FARMERS MISCELLANY. 305 



It will readily be perceived, that the above theory must have a 

 decided intiuence on the art of engrafting. Whenever the pith is not 

 brought in perfect apposition, and in contact with j)ith, the seeds of 

 imperfection are sown, and the fruit will partake of the character of 

 hollow-tree fruit. Whenever scions are taken from twigs, the true 

 offspring of a diseased parent stock, the fruit will be imperfect. In 

 taking scions for engrafting, select either from a young healthy tree, 

 or from suckers such as I have described as parasitic in their cha- 

 racter on old diseased stocks ; engraft by taking a twig of a young 

 healthy tree or sucker as above described ; make an oblique incision 

 with a sharp knife, cutting the twig entirely off, then bring to it the 

 scion to be engrafted of exactly the same size, and cut smooth with 

 the right bevel, so as to apply bark to bark, and pith to pith ; and if 

 properly secured with suitable composition, there will scarcely be 

 any stint of growth, and the fruit will appear in due time in all its 

 original perfection. Formerly when I ate engrafted fruit, I supposed, 

 as the seeds were almost uniformly blasted, that crossing stocks 

 would produce the individual, but divest it of the power of procrea- 

 tion, as we notice in some species of the animal kingdom ; but fur- 

 ther observation has fully convinced me of my error. It is ignorance 

 on the part of the engrafter, of the necessity of preserving the power 

 of the pith as well as the bark, that has led so extensively to a 

 deterioration of engrafted fruit. 



MR. PRENTISS'S FREE MARTIN. 



In the first number of this Journal, Dr. Monell, of Newburgh, 

 gave an article on Free Martins, in which he advanced the opinion 

 that there are two varieties : the first, which is the most common, 

 is a hermaphrodite, but has the masculine look, has no desire for 

 the male, and of course never breeds ; the second resembles the 

 cow, or female, externally, and exhibits the usual propensities : it 

 may breed, or it may not. This seems to be a correct generaliza- 

 tion, at least as much so as possible in deviations of the nature and 

 character of those which exist in the animals under consideration ; 

 for it will probably be found true, that no two individuals will exhibit 

 precisely the same structure, configuration and arrangement of parts. 



