Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 3]
experiments will at least evince the Probability of this in the Pear Tree. I took Cuttings from the Extremities of the bearing Branches of some old ungrafted Pear Trees, & others from scions which sprang out of the Trunks near the Ground, & inserted some of each on young stocks. The former grew without Thorns as in the cultivated varieties, whilst the latter were covered with them, & in their Growth assumed the appearance of stocks just raised from seeds. The Extremities of those Branches which produce seeds in every Tree probably shew the first Indications of decay we frequently see (particularly in the oak) young branches produced from the Trunk when the Ends of the old ones have long been dead. The same Tree when cropped will produce an almost eternal succession of Branches.
The durability of the Apple & Pear I have long suspected to be different in different Varieties, but that neither would vegetate with Vigor, much, if at all beyond the life of the parent stock provided that died from mere old age, & I am confirmed in this opinion by the books you did me the Honor to send me of the apples mentioned & described by Parkinson, the names only exist & those since applied to other kinds now also worn out, but many of Evelyn's are still well known, particularly the Redstreak. This apple he informs us was raised from seed by Lord Sundamore in the beginning of the last century. * We have still many trees of it, but all I have seen, appear to have been in a state of decay, during the last forty years. Some others mention'd by him are in a better state of vegetation, but they have all long ceased to deserve the attention of the planter. The durability of the pear is probably something more than double that of the apple. It has been remarked by Evelyn & by almost every subsequent writer on the subject of Planting, that the growth of trees raised from seed was more rapid & that they formed handsomer plants than those obtained from Layers or Cuttings. This seems to point out some decay attending the latter modes of propagation, tho [indecipherable]. Custom in the nurseries of taking layers from stools (Trees [indecipherable] annually close to the ground) probably retards it's Effects: each [indecipherable] rising immediately from the Root of the Parent stock.
Were a tree capable of affording an eternal succession of [indecipherable] plants from it's Roots, I think our woods must have been [indecipherable] probably about [indecipherable].