The Origin of Species 317 



corn, from the Southern States, where the grow- 

 ing season is long, require a much longer time to 

 come to maturity, and the seed of such races planted 

 at the North will often fail to mature the first sea- 

 son, but if any of the seed is matured and planted 

 a second season, the time of maturity will be mark- 

 edly less, and this peculiarity is transmitted so that 

 in the course of a few generations a race is devel- 

 oped which is fitted to the shorter seasons of the 

 North. It has been observed that in the United 

 States the European varieties of apples, pears, and 

 some other fruits have given place largely to new 

 forms which have arisen often spontaneously, as the 

 result of new climatic conditions in America. 

 Moreover, the eastern varieties of fruits grown in 

 the Northwest and on the Pacific coast, have become 

 similarly changed, apparently in response to dif- 

 ferent climatic conditions, and these changes are 

 heritable. 



It is now a common practice to grow seeds of 

 many vegetables and flowers for the eastern trade, 

 under the very favorable climate of the coast valleys 

 of California, where the long dry summers permit 

 very perfect maturing of the seed. It has been 

 found, however, that from time to time, seeds grown 

 in the East must be sent back, otherwise there is a 

 tendency to produce a plant which will require for its 

 growth a longer time than is furnished by the short 

 eastern summer. Many plants in the California 

 gardens also require a much longer period of growth 



