DO VARIETIES RUN OUT ? 69 



different. Though theoretically we might expect 

 them to be more permanent, or at least more vigor- 

 ous, practically they are less stable. A few vari- 

 eties, like the Winningstadt cabbage and the Long 

 Green cucumber, have existed for many years, but 

 most of our improved varieties of grains and vege- 

 tables are of short duration. The cause of this is 

 two -fold. First there is its heredity always present 

 tending to obliterate new varieties or their distinct- 

 ive characters and bring them back to their origi- 

 nal form. A germinating seed tends to reproduce 

 not only the features of the plant which bore it, but 

 also, less strongly, those of its remote ancestors. 

 This hereditary tendency is strongest in plants 

 which have not departed widely from their original 

 type. 



Second there is variation which obliterates a 

 variety by causing it to depart still farther from 

 the original state. Some of the causes of varia- 

 tion are known. High cultivation is an almost 

 universal condition under which new varieties origi- 

 nate, and under which they are cultivated for the 

 first few years. The originator naturally desires 

 to make a new variety do its best, and the gardener 

 or farmer is also likely to give extra care to a new 

 variety for which he has paid a high price. Now it 

 has been demonstrated not only that vigor induced 

 by high cultivation and an abundance of food tends 



