274 ^'^ Mons's Theory. 



VAN MONS'S THEORY. 



By Robert Manning, Salem, Mass. 



All of our standard pomological authors, in considering the subject of 

 producing new varieties of fruit, invariably begin by reference to the theory 

 and practice of Van Mons. 



Van Mons was born at Brussels in 1765, and, at the age of fifteen, sowed 

 in his father's garden the seeds of perennial flowers, roses, and other shrubs, 

 with the design of observing the development, the successive generations, 

 and the variations which might thus be produced. To these he soon added 

 seeds and stones of the well-known fruits, and remarked, that, of all his 

 young plants, the pears were those which least resembled their parents. 

 He searched the gardens, nurseries, markets, and neighboring provinces, to 

 confirm or rectify his first ideas on the causes of the variation of fruits and 

 flowers. When Mr. Van Mons had arrived at the age of twenty-two, the 

 pivot of his theory was fixed ; and this was the degeneracy of the seeds of 

 fruit-trees in a state of variation. This degeneracy he regarded as a con- 

 sequence of the age of the variety which bore it. 



Having arrived at this conviction, Mr. Van Mons said, by sowing the 

 first seeds of a new variety of fruit-tree, there should be obtained trees 

 always variable in their seeds, because they can no longer escape from this 

 condition ; and which are less disposed to return towards a wild state than 

 those produced from seeds of an ancient variety. And as those which tend 

 towards a wild state have a less chance of becoming perfect, according to 

 our tastes, 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 fruit, according to our tastes. The 

 whole theory of Van Mons, as stated by Mr. Poiteau in his memoir on the 

 subject, is contained in the above paragraph. 



But the question which concerns us is, What is the value to-day, with the 

 light which the experience of Van Mons and others has thrown upon it, 

 of this theory as a guide to the production of improved varieties of fruit ? 

 Here the first point that strikes us is the long time required for a fruit to 

 pass through successive generations, which Van Mons estimated, in the 



