Vol. VIII.— No. -IS- 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURiNAL. 



221 



■' ea-iinn'. Patronized by llie sovereign, most of the no- 



anil illustrious men of Fiance, have eagerly united, 



"Ptilfc the proprietors of estates, and the practical cultiva- 



of the soil, to collect and diffuse intelligence, as well 



le seeds and plants of every clime, for the common 



Irlilof the whole population of that rich and flourish- 



iii cinpite. 



llri Tie " Council nf Administration" holds two meetings 

 '"1 ach month, when the reports of the numerous com- 

 ) 1 tees, and the communications of correspondents are 

 !"! I. From these, selections are made of such as merit 

 c inserted in the Journal of the Society, and are 

 ''"Jismilted to a " Committee of Compilation," whose duty 

 i to prepare them for the press. 



he Annalcs are published in numbers, which are oc- 

 omdly embellished with engravings, on the first of 

 y month, and form two octavo volumes annually, of 

 ut four hundred pages each. They are printed under 

 superintendence of an Editor en Chef 

 ',"" Jach number is divided into four principal sections, as 

 aws : — 



Mi-moirs, Reports, and Communications. 

 Niificcs, Extracts, and an Analysis of important works, 

 lley and News, — comprehending the proceedings 

 f learned societies, a Table of the prices of the pro- 

 ucts of the garden, a Calendar of the horticultural 

 vork to be performed in each month, and Extracts 

 oni the Proces Verbals of the meetings of the Council 

 f Administration: 



The Bibliographical Bulletin, in which is announced 

 11 works which are published, on Horticulture, Agri- 

 .ulture, and on the Sciences connected with them. 

 The plan of this Horticultural Journal, and the able 

 nner in which it has been executed, commands uni- 

 sal approbation. It-is not surpasso' by any other simi- 

 work, and cannot fail of producing glorious results in 

 ountry so fortunately situated as France, for the full 

 .relopemeut of all the treasures of the garden and field. 

 The translated extracts which I shall furnish, will be 

 ibcred, to facilitate a reference to them, and if desira- 

 I can send one every week.* The first, which I en- 

 !, is much longer than most of those which may fol- 

 v; but the subject is so important, and the manner of 

 g it so interesting, that i.t could not be easily cur- 

 led. 



With sincere respect, 



your most obedient servant. 

 Briiiley Place, ) H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



"^/a/i. is, 1S3(). 5 



EXTR.\CT XO. 1. 



rom the " Aniiales de ia Societie D' Horticul- 

 ture de Paris." 



■Co.NsiDERATio^s, nil tlic procesy, whirl) Horse- 

 men arlopt to olitaiu New Ameliorated Fruits, 

 id that vvliiili naturi; appear.s to em|iloy to ar- 

 fe at tlie same result. 15y IVx. Poiteau. 

 It is remarked, with astonisliinent, that when a 

 w auielioratcd fruit a|ipeais, it is not, generally, 

 nurseries where j^r^'it efforts had been made 

 olitain if, that it first manifests it.self; it is also 

 niarkahle, that liut few, or none, are developed 

 those countries, where there are only good fruits, 

 -as, for example, ill Paris : finally, in caslinj; a 

 trosppctive glance over llie history of anieliora- 

 d fruits, whose origin is known to us, it is re- 

 arkalile, that all these fruits have oriirinateil iii 

 le woods, and hedges, — and always in the iiite- 

 cir of some province, where superior' fruits were 



We should be happy to receive and piildish the pro- 

 ised articles, or any others, from the pen of our acconi- 

 ished correspondent. — Editor. 



rare, or iiuknovvii, inferior tre(?s numerous, and 

 cultivation iiiucli neglected. 



It i.s not possible, but that these remarks have 

 been made a thousand times, during past ages, 

 still it does not appear that an attempt has been 

 made to deduce any argument or theory tliere- 

 froiu, applicable to the research for new ameliora- 

 ted fruits. In this research, however, we liave 

 proceeded, in conformity to a trailitioii, based upon 

 a great number of facts, observed among men, 

 animals, and even among some vegetables ; but 

 our failure ought, rit last, to induce us to think, 

 that, either nature has not acted in the same 

 manner, in cases which ai)pear to us to have a 

 greater analogy between them, or that tlie thread 

 of the analogies has eluded our grasp, and left us 

 to grope in obscurity. Be that as it inay, — upon 

 that as founded the jirocess which has been fol- 

 lowed in France, in the research after new ame- 

 liorated fruits. 



At all times, observation and reason have au- 

 thorized us to think, that a well constituted man 

 and woman would produce better formed children, 

 than if the father, or mother, or both, were imper- 

 fectly organizer! ; — the same reasoning has, also, 

 induced us to admit, that children shoulii inherit 

 the ])hysical and moral (jualities of their parents; 

 and it is in conformity to this principle, that a ge 

 neral rule has been established, in the union of 

 domestic animals, in order to preserve pure breeds 

 of cattle, or to ameliorate them ; finally, after 

 having remarked, that the seeds of semi-double 

 flowers, oft.mer jcoduce double flowers, than the 

 seeds of those tb \t are single, it has been conclu- 

 ded, from all these inductions, that the seeds of a 

 superior Pear ought to produce a better fruit, than 

 those of an inferior kind. 



