XXII. 



ARE NOVELTIES WORTH THEIR COST?' 



It is a perennial question, this asking if novelties 

 in fruit pay ; and yet it is never settled. The 

 manner of answering the question seems always to 

 be the same : the respondent cites his own experience 

 with the new varieties, with an inclination to dwell 

 most upon those which he considers to be dishonest 

 or unworthy ; and so it comes that there are as many 

 opinions of the "novelty question" — as the discus- 

 sion has come to be called — as there are persons who 

 try to answer it, with a tendency, always, to decry 

 the introduction of new things. It is evident that 

 the fundamental merits of the question can never be 

 determined from individual experiences of a certain 

 number of novelties, for it is rare if any two ex])('ri- 

 ences agree upon even the same variety. If tlicrc is 

 not some broader and more scientific basis of judg- 

 ment, the question may as well be dropped forever. 



What we really need to ask is this : Is there a 

 constant tendency for new varieties to surpass the 

 old ? Or, in other words, have we yet reached the 

 limit of improvement and evolution in any species of 

 plant? Before attempting a direct answer to these 

 questions, we shall need to consider for a moment if 

 varieties are pre -limited in duration, or if they "run 



» Read before the Western New York Horticultural Society, January 24, 1894. 

 Printed in Proceedings of the Thirty-ninth Annual Meeting, pp. 37 to 41. 



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