230 ,4JT AMERICAN FARMER AV EXGLAXD. 



from this trunk as a seed is, and will continue to live if ingrafted 

 upon another trunk, where it will connect itself again in the 

 ground and grow, and through it other independent lives will be 

 produced and sustained. Or it may be removed from its parent 

 and placed upon the ground, where it will make roots and extend 

 and reproduce again as independently, in all respects, as a seed. 

 It is held that the death of trees does not arise from any natural 

 period being assigned to their existence, but that the tissues of a 

 tree, as they grow old, become dry and hard ; no longer transmit 

 sap, lose their vitality, and gradually decay ; yet the process of 

 growth may continually be renewed exteriorly to this death, so 

 that large cavities will often exist in the interior of trees. As, 

 however, the peculiar natural food of the tree, within the limits 

 to which it can extend its roots, becomes exhausted, or, as other 

 unhealthy circumstances affect it, its vital power and its re-vital- 

 izing power will be diminished, and finally may become extinct. 



If, however, a bud or germ of a new branch can be taken from 

 the tree before its decay, or from any part of it that yet retains 

 its vigor and health, and be transplanted by means of cuttings 

 in the earth, or inoculations or grafts upon another healthy stock 

 of the same species, it will have all the vital energy, and, in 

 every respect, all the natural character, of a seedling. 



In explanation of the general deterioration of certain favorite 

 old varieties, according to the theory of Downing and Lindley, 

 their state should be compared (taking care not to run the 

 analogy too far into the ground) to what is popularly understood 

 as a scrofulous condition of human beings, rather than to the de- 

 crepitude of old age. From various causes want of proper 

 food, unfavorable climate, propagation upon unhealthy stocks, 

 high feeding, and any unnatural stimulus producing imperfect 

 succulent growth, and from constant repropagation from trees 

 that have in a greater or less degree so suffered the trees of 



