiefest care. The favourite sorts are 

 commonly propagated by layering, though it is capable of being 

 both grafted and budded ; and these latter modes are particu- 

 larly useful where it is wished to have different sorts on the 



