112 
Reviews and Extracts, — Horticulture^ ^c. 
species, 'I’here is in all beings a disposition to deviate from their original nature, 
when cultivated, or even in a wild state; but this disposition is so strong in some, 
as to render them particularly well adapted to become subject to domestication ; 
as for instance, the dog, the pigeon, and the barn-yard fowl, are cases in which 
this tendency is most strongly marked in animals j and domesticated fruits are a 
parallel case in the vegetable world. 
“Without then, vainly endeavouring to discover thefirst cause of this disposition 
to form varieties, let us take it as a naked fact, that the disposition exists. Culti¬ 
vators increase this disposition chiefly in two ways;—either by constantly selecting 
the finest existing varieties for seed, or by intermixing the pollen and stigma of 
two varieties, for the purpose of procuring something of an intermediate nature. 
The ancients were unacquainted with either of these practices, and consequently, 
their gardens contained few things which would now be deemed worthy of culti¬ 
vation. The power of obtaining cross-bred varieties at pleasure, has only existed 
since the discovery of sexes in plants; but as it exerts a most extensive influence 
over alterations in tlie vegetable kingdom, it may be considered the most impor¬ 
tant controling power that we possess. 
In soiring sced^i for the purpose of procuring improved varieties, care should 
be had, not onl} that the seeds be taken from the finest existing kinds, but also 
that the most handsome, the largest, and the most perfectly ripened specimens, 
should be those that supply the seed. 
A seedling plant will always partake, more or less, of the character of its 
parent, (the qualities of which are concentrated in the embryo,) when it has arrived 
at full maturity. How this concentration takes place, we areas ignorant, as why 
certain constitutional peculiarities, are in men transferred from father to son, and 
from generation to generation ; hut we know that it does take place. Now if the 
general qualities of a given variety are concentrated in the embryo under any 
circumstances, it is reasonable to suppose that they will he most especially con¬ 
centrated in a seed taken fron that part of a tree in which its peculiar good quali¬ 
ties reside in the highest degree. For instance, in the fruit of an apple growing 
upon a north wall, there is a smaller formation of sugar, than in the same variety 
growing upon a south wall ; and it can he easily understood that the seed of that 
fruit which is itself least capable of forming’ saccharine secretions, will acquire 
from its parent a less power of the same nature, than if it had been formed within 
a fruit, in which the saccharine principle was abundant. It should therefore be 
always an object with a gardener, in selecting a variety to become the parent of 
a new sort, to stimulate that variety by every means in his power, to produce the 
largest and most fully-ripened fruit that it is capable of bearing. The importance 
of doing this is well known in regard to melons and cucumbers, and also in pre¬ 
serving fugitive varieties of flowers; hut it is not generally practiced in raising 
fruit-trees.” 
The information here given, should be attentively considered by every gar¬ 
dener, who wishes to excel in raising valuable varieties of fruit. A few addition¬ 
al observations of our own, we conceive, would not be improperly introduced 
here. In the selection of sorts for producing new and improved varieties, 
great attention must be paid. All the apples raised from seed at Clydesdale, 
in Scotland, are peculiarly acid, and all kinds raised in Normandy, are sweet. 
This is easily accounted for, by the respective situations in which they are 
matured. Now, although it is necessary to ripen such fr Ais as are designed 
to be the parents of a new progeny, it would be far from proper to choose both 
parents of the same degree of flavour, or similarity of appearance. A good 
Normandy apple impregnated with one from Clydesdale, wou’d be far more 
