RACES ARE SAID TO WEAR OUT. 473 



plants, arid that all other kinds of increase are artificial, and 

 lead to debility. 



It would, we think, be difficult to find an hypothesis more 

 entirely at variance with notorious facts. That propagation by 

 seed is a natural method of multiplication is doubtless true ; 

 but to say that no other natural means exist is absurd. The 

 Sugar-cane is rarely propagated by seeds ; its natural mode of 

 propagation is by the stem, which when blown down by the 

 Storm emits roots at every joint. Of this natural property 

 man has availed himself as a means of artificially extending 

 the plant. The Tiger Lily naturally propagates itself by 

 bulbs, formed in the bosom of its leaves ; we never saw it form 

 a seed. The Strawberry has been more propagated by its 

 runners than by its seeds; and where do we find any signs 

 of debility there ? The Jerusalem Artichoke was introduced 

 before the year 1617; for nearly two centuries and a half it 

 has increased itself entirely by tubers, and never by seed. 

 Couch Grass increases chiefly by its creeping roots ; we wish 

 we could adduce this, at least, as one instance of failing vigour 

 in a plant whose seeds are but little yielded. It therefore is 

 not true that plants, multiplied much or wholly by other means 

 than seeds, become on that account unhealthy. Every gardener 

 knows that his Achimenes are principally multiplied by little 

 scaly bodies resembling tubers, and that these are formed in 

 such abundance as to render seed unnecessary. In short, the 

 denial of this could only arise from an entire unacquaintance 

 with common facts. Such examples sufficiently show that 

 Nature does provide other means of propagating plants than 

 seeds, and that tubers are one of those means. The Hyacinth 

 and the Garlic propagate naturally, not only by seeds, but also 

 -by the perpetual separation of their own hmbs, known under 

 the name of bulbs, their bulbs undergoing a similar natural 

 process of dismemberment ; and so on for ever. The Potato 

 plant belongs to a similar class. Another plant bends its 

 branches to the ground; the branches put forth roots, and, as 

 soon as these roots are established, the connection between 

 parent and offspring is broken, and a new plant springs into 

 independent existence. Man turns this property ±o account 



