MICHIGAX STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 193 



ness, and in the appearance and quality of its fruit, often pre- 

 sents the idea that in consequence of some particular method 

 of propagation its character has been changed, and that this 

 changed condition is permanently becoming an inferior variety 

 of the original sort, or an improvement thereon, while the real 

 cause of this variation should be attributed to intelligent cul- 

 tivation on the one hand, or neglected culture on the other. 

 The permanency of its improved condition is entirely depend- 

 ent upon the circumstances of its growth and the manner of 

 the cultivation it will hereafter receive. 



It is thought by many that the difierent varieties of fruit 

 trees may be caused to become more hardy from being worked 

 on particular stocks, or that a permanent improvement may 

 be effected by careful cultivation of scions from the trees that 

 produce the finest fruit in the greatest abundance, and that by 

 a faithful observance of these particulars, great and permanent 

 changes may be effected, producing distinct sub-varieties of 

 the original fruits. 



A careful, candid reference to the mode of multiplying 

 improved varieties, and to the laws that govern vegetable 

 growth, will, I think, defeat this view of the case. A bud or 

 graft inserted on a growing stock bears the same relation to 

 the stock it is growing upon, as a hill of corn bears to the soil 

 in which it grows. The corn strikes its root in the ground on 

 which it stands and draws from it the plant food it needs for 

 its growth. 



The graft or bud attaches itself to the stock on which it is 

 inserted, and receives through it (the stock) from the soil the 

 rude plant food it needs for its growth also. 



The elements of fertility drawn from the soil in either case 

 is in a crude, bulky condition, wholly unfit to form vegetable 

 growth until received by the leaves and by them prepared for 

 use. 



But the corn in the ground and the graft on the stock com- 

 mence their growth under entirely different circumstances. 

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