ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 245 



lous subjects, and takes part in the conversation without 

 stopping his pen." 



Van Mons' theory is founded upon two physical facts : 



1. That all seeds in a state of nature can be made by cul- 

 tivation to vary from their condition, which variations 

 may be fixed, and become permanent. 



2. Ttiat all cultivated seeds have a tendency to return to- 

 ward that natural state from which they originally varied. 

 We say toward, for he supposed that an improved fruit would 

 never return absolutely to the original and natural type. 



It was upon this last principle that Van Mons accounted 

 for the fact, that as a general thing, the seeds of fine old 

 varieties of fruit produced only inferior kinds. Recourse 

 could not be had therefore to seeds of unproved fruit. 



On the other hand, the seed of fruits' absolutely wild 

 would produce fruits exactly like their original. If the 

 seed of the wild pear be gotten from the wood and planted 

 in a garden, every seed will yield only the wild pear again. 

 But if a wild pear be transplanted, and put under new influ- 

 ences of soil, climate and cultivation, its fruit will begin to 

 augment and improve. The change is not merely upon the 

 size and appearance of the fruit, it affects also the qualities 

 of the seed. For if the seed be now planted, the difference 

 between a wild pear, in a state of nature and the same wild 

 pear-tree in a state of cultivation will at once appear in 

 this, that whereas the seed of the first is constant, the seed 

 of the second shows an inclination to vary. Here then is a 

 starting. When once the habit of variation is gained, the 

 foundation of improvement is laid. In a short time the 

 enthusiasm of Van Mons had collected into his garden 

 80,000 trees upon which he was experimenting, nor can the 

 result of his labors be better stated than in the words of 

 M. Poitcau : 



" That so long as plants remain in their natural situation, 

 they do not sensibly vary, and their seeds always produce 

 the same; but on changing their climate and territory 



