360 Ever-sporting Varieties 



attaining a number that would put its stamp on 

 a whole bed. I have endeavored to get some 

 six- and seven-bladed crimson clover leaves, but 

 in vain ; selection, culture of many hundreds of 

 individuals, manure, and the best possible treat- 

 ment has not been adequate to produce them. 

 Of course I am quite convinced that a repetition 

 of my experiment on a far larger scale would 

 yield the desired types, but then only in such 

 rare instances that they would have no influence 

 whatever on the average, or on the improve- 

 ment of the race. The eighth generation in the 

 year 1903 has not been noticeably better than 

 the second and third generations after the first 

 selection. 



In comparing this statement with the results 

 gained in the experiment with the red clover, 

 the difference is at once striking. In one case 

 a rich variety was isolated, and, by better 

 treatment and sharp methods of selection, was 

 brought up in a few years to its highest 

 pitch of development. In the other case a very 

 weak race was shown to exist, and no amount 

 of work and perseverance was adequate to im- 

 prove it to any great degree. 



I wish to point out that the decision of what 

 is to be expected from deviating specimens may 

 become manifest within one or two generations. 

 Even the generation grown from the seeds of 



