IS CERTAINLY ERRONEOUS. 479 



France are the Doyeime and Beurre. And the ' extinct varieties' seem 

 yet to bid defiance to theorists and bad cultivation." — Downing. 



"We may easily conceive," says De CandoUe, "that every cultivated 

 variety owed its origin to some special circumstance, which once 

 occurred, and hut once. In such a case the variety has been multi- 

 plied by division, and every plant so obtained from it has been a 

 portion of the same individual ; which acoovuits for their aU being 

 exactly like each other. An identity of origin in aU the plants of the 

 same variety has led some physiologists to imagine that these varieties or 

 fractions of an individual might die of old age. ' But it is difficult to 

 admit, upon such a single fact, an h3^othesis opposed to all other facts. 

 That varieties will last, so long as man takes care of them, appears to 

 be proved by many of them having been preserved from the most 

 remote periods. But it is also certain that negligence will cause some 

 to disappear, just as accident or industry brings others into existence." 

 — [Phys. Vdgetale, p. 731, somewhat abridged.) 



Although an examination of evidence leads to the conclusion, 

 that the wearing out of the races of plants by old age does not 

 occur, yet it is not intended to deny the accuracy of the state- 

 ments made by some recent writers on the subject. We may 

 admit their facts, but reject their reasoning, and the inferences 

 they would have us draw. 



In The Florist's Directory by James Maddock, 1792, are 

 the following observations : — " The constitution of Anemones 

 Undergoes considerable changes with age, which is, perhaps, in 

 a greater or smaller degree, the case with all other vegetables. 

 The Anemone wiU not last more than twelve or fifteen years 

 without degenerating, unless it be frequently removed to a 

 different soil and situation ; nor will any removals protract or 

 prolong its existence more than thirty or forty years. It 

 generally blows in its greatest degree of perfection from the 

 fifth to the tenth or twelfth year, after which it becomes 

 gradually smaller and weaker, and if the flower was originally 

 very full and double, with age it loses that property; the 

 petals diminish in number, become small and irregular, and 

 finally the sort perishes. It has more than once occurred that 

 the same sort, although in possession of many persons, 

 residing at remote distances from each other, has been entirely 

 lost in one season, without the possibility of accounting for the 

 fact iti any other manner than the above." In a foot-note the 



