112 



THE GJeNESEE farmer. 



deserve that name. There is not the smallest reason 

 to suppose that the Olive of our days is different from 

 that of Noah; the Asa dulcis stamped upon the coins 

 of Cyrene still flourishes around the site of that 

 ancient city; and acorns figured among the sculptures 

 of Nimroud seem to show that the same Oak now 

 grows on the mountains of Kurdistan as was known 

 there in the days of Sardaxapalus. There is not 

 the slightest evidence to show tliat any species of plant 

 has become extinct during the present order of things. 

 All species have continued to propagate themselves 

 by seeds, without losing their specific peculiarities ; 

 some appointed law has rendered them and their 

 several natures eternal. 



" It would seem moreover that, with the exception 

 of annuals and others of limited existence, the lives 

 of the individual plants born from such seed would 

 be eternal also, if it were not for the many accidents 

 to which they are exposed, and which eventually de- 

 stroy them. Trees and other plants of a perennial 

 nature are renovated annually ; annually receding 

 from the point which was originally formed, and which 

 in the natm-e of things must perish in time. The 

 condition of their existence is a perpetual renewal of 

 youth. In the proper sense of the word, decrepitude 

 can not overtake them. The Iris creeps along the 

 mud, ever receding from the starting point, renews 

 itself as it advances, and leaves its original stem to 

 die as its new shoots gain vigor; in the course of cen- 

 turies a single Iris might creep around the world 

 itself, if it could only find mud in which to root. The 

 Oak annually forms new li^ing matter over that which 

 was previously formed, the seat of life incessantly re- 

 treating from the seat of death. When such a tree 

 decays no injury is felt, because the center which 

 perishes is made good at the circumference, over 

 which new life is perennially distriliuted. In the ab- 

 sence of accidents such a tree might have lived from 

 the creation to this hour; travelers have even believed 

 that they had found in the forests of Brazil living 

 trees that must have been born in the days of Homer. 

 But here again inevitable accidents interfere, and the 

 trees are prevented from being immortal. 



" Species, then, are eternal ; and so would be the 

 •individuals sprung from their seeds, if it were not for 

 accidental circumstances. 



" But plants are multiplied otherwise than by seeds. 

 The Hyacinth and the Garlic propagate naturally, not 

 only by seeds, but also by the perpetual separation 

 of their own limbs, known under the name of bulbs, 

 their bulbs undergoing a similar natural process of dis- 

 memberment; and so on forever. The Potato plant 

 belongs to the same class. Another plant bends its 

 branches to the ground; the branches put forth roots, 

 and as soon as these roots are established the connec- 

 tion between parent and offspring is broken, and a 

 new plant springs into independent existence. Of this 

 we find familiar examples in the Strawberry and the 

 Willow. Man turns this property to account by ar- 

 tificial processes of multiplication ; one tree he propa- 

 gates by layers, another by cuttings planted in the 

 ground. Going a step further he inserts a cutting of 

 one individual upon the stem of some other individual 

 of the same species, under the name of a bud or a 

 dcion, and thus obtains a vegetable t\vin. 



" It is not coi^tended, for there is nothing to show. 



that these artificial productions are more short-lived 

 than either parent, provided the constitution of the 

 two individuals is in perfect accordance. There is 

 not the smallest evidence — it has not been even con- 

 jectured — that if a seedling Apple tree is cut into two 

 parts, and these parts are reunited by grafting, the 

 duration of the tree will be shorter than it would have 

 been in the absence of the operation. 



" It is nevertheless beheved by many that the races 

 of some cultivated plants have but a ))rief duration, 

 pro^^ded they are multiplied otherv/ise than by seeds. 

 No one indeed pretends that the Garlic of Ascalon 

 has only a short life, although it has been thus propa- 

 gated from the time when it bore the name of Shum- 

 min, and fed the laborers at the Pyramids ; nor do 

 we know that the bulb-bearing Lily has been sup- 

 posed to have less inherent vigor than if it were mul- 

 tiplied by seeds instead of bulbs. It is only among 

 certain kinds of plants that exceptions to the great 

 natural law of vegetation are supposed to exist. It 

 is thought that although the wild Potato possesses 

 indefinite vitality, yet that the varieties of it which 

 are brought into cultivation pass their lives circum- 

 scribed within very narrow limits; and the same doc- 

 trine has been held concerning fruit trees. The great 

 advocate of this view, the late Mr. Andrew KInight, 

 rested his case upon the disappearance of certain 

 kinds of Apples and Pears, once to be found in the 

 orchards of Herefordshire, but now no longer to be 

 met with. This he ascribed to cultivated varieties 

 being naturally short-li\-ed, and to an impossibiUty of 

 arresting their gradual decay by any process of dis- 

 memberment ; and following out this theory, he 

 strongly urged the necessity of renewing vitality by 

 continually raising fresh varieties from seed. It is 

 difficult to comprehend what train of reasoning led 

 to this speculation. We know that wild plants may 

 be propagated liy dismemberment for an indefinite 

 period; we know that when such wild plants spring 

 up from seed the dismembering process still goes on, 

 and still without exhibiting symptoms of exhausted 

 vitalit}^; and yet if a plant grows in a garden, and is 

 brought under the direct control of man, the power 

 is thought to be lost, or so much impaired that in- 

 definite multiplication no longer becomes possible. 

 Can this be true? Most assuredly the cases adduced 

 in support of the doctrine are susceptible of another 

 explanation, perfectly consistent with the general 

 laws of vegetation. 



'•That renewal by seed will not restore what is 

 called exhausted vitality, was sufficiently proved by 

 the experiments with Potatoes after the blight made 

 its appearance: ^Ve were assured by an ingenious 

 writer in one of the daily papers that the constitu- 

 tional power of the Potato was on the decline; in 

 other words, that the lives of individuals were ap- 

 proaching their end ; that the bhght arose in conse- 

 quence, and that a certain remedy would be the 

 renewal of the existing races by sowing seeds. Hun- 

 dreds joined eagerly in what j^roved to be the vain 

 ])ursuit. A worthy armorer at Solingen even pub- 

 lished an elaborate pamphlet in support of the idea. 

 ' No more Famine ' was his audacious motto — a pre- 

 diction wofully falsified by the result, for the seedling 

 Potatoes were, if possible, more diseased than their 

 parents." 



