NOTES ON THE WEARING OUT OF VARIETIES. 



extension; therefore, acccording to this new philosophy, we raust have nothing to do with 

 them. 



In conclusion, Mr. Editor, I would advise your readers to propagate good old varieties 

 of the apple by extension, as they used to do — get fat on the fruit, and not get frightened 

 before they are hurt. Yours, &c. A. Marshall. 



Remarks. — This is a very interesting question — the duration of varieties — and one 

 which we shall be glad to see discussed by practical men in our columns. 



It is not a little curious that a variety that is considered to be worn-out by cultivators 

 in an old and long settled part of a country, if taken to a new country, or now soil well 

 adapted to it, will immediately resume all its original vigor. This has been lately illus- 

 trated by potatoes of old and favorite sorts, that could with difficulty be preserved from 

 the rot in this part of the United States, but which, taken to California and planted, pro- 

 duced immense crops of potatoes, of very large size and unrivalled excellence, entirely 

 free from rot, and showing all the habit of the most healthy new variety. It would ap- 

 pear from such facts as these, (which have given rise to the practice ao well known among 

 farmers and gardeners of " changing seed,") that the variety wears out the soil where it 

 is grown before it becomes decrepid in itself. 



Mr. Loudon, in the Suburban Horticulturist, the work on gardening which he publish- 

 ed just before his death, gave an excellent expose of the different views on this subject in 

 the following paragraph. 



All the' plants of a variety which have been procured by division, for example all the 

 plants of any particular variety of grape, apple, or potato, being in fact, only parts of one 

 individual, it has been argued by Mr. Knight, that when the parent plant dies, all the 

 others must die also; or to put the doctrine in a more general form, that all varieties are 

 of but limited duration. This opinion, though it has been adopted by many persons, has 

 not met with the approbation of Professor De Candolle, who says that the permanence 

 of the duration of varieties, so long as man wishes to take care of them, is evident from 

 the continued existence of varieties the most ancient of those which have been described 

 in books. By negligence, or by a series of bad seasons, they may become diseased, like 

 some of our varieties of apple or potato; but by careful culture they may be restored, and 

 retained, to all appearance, for ever. We are not sure that De Candolle's theory will 

 hold good with the finest fruits and florist's flowers. The .species might be recovered, but 

 we question whether in manj^ instances that will be the case with the varietj'. Perhaps a 

 hypothesis might be devised which would coincide with both authorities. It would coin- 

 cide with that of De Candolle, if Mr. Knight had spoken with reference to actually wild 

 varieties only; but with regard to improved varieties, as they are understood in a horti- 

 cultural point of view, they are doubtless prone to decay, in proportion to their degree of 

 departure from the physiological perfection which enables the wild variety to maintain it- 

 self continually on the surface of the globe, independent of the care of man. A wild va- 

 riety will produce seed under favorable circumstances, but many highl}- improved varie- 

 ties, in a horticUUural sense, do not perfectly mature their seeds under any circumstances 

 whatever; and, therefore, must be physiologically imperfect, and being so, a priori, if it 

 be admitted that imperfection is a principle of decay, it will not be denied, that no plant 

 imperfectly constituted can carry on its functions but for a more or less limited time, even 

 under the most favorable circumstances. 



