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



self of all the light shed upon this subject by others, sometimes perpetrated egregious er- 

 rors, and perhaps I never committed an error more egregious in character, or more expen- 

 sive in its consequences, than one in relation to the nature of this very fruit bud system, 

 or spermoganous force. I term this error expensive, because in adopting a practice of 

 pruning the peach and pear in conformity thereto, I lost a large part of the general crop 

 in several bearing years, Jor the v;ant of bloom. 



Anterior to about the period 1847, I was, when growing fine fruits, in the habit of thin- 

 ning the crop by removing a large portion of the fruit spurs with the fruit attached, leav- 

 ing only those bearing the sjjecimens intended to be ripened, and with the peach particu- 

 larly, by way of monstcrizing individual fruits, I reduced the whole count to a very 

 small number upon certain young trees, nor was this practice abandoned till I saw branch- 

 es of bearing trees, tluis treated, running up into a nurserj'^ growth, the " tout ensemble" 

 of which branches resembled more a thicket of young trees than a well proportioned indi- 

 vidual tree. Indeed I have been more than once mortified to see fruits treated thus, and 

 from which so much was expected, come to a perfect stand still; the whole crop of cer- 

 tain individual trees, ultimately writhing, growing yellow and dropping without maturity, 

 whilst the buds of the current season would swell and burst into active wood growth. 



These fruit spurs being in the nature of parasites, possessing and enjoying supplies 

 of food obtained at the expense of the wood system, exist in a state of antagonism there- 

 with, and holding forcible possession of the power to feed upon the general circulation, 

 they must exist in such numbers, collectively, as will enable them, as a system, to keep 

 in check the wood-growing force, the constant tendency of which is to a monopoly of the 

 whole circulation, and to a growth of over luxuriance. Although it is a maxim generally 

 received as a truth, that in sharing out p.ny given stock of supplies, the fewer the distribu- 

 tees the greater the distributive share. The functions performed by the fruit-buds col- 

 lectively as a system in this case, qualified the applicability of this maxim. When I thin- 

 ned the crop by removing the spurs up to a given point, the operation might be salutary; 

 further diminution disturbed the balance of power, and diminution carried to extremes 

 stimulated the wood growth to a luxuriance which for a time suspended the development 

 of fruit buds of a healthy character. 



Although my remarks concerning the nature of these two forces have been confined to 

 exogens, it by no means follows that a knowledge of them in other families of plants is 

 either unattainable or useless. Such knowledge is not unattainable, since among cereals 

 any experienced farmer will in early spring, long before the wheat plant has shot into 

 culm, and as far off as the eye can discern colors, pronounce upon the promise of any 

 wheatfield for a crop abounding more or less in straw or grain, as the dark green of luxu- 

 riance or the more subdued tints of moderate vigor happen to prevail; nor is it useless, 

 since thereby a definite object is set before us and we have only to seek for means suitable 

 to accomplish it — and it is somewhat remarkable as well as gratifying to the advocates of 

 book-farming to notice the harmony in principle which prevails in the prescription of 

 LouDOX, the highest English Agricultural authority, for converting an over-luxuriant 

 wheatfield into productiveness, and that of Monsieur Cappe, French Pomological authority 

 quite as high, for changing an over luxuriant wood branch into fruitfulness — the one 

 would rob the plants of their blades in April by " cutting them off tcith sheep or even 

 horses;" the other would " pinch early the soft extremities of the shoots on vigorous 

 parts." 



have thought too that Mr. Downing's strawberry problem would admit of solution on 

 inciple. Many varieties tending, in a rich light soil, to that obesity of luxuriance 



