APPENDIX. 
70 "' 
this noble fruit is liable to crack badly. ’ We predict that manj 
of the Flemish pears originated by Van Mons will become feeble, 
and the fruit liable to crack, in the neighbourhood of Boston, 
in a much less time than did the old varieties. 
And this leads us to remark here, that the hardness of any 
variety depends greatly upon the circumstances of its origin. 
When a new variety springs up accidentally from a healthy 
seed in a semi-natural manner, like the Seckel, the Dix, and 
other native sorts, it will usually prove the hardiest. It is, as it 
were, an effort of nature to produce a new individual out of the 
materials in a progressive state, which garden culture has af- 
forded. Cross-bred seedlings — one parent being of a hardy 
nature, and both healthy— such as Knight’s own seedlings, the 
Monarch and Dunmore pears — are next in hardiness. Lastly, 
we rank varieties reared by Van Mons’ method — that of con- 
tinually repeated reproductions. This, as Van Mons distinctly 
states, is an enfeebling process — without any compensating ele- 
ment of vigour. Hence it follows, as a matter of course, that 
seedlings of the fifth or sixth generation, as are some of his 
varieties, must in their origin be of feeble habit. Yan Mons 
himself was fully aware of this, and therefore resorted to “graft- 
ing by copulation” — in fact, root-grafting— well knowing that 
on common stocks these new varieties would, in light soils, soon 
become feeble and decayed. It is needless for us to add that 
hence we consider the Belgian mode of producing new varieties 
greatly inferior to the English one, since it gives us varieties 
often impaired in health in their very origin. 
If any further proof of this is desired, we think it i§ easily 
found by comparing the robust vigour and longevity of many 
native pear trees to be found in the United States — some of them 
80 or 100 years old, and still producing large crops of fruit — 
with the delicate trees of several new varieties now in our gar- 
dens from Europe. These varieties are delicate, not only with 
respect to their constitutional vigour, but they are also more 
susceptible to injury from the severity of our winter’s cold and 
summer’s sun. 
There are great advantages, undoubtedly, for soils naturally 
unfavourable, and for small gardens, in grafting the pear upon 
quince stocks ; yet, as it diminishes the vigour of the tree, it is 
not impossible that continued propagation from dwarf trees 
may somewhat lessen the vital powers and the longevity of a 
given variety. 
The decay of varieties of the Apricot, or Peach, much shorter 
lived trees by nature, we seldom or never hear of. Varieties of 
both are now in cultivation, and in the most perfect vi- 
gour, of 200 years’ duration. This, probably, is owing to the 
more natural treatment these trees receive generally. Varie- 
ties of the vine are said never to degenerate, and this is pen 
