389 
as much money for them, as he could for the whole of his erop if it had 
not been assorted. It would be interesting and useful to know what is 
the probable difference in the weight or bulk of fruit produced by a tree 
when it is allowed to bear a heavy or a moderate crop ? What is the 
difference in the market value of the produce ; whether the smaller quan¬ 
tity of superior fruit will not sell for more money than a larger quantity 
indifferently grown ? And there is a further important question, whether 
by thus economizing the resources of a tree, it might not be able to bear 
a profitable crop of handsome specimens every year, instead of a large 
crop of inferior quality, every other as is commonly the case. I am much 
inclined to agree with Clement Hoare in his observations on the injurious 
effects of over-bearing on the growth of the grape vine and on the quality 
of the fruit, that it is not so much the production of pulp, or the sub¬ 
stance of the fruit, as the perfecting of seeds, which has such a pecu¬ 
liarly exhausting effect on the resources or vitality of a tree. By reduc¬ 
ing a heavy crop one half, immediately after the fruit is set, the tree will 
have only one half the number of seeds to ripen, while the weight of 
fruit produced may be very little less than if the whole had remained. 
It is a matter of importance to prevent the formation of seeds by 
plants grown for the sake of their roots, stems, leaves, or flowers. If a 
timothy meadow is allowed to ripen seed, it is well known that not only 
is the quality of the hay inferior compared with what it would have been 
if cut soon after blossoming or when the seeds are about half ripe, but 
the quantity of the aftermath ; the grass produced in the fall is not so 
great in the former as in the latter case, because of the greater exhaus¬ 
tion of the nutritious matters which had been stored up in the roots. If 
we mow oats for fodder as the plants come into flower, the roots produce 
fresh leaves and stems. It is a remark commonly met with in farming 
works, that certain crops exhaust the soil if allowed to ripen their seed, 
but if removed before seeding, the land may be benefitted rather than 
otherwise. In annual and perennial herbaceous plants the roots are the 
chief depositories of the secretions. In annual plants there will be a 
greater amount of matter stored in the roots just previous to flowering 
than at any other time]; as the seeds ripen this store is gradually dimin¬ 
ished ; when the seeds are perfected, the roots are exhausted and the 
plant dies. The reason why ploughing under roots before the plants 
iiave blossomed may benefit, and why taking a crop of seed and plough- 
