370 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [XXIII. 



among the most meritorious of strawberries and 

 others had discarded it. Essentially this same dis- 

 cussion could be applied to most varieties of fruits. 

 It does not follow that a variety is necessarily best 

 adapted to the place or conditions in which it origi- 

 nates, but it is true that it stands little chance of 

 being noticed and disseminated unless it is adapted 

 to its birthplace. When we consider the immense 

 area of our country and its great diversity, we can- 

 not wonder that varieties are rarely adapted to a very 

 large portion of it. I am often tempted to construct 

 a detail map of the distribution of some prominent 

 variety of fruit. We should find the distribution to 

 be peculiar, to be dense here and there, sparse in 

 contiguous areas, and to skip entirely an irregular 

 space now and then. Here in Illinois and westward, 

 even the comparatively cosmopolitan Baldwin apple 

 is supplanted by the Ben Davis. It is too much to 

 expect any one variety to thrive equally in all parts 

 of a single state, let alone in all parts of North 

 America. Yet we are likely to regard an adverse 

 report upon any novelty as a necessary condemna- 

 tion of it, while the report may only define the limits 

 and merits of the variety, and thereby prove to be 

 a decided advantage by tending to restrict the 

 variety to its true place and sphere. I mean, in 

 other words, that the success of a variety is not 

 determined by the number of favorable reports upon 

 it, but rather by its perfect adaptation to certain 

 conditions and requirements. A variety is not a 

 failure if, in one place alone, it is better than all 

 competing varieties. 



A very important question now arises : Shall 



