No. 10. 



Fruit Trees. 



311 



are by far the greatest enemies of all fruit 

 trees in this part of the west, and the pro- 

 ducers of more hereditary and annual dis- 

 eases among our fruit trees than all other 

 causes combined. Their mischief is, of 

 course, eftected, first, by their use in grafl- 

 ina:, and second, by their use in pruning. 



In order to set this matter in its true light, 

 it will be necessary to advert to the true 

 principle of vitality and longevity in all 

 trees, and to the effects of soil and sun on 

 hereditary diseases and diseased growth. 



1. Principles of vitality and longevity. — 

 After all that has been said on the subject, I 

 cannot resist the impression, that the essen- 

 tial elements of the highest degree of both 

 vital power and of longevity, are placed by 

 nature in the seed, and the seed alone. It 

 alone of all other parts of the tree, contains 

 within itself, in the highest degree of per- 

 fection, all parts of the embryo tree, trunk, 

 roots and top; and these, when produced 

 from a healthy seed, have both a vital power 

 and a capacity for longevity which can never 

 be produced from any other source. By vi- 

 tality and vital power, I mean tendency to a 

 vigorous and healthy growth, and by power 

 or capacity of longevity, I mean tendency to 

 a protracted continuance of that healthful 

 growth through the longest series of years 

 of which the tree is, in its own nature, capa 

 ble of living. 



The facts which might be adduced in 

 proof of this position, are quite too nume- 

 rous and too well known to need specifica- 

 tion. 



The highest power of vitality in a tree it- 

 self, produced from the seed, is, usually, at 

 least, the neck of the tree, as some physiol- 

 ogists have called it, or precisely that point 

 \vhere the seed lies when it begins to throw 

 its top upward and its root downward. At 

 this point the tree manifests its vital power 

 by throwing up vigorous suckers or shoots 

 whenever its life is endangered above ground, 

 and often from unknown causes. So much 

 does the vital power of this part of the tree 

 exceed all other parts, that it is a fact well 

 known to root grafters in the west, that one 

 inch of root near this point is as effective for 

 their purpose, as twice that length of root re- 

 mote from this vital point. Hence, loo, suck- 

 ers torn from old trees near this point, mani- 

 fest a constant tendency to prolong a lace- 

 rated and diseased vitality by throwing out 

 roots and throwing up suckers all around it. 

 It is, in fact, an effort of nature to heal a 

 mortal wound, analogous to the fabled story 

 of the serpent's heads of old. 



The vital power of the seedling tree di- 

 minishes as you recede from this point, both 

 in distance and in growth — both upwards 



and downwards, and probably its power of 

 longevity too. That is, one inch of root, or 

 a single bud, taken from an old tree, in 

 which the original vital force of the seed is 

 expanded into long roots and thousands of 

 buds, have each less vital power and less ca- 

 pacity of longevity, than the same length of 

 root and the same kind of bud taken from a 

 young tree, the original vital force of whose 

 seed has been expanded only in a few buds 

 and a few roots; and the more intimate their 

 connection with this vital point, the neck of 

 the tree, the greater the vital power, and 

 vice versa. This, in case of the root, is de- 

 termined mainly by simple distance, and in 

 case of the top, by distance combined with 

 vigor of yearly growth. That any other 

 part of a tree could be forced to exhibit the 

 same laws and the same power of vitality 

 and longevity as the seed does, I cannot be- 

 lieve. 



An eminent writer has recently attempted 

 to prove, that the bud is as perfect an organ 

 of reproduction as the seed, and that it has 

 in itself all the appropriate elements and or- 

 ganic forces and powers of the seed itself — 

 indeed that it is nothing but a seed " pre- 

 pared for one set of circumstances," while 

 the real seed differs from it only by being 

 prepared for different circumstances. Now 

 what proof is there of all this? Why, sim- 

 ply, that a bud can, by art, be made to grow 

 and form a tree. But has it ever been proved 

 that it can, under any circumstances, be made 

 to exhibit the same power of either vitality 

 or longevity as a seed from the same tree ] 

 By analogous principles of art, a slip from a 

 man's forehead may be turned down and 

 made to grow into a nose: and yet foreheads 

 are not noses prepared for a " peculiar set of 

 circumstances," nor yet nature's seed for 

 noses ; and if all noses were thus produced 

 by art, it is probable that diseased noses 

 would soon become as common as diseased 

 trees now are. Facts are abundant to prove, 

 that the proper natural vital force and power 

 of longevity of a given tree is not found in • 

 any bud or scion, or in any other part of the 

 tree, whatever, but that special part pre- 

 pared by nature for the express purpose of 

 continuing the vitality and longevity of the 

 species. And there are, also, enough facts 

 to suggest, at least, that this original vital 

 force in the seed diffuses itself with the 

 growth of the tree in the manner above indi- 

 cated, and to render this view worthy of the 

 careful observation and attention of all na- 

 turalists and practical fruit growers. For if 

 these principles be correct, it follows, of 

 course, that every time a seedling tree is 

 divided or mutilated, either in top or root, 

 its natural life is also, all other things being 



