The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1884-05-21

eeneralized respecting almost all fruit
bearing plants; and it has been estab-
lished, as was supposed, in principle,
that the wild fruit was the type of the
species, and that fine fruits, being only
individuals improved by art, could pro-
Ouch by their seeds, only the type Of
which they are the conservators, or, in
other words, individuals in state of
nature known under the name of wild
plants.
Other agriculturists have imagined
that the seed of the sweet orange pro-
duced sour or bitter orange trees only
when taken from graft of the sweet
orange placed upon the sour orange tree,
and this system has been extended to
the other species of fruit, such as the
apple, peach, pear and other trees. They
have. perhaps, been forced to this modi-
fication in the theory OF artificial inn
provement by the example of some indi-
yiduals of choice fruit which they have
seen to be produced from the seed, and
as thew could not conceal the truth of
these accidents, and as they saw, more
over, that such case but rarely occurred,
they imagined that those fruits which
reproduced without degeneration when
taken from a Seeding, lost that property
whenever they were taken from a graft
ON wild tree; and they even deluded
themselves so far as to believe that the
pericarp followed the nature of the graft,
while the seed followed thenature of the
tree receiving the graft.
All these prejudices have prevented
cuItivators from adopting the method of
multiplication offered by nature, and,
persuaded that the seed could give only
a wild product, they have condemned all
seedlings to be grated.
But these artificial methods only pre-
served the species already acquired.
They multiplied the individuals but new
er renewed the race, and consequently
| it still remains to be discovered in what
manner those varieties were obtained,
which they could not deny were unknown
to our ancestors. In order to satisfy this
natural inquietude of human curiosity
they sought in cultivat ~ - s.stis',a g
Our record and reins tnce, ana liidi
the obscurity of ana ), fiy the ignoranc
: of an origin which then were forced t
admit must be sought after the creation
This theory, nevertheless, could no
be sufficiently satisfactory to explain the
origin of some new racesfwhich they haC
seen appear in gardens under the eyes
of their contemporaries.
The graft and the slip (cutting) then
came to the assistancd of cultivators.
They commenced by believing that the
subject or stock grated can sometimes
influence the grated bud in modifying
its juices, and they imagined the exist
ence of extraordinary gratis which, uni
ting very different species, seemed des-
tined to produce new races having the
characteristics of both.
Others attributed these marvellous
fruits to some capriciotls combinations
formed by the union of two buds. 9th
ers finally established, insubstance, that
by the single fact of the graft being re-
peated several times on the same indi-
viduals an Improvement in the plant was
obtained.
There have been agriculturists who
thought themselves able to change or
modify the taste of vegetable productions
either by infusing the seed in substances
sugared or aromatic, or by the introduce
ton of these substances into the pith of
the plant; and the i'll success of these
operations was always attributed to an
insufficiency of the means employed
1t is to these different methods that
havebeen attributed all the phenomena
OF the vegetable system, of which the
cause was not understood.
Thus it has been believed, and is still
believed perhaps, that the absence of
spines belonging to certain vegeta-
bles is only the effect of the change of
climate, of long cultivation, or of the
graft.
In like manner, to the MULTIPLICATION
by slip or by layer, the loss of the pistils
of certain plants, and the sterility of
certain fruits have been attributed, in
which fruits it was believed that this
method of multiplication acts to obliter-
ate the female parts and tosincrease the
volume of the fruit. The lack of proofs
was hidden in the necessity of following
those methods during 4 succession Of
several generations, and the system was
supported by the example of several
sterile plants, such as The Persian lily,
the SNOWFALL, the syrimga, and MANY
other ornamental bushes; and on that
of the barbary bush, the medlar tree,
without seeds, &c. This theory could
not, it is true, be extended to annual or
perennial plants which the seed produce
every year, and i'll which we so often
see examples of sterile flowers. But
they found in their principles very
plausible explanation of sterility, and
they attributed the double and semi
double flowers to the force of cultivation,
imagining that this agent, aided by sur
rounding substances, occasioned the