548 



VITALITY IN S1-.EDS AND PLANTS. 



change it, and ns it were compel it to give 

 birth to a variety in anj- way diflerent from 

 what it would have been without them, is 

 to my mind utterly inconceivable, and alto- 

 gether too mysterious to be received with- 

 out examination. Is not all this refining 

 process a thousand times gone through 

 with in trees, as they spring up in a state of 

 unaided nature ? In the natural state, does 

 not the fruit frequently fall off, from the 

 young trees as well as the old, and before 

 as well as after it is fully matured ? Does it 

 not always rot before the seeds find their fit 

 receptacle in the soil in order to their ger- 

 minating ? And if these things have any 

 influence " to refine or render less wild and 

 harsh the next generation," is it never at- 

 tained in the nntural way ? Do they not of- 

 ten spring up in thickets ? Are not their 

 roots often stinted by a poor soil ? Are not 

 the " leading and side branches" often crop- 

 ped by animals, and broken off by innume- 

 rable accidents to which they are subject? 

 And if so, has not all this the same ten- 

 dency to " lessen the vigor of the trees," — 

 which appears to be the sole end and aim 

 to be accomplished, — as effectually, hap- 

 pening thus in a state of nature, as if it 

 were designedly performed by the hand of 

 the most skilful operator under garden cul- 

 ture ? 



The following is from page 557 : 

 " The hardihood of any variety depends 

 greatly upon the circumstances of its origin. 

 When a new variety springs up accidentally 

 from a healthy seed in a semi-natural man- 

 ner, like the Seckel, the Dix, and other na- 

 tive sorts, it will usually prove the hardiest. 

 It is, as it were, an effort of nature to pro- 

 duce a new individual out of the materials, 

 in a progressive state, which garden culture 

 has afforded." 



In this extract, the expressions " semi- 



natural manner," and " materials, in a pro- 

 gressive slate, which garden culture has 

 afforded," appear to convey no very defi- 

 nite idea. No one, I imagine, will suppose, 

 that, had the seed that produced the Dix, 

 which sprang up in a chance place without 

 culture in the manner with which all are 

 familiar, been taken to the garden of Mr. 

 Downing at Newburgh, and been by him 

 there planted and reared into a tree under 

 his most approved culture, it would have 

 produced a variety less hardy or in any way 

 different from the one that was produced 

 by it in the manner it did grow. Such a 

 belief would be exceedingly unphilosophical. 

 A seed, though it may be imperfectly 

 developed, yet, if it is not destroyed, if its 

 vitality remains, if it grows, yea in the very 

 act of beginning to grow, it overcomes, it 

 throws off, h frees itself forever from all the 

 weakness, all the disease, and all the im- 

 perfection, if there were any, derived from 

 the parent. For what is the seed ? The 

 principle of vitality in it we can not indeed 

 comprehend. But we see it, or rather its 

 effects — we realize it — and if it is not de- 

 stroyed so that it but begins to grow, all 

 the rest that is contained within the husk 

 of the seed is only the nourishment provided 

 by the Creator, by which the new being, in 

 its first vital efforts, is to be sustained for a 

 time, and until it is capable of drawing its 

 support from the soil and from the air. And 

 whatever may have been the disease or in- 

 firmity of the parent — whatever may have 

 been the imperfection of the seed — it is only 

 in the amount and adaptation of the nourish- 

 ment it can suppl}' that it is impaired. If 

 it is incapableof supplying any nourishment 

 whatever, then, vitality in that seed is gone. 

 But, if it is capable of supplying it in any 

 quantity so as to prolong life until it can 

 reach the other sources provided for it by 



