422 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



not only its specific mental likeness, but also 

 those peculiarities which distinguish it as an 

 individual, and, to a less extent, those traits 

 which it has ;!C(iuived duringits life. Instincts 

 are habits fixed by heredity transmission and 

 are unconsciousl3- obeyed, and this rule admits 

 of few exceptions. Pointer pups taken into the 

 field, unaccomiianicd by older dogs, will stand 

 with muscles straiued and eyes fixed at the fir.st 

 partridge they see. The young shepherd dog 

 shows a disposition to guard stock. AH spiders 

 construct webs, yet each variety constructs its 

 web peculiar to itself. Tlie dog not only in- 

 herits scent, but also that which enables him 

 to know a definite .kind of game. Certain 

 races of Indians also inherit scent, and so do 

 negroes. Dr. J. S. Bailey mentions a fomily 

 of negroes who inherited this faculty in a re- 

 markable degree. Xo matter how stealthily 

 a white person approached their cabin at night, 

 their conversation would immediately be 

 hushed, and they would discover his approach 

 by their scent. 



But besides tliis, changes in the manner of 

 life, habits made necessary or caused by new 

 conditions and environment are transmissible ; 

 and here enters that wedge Jjf variation which 

 seems to liave been instrumental in producing 

 the present diversity of fonn among animals 

 and jilants. Before the settlement of this 

 country nil the swallows nested in hollow trees, 

 in caves, and under the ledges of rock, as they 

 yet do in the far west and in the remote forests 

 of the British provinces. J5ut when farmers 

 began to till the land, and to keeji cattle, and 

 erect houses, the swallows, probably at iirst 

 attracted by the greater numtier of insects, 

 seized ujion the outhouses and chimneys as 

 more suital^le places for l)uilding their nests, 

 and have gradually abandoned the woods in 

 the settled parts of the country altogether. 

 Their young liave not gone back to the woods 

 and caves — although some of the first genera- 

 tions may have done so — and have little by 

 little modified the shape of the nest to suit the 

 situation, until there is a very great difference 

 between the nests built in our Imrns and those 

 built by the wild birds of the same species in 

 the Rocky Mountains. 



It was long ago found out that certain ad- 

 vantageous traits in horses and cattle could 

 be perpetuated and augnjented, the power to 

 make these peculiarities more lasting and 

 more prominent increasing with each genera- 

 ti(m. Examples of this are numerous and 

 known to every breeder, and it is upon the 

 faculty of inheritance, under advantageous 

 Conditions, that Mr. Darwin hinges his doc- 

 trine of evolution by natural selection-. But, 

 not only do good features perpetuate them- 

 selves, butevilsaud deforniity also come under 

 the iiitlu<'nce of inheritance, and are the surest 

 of all to descend from genei-atifin to genei'a- 

 tion. Even those deformities tlmt arise from 

 artifice or accident are transmissible. Many 

 Indian tribes of Peru, and some of the Oregon 

 coast, had peculiar modes of distorting the 

 heads of their children, and now many chil- 

 dren are Ijorn with then- heads out of shape 

 in the peculiar way. Esquimaux sledge dogs 

 and Manx cats usually have to suffer the loss 

 of their tails, and their jiuppies and kittens 

 are often born tailless; and in rare cases the 

 loss of a limb in men has resulted in their chil- 

 dren having but one arm or leg. Blindness, 

 deafness, insanity, idiocy, and niorl)id appe- 

 tites are all inherited, and stati'tics abound 

 to show the extent to which this influence has 

 tainted the human race. 



