WOOD-PRODUCING FORCE, &c., IN VEGETABLE LIFE. 



Dr. LiNDLET supposes — or is brought about b}'' some outward circean agency everywhere 

 present, and ready to act, under proper conditions, as the luminous raj^ of the compound 

 sunbeam, which is the theory of a certain French philosopher. 



But the propositions themselves, being admitted to be true, there are certain hints which 

 may be drawn from them as corollaries, and which will prove instructive in a high de 

 gree, to the farmer, pomologist and gardener. Two of them I propose to consider briefly 

 in the present article. 



1st. That in exogens, which include most fruit trees, the normal place of the fruit bud 

 is within the circuit of circulation, and that generally, its appearance at the extremities of 

 leading branches, is an evidence of over-fruitful ness and disability, if not disease. 



2d. That as from organization, the fruit spur system is supported out of the general cir- 

 culation, upon the jjrinciple of parasites, and maintains what is termed " the balance of 

 power," by absorbing just so much of the general circulation as prevents over-luxuriant 

 growth in the wood system — no more and no less: too great a diminution of the wood 

 spurs has a tendency to over-stimulate the wood growth. 



If we attempt to look around for evidences of the injury which trees and plants sustain, 

 where fruit buds are allowed to take possession of the extremities of the main wood 

 branches, and to cover the whole outer surface, we can hardly go astray, Avhether in the 

 orchard or garden, especially when the plantations have been of long standing. Do we 

 see the bearing branches of the gooseberry or currant bristling with thick and pointed 

 clusters of fruit buds to their very ends? If so, it may be set down as a truth, that such 

 branches are destined to perish at a day not remote. If again, we examine the pear and 

 the apple, and find the whole exterior surface of the trees covered with fruit buds and 

 fruit spurs, such a state of things is evidence of present debility, or a most pregnant sign 

 of its speedy approach; indeed whole families of fruit trees (heavj^ bearers generally,) are 

 sometimes seen to blight in this way — the wood system being stifled and supplanted by 

 these parasitic spurs, and only re-appearing amid the dying throes of the tree, under the 

 shape of "water-sprouts," in the body and large branches of the tree, where they break 

 out in clusters, not unlike those present in the peach tree when affected with " yellows." 



If one were skeptical of the doctrine of botanists, that fruit buds add nothing to the 

 wood system, it Avould be quite easy to remove such doubting by a little personal exami- 

 nation of trees upon which the fruit bud system is developed in great excess. Number- 

 less examples might be found of branches Jiot larger than rye-straws, terminated by fruit 

 buds, showing unerringly an age of three or more years, while such branches themselves 

 show no increment of Avood over and above the annual ring of the first season's growth; 

 in fact, in such cases, the order of nature seems inverted, and instead of that taper growth 

 from the trunk upward and outward, which marks and makes beautiful a tree in health, 

 those fruit spurs go on enlarging and multiplying, until the thickening and bloated masses 

 of debility darken and almost obstruct the view. 



In illustration of the second point proposed, I shall draw largely upon individual experi- 

 ence, and hope that I may state,without being thought presumptuous, that my fruit crops, for 

 some years, have presented a uniformity of appearance which has led some persons, and 

 especially the less experienced, to suppose the result ascribable to the possession on my 

 part, of some secret in the art of cultivation. I hardly need say that such is not the fact, 

 and that I have never based a hope upon any other foundation than good culture, aided by 

 a practice in pruning and training, conducted in accordance with the natural habit of each 

 genus. But in efforts to acquire a knowledge of these natural habits, (which know 

 constitutes in part the science of pomology,) I have, after having endeavored to avail 



