of (he Permanence of Varieties. 195 



pect of success was tried by myself and others to propagate 

 the old varieties of the a])ple and pear which formerly consti- 

 tuted the orchards of Herefordshire, without a single healthy 

 or etticient 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 division 

 from the time of the Romans, and that several of the sorts, still 

 prized and prolific, are well identified, among them the ancient 

 Grfficula (considered to be the modern Corinth or currant gi-ape), 

 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 

 the earliest times, and that golden pippins, 8t. -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 pro- 

 ceedings of pomological societies, and the debates of farmers' 

 clubs, brings out the same difference of opinion. The testimony 

 is nearly equally divided. Perhaps the larger number 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 failures may be, by ex- 

 haustion 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 become decrepit and die out, 

 it is not bound to die out all at once and everywhere at the 

 same time. It would be expected first to give way wherever 

 it is 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 ? 



Here, again, Mr. Knight took an extreme view. In his 

 essay in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' published in the year 

 1810, he propounded the theory, not merely of a natural limit 

 to varieties from grafts and cuttings, but even that they 

 would not survive the natural term of the life of the seedling 

 trees from which they were originally taken. Whatever may 

 have been his view of the natural tenn of the life of a tree, 

 and of a cutting being merely a part of the individual that 

 produced it, there is no doubt that he laid himself open to the 

 effective replies which were made from all sides at the time. 



