THE WINTER RHUBARB 



capable of sure propagation from the seed. It 

 can readily be propagated by dividing the roots 

 or by cutting out little sections of the root con- 

 taining a bud, so there is small necessity of 

 development from the seed. But in this case, as 

 with so many other cultivated plants, it is essential 

 to use this method of propagation if we wish to 

 have an absolutely fixed variety. 



An obvious explanation would be that the 

 original New Zealand rhubarb was of mixed 

 racial strains. This, indeed, would account for its 

 tendency to vary, and contribute to its successful 

 development in California. The inter-breeding 

 which produced the winter-bearing strain, may 

 have been done quite bj'^ accident in New Zealand, 

 the plants that came to me embodying the full 

 possibilities of development without further 

 hybridizing. 



Perpetual Bearing Now Fixed 



It should be added, however, that even when 

 grown from seed, the new winter rhubarb always 

 manifests the tendency to perpetual bearing. This 

 one trait is fixed, though some of the other 

 qualities of the plant are still variable. 



Using the new terminology we may say that 

 the tendency to winter-bearing is a unit character 

 that is latent or recessive, and that the winter 

 rhubarb has no factors of the opposite trait of 



[197] 



