106 STATE rOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



It is true in most places that seedling verbenas are healthier and more vigor- 

 ous than i)lants Avhich come from cuttings. Tiiis may be due to the unfavora- 

 ble condition? to Avhich the cuttings are subjected, or to bad treatment of the 

 stock plants in 'winter. Most of our best verbenas have not been raised many 

 years from cuttings. New ones are constantly taking their places. So with 

 potatoes, new varieties arc mostly taking the place of the old. 



There is no denying tlie fact, that there are still some very old varieties of 

 plants in a healthy condition. Some varieties of grapes are saidj to have been 

 propagated for 2,000 years. 



Liudly, Downing, and De Candolle admitted the facts which Knight 

 and others brought fortli, but rejected the reasoning and the inferences drawn. 

 As they believed, "It was disease, not degeneracy, and this disease propa- 

 gated by grafting, which caused varieties or individual plants to disappear." 



The late William Patterson of Scotland, in a premium essay in 1870, observed 

 that varieties of potatoes very rapidly degenerate and ultimately l)CCome wortli- 

 less, "attributed to repeated planting from tlic same stock, without an infusion 

 of new blood." 



President AVilder, in transactions of American Pomological Society, p. 19^ 

 18G9, writes, "'However we may theorize in regard to this matter, it must be 

 admitted, from the practical point of view, that some fruits have so declined 

 as to render it absolutely necessary to replace them with new varieties." He 

 cites pears in our day as examples : St. Germain, Crassoue, White Doyenne, etc., 

 once so excellent. AViiere are they now? For the great majority of locations 

 they will continue to be worthless. 



President Wilder also cites the Catawba and Isabella grapes as other exam- 

 ples of fruit which is declining. Some varieties hold out better than others, 

 as the Ived Astraclum apple, Bartlett pear and Wilson strawberry, which seem 

 to thrive almost everywhere. Others thrive in only limited localities. 



Dr. A. Gray believes that "varieties, though not liable to change, may 

 theoretically be expected to wear out, l)ut to be a very long time about it ; that 

 sexually propagated varieties or races, although liable to disappear through 

 change, need not be expected to wear out, and there is no proof that they do." 



The longer a race is bi'ed or reproduced from a succession of similar individ- 

 uals, the more permanently fixed it becomes. The progeny are more certain 

 to be like the parents. This is well shown in our thoroughbred cattle, sheep, 

 horses, swine, and jioultry. Probably if closely related parents are to be bred 

 together it is better tliat tliey should have been kept for some time in countries 

 remote from each other, subjected to different, surroundings as to food, air, 

 temjoerature, etc. 



In tlic case of plants this has been proven true by recent experiments of Dar- 

 win. Instead of trying to infuse new vigor into a race by introducing or cross- 

 ing with another race, bring together those of the same race which have been 

 long raised in different localities. The result in most cases has been a wonder- 

 ful increase in the size and hardiness of tlie plants, the size and yield of the 

 seeds or fruit. This result has been worked out by Darwin, and has been 

 proved by many experiments tried on a great variety of plants. The idea is a 

 very valuable one to the raiser of fruits, flowers, g'rains, or vegetables. 



The committee on fruits, finding it necessary to leave on the afternoon train, 

 Averc allowed to j)re3ent their report, as follows : 



