DEVELOPMENT OF VARIETIES 85 



commenced. The higher the state of cultivation to which 

 a plant is subjected, the higher are the chances of its 

 producing new features. In nature, plants grow under 

 fixed conditions, so they do not vary much. When a plant 

 once commences to vary from the original type, the changes 

 oftentimes come very rapidly, and the possibilities are 

 endless. Thus from a wild plant two or more feet 

 high with only a few leaves has been developed: 



(1) the modern cabbage of (a) the wrinkled, (b) the smooth, 

 (c) the red-leaved, and (d) the many ornamental kinds; 



(2) Brussels sprouts, with numerous small cabbage heads 

 on a stem two or more feet high; (3) cauliflowers, in which 

 the inflorescence becomes thick and fleshy; (4) the various 

 kinds of kale; and (5) cow cabbage, which in the Jersey 

 Islands has been known to grow to the height of sixteen 

 feet and strong enough for rafters of cow sheds. The 

 many varieties of garden and field plants are conclusive 

 evidence of the variation of plants under cultivation. 



All of our valuable garden vegetables are the result of almost 

 endless care in selection and in a few cases of artificial as 

 well as chance crossing. They must be regarded as artificial 

 productions having a constant tendency to revert to the inferior 

 wild state, which we must constantly try to overcome if their 

 desirable qualities are to be maintained. 



It is necessary for the most successful breeding of plants 

 to have in view a well-defined purpose, and in selecting seed 

 not to vary the ideal standard of excellence sought, for such 

 variation increases the difficulty of fixing desired character- 

 istics. 



It is found to be quite a general law obtaining among 

 plants that the qualities of the parent are much more potent and 

 thus more likely to be transmitted than some especially desir- 

 able qualities of a few individual fruits which may occur on 



