GROWTH FROM CUTTINGS. ATAVISM 



of the Almond, the tender, thin skin of the peach, 

 or the double petals of the rose, though desirable for 

 the tastes of mankind, are not those best fitted for 

 the life or propagation of the tree or bush. When 

 accident or cultivation has produced seedless grapes, 

 or other such abortive fruits, it is self-evident that 

 the extinction of their kind would inevitably follow 

 in course of time. The gardener, for his own profit 

 merely, seeks the culture of plants and fruits, so far as 

 practicable, from cuttings only. 



All plants that arise from seed growth, excepting 

 annuals, show a strong tendency to atavism that is, a 

 reversion to the ancestral condition or that of the wild 

 state. The seedlings that spring up under a cherry, 

 peach or apple tree will develop into vigorous trees, 

 but their fruit will nearly always prove to be worth- 

 less. The exclusive, artificial culture in certain direct- 

 ions of particular qualities is not for the good of the 

 plant itself. Even an over development of those proper- 

 ties that are essential to the seed growth may be injuri- 

 ous. Thus abnormally sweet and highly flavored 

 fruits, though useful in tempting cattle or wild animals 

 to eat them, and so scatter their seed abroad, will also 

 attract very many insects to live upon their juice, 

 who will deposit their eggs in the fruit ; their larva 

 attacking later the leaves, tissues, or even the seed 

 itself, thus destroying the balance between the pro- 

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