102 



IMPAOVEMENT OF THE BBEEDS. 



to be only local varieties, depending upon soil and 

 situation." " Fifty years ago," says Buffon (writing 

 in 1749), " our pot-iierbs consisted of a single species 

 of succory, and two of lettuce, both very bad ; but 

 we have now more than fifty kinds of lettuce and 

 succory, all of which are good. Our best fruits and 

 nuts, which are so different from those formerly culti- 

 vated that they have no resemblance but in the name, 

 must likewise be referred to a very modern date. lu 

 general, substances remain, and names change with 

 times : but in this case names remain, and substances 

 are changed. Our peaches, our apricots, our pears, 

 are new productions with ancient names. To remove 

 every doubt upon this subject, we have only to com- 

 pare our flowers and fiuits with the descriptions, or 

 rather notices of them transmitted to us by the Greeks 

 and Romans. All their flowers were single, and al! 

 their fruit-trees were wild stocks, and their species 

 very ill-chosen. Their fruits of course, were small, 

 dry, sour, and had neither the flavour nor the beauty 

 of ours. These new and good species originally 

 sprung from the wild kinds ; but how many times 

 have their seeds been sown before this happy effect 

 was produced ? It was only by sowing and rearing 

 an infinite number of vegetables of the same species, 

 that some individuals were recognized to bear better 

 and more succulent fruit than others ; and this first 

 discovery, which supposes much care and observation, 

 would have remained for ever useless if a second had 

 not been made, which implies an equal degree of 

 genius as the first required of patience — I mean the 

 Miode of nialtiplying by engrafting those precious 



