t 80 ] 



PAPER SIXTH. 



THE DOCTRINE OF SEMINAL VARIETIES CONSIDERED, 

 §. I. 



IT has alfo been faid, that by raifing potatoes from 

 feeds many new and valuable kinds may be ob- 

 tained. An opinion of obtaining new varieties of 

 plants by propagating them from feeds, fo univer- 

 fally prevails among natural ifts, and it had been fo 

 pofitively afiferted as to potatoes, that I entertained 

 no doubt about this matter, and waited with fome 

 degree of impatience till the time of taking them 

 up arrived, to fee what new varieties I mould thus 

 obtain j but to my great furprife, and no fmall difap- 

 pointment, I found no new kinds among my feed- 

 lings. There were indeed among them three or 

 four varieties, bur. not one of them different from 

 fome of the kinds I had before -, and as the feeds 

 were picked up at random from a field in which all 

 the different kinds had been intermixed promifcu- 

 oufly, I think there is guat reafon to fuppofe that 

 fome of the feeds of the different kinds had been 

 promifcuoufly gathered, to which I attributed the 

 varieties among my feedlings. This I mention 

 however only as a ground for fcepticifm on this 

 head, and not as a proof. As I did not at the time 



doubt 



