INTRODUCTION. xiii 



rendered as delicious and as fertile as those of the 

 autumn ; and there is no apparent reason why those 

 very early, but worthless sorts, such as the Muscat 

 Robert, which usher in the season of Pears, should 

 not be brought to a similar state of perfection. 



There is no kind of fruit, however delicious, that 

 may not be deteriorated, or however worthless, that may 

 not be ameliorated, by particular modes of management ; 

 so that after a given variety shall have been created, its 

 merits may still be either elicited or destroyed by the 

 cultivator. In this place those practices only need be 

 considered that tend to improvement. 



Some fruits of excellent quality are bad bearers : this 

 defect is remedied by a variety of different methods, 

 such as, 1. By ringing the bark ; 2. By bending 

 branches downwards ; 3. By training ; and, 4. By 

 the use of different kinds of stocks. All these practices 

 are intended to produce exactly the same effect by dif- 

 ferent ways. Physiologists know that whatever tends to 

 cause a rapid diffusion of the sap and secretions of any 

 plant, causes also the formation of leaf buds instead of 

 flower buds ; and that whatever, on the contrary, tends 

 to cause an accumulation of sap and secretions, has the 

 effect of producing flower buds in abundance. This cir- 

 cumstance, which at first sight seems to be difficult to 

 account for physiologically, is no doubt to be explained 

 by the difference between leaf buds and flower buds 

 themselves. In a leaf bud, all the appendages or leaves 

 are in a high state of development, and the central 

 part or axis, around which they are arranged, has a 

 tendency to extend itself in the form of a branch 

 as soon as the necessary stimulus has been communi- 

 cated to the system by the light and warmth of spring. 

 In a flower bud, the appendages or leaves are in that 

 imperfectly formed, contracted state, which we name 

 calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistilla ; and the central part 



