Artificial and Natural Selection 817 



reliable character, but the casual height of the 

 former is very uncertain. 



So it is with the beets. A beet may be di- 

 vided by its buds and give quite a number of 

 roots, belonging to the same individual. These 

 secondary roots have been tested for the 

 amount of sugar, and found to exhibit a man- 

 ifest degree of variability. If the first root 

 corresponded to their average, it might be con- 

 sidered as reliable, but if not anyone will grant 

 that an average is more reliable than a single 

 determination. Deviations have as a fact been 

 observed, proving the validity of our assertion. 



These considerations at once explain the dis- 

 appointment so often experienced by breeders. 

 Some facts may be quoted from the Belgian pro- 

 fessor of agriculture at Gembloux, the late Mr. 

 Laurent. He selected two beets, from a strain, 

 with the exceptional amount of 23^ sugar, but 

 kept their offspring separate and analyzed some 

 60 of each. In both groups the average was 

 only 11 - 12^, the extremes not surpassing 

 14 - 15^. Evidently the choice was a bad one, 

 notwithstanding the high polarization value of 

 the parent. Analogous cases are often observed, 

 and my countrymen, Messrs. Kuhn & Co., go so 

 far as to doubt all excessive variants, and to 

 prefer beets with high, but less extraordinary 

 percentages. Such are to be had in larger num- 



