396 THE SURVIVAL OP THE UNLIKE. [XXIV. 



Ignotum was obtained from fifteen dealers. This 

 variety was first offered by seedsmen in 1890, Of the 

 fifteen samples, eight gave small and poor fruits, 

 which were not worth growing, and could not be 

 recognized as Ignotum by any character. The other 

 samples were fairly uniform, and represented a medium 

 type of Ignotum, The Ignotum grown from one of 

 our own savings gave a number of plants which 

 bore inferior fruits, although clearly Ignotum. It is 

 difficult to suppose that in one season a variety could 

 so far have lost its characters that one -half the 

 seedsmen should offer inferior stock of it. The variety 

 is well fixed, for in one of our large plantations it 

 was remarkably uniform, and equally as good if not 

 even better than two years ago. We have been curi- 

 ous to note the reports of Ignotum which have come in 

 from various parts of the country, for, knowing its 

 history, we may be able to discover some facts in the 

 variation of plants. Most of the reports speak well of 

 it, but now and then a grower finds it inferior. A 

 correspondent in New Jersey sends the following 

 account of it : 



"It is very smooth and productive, bright in 

 color, ripening up to the stem, and with me that 

 is all that can be said in its favor ; it is small as 

 compared with the Matchless ; it is not solid, but hol- 

 low and full of seeds; worst of all, it has a tendency 

 toward black -heart. I could not find one in ten of 

 my entire crop but was afflicted with this hard black 

 core," It is strange that such a condition should 

 exist so early in the life of a variety, and it would 

 be interesting to know if it is a case of running out 

 or of mixing, or substituting of seeds, [A more 



