288 Propagation of Fruit Trees, Vines, ^c. 



extinct, but whose fires, as is proved by the hot springs and vapor 

 baths, yet burn. 



A mountain which has ejected such immense quantities of lava as 

 has Vesuvius, must necessarily have a great extent of volcanic fires. 



If, as says Braccini, and from experiment the descent to the inter- 

 nal plain in 1631 was by a rapid declivity of three miles, and con- 

 sequently its situation was far below the level of the sea, what limits 

 ought to be assigned to the fires, which as they were then latent, 

 must have been far below the plain he reached ? It will not there- 

 fore require much credulity to believe a radius of six or eight miles 

 necessarily to include the fires of Vesuvius, even supposing that there 

 are no others in the neighborhood. But others do exist, andjudg^ 

 ing of their probable limits by the size of the old crater, is there not 

 reason to believe that they also extend six or eight miles, and thus 

 meet those of Vesuvius, or rather that there is but one great source, 

 or furnace of which Vesuvius is the present spiracle ! We pass- 

 ed Stromboli Tuesday evening, June 16th, a more extensive moun- 

 tain than Vesuvius ; its red fiery expirations had more breadth and 

 height, but they were less frequent than those of that volcano, hap- 

 pening not oftener than once in fifteen or twenty minutes. 



Etna was in sight the next day, but she gave us not the least evi- 

 dence of her volcanic character, except in her external appearance. 



Art. X. — On the Propagation of Fruit Trees, Vines, 8fc. 

 To the Editor of the American Journal of Science. 



Sir — In the April number of your valuable Journal, I observe, on 

 page 183, a translation of a French "'Memoir upon Fruit Trees," in 

 which some enquiries are suggested into the cause of fruits raised from 

 the seed being different in quality from those from which they were 

 derived, and proposing certain experiments to ascertain it, particu- 

 larly transplanting and change of soil. These, I humbly conceive, 

 will not be alone found to furnish the remedy, and it must therefore 

 be sought elsewhere. 



I must honestly premise, that I am not much of a horticulturist 

 myself, nor have I made many satisfactory experiments, owing to my 

 not being situated favorably for the purpose ; but I have often re- 

 marked the inferiority of melons, peaches, pears and cherries, the 

 seeds of which had been selected from the finest specimens, and re- 



