XXIII. 



WHY DO PROMISING VARIETIES FAIL?' 



There is probably iio greater discouragement in 

 horticultural pursuits than the uncertainty which 

 attaches to the purchase and production of new 

 varieties. So great is the fear of new productions 

 that very many people decry the introduction of 

 novelties as hazardous and unfortunate. There must 

 be reason for so widespread feeling. There is one 

 proposition, however, which needs to be presented at 

 the outset in order to arrest your attention upon 

 what seems to be a trite subject. There is probably 

 no variety in existence, whether of fruit, vegetable 

 or ornamental plant, which perfectly meets all the 

 requirements demanded of it ; that is, there is none 

 which is ideal. If this perfect variety is not in exist- 

 ence, must it yet appear in the guise of a novelty f It 

 is to the new things, therefore — to the future — that 

 we must look for advancement ; the old things are 

 not capable of improvement. I may be asked here if 

 the ideal variety ever can come, if it is among the 

 possibilities. This no man can answer ; but we know 

 that there has been a general uplift in the merits and 

 variety of our cultivated productions during the 

 present generation, and if we compare our varieties 

 with those of a century or more ago, we find them to 



•Read before the Illinois State Horticultural Society, at Cliampaign, Decem- 

 ber 8, 1892. Printed in Proceedings of the Society, xxvi. 147-154. 



(364) 



