512 Mutations 



lire. Hence the double flowers seem to afford 

 a very good example for this discussion. 



It can be decided by two facts. First by a 

 consideration of the oldest double varieties, and 

 secondly by that of the very youngest. Are the 

 older ones now in a better condition than at the 

 outset? Have they really been gradually im- 

 proved during the centuries of their existence ? 

 Obviously this can only be answered by a com- 

 parison of the figures given by older writers, 

 with the varieties as they are now in culture. 

 Hunting's drawings and descriptions are now 

 nearly two centuries and a half old, but I do not 

 find any real difference between his double va- 

 rieties and their present representatives. So 

 it is in other cases in which improvements by 

 crossing or the introduction of new forms does 

 not vitiate the evidence. Double varieties, as 

 a rule, are exactly the same now, as they were 

 at the time of their first introduction. 



If this were otherwise one would expect that 

 young double varieties should in the main dis- 

 play only slight grades of the anomaly, and 

 that they would require centuries to reach their 

 full development. Nothing of the kind is on 

 record. On the contrary the newest double 

 sorts are said to be not only equal to their prede- 

 cessors, but to excel them. As a rule such claims 

 may be exaggerated, but not to any great extent. 



