February 20, 1896] 



NA TV RE 



363 



not taken this course — we almost wish they had— they 

 have decided to use an English equivalent. But instead 

 of using the English word rudiment^ a well-known word, 

 a respectable word, one might almost say a classic word 

 in the ears of English zoologists —a word which well 

 covers the meaning of the German word " anlage," and 

 the use of which in this sense can be productive of no 

 confusion, they have invented a new rendering ; and — O 

 ye gods I — what a rendering 1 



We would pardon the ignorance of one who did not 

 know that the first and most common meaning of the 

 word rudiment is the " original of anything in its imper- 

 fect form." But the editors have not stopped short at 

 this : they have fallen from Scylla into Charybdis ; they 

 have employed a word with the meaning of which every 

 schoolboy is familiar — often painfully familiar — a word 

 which has only one usage in English, and that a usage 

 which, to all people with a sense of humour, would 

 entirely unfit it for the present purpose, even if it were 

 required. They have displayed an ignorance which is 

 almost incredible in men who speak the English language, 

 an ignorance which, while it may help us to understand 

 certain peculiarities observable in some of their country- 

 men, is fraught with the most ludicrous results in the 

 present instance. We sincerely regret that we are 

 obliged to call attention to this blemish. It is hard upon 

 the authors to have their work served up to the English 

 public with such a grotesque ingredient. We feel that 

 the publishers, who at any rate are Englishmen, should 

 have seen to the matter, and we sincerely hope that the 

 pages of parts ii. and iii. of this most valuable work will 

 not be defaced by such a misuse of a well-known and 

 old-established English word. 



It only remains to say that the book is well got up. 

 The printing is good, the illustrations are excellent, and 

 the size is convenient. 



THE EVOLUTION OF CULTIVATED 

 PLANTS. 

 Plant-Breeding : being Five Lectures upon the Ameliora- 

 tion of Domestic Plants. By L. H. Bailey. Pp. 293. 

 Figs. 20. (New York and London : Macmillan and 

 Co., 1895.) 



WHEN, in 1859, Darwin's "Origin of Species" first 

 saw the light, naturalists were astonished at the 

 large number and variety of illustrations the author de- 

 rived from cultivated plants. This feeling was accent- 

 uated in 1868, when the "Variation of Animals and 

 Plants und-r Domestication" appeared. Previous to 

 that time botanists had, for the most part, ignored the 

 productions of the horticulturists, or looked upon them 

 as so many sources of annoyance and confusion. With 

 the publications just mentioned, there dawned upon the 

 minds of thinkers the notion that what was done in 

 nature slowly and gradually had been, and was effected 

 by the gardener rapidly and, relatively, with equal 

 certainty. 



Variation, selection, adaptation, progressive evolution 

 were seen to constitute the basis of the work of the gar- 

 dener and the " florist " in their attempts to gain new and 

 NO. 1373. VOL. 53] 



improved varieties. Cross-breeding and hybridisation 

 had been practised for generations. The first artificially- 

 produced hybrid on record was raised in the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century by Fairchild — a gardener. It was 

 a hybrid Pink. After him came Bradley, Logan, Philip 

 Miller, who each and all carried on their experiments on 

 evolutionary lines. With Thomas Andrew Knight and 

 Dean Herbert, we are brought down to modern times. 

 They were great gardeners. Assuredly they were great 

 evolutionists. And the work is going on day by day with 

 more activity than ever. In addition to the constant 

 improvement recognised in the case of agricultural 

 and garden plants, the evidence of which may be seen in 

 the seedsmen's trial-grounds and in the experimental 

 garden of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick, 

 there is a positive production of new forms, so different 

 from pre-existing ones, that weie the history not known 

 they might be thought to constitute new genera, or, at 

 any rate, new sections. Take the tuberous Begonia, for 

 instance. Thirty years'ago or so, there was nothing like 

 it either in nature or in gardens. Now, by the blending 

 of various species, entirely new races have been produced ; 

 and these, to a large extent, are reproduced from seed. 

 From the seedlings selection is made, and so the progress 

 goes on. But some will say, Will they not die out if not 

 looked after by the gardener ? Of course they will ; but 

 are there no such things as retrogressions and extinctions 

 in nature? The Begonias in question would doubt- 

 less die here if uncared for, as they are not suited to the 

 climatal environment ; but they would at least have a 

 very good chance if removed to the Andean forests, 

 whence their progenitors sprang. 



The gardener, moreover, is often in a position to 

 demonstrate the hybrid origin of some wild plants. 

 There are now numerous cases in which certain wild 

 orchids have been supposed, from the blending of 

 morphological characters which they present, to have 

 had a hybrid origin. Some botanists have hesitated to 

 accept this kind of evidence, though we may say inci- 

 dentally, that it has been borne out, in other genera, by 

 Dr. Macfarlane's histological researches. More to the 

 point is it to say that certain of these hybrid orchids have 

 been actually artificially produced in Messrs. Veitch's 

 nurseries by crossing the species that were reputed to be 

 the parents of the supposed natural hybrids. The evi- 

 dence is complete ; and it alone is sufficient to show to the 

 evolutionist what a vast and fertile field lies open to him 

 in the observation, and especially in the experimental 

 investigation of ordinary cultivated plants. 



The reader will find numerous valuable hints and sug- 

 gestions on the subject in Prof. Bailey's little book. It 

 contains the substance of five lectures on variation and 

 its causes, and on their application to the practical pur- 

 poses of the cultivator. The most successful hybridisers 

 and selectors act on a preconceived plan, according to 

 their requirements; but since so much attention has 

 been directed to the subject, there has been— indeed 

 there always has been— much indiscriminate, haphazard 

 experiment. Prof. Bailey cautions experimenters against 

 such unscientific procedures, and supplies directions 

 whereby the aim and purpose may more surely be 

 attained. 



