DURATION OF VARIETIES OF PLANTS. 



their course in a few hours or days, the life of others extends beyond a century, but the 

 end of all is death. So of plants: some spring into existence, fructify and die within a 

 week ; the life of others is limited to five or six months ; and so the period of existence gra- 

 dually extends until we come to the monarchs of the forest, which may boast of a life of 

 one thousand years and upwards. But because they have lived so long, are we then to 

 conclude that there is no limit to their existence, that they form an exception to all other 

 organic beings, and that they can never sulBfer decay through the infirmities of age? 

 Most assuredly not. A more unwise or inconsistent supposition never entered into the 

 mind of man . The lordly oak labors under the same irrevocable decree as the humble 

 weed, — dust they are, and unto dust they must return. 



As a set off to Knight's experiments on the apple and pear, some instances are cited 

 by Dr. Lindlet, of cultivated plants having been propagated by division a considerable 

 time, without wearing out. The white buttery pears of France are said to have been pro- 

 pagated by division, from time immemorial, and exhibit no trace of debility. I am not 

 acquainted with the history of the white buttery pears of France, and cannot, therefore, 

 say what value is due to this statement. I may observe, however, that it is anything but 

 satisfactory or conclusive evidence. French writers might with equal truth say that white 

 heart cherries, or pink-eyed potatoes, had been cultivated in England from time immemo- 

 rial. There are, and have been, however, many varieties of these plants known by these 

 names; and as the duration of the pear is supposed to be somewhere about four hundred 

 years, possibly this period, even supposing one variety only has been known to French 

 writers under that name, is amply sufficient to constitute a " time immemorial." My de- 

 sire, however, is to arrive at the truth, and if your knowledge of fruits, Mr. Editor, will 

 enable you to confirm the accuracy of Lindley 's statement, let him have the benefit of your 

 knowledge. 



Dr. Lindley further remarks, that " some vines which are supposed to have been in 

 existence, in the days of Columella, have been transmitted by division to the present 

 day." The fact that varieties of the vine had been propagated by cuttings a considerable 

 time, was the chief reason advanced many years ago by Loudon, to prove that Mr. 

 Knight's views were erroneous, and when I considered the spirit in which the objections 

 seemed to have been penned, and the extent of Loudon's knowledge of garden history, it 

 tended in no small degree, to convince me that truth was on the side of Mr. Knight; for 

 even supposing the conjecture is true, that some vines of the present day are the same va- 

 rieties mentioned by Columella, surely an impartial inquirer after truth, must be ready 

 to confess that this seemingly formidable objection is, in reality, no objection whatever, 

 seeing that the vine is one of the longest lived plants known; nay, so long will individual 

 plants of the vine live, that Loudon says, " the age which the vine will attain in warm 

 climates, is so great as not to be known; it is supposed to equal or surpass the oak." If 

 this be so, then there is obviously nothing improbable in the supposition that a plant of 

 the vine living in the days of Columella might, if not destroyed by violence be living 

 now; it is, therefore, perfectly consistent with Mr. Knight's hypothesis, that varieties of 

 the vine mentioned by Columella, may have been continued by division to the present 

 day. And yet because varieties of this long lived plant have been propagated by cuttings 

 during centuries, we are required to believe that varieties of the potato, and other short- 

 lived plants, propagated in like manner, do not wear out and become feeble in consequence 

 of age, but that with due care, they may be made to live forever!* John Townley. 



* To be coHiitinued. 



