386 An'fiales de la Societe de Horticulture de Paris. 



begets or produces like," has long been considered as a law of nature among 

 animals and some vegetables ; but this law is not always uniform, especially 

 among domesticated animals or highly cultivated plants. Yet, on this prin- 

 ciple, our nurserymen have acted in their endeavours to obtain better kinds 

 of fruit, by sowing seeds of the best, in the hope that they would raise some- 

 thing still better. It is well known that in this process they have failed. 

 The celebrated Duhamel and his contemporaries failed in the same way 

 From these and other instances, the author concludes that practitioners are 

 wrong in their expectations of obtaining at once what can only be the 

 result of time. He seems to infer that seedlings, apples or pears, for ex- 

 ample, require some years and some cultivation, while they are passing 

 from one stage of their infancy to another, before they can show their 

 inherent qualities. 



. As proofs of this conjecture, he instances the case of the fruit trees in 

 the United States of America at this time. There, it appears, they have 

 little trouble in procuring superior fruits from seed ; and, that they have 

 many excellent new kinds, their lists sufficiently testify. The cause of this 

 he conceives to be, that the first imported fruits, which the colonists received 

 from Europe 500 years ago, were, amidst the bustle of establishing and 

 securing themselves in a new country, lost, from neglect or ignorance of 

 the art of grafting ; and that they only had recourse to seeds for perpetuating 

 the kinds. These seedlings have passed through several generations, and 

 are now an-ived at that period of their existence in which their inherent 

 qualities are fully developed. 



The Americans, M. Poiteau adds, attribute this to another cause, namely, 

 that in proportion as their newly broken up lands are ameliorated by culti- 

 vation, &c., so, in like proportion, are the qualities of their fruit. It is a 

 common saying in Virginia, that the fruits of such or such an orchard 

 " begin to change for the'better." But this can hardly be admitted ; for 

 though such circumstance may improve the quality, it cannot change the 

 physical characters of fruit. 



After noticing the fact proved by Mi. Knight, P.H.S., that a crab, fecun- 

 dated by the pollen of a good fruit, produces better kinds from seed than 

 can be had from seeds of improved fruit, he proceeds to describe the 

 method pursued by the Flemish orchardists to obtain new sorts, and which 

 is given on the authority of M. van Mons. The Belgians, he says, do not 

 prefer the seeds of ameliorated fruit. When the seedlings appear, they do 

 not, as others do, choose such only as are free from spines, having large 

 leaves, and I'emarkable for the thickness and beauty of their wood; but, on 

 the contrary, such as are most spinous, provided the spines are long, and 

 well furnished with buds or eyes placed near together. This last cu'cum- 

 stance they consider as an indication that they will soon show fruit. Indi- 

 viduals having such properties are grafted, apples on paradise, and pears on 

 quince, stocks, to hasten fructification. The first fruit of these grafts are gene- 

 rally bad ; but whatever they are, the seeds are carefully saved and sowed. 

 The second generation, treated in like manner, begins to show improvement. 

 Through a third and fourth the process is continued, till they arrive at a 

 point which gives fruit worthy of being preserved. Peaches and apricots, 

 treated in the same way, yield excellent fruit the third generation ; apples 

 require four or five, and the pear about six, transitions. This process, con- 

 cludes M. Poiteau, is only an imitation of that of nature, exemplified in 

 America. 



2. Notices, Analyses, S^c. — Supplementary information respecting the 

 Cultivation of the common Onion ; by M. Vilmorin. Two correspondents 

 of M. Vilmorin recommend the Egyptian. {Encyc. of Gard., $ 3827.) It 

 produces both seeds and bulbs on its flower stalk, and may be raised from 

 either ; but the method of raising from bulbs is to be preferred. As the 

 onion is a biennial^ the seeds are sown very thick the first year ; and .the 



