638 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



of the golden pippin will 'all produce fine large- 

 leaved apple trees, bearing fruit of a considerable 

 size; but the tastes and colors of the apples from 

 each will be different, and none will be the same 

 in kind as those of the pippin itself. Some will 

 be sweet, some sour, some bitter, some mawkish, 

 some aromatic ; some yellow, some green, some 

 red, and some streaked. All the apples will, how- 

 ever, be much more perfect than those from the 

 seeds of a crab, which produce trees ail of the 

 same kind, and all bearing sour and diminutive 

 fruit. 



The power of the horticulturist extends only to 

 the multiplying excellent varieties by grafting. 

 They cannot be rendered permanent ; and the 

 good fruits at present in our gardens are the pro- 

 duce of a few seedlings, selected probably from 

 Jiundreds of thousands ; the results of great labor 

 and industry, and multiplied experiments. 



The larger and thicker the leaves of a seedling, 

 and the more expanded its blossoms, the more it 

 is likely to produce a good variety of fruit. Short- 

 leaved trees should never be selected ; for these 

 approach nearer to the original standard : whereas 

 the other qualities indicate the influence of cultiva- 

 tion. 



In the general selection of seeds, it would ap- 

 pear that those arising from the most highly cul- 

 tivated varieties of plants, are such as give the most 

 vigorous produce ; but it is necessary from time to 

 time to change, and, as it were, to cross the 

 breed. 



By applying the pollen, or dust of the stamina, 

 from one variety to the pistil of another of the 

 same species, a new variety may be easily pro- 

 duced ; and Mr. Knight's experiments seem to 

 warrant the idea that great advantages may be 

 derived from this method of propaiiation. 



Mr. Knight's large peas, produced by crossing 

 two varieties, are celebrated amongst horticul- 

 turists, and will, I hope, soon be cuhivated by 

 farmers. 



I have seen several of his crossed apples, which 

 promise to rival the bestof those which are gradu- 

 ally dying away in (he cider countries. 



And his experiments on the crossing of wheat, 

 which is very easily effected, merely by sowing 

 the different kinds together, lead to a result which 

 is of considerable importance. He says, in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for 1799. " In the 

 years 1795 and 1796, when almost the whole crop 

 of corn in the island was blighted, the varieties 

 obtained by crossing alone escaped, though sown 

 in several soils, and in very different situations." 

 The processes of gardening for increasing the 

 number of fruit-bearing branches, and for improv- 

 ing the fruit upon particular branches, will all ad- 

 mit of elucidation from the principles that have 

 been advanced in this lecture. 



By making trees espaliers, the force of gravity 

 is particularly directed towards the lateral parts of 

 the branches, and more sap determined towards 

 the fruit buds : and hence they are more likely to 

 bear when in a horizontal than when in a vertical 

 position. 



The twisting of a wire, or tying a thread round 

 a branch, has been often recommended as a means 

 of making it produce fruit. In this case the de- 

 scent of the sap in the bark must be impeded above 

 the ligature; and more nutritive matter conse- 



quently retained and applied to the expanding 

 parts. 



In engrafting, the vessels of the bark of the 

 stock and the graft cannot so perfectly come in 

 contact as the alburnous vessels, which are much 

 more numerous, and equally distributed ; hence 

 the circulation downwards is probably impeded, 

 and the tendency of the graft to evolve its fruit- 

 bearing buds increased. 



In transplanting trees, if their size is at all con- 

 siderable, they should be stripped of a portion of 

 their branches and leaves by cutting; for they 

 must in the process of removal from the soil lose 

 a great part of their roots and fine radical fibres ; 

 and supposing all their leaves remaining, they 

 would die from exhaustion of their moisture by the 

 great evaporating surface. 



By lopping trees more nourishment is supplied 

 to the remaining parts ; for the sap flows laterally 

 aa well as perpendicularly. The same reasons will 

 apply to explain the increase of the size of fruits 

 by diminishing the number upon a tree. 



As plants are capable of amelioration by peculiar 

 method? of cultivation, and of having the natural 

 term of their duration extended ; so, in conformity 

 to the general law of change, they are rendered 

 unhealthy by beingexposed to peculiarly unfavor- 

 able circumstances, and liable to permature old 

 age and decay. 



The plants of warm climates transported into 

 cold ones, or of cold ones transported into warm 

 ones, if not absolutely destroyed by the change of 

 situation, are uniformly rendered unhealthy. 



Few of the tropical plants, as is well known, 

 can be raised in this country, except in hothouses. 

 The vine during the whole of our summer may 

 be said to be in a feeble state Avith regard to health; 

 and its fruit, except in very extraordinary cases, 

 always contains a superabundance of acid. The 

 gigantic pine of the north, when transported into 

 the equatorial climates, becomes a degenerated 

 dwarf; and a great number of instances of the 

 same kind might be brought forward. 



Much has been written, and many very ingeni- 

 ous remarks have been made by different philoso- 

 phers, upon what have been called the habits of 

 plants. Thus in transplanting a tree, it dies or 

 becomes unhealthy, unless its position with respect 

 to the sun is the same as before. The seeds brought 

 from warm climates germinate here much more 

 early in the season than the same species brought 

 from cold climates. The apple-tree from Siberia,, 

 where the short summer of three months immedi- 

 ately succeeds the long winter, in England, usually 

 puts forth is blossoms in the first year of its trans- 

 plantation, on the appearance of mild weather; 

 and is often destroyed by the late frosts of the 

 spring. 



It is not difficult to explain this principle so in- 

 timately connected with the healthy or diseased 

 state of plants. The organization of the germ, 

 whether in seeds or buds, must be different, ac- 

 cording as more or less heat or alternations of 

 heat and cold have affected it during its formation; 

 and the nature of its expansion must depend 

 wholly on this organization. In a changeable cli- 

 mate the formations will have been interrupted, 

 and in different successive layers. In an equal 

 temperature they will have been uniform ; and ther 

 operation of new and sudden causes will of course 

 be severely felt. 



