Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 4]
overun with those kinds of trees which propagate in this manner. An Aspin is seldom seen without a thousand suckers moving from it's Root, yet this Tree is thinly tho' universally scattered over the Woodlands of this County. I can speak from Experience that the Luxuriance and excessive disposition to extend itself in another plant which propagates itself from the Root (The Raspberry) decline in twenty years from the Seed.
The common Elm being always propagated from lesions or layers & growing with Luxuriance seems to form an Exception, but as some varieties grow much better than others, it is not improbable that the most healthy are those which have been last obtained from seed. The different degrees of Health in our Pears & nectarine trees may, I think, arise from the same source. The Oak is much more long lived in the North of Europe than here tho' it's timber is less durable from the numerous pores attending it's slow growth. The Climate of this Country being colder than it's native may in the same way add to the durability of the Elm, which may possibly be further increased by it's not producing seeds in this country, as the Life of many annual plants may be extended to twice their natural period, if not more, by preventing their seeding.
I have been induced to say a great deal more on this subject than I fear you will think it deserves, from a Conviction that immense advantages would arise from the growth of Apple & Pears in other Counties, & that the ill success, which has attended any Efforts to propagate them, has arisen from the use of diseased & worn out Kinds. Their Cultivation is ill understood & worse practised in this country; yet an acre of ground fully planted frequently affords an average produce of five hundred gallons of Liquor with a tolerably good Crop of Grass. I have no doubt that there are large Quantities of land in every County in England which would be equally productive. The subject, I think, seems to deserve the attention of the Board of Agriculture. I have only to add an assurance that [the] results of the above Experiments are correctly stated [indecipherable] that
I am
Sir
Your much obliged
Obedt. Servt.
Thos. Andw. Knight
Ludlow, Herefordshire
Jany 11.1795