350 



HORTICULTURE. 



to Agriculture and Horticulture ; and that a few suggestions 

 here, may emhrace what would require a separate book to un- 

 fold without such connection. It is to be hoped, therefore, that 

 what we may be able to say on this branch of the subject, 

 will not be wholly out of place, and will contribute to the ad- 

 vancement of an art which is every day becoming more and 

 more important. The subject may be treated of under the 

 following heads. 1. Selection of seeds, and the preservation 

 and improvement of races. 2. Propagation of species, by 

 seeds, eyes, cuttings, grafting and budding. 3. Processes of 

 pruning, training, potting and transplanting. 



Sect. 1. Selection of Seeds, and Propagation and Improve- 

 ment of Races. 



The quantity and quality of vegetable productions depend 

 as much upon the proper selection of seed, as upon any one 

 operation of the rural art. This is an important point for the 

 attention of the common farm ; but indispensable to the suc- 

 cess of the gardener. 



I. The maturation of the seed is a vital action, and generally 

 proceeds without any difficulty, when plants are left to their 

 natural soil, climate and culture. But cultivated plants often 

 fail to mature their seeds; or, if they are matured, their vital 

 powers are weak, and they produce but sickly offspring. 

 The causes of sterility are, 



1. The unnatural development o^ some organ near the seed 

 vessels, by which the nourishment designed for the seed is 

 withheld. Instances of this are found in the pear, pine-apple 

 and plantain. The nourishment goes to the fruit ; in which 

 case a portion of it, or of water, should be withheld, so that 

 the seed may receive its proportion. Hence it is, that some 

 plants, as the pine-apple, will only mature their seeds in a 

 poor soil. The tubers of potatoes often abstract nourishment 

 from the seed, and the seed from the tuber ; the same is true 



