74 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



petuatioD, regardless of other features. It remains for man to 

 develop those organs best suited to his needs, regardless of the 

 natural requirements of the species, and to supply the environment 

 necessary to the preservation of the plant. This has been done 

 in some cases to such an extent that the species would be utterly 

 incapable of existence if dropped from cultivation. 



Very few plants now cultivated appear worthy of cultivation in 

 the wild state. The radish, for instance, in its wild state closely 

 resembles the wild charlock — Raphanus raphaniatrum — a familiar 

 weed throughout New England. The potato in its wild state gives 

 hardly a suggestion of the modern White Elephants or Hebrons or 

 Burbanks. The tomato, which has come into general use within the 

 past hundred years, in its wild state is very small and insignificant, 

 closely resembling the cherry tomato now grown mainly as a 

 curiosity. 



Necessity is an important factor in directing attention to the food 

 value of a given species or to variations in form or habit which may 

 be of importance. The continual demand made upon the producer 

 for "something new" impels him to send to the uttermost parts of 

 the earth for seeds and cions and plants to meet this demand. 

 This interchange of plants and seeds is, from a practical point of 

 view, of no small importance, and is deserving of careful study. 

 Are seeds and plants grown in Maine better for local use than those 

 grown in Massachusetts, New York or elsewhere? The question 

 involves the general principle of acclimatizalion, and, indeed, opens 

 a broad field for the study of the effect of climate on the variation 

 of plants. 



From the time of Lindley (1799-1865) many of the best horticul- 

 turists have contended that acclimatization does not exist ; that 

 plants can not be modified so as to be perfectly adapted to condi- 

 tions not natural; that "all plants demand a particular climate — 

 and we have no power over the constitution of the plant itself." 

 One reason for disagreement on this point is that the true meaning 

 of acclimatization is not borne in mind. The term is confounded 

 with hardiness or with domestication. Acclimatization has been 

 defined as the "state or condition of being inured, by the act of 

 man, to a climate at first injurious." It differs from acclimation in 

 that the latter is a natural process wholly independent of the agency 

 of man. 



But a slight modification due to changed environment is just as 

 truly acclimatization as is a radical change, and at the present time 



