362 THE FLORIST AN© 



eagerly in what proved to be the vain pursuit. A worthy armorer at So- 

 lingen even published an elaborate' pamphlet in support of the idea. Nein 

 mekr hungersnoth — no more famine — was his audacious motto — a prediction 

 wofully falsified by the result, for the seedling Potatoes were ? if possible^ 

 more diseased than their parents. 



So many persons, however, disregarding what we presume to think the 

 preponderating weight of evidence to the contrary, still continue to look" 

 upon the question as one open to further discussion, that a learned German 

 Scientific Society has determined to make it the subject of further and moreV 

 elaborate examination. 



A committee appointed under the Bemidoif foundation in Berlin, has just' 

 announced that a prize of 30?. (200 thalers) ,is offered for. the best essay 

 upon the duration of life in plants propagated otherwise than hj seed. The' 

 question to which competitors must address themselves may be thus freely 

 translated : — u Is the life of an individual plants in its widest sense, that is 

 to say, of a plant itself raised from seed and then propagated otherwise 

 than by seed (by cuttings, layers, buds,, grafts, &c), unlimited in duration,' 

 and destructible only by accidental ov external unfavorable circumstances, 

 before the extinction of the species itself ? or is the life of such an' indivi- 

 dual limited, and to a certain definite extent shorter than the duration of 

 ;he species V 



Competitors are expected to give, in addition to any unpublished cases, 

 the fullest possible collection and examination of published facts relating to 

 the degeneracy or total extinction of seedlings, preserved and propagated 

 Otherwise than by seed, and more particularly of seedling fruits cultivated 

 in Europe, viz., Apples,- Pears, Quinces, Medlars, Plums, Cherries, Apricots, 

 Peaches, Almonds, Figs, Mulberries, the different kinds of Orange, Olives^ 

 Walnuts, Filberts, Grapes, Gooseberries, Currants, Raspberries, and Straw- 

 terries ; and the sources from which the facts are taken must be stated^ 

 Attention must also be paid to Hie circumstances under which the degener- 

 ation of the plants reported on occurred 1 ;^ the climate and soil in which they 

 grew, the treatment ami care they received, so far as these can affect the? 

 answer to be given to the* question, and any evidence relating to them whick 

 can be found. ^ 



It is announced that the essays for the prize may be written in English, 

 French, German, Italian, or Latin, and must be delivered before the 1st of 

 March, 1854, to Dr. Nees yon Esenbeck, the President of the Academy 

 of Naturalists at Breslau. Each essay must have a motto prefixed, and in 

 an accompanying envelope the name of the writer must be given. The re- 

 sult of the award is to be made known in the Bonplandia newspaper of the 

 17th June, 1854, and the successful essay will be printed in the Transac- 

 tions of the Academy Naturse Curiosorum. Full particulars will be found 

 in the AUgemeine Gartenzeitmig for the 30th July, of the present year. 



Since it is obvious that no special experiments can now be instituted for 

 the purpose of testing this theory, the attention of the essayists will neces- 

 sarily be confined to a diligent accumulation of evidence, and to the con- 

 clusions which it renders necessary. We t dare say the proposal will find 

 respondents among men of leisure who have access to large libraries, and 

 we venture to hope that they will be able to settle so vexed a subject. We 

 trust they will take care not to confound* the duration of natural seedlings 

 with that of vegetable mules, which is a wholly different question.-^- €r. Chron. 



