338 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



hf surrounding them with circumstances as totally 

 opposite as possible. 



But besides this, these experiments seemed to point 

 out the way to a solution of the mystery of finger- 

 and-toe in root crops, to which the parsnips and car- 

 rots of our garden culture have always been peculiar- 

 ly liable. Tlie time and mode of sowing the seed 

 would naturally tend to an enlargement of the roots 

 in the best examples of the resulting crop, inasmuch 

 as spring sowing induces a more determinate biennial 

 character; and as the roots of the wild plants are al- 

 ways more or less branched, it is but reasonable to 

 suppose that the ramifications as well as the main 

 root would equally put on cellular tissue in the ma- 

 .jority of examples; and it is only by putting aside 

 the cleanest roots for seeding — indeed, taking care to 

 get your seed from plants which possess the qualities 

 you require to the greatest possible extent — that you 

 are at all likely to be successful either in ameliorat- 

 ing wild ])lants or in getting pure stock from acknow- 

 ledged cultivated varieties. 



A tap-root (fusiform) with a clear and unbranch- 

 ed outline is not natural to the parsnip or carrot, 

 but can only be attained from ^vild plants by careful 

 cultivation. May we not then conclude that the 

 branching in cultivated roots (finger-aad-toe) results 

 from a reversion of these to a greater or less extent 

 to their original wild form? In other words, inas- 

 much as in the passage from the wild to the cultiva- 

 ted state the branching of the roots becomes more 

 conspicuous, may we not therefore conclude that, as 

 finger-and-toe is a mark of cultivation in wild plants, 

 so this deformity in cultivated plants is an evidence 

 of reversion to wildness? These remarks, then, tend 

 to show that the question is one entirely belonging to 

 the inquirer into Vegetable Physiology; and it is, 

 therefore, no wonder that chemical analysis, either of 

 soils or crops, should have done nothing towards its 

 elucidation. 



Finger-and-toe will always be found ro a greater 

 or less extent in every field of roots, whether of par- 

 snips, carrots, or turnips. Now, if we consider that 

 these, as crops,' are at all times derivative — that is, 

 that they are altered states of original wild examples 

 from which they sprang — and that the change from 

 the wild state produces not only one form but sever- 

 al, which we term varieties, and that these sorts are 

 only to be maintained by a rigid adherence to the 

 circumstances which produced them, we must ever 

 expect a tendency to some change; so that, though 

 the mass may be maintained in tolerable purity, others 

 will show a disposition to revert to the position from 

 which they s])rang, as varieties can never be absolute- 

 ly permanent. In this case, then, finger-and-toe marks 

 degeneracy. 



Finger-and-toe will always prevail where the crop 

 is derived from seed brought from a rich to a poor 

 soil. Cultivation of roots presupposes that manure 

 has been employed, the result of which is to cause a 

 great increase in cellular tissue or succulency; hence, 

 then, as rich soil is an elemant in advance, so pover- 

 ty of land is equally a reason for retrogression ; it is, 

 then, no wonder that, as a general rule, there should 

 be found more malformed roots in a poor than in a 

 rich soil. 



The deformity is likely to result where seed has 



been grown in the district in which it is sown for the 

 crop. In cultivating wilil specimens our exjieriments 

 shov.ed clearly that constant growth, under the same 

 circumstances of seed and place, tends to degeneracy; 

 and this is a matter fully proved by the experience 

 of every one with every kind of crop: hence lew ven- 

 ture to repeat the sowing of their own seed-corn to 

 any considerable extent. On this subject a case haa 

 come before my own observation during the last two 

 years, which may not be without interest in our pre- 

 sent inquiry. A poor man in my own district culti- 

 vated a patch of white globe turnips for seed, and in 

 the summer of 18.t2 he got so good a crop of seed 

 as to induce him, on clearing off the first crop, imme- 

 diately to try a second in the same ground. During 

 the past summer, 18.53, he again got seed, but much 

 les^ in quantity, as the roots were all diseased. Now, 

 as I constantly watched this piece of aV)out a quar- 

 ter of an acre, I am enabled to say that fiuer-and-toe 

 was prevalent throughout the whole patch, whilst 

 many roots had a tendency to decay, so that the 

 flower-stalks dropped away for want of support. I 

 have had no further opportunity of tracing this seed, 

 but nothing can be clearer than that the second year's 

 growth had degenerated from that of the first; and 

 if, as is very probable, the seed be used again in the 

 district in a similar soil, one cannot wonder at an un- 

 satisfactory result. 



Degeneracy must always result where a whole 

 patch or field is indiscriminately put by for seed. 

 Amongst every crop' there are sure to be some exam- 

 ples unworthy of lieing progenitors; and as, with the 

 continued cultivation of any sort, the constant want 

 of keeping up those circumstances of care and atten- 

 tion by which original sorts may be produced necess- 

 arily ends in degeneracy, it is no wonder that any 

 kind which has for a long time been a favorite in a 

 particular district should ultimately lose caste. For 

 seeding, the best examples should always he chosen, 

 and these should be transplanted, for it is l)y these 

 processes of culture that t'ne impress of cultivation 

 can be maintained. And again, this transplantation 

 should in all cases be as far from other patches of the 

 same tribe as possible, in order to prevent the iufiu- 

 ence of hybridism. 



Degeneracy is usually a result in districts where 

 the original species is a wild native. The soil, cli- 

 mate, and situation which are by no means fit for it 

 in cultivation ; it is on this account that so many of 

 our esculents may be traced as natives of the sea- 

 coast; the complete change of circumstances atten- 

 dant upon their inland cultivation are just tho.se which 

 necessitate such a change in the whole growth of a 

 plant as makes the snm of the difference l)etween a 

 wild and cultivated example; hence, as both parsnip 

 and carrot in the wild form are constant denizens of 

 the neighborhood of Cirencenster, neither of these 

 roots can be cultivated twice with ns in the same soil 

 without presenting finger-and-toe in an aggravated 

 form; and if the seed employed be from a degener- 

 ate crop, or cultivated at home, the evil is still more 

 conspicuous. This, however, is less apparent in gar- 

 den than in field culture, as in the former the ground 

 is always dug deeper, and thei-e is such a constant 

 change of crop, mode of cultivation, seed, and addi- 

 tion of manui-e, that the circumstances are widely 



