272 GARDE^IKG FOR PROFIT. 



gether under the some conditions. Every now and then 

 we hear of varieties of fruits or flowers, said to be de- 

 generating, that are propagated from cuttings, grafts or 

 roots. I believe there is no such thing as permanent de- 

 generation of any fruit, flower or vegetable that is raised 

 from cuttings, grafts or roots. The Jargonelle Pear, the 

 Ribston Pippin Apple, the Hamburg Grape or the Keen 

 Seedling Strawberry of the English gardens, are found to 

 look just as good and as bad, under different conditions 

 of culture, as they were fifty or 100 years ago, and that 

 any change, either for better or worse, is only an accident 

 of circumstances, and temporary. For, be it remembered, 

 that when a plant is raised from, cuttings, as in the 

 grape-vine, grafts as in a Pear, or layers as in a Straw- 

 berry, or pieces of the tuber as in a Potato, such parts, are 

 not seed proper, but are merely parts of the same indi- 

 vidual that was first called into existence. The Early Rose 

 Potato, introduced nearly a -quarter of a century ago, is 

 just as good to-day, under proper cultivation, as when 

 first introduced, but it is certainly no better. It is 

 often to be found under unfavorable circumstances, and 

 then may be supposed to have degenerated ; but when it 

 is shown, under other circumstances, to be as fine as when 

 first introduced, how can the assertion of permanent 

 degeneracy be admitted ? 



Permanent improvement, in my opinion, in varieties, 

 can only be made by the selection of the fittest speci- 

 mens that have been raised from seed proper. Here we 

 have, as in the Early Rose Potato, the Sharpless Straw- 

 berry and the Concord Grape, varieties that have shot 

 ahead of their fellows, having merits that the general 

 public recognize, but all the art of man cannot further 

 improve these, so that their "progeny" (to use a con- 

 venient, though, perhaps, not a strictly correct term), 

 when increased by "sets," "layers" and "cuttings," 

 will be permanently bettor or worse than when first 



