48 



these we put into what we deemed at the time a 

 healthy subject — a Hick's Fancy. Strange to say, 

 theHawthornden, which has branched and borne fruit 

 in profusion ever since, has never to this day shewn 

 a spot of canker, although the tree is growing in pre- 

 cisely the same soil, and prepared in the same way as 

 the original Hawthorndens were. Now, either the 

 stock or the vital action of the leaves of the Hick's 

 Fancy has infused new life into the Hawthornden. 



Again, we have generally found trees growing on 

 ground of a wet and sour character, or a bad subsoil, 

 very liable to this evil ; as also trees on exhausted 

 soils. 



As to the question of the wearing-out of races, about 

 which there has been so much debate, we know for 

 certainty that the apples so much praised for their 

 qualities, in books of a century ago, are not the apples 

 of to-day ; and we have no doubt that the same dis- 

 agreement existed then as to the century previous. 

 "Where are all the old Codlings, for instance, or the 

 Eussets ? Who would be bold enough to lay down an 

 orchard of the old English Codling, or of the old 

 Pile's Kusset ? Even the Ribston Pippin, the most 

 popular favourite ever produced — even this is fast on 

 the wane. There is no proof that apples are any 

 better than they were a century ago ; therefore it is 

 not the mere love of novelty alone which has led to 

 the introduction of so many new sorts. However, be 



