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vi! Observations on the Method of producing new and early 

 Fruits. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. $c. 



Read November 4, 1806. 



^NTature has given to man the means of acquiring those 

 things which constitute the comforts and luxuries of civilized 

 life, though not the things themselves ; it has placed the raw 

 material within his reach ; but has left the preparation and 

 improvement of it to his own skill and industry. Every plant 

 and animal, adapted to his service, is made susceptible of 

 endless changes, and, as far as relates to his use, of almost 

 endless improvement. Variation is the constant attendant on 

 cultivation, both in the animal and vegetable world ; and in 

 each the offspring are constantly seen, in a greater or less 

 degree, to inherit the character of the parents from which 

 they spring. 



No experienced gardener can be ignorant that every spe- 

 cies of fruit acquires its greatest state of perfection in some 

 peculiar soils and situations, and under some peculiar mode 

 of culture : the selection of a proper soil and situation must 

 therefore be the first object of the improver's pursuit ; and 

 nothing should be neglected which can add to the size, or 

 improve the flavour of the fruit from which it is intended to 

 propagate. Due attention to these points will in almost all 

 cases be found to comprehend all that is necessary to insure 

 the introduction of new varieties of fruit, of equal merit with 

 those from which they spring ; but the improver, who has to 



