Miscellanies. 183 
sulphate of potash, and of carbonate of lime than he ever had found 
in it, in its natural state, and that the action of an electric current 
augmented the quantity of sulphate of potash one third more still, but 
in concluding from this, that the sulphate of lime ought to be employ- 
ed dissolved and not in a solid state, he appears not to have had in 
view merely, the introduction of the material into the plant—where 
it is not altogether certain that it contributes to its organic develope- 
ment. This procedure, it seems, in the mean time withdraws the ag- 
riculturalists from a practice, whose advantages are established, with- 
out sufficiently considering that the farmer enters into the same views 
in not using the plaster in a solid state, except in weather which is 
not rainy, but cloudy and moist, which causes the slow and gradual 
dissolution of it, to the benefit of all the parts of the vegetable, with- 
out excepting the roots. All this appears to merit attention. It 1s 
ampossible to discover too much ardor in observing, or too much cau- 
tion in forming conclusions. S. B. 
Ann. de ’Institut royal horticole de Fromont. 
3. Memoir upon valuable kinds of fruit trees, and their propaga- 
tion from seed.—In pursuing my researches upon the French Flora 
and Pomona, I have been led to make a new observation, and one 
which is contrary to all the received opinions of the last two thou- 
sand years, relative to the seeds of valuable fruits, such as pears, ap- 
ples, plums, &c. M. Sageret, our associate, sowed about fifteen 
years since in his garden, in the street Folie Mericourt, a very great 
number of seeds of the best fruits. ‘The young trees proceeding from 
their seeds, were put into a nursery. Four years after, he quitted 
his garden, and went to live in Montreuil street, No. 141, where he 
at present resides. His young fruit trees were taken up, and trans- 
planted to his new garden, in Montreuil street, some of them having 
been twice transplanted. After two or three years, many pears, 
plums, &c., proceeding from these seeds, yielded fruit, and many 
among them good fruit: without being perfectly similar to the spe- 
cies from which they came, they often have some qualities which ap- 
proximate to them. Having always heard it said that the best fruits 
propagated by their seeds degenerate, and that almost always acid 
and unpalatable fruits are the consequence, I wished to know the ori- 
gin, or rather the experiments, which constitute the foundation of this 
opinion; I have read in consequence, and consulted a great number 
of works, and especially those of the most celebrated authors; but I 
