Mr. Knight's Observations 
years. Some others mentioned by him are in a much better 
state of vegetation ; but they have all ceased to deserve the 
attention of the planter. The durability of the pear is pro- 
bably something more than double that of the apple. 
It has been remarked by Evelyn, and by almost every 
writer since, on the subject of planting, that the growth of 
plants raised from seeds was more rapid, and that they pro- 
duced better trees than those obtained from layers or cut- 
tings. This seems to point out some kind of decay attending 
the latter modes of propagation, though the custom in the 
public nurseries of taking layers from stools (trees cropped 
annually close to the ground) probably retards its effects, as 
each plant rises immediately from the root of the parent stock. 
Were a tree capable of affording an eternal succession of 
healthy plants from its roots, I think our woods must have 
been wholly over-run with those species of trees which 
propagate in this manner, as those scions from the roots al- 
ways grow in the first three or four years with much greater 
rapidity than seedling plants. An aspin is seldom seen with- 
out a thousand suckers rising from its roots ; yet this tree is 
thinly, though universally, scattered over the woodlands of this 
country. I can speak from experience, that the luxuriance 
and excessive disposition to extend itself in another plant, 
which propagates itself from the root (the raspberry), decline 
in twenty years from the seed. The common elm being al- 
ways propagated from scions or layers, and growing with 
luxuriance, seems to form an exception ; but as some varieties 
grow much better than others, it appears not improbable that 
the most healthy are those which have last been obtained from 
seed. The different degrees of health in our peach and nec- 
