180 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



strong resemblance, while the tree gives indubitable eA'idcnce that 

 the seed was crossed with Flemish Beaut}', the result of tiie admix- 

 ture of these two fine varieties being the production of a variet}' in 

 some respects superior to either. This variety is now well known, 

 but it may not be so well known that the same gentlemen are now 

 testing more than a hundred other seedling pear trees, many of 

 which give promise of excellence, and which furnish a most inter- 

 esting study in examining their characteristics of fruit and tree, 

 with reference to the parents from which they were raised. 



THE VAN MONS SYSTEM. 



This originated with the celebrated Dr. Van Mons, of Belgium. 

 Instead of saving the seed of the finest varieties, he selected those 

 of wild or inferior sorts, upon the principle that a kind having 

 arrived at the highest state of perfection, must necessarily dete- 

 riorate, while an inferior one would improve b}' successive repro- 

 duction, lie therefore sowed the seeds of successive generations, 

 in the belief that every new generation was an improvement of 

 the former. Thus he advised his friends "to sow, to sow again, 

 to resow, to sow perpetually." This process he pursued during a 

 long life, and produced seedlings of the eighth generation. He 

 also declared that the mau}'^ fine varieties of pears of which he 

 was the originator, were produced by this system of amelioration. 

 He held that hj'^bridization and cross fertilization tended to degen- 

 eracy and imperfection, and that when a variety by this latter 

 process attained to great perfection, no further improvement could 

 be reached, and that necessarily deterioration must ensue. This 

 process of amelioration, by sowing the seeds of successive genera- 

 tions, if founded in truth, is so long and tedious as scarcely to be 

 worthy of trial. But we cannot define the exact truth of his 

 theory, for we think he overlooked the fact observed l)y other dis- 

 tinguished naturalists, that the improvement or deterioration of 

 which he speaks might result from impregnation by the pollen of 

 different varieties conveyed by the air, or insects, and therefore 

 that the seed of a good variety might produce either a better or a 

 worse than itself. The impossibilit}' of preventing this, where 

 several varieties existed in the same orchard, must be apparent to 

 all scientific cultivators. Under such circumstances he could no 

 more prevent his orchard of pears of different sorts from impreg- 

 nation by the air and insects, during the season of inflorescence, 



