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impression has seemed to be, that seedlings were quite, too tough — most 

 unnecessarily and inconveniently thorny and rugged ! 



The ultimate issue no doubt is between seeds and buds — the rough, 

 hardy product of the one and the smooth, tender, rapid growth of the 

 other — Avhich aflbrd the best foundation or vital centres to work from ? 



With regard to the seed it is nature's primal, chosen method of repro- 

 duction, the perfect embryo of a new, perfect individual ; nothing second 

 hand or second rate, or factitious or adventitious about it ; it is not one 

 of many parts of a tree given to manufacture the rest, but all parta 

 reduced, embodied and pledged to reproduce the whole. In examining 

 the seed more closely, we find one part designed for the radicle which is 

 first developed; then another designed for the stem, and that these parts 

 are utterly distinct, not interchangeable, a most significant fact. Each 

 part then must remain by itself, each for its own element and yet each 

 dependant on the other. And here, at the point of union, if anywhere, 

 is the life of the tree, the very seat of vitality, that common centre from 

 which all other parts radiate, and which, therefore, if any part, is indis- 

 pensable. 



That buds possess a species of vitality, and are capable of indefinite, 

 and in some cases, profitable extension or multiplication, is undeniable. 

 Still it must be from the very nature of things, an inferior, dependent 

 process. There is no real reproduction, no internal renewal of life or 

 vigor, or individuality ; but merely a sort of polypus-like increase with, 

 as I must think, a decided tendency (at least among the more important 

 varities of fruits) in every successive generation, to lose a portion of its 

 original reproductive energy, unless that tendency be counteracted by 

 working on strong, seedling stocks. 



The crowning effort of nature is reproduction ; but man has interfered 

 and diverted her energies in part from the formation of the most and 

 best seeds, to the production of fine flowers or fruits, making every other 

 consideration secondary. The consequence is, that some of our choicest 

 fruits and flowers have almost no seeds and are themselves few and fee- 

 ble. Observe the wonderful productiveness of — we had almost said — 

 whatever is not cultivated ; but compare the products of the original 

 types of our fruits and flowers with those of the choice varieties, though 

 none but the most productive are selected for propagation. No one can 

 for a moment doubt that this seed-bearing propensity, which thus under- 

 lies our whole system of horticultural production, is decidedly the 



