88 MASSACHUSETTS IIOIJTICULTUHAL SOCIETY. 



We can remember when we picked up the delicious peaches under 

 the trocs, but wo do not remember how many seasons there were 

 when tlie crop failed. He had been out among his peach trees and 

 shaken them when the fruit almost seemed to fall into his mouth; 

 for six or eight years he got a crop one year out of two. He had 

 read much on this subject and had been a pretty careful observer, 

 and had come to the conclusion that to explain degeneracy we 

 must not look for causes inherent in the variet}', though perhaps 

 this may exist to a certain extent in some, but to other causes, 

 climatic or residing in the soil. 



To the question whether grafted trees ever go back to inferior 

 varieties he answered, no. He felt doubtful as lo the influence of 

 the stock on the graft but he admitted the existence of sports. 

 The Lewis, one of our native fruits described in the "New P2ng- 

 land Farmer" many years ago by Samuel Downer, Senior, is a 

 very nice pear but too small and green, and he grafted a tree of 

 that variety with Bosc. Afterward he noticed on another Bosc 

 tree some small green pears growing on a graft ; which some per- 

 sons might have accounted for by the influence of the stock, but 

 inquiry showed that the grafts used on this tree hod been taken 

 from the first mentioned Bosc tree, and some had been carelessly 

 cut from Lewis suckers below the graft. 



William H. Hills of Plaistow, N. H., said that the topic under 

 discussion was exceedingly interesting. He had made many obser- 

 vations in regard to it. Some think that the Rose potato has de- 

 generated, but we get them from Aroostook county, Maine, as 

 fine as ever. When it was introduced he bought two pounds and 

 from that quantity he raised two hundred and forty pounds. He 

 cultivated tliem like others, with a light dressing of manure over 

 the surface, exce[)t that for the Rose be added a handful of super- 

 y)hosphate in each hill, and he thought he could get as good results 

 toda}-. Sports are ditllcult to account for ; on the Mayduke cherr\' 

 trees there are every year branches where the fruit is from ten to 

 fourteen days later than on the rest of the tree. There are certain 

 conditions that we cannot understand. Last year he felt some 

 alarm lest the Baldwin Hpi)le was degenerating ; his were small, 

 but he found they were as large as anyone's. His early apples 

 were as large as ever, and his Russets never were finer. Some- 

 thing that we could not perceive liad artcctcd the Baldwins. It 

 frequently happens that something which we cannot account for 

 injures a crop. 



