articularly the red-streak. This 
apple, he informs us, was raised 
rom seed by lord Scudamore in the 
eginning of the last century.* We 
ave many trees of it, but they ap- 
ear to have been in a state of de- 
ay during the last. forty years. 
3ome others mentioned by him are 
n a-much better state of vegetation ; 
ut they have all ceased to deserve 
he attention of the planter. The 
lurability of the pear is probably 
omething more than double that of 
the apple. 
It has been ntoagked by Evelyn, 
nd by almost every writer since, on 
the subject of planting, that the 
growth of plants raised {rom seeds 
yas more rapid, and that they pro- 
duced better trees than those obtain- 
ed from layers or cuttings. This 
seems to point out some kind of de- 
cay attending the latter modes of 
propagation, though the custom in 
the public nurseries of taking layers 
from stools (trees cropped annual- 
ly close to the ground) probably re- 
tards its effects, as each plant rises 
immediately from the root of the 
parent stock. 
Were a tree capable of affording 
an eternal succession of healthy 
plants from its roots, I think our 
woods must have been wholly over- 
run with those species of trees 
which propagate in this manner, as 
those scions from the roots always 
grow in the first three or four years 
with much greater rapidity than 
seedling plants. An aspin is seldom 
seen without a thousand suckers ris- 
ing from its roots; yet this tree is 
thinly, though universally, scattered 
over the wood-lands of this country. 
I can speak from experience that 
the luxuriance and excessive disposi- 
USEFUL PROJECTS, 
[*9t 
tion to extend itself in another plant 
which propagates itself from the 
root, (the raspberry), decline in 
twenty years from the seed, The 
common elm being always propaga- 
ted from scions or layers, and grow- 
ing with luxuriance, seems to form 
an exception ; but as some varieties 
grow much better than others, it 
appears not improbable that the 
most healthy are thosé which have 
last been obtained from seed. The 
different degrees of health in our 
peach and nectarine trees may, I 
think, arise from the same source. 
The oak is much more long-lived 
in the north of Europe than here ; 
though its timber is less durable, 
from the numerous pores attending 
its slow growth. The climate of 
this country being colder than its 
native, may, in the same way, add 
to the durability of the elm; which 
may possibly be farther increased by 
its not. producing seeds in this cli- 
mate, as the life of many annuals 
may be increased to twice its natue 
ral period, if not more, by prevent- 
ing their seeding. 
I have been induced to say a great 
deal more on this subject than, I 
fear, you will think it deserves, from 
a conviction that immense advan- 
tages would arise from the cultiva~ 
tion of the pear and apple in other 
counties, and that the ill success 
which has attended any efforts to 
propagate them, has arisen from the 
use of worn out and diseased kinds. 
Their cultivation is ill understood 
in this country, and worse practised ; 
yet an acre of ground, fully planted, 
frequently affords an average pro- 
duce of more than five hundred 
gallons of liquor, with a tolerably 
good crop of grass; and I have not 
* Probably about the year 1634, 
the 
