446 



VITALITY AND LONGEVITY OF FRUIT TREES. 



or in any other part of the tree, whatever, 

 but that special part prepared by nature for 

 the express purpose of continuing the vital- 

 ity and longevity of the species. And there 

 are,~also, enough facts to suggest, at least, 

 that this original vital force in the seed dif- 

 fuses itself with the growth of the tree in the 

 manner above indicated, and to render this 

 view worthy of the careful observation and 

 attention of all naturalists and practical 

 fruit growers. For if these principles be 

 correct, it follows, of course, that every time 

 a seedling tree is divided or mutilated, 

 either in top or root, its natural life is also, 

 all other things being equal, proportionally 

 divided, mutilated or shortened. On these 

 principles, if the top of a tree be wholly cut 

 off, a sprout from the root or neck can pos- 

 sess only a part of the natural vital force or 

 longevity appropriate to that tree : and al- 

 though obvious considerations will make 

 the new shoot grow more vigorously for a 

 time, it will finally die sooner than the ori- 

 ginal unharmed tree would have done in its 

 place. But if we take nothing but a scion 

 or a piece of root, or a single bud from a 

 tree, we have only a small part of the ori- 

 ginal vital force of the seed ; and this state 

 is, at this moment, full of facts from 

 one end to the other, to show that the ac- 

 tual longevity is, in all such cases, greatly 

 diminished. The principle here maintain- 

 ed is, that every time the seedling tree is di- 

 vided, whether in root or top, its natural lon- 

 gevity and appropriate vital force, derived 

 from the seed, is proportionally divided, ab- 

 stracted and shortened ; and we fully believe 

 that some of the worst forms of hereditary, 

 and also of annual diseases, flow from a suc- 

 cession of such mutilations through a series 

 of generations, or are produced by an effort 

 of nature to resist and repair this interfe- 

 rence with her natural processes, as we 

 shall hereafter show. 



In view of these positions, two things should 

 be remembered : first, that there are trees, 

 vines and shrubs, the natural vital force of 

 whose roots, necks or trunks produced from 

 seed, is so great, that they for ages con- 

 tinue to throw up shoots, and thus continue 

 their natural life to so great a length of 

 time, that even if the same general law 

 holds in reference to them, it can never 

 probably be ascertained, or if ascertained, 

 would be of no practical importance. When 

 a shrub, or vine, or tree, has the power of 

 continuing its natural life, or of unfolding 

 the vital force of the original seed by shoots, 

 layers, or otherwise, through hundreds and 

 thousands of years, two things are true : 

 one generation of men do not live long 

 enough to ascertain whether the seedlings of 

 such plants will outlive the cuttings or lay- 

 ers taken from them, though in all proba- 

 bility they would ; and second, the short- 

 ened and mutilated life is long enough for 

 all practical purposes at least, whatever may 

 be true in theory. It is not only difficult 

 but useless to study the laws of longevity 

 of such plants, as for example are the grape, 

 currant, and many of our forest trees and 

 shrubs. But when the natural life of a val- 

 uable seed does not exceed fifty or a hun- 

 dred years, it becomes of the highest im- 

 portance to the cultivator to ascertain the 

 laws and principles upon which that life is 

 necessarily diminished and shortened, espe- 

 cially if such shortening is liable to be great, 

 and also attended by incurable hereditary 

 and chronic diseases throughout the entire 

 life of many of the thus mutilated trees. 



Suppose, for example, the natural life of 

 the apple seedling one hundred years. Sup- 

 pose that the most careful grafting or bud- 

 ding into an entire seedling stock still di- 

 minishes the natural life to seventy-five 

 years on an average : this, considering the 

 importance of the supposed change, is tole 



