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LV. On the Causes of Decay in Fruit Trees, particularly 

 Apples. In a Letter to the Secretary. By the Rev. Wil- 

 liam Williamson, Corresponding Member of the Horti- 

 cultural Society. 



Read September 1, 1818. 



Sir, 



It may, perhaps, seem presumptuous in any one to advance 

 other opinions concerning the decay of the Fruit Trees in our 

 orchards, when so many experienced Horticulturists have 

 expressed their decided conviction, that disease, brought 

 on by old age, is the cause of their decline. But it must 

 have occurred to those engaged in such pursuits, that there 

 are many facts which cannot be reconciled to this theory. 

 I have therefore sent the following remarks for the consi- 

 deration of the Horticultural Society, in the hope, that if not 

 just themselves, they may be the means of eliciting some 

 new observations on the subject. 



When we consider that the graft is but an extension of 

 the parent stock, and therefore liable to all the diseases and 

 defects of its original, and that most of our fruits have been 

 cultivated by grafting during many years, it seems reason- 

 able to conclude that they would, in common with every 

 thing else that has life, arrive at that period when they 

 would begin to decline, and at last totally fail. It was 

 therefore recommended by several skilful Horticulturists 

 to remedy this evil, by raising trees from the kernels of the 



vol. in. Q q 



