DO VARIETIES WEAR OUT OR TEND TO WEAR OUT?! 
Tuts question has been argued from time to time for more 
than half a century, and is far from being settled yet. In- 
deed, it is not to be settled either way so easily as is some- 
times thought. The result of a prolonged and rather lively 
discussion of the topic about forty years ago in England, in 
which Lindley bore a leading part on the negative side, was, 
if we rightly remember, that the nays had the best of the 
argument. The deniers could fairly well explain away the 
facts adduced by the other side, and evade the force of the 
reasons then assigned to prove that varieties were bound to 
die out in the course of time. But if the case were fully re- 
argued now, it is by no means certain that the nays would 
win it. The most they could expect would be the Scotch 
verdict ‘not proven.” And this not because much, if any, 
additional evidence of the actual wearing out of any variety 
has turned up since, but because a presumption has been 
raised under which the evidence would take a bias the other 
way. There is now in the minds of scientific men some reason 
to expect that certain varieties would die out in the long run, 
and this might have an important influence upon the inter- 
pretation of the facts that would be brought forward. Curi- 
ously enough, however, the recent discussions to which our 
attention has been called seem, on both sides, to have over- 
looked this matter. 
But, first of all, the question needs to be more specifically 
stated if any good is to come from a discussion of it. There 
are varieties and varieties. They may, some of them, disap- 
pear or deteriorate, but yet not wear out—not come to an 
end from any inherent cause. One might even say, the 
younger they are the less chance of survival unless well cared 
1 New York Tribune, semi-weekly edition, December 8, 1874. 
