_The Apple_.--It is difficult to find adequate terms to set forth
the value of the advantages which have accrued to mankind from the
cultivation of this deservedly high-prized fruit. One circumstance
in the history of the apple must not pass unnoticed here, viz., the
deterioration of the old sorts, which regaled and were the boast
of our forefathers a century ago. It is the opinion of an eminent
orchardist that as the apple is an artificial production, and, as
such, has its stages of youth, maturity, and old age, it cannot, in
its period of decrepitude, be by any means renovated to its pristine
state, either by pruning or cutting down, changing its place, or by
transferring its parts to young and vigorous stocks; and that, in
whatever station it may be placed, it carries with it the decay and
diseases of its parent. This is the most rational account which has
been given of this indisputable fact; and though its accuracy has been
called in question by some naturalists, the general failure in our
old orchards, and the difficulties in forming new ones with the old
favourite sorts, is a decisive proof that such deterioration exists.
It is therefore the chief object of the modern pomologist, to obtain
from seeds of the best _wildings_ new varieties wherewith to form new
and profitable orchards; and which may be expected to continue in
health and fertility, as the old sorts have done, for the next
century.
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