215 



^ 



Sixlh sowing; 1844. Changes slill wciit oii, biil 

 slowly. The ears continued britlle; one oC the great 

 peeuliaiilies of Aegilops. 



Seveiitli sowiii<;; IS4ö. Tlie planis were very niiicli 

 like Wlieal. Beards were further dimiriislieil. Eacli 

 spiklet eontaiiied from l'oiir lo five llowers, ol' wliicli 

 tliree were ferlilc, as in good Wheat. These were 

 really Wheat. 



Up to this linie tlie eNpcrinients had been coii- 

 diicted iii a walied inclosure, were no other (Irass was 

 permilted lo grow, and far from aiiy olher graiii crop. 

 The com was always sown in ihe auliimn, ripening 

 in the years above indicated. Biit M. Fahre now trans- 

 f'erred liis experiment lo the open field, sowing bis 

 Aegilops Wheat broadeast. In this way he cropped a 

 field. near Ihe road from Marseillan conipletely sur- 

 roiinded by Vines, and far from any Wlieat field. For 

 foiir conseculive years he perseciited in bis trial, ob- 

 laining every year Wheat like that of the neighbonring 

 farnis, and sixi'old or eightfold according to the season. 

 In 1S.")0 the straw was still' and füll; the ears nearly 

 smooth, and composed of from eight to l'l spiklets, 

 each conlaining two or three graios of corn, which 

 were very floury and scarcely at all concave. The 

 croj) was however very short this year owing to ex- 

 cessive dryness, which greally injured all of the cereal 

 crops. Tims »during the twelve consecutive years," 

 reniarks M, Fahre, nin which I have persued the cnlti- 

 vation of Ae. trilicoides, I have lonnd it gradnally 

 iinproving, and becoming real ^^heat; biit I have never 

 Seen an instance of its ninning back to the Ae. ovata 

 from which it sprnng. 



11. 



(Gardeners' Ctironicie, ±i. Juli 185? ) 



No fact in natural history more pregnant with con- 

 se(niences has been elicited than that of transformation 

 to which we drew the attention of the public. Thal a 

 miserable Grass, should in no more Ihan r2 genera- 

 lions become such an imporlant artide of food as 

 >Yheal, would have been incredible, in the ahsence of 

 the direct and 'positive teslimony that has been pro- 

 duced by M. Fahre. So imlike are Ihe alpha and 

 omega of Ibis experiment, that botanisis, with one 

 consent have placed them in distinct genera, and yel 

 the planis are shown, by the plainesl evidence, nol^ 

 only to belong lo the same genus, but even to the 

 same species. The value of modern genera and spe- 

 cies in botany is wofully shaken by this revelation; 

 failh in tho-se lower classes of bolanical dislinctions, 

 which have been said to represent permanent natural 

 dilTerences, is gone: and it is to he hoped Ihat refmc- 

 ments in Classification, as they have been ahsurdly 

 called have received their coup de grace. The inge- 

 nious gentlemen who have believed that 20 species of 

 Aconite are confounded under A. Kapellns, half a liun- 

 dred Millov.'s under Salix ciiprea, and as many species 

 of licibiis under Rubus corylifolius, niny burn thcir 

 books lor their triding dislinctions can hardly conliuue 

 to lind adniirers after the proof that an Aegilops and 

 M hcal aie the same species. For our own pari, we 

 consüle ourselves with the belicf that botany will he 



tluis reslored lo ihe condition of an intelligible science: 

 and we congratul.ale those who, like Benlhani, Ilooker 

 and others, have for a quarler of a Century carried on 

 an unsuccesful war with hairsplilting conleniporaries, 

 upon the final Iriumph of their principles! 



Passing by this poinl of view, we may also sug- 

 gesl that olher unsiispected inslances of the same Uind 

 are very likely to occnr. We are Ignorant of the ori- 

 gin of live; but II) e is less different from Wheat Ihan 

 is Aegilops, and may very well be anolher Aegilopian 

 form. So again of Barley, the wild State of which is 

 just as uncerlain; we may now expect that some cle- 

 ver experinienter will trare it to an origin as suipri- 

 zing as that of Wheat. But these are mallers of mere 

 scientific interest. Lei ns see lo whal practica! infe- 

 rences M. Fabre's discovery may lead. Thal gentleman 

 found Ihal a wild Grass (Aegilops ovata) was subjecl 

 to what gardeners call »a sporl" !.\egilops trilicoides). 

 Of Ihat sporl he sowed the seeds, and he found that 

 while on the one band ihere was no disposition to 

 return to ils original form, Ihere was on Ihe other a 

 decided lendency lo sporl slill more. Of that tendency 

 he a^ailed himself with admirable palience. 



Year by year ihe change wenl on — but slowly. 

 Linie by Utile one pari altered or anolher. The wrelched, 

 hungry grain grew plumper; the flour in it in- 

 creased; ils size augmenled. The starved ears soon 

 formed other spiklets; the spiklets at first conlaining 

 but two llowers at last becanie capable of yielding 

 Cour or fi\e. The straw stilFened, the leaves widened, 

 the ears lenglliened, Ihe corn soflened and augmenled, 

 tili at lasl W'heal itself stood revealed, and of such 

 quality lliat il was not excelled on the neighbonring 

 farm's. All this loo, be il observed, was done on a 

 large scale; il was no obscure laboratory experiment, 

 but the resull of a farming Operation, carried on in 

 the open fields. Men niusl be blind indeed who caii- 

 nol see lo whal Ibis points. We shall leave our agri- 

 cultural friends to refiect upon the prospecls ihal are 

 open to them; it is for thom lo double Ihe lenglh of 

 their ears of corn, and angmcnl their grain — lo go 

 on, in short, in crovvds, in Ihe track Ihat a few only 

 of the mosl intelligent are following now. We must 

 limit cur horizon lo the boundary of a garden. If any 

 men Unow the imporlance of »sporls," they are gar- 

 deners. Half the mosl striking of Ihe llowers and fruit 

 have been thus oblained. A poor ngly dwaf Larkspur 

 Sports by chance to double; the seeds of Ihe sporl are 

 saved earefully and sown; three fourlhs of the seed- 

 lings are single, but a few aie double; the first are 

 tlirown away, the best of the second are saved for 

 seed, and the second crop of seedlings comes Iruer. 

 So comes the race of double Larkspurs. 



A double Larkspur nexl sports lo a stripe. that 

 is to say, bands of red or of \iolel appear upon the 

 pale ground of the petals of a few llowers; these llow- 

 ers are marked, the seed is saved, and so begins 

 the breed of whal are called Uni<|uPs, at one tiiue the 

 pride of Hower garden, though now discarded for newer 

 favouriles. In the same way, first came Camellias, 

 Chrysanthemums, and a host of olhers. The old purple 

 Chrysanthemum accidentally sporied lu buff; Ihe bulT 



