450 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nature of the plant. Tims, the Violets, and some of our Carnations, and 

 Roses are beginning to lose vigor, and become diseased. No wonder that 

 they rebel, when instead of giving them the rest that their nature demands 

 in the winter months, they are "forced" without cessation, year after year 

 at a winter temperature averaging perhaps 70 degrees, when in their 

 natural condition, the temperature is probably 30 degrees less for two or 

 three months in winter. 



I believe that there is no such thing as permanent degeneration of 

 any fruit flower or vegetable that is propagated by cuttings, grafts or 

 roots. Our hardy Concord grape is found, when grown under proper 

 conditions, to be just as perfect as when first introduced nearly half a 

 century ago, and the foreign grapes, such as the Black Hamburgh and 

 many others, are as perfect, even under artificial culture, — but which gives 

 them the needed winter rest — -as they were one hundred years ago. 

 The Wilson and Sharpless Strawberries and the Early Rose Potato can, 

 under the most favorable conditions, be found just as perfect as when 

 first introduced. New plants when first sent out, often suffer from over 

 propagation, and seem to be weaker than they really are, for example; 

 When we sent out the "Sunset" Rose some six or eight years ago, the 

 demand for it, necessitated every inch of it being used for propagation, 

 which so enfeebled the stock that for two or three years it was generally 

 condemned, until its vigorous nature asserted itself, so that now its size 

 and coloring are fully up to the original specimen from which it sprung. 



An excellent example of how growing a plant foreign to its nature, 

 induces temporary degeneration is found in the Oats, Oats from Eng- 

 land, Scotland, or Norway, weighing 44lbs. to the bushel, the first year 

 after sowing in our tropical summer, fall to 40 lbs., that product being 

 sown the second year, again is further reduced to 35lbs , which again being 

 sown the third year falls to the normal weight of our American oats 

 which is 28 or 30 lbs. per bushel. Were the culture again reversed, by 

 sowing these same oats (which had become degenerated by being grown 

 in our climate) in the lower temperature of Britain, they would climb up 

 in three years to their normal weight there of 44 lbs. or 46 lbs. per 

 bushel. 



This subject is too comprehensive for an ordinary magazine article, 

 but I think a large majority of cultivators pf experience will agree with 

 me in believing that there is no such thing as permanent degeneration of 

 any pla: t, whether increased by seeds or slips, even should the cultiva- 

 tion reach into thousands of years. — Popular Gardening. 



