On the Cultivation of the Hydrangea. 63 



nothing sublunary, however, which possesses either animal or vegetable 

 life, is exempt from age and death. 



Within the last twenty years I have travelled many hundred miles, 

 and conversed with the most intelligent men in each county; and I now 

 want to convince mankind, for no other reason than because it is their 

 interest so to believe, that there is in creation an order of beings (en- 

 gi-afted fruits) so formed, that we have the power of muLtiplyiiig a sin- 

 gle variety, to whatever number of trees we please; that the first set 

 arises from a small seed; that the next and descendant sets are propa- 

 gated by engraftings, or from cuttings, layers, &c.; and although these 

 trees may amount to millions, yet, on the death of the primogenious or 

 parent stock, merely from old age, or nihility of growth, each individual 

 shall decline, in whatever country they maybe, or however endued with 

 youth and health. I say they shall gradually begin to decline; and in 

 the course of time or of centuries, to those who would prefer that ex- 

 pression, the whole variety will scarcely have a single tree remaining to 

 show what the fruit was. Let those who are not disposed to assent to 

 the statement, ask themselves what is become of the old lost varieties.'' 

 Did they die, or did wicked men maliciously cut them up.-" 



I, who am firmly convinced of the truth of what I have advanced on 

 this subject, have no doubt but that the same would happen by engraft- 

 ing on the oak or beech, if the mast raised from the engrafted tree did 

 not produce the like; for there the question turns. 



Is it not known that the woodman, in setting out his sapling oaks, al- 

 Avays selects new seedling plants, and never continues one upon an old 

 stool; and that if he should so blunder, that tree, from the stool, will 

 neither have freedom of growth, nor the size or firmness of timber, equal 

 to the new-raised plant .'' 



I wish I could persuade my friends, that, with the same attention with 

 which the woodman acts, the planter is to raise his orchard from the 

 young fruits which thrive in the neighborhood, or are in health and full 

 hearing in the country whence they are to be brought. 



The fruit grower should look to selection, cleanliness and care. To 

 me it is a circumstance perfectly indifferent, whether he is to use Mr. 

 Forsyth's composition, Mr. Bulingham's boiled linseed oil, or my medi- 

 cation. I only maintain that the wounded parts of trees want some- 

 thing to destroy the insects and vermin, and heal the wood, from which 

 the trees are kept in health. 



Let those who are blessed with fruit plantations attend to their pre- 

 servation, and not leave them to the state of unassisted nature. 



Art. V. On the Cultivation of the Hydrangea^ (H. hortensis.) 

 By the Conductor. 



This very showy and highly ornamental plant, though it has 

 long been cultivated, is far from being very common. Indeed 

 fine specimens are not often seen, and we may infer that the 

 want of better information in regard to their cuhivation is one 



