78 Elementary Species 



two or three generations, and a man's life is 

 wholly sufficient to produce in this way many 

 new types of the very best sorts, as van Mons 

 himself has done. It is done in the usual way, 

 sowing on a large scale and selecting the best, 

 which are in their turn brought to an early 

 maturation of their fruit by grafting, because 

 thereby the life from seed to seed may be re- 

 duced to a few years. 



Form, taste, color, flavor and other valuable 

 marks of new varieties are the products of 

 nature, says van Mons, only texture, fleshiness 

 and size are added bv man. And this is done in 

 each new variety by the same method and ac- 

 cording to the same laws. The richness of the 

 cultivated apples of the present day was al- 

 ready present in the large range of original 

 wild elementary species, though unobserved 

 and requiring improvement. 



An interesting proof of this principle is af- 

 forded by the experience of Mr. Peter M. 

 Gideon, as related by Bailey. Gideon sowed 

 large quantities of apple-seeds, and one seed 

 produced a new and valuable variety called by 

 him the ^ ' Wealthy ' ' apple. He first planted a 

 bushel of apple-seeds, and then every year, for 

 nine years, planted enough seeds to produce 

 a thousand trees. At the end of ten years all 

 seedlings had perished except one hardy seed- 



