226 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



Van Mons has arrived at this conclusion: that as 

 the seeds of the first fructification of an annual 

 plant, in a state of variation, produces plants, 

 which may vary without removing far from the 

 etate of their parent, while on the contrary the 

 seeds which are yielded by the hundredth fructifi- 

 cation of a domesticated pear of excellent quality, 

 or for a long time in a state of variation, produce 

 a great variety of trees, which neither resemble 

 their parent, and whose fruits almost always de- 

 testable, are more or less, near to a wild state; this 

 diHerence should have its cause in an unli^vora- 

 ble modification — in a degenaracy which the seed of 

 the pear undergoes in consequence of the age of the 

 varietij which bore it. 



Having arrived at this conviction, Mr. Van 

 Mons has said: by sowing the firpt seeds of a new 

 variety of fruit tree, there siiould be obtained trees 

 always variable in their seeds, because they can 

 no longer escape from this condition, ami which 

 are less disposed to return toward a wild state, than 

 those produced from seeds of an ancient variety; 

 and as those which tend toward a wild stale have 

 a less chance of becoming perfect, according' to 

 our tattes, than those which are in the open field 

 of variation, it is in the seminary of the first seeds 

 of the newest varieties of fruit trees, that we should 

 expect to find more perfect fruits according to our 

 tastes. 



The whole theory of Van Mons is contained in 

 the above paragraph; it was to verify it, and put 

 it in practice, that from that period he collected in 

 his nursery young wild trees, young free stocks, 

 and sowed large quantities of the seeds and stones 

 of various kinds of fruit trees, in order to iiave 

 their first fruits, and to sow their seeds in turn to 

 obtain a generation, of whose novelty he was sure, 

 and to take it as a point of departure for his expe- 

 riments. Although Mr. Van Mons operated on 

 thousands of various kinds and ditferent varieties 

 of trees at the same time, I will assume, in order 

 to render what I say more clear, in explaining his 

 progress, that he made his experiments on a single 

 variety of pear. 



As soon as the young pear tree with which he 

 began his experiments, produced its first fruit, Mr. 

 Van Mons sowed the seeds. There resulted a 

 first generation, the individuals of which, al- 

 though of very difierent kinds, did not resemble 

 their parent. He cultivated them with care, and 

 endeavored to hasten their growth, as much as 

 possible, by all the known means in his power. 

 These young trees yielded fruit, which were gen- 

 erally small, and almost all of them bad. He 

 sovved the seed of these and obtained a second 

 generation Avithout interruption — which is very 

 important— that were very difli^rent in kind, but 

 did not resemble their parent, although they had 

 a less wild appearance than their predecessors. 

 These were cultivated with equal attention, and 

 they fructified earlier than had their parent. The 

 fruits of this second generation, also varied as 

 nmcli as the trees which bore them, but part of 

 tlumi; appeared less near the wild state than the 

 preceding; yet only a lew possessed the requisite 

 qualities to entitle them to preservation. Con- 

 stant in his plan, Mr. Van Mons sowed the seeds 

 and obtained a third continued generation, the 

 greater part of ihe young trees of which, had a 

 ;)/tasts of good augury, (hat is something of the 

 physiognomy of our goad domcsticuleil pear trees, 



and they were consequently less various in appear- 

 ance. Being carefully cultivated, as had been the 

 preceding, these trees of the third generation, fructi- 

 fied still earlier than had those of the second gene- 

 ration. Several of them produced edible fruit, al- 

 thoufrh not yet decidedly good, but sufficiently 

 ameliorated to convince Mr. Van Mons that he 

 had discovered the true path of amelioration, and 

 that he should continue to follow it. He also re- 

 cognised, with no less satisfaction, that the oflener 

 the generations succeeded each other, without in- 

 terruption, from parent to son, the more promptly 

 did they fructily. The seed of the fruits of this 

 third generation, which had a good appearance, 

 were sowed, and the trees managed as carefully as 

 the preceding, and produced a fourth generation, 

 the trees of wliich were a little less varied, and 

 nearly all of them had an appearance of favorable 

 augury; they fVuctified in a shorter time than the 

 third generation; many of the fruits were good, 

 several excellent, but a small number still bad. 

 Mr. Van Mons took the seeds of the best kinds of 

 these |)ears, sowed them and obtained a fifth gen- 

 eration, the trees of which were less various than 

 the precediuL'', fructified sooner, and produced 

 more good and excellent fruits, than those of the 

 fourth. 



It was after the result of this fifth generation, 

 from parent to son. that Mr. Van Mons made 

 known the process which I have explained. Al- 

 though having arrived at a most happyjconclusion, 

 and where others in his situation would have stop- 

 ped, I know that he continued his experiments to 

 1834, and that he now does, and has reached the 

 eighth generation, without interruption from pa- 

 rent to son, and that at each remove he always 

 obtains fruits more and more perfect. 



Mr. V^an JMonsmade the same experiment upon 

 almost all the other kinds of fruits. The apple 

 yielded no other than good fruit in the fourth gen- 

 eration. The stone fruits, as the peach, apricot, 

 plum, and cherry, became perfect in a still shorter 

 time; all of them produced good and excellent 

 fruits in the third generation; which should be the 

 case, for our stone fruits always reproduce more or 

 less good without any particular attention, and 

 therefore they should with less difficulty and in a 

 shorter time, arrive at a perfect state of ameliora- 

 tion. 



After having presented in a succinct, but I hope 

 a clear manner, the theory of Mr. Van Mons, and 

 the means which he employed to put it in prac- 

 tice, it is proper that 1 should say a word as to the 

 time which is required to obtain good fiuit, in order 

 that any one who wishes to verily or adopt it, can 

 proceed according to liis principles. 



The first thing which preoccupied the attention 

 and excited the anxiety of Mr. Van Mons, in the 

 commencement of his experiment, was to ascer- 

 tain how many years it required to arrive at the 

 result which he sought to obtain; how many gen- 

 erations would be necessary, and how many years 

 each generation would require to produce its first 

 fruit. This first consideration, appalling to ordi- 

 nary men, did not arrest Mr. Van Mons in his 

 course. He put his hand to the work, and learned 

 (hat three or four generations, without interrup- 

 tion, (i'om parent to son, and from twelve to fifteen 

 consccudve years, were sufficient to obtain no 

 other than excellent fl"uit from the stones of 

 peaches, apricots, plums and clicrries: that to ob- 



