FRUIT-GARDENING. 29 



if it possesses the power of multiplying itself by seed, its pro- 

 geny returns back to the state of one or other of its parents, 

 Hence it seldom or never has happened that domesticated 

 fruits have had such an origin. We have no varieties raised 

 between the Apple and the Pear, or the Plum and Cherry, or 

 the Gooseberry and the Currant. On the other hand, new 

 varieties obtained by the intermixture of two preexisting 

 varieties are not less prolific ; but, on the contrary, often more 

 so than either of their parents : witness the numerous sorts of 

 Flemish Pears which have been raised by cross fertilization 

 from bad bearers within the last thirty years, and which are the 

 most prolific trees with which gardeners are acquainted. Wit- 

 ness also Mr. Knight's Cherries, raised between the May Duke 

 and the Graffion, and the Coe's Plum already mentioned. It 

 is therefore to the intermixture of the most valuable existing 

 varieties of fruit that gardeners should trust for the ameliora- 

 tion of their stock. By this operation the Pears that are in 

 eating in the spring have been rendered as delicious and as 

 fertile as those of the autumn ; and there is no apparent reason 

 why those very early, but worthless sorts, such as the Muscat 

 Robert, which usher in the season of Pears, should not be 

 brought to a similar state of perfection. 



It is an indubitable fact that all our fruits, without excep- 

 tion, have been so much ameliorated by various circumstances, 

 that they no longer bear any resemblance in respect of quality 

 to their original. Who, for instance, would recognise the wild 

 parent of the Green Gage Plum in the austere Sloe, or that 

 of the delicious Pippin Apples in the worthless acid Crab ? 

 Or, what resemblance can be traced between our famous Beurre 

 Pears, whose flesh is so succulent, rich, and melting, and that 

 hard, stony, astringent fruit, which even birds and animals 

 refuse to eat ? Yet these are undoubted cases of improvement, 

 resulting from time and skill patiently and constantly in action. 

 But it would be of little service to mankind that the quality 

 of any fruit should be improved, unless we adopt some efficient 

 and certain mode of" multiplying the individuals when ob- 



