128 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



fruits which were smooth and the number which were a little rough, mak- 

 ing a difference in favor of the plants from the smooth fruits. But 

 we put in Iavo test cases in which we had two samples of twenty-five from 

 rough fruit and two samples of twenty-five from smooth fruit, and we 

 found as much difference between those cases where they were from the 

 same branches as we did from the others. So it did not prove anything. 

 In other words, our experiment has not demonstrated anything, although 

 its tendency is to show that there is a difference in favor of the seed 

 saved from the fruits of the smooth branches. I wish to say another thing, 

 speaking of environment and variety: Blanche Ferry, as perhaps you 

 know, is a pink and wliite sweet pea. That variety was at one time picked 

 out and propagated and sent out as American Belle. It is not true, it is 

 simply a condition of Blanche Ferry under certain conditions, and the 

 Blanche Ferry nearly always shows that condition the last of the season 

 when there is an abnormal growth. The Blanche Ferrys which we had 

 on our ground of the early and the ordinary type, all showed these 

 American Belle wings; that is, the flowers, instead of being nearly white 

 as they should be, were pink with white dashes. It was some of the same 

 seed exactly, out of the same package, and the same sort. In England 

 has been produced a variety similar to Blanche Ferry, but which the 

 producer traces to a different parentage. He claims it is simply an 

 enlargement of Blanche Ferry and of better substance, as he terms it. 

 Now, theoretically, that has no trace of the blood of Blanche Ferry, yet 

 Little Pet on our ground this year showed the same habit that Blanche 

 Ferry did; that is, instead of having very white and pink wings it showed 

 the stripe of American Belle. Now, it seems to me that this instance, so 

 far as one single instance can go, goes a very long way to point out how 

 the variation, apparently in inherent character, can be affected by the 

 environment of any variety in a single season, and how parallel those 

 ■conditions of things are. Thev are to me a verv curious illustration. It 

 might be asked whether we desire to use that seed another j'ear. We do 

 not care to use it, we do not use it; and yet we know that we have selected 

 American Belle just as carefully as we knew how, and the next season 

 we had the most beautiful Blanche Ferry out of that American Belle 

 seed. Still, we do not use that seed. I wish to bring out another ques- 

 tion. Seedsmen keep a very careful record of their crops, and of the 

 quality of their crops. In regard to the garden pea, our practice is to get 

 a })lant that will ripen its whole crop at once; we pay a great deal of 

 attention to that. It is a fact that from the same stock the products of 

 different years are very different in their fixity to a given time. For 

 instance, there never has been a crop of extra-early peas that was equal 

 to the crop of 1882. Only last year I knew of a seedsman who paid a 

 great deal of money to get some 1882 extra-early seed, because the pro- 

 duct of that crop produced in 1882 adhered more strictly to the peculiar 

 type than any other. I mention these as interesting points which have 

 some influence on the question. 



Mr. Kellogg: I began in this kind of work by selecting the plants hav- 

 ing the best general characteristics; that is, selecting for any definite 

 object in view. When the Flaverland sti'awberry came to me I was 

 greatly pleased witli it as a whole, but I did not like the shape of the 

 berries, and I make that a factor in sch'cting beriies every year, selecting 

 the ])lants from whicli I lak(^ cuttings. N(»\\ tlicsc TTaverland straw- 



