SOWING. 185 



tains a young plant, it will be free from the consti- 

 tutional defects as well as the decrepitude of the 

 parent ; but this we know is no less the case among 

 vegetables than it is among animals. Defects fre- 

 quently, and diseases almost always, are hereditary in 

 both plants and animals. From an acorn of an aged 

 oak a fine healthy tree may be raised, and which may 

 arrive at even a greater magnitude than its parent ; 

 but if the latter had any peculiar manner of growth, 

 either good or bad, the former will surely inherit it. 



Although this be a general rule, it is not without 

 exceptions. That variety of the Fraxlnus excelsior, 

 called Pendula from the position of its branches, 

 when worked and trained as an ornamental tree, is an 

 accidental malformation of the growth, but which is 

 not transferable by seeds ; for they, when sown, go 

 back to the original. 



Almost all our culinary vegetables are varieties. 

 Some are cultivated for the number, size, or close 

 and early concentration of their leaves or flowers. 

 Such are lettuce, cabbage, with its numerous varie- 

 ties, broccoli, cauliflower, &c., and all salad herbs. 

 The best, or rather truest of the sorts, are perpetuated 

 by their seed, care being taken that on saving it 

 none of their near alliances are in flower at the same 

 time near them. Were this precaution not taken, 

 the different sorts of the genus would be adulterated 

 with each other ; and the present highly prized sorts 

 would be finally lost. 



There is something unaccountable in comparing 

 the fact of varieties and sub- varieties of herbs keeping 



