NEW VARIETIES. 105 



And so with the grape. Where the Catawba and Isabella 

 grapes once succeeded perfectly, they seem now to be failing 

 and are no more to be relied on. Even the Concord now so 

 popular, indicates that in time it may follow in the same degen- 

 erate strain. While we indulge in these forebodings, we cannot 

 but express the deep regret we feel for the loss of such fine 

 fruits. Other fine fruits are following in the same course. This 

 should not discourage us, but rather increase our enterprise for 

 the production of new sorts, to keep up with the deterioration 

 which seems incident to cultivation. 



Already we have ascertained that some kinds flourish through- 

 out a wide range of territory ; for instance, the Red Astrachan 

 apple and Bartlett pear seem to prosper everywhere. 



We therefore give a hearty welcome to the efforts and enter- 

 prise of all who are laboring in this praiseworthy cause. Nor 

 can we too highly appreciate the lives and services of those 

 pioneers in pomology, by whose intelligence and zeal most of our 

 fine fruits have been originated or disseminated, — of Van Mens 

 and Esperin of Belgium, of Duhamel and Poiteau of France, 

 of Knight and Lindley of England, of Cox, Prince, Dearborn, 

 Lowell, Manning and Downing of the United States, and of 

 others now living, whose praise is in the mouths of all. What 

 millions have rejoiced in the fruitage of the Summer Bon 

 Chretien and Autumn Bergamot pear, coeval in history with the 

 Roman Empire ; the Newtown pippin and Baldwin apple, the 

 Doyenne and Bartlett pear, the Isabella, Catawba, Concord and 

 Scuppernong grape in our own time ! 



The advantage of raising from seed new varieties of fruits, 

 is shown in the fact, that the native productions of a country 

 are generally better adapted to its soil and cHmate than those 

 brought from other climes. More than this, we often find that 

 fruits originating in a given section of country, are especially 

 suited to tbat region. 



As illustrations of the hardiness and adaptation to the soil 

 from which they sprang, we may point to the original trees of 

 Seckel, Buffum, and Doyenne Boussock and Onondaga pears, of 

 which we have accountsof their vigor and productiveness. The 

 case is still stronger with the apple, it being a more local fruit ; 

 even the Baldwin, the most popular of all our New England 



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