March 3, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



249 



Are the Tendencies of Vegetable and Animal Life Toward Perfec- 

 tion or Degeneracy? 



We hear of late a great deal about natural forces 

 propelling every living thing onward and upward to 

 more perfect conditions. Luther Burbank, referring to 

 natural selection says, "We see this natural selection 

 in all life every day around us. But this is but one of 

 the many forces at work in the upward, outward, and 

 onward movement of life." But the seeming wonderful 

 progress towards perfection is simply the results of the 

 stimulants of culture, environment, hybridizing, and 

 selection, which are wholly artificial and not natural 

 forces, Mr. Burbank further says, "The life forces in 

 their march meet obstacles around, under, over, and 

 through which they must pass"; again, "The life forces 

 may be compared to a river constantly pressing for- 

 ward." Mr. Burbank certainly deserves credit for as- 

 cribing to natural forces the improvements he has made 

 when he might justly have claimed them for himself. 

 1 must say that in my experiments I have never recog- 

 nized the tendency of natural forces to perfection, but 

 towards degeneracy; and that I can but regard the pres- 

 ent condition of all vegetable and animal life as a strug- 

 gle for existence, and that all the improvements that 

 have been made are but artificial, and that retrogres- 

 sion to former conditions would soon follow if the im- 

 proved conditions, care, and culture were withdrawn. 

 This retrograde movement or tendency is sometimes 

 described as running out. Some vegetables, and the 

 Baldwin apples are said to be running out. which con- 

 dition is simply the result of neglect or climatic changes, 

 and are not held up by natural forces. 



There is a limit to the improvement of all species and 

 varieties. Some thirty or forty years ago there was ex- 

 hibited at the rooms of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society two clusters of Concord grapes; one weighed 

 two lbs., the other two lbs. two ounces. That I regard as 

 the limit for the Concord grape, beyond which I have 

 doubts that it will ever pass. This remarkable exhibi- 

 tion was the result of care and culture, and not of nat- 

 ural forces. I have a Concord vine growing practically 

 wild, and it would require eight of its clusters to weigh 



one pound. Of course there may lie produced by hybrid- 

 izing, crossing, and selection, a new variety that ma} 

 surpass the older ones in hardiness and excellence of 

 quality. There may also be mutations or new species 

 developed of a sudden, and not through long years of 

 evolution as Darwin supposed. There are too many 

 missing links in that theory anil it is very doubtful if 

 any new species have ever been created m that way. 

 These new varieties and species will also have their 

 limit, beyond which they cannot pass, ami no natural 

 lories will attend them to ensure a perpetual onward 

 and upward course. In the breeding of new varieties 

 there is no certainty of improvement. There are a 

 greal many blanks to one prize and the time will surely 

 come when the inhabitants of this earth will be obliged 

 to he content with products inferior to what we now 

 have. 



There are elements of decay in the improvements we 

 make. Our domestic fowls have lost the use of their 

 uiims as means of escaping danger and would soon he 

 destroyed if turned out to shirk for themselves, and 

 tli' bovine is being robbed of its horns, its only means 

 of defence. Hybridizing is now extensively used for the 

 improvement of fruits, flowers and vegetables; but hy- 

 bridizing tends to sterility and a large per cent, of 

 hybrid blossoms are imperfecl ami in many cases the 

 power of reproduction is lost, as in the seedless oranges 

 and grapes. Hybrid oranges in some cases were nearlj 

 all seedless. After all, this so-called improvement is 

 largely a matter of point of view. The epicure desires 

 more and better meat from the animals, and more pulp 

 from the fruits, while the naturalist prefers to view- 

 things in their natural state and regards the forced 

 conditions as simply distortion, and ruinous to the wel- 

 fare of plants and animals. But the animals and plants 

 are grown for. a purpose, and the methods of produc- 

 tion best calculated to suit that purpose are the methods 

 that will 1»' adopted, regardless of consequences. What- 

 ever the methods that may be adopted I hope no one 

 will sit down and expect natural forces to do the work. 



h.n.truyto 



Do Varieties Deteriorate ? 



I was very much interested in reading Mr. Gilbert's 

 article under this heading in your issue of Jan. 27. 



I am of the opinion that they do deteriorate and am 

 just as strongly of the opinion that they do not. I be- 

 lieve that it is simply a matter of selection, cultivation. 

 and location. Select poor cuttings or seed, plant them 

 in improper soil, location, or climate, and add poor cul- 

 tivation and any variety will deteriorate: reverse these 

 conditions and keep it up year after year and 1 believe 

 that a variety will improve ami keep on improving in- 

 definitely. 



A visitor at the Carnation Society's convention, Mr. 

 Shand of St. John, N. B., told me that Marie Loin- 

 violet grows luxuriantly with him and that violet dis- 

 ease is there unknown. He made no claim to any spe- 

 cial cultivation but attributed his success to the climate. 

 I am doubtful if there is a healthy plant of this variety 

 in the vicinity of Boston. 



I had been accustomed to see fairly good specimens 



of Lombardy poplar in Ontario and was surprised at. 

 their failure around Boston, but now at our Boston City 

 Hospital can he sen several row- of line robust speei- 

 mi M-. perfed from base to top. and ever] one as good 

 a- its neighbor. They were planted ten Mars ago and I. 

 at the time, predicted failure for them. But Mr. Bobb 

 had given i he situation some thought. A tree of pyra- 

 midal growth was needed ami he thought the cool, damp 

 bottom of the old would he suitable for them. 



So far his conclusions have been correct. They are 

 more and more beautiful every year and are far from 

 showing any signs of deterioration. They certainly look 

 as i f they were in the proper location. 



^2^^^^^ 