Here, I think. Gentlemen, is the origin of the 

 process, generally followed by nurserymen, when 

 th^y plant with the hope of obtaining new ame- 

 liorated fruits ; they prefer sowing the seeds of 

 the best fruits, exjiectiug that these, being already 

 ameliorated, will be more likely to produce a grsod 

 fruit, than those of a degenerated kind. 



But, as I have before stated, either nature does 

 not, always, act in the same manner, in cases 

 which appear to us to have the greatest analogy 

 between them, or, that the thread of the analogies 

 has escajied us, since we do not, generally, obtain 

 new ameliorated fruits, by the process commonly 

 followed, although founded upon numerous analo- 

 gies. DuHAMEL, during his long scientific career, 

 carefully plantcil the seeds of all the best fruits, 

 which were eaten at his table, and never obtained 

 a fruit worthy of being cultivated. His cotem- 

 poraries followed his example, and were not more 

 fortunate. M. Alfroy, our fellow member, has 

 informed yon, that he has annually made large 

 seminaries, with the same care and ])recatition 

 taken by Duhamel, and still he bad not obtained 

 any new amelierated fruit. His father, and grand- 

 father did the same, and with no better success. 

 You do not see any new ameliorated fruits pro- 

 'luced, iu the numerous and vast nurseries of 

 Vitry. Still the process which we now follow, re- 

 poses upon well attested analogies ; it cannot be 

 incorrect in itself; but we, probably, execute it 

 badly, — in an incomplete manner, and above all| 

 we apfiear to have lost the thread of the analo- 

 gies, which should conduct us to that result, which 

 we have vainly sought during several centuries, 

 and which nature attains, entirely, alone, and by 

 our side, — as if to show us the path, which we 

 should follow. 



The investigation, which I intend to undertake- 

 in order to find this path, obliges me to rerpiest, 

 that you would be pleased, Gentlemen, to trans- 

 port yourselves, in imagination, with me, to the 

 United States of America ; because, it is there that 

 nature actually o]K-rates in a grand laboratory, to 

 produce new ameliorated fruits. Perhaps, after 

 having exa;nined the works of nature in that 

 grand laboratory, we shall return to our own coun- 

 try with more enlightenoii ideas upon the subject, 

 to which 1 have the honor of drawing your atten- 

 tion. 



You will recollect. Gentlemen, that when the 

 Europeans established themselves in that country, 

 nearly three centuries since, they found neither 

 Ajjples, Pears, or Peaches, and that they immedi- 

 ately introduced some of our ameliorated fruits. 

 But a colony which is established in a country 

 inhabited by savages, is, at first, occupied with 

 such numerous and necessary cares for self-pre- 

 servation, that a long lime must ela])se, before the 

 colonists would think ofniultiplying, by grafts, the 

 ameliorated fruits which they had receiveil from 

 Europe ; and it is conceding much, to suppose, 

 that they had tlien time to jilant even a portion of 

 the seeds of those fruits. Fortunately, nature, 

 always active, planted them with her own power- 

 ful hand ; but this was a resumption of her rights, 

 anil causing the new fruits to reenter her domain ; 

 so that in less than a century, all the ancient ame- 

 liorated varieties which had been brought from 

 Europe, were transformed, in their first genera- 

 tion, into wild and sour kinds, unfit for the table. 



In the mean lime, these wild fruits, in their 

 turn, produced seeds, which, having been planted, 

 partly by nature, and partly by the hand of man, 

 formed a second generation, whose fruits were 

 not, probably, scarcely better than those of the 

 first. Finally, a third, fourth, and fifth generation 

 succeeded the first ; tben the inhabitants began to 

 remark, that among the latter, some fruits were to 

 be found, better than the preceding. This is not 

 a bold and unwarrantable assertion. Gentlemen, 

 but a tradition, preserved in that country, and 

 which was transmitted to me by the inhabitants, 

 when I was in Virginia, during the year 1801. 



Nature does not make leaps in her concessions, 

 and it is only progressively and slowly, that she 

 grants us what we demand of her, while she re- 

 ceives back, and immediately again causes to re- 

 enter her domain, the ameliorated fruits which we 

 have enjoyed for several centuries, if we confide 

 to her the seeds of them. This new information 

 ought to enlarge and rectify our ideas: — it should 

 enable us to perceive that we have done wrong, 

 in eradicating and throwing into the fire, a tree, 



whose fruit did not answer our expectations ; it 



teaches us, that we should plant the seeds of the 

 first fruit to obtain a second ; — those of the second 

 to procure a third, a fourth, a fifth, &c, until we 

 have attained the desired degree of amelioration ; 

 or that which nature cannot surpass, in her trans- 

 formations. 



It was by eradicating and throwing into the 

 fire the tree, whose first fruit answered not our 

 expectation.?, that we dropt, in fact, the thread of 

 analogy,— that we were then misled, and it be- 

 came impossible to obtain the result which we 

 sought. Now, when oin- ideas are more clear, let 

 us ask M. HuzARD, our fellow member, if, among 

 domestic animals, the highest degree of possible 

 amelioration, is ever attained in the first generation. 

 His answer, in the negative, will be the comple- 



