41G 
THE FRUIT TREES OF AMERICA. 
lowing conclusions : First, that it is erroneous 
to suppose a Cactus requires poor soil ; 
secondly, that the popular notions that they 
require little or no water only applies to two 
or three months in the whole year ; thirdly, 
that, with heat and moisture corresponding, 
they can he grown almost as rapidly as any 
plant. It does not form part of this paper to 
go into the treatment of all Cacti ; hut I am 
quite sure they do better for heat and moisture 
and rich soil, while they are growing, and for 
the absence of moisture, when resting. The 
seedlings before mentioned were shifted from 
four or five in a pot to one in a thumb-pot, from 
that to a sixty, and successively to forty-eight 
and twenty-four, looking healthy and clean, 
in which state they were when I last saw 
them. I do not pretend that all melon- 
shaped Cacti (as they are called, but meaning 
the short kind) would succeed ; but I have no 
doubt that all South American Cacti would, 
and upon that principle would I recommend 
everybody to grow them, whether old plants 
or from seed. I have never inquired how the 
Rev. Theodore Williams grows his grand col- 
lection, but I believe his Cacti-house, from all 
I have heard, to be one of the most beautiful 
exhibitions of this numerous family in the 
United Kingdom, if not in Europe, and to 
comprise specimens from all parts of the known 
world. B. S. 
THE FRUIT TREES OF AMERICA." 
That Horticulture is going ahead in 
America, there can be no doubt; and although 
many of their publications are almost echoes 
of our own works, there are some circum- 
stances connected with their local tastes, 
habits, and notions, as well as in the fruits 
and plants of their own raising, which gives 
an interest even to the most humble of their 
periodicals. There is an overweening par- 
tiality for their own productions which per- 
vades all they write ; but this must be allowed, 
for, in our estimate of what we are reading 
about, and among those not very well ac- 
quainted with a subject, there is a disposition 
to praise the bridge that carries them over 
safe. Thus, if they are going to make free 
with an English book, they begin by praising 
the author; and a few American compliments, 
laid on with a trowel, are considered the 
quid pro quo for almost reprinting an English 
work ; the acknowledgment of these great 
obligations being made in the preface, which 
very few people read, so that nine out of ten 
who read the work think the transatlantic 
author a very clever fellow, though what he 
* The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. By A. J. 
Downing. 1 vol. 8vo. London : Wiley and Putnam. 
does of himself is generally the worst pnrt 
about it. Such has been the character of 
much that has appeared in America ; and if 
we were to give a descriptive list of their 
fruits, by one of their own nurserymen, we 
should have to caution our readers against 
believing too much, as they would deplore the 
inferiority of our own varieties. In the midst 
of the false lights in which things are made 
to appear, the present volume is of great 
service. We do not engage to believe all the 
author says, nor shall we be expected to draw 
the same conclusion even from admitted facts. 
He has relied more on others than himself, as 
regards the improvement of fruits ; neverthe- 
less, the following, though not new, is in 
point, and forms part of the introduction to 
the subject of raising new sorts of fruit: — 
" In the wild state, every genus of trees con- 
sists of one or more species, or strongly marked 
individual sorts ; as, for example, the white 
birch and the black birch ; or, to confine our- 
selves more strictly to the matter in hand, 
the different species of cherry, the wild or 
bird cherry, the sour cherry, the mazzard 
cherry, &c. These species, in their natural 
state, exactly reproduce themselves ; to use a 
common phrase, they ' come the same ' from 
seed. This they have done for centuries, and 
doubtless will do for ever, so long as they exist 
under natural circumstances only. 
" On the other hand, suppose we select one 
of these species of fruit-trees, and adopt it 
into our gardens. So long as we cultivate 
that individual tree, or any part of it, in the 
shape of sucker, graft, or bud, its nature will 
not be materially altered. It may, indeed, 
through cultivation, be stimulated into a more 
luxuriant growth ; it will probably produce 
larger leaves and fruit ; but we shall neither 
alter its fruit in texture, colour, or taste. It 
will always be identically the same. 
" The process of amelioration begins with a 
new generation, and by sowing the seeds. Some 
species of tree, indeed, seem to refuse to yield 
their wild nature, never producing any varia- 
tion by seed ; but all fruit-trees, and many 
others, are easily domesticated, and more 
readily take the impress of culture. 
" If we sow a quantity of seed in garden soil 
of the common black mazzard cherry, (Cerasus 
avium,) we shall find that, in the le#ves and 
habit of growth, many of the seedlings do 
not entirely resemble the original species. 
When they come into bearing, it is probable 
we shall also find as great a diversity in the 
size, colour, and flavour of the fruit. Each of 
these individual plants, differing from the 
original type, (the mazzard,) constitutes a new 
variety ; though only a few, perhaps only one, 
may be superior to the original species. 
" It is worthy of remark, that exactly in 
