93 



though not probably by aj-tificial cross-fertilization, as now practised. One of their 

 poets gives the following description of his fruit garden : 



" The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, 

 And verdant olives flourish round the year ; 

 The balmy spirit of the western gale 

 Eternal brfeathes on fruits untaught to fail : 

 Each dropping pear a following pear supplies — 

 On apples, apples ; figs on figs arise ; 

 The same mild season gives the blooms to blow. 

 The buds to harden and the fruits to grow. " 



The term "degeneration," in it.'i larger definition, when used with reference to 

 fruits and vegetables, is generally understood to apply to those kinds which, having 

 l)een cultivated for a longer or shorter period of time, and having had their day and 

 generation, seem to have run out, and no longer to retain their original characteristics. 



ISTature seems to have endowed every plant known in the vegetable kingdom 

 with an allotted term or definite period of life ; especially when growing in its native 

 climate and soil, and surrounded by conditions not unfavourable to its life, growth, 

 maturity, and method of reproduction. 



In attempting the inquiry into the period of longevity of fruit-bearing trees, 

 and fruits growing thereon, together with the fruit-bearing bushes, shi-ubs, canes 

 and vines, I find but few data relating to the subject, and must rely largely upon my 

 personal observation and experience, and my own recollections of the past fifty years, 

 but too short by several hundred years for a broad understanding of the subject. 



All the fruit-bearing plants are naturally grown from seed, planted by the 

 intricate processes of nature, and by art of man. The seed contains all inhei-ent 

 natural forces requisite for reproducing its kind ; and the seed plant seems endowed 

 with the vitality and functions requisite for, and pertaining to, its growth, maturity, 

 and reproduction during its destined period of life. 



The time allotted for the continuance of plant life seems as variable as the 

 external features of the plant itself While the limit of humau life may be three 

 score years and ten, in tree or plant life we know it may be many times three score 

 years. The average life-time of the lower animals is well known ; but compara- 

 tively little is known of the life of fruit-bearing trees, and even less regarding the 

 time our popular varieties of fruits will continue to be produced in perfection under 

 the prolonged cultivation by the art of the sagacious horticulturist. 



The causes, natural and artificial, of fruits degenerating and becoming unworthy 

 of cultivation ai'e at present but imperfectly understood, as the many sorts seem to 

 be subjected to many varying conditions. In the case of each, we have to consider 

 its natural hardiness, and longevity, the influences of soil and climate, the stimulat- 

 ing effects of liberal cultivation, the mysterious influences of engrafting, both as to 

 stock and. scion. All the,se, and similar questions, underlying the subject, are so 

 clouded and obscure that we can neither fully explain nor comprehend them. 

 Neverthelese, there are some facts that seem to throw a little light upon the subject. 

 "While, perhaps, it is utterly impossible to fully verify the causes that seem to 

 augment the degenerating tendencies in fruits, the facts we rely upon seem apparent, 

 and although the evidence by which we trace the causes seems partially circum- 

 stantial, yet it is unequivocal, so far as it goes, and cannot well be set aside, in 

 communities where cultivation has been pursued for fifty years or more by "the ait 

 which doth mend nature." 



The pear trees grown from seeds which were planted by the earliest settlers of 

 this country were of a robust habit of growth, attaining large size and great age, 

 and have outlived many generations of men ; and of those known to have borne 

 fruit as early as 1063, some are still alive. The pear tree is indigenous in sections 

 of the northern temperate zone, flourishing as far north as the fifty-seventh degree 

 oi latitude, and is grown in this country from the British provinces to Mexico. In 

 acclimating and growing the pear in a warmer ciimate its primitive habit of long 

 life seems to be partly lost or impaired. Growers long since abandoned planting 

 the seeds from the original fruit, using instead the seeds of the engrafted sorts, 



