ISO 



PROCKEOINOS OF THK 



in Kn^laiul, has hitherto exiu'rieiu od no sonsiblo chanp^os. It is 

 the same uitli Tt'trajronia fxptinsd, which is now wliat it was at 

 its first appejiraiu e, and with other kitchen -garden kinds of more 

 recent introdui tioii. 



As for our old ve{:;etable,s, tliev lia\ e l)een transmitted to us 

 ready formed by tlie generations wliicli have jjreceded us. The 

 orii::in of njost of them is traceable to unknown times ; there 

 are even some of which the wild sorts exist no lonp;er, or which 

 have not been found by botanists, and which we possess only in 

 the domestic or cultivated state. It is very true that these i)lants 

 are still in the course of improvement by us, and that we daily 

 obtain new varieties of them ; but amongst such variations of 

 species already chanj^ed and the first amelioration of a wild 

 jdant, a fundamental ditlVrence exists of which it is important to 

 give some account. 



The author then adverts to the well known fact that, when by 

 any means, a s])ecies has been made to deviate from its i)rimitive 

 condition, the races which have resulted from it are essentially 

 variable also. 



This he thinks explains how we obtain, so easily, varieties of 

 kitchen-garden plants ; notwithstanding, that if we bring into 

 culture a wild species we do not see it sensibly improve. That 

 improvements are however possible is certain ; for they have 

 formerly been effected by man, although neither the means, nor 

 the practice itself, have been handed down to us. 



It might be supposed that in order to create improved alimen- 

 tary varieties, nothing more is requisite than abundant nourish- 

 ment and great care in garden culture ; but M. Vilmorin does 

 not adopt this opinion except in a very restricted sense. " Give," 

 he says, " to the wild cabbage very abundant nourishment and 

 treat it with a gardener's care j you will then procure for it larger 

 dimensions ; its leaves will become more ample, its stems 

 higher ; you will convert it into some of the coarser kinds of 

 winter greens ; but by these means alone you will never make 

 of it a headed cabbage." Of this he has positive proof : for two 

 years he has been trying thus to improve Brassica sylvestris, but 

 in vain ; for the most vigorous individuals are precisely those 

 which are the least disposed to form a head. 



M. Vilmorin added that repeated attempts, during many years, 

 to improve the perennial lettuce, Tetragonia, Solanum stolonife- 

 rum, and Brassica orientalis had not enabled him to obtain any 

 sensible modifications of those species. But he has found the 

 wild carrot on the contrary, improved in the most decided man- 

 nar j in the space of three generations he has obtained roots of it 

 as fleshy and as large as those of the garden carrot. 



The history of the experiment, was thus related : 



" In March, 1832, I made, at Verriere near Paris, in a soft and 



