166 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



layer, the slip, or the graft, will correspond the 

 double flowers of the plant developing from this 

 layer, slip, or graft : the same shade of coloring will 

 be reproduced, and the fruit will have the same size, 

 savor, and sweetness. The slightest peculiarity 

 which, for unknown reasons, appears in a plant 

 grown from the seed, and which sometimes is found 

 only on a single branch, as the indented outline of 

 the leaves or the variegation of the blossoms, is re- 

 produced with minute accuracy if the graft, slip, or 

 layer is taken from the branch having this modifica- 

 tion. By this means horticulture is daily enriching 

 itself with double flowers or a new shade, or with 

 fruit remarkable for its size, its early or late ripen- 

 ing, its juicy flesh, its more pronounced aroma. 

 "Without the help of graft and slip these fortunate 

 accidents, occurring but once and no one knows how, 

 would lead to no further profit after the death of the 

 plant thus favored by chance ; and horticulture would 

 find itself compelled to repeat over and over again 

 its attempts to bring about improvements which, al- 

 most as soon as effected, would invariably be lost 

 for want of means to fix them and render them per- 

 manent. 



"If history had preserved the record, what long 

 and painful efforts to develop our various cultivated 

 plants from worthless seedlings should we not read 

 there! Just think of what a happy inspiration it 

 must have taken to select exactly the kind of vege- 

 table or other plant susceptible of improvement, 

 what patient experimental attempts to subject it to 



