XII.] WHY ARE ORCHARDS BARREN? 249 



tries grow older, these local varieties become more nu- 

 merous, because more varieties have originated, and 

 because sufficient time has elapsed in which their 

 merits or adaptabilities have been discovered. We may 

 expect, therefore, that the future will see a still greater 

 diversification in varieties, and a greater attention on the 

 part of nurserymen to the selection of varieties for par- 

 ticular regions and special uses, — a condition of things 

 which impresses the American horticulturist when he 

 visits the nurseries and fruit plantations of Europe. If 

 all this is true, the present standard of excellence or 

 merit in nursery stock is fictitious, and must gradu- 

 ally pass away. 



Another question which I wish to urge upon you 

 is this : How far is the current nursery practice re- 

 sponsible for the barrenness of orchards 1 We know 

 that much of the failure of orchards to bear is due 

 to insects and fungi, and some of it to neglect of 

 cultivation and lack of plant food ; but there are 

 orchards in which none of these causes seem to be 

 responsible for the fruitlessness. Such orchards seem 

 to be sterile by habit. Now, it is well known that no 

 two trees of the same variety, and standing side by 

 side, will bear equally, any more than they will grow 

 equally. That is, every tree has an individuality, in 

 which it differs from all other trees, and this indi- 

 viduality may consist quite as much in variation in 

 productiveness as in any other character. Further- 

 more, it is well established that cions or buds tend to 

 perpetuate the features of the plant from which they 

 are taken. Cions from a normally unproductive or 

 non- bearing tree may be expected to yield less pro- 

 ductive progeny than those from habitually produc- 



