364: Ever-sporting Varieties 



more divergent and the last ones returning to 

 less differentiated forms. 



It is evident that on a given stem the group 

 of deviating leaves will be extended upward and 

 downward, with the increase of the number of 

 these organs. This shows that a stem, or even 

 a plant, promises a higher degree of differentia- 

 tion if it commences with its aberration earlier. 

 Hence it becomes possible to discern the most 

 promising individuals in early youth, and this 

 conclusion leads to a very easy and reliable 

 method of selection, which may be expressed 

 simply as follows: the seedlings which com- 

 mence earliest with the production of four- and 

 five-foliolate leaves are the best and should be 

 selected for the continuance of the race. And 

 it is easily seen that this rule agrees with that 

 given above, and which was followed in my 

 pedigree-culture. 



Furthermore it is seen that there is a com- 

 plete agreement between the law of periodicity 

 and the responses of the deviations to nourish- 

 ment and other conditions of life. Weak plants 

 only produce low degrees of deviation, the 

 stronger the individual becomes, the higher it 

 reaches in the scale of differentiation, and the 

 more often it develops leaves with five or more 

 blades. Whether weakness or strength are de- 

 rived from outer causes, or from the internal 



