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LX. Observations upon the Effects of Age upon Fruit 

 Trees of different Kinds ; with an Account of some new 

 Varieties of Nectarines. In a Letter to the Secretary. By 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. F.R. S. &c. President. 



Read March 2, 1824. 



My dear Sir, 



JVTany new Varieties of Fruits of different species having 

 been sent from my garden to the Horticultural Society in 

 the last and in preceding seasons, and some others having 

 been seen by you in the short visit which I had the pleasure 

 to receive from you in the last autumn, I feel desirous to 

 offer a few observations upon the expediency of obtaining 

 such productions ; or rather, upon the question, whether 

 each variety have its period of youth, of maturity, and of old 

 age, and be formed for a limited period of duration only ; or 

 whether each be capable of eternal propagation, with undi- 

 minished health and vigour. 



The fact, that certain varieties of some species of fruits 

 which have been long cultivated, cannot now be made to 

 grow in the same soils, and under the same mode of manage- 

 ment, which was, a century ago, perfectly successful, is 

 placed beyond the reach of controversy. Every experiment 

 which seemed to afford the slightest prospect of success, was 

 tried by myself and others, to propagate the old varieties of 

 the Apple and Pear, which formerly constituted the orchards 



