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to calculate the future importance of fruit culture, 

 whether viewed as a means of furnishing luxuries for our 

 table, or articles of domestic and foreign commerce. 



In my last address, I called your attention to the im- 

 portance of raising new and improved varieties from seed 

 as the best method of increasing and preserving our sup- 

 ply of choice fruits. Whether the theory of the running 

 out of varieties be true or false, so thoroughly am I con- 

 vinced of the great practical utility of this recommenda- 

 tion, that I feel especially desirous, while I have the 

 opportunity, of encouraging you to perseverance, and of 

 guarding your minds against exposure to failures. 



A false doctrine prevails among some, although found- 

 ed on the theory of Van Mens, " that scions taken from 

 seedlings, and grafted i?ito stocks, however strong and 

 healthy, will not yield fruit earlier than it may be obtained 

 from the mother plant." Adopting this theory as true, 

 many cultivators have been discouraged on account of the 

 length of the process. Whatever may have been the ex- 

 perience which called forth this theory from its learned 

 author, in the localities where it originated, or where it 

 has been advocated, my reading and personal observation 

 constrain me to question its truthfulness ; certainly its 

 application to our own country. For instance, the fact 

 is familiar to you all, that scions of the pear come into 

 bearing, when grafted on the quince, earlier than on the 

 pear stock. This is believed to result from the early 

 maturity of the quince, which, while it does not change 

 the variety of the pear, imparts its own precocity there- 

 to. We realize a corresponding hastening to maturity 

 when the scion is grafted into a pear tree which has also 

 arrived at maturity ; especially is this to be expected 

 when the stock is in itself one of a precocious character. 

 If any facts seem to oppose this doctrine, they may be 



