DO VARIETIES WEAR OUT? LYE 
same mode of management which was a century ago so per- 
fectly successful, is placed beyond the reach of controversy. 
Every experiment which seemed to afford the slightest pros- 
pect of success was tried by myself and others to propagate 
the old varieties of the Apple and Pear which formerly con- 
stituted the orchards of Herefordshire, without a single 
healthy or efficient tree having been obtained ; and I believe 
all attempts to propagate these varieties have, during some 
years, wholly ceased to be made.” 
To this it was replied, in that and the next generation, 
that cultivated vines have been transmitted by perpetual di- 
vision from the time of the Romans, and that several of the 
sorts, still prized and prolific, are well identified, among them 
the ancient Grecula, considered to be the modern Corinth or 
Currant grape, which has immemorially been seedless ; that 
the old Nonpareil apple was known in the time of Queen 
Elizabeth ; that the White Beurré pears of France have been 
propagated from earliest times; and that Golden pippins, 
St. Michael pears, and others said to have run out, were still 
to be had in good condition. 
Coming down to the present year,a glance through the 
proceedings of pomological societies and the debates of farm- 
ers’ clubs, bring out the same difference of opinion. The 
testimony is nearly equally divided. Perhaps the larger num- 
ber speak of the deterioration and failure of particular old 
sorts; but when the question turns on “wearing out,” the 
positive evidence of vigorous trees and sound fruits is most 
telling. A little positive testimony outweighs a good deal of 
negative. This cannot readily be explained away, while the 
failure may be, by exhaustion of soil, incoming of disease, or 
alteration of climate or circumstances. On the other hand 
it may be urged, that, if a variety of this sort is fated to be- 
come decrepit and die out, it is not bound to die out all at 
once or everywhere at the same time. It would be expected 
first to give way wherever it was weakest, from whatever 
cause. This consideration has an important bearing upon the 
final question, Are old varieties of this kind on the way to die 
out on account of their age or any inherent limit of vitality ? 
