HISTORY OF THE APPLE. 45 



Fifth Generation. This crop of seedlings was de- 

 stroyed by the cut-worms, so that only one tree now re- 

 mains, but has not yet fruited. But Mr. Brayshaw ap- 

 pears to feel hopeful of the results, and promises to 

 continue the experiment. 



Crops have also been sown from some of these trees, 

 but a smaller proportion of the seedlings thus produced 

 were good fruits, than when the first seeds were used 

 this Mr. Brayshaw considers confirmatory evidence of the 

 theory, though he appears to feel confidence in the va- 

 rieties already in use, most of which had almost an ac- 

 cidental origin. 



He thinks the result would have been more successful 

 had the blossoms been protected from impregnation 

 by other trees, and recommends that those to be experi- 

 mented with should be planted at a distance from orchards, 

 so as to avoid this cross-breeding, and to allow of what 

 is called breeding in-and-in. If this were done, he feels 

 confident that " the seedlings would more nearly resemble 

 the parent, and to a certain extent would manifest the ten- 

 dency to improvement, and that from the earliest ripened 

 fruits, some earlier varieties would be produced, from 

 those latest ripening, later varieties, from those that 

 were inferior and insipid, poor sorts would spring, and 

 that from the very best and most perfect fruits we might 

 expect one in one thousand, or one-tenth of one per cent., 

 to be better than the parent. This diminishes the chance 

 for improvement to a beatifully fine point upon which to 

 hang our hopes of the result of many generations of seed- 

 lings occupying more than a lifetime of experiments. 



Mr. Brayshaw, citing some of the generally adopted 



