138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



by actual proof of the fact. Meantime all the tender ones which 

 might have started in the same seed bed have perished, all the 

 feeble ones have been rejected, and neither of them will give any 

 future trouble. It is undoubtedly true that the efforts of nature 

 through the seed groxcn in a given locality are towards such a varia- 

 tion as shall be best adapted to that locality, just as it is the case 

 of Indian corn ; only more plainly in the latter case because more 

 rapidly ; we can get several generations of corn from seed before 

 an apple seed will produce its first fruit.* 



Now what are the facts regarding the fruit trees planted in later 

 years? While some have been grown as formerly, and grafted 

 after being planted out, and some have been purchased of respect- 

 able nur^^erymen at home, thousands upon thousands have been 

 planted which were grown hundreds of miles away, in a milder 

 climate, often grafted with sorts, which, however well adapted 

 to other localities, are tender or otherwise worthless in our 

 soil and climate ; and what is worse yet, frequently grafted upon 

 bits of root, and^ so possessing little vitality compared with seed- 

 lings, but being stall fed by high manuring or a naturally rich 

 soil, run up quickly into pretty trees to look at, and saleable only 

 to those who know no better than to believe the plausible stories 

 of irresponsible pedlars who hawk them over the couutrj'-. Is it 

 any wonder that a large proportion of such trees prove mere cum- 

 berers of the ground ? The remedy in this case is too obvious to 

 be dwelt upon. 



To account for the fact that some varieties of fruit have appa- 

 rently degenerated, certainly do not succeed so well now as for- 

 merly, Mr. Knight, a distinguished horticulturist of England, 

 advanced a theory which was for a time quite popular, and is yet 

 believed by some to be correct. His theory was that every seed- 

 ling tree has a natural limit to its life, that within such limit there 

 will be a period of vigor succeeded by inevitable decline, corre- 

 sponding to the increasing feebleness of old age in an animal ; also 

 that every tree that has been propagated from it, whether by layer- 

 ing or by buds or grafts, is in fact merely an extension of the original 

 seedling, and carries with it all its peculiarities and liabilities. The 



* Therefore plant seeds of j'our best fruits, and if you cannot or do not wish to 

 have all the seedling trees remain until fruiting in the natural way, take a scion 

 from such as promise best, and graft it towards the end of a limb of an old tree. It 

 will soon bear, and four fruit is thus tested at an early day. 



