SEEDS AND SEED GROWING. 



143 



command, to take a trip along the east coast of 

 Florida to Titusville by rail, thence on one of the 

 comfortable Indian River steamboats to Jupiter, 

 and a short eight-mile trip by rail from there will 

 land him on the picturesque and tropical shores of 

 Lake Worth. I do not think a more interesting 



trip for the botanist, the fisherman, or the lover of 

 beautiful scenery of the Egyptian type, can be 

 found in North America. 



H, E. VanDieman. 



U. S. Dept. of Agrkultiirc. 



SEEDS AND SEED GROWING. 



Fifth Paper. 



THE ORIGIN OF SOME VEGETABLE FORMS. 



HE HI 



de: 



STORY of most gar- 

 en vegetables is obscure. 

 In the oldest writings 

 nearly every vegetable 

 form is noted, and so far 

 as we can learn they 

 were as successfully 

 grown as at the present 

 day. Asparagus is men. 

 tioned by Cato 200 years 

 B. C, and Pliny mention- 

 ed a sort that grows in his garden at Ravenna, of 

 which three heads would weigh a pound. The Em- 

 peror Tiberius had melons on his table every day 

 in the year, and cucumbers, beans and leeks are 

 fre.quently mentioned in the most ancient writngs. 

 In fact many authorities agree in saying that the 

 origin of garden vegetables is largely unknown. 

 While but little is known of the origin of the differ 

 ent forms, and whether what we term wild plants 

 are degenerate forms or whether our cultivated 

 forms are regenerate forms, are still questions a- 

 waiting answers. Certain it is that varieties are 

 constantly changing ; many forms we knew fifty 

 years ago have passed away and others have taken 

 their places. The influences that bring about these 

 changes are what we wish to consider, as it is upon 

 -these that future development depends. 



When the earth was first clothed with plants, nature 

 fitted each for the position it was to occupy. While the 

 principle that governs all is the same, the mission that 

 each has to fill is entirely separate and distinct; no two 

 are alike, and no two derive the same elements from soil 

 and atmosphere. Consequently when aplant was removed 

 from its native habitat into new fields and among new 

 elements, it had from necessity to undergo a change in 

 order to adapt itself to the conditions in which it was 

 placed, and that in most instances for self-preservation, 

 A marked illustration of this may be seen in the Horse 

 chestnut {^-Esculus Hippocastanitni) a native of Asia, where 

 the climate is much milder than our own. Its buds are 

 covered thickly with a gummy substance, which protects 

 the tender interior from cold and wet. As the sun eains 



power, the gummy covering melts and yields to the ex- 

 panding pressure from within, and then the scales on 

 which it is overlaid fall off, and the delicate green 

 leaves are rapidly unfolded. This tree will endure the 

 rigors of a New England winter, where the temperature 

 is at least 50 degrees colder in winter than in its native 

 home. But nature comes to the rescue ; the farther 

 north the tree is taken the heavier is the coating of wax 

 or gum that protects the bud. 



All vegetable forms change or adapt themselves to the 

 climate in which they are placed. The variation of 

 plants through climatic influences is more marked than 

 is generally supposed. In fact, climatic influences have 

 more to do in changing the character of vegetable forms 

 and properties than all other causes combined. No 

 more striking instances of this can be noted than was 

 shown in the production of the Belgian carrot. This 

 affords a most valuable and conclusive illustration, as it 

 is one of the few recorded instances where, by systematic 

 effort, a wild plant, entirely worthless, has been so im- 

 proved by cultivation and selection that a noxious weed 

 has developed into a vegetable, valuable either as a gar- 

 den or field crop. The Belgian carrot is derived from 

 Daucus carota, the wild carrot, which has small dry stick- 

 like roots of exceedingly high flavor. The history of its 

 transformation is interesting and valuable, because the 

 knowledge may assist in the development of other 

 forms. Several investigators have endeavored to im- 

 prove the wild carrot. Prominent among the many en- 

 thusiasts in this branch of study was M. Pousard, a 

 French scientist, who had been successful in improving 

 the wild parsnip, but he utterly failed in his effort to 

 ennoble the wild carrot. Decaisne, after repeated trials 

 with it, gave up in despair, and came to the conclusion 

 that the cultivated forms were especially created for 

 the use of man. M. Vilmorin, the well-known French 

 seedsman, undertook a series of experiments in the de- 

 velopment of the wild carrot, the result of which was 

 most satisfactory. Pie gathered seed from plants which 

 grew by the sea-side and cultivated them far away from 

 saline influences ; he succeeded in obtaining perfectly 

 tender edible roots of large size, and perfectly smooth, 

 in four generations — the variety which is to-day known 

 as the White Belgian carrot. While his efforts 

 were perfectly successful from seeds grown by the sea- 

 side, under the same treatment and under the same con- 