In view of these facts, which recent investi- 

 gations have brought to light, th»study ofthe 

 heredity of disease, in their relation to man- 

 kind, becomes one of the deepest interest and 

 importance. To a thoughtful man, it is fear- 

 ful to consider how unwittingly men are daily 

 sowing seeds of disease and infirmity in their 

 frames, which, once rooted, can never be 

 eradicated, but whicli will reappear again and 

 again in one form or another. No man may 

 contract asthma, rheumatism, gout, consump- 

 tion, or all}' disease which affects his blood, 

 through carelessness or whiskey, or any other 

 form of dissipation, and plead that it hurts 



himself alone. If he have children he surely 

 curses them with an infirm constitution, and 

 opens an ever-l)roadeniug,ever-deepening chan- 

 nel for a new stream of misery to flow through 

 the world. Our insane and idiot and inebri- 

 ate asylums, our hospitals for consumptives 

 and scrofulous patients, even our prisons are 

 witnesses of the certainty of this result. It 

 has been said that there never now occurs — 

 no such thing is recorded in recent times — an 

 original case of syi)hilitic disease. This may 

 be too strong a statement, for some physicians 

 doubt its truth ; but it is certain that hun- 

 dreds of innocent families bear in their sys- 

 tems and fiices to-day the living, loathsome 

 marks of their remote forefathers' vices, who 

 are not aware of the fact and cause of their 

 suffering. Not alone does the good men do 

 live after them. The iniquities ofthe fathers 

 are visited upon the children even unto the 

 third and fourth generation. For any one 

 who cares for his race or bis children, could 

 there be a stronger argument for leading a 

 pure, wholesome, careful life, than these facts 

 contain '? — Forest and Stream. 



[Analogous to the same subject, only on a 

 higher plane, is the following from the edi- 

 torial columns of the Public Ledger.] 

 Reproductive Force. 



There is nothing more wonderful in life than 

 its reproductive force. Everything which has 

 in it the element of growth»lias also the power 

 of creation. Every organism, from the hum- 

 blest blade of grass to tjic most illustrious man, 

 is not only living its own life, but impr-e.s.sing 

 it upon myriads of othersimilar existences, and 

 this not by any intentional action of its own, 

 but by an inevitable law of its very being. In 

 the simi)ler forms of life this tran.smission of 

 self appears to be chiefly in the direction of 

 propagation. The plant lives its individual 

 life, and drops its seeds, which springs up into 

 similar organisms. As we rise higher in the 

 scale, however, we notice that this reproductive 

 force is widened in its action. The bird not 

 only laj'S its eggs, but cherLshes its young, and 

 doubtless maintains some degree of social in- 

 fluence upon its feathered mates. But it is 

 reserved for man to exercise this power in the 

 fullest and broadest sense. He reiterates him- 

 self, not only in bis children but in all with 

 whom he comes in contact. He imi)ressed not 

 only his physicpie u]ion a few, but his character 

 ui)on the many. There are births of conduct 

 going on continually, and each one of us is a 

 jiarent. As the sun sheds unconsciously its 

 light and heat, and makes all things within the 

 range of its influence in some degree like itself, 

 so we shed our dispositions and (pialities upon 

 one another, and transfiu'ni them in some de- 

 gree to our own image. 



This influence is somethingquiteaiiart from 

 any voluntary an<l intentional action. We 

 often deliberately set to work to produce some 

 change in our friends or in society at large. 

 Perhaps we work hard to improve a man, to 

 educate a child, to promote a reform or to 

 break up a vice. We may bring all our powers 

 to bear ui>on the matter in hand, we may set 

 other influences in operation, we may descant 

 elo(piently upon the advantages of one course 

 and the evils of the other; nay, we may even 

 call to our aid all the restraints of the law and 

 the rewards of public favor, and with it all, we 

 shall not accomplish so much as will a single, 

 good and pure life by its mystical attraction. 

 The one is artificial, spasmodic, noisy; the 

 other is natural, constant, quiet; the one is 

 like medicine given to counteract some evil, 

 the other is a like a pure and Ijracing atmos- 

 phere entering into the lungs and giving new 

 vigor and tone to the entire system. 



