6 THE PRODUCTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF FRUIT. 



awaits their fruit. Not discouraged at finding most of them mediocre 

 in quality, though differing from the parent, he gathers the first seeds of 

 the most promising and sows them again. The next generation comes 

 more rapidly into bearing than the first, and shows a greater number of 

 promising traits. Gathering immediately, and sowing the seeds of this 

 generation, he produces a third, then a fourth, and even a fifth genera- 

 tion, uninterruptedly, from the original sort. Each generation he finds 

 to come more quickly into bearing than the previous ones (the fifth sow- 

 ing of pears fruiting at three years), and to produce a greater number of 

 valuable varieties ; until in the fifth generation the seedlings are nearly 

 all of great excellence. 



Dr. Van Mons found the pear to require the longest time to attain 

 perfection, and he carried his process with this fruit through five gener- 

 ations. Apples he found needed but four races, and peaches, cherries, 

 plums, and other stone fruits were brought to perfection in three succes- 

 sive reproductions from the seed. 



It will be remembered that it is a leading feature in this theory that, 

 in order to improve the fruit, we must subdue or enfeeble the original 

 coarse luxuriance of the tree. Keeping this in mind, Dr. Van Mons 

 always gathers his fruit before fully ripe, and allows them to rot before 

 planting the seeds, in order to refine or render less wild and harsh the 

 next generation. In transplanting the young seedlings into quarters to 

 bear he cuts off the tap root, and he annually shortens the leading and 

 side branches, besides planting them only a few feet apart. All this les- 

 sens the vigor of the trees, and produces an impression upon the nature 

 of the seeds which will be produced by their first fruit ; and, in order to 

 continue in full force the progressive variation, he allows his seedlings to 

 bear on their own roots.* 



Such is Dr. Van Mons' theory and method, for obtaining new varieties 

 of fruit. It has never obtained much favor in England, and from the 

 length of time necessary to bring about its results, it is scarcely likely to 

 come into very general use here. At the same time it is not to be de- 

 nied that in his hands it has proved a very successful mode of obtaining 

 new varieties. 



It is also undoubtedly true that it is a mode closely founded on natural 

 laws, and that the great bulk of our fine varieties have originated by 

 chance. 



The first colonists here, who brought with them many seeds gath- 

 ered from the best old varieties of fruits, were surprised to find their 

 seedlings producing only very inferior fruits. These seedlings had re- 

 turned, by their inherent tendency, almost to a wild state. By rearing 

 from them, however, seedlings of many repeated generations, we have 

 arrived at a great number of the finest apples, pears, peaches, and plums. 

 According to Dr. Van Mons, had this process been continued uninter- 

 ruptedly, from one generation to the next, a much shorter time would 

 have been necessary for the production of first-rate varieties. 



To show how the practice of chance sowing works in the other hemis- 



* " I have found this art to consist in regenerating in a direct line of descent, 

 and as rapidly as possible, an improving variety, taking care that there be no in- 

 terval between the generations. To sow, to re-sow, to sow again, to sow perpet- 

 ually, in short, to do nothing but sow, is the practice to be pursued, and which 

 cannot be departed from ; and in short this is the whole secret of the art I have 

 employed." Van Mons' Arbres Fruitiers, 1. p. 22, 223. 



