176 
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THE FLORIST. 
The very earliest notice of fruits, however, shows nothing that can be 
construed into the supposition that they were inferior to those of our 
own times, especially those kinds which then formed the food of man. 
The Grapes, Figs, Dates, and Almonds, described in the Scriptures as 
indigenous to the East three thousand years ago, were doubtless as 
good, and in all probability the same kinds, as are found there at the 
present day. If this theory of a progressive development to superior 
properties be worth anything at all, it must carry a general appli¬ 
cation ; and as we have nothing on record to show how any 
improvement in the races of fruit trees could take place except 
by their reproduction from seed in a natural manner, we may infer 
that the excellence of the fruit first noticed, and which must have been 
the spontaneous production of the soil, would have had some higher 
origin than the types held up as the original species ; and this takes us 
back to our old creed, that the fruits given man at his creation,/br food^ 
were, as they were pronounced to be, “ very good.” 
We submit, then, that there is no proof on record that fruits in all 
ages have been derived from the stocks alluded to above, but that some 
of them at least had existence coeval with man himself, for whose 
sustenance and enjoyment they were created, and whose migrations 
many of them have followed. It does not follow that because in our 
day, when the raising of new fruits by artificial means is an every-day 
occurrence, such was always the case. There is no evidence that 
hybridisation—or crossing the sexes of plants of the same genera 
together to produce new varieties in the progeny—was known to the 
nations of antiquity, although grafting and inarching was commonly 
known and practised, by the Romans at least. On the contrary, that 
great philosopher. Lord Bacon, informs us, that the “ compounding or 
mixture of kinds of plants is not found out, which nevertheless if it be 
possible is more at command than that of living creatures ; wherefore 
it was one of the most notable experiments touching plants to find it out^ 
for so you may yet have great variety of new fruits and flowers yet 
unknown." Quite right, my good Lord Bacon, as we of this generation 
know full well; and we see how clearly he foresaw, 250 years ago, the 
• results which would follow the “ notable experiments" he suggested ; 
“for,” added he, “grafting does it not; that mendeth the fruit, or 
doubleth the flowers, but it hath not the power to make a new kind, 
for the scion overruleth the stock.” 
Our readers will gather from what we have advanced that our 
opinions are unchanged, and that as we find no trace of gradual or 
progressive improvement, good and bad ever have been and will be 
mixed together without any assignable cause or reason, or in any 
regular succession. Neither have w^’e evidence satisfactorily proved of 
races degenerating or wearing out, further than that natural limit of 
existence which is assigned to each class of creation, whether belonging 
to the vegetable or animal kingdom. 
We shall therefore follow up the subject from time to time, on the 
evidence before us touching the question in hand. 
Since the above was written—which was omitted last month for 
want of room—we find, by a notice in the “ Scottish Gardener ” for 
