Mutations in Horticulture 605 



tion within the race holds a prominent place in 

 agriculture, where it is known by the imposing 

 term, race-breeding. 



Experience and methods in horticulture differ 

 from those in agriculture, in many points. 

 Garden- varieties have been tested and separated 

 for a long time, but neither vegetables nor 

 flowers are known to exhibit such motley groups 

 of types as may be seen in large forage crops. 



New varieties which appear from time to time 

 may be ornamental or otherwise in flowers, and 

 more, or less profitable, than their parents in 

 vegetables and fruits. In either case the dif- 

 ference is usually striking, or if not, its culture 

 would be unprofitable. 



The recognition of useful new varieties being 

 thus made easy, the whole attention of the 

 breeder is reduced to isolating the seeds of the 

 mutants that are to be saved and sown separate- 

 ly, and this process must be repeated during 

 a few years, in order to produce the quantity of 

 seed that is needed for a profitable introduction 

 of the variety into commerce. In proportion to 

 the abundance of the harvest of each year this 

 period is shorter for some and longer for other 

 species. 



Isolation in practice is not so simple nor so 

 easy an affair as it is in the experimental gar- 

 den. Hence we have constant and nearly un- 



