340 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [XX. 



That the wide dissemination of varieties exposes them 

 to more various conditions than they were obliged to 

 endure in the comparatively small regions near their 

 place of origin. It is to be expected that many of 

 these conditions will be more severe than the original 

 ones, and that the varieties will suffer in conse- 

 quence. Indeed, this point is so well known that it 

 needs no discussion, yet I do not remember to have 

 seen it stated clearly. Every orchardist of experience 

 can cite examples of varieties which have had greater 

 constitutional vigor in some regions than in others. 



These points have great weight in this particular 

 discussion, because in matters of longevity our 

 orchards are usually compared with the seedling 

 orchards of the last generation. These seedling trees 

 were never removed far from their place of origin, 

 and they were not exposed to so many vicissitudes 

 as those sorts which chanced to be scattered far and 

 wide over the country ; and it must be remembered, 

 also, that only the hardiest and best of the seedlings 

 were usually selected. Or if an indiscriminate lot of 

 seedlings was planted, some of the trees were very 

 apt to disappear soon, and the orchard became 

 "ragged." This was nature's selection; and yet this 

 fact appears to have been overlooked. The old or- 

 chards about which we hear so much were usually 

 ragged or uneven orchards, and only those trees 

 which chanced to stand the longest are used as mea- 

 sures of comparison, while in our orchards we usually 

 count the failure from the trees which succumb first. 



My father used to tell me of the old trees upon his 

 father's farm, which had been old from his first recol- 

 lection ; but when, in the expectancy of young man- 



