154 PLANT HYBRIDIZATION BEFORE MENDEL 



these forms can be fixed with their present characters, it will be 

 very difficult to doubt that the most of the races of wheat, consid- 

 ered ordinarily as so many species, are in reality but variations of 

 one and the same plant." (p. 35'9-) 



21. Lecoqs Memoir on Hybridization. 



In 1827 appeared the first edition of a work by Henri Lecoq, 

 entitled "Recherches sur la Reproduction des Vegetaux." In 1845 

 appeared his work on hybridization, published in 1846 in German 

 translation. A second edition of the book was published as late as 

 1862. Lecoq, who was Professor of the Natural Sciences and Di- 

 rector of the Botanical Garden at Clermont-Ferrand, sought to 

 present the subject in such manner as would be of interest and 

 of tangible concrete value to the practical gardeners of his time. 

 To this end he says : 



"in order to be as clear as possible, I have endeavored not to frighten 

 away every practical gardener and friend of gardening through useless 

 parade of science and erudition." (3b, p. 5.) 



His point of view is well stated thus : 



"However limited a flower garden, however small the corner of the 

 earth may be which a garden amateur can command, he is nevertheless 

 in a position to institute a number of useful investigations and note- 

 worthy experiments, to prepare for himself innumerable joyous de- 

 lights, when he succeeds, through artificial fertilization, in enriching 

 his little garden, his friends, his native region, with a new creation, 

 which owes its existence to his care and his intelligence. What pleasure 

 when he can extend these annuall}^ almost entirely at his will, with new 

 shades and colors never seen, obtain larger flowers, or bring about un- 

 limited doubling." {ib., p. 6.) 



Lecoq enlarges upon the results that can thus be obtained in 

 fruit and vegetable gardening, and in agriculture : 



"Although we possess already about five hundred sorts of grains, yet 

 we can still always obtain better ones, at least new modifications which 

 are better adapted to this or that soil or climate, or to all the conditions 

 of this or that agriculture." {ib., p. 7.) 



The general method to be pursued is laid down simply as 

 follows : according to Lecoq's and the then prevailing point of 

 view, the first thing that one must strive after, in order to bring 

 plants to vary, is "the shattering of their stability, and the break- 

 ing up of their habit." For this purpose, it was considered desir- 



