18 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT 



fore, the cultivator has discovered the varieties most 

 congenial to the soil and situation he occupies, it 

 should be his endeavour to encourage them, by mul- 

 tiplying the grafts on his unproductive trees, or by 

 forming new additional trees by grafting on other 

 stocks. 



PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES. 



The apple tree does not enjoy indefinite longevi- 

 ty. Each species has its periods of infancy, youth, 

 maturity, and decrepit age; and, in process of time, 

 it is totally annihilated ; nor is it in the power of art 

 to protract its existence beyond its limited duration. 

 Hence we frequently hear the complaint, that many 

 varieties of apple, formerly held in high estimation, 

 are no longer to be obtained, having entirely run out, 

 as it is termed. The seeds of apples, however, contain 

 the germ of an ibfinite variety of fruit. New vari- 

 eties, and some of excellent quality, are continually 

 produced from seeds. The famous winter pippin 

 was the spontaneous production from a seed at 

 Newtown, Long Island. But there is no dependence 

 upon obtaining a particular variety by planting the 

 seeds. "A hundred seeds of the golden pippin will 

 all produce fine large-leaved apple trees, bearing 

 fruit of considerable size ; but the tastes and colours 

 of the apple from each will be different, and none will 

 be the same in kind with those of the pippin itself. 

 Some will be sweet, some bitter, some sour, some 

 mawkish, some aromatick, some yellow, some green, 

 some red, some streaked." The seeds for planting, 

 should always be selected from the most highly cul- 

 tivated fruit, and the fairest and ripest specimen of 

 such variety. In some instances, a new and valua- 

 ble variety may thus be obtained, and the seedlings 

 will afford some indication of their future produce, 

 even before they attain to their bearing state. The 

 larger and thicker the leaves of a seedling, and the 



