On a smooth part of the bark of the stock, a transverse section is now made, through the bark down to the wood : from this is made a longitudinal cut downward, about an inch and a half long, so that the incision may somewhat re semble a Roman T ; by means of the flat ivory haft of the budding-knife, the bark is raised a little on each side of the longitudinal incision, so as to receive the bud. (Plate CCCIX. Fig. 5. c.) The prepared bud is placed in the upper part of the incision so made, and drawn downwards: the upper part is then cut off transversely, and the bud pushed upwards, till the bark of the bud and of the stock join together. (Fig. 5. d.) It is retained in this situation by means of tying with strands of moistened bass-mat ting.
In about a month after the operation, the tying is slack ened : buds that have taken appear swelled, and the foot stalk of the old leaf falls off on being slightly touched. All shoots that spring below the budded part are carefully cut off. The head of the stalk is not removed till the fol lowing March ; after this, the bud grows vigorously, and in the course of the summer makes a considerable shoot. Against the next spring, the shoot is headed down, in the manner of young grafted trees.
Production of ?Vew Varieties of Fruits.
75. From the well-known facts, that some of the favour ite cider apples of the 17th century have become extinct, and that others are fast verging to decay, the conclusion has been drawn, that our varieties of fruit are but of limited duration. Each variety springs from an individual at first; and this individual has been extended by means of grafting and budding. Dr Darwin, indeed, in his Phytologia, has contended, that each bud is a separate plant, the viviparous offspring of a bud of the preceding year, and deriving nou rishment from the soil by means of a set of lengthened ra dicles peculiar to itself. This opinion cannot he support ed. Mr Knight's view is more rational, and more consist ent with observation. All the extensions, by means of grafts and buds, must naturally partake of the qualities of the ori ginal; where the original is old, there must be inherent in the derivatives, the tendency to decay incident to old age. Some popular writers, such as Southey, have represented this doctrine as on a par with that of the hamadryads, or as equivalent to saying that a graft could not survive the trunk from which it was taken : but these authors are more lively than accurate ; for such an absurdity was never taught by any horticulturist. it may be assumed as a fact, that a variety or kind of fruit, such as the golden pippin or the ribston, is equivalent only to an individual. By careful ma nagement, the health and life of this individual may he prolonged ; and grafts placed on vigorous stocks, and nursed in favourable situations, may long survive the pa rent plant, or original ungrafted tree. Still there is a pro
gress to extinction; and the only renewal of an individual, the only true reproduction, is by seed. This doctrine seems to be true, at least, as to Fruit trees, and more par ticularly as to varieties of these, produced by cultivation : whether it can safely be extended to plants in general may admit of some doubt.
76. As the production of new varieties of fruit from the seed is a subject which now very much occupies the atten tion of horticulturists, it may he proper here to state the precautions adopted by Mr Knight and others in conduct ing their trials. it is, in the first place, a rule to take the seeds of the finest kinds of fruit, and from the ripest, largest, and best flavoured specimens of that fruit. When Mr Knight wished to procure some of the old apples in a healthy and renovated state, he adopted the following me thod : he prepared stocks of the best kinds of apple that could be propagated by cuttings, and planted them against a south wall in very rich soil ; these were next year graft ed with the stire, golden pippin, or some other fine old kind. In the course of the following winter, the young trees were dug up, and the roots being retrenched, they were replanted in the same place. By this mode of t•eat ment they were thrown into bearing at two years old. Only one or two apples were allowed to remain on each tree ; these consequently attained a large size, and more perfect maturity. The seeds from these fruits Mr Knight then sowed, in the hopes of procuring seedlings possessed of good or of promising qualities ; and these hopes have not been disappointed.
It may here be mentioned, that in order to produce a hybrid variety, possessing perhaps a union of the good pro perties of two known kinds, Mr Knight had recourse to the nice operation of dusting the pollen of one variety upon the pistils of another : He opened the unexpanded blos som, and cut away, with a pair of fine-pointed scissors, all the stamina, taking great care to leave the styles and stig mata uninjured. The fruits which resulted from this arti ficial impregnation were the most promising of any ; and the seeds of these he did not fail to sow. Mr Knight has generally observed in the progeny a strong prevalence of the constitution and habits of the female parent : in prepar ing seed for raising new pears, therefore, he would employ the pollen only of such delicate pears as the chaumontel, crassane, and St Germain, upon the flowers (deprived of stamina) of the swan-egg, longuevillc, muirfowl-egg, au chan, or green yair, which are hardy.