72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



by and by it all disappears, and the plant appears before you 

 simply as an object of beauty, having no power to reproduce 

 its kind. Having lost this power, it is no benefit to its 

 species. It is a draft upon this plant, and therefore it is 

 an injury to the individual. So far as the plant-life is con- 

 cerned, the machinery is all out of order, because here we 

 have material taken out of the wood and leaf, and put into 

 this form, — of no sort of use to the plant itself, of no sort of 

 use to the species, because it cannot produce seed. 



But did you ever see any plant whose flower could be 

 made perfectly double, that could not be propagated in other 

 ways than by seed, — by root, by stem, by bud, or graft ? You 

 have annual plants that you call double ; but, when you ex- 

 amine them, you will find that they are not perfectly double. 

 Take those plants you can carry along on the line of beauty 

 until you have completely wiped out the stamens and pistils, 

 and you may be sure, that, when you have done that, you 

 have gone as far as you can go ; and, if you want to propa- 

 gate such plants, it must be by some of the methods I have 

 mentioned, — by budding, layering, grafting, or some process 

 other than the seed. 



Take an apple, for instance. What is the use of its pulp ? 

 Every one says at once, " The soft part of the apple is to cover 

 the seed." Certainly. But, then, just look at our apple-trees, 

 and see how large the delicious pulp is, compared with what 

 is needed to protect the seed. And do you not know, also, 

 that, when apples and pears become so large and delicious, 

 their seeds are not as large or fully developed, and very 

 likely there may be less of them? And so of the grape. 

 How far can this increase of pulp be carried? You know 

 that some oranges have no seeds. I presume we should find 

 plenty of seeds in these oranges. But some of the nicest 

 oranges from Fayal, and other places, have not a seed in them. 

 The process in them has been carried so far, that you have 

 simply a great globe of delicious pulp, with hardly a vestige 

 of seed. In some grapes this process has been carried so far, 

 that you have a mass of delicious fruit, and not a seed in it. 

 You have carried this process, in that sort, as far as you can 

 carry it. Here, for instance, is a Fayal orange-tree, loaded 

 with delicious fruit : what does it mean ? It began by mean- 

 ing good to its species, as well as to the animal kingdom. 



