366 THE SURVIVAL OP THE UNLIKE. [xXIII. 



that many of the ideals are contradictory, and there- 

 fore unattainable in one variety. We probably need 

 to specialize in varieties as much as in other direc- 

 tions. I therefore look with suspicion upon a new 

 variety which is introduced with the assumption that 

 it shall supplant all other varieties ; it should supplant 

 only one other, and that the best of its class. This 

 exaggerated praise is not wholly the fault of the intro- 

 ducer, for there is a demand for it among a very large 

 class of our rural population. (Compare Essay XXII.) 

 2. But varieties themselves lack merit and per- 

 sistence ; that is, they do not bear out the promises 

 which they seem to make. I may say at the outset 

 that we often mistake the promises and regard the 

 variety as more valuable than it has given us warrant 

 to suppose. This is especially true if the variet}' is 

 one of our own raising, for our interest in it is so 

 great that we are apt to unconsciously forget or 

 excuse its faults. But varieties often do > promise 

 more than they fulfill. Perhaps 80 or 90 per 

 cent of the varieties in our manuals and cata- 

 logues never come into cultivation. Some three 

 thousand varieties of apples have been described in 

 American publications, but the important varieties 

 probably do not greatly exceed one hundred, certainly 

 not two hundred. Over eight hundred varieties of 

 apples are offered in the catalogues of 1892. In the 

 year 1889, four hundred and thirty -four varieties of 

 fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants were offered 

 for sale in North America ; in 1880, there were five 

 hundred and seventy -five ; in 1891, eight hundred and 

 eighty -four. This makes the enormous total for three 

 years of eighteen hundred and ninety -three novelties. 



