REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 347 



from not having the power to transmit the specially 

 valuable qualities of its progenitors. In high, northern 

 latitudes, the summer cereals ripen after a short period 

 of rapid growth, but seed of such grain, sown in the soil 

 of temperate regions, does not produce early varieties ; its 

 rate of growth, after a few years at most, is governed by 

 the climate to which it is exposed. In considering the 

 pedigree of seed, therefore, it is not merely the repute 

 or characters of the ancestry, but the probability that 

 the ancestral excellencies reside in and will be trans- 

 mitted by the seed, that constitutes the practical point. 



