Vau Jl/ous's Thcoiy. 275 



case of the pear, at from forty to fifty years for five generations in the aver- 

 age of his experiments ; though with other fruits, especially stone-fruits, 

 an excellent quality was obtained in much less time. 



Another point, which it is believed has been heretofore almost entirely 

 overlooked, is, that Van Mons was not consistent with his own theory ; for 

 instead of sowing the seeds of new wild varieties, as is generally supposed, 

 Mr. Poiteau expressly states, that, at first, Mr. Van Mons was unable to 

 procure the seeds of varieties ven,' recently procreated : the seeds which 

 he was obliged to use to commence his experiments with were obtained 

 from ancient varieties. Of the truth of this statement, we have evidence 

 in the Queen of the Low Countries Pear, which Van Mons extolled as 

 " very large, very beautiful and good, and, without question, the most per- 

 fect of pears," but which is only a reproduction of the Spanish Bon Chre- 

 tien, described by Quintinye nearly two hundred years ago. The experi- 

 ments of Mr. Dana, Dr. Shurtleff, and others, have shown the incorrect- 

 ness of Van Mons's principle, that seedlings from a tree in a state of varia- 

 tion always degenerate. In adopting this principle. Van Mons appears to 

 have been guided by the experience of Duhamel and Poiteau, who planted 

 the seeds of the best table-fruits without producing a single one worthy of 

 cultivation. 



A difficulty which meets us in the attempt to judge of the results of Van 

 Mons's method, is, that, of the many good pears sent out by him, w-e have 

 no means of knowing which ones were raised by him, and which were ac- 

 quired from other sources ; for Van Mons, like all lovers of fruit, was a 

 collector as well as an originator. Besides this, from the multiplicity of 

 his other cares, the thrice-repeated removal and breaking-up of his nur- 

 series, and the carelessness of gardeners, much confusion existed among 

 his trees, and, along with the many varieties of high excellence for which 

 we are indebted to him, a still greater number of inferior or worthless 

 kinds have been received ; and, after having given much consideration to 

 the subject, I do not know of a single pear of which I can say with certainty 

 that it is the legitimate result of Van Mons's method, and could have 

 been produced in no other way. 



I would not be understood to disparage or depreciate the obligations we 

 are under to Dr. Van Mons. I do not forget that the Beurre d'Anjou, to 



