184 
head as well as by the soil. In 3Iarch the plants will also be 
benefited by leaving off the sashes during mild nights^ prepar- 
tory to their being placed in their summer quarters. The pits 
and frames should be made to face east, west, or north, but not 
south. 
185 Seedling Fruit trees indispensable. The decay of 
the best varieties of fruit-bearing trees, which have been distri- 
buted through the country by grafts, is a circumstance of great 
importance. There is no mode of preserving them ; and no 
resource, except that of raising new varieties from seeds. Wliere 
a species has been ameliorated by culture, the seeds it affords, 
other circumstances being similar, produce more vigorous and 
perfect plants ; and in this way the great improvements in 
the production of our fields and gardens seem to have been 
occasioned. 
Wheat, in its indigenous state, as a natural production of the 
soil, appears to have been a very small grass; and the case is 
still more remarkable with the ap[)le and plum. The crab seems 
to have been the parent of all our apples. And two fruits can 
scarcely be conceived more different, in size, colour, and 
appearance, than the wild plum and the rich magnum bonum. 
The seeds of plants exalted by cultivation always furnish 
large and improved varieties ; but the flavour, and even the col- 
our of the fruit, seems to be a matter of accident. Thus a hun- 
dred seeds of the golden pippin will all produce fine large-leaved 
apple-trees, bearing fruit of a considerable size ; but the tastes 
and colours of the apples from each will be different, and none 
will be the same in kind as those of the pippin itself. Some will 
be sweet, some sour, some bitter, some mawkish, some aromatic ; 
some yellow, some green, some red, and some streaked. All 
the apples will, however, be much more perfect than those from 
the seeds of a crab, which produce trees all of the same kind, 
and all bearing sour and diminutive fruit. 
The lai ger and thicker the leaves of a seedling, and the more 
expanded its blossoms, the more it is likely to produce a good 
variety of fruit. Short-leaved trees should never be selected ; 
for these approach nearer to the original standard ; whereas the 
other qualities indicate the influence of cultivation. 
Seeds should be chosen from the most highly cultivated 
varieties, as they give the most vigorous produce. 
185, Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, 
