394 THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNLIKE. [XXIV. 



secured few fruits which could be called the Trophy, 

 as that variety was known in the early days. Most 

 of the fruits were smooth and even, medium in size 

 and much flattened, and they were better, in our 

 judgment, than the true Trophy ever was. It is a 

 common but erroneous notion that ' ' running out ' ' 

 necessarily means deterioration. — Bulletin XXI. Cor- 

 nell Experiment Statihn, 83 {October, 1890). 



For some years it has been apparent to the writer 

 that varieties of tomatoes run out or lose their 

 distinguishing characters. The reasons for this loss 

 of varietal character it is not necessary now to dis- 

 cuss. Crossing no doubt hastens it in many cases. 

 But it is well to state that running out does not 

 mean deterioration simply, but disappearance of char- 

 acters by whatever cause. Studies of this question 

 were made this year by growing the same variety from 

 many seedsmen. This gave us an opportunity to 

 determine if the variety had varied greatly in the 

 course of its history, or if all seedsmen really sold 

 the same thing under a given name. In order to 

 determine how long a variety may persist, we selected 

 Grant and Canada Victor tomatoes, which are old 

 varieties ; and to find out how soon a varietj- may 

 depart from its type, we grew the Ignotum, which 

 was introduced two years ago by ourselves. 



The Grant tomato was obtained from seven seeds- 

 men, — all who catalogued it. Of these seven sam- 

 ples, but two were true Grant, as the variety was 

 recognized a few years ago. In these two, the 

 fruits were wrinkled and flattish, somewhat angular, 



