392 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



ATTEMPTS AT ACCLIMATION. 



• 



REQUENTLY in the pages of the Canadian Horticulturist, 

 there have appeared articles advocating Darwin's theory of the 

 accHmation of plants and trees, by growing them for several gen- 

 erations in climates to which they were not adapted. Some claim 

 that the apple, or peach, can be made more hardy by growing it 

 from seed, for countless generations farther and farther north ; 

 and many attempts to carry out this theory into some practical issue, are being 

 made. Prof, Bastin, in his " Botany," goes so far as to state that all plants and 

 animals come of one common stock, viz., from " a mass of undifferentiated 

 protoplasm," whatever that may signify. But it appears to be an unproven 

 position, although very plausible in theory. 



The Country Gentleman gives a synopsis of an address by Josiah Hoopes, 

 before the Nurserymen's Convention, on this subject^ which may be of interest 

 to our readers. He says, that he instituted a series of tests with different varie- 

 ties of the peach, the trees having been procured from widely different latitudes, 

 ranging from the Gulf States to the extreme North. They were planted side by 

 side, the culture given them was precisely alike, and all controlling influences 

 were similar. But in after years there was not the least perceptible difference 

 in hardiness, or in the character or ripening of the crops. 



The many attempts which have been made to render half tender plants, 

 trees and fruits hardier, have nearly all proved partial or entire failures. Illus- 

 trations occur in the case of common vegetables. The Indian corn plant is not 

 changed in hardiness by millions of plantings or endlessly diverse treatment. 

 The first white frost in autumn cuts it. A slight apparent difference, however, 

 should not be overlooked. The small northern varieties complete their growth 

 sooner than the large southern sorts, which continue late in a more succulent 

 condition, and show some difference in the amount of harm which a frost does 

 to them ; but the character of the plant is not changed, and there will be no 

 difference whatever when both are equally mature. The potato and the tomato 

 are always killed by the first white autumnal frost, and no horticulturist has 

 been skillful enough to raise a frost-proof potato. 



The fact that trees and shrubs which ripen their growing wood are hardier, 

 and will endure the cold of succeeding. winters better, than those of late succulent 

 growth, may be taken advantage of by preventing late growth. A half-tender 

 grape vine, planted on a well-drained and rather poor soil, will endure the winter 

 better than the same vine growing late in wet and very rich ground. But no 

 change whatever is effected in the character of the variety, for let the two vines 

 change places, and they will change in growth. 



The propagation of varieties from seed sometimes, however, causes a slight 

 difference in inherent hardiness. Among apples, for example, the'Fameuse and 



