I 



O RGANS 



OF 



Sect. VII. 



1-3 



toes, and the black blight in the flowers of the hautbois flrawberry, 

 which fome have afcribed to its only bearing male flowers ; the cure 

 of which mufl arife from our applying to other varieties more lately 

 derived from a feminal offspring. 



This degeneracy of trees or perennial herbaceous plants propagated 



by buds or root-fcioi 

 of the original feedl 

 buds or 

 feeds. 



o 



I think to be afcribed fimply to the 

 becaufe each fucceffive generation 



o 



f 



bulbs are as diftind from the parent, as the generation by 



But as th 



progeny of vegetables h 



no fource of 



improvement after they have arrived at their maturity, but arc liable 

 like other plants and animals to injuries from food and cHmate, which 

 injuries produce hereditary difeafcs, it is to this cjrcumftance that 

 their degeneracy ought rather to be afcribed; whereas the fexual pro- 

 geny of vegetables are liable to improvement by the intermixture of 

 the individuals of the fame, or even of different fpecies to counterad 

 the effects of hereditary difeafes. 



Another curious fimilarity which buds bear to their parent tree is 

 alfo obferved by Mr. Knight, Phil. Tranf. for 1795. Part II. p. 292. 



;-trees of two years old were inferted 



*' Cuttings from fecdling apple-trees 



on flocks of twenty years old, and in a bearing flate; but thefe have 



now been grafted nine years ; and, though they have been frequently 



fplanted to check their growth, they have 



yet produced 



fingle bloffbm. I have fince grafted fome very old trees with 



from feedling apple-trees of five years old 



Their growth has been 



mely rapid, and there appears no probability that their time of 



producing fruit will be 

 jured by the great age 



rated 



or 



th 



th 



health will be 



of the flocks. A feedling apple-tree ufually 



bea 



fr 



in thirteen or fou 



years 



d I therefore conclud 



that I have to wait for a blofTom, till the trees, from which the 

 grafts were taken, attain that age ; though I have reafon to believe 

 from the form of their buds that they will be extremely prolific. 

 Every cutting therefore taken from the apple, and probably from 



5 every 



