1856.] The Ohio Pomologieal Society. 89 



results. The first is that which the ever to he remembered Van Mons 

 practices, acd should be called his system. His method is, to go back 

 and plant the seeds of a good natural fruit ; to select from their product 

 such as bear evidence by the leaf, wood and general growth, of the sus- 

 ceptibility of an improvement in their fruit ; to encourage their fruiting 

 at as early a period as possible, by budding, or grafting on older fruit- 

 bearing trees ; to select from their first fruiting the best specimens, those 

 that are most fully developed, and plant the seed of these, selecting the 

 most perfect ones for this purpose. From the product of these, again 

 select as before, graft or bud, and so continue the process to an indefinite 

 period — each practice improving on the fruit of the last. The method 

 has proved wonderfully successful in the hands of its author; but it is 

 to be feared thas this has often been accomplished at the expense of the 

 hardiness of the tree. It should be borne in mind that there is a close 

 analogy between vegetable and animal life, as to their re-production of 

 individuals ; that the production of fruit is merely a part of the process 

 in the organization of a new being, separate and distinct from real 

 vitality, containing only its germ in the seed, which, for its existence 

 and Jinal results, is as essentially the effect of the nnion of tioo parents, 

 as the generation and hirtli of an animal If it be a fact that a con- 

 tinued breeding between the near family connections in animal life tends 

 to disease and impair the active vital functions, is it not to be presumed 

 that the same results will follow from a continued in and in breeding of 

 one branch, (brother and sister, if you please), of the same family, in 

 the re-production of any variety of fruit trees ? And does it not furnish 

 a satisfactory solution for the fre(|uent destruction of our pear trees, 

 by what is termed the fire blight? I suggest this thought for your 

 consideration. 



The other system of practice in this particular is that of hyhridizing^ 

 the crossing of difi'erent varieties and remote connections of the same 

 species, by removing the stamens from the bloom of one variety, and then 

 fertilizing or impregnating the pistils with the pollen of some other variety. 

 This has been, very appropriately, styled " Knight's Theory," in honor of 

 the eminent English Pomologist and Horticulturalist who may be said to 

 be its author, at least as applied to pears. This system, however, requires 

 the application of more practical scientific skill, to insure success, than 

 the other. It is to this system, however, in my judgment, that we must 

 look for the restoration of the hardiness of the pear-tree, that may capaci- 

 tate it to resist the rigor and to successfully combat the vicissitudes of 

 our climate. In it we find the element of control, not only over the 



