454 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



is found. The bush is taken to the garden and it is 

 called after the name of the town the Dorchester. 

 In another place, another form is discovered, and this, 

 when transplanted, becomes known as the Lawton or 

 New Rochelle. Another form is found on a prairie, 

 and is called Western Triumph. Now and then one 

 comes up about an old plantation, and is similarly 

 cared for ; and rarely a man sows seeds and picks out 

 a good variety from the seedlings ; and very rarely a 

 man keeps a record of the parentage of the seed he 

 sows ; and very, very rarely one makes crosses and 

 sows the seeds therefrom. 



But while the new varieties are mostly discoveries, 

 it does not follow that there is no skill represented in 

 these novelties. The skill is shown in the recognition 

 of a good thing, in giving the plants the very best of 

 care when once they have been transferred to the 

 garden ; and the force of this domestication is likely 

 to express itself in better or more tractable offspring 

 in each generation. The tendency towards better- 

 ment is constantly augmented by the habitual selec- 

 tion of the best new forms. The tendency could be 

 much more rapidly hastened if, in addition to select- 

 ing the best seedlings which chance to appear, the 

 operator should also select the seeds from the best 

 plants with which to raise the seedlings. 



The reader may now want a specific account of 

 just how a few prominent varieties of native fruits 

 have originated. The old Cape or Alexander grape, 

 which first introduced a successful viticulture into 

 eastern America, was found wild in the woods in 

 Pennsylvania, as we have seen. The Catawba, which 

 is still a popular commercial variety, was found in 



