36 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



which, nevertheless, if it be possible, is more at command 

 than that of living creatures ; wherefore it were one of 

 the most noteable experiments touching plants to find it 

 out, for so you may have great variety of new fruits and 

 flowers yet unknown. Grafting does it not, that mendeth 

 the fruit or doubleth the flowers, etc., but hath not the 

 power to make a new kind, for the scion ever overruleth 

 the stock." In which last observation he* shows more 

 knowledge and a deeper insight into the hidden mysteries 

 of plant-life than many a man in our day, whose special 

 business it is to watch, nurse, and care for these humble 

 forms of existence. 



Bradley, about a century later, in 1718, is believed to 

 have been the first author wTio speaks of the accomplish- 

 ment of cross-breeding, which he describes as having been 

 effected by bringing together the branches of different 

 trees when in blossom. But the gardeners of Holland 

 and the Netherlands were the first to put it into practice.* 



The following extract is given to explain the manner in 

 which Mr. Knight conducted his celebrated experiments 

 on fruits, which rewarded him with some varieties that 

 were highly esteemed : " Many varieties of the apple 

 were collected which had been proved to afford, in 

 mixtures with each other, the finest cider. A tree of eacli 

 was then obtained by grafting upon a Paradise stock, 

 and these trees were trained to a south wall, or if grafted 

 on Siberian crab, to a west wall, till they afforded 

 blossoms, and the soil in which they were planted was 

 made of the most rich and favorable kind. Each bios- 



* Phillips 1 Companion, p. 41. 



