212 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



It is supposed by many that these changes are sudden. Never- 

 theless, it is a fact that they are exceedingly slow. "We see a seed- 

 ling fruit, the product of a mass of seedlings, inferior to the pres- 

 ent fruits, with perhaps a solitary exception. This, however, 

 assumes a different habit of growth, and as to the fruit, superior 

 perhaps, and yet not so much so but that the expert can often trace 

 its parentage. So, at rare intervals, a twig or branch will sport, and 

 assume variegated leaves, and these, with care, may be perpetuated. 

 On the other hand, under careless treatment or neglect, a variety 

 will, in a short time, revert toward the original type, and in fact 

 soon become worthless for all practical purposes. Now it is not 

 the fact that this change in habit and character is sudden; in fact, 

 it has been going on for a long time, gradually, perhaps, for many 

 years before it has been brought up to, or near, the standard of per- 

 fection; often with an accelerating speed, as the years pass, and 

 suddenly, certain conditions having been accomplished, we perhaps 

 see peculiar changes to our ordinary senses, and perhaps startling 

 results. 



In vegetables, we may witness certain effects, produced in a sin- 

 gle season, and by simple means — compost, high tillage and 

 plenty of moisture with a proper heat for the plant. As a rule, the 

 leaf development is in direct ratio to the root development, and 

 vice versa/ for one is in almost direct proportion to the other. 

 Take a turnip, for instance. Development there has been in a vastly 

 increased store of material in its fleshy root. Cut a cross section 

 and you can almost, if not really, count the leaves it has borne. It 

 seems as if the base of each leaf had been continued below the 

 crown, and there expanding, had swollen in the most wonderful 

 manner. In the cabbage — belonging to the same class of plants 

 — we see the process reversed; the nutriment has been stored in 

 the leaves above ground. Why? To enable them to perfect 

 growth, another season in the ripening of the seed. This is nature's 

 ultimate end. Man steps in and appropriates it to his own use, at 

 the half way stage. In the asparagus, the same general principle is 

 carried out in a different way. The crown below ground is en- 

 larged, and the spring following, throws up thick stems, if the soil 

 has been rich. Here again man steps in and appropriates it, but at 

 a later stage than the preceding ones. The potato is a good illus- 

 tration of plants having what may be called a dual existence, in 



