DO VARIETIES WEAR OUT? 177 



same mode of management which was a century ago so per- 

 fectly successful, is placed beyond the reach of controversy. 

 Every experiment which seemed to afford the slightest pros- 

 pect of success was tried by myself and others to propagate 

 the old varieties of the Apple and Pear which formerly con- 

 stituted the orchards of Herefordshire, without a single 

 healthy or efficient tree having been obtained ; and I believe 

 all attempts to propagate these varieties have, during some 

 years, wholly ceased to be made." 



To this it was replied, in that and the next generation, 

 that cultivated vines have been transmitted by perpetual di- 

 vision from the time of the Romans, and that several of the 

 sorts, still prized and prolific, are well identified, among them 

 the ancient Graecula, considered to be the modern Corinth or 

 Currant grape, which has immemorially been seedless ; that 

 the old Nonpareil apple was known in the time of Queen 

 Elizabeth ; that the White Beurre pears of France have been 

 propagated from earliest times ; and that Golden pippins, 

 St. Michael pears, and others said to have run out, were still 

 to be had in good condition. 



Coming down to the present year, a glance through the 

 proceedings of pomological societies and the debates of farm- 

 ers' clubs, bring out the same difference of opinion. The 

 testimony is nearly equally divided. Perhaps the larger num- 

 ber speak of the deterioration and failure of particular old 

 sorts ; but when the question turns on " wearing out," the 

 positive evidence of vigorous trees and sound fruits is most 

 telling. A little positive testimony outweighs a good deal of 

 negative. This cannot readily be explained away, while the 

 failure may be, by exhaustion of soil, incoming of disease, or 

 alteration of climate or circumstances. On the other hand 

 it may be urged, that, if a variety of this sort is fated to be- 

 come decrepit and die out, it is not bound to die out all at 

 once or everywhere at the same time. It would be expected 

 first to give way wherever it was weakest, from whatever 

 cause. This consideration has an important bearing upon the 

 final question, Are old varieties of this kind on the way to die 

 out on account of their age or any inherent limit of vitality ? 



