248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



not mistaken, thirty or forty years ago, it was confined to com- 

 paratively few kinds, and these were fast deteriorating. About 

 this time, a few enterprising and practical horticulturists, 

 suspecting the cause of this backward tendency, began the 

 cultivation of seedling pears. The experiment was successful. 

 By a careful selection of seeds, and judicious cultivation, the 

 old varieties, if not preserved, were replaced by new ones of 

 equal excellence, with much better constitutions. Pear culture 

 was saved from extinction, and probably never stood higher in 

 popular favor than at the present time. 



Just now, the lovers of early fruit are meeting with great 

 discouragement in the cultivation of the cherry. Its almost 

 universal failure, of late, leads to the opinion that its fate is 

 sealed. We are not enough acquainted with the history of this 

 fruit to hazard a conjecture a;S to the cause of its failure, but it 

 would be no matter of surprise with us if the true cause was 

 found to lie in the attempt to perpetuate the old varieties by 

 means of budding and grafting, rather than to introduce new 

 ones by seedlings. This much we can say, that within the 

 sphere of our observation, the only cherries that have borne good 

 fruit the past season are seedlings. 



The same thing is true of apples. In the Edinburgh Encyclo- 

 pedia, under the article Horticulture, the remark is made that 

 many of the old varieties of apples were, at one period, fast 

 going to decay, or had entirely disappeared. From this the con- 

 clusion was drawn that " as varieties spring from individuals, all 

 extensions, by means of grafts, &c., must partake of the quali- 

 ties of the original ; where the original is old, there must be 

 inherent in the derivation the tendency to decay incident to old 

 age. It may be assumed as a fact that a variety of fruit is only 

 equivalent to an individual. By careful management the life of 

 this individual may be prolonged ; but, as remarked before, the 

 only true reproduction is by seed." 



To the same effect is the testimony of Professor Lindley. He 

 says, indeed, that " seeds are not the proper means of propa- 

 gating varieties ;" but immediately adds that, " in annual and 

 biennial plants, no means can be employed in propagating a 

 variety except the seed, and yet the variety is preserved." Then 

 he proceeds to tell how this is accomplished. " By carefully 

 eradicating all the varieties from the neighborhood of that from 



