without a single healthy or efficient tree having been obtained; and I
believe all attempts to propagate these varieties have, during some years,
wholly ceased to be made."


To this it was replied, in that and the next generation, that cultivated
vines have been transmitted by perpetual division from the time of the
Romans, and that several of the sorts, still prized and prolific, are well
identified, among them the ancient Graecula, considered to be the modern
Corinth or currant grape, which has immemorially been seedless; that the
old nonpareil apple was known in the time of Queen Elizabeth; that the
white beurre pears of France have been propagated from the earliest times;
and that golden pippins, St. Michael pears, and others said to have run
out, were still to be had in good condition.

Coming down to the present year, a glance through the proceedings of
pomological societies, and the debates of farmers' clubs, brings out the
same difference of opinion. The testimony is nearly equally divided.
Perhaps the larger number speak of the deterioration and failure of
particular old sorts; but when the question turns on "wearing out," the
positive evidence of vigorous trees and sound fruits is most telling. A
little positive testimony outweighs a good deal of negative. This cannot
readily be explained away, while the failures may be, by exhaustion of
soil, incoming of disease, or alteration of climate or circumstances. On
the other hand, it may be urged that, if a variety of this sort is fated to
become decrepit and die out, it is not bound to die out all at once, and
everywhere at the same time. It would be expected first to give way
wherever it is weakest, from whatever cause. This consideration has an
important bearing upon the final question, Are old varieties of this kind
on the way to die out on account of their age or any inherent limit of