382 THE SELF-FERTILIZATION OP PLANTS. 



one, of between twenty, and thirty established varie- 

 ties.'" 



The mongrels, from a cross between " the two most 

 dissimilar varieties I could select," were remarkably 

 excellent, because the amount of positive differences, 

 is generally greatest, with individuals, or varieties, the 

 most dissimilar; for, the union of the characters which 

 constitute these differences, in the mongrels, secures a 

 great remove, towards the original, perfect type. Each 

 of these varieties, therefore, had much to contribute, 

 which the other lacked. Here, with the varieties of 

 the melon, as with the varieties of all cultivated spe- 

 cies, the excellences, which should be compounded, or 

 united, in each individual, of the species, are frittered 

 away, by apportioning them among different individ- 

 uals and varieties. Hence ; the evil effects, which are 

 attendant upon the close-interbreeding and the self- 

 fertilization of the individuals of each variety, which 

 lacks the special excellences of all the other varieties. 

 Hence; the good from Crossing, which remedies such 

 apportionment, by uniting the special excellences, or 

 other positive, peculiar characters, of two varieties, ( 

 in the one individual, the offspring. 



Again he says : 



" Andrew Knight believed that his seedlings, from 

 crossed varieties of the Apple, exhibited increased 

 vigor, and luxuriance ; and, M. Chevreul alludes to 

 the extreme vigor of some of the crossed fruit trees, 

 raised by Sageret." 



"By crossing, reciprocally, the tallest and shortest 

 peas, Knight says, ' I had, in this experiment, a strik- 



