Grafting 



save in the imagination of those who have 

 dreamed of them. 



We have already seen that, grown from 

 seed, our fruit-trees do not generally repro- 

 duce the quality of the fruit from which the 

 seed was derived. By an invisible tendency 

 to return to its original condition, the fruit 

 gradually, in successive generations, loses 

 the improvements that it has acquired by 

 cultivation. Thus the pear, after repeated 

 sowing, would gradually become smaller, 

 harder and more sour, until it reverted to the 

 wretched pear of the hedgerow. But this 

 disadvantage in sowing is compensated for 

 by a valuable quality. The tree produced 

 from seed resumes to a certain extent the 

 hardiness of the wild type. It is immeasur- 

 ably stronger, healthier and longer-lived 

 than the perfected tree, the vigour of which 

 is impaired by the very abundance of 

 its fruit. The one has the strength, the 

 other the fine fruit. The two qualities 

 cannot progress simultaneously. For as 

 one increases the other must diminish. 

 These strong plants, produced from seed, 

 are just those required for grafting. Being 

 used as stocks they will provide their own 

 quality of strength, while the graft that 



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