268 Royal Society of Lotidon. 
experiments proving that all vegetables radicate by gravita- 
tion only, and not by any instinctive energy, were also no- 
ticed ; that new and superior speciés of apples may be pros 
dined’ from seed ; that impregnating the pollen was found 
to be an davantublous substiture for grafting ; that the authot 
has produced a new and highly valuable species of pears by 
this means ; and, finally, that in thé course of his numerous 
experiments he had produced and cultivated a new species 
. of vines, which bear grapes superior in flavour to any others 
hitherto known, and capable of arriving at perfection, even 
in the most adverse seasins, in our climate. These, and 
many other discoveries, which the learned and eloquent 
President most ably enumerated, with equal elegance and 
precision, were the reasons which induced’ the council of 
the society to award’ the Copleyan medal to Mr. Knight, 
whose successful labours in this branch of natural history 
have at'least’ equalled, if not surpassed, those of any other 
philosoplier, in developing the ceconomy of vegetation, and 
the laws of vegetable life. 
We have to regret that in this slight sketch we are un- 
able to convey any adequate idea of the elegance, spirit, 
and-phifosophical acumen of this admirable discourse, which 
far excelled those of his predecessor, the late sir John 
Pringle, bart. It is hoped that the Right Hon. President’s 
sense of public utility will overcome every other secondary 
consideration in this case, and that (contrary to his former 
practice) he will suffer his discourse, which is so important. 
to agriculture, to be laid before the public, and not confine 
it to a few fellows of thé society, who, from their habits of 
life, however conscious they may be of its merits, are yet 
incapable of facilitating the ‘practical application of the dis- 
coverics and principles which it unfolds. 
Yh the latter’, he shows that many speciés of apples, once’ highly esteemed, 
are now become extinct; and that several others have degenerated both in 
sizt and quality, especially that kind denominated pippins, which in 1629 
were represented as the largest apples then cultivated, but whicl at present ~ 
do not exceed the dimensions of the wild crab. The scion he considers as 
possessing all the diseaséd juices of the parent stock, and therefore subject to 
decay ina similar manner. 
s 
Dec. 
