xii 



PREFACE. 



is for the purpose of producing the former effect that pruning and training trees 

 are more especially destined. In pruning, we remove all those superfluous 

 branches which overshadowed the remainder, and we endeavor to expose every 

 part to the freest action of light and air. In training, the same thing takes 

 place, but is increased ; there is not a branch that is not fully exposed to the 

 most direct rays of light, and to the freest circulation of air, and even to the un- 

 impeded action of the sun in aspects exposed to the south, east, or west. This 

 action is obviously most powerful on the south, and hence the higher quality of 

 fruits matured upon that exposure than on any other ; while, on the other hand, 

 fruits raised upon a northern aspect are well known to be less highly flavored 

 than those from even an open standard. For a similar reason, forced fruits, 

 which are obtained at a period when there is little light, cannot be compared with 

 those which are matured in the full blaze of a summer sun ; and hence melons 

 grown in frames covered with mats, and carefully excluded from the influence of 

 that solar light which is indispensable to them, have, whatever may be their ex- 

 ternal beauty, none of that luscious flavor which the melon, when well cultivat- 

 ed, possesses in so eminent a degree. 



" The next subject of consideration is the mode of multiplying improved vari- 

 eties of fruit, so as to continue in the progeny exactly the same qualities as exist- 

 ed in the parent. Unless we have the power of doing this readily, the advanta- 

 ges of procuring improved races would be very much circumscribed; and the 

 art of horticulture, in this respect, would be one of the greatest uncertainty. 

 The usual mode of increasing plants, that mode which has been more especially 

 provided by nature, is by seeds ; but, while seeds increase the species without 

 error, the peculiarities of varieties can rarely be perpetuated in the same manner. 

 In order to secure the multiplication of a variety, with all its qualities unaltered, 

 it is necessary that portions should be detached from the original individual, and 

 converted into new individuals, each to undergo a similar dismemberment, with 

 similar consequences. It happens that while in animals this is impracticable, 

 except in the case of polypes, the system of life in a plant is, of all others, the 

 best adapted to such a purpose. We are accustomed to consider individual 

 plants of exactly the same nature as individual animals; this is, however, a vul- 

 gar error, which is dissipated by the slightest inquiry into the nature of a plant. 

 A plant is really an animated body, composed of infinite multitudes of systems 

 of life; all indeed, united in a whole, but each having an independent existence. 

 When, therefore, any number of these' systems of lite is removed, those which 

 remain, as well as those which are separated, will, under fitting circumstances, 

 continue to perform their natural functions as well as if no union between them 

 had ever existed. These systems of life are buds, each having a power of emit- 

 ting descending fibres in the form of roots, and also of ascending in the form of 

 stem. The first of these buds is the embryo ; the others are subsequently form- 

 ed on the stem emitted by the embryo. As these secondary buds develope, their 

 descending roots combine and form the wood, their ascending stems give rise 

 again to new buds. These buds are all exactly like each other ; they have the 

 same constitution, the same organic structure, and the individuals they are capa- 

 ble of producing are, consequently, all identically the same ; allowance, of course, 

 being made for such accidental injuries or alterations as they may sustain during 

 their subsequent growth. It is upon the existence of such a remarkable physio- 

 logical peculiarity in plants, that propagation entirely depends ; an evident proof 

 of which may be seen in this circumstance. Take a cutting of xi vine consisting 

 only of the space which lies between two buds, or an internodium, as botanists 

 would call such a piece, and no art will succeed in ever making it become a new 

 plant, no matter how considerable the size of the internodium may be.* But, 

 on the other hand, take the bud of a vine without any portion of the stem adher- 

 ing to it, and it will throw out stem and root, and become a new plant immedi- 

 ately. If we examine the various modes employed in horticulture for propagat- 

 ing plants, we shall find that, however diflTerent they may be in appearance, they 

 all consist in the application of these principles under various forms. It will be 

 most convenient to consider these methods separately. 



Propagation is effected by the arts of Increasing by Eyes, Striking from Cut- 

 tings, Laying, Buddings and Grafting. 



* This is, of course, said without reference to the power which some plants possess of 

 developing latent buds, a subject which is foreign to the present inquiry. 



