344 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [xX. 



exercise greater influence upon the vitality of or- 

 chards now than it did in past generations. We have 

 observed that the old seedling orchards were usually 

 uneven, from the very fact that the weak individuals 

 could not persist. At the present time, our even 

 and symmetrical orchards are proofs that this uneven - 

 ness of stock has less marked effects than formerly, 

 probably from the fact that the seedling root is 

 dominated by the grafted top, or that it has dis- 

 appeared altogether, the cion having rooted from 

 itself. Promiscuous stocks probably influence the 

 character of our orchards, but, as I have stated, the 

 same influences were present in former generations 

 as now, for everywhere and always promiscuous 

 seedlings, whether grafted or not, have formed the 

 basis of orchards. 



The last year or two has witnessed a renewed activ- 

 ity of the old assumption that grafting or budding 

 tends to weaken the individual. In the first place, 

 much of the discussion upon this point is misdirected, 

 because graftage is necessary to success, and to dis- 

 card it means, practically, to discard apple culture 

 itself. There is no other easy and practicable means 

 of perpetuating varieties of apples. 



Some contend that graftage is necessarily mis- 

 chievous, because it is unnatural. This reasoning 

 here, as elsewhere, is puerile. All training of plants 

 is itself unnatural, as is also all cultivation, in tliis 

 sense, and if we propose to perform all operations 

 just as nature performs them, we must at once 

 abandon all domestication and betake ourselves to 

 barbarism. 



No doubt much of the graftage is mischievous, 



