ADAPTATION OF CULINARY VEGETABLES 21 



The social conclitions and ways of modern life have changed 

 the general aims and' practice of seed growing. Formerly the 

 housewife looked each morning to her garden or called upon some 

 nearby market gardener for her day's supply of vegetables, and 

 table quality was of greater importance than appearance. Now, 

 the cook orders what she may need from the gardener, or the 

 market, and low cost and appearance are of the greatest importance. 

 Then, the greatest interest was taken in the saving of seed from 

 the best plants and the development or possession of a superior 

 strain was a matter of family pride. Many of the best strains had 

 been in the possession of certain families for many years. Now, 

 both home and market gardeners look to the seedsmen for their 

 supply, and yield and shipping quality and last but by no means 

 least, the price at which it is offered determines the stock used. 



Different species and varieties and even individuals of both* 

 animals and plants differ greatly in the extent to which variety of 

 form or habit of growth occurs naturally or can be secured by cul- 

 tivation and breeding. It is hard to distinguish the individuals 

 of a well-bred flock of sheep and practically impossible to do so 

 with a flock of guinea fowls, while it is easy to distinguish each one 

 of an equally well-bred herd of cattle. In the same way, selection 

 and breeding have given us less than a dozen but slightly different 

 varieties of parsnip compared with scores of distinct sorts of carrots 

 and beets, differing in size, form, color, and adaptation to certain 

 uses. 



You may ask what of the many varieties secured at Experiment 

 Stations and by professional horticulturists? I can only reply 

 that very generally such workers are so devoted to the study and 

 demonstration of theories of heredity that they accomplish little 

 in the way of developing superior strains of old sorts and still less 

 in bringing them into general use by practical vegetable growers, 

 chiefly, I think, because of the want of continuity of effort through 

 many plant generations. 



Although the varietal character of a seed is fixed at maturity, its 

 development may in some cases be modified by the climatic and 

 other conditions in which it was matured, and it is often possible 

 to secure local grown strains of seed which will give better returns 

 when planted in that vicinity than can be secured from stock 

 equally well grown elsewhere. 



