XXIII.] TESTING THE VARIETIES. 371 



the originator endeavor to determine the conditions 

 to which his variety is adapted before he introduces 

 it? Now, adaptations often differ very widely be- 

 tween very small contiguous areas. A variety may 

 not be adapted to all the arable soils and all the 

 exposures of a single farm. To discover, therefore, 

 the full range of adaptability of a variety is to 

 introduce it. The originator cannot discover these 

 facts and still hold the stock in his own hands. The 

 experiment stations can help him somewhat, but 

 there are only about fifty of them in all North 

 America. We cannot expect the originator or intro- 

 ducer, therefore, to know all the conditions under 

 which a variety will succeed or fail. But we can 

 expect, however, that he shall tell us all that he 

 does know about it. He should tell us the soil 

 upon which he finds it to succeed, the exposure, 

 and the treatment which it enjoys. It is his duty, 

 also, to give the adverse as well as favorable reports, 

 and the conditions under which they arose. 



(3) Varieties hear a variable and uncertain rela- 

 tionship to disease and insect attacks. We know that 

 in every species of plant which is ordinarily variable, 

 and which has been cultivated for a century or more, 

 there are some varieties which are more susceptible 

 than others to disease and insect injury, and that in 

 some years these varieties are more injured than in 

 others. If our variety is new, we have not yet 

 learned its relationship to these attacks, — whether it 

 is to be subject to them or immune. When growing 

 in limited quantity in a small space, it may escape 

 attack for several, or even many years, and the 

 originator may think it to be immune ; biit as the 



