SUGGESTIONS TO WISCONSIN FRUIT-GROWERS. 487 
2c?. Selecting Hardy Varieties. 
Experience and observation have already designated the kinds 
adapted to your soil and climate, and rejected others. Many 
which have hitherto proved tender or half hardy, will no doubt 
succeed, if managed upon this protective system. 
3c?. Producing Hew Varieties. 
Fruits can be bred to any given point with as much certainty 
as animals. The theory of the process is perhaps better un¬ 
derstood than the practice, yet the latter has been successfully 
attempted by Knight & Yan Mons. 
Mr. Knight furnished the public some five or six new cher¬ 
ries, including those produced by his daughter, and some new 
apples. The former take a high rank among our fruits—the 
latter are indifferent, at least in the United States. He opera¬ 
ted on individual blossoms, by cross-fertilization. 
Mr. Yan Mons produced a much larger number of new kinds, 
but his attention was directed mostly to the pear. Of these a 
small portion only are of value in this country. He produced 
on the principal that improvements in qualities of fruit would 
develope, progressively, through a number of generations. It 
is possible that his results were, in reality, dependent on cross¬ 
fertilization, connected with an influence always operating with 
cultivated fruits, from breaking the natural habits of vegeta¬ 
tion. 
You will pardon me for alluding to myself in connection with 
this subject, but it may afford some instruction to young be¬ 
ginners in such undertakings, to know what others have done. 
My attention was first awakened to the subject of producing 
new varieties of the cherry, by visiting for the first time in my 
life, an extensive orchard embracing all of the best varieties of 
that fruit known at that period—the 4th of July, 1812. 
The query was at once suggested to my mind, how were so 
many fine varieties produced ? They were too numerous to ad¬ 
mit of the belief that they were the accidental sports of nature. 
Some system, some set of principles must have governed their 
