CHAPTER XVII. 



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OF THE PRESERVATION OF RACES BY SEED. 



The manner of preserving the domesticated races of plants 

 by the ordinary means of propagation, such as cuttings, layers, 

 grafts, and so on, has already been explained; there are, 

 however, other topics connected with this important subject 

 which require to be touched upon. 



Propagation by division is inapplicable to annuals or 

 biennials, or at least can be practised upon only a very limited 

 scale, and for such plants the gardener has to trust to seeds 

 alone. But it is an axiom in vegetable physiology that seeds 

 reproduce the species only, while buds (that is, propagation by 

 division) will multiply the variety ; and this is undoubtedly 

 true as a general rule. But the skill and care of the gardener 

 often enable him to perpetuate by seed the many races of 

 cultivated annuals, varieties of the same species, improved and 

 altered by centuries of domestication, with as much certainty 

 as if he were operating with cuttings. In a well managed farm 

 we see the various breeds of Turnips and Corn preserving each 

 its own peculiar character unchanged year after year, and yet 

 they must all be propagated by seed alone ; and in gardens the 

 varieties are innumerable of Peas, Lettuces, Cabbages, 

 Kadishes, &c., whose purity is maintained by the same means. 

 The manner in which this is effected is of the first importance 

 to be understood. 



Although it is the general nature of a seed to perpetuate the 

 species only to which it belongs, and it cannot therefore be 

 relied upon, in ordinary cases, to renew a particular variety of 



