PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES. 391 



juice or flavor, is filled with gritty, vascular matter. 

 In the latter stages of decay the wood becomes 

 attacked with gangrene, the branches die, one after 

 another, without apparent cause. Its inability for 

 reproduction will be discovered by the absence of 

 flower-buds, or, if they still remain, by the imbecility 

 of the organs of generation. 



" According to Van Mons (and it seems to us 

 to be sufficiently proved), all our old varieties are 

 in full decay ; with many, also, and some of the best, 

 this is attaining such a point that their culture is 

 almost abandoned. It is very evident not only from 

 the experience of the learned professor, but from 

 causes which have passed daily under our observation, 

 that many old varieties, and also those of less age 

 which are not of much reputation in Belgium where 

 they are not cultivated on the wall, are fast passing 

 away. 



" The Beurre d'Hardenpont, Delices d'Harden- 

 pont. Passe Colman, Bon Cretien de Ranee, Heine 

 des Poires, Beurre Diel, etc., — fruits known about 

 the time when Van Mons commenced the applica- 

 tion of his theory, — already show signs of yielding 

 to this natural law of decay." i 



There are two methods by which new varieties 

 are produced. 



First, hy selection. This consists in choosing the 



^ Translated from tlie " Annales dc Poraolojiie." 



