158 BOARD. OF AGRICULTURE. 



between varieties. There are many grades of varieties. We 

 take as an illustration a variety of apple. You wish to 

 raise Baldwin apples, and you graft scions of the Baldwin 

 upon any suitable stock. President Chadbourne doubtless 

 told you, that, in the higher plants, there are two chief ways 

 of propagating, — by buds, as in the case mentioned, and 

 by seeds. From the expanding buds of the Baldwin scion 

 you will by and by have flowering branches ; and these will 

 bear the desired fruit. But suppose you were to plant the 

 seed of the Baldwin apple, you know you would not obtain 

 any Baldwin apple-trees. You might have some as good, 

 possibly some better, but none just like the parent-plant. 

 The Baldwin is a variety of the species Pyrus 3Ialus, the 

 apple ; and in this case the variety is perpetuable only by 

 buds, as in grafting and the like, but not by seeds. The traits 

 of the species re-appear in the progeny ; but the minor traits 

 which serve to distinguish the variety from the type of the 

 species do not : in other words, the species is preserved, the 

 variety is lost, or is merged in it. Another kindred fact must 

 now be called to your attention. It is generally believed 

 that the many widely different varieties of pea planted for 

 culinary use belong to a single species. These varieties are 

 perpetuable by seed : the traits of the parent appear with 

 very little change in the progeny. Varieties which can thus 

 be propagated with no change, or with very little, are termed 

 races. The finer sorts of our garden-vegetables raised from 

 seed are varieties of this kind, so established that the char- 

 acteristic traits are transmissible by seed. Thus we see, 

 that, while some varieties can be perpetuated by seed un- 

 changed, others cannot; and I may add that there are 

 between these extremes all possible degrees of permanence 

 in the minor traits. We should remember, when we read anv 

 of the treatises upon the subject of hybridization, first, that 

 the distinction between species and varieties is largely a mat- 

 ter of judgment, and that many may recognize as species 

 what others would regard as varieties ; second, there are very 

 many degrees in variation ; and, third, some varieties may be 

 propagated only by buds, dthers can be by seeds. 



To avoid confusion, I shall, throughout the rest of this 

 lecture, speak of a cross between recognized species as a 

 species-hybrid, between varieties as a variety- hybrid. 



