now TO GROW GOOD CORN. 173 



the experiments described, but observation of an in- 

 dependent kind points to the same truth. 



On examining the produce of shed, or accidentally 

 scattered oat seeds, the first crop will often present 

 the wild tendency in a partial reversion to the hairy 

 state, an elongation and thickening of the awn, and a 

 lessening of the size of the kernel ; and this more par- 

 ticularly on heavy soils. It was, indeed, an observa- 

 tion of this change in oats scattered on forest marble 

 clay which induced us to try the experiments above 

 detailed; and as the subsoil of our botanical 

 garden is the same clay, we are, perhaps, indebted 

 to this cause for arriving so soon at such signal 

 results. 



Again, it is known in farming that some clay lands 

 will never produce heavy oats ; a sample, however 

 good, is sure to degenerate upon such soils. Hence, 

 then, the foregoing experiments and observations lead 

 to the following conclusions : — 



1st. The wild oat is perhaps not a native of 

 Britain, but derived through the degeneracy of the 

 cereal crop; and hence its occurrence only as an 

 agrarian. 



2nd. The cereal oat, on the contrary, is the result 

 of the impress of cultivative processes upon the wild 

 form, and as such liable to lapse into the wild state 

 with greater or less celerity, according to the circum- 

 stances of soil and situation. 



These conclusions are of practical value, as they 

 show the direction in which experiments should be 

 conducted in order to attain to varieties, it being a 

 well-known fact that one variety is suitable for one 



