Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/96

 suffered to remain of one kind, taking great care to leave the females uninjured; and when these blossoms were fully expanded, I impregnated half of them with farina taken from another kind of fruit, leaving the other half to the care of the bees, which were collected in great numbers, owing to the scarcity of flowers at that season, and passed busily from one blossom to another. I had soon the satisfaction to observe, that every fruit which I had impregnated, grew rapidly, whilst half of those on the other tree, which had remained in their natural state, failed, with every one of those left to the care of the bees; whence I was disposed to conclude, that these insects were not so good carriers of the farina of plants, as is, I believe, generally supposed by naturalists; but in subsequent experiments, where the blossoms of the neighbouring trees have been more numerous, I have had reason to draw a different conclusion.

The plants I have obtained from the fruits, on which this experiment has been made, are certainly much the most promising I have yet seen. Some of these possess the character of the male parent, others that of the female; in some, that of both appears to be blended, and in others, I do not distinguish that of either. Many of them appear to be perfectly free from hereditary