58 



scion was taken be an old variety, it is only the mul- 

 tiplication of an aged individual. The scion may for 

 a few years exhibit signs of increased vigour, owing 

 to the extra stimulous of the more abundant supply 

 of healthy sap supplied by the stock ; but the vessels 

 of the scion will, after the lapse of that period, gra- 

 dually become as decrepid as the parent tree. The 

 unanimous experience of naturalists agrees in testify- 

 ing that every organized creature has its limit of 

 existence. In plants it varies from the scanty period 

 of a few months, to the long expanse of as many cen- 

 turies ; but of all, the days are numbered ; and 

 although the gardener's, like the physician's skill, 

 may retard the onward pace of death, he will not be 

 permanently delayed. In the last periods of life, they 

 shew every symptom that accompanies organization in 

 its old age, — not only a cessation of growth, but a de- 

 cay of former development, a languid circulation, and 

 diseased organs. 



The canker, as already observed, attends especially 

 the old age of some fruit trees, and of these the apple 

 is most remarkably a sufferer. " I do not mean," 

 says Mr. Knight, " to assert that there ever was a 

 time when an apple tree did not canker on unfavour- 

 able soils, or that highly cultivated varieties were not 

 more subject to the disease than others, where the 

 soil did not suit them. But I assert, from my own 

 experience and observation within the last twenty 



