CHAP. 10.—PLANTS WHICH ARE PROPAGATED BY SEED.
It is Nature herself that has taught us most of these methods, and more particularly that of sowing seed, as it was
very soon evident how the seed on falling to the ground revived
again in germination. Indeed, there are some trees that are
capable of being propagated in no other way, the chesnut[1]
and the walnut, for instance; with the sole exception, of course,
of such as are employed for coppice wood. By this method,
too, as well as the others, some trees are propagated, though
from a seed of a different nature, such, for instance, as the
vine, the apple, and the pear;[2] the seed being in all these
cases in the shape of a pip, and not the fruit itself, as in that of
the chesnut and the walnut. The medlar, too, can also be
propagated by the agency of seed. All trees, however, that are
grown by this method are very slow in coming to maturity,[3]
degenerate[4] very rapidly, and must often be renewed by grafting: indeed, the chesnut even sometimes requires to be grafted.
1. Virgil says, Georgics ii. 14:
"Pars autem posito surgunt de semine; ut altæ
Castaneæ nemorumque Jovi quæ maxime frondet."
2. This method of reproduction is seldom or never employed; plants or
cuttings only being used for the purpose.
3. Besides which, it is doubtful if they will reproduce the variety, the
seed of which was originally sown.
4. In some cases, they are more particularly liable to disease—the apple,
for instance.