AUTHORS' PREFACE 



xix 



tables only as a wretchedly poor Spinach, because people would 

 cook the leaves, whereas, in its native country, it is only cultivated 

 for its tender fleshy roots. 



There is one mistake against which professional cultivators, 

 and also amateurs, especially those who have not had much 

 experience, should be on their guard. This is the delusion of 

 imagining that they have succeeded in raising a new variety when 

 a form that seems to possess some merit makes its appearance 

 amongst a number of seedlings. The plants raised from seed 

 obtained by crossing should at first be regarded merely as units, 

 which may have a certain value in the case of trees or plants that 

 are long-lived and are propagated by division, but which, after all, 

 are only units. Taken all together, they can only claim to be 

 considered a variety when they have continued to reproduce 

 themselves, for several generations, with a certain amount of fixity 

 of character ; and, almost always, the really difficult and meri- 

 torious part of the work is the establishment of the variety — a 

 tedious and delicate operation, by which, when successful, the new 

 variety is endowed with the constancy and uniformity of character 

 without which it is not worth offering to the public. 



Many varieties obtained in this way remain confined to their 

 own localities, because they are not more widely known ; some 

 cannot reproduce themselves faithfully when sown under conditions 

 different from those of their native place, from which fresh seed 

 must be obtained, from time to time, if it is desired to keep the 

 variety very pure ; hence those local reputations which are one of 

 the mainsprings of horticultural commerce. Generally most of the 

 cultivated varieties, although they continue sufficiently distinct 

 and true when they are grown with care, are all the better for 

 being raised from an importation of new seed from the place in 

 which experience has shown that it is grown best and truest to 

 name. 



Paris, 4 Quai de la Megisserie, 



