318 Amelioration of Fruit Trees. 



Each section of counti-y has its own varieties of fruit ; and in 

 the state of Ohio, containing 1,000,000 of inhabitants, I doubt 

 if there are a dozen trees growing of the two varieties of fruit 

 before referred to, the Spitzemberg and Baldwin. As to the 

 improvement of fruit, Nature, in this her " grand laboratory," 

 has done much ; but might not art in Europe do more ? By 

 the intermixture of the pollen, your friend, Mr. Sweet, can at 

 pleasure vai-y the shade of a lily or the fragrancy of a rhodo- 

 dendron. Were such unequalled skill directed to the im- 

 provement of fruit, the happiest consequences must necessarily 

 result. 



After all, Sir, is it not to the intermixture of the pollen 

 that variation in fruit is to be attributed ? Take a fruit tree 

 of medium excellence ; average the opinions of the Pomolo- 

 gical and Gardener's Magazijie, and call the Hawthornden 

 of Scotland such. Plant it beyond the reach of foreign pollen, 

 and, I apprehend, its seedling offspring will not greatly vary 

 from the parent standard ; some of the seedlings will produce 

 better and some worse fruit. If those seedlings are planted 

 so that their pollen intermix, the second generation will 

 exhibit signs of further departure in improvement and dete- 

 rioration ; and this variation will be greater as the soil, climate, 

 and culture are varied : so that, in many generations, if the 

 pollen be not permitted to mix, and the climate and culture 

 remain the same, the departure from the parent standard of 

 goodness will be trifling ; but, on the contrary, if the pollen be 

 indiscriminately mixed, and the climate and culture varied, 

 the departure will be great. In the orchards of " natural 

 fruit, " as they are called in the United States, a collection of 

 apples could in a few months be obtained quite equal to that 

 of the 1200 in your Horticultural Society's garden. Cui bono P 

 The varieties are already too numerous. As to apples and 

 peaches, America excels Europe : as to other fruit, Europe 

 excels America. 



We are making some attempts at the culture of the vine. 

 In this country there are about 200 acres planted with vines, 

 after the manner of the French and Germans, 3 ft. by 4 ft. 

 principally of the native species ; which, although not to be 

 compared with the Fitis vinifera of Europe, perhaps deserve a 

 more favourable notice than you were pleased to take of them 

 in the Encyclopcedia of Plants. There may be some hundred 

 individuals in our country who have small vineyards. In a 

 year or two their petitions will be on the tables of Congress, 

 calling for an increase of the duty on foreign wines. This is 

 all the extreme of folly. Here the cultivation of the vine, 

 for wine, should not be thought of for a century to come. 



