254 On propagating Fruit Trees from the Roots. 



Pear of so much merit and long duration, which succeeds so 

 well without the protection of a wall. 



I am not by any means satisfied that the original tree of 

 the Ribston Pippin is not now growing in England; and 

 that the seed from which the first tree sprang, and not the 

 tree itself, came from France ; for I have never seen any 

 plate of it, nor description of any Apple very like it, in any 

 foreign Catalogue. A cutting from the root of the supposed 

 original tree might, I conclude, readily be obtained, and no 

 effort to preserve so valuable a variety ought to be omitted. 

 Coe's Golden-drop Plum, if it be an English seedling, is 

 most amply entitled to the same care ; and the possessor 

 of the asserted original tree may prove his claim to the 

 honour of having raised it ( which I have heard questioned ) 

 by raising trees of the same variety from its roots. 



No further care or trouble is necessary to ensure success, 

 than to obtain cuttings of the root in the Autumn (Novem- 

 ber,) about a foot long and not less than a quarter of an inch 

 in diameter. These should be planted so deeply, that not 

 more than half an inch in length of each cutting should 

 appear above the soil. I have usually placed the cuttings 

 under an east or west wall, and have perfectly succeeded 

 with those of the Pear, the Apple, the Plum, and Cherry, 

 the only kinds of fruit-trees which I have hitherto subjected 

 to such experiments. 



