REARING TINES FROM SEEDS. 1253 



under every variety of circumstance, I shall be able to test 

 the above point to ample satisfaction. 



It has been remarked by Mr. Poiteau, in the annals of the Paris 

 Horticultural Society, that improved varieties seldom originate 

 in regular nurseries, but are generally produced by chance, 

 and found in woods and hedges, where the finer sorts are little 

 known, and where such as do exist are mismanaged and ne- 

 glected. Mr. Knight has also advanced facts to prove that 

 a crab fecundated by the pollen of a good fruit, produces 

 better kinds from the seeds than can -be obtained from the 

 seeds of good fruit. We have also the authority of Professor 

 Van Mons, that the Flemish horticulturists in their attempts 

 to obtain new sorts, do not prefer the seeds of meliorated fruit. 

 The law of nature that " like begets or produces like," it is 

 contended by the writer first quoted, is not always uniform 

 among domesticated animals or highly cultivated plants. 



These remarks are no doubt for the most part just and ap- 

 propriate, and apply equally to the grape as to other fruits, 

 nevertheless as we have every day the most decided proofs 

 that the law of nature referred to, is very general in its influence, 

 I would advise in all cases where a union of varieties is 

 desired, that one of them should be of the most choice descrip- 

 tion, in preference to blending two natural or inferior varie- 

 ties ; and seeds produced by such combination, I should cer- 

 tainly deem better calculated to yield fine fruit, than that 

 obtained from natural or inferior varieties alone. As to the 

 necessity of pursuing this course of seminal reproduction for 

 four to six generations, as advanced by some European wri- 

 ters, it is certainly not susceptible of argumentative support 

 where the first union is a judicious one, and is rather calcu- 

 lated to weary the patience of the experimentalist than to 

 result in any decided benefits. 



In all attempts at artificial fecundation, I would recommend 

 that one of the varieties selected be of native origin, as there 

 exists no want of hybrids between European varieties alone ; 

 a large proportion of those now in cultivation having been 

 doubtless produced by natural admixture of the pollen, in the 



