By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 139 



also much wanted : for the trees of the best old kinds are 

 every where in a state of decay in the Cherry orchards ; and I 

 am quite confident, that neither healthy nor productive trees 

 will ever be obtained from grafts or buds of the old and ex- 

 pended varieties of this, or any other species of fruit tree. 



On the merits of the fruit of the above-mentioned varieties, 

 for the dessert and market, the Committee will decide : that 

 of both has become larger and of superior quality, as the 

 trees have advanced in growth and age ; and I think it will 

 probably continue to improve for some years, as the trees 

 proceed towards maturity. Grafts and buds of both varieties 

 will be much at the service of the members of the Horticul- 

 tural Society, in the proper seasons.* 



I am, my dear Sir, 



Yours very truly, 



Downton, July 23, 1814. THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT. 



* The existence of the Cherry, as a native tree of Britain, has been questioned, 

 because Pliny has stated it not to have been known in Italy till the end of the 

 Mithridatic war, when it was introduced by Lucullus from Pontus ; and that 

 it was carried into Britain, a hundred and twenty years after that period. But 

 Pliny must have meant a cultivated variety of the Cherry, of which the Romans 

 had many in his time ; for the small Black Cherry, which abounds in the woods 

 of different parts of Britain, has much too permanent habits to have derived its 

 origin from any cultivated variety. Pliny was also very ill qualified to distin- 

 guish a variety from a species ; and Virgil seems to have been better acqainted 

 with the habit in old Cherry trees, of emitting numerous suckers from their 

 roots, than he would have been if the Cherry tree had been first introduced into 

 Italy so short a time before he wrote his Georgks ; for he cites the Cherry tree 

 and Elm as examples, probably familiar to his readers, of that mode of pro 

 pagation. . . 



" Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima silva: 

 Ut Cerasis, ulmisque :"-Virg. Geor. ii. 