Take the child from its earliest years — how 

 is its character built up, its disposition engen- 

 dered ? Partly no doubt by the parents' active 

 and earnest labors and precepts, but much more 

 largely by their lives. The opportunities they 

 have for deliberately instructing him arc a 

 mere nothing comiiared with those that he has 

 for observing their conduct, drinking in their 

 opinions, and flnding out their real desires, 

 feelings and aims. lie is told, for instance, 

 of the sacredness of truth, and the sinfulness 



of deceit, but if he sees those around him prac- 

 ticing small aHiflces, if he hears unfair trans- 

 actions recounted as good jokes, if lie is him- 

 self duped and misled by insincerity, how much 

 will the moral lectures affect him ? They will 

 but add another instance of duplicity, and 

 strengthen within him tlie spirit of dishonesty 

 which he is constantlj' absorbing. 



The same thing is going on everywhere, and 

 with every one. We are all continually and 

 inevitably influenced by the lives of those 

 around us. It is not that we copy them, but 

 that we unconsciously alisorb them. We are, 

 as it were, pouring our natures into each other 

 all the time, without thought or retention. The 

 sti'onger the nature the more potent is its mag- 

 netism. The closer we approach to the sphere 

 of another, the more we partake of his charac- 

 ter. Patience, corn-age, hope and enthusiasm, 

 arc not taught, but infused. .They are trans- 

 mitted by an electric current that no power 

 of ours could create, and certainly none could 

 destroy. 



We can never fully estimate this reproductive 

 force. Not only every action, but every thought, 

 feeling, desire and aim is full of potency upon 

 others. They are constantly being shared, and 

 are ever writing their impress on the characters 

 of those with whom we mingle. We are always 

 eithi'r lifting some one up or drawing him 

 down to oin- own level. An atmosphere of 

 some sort is always emanating from us, and 

 permeating others. Is it pure or corrupt i Are 

 we infusing tlie spirit of justice, truth and 

 love, or of selfishness, deceit and hatred V Are 

 we instilling the habits of industry, temper- 

 ance and frugality, or of idleness, sensuality 

 and extravagance V As the fountain is, so will 

 be the stream. If we would know what influ- 

 ence we are shedding, we have but to examine 

 our most cherished thouglits, hopes and pur- 

 poses. We may fancy them hidden in our 

 own breasts, but it is not so. They are all at 

 work reproducing them.selves in countless 

 forms In the hearts of others, and building up 

 their characters for good or for evil. 

 ^ 



REVERSION OF SEEDS. 



Some recent legal decisions have compelled 

 the majority of the seedsmen in this country 

 to put upon their seed packets a disclaimer to 

 the eflect,'that while they will use every ettbrt 

 to supply their customers with seeds that are 

 fresh and true to name, yet that thej' will not 

 hold themselves responsible for the same. This 

 action has lieen brought about through a suit 

 at law, in which a prominent seedsman was 

 mulcted in lieavy damages because some cab- 

 bage seeds which he sold failed to produce any 

 heads, the plants producing nothing but loose 

 leaves, in all respects resemljliiig the wild cali- 

 bage in its native state. The case was tried 

 without any endeavor on the ]iart of the seeds- 

 man to call in b;itaiiists of .standing to explain 

 the phenomenon, and through this neglect, we 

 think, he lost his case. 



The subject is an interesting one, as it in- 

 volves the doctrine of reversion in vegetable 

 life, or the temlency of all varieties of fruits, 

 plants, and vegetables to revert back to the 

 original type or species from which they were 

 primarily derived. It is, therefore, very im- 

 portant, and as it has a practical bearing on 

 the cultivation of plants, we will endeavor to 

 enlighten our readers about it, and give them 

 some important hints in this direction upon 

 the cultivation of flowers and vegetables. 



All double flowers, nearly all cultivated veg- 

 etables, and nearly all the fruits we grow are 

 aberrant or abnormal forms of some original 

 type species as it exists in nature.. How these 

 aberrant forms are produced we do not know, 

 except that they come from cultivation in 

 which the plant is over-sujiplied with food, 

 water, or some other substance necessary to 

 its growth in a state of nature. Take the cab- 

 bage, for instance. In it^ native state it grows 

 three or four feet high, with long, narrow 

 leaves, and no tendency to head, very much 

 resembling a depauperate specimen of Scotch 

 kale. Cultivation has caused the leaves to 

 widen out, and to lose their tendency to 

 elongate ; the stem has also lost this power of 



