THE WHEAT CTJLTUBIST. 255 



degenerate, any more than there is in the suggestion 

 that the human race grows imbecile and effeminate from 

 generation to generation. The theory has no facts to 

 sustain it. If properly cultivated and suitable care be 

 exercised in selecting the seed, varieties may be main- 

 tained in all their primeval excellency and purity as 

 long as the vicissitudes of the seasons continue. We 

 grant that varieties do degenerate and lose their identi- 

 ty, their " vital energies " and powers of reproduction. 



We have due respect for the integrity of such writers 

 as were just alluded to. But when they recorded these 

 suggestions they simply reiterated what they considered 

 to be plausible theories that had been broached by other 

 writers, all of whom had made assertions touching the 

 degeneration of wheat. In this way many vague and 

 exceedingly erroneous theories have been promulgated 

 from year to year by scientific writers on agricultural 

 subjects. But mere assertion of a supposed fact does 

 not constitute a well-established theory on any subject. 



On the borders of the River Nile, in Africa, one of 

 the finest regions in the world for the production of ex- 

 cellent wheat, the same varieties are grown, from year 

 to year, without the least deterioration, that were culti- 

 vated three thousand years ago. And the same thing 

 may be done in this country by exercising the same care 

 in the selection of the seed that is observed by the farm- 

 ers in that part of the world. 



It is a well-established fact that wheat will hybridize 

 when different varieties are allowed to grow in close 

 proximity. Of course, the product would be a mixture 

 of seed, in which the purity of the variety is gone. 

 Consequently, with a mixture of seed, a fanner would 

 find himself in the same circumstances with reference 



