The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical NotesDarwin, Erasmus
Philosophy
The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical Notes
Darwin, Erasmus
Cosmology -- Poetry; Life -- Origin -- Poetry
The insects, which are not propagated by sexual intercourse, are so
few or so small, that no observations have been made on their
diseases; but hereditary diseases are believed more to affect the
offspring of solitary than of sexual generation in respect to
vegetables; as those fruit trees, which have for more than a century
been propagated only by ingrafting, and not from seeds, have been
observed by Mr. Knight to be at this time so liable to canker, as not
to be worth cultivation. From the same cause I suspect the degeneracy
of some potatoes and of some strawberries to have arisen; where the
curled leaf has appeared in the former, and barren flowers in the
latter.
This may arise from the progeny by solitary reproduction so much more
exactly resembling the parent, as is well seen in grafted trees
compared with seedling ones; the fruit of the former always resembling
that of the parent tree, but not so of the latter. The grafted scion
also accords with the branch of the tree from whence it was taken, in
the time of its bearing fruit; for if a scion be taken from a bearing
branch of a pear or apple tree, I believe, it will produce fruit even
the next year, or that succeeding; that is, in the same time that it
would have produced fruit, if it had continued growing on the parent
tree; but if the parent pear or apple tree has been cut down or
headed, and scions are then, taken from the young shoots of the stem,
and ingrafted; I believe those grafted trees will continue to grow for
ten or twelve years, before they bear fruit, almost as long as
seedling trees, that is they will require as much time, as those new
shoots from the lopped trunk would require, before they produce fruit.
It should thence be inquired, when grafted fruit trees are purchased,
whether the scions were taken from bearing branches, or from the young
shoots of a lopped trunk; as the latter, I believe, are generally
sold, as they appear stronger plants. This greater similitude of the
progeny to the parent in solitary reproduction must certainly make
them more liable to hereditary diseases, if such have been acquired by
the parent from unfriendly climate or bad nourishment, or accidental
injury.
In respect to the sexual progeny of vegetables it has long been
thought, that a change of seed or of situation is in process of time
necessary to prevent their degeneracy; but it is now believed, that it
is only changing for seed of a superior quality, that will better the
product. At the same time it may be probably useful occasionally to
intermix seeds from different situations together; as the anther-dust
is liable to pass from one plant to another in its vicinity; and by
these means the new seeds or plants may be amended, like the marriages
of animals into different families.
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