GEANT DES BATAILLE3 ROSE. 



vegetable as to the animal kingdom. May not a disregard of this doctrine account for the 

 great number of feeble, sickly, early defoliated trees often found in our grounds by the 

 side of those that are vigorous, healthful, and persistent in foliage ? Is not the theory we 

 advocate as important in the production of fruit trees, as in the raising of cereal grains? 

 The skilful agriculturist saves the best seed of his various crops, and selects the best animals 

 fi-om his flocks and herds for breeders. "Why should not this law of reproduction regulate 

 the practice of the pomologist as well as of the farmer ? Has the All-wise and Infinite 

 enacted several laws Avhere one would subserve the purpose ? 



"■ To the doctrine of Van Moxs, and other distinguished writers, respecting deterioration 

 by age, and after a variety has reached its perfection, there seem to be some exceptions. 

 From the accounts of oriental travelers, may we not believe that the Grapes of Eschol are 

 as perfect now as when the chiefs of Israel plucked their rich clusters three thousand 

 years ago ? and that the same variety of the Fig, the Olive, and the Pomegranate, are as 

 perfect in Syria to-day as in the period of David and Solomon ? It is worth}' of inquiry 

 whether the native Grapes, on the banks of our rivers, have deteriorated since the day 

 when the red men of the forest refreshed themselves with fruit from those vines, and 

 Avhether the Orange, the Lemon, the Bananna, and the fruits of southern latitudes, evince 

 any more signs ot decay than they did centuries ago ? In a word, whether this doctrine 

 of deterioration is as applicable to the native as to the foreign fruit of a country ? 



" Why may we not expect to obtain natural varieties of the Apple, and other fruits, as 

 durable and far more valuable than those which have passed their second centennial, as the 

 Endicott and Stuyvesant Pears ? From meteorological or other causes which we do not 

 at present understand, particular varieties may deteriorate in a given locality, for a season, 

 and afterwards revive; or, they may show signs of decay in one locality and flourish well 

 in others not very remote, as the White Doyenne^ which has been considered, for many 

 years, by some in this vicinity, on the decline, while it is perfect in several places in Maine, 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, and other States, Fruit-bearing may exhaust the vital energy 

 of the tree, and hasten decay, but still the variety may remain. We have, among fruit 

 trees, no example of longevity equal to that of the new Taxodium, found in California, 

 supposed to be three thousand years old. Our object is not to controvert the opinions of 

 those who believe in the running out of varieties, Avhether their duration be limited to one 

 hundred or one thousand years, but to enforce the importance of raising new varieties 

 from seed, especially adapted to our own location." 



THE ROSE GEAXT DES BATAILLES, (Giant of Battles). 



In our last number we gave a drawing and description of one of the finest of all the 

 light-colored Hybrid Perpetual or Remontant Roses,, the Caroline de Sansal ; now 

 we present a portrait of the best and most brilh'ant crimson variety of the same class, 

 the Giant of Battles. It is not a new Rose now ; it has been seven or eight years 

 in cultivation, and no doubt is as well known to many of the readers of the Ilorticul- 

 tMrist, as it is to ourselves. It has been well proved to be a first rate Rose, and 

 erefore we feel safe in recommending it to every one who does not possess it, and 

 wants to add one other variety of the Remontant class to their collection. 



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