36 Plant-Breeding 



between the variety and the species, so there is none 

 between the individual and the variety ; for a variety is 

 only the family of descendants from some one individual. 

 That is, the idea of variety or species rests on difference, 

 but just how much difference shall constitute one grade 

 or another is a matter of individual opinion. There is 

 no standardized practice. So, when two gardeners cannot 

 agree as to whether a given introduction is a new variety 

 or not, they are having the same kind of difficulty that two 

 botanists have when they cannot decide whether two plants 

 are two species or one. 



It is apparent, then, that every individual plant is 

 a distinct variety, only that the differences between it and 

 other individuals may be so slight that they have no 

 practical utility and cannot be described and recorded. 

 Just as soon as an individual plant has characters so un- 

 like its kin that it has some commercial value, then the 

 plant will be increased by cuttings or grafts or seeds, 

 the brood of offspring will be given a name, and a new 

 variety is born. 



Individuals with the same general features may appear 

 simultaneously in two or more places, and two or more 

 men may propagate, name, and introduce them. When 

 they are all brought together and compared, it will be said 

 that they are all the same variety, that, according to the 

 rules of nomenclature, the brood which chanced to be 

 named first must " stand" or be held to be the type of the 

 variety and the other names must become synonyms. 

 Yet some persons may discover minor differences in them 

 and demand that the variety be kept distinct. So the 

 see-saw goes on a variety is a variety so long as it an- 



