The Story-Book of the Fields 



plant from which the shoots have been 

 transferred ; such will be the fruit, flowers 

 and leaves provided by them. Nothing will 

 be added to the characters that it is desired 

 to propagate, but nothing will be lacking. 

 If there are double blooms on the plant 

 from which the layer, slip, or graft is taken, 

 so there will be double blooms on the plants 

 produced by them ; if there is a special 

 shade of colour it will be matched by exactly 

 the same colour, and if the fruit is large, 

 sweet and perfumed, that produced from 

 the graft, slip or layer will be exactly the 

 same. The slightest peculiarity that, for 

 some unknown reason, appears on a plant 

 raised from seed, sometimes on a single 

 branch, such as the incised outline of the 

 leaves or the varied colour of the flowers, 

 is reproduced with minute fidelity, if the 

 graft, slip or layer is taken from the affected 

 branch. In this way horticulture is daily 

 enriched by double flowers, or new shades 

 of colour, by fruit remarkable for its 

 size, its late or early maturity, its mellow 

 flesh, or stronger scent. If it were not for 

 the slip and the graft these accidental occur- 

 rences produced by no evident cause would 

 disappear at the death of the favoured plant, 



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