TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 87 



SELECTION OP VARIETIES OF VEGETABLES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES. 



A paper under this title was read by Prof. W. W. Tracy of Detroit as 

 follows : 



First, What is a variety'? The orchardist considers that all the trees or 

 parts of trees which have their origin, as far as bearing wood is concerned, 

 in some particular single seedling, make up a variety, and all these trees 

 or parts of trees of any given variety are in effect a part of the original 

 seedling and are identical with it in all their limitations and possibilities. 

 There may be great variation in different orchards, of a variety, or even 

 in different trees of the same orchard, but this variation originates in 

 conditions of health and nutrition and not in inherent differences of char- 

 acter. Nothing can change in any of these the character which existed in 

 the original seedling, of which they are virtually a part; and a description 

 of a variety so propagated is simply a statement of the character of a cer- 

 tain individual. In the case of a variety propagated by seeds, the case is 

 not essentially different. Then we mean, by a variety, any collection of 

 plants which so resemble each other as to be practically identical and 

 which exhibit some common peculiarity which distinguishes them from 

 other plants of the same species. A description of the variety, in this 

 case is simply a statement of a certain standard, an ideal, to which a plant 

 must conform in order to be included in that variety. It will be seen 

 that there is a wide difference in the real meaning of " variety " in the. 

 two cases. One is an individual with all its limitations and possibilities 

 of development; the other, simply a collection of similar individuals which 

 conform to certain ideals. The character of one is fixed — we can never 

 take away nor add to that which it was from the beginning, but only add 

 to our knowledge of it and to our accuracy of description; but in the other 

 case we may gradually change an ideal until it is radically different from 

 that with which we started. 



How can this selection of similar plants be secured? Practically it 

 must be done solely by resort to the principle of heredity, the law that 

 " like begets like." Those who have not studied the matter have little 

 conception of how powerful an influence this is in the shaping of the 

 character of all living organisms. Dr. Hammond gives the following 

 illustration of its working in the human family: 



A gentleman informed me that his grandfather had become accustomed to wake up 

 from sound sleep at twelve o'clock every night and drink a cup of tea, after which he 

 would lie down and sleep quietly till morning. The father of my informant was a 

 posthumous son, and his mother died in childbirth with him. He was English, and at 

 an early age went to India with an uncle. One night, when he was about twenty years 

 of age, he awoke suddenly with an intense desire for a cup of tea. He endeavored to 

 overcome the longing, but finally being unable to sleep, got up, and, proceeding to an 

 adjoining room, made himself a cup of tea, and then, going back to bed, soon fell 

 asleep. He did not mention the circumstance at that time; in fact, it made no strong 

 impression on his mind ; but the next night the awakening, the desire, and the tea 

 making were repeated. At breakfast the following morning he alluded to the fact that 

 he had twice been obliged to rise in the middle of the night and make himself a 

 cup of tea, and laughingly suggested that perhaps it would be as well for him in 

 future to have the materials in his bed room. His uncle listened attentively, and when 

 the recital was finished, said: 



"Yes, have everything ready, for you will want your tea every night; your father 

 took it at midnight for over twenty years, and you are like him in everything." 



The uncle was right. The midnight tea-drinking became a settled habit. Several 

 years afterward the gentleman returned to England and then married. Of this mar- 

 riage a son — my informant — was born, and six years subsequently the father died. 



