58 



THE GARDENER, 



thei which is within certain limits of physiological affi- 

 nity, so as to form a vital union, and consequently 

 produce a reciprocal growth. Thus a species bearing 

 small and austere fruit may be cut down, and the re- 

 maining part grafted with a scion from a tree of which 

 the fruit is large and delicious ; and being nourished, 

 but not changed in any essential character, this scion 

 will form a tree, ultimately producing fruit similar in 

 every respect, all other circumstances being the same, 

 to that of the tree from which it was taken. The 

 shoots of any particular variety may be cut into many 

 hundred pieces, if sufficiently numerous, and, by graft- 

 ing, each of them can be made to possess all the pro- 

 perties of an individual tree in the course of one 

 season. In the case of cultivated fruits, as well as in 

 many varieties of ornamental plants, multiplication by 

 seeds is precarious ; and with regard to hybrids it is 

 impracticable — at least no assurance can be had of a 

 reproduction of the same variety ; on the contrary, a 

 disposition is generally manifested to return to the 

 natural wild state of the species. Grafting is in some 

 instances the only means, and in many it is the most 

 ehgible, of preventing this. By it the peculiar rich- 

 ness of the fruit or the delicate tint of the flower which 

 we especially prefer and admire can be perpetuated in 

 an almost infinite series of individuals, each being the 

 result of augmentation of the comparatively small ori- 

 ginal portion — this portion being placed in favourable 

 circumstances for receiving an abundant supply of new 

 and proper matter, on which it exercises its organizing 

 powers, and effects a perfect assimilation, which causes 

 a similar development of leaves, flowers, and fruit. 

 Again, this newly-formed augmentation being every 

 way similar to that from which it was derived^ it will 

 continue to exercise the same functions with regard to 

 Buch new matter as comes within the extending scope 

 of its organizing powers, the progress only becoming 



