1884.] Agricultural Botany. 577 
about through the hereditary relationships of plants, the wild 
plant being the progenitor of the cultivated, it becomes essential 
to employ a symbol whereby agricultural relationship may be 
expressed without expressing conclusions as to botanical relation- 
ship as true species. A * placed after the generic name is what 
I propose. Thus Tragopogon porrifelius would be the scientific 
name for the salsify in Fig. 1; Daucus * carota for the cultivated 
carrots in all their forms, in order to distinguish them from the 
wild carrot, D. carota, etc., and ultimately a name for each stage or 
sub-stage of selection which has acquired fixity of type, as 
D. * acuminatus, the tap-rooted or stage 1 carrots, D. acu- 
minatus teretus, the cylindrical tap-rooted carrot, etc., and within 
each of these agricultural forms, the varieties therein belong- 
ing to be grouped and described. It is thus seen that every 
type of cultivated plant-form which possesses constant characters 
under continuance of man’s protection, and which differs from other 
type forms, would form an agricultural species; and that the 
same specific name would serve with the various genera of plants 
that have been forced to assume the same motive in development 
of form, as Daucus * acuminatus teretus, the cylindrical tap-rooted 
cultivated carrot, Raphanus * acuminatus teretus, the cylindrical 
tprooted cultivated radish, etc. 
In the preliminary work in a new science much in the begin- 
mag must be provisional in its character, and hence we have 
selected for illustration a well-defined group of roots, leaving for 
later consideration the fascicled forms, as occur in the sweet potato 
E aa well as certain forms not as yet sufficiently studied. 
7 ut seek at this time a presentation of our views in order to 
ene tssion, and to secure coöperation, if our attempt is jus- 
ba from botanists whose studies include horticulture in 
Ous branches; for if we are correct in our reasoning, the 
aa keystone is motive, must necessarily be applica- 
ke orms of changes produced by man’s interference with 
y ; Of one thing we are assured through trial, that by using 
ae otive given to the plant by man as furnishing data for classi- 
Qence and by the study into the historical or probable Be 
á. ad stages of selection, we are enabled to form logical 
aes subdivisions in our garden forms, whereby identifi- 
ies varieties by description has been furthered, and thus the 
a“ domesticated plants in their economic relations has been 
oe More easy for us to pursue. 
