THOE EVOLUTION OF TLANTS. 
37 
Qmow, for instance, that a new strain is often very long in being fixed, 
but that at last it does become fixed ; and so, I think, it may be with 
regard to these vegetables. Moreover we have to remember that these 
. crops are all very highly cultivated, and that the conditions are such as 
to induce a very active variation. We have therefore no right to be 
surprised if variation should take the backward track — a track in most 
cases so recently made. After all, does the deterioration, or reversion, 
-of which I have shown evidence occur as a rule in any more than an 
extremely small percentage of individual instances ? We hear a great 
deal of it from seed-growers, and yet it is rarely complained of in private 
gardens. Might not reversion be corrected in some cases if rogues w^re 
allowed to cross with the rest of the crop ? Its standard would, of course, 
•be lowered, but it might still remain at a considerable but safe height of 
evolution, where it would stand with practically no tendency to the 
production of ''rogues." This is all that the process of evolution 
requires, but as far as I know there is no evidence to be had on the 
point. In any case I hold the view that evidence against the theory of 
evolution can no more be taken from the behaviour of such highly 
cultivated and selected stocks than could the height of sea level be 
Pleasured from the crest of a wave or trough of the sea. 
My best thanks are due to the following gentlemen, who were so 
kind as to answer my inquiries : — Mr. E. Banks, Shelden ; Mr. Ernst 
Benary, Erfurt; Mr. J. K. Budde, Utrecht; Mr. F. W. Burbidge, V.M.H.; 
Mr. Cannell ; Messrs. Clibran & Son, Altrincham ; Mr. H. Deverill, 
.Banbury; the Rev. G. H. Engleheart, V.M.H., Appleshaw ; Mr. C. C. 
Hurst, Burbage, Hinckley; Mr. Ernst Krelage, Haarlem; Mr. E. 
Eemoine, Nancy ; Mr. R. Lindsay, Murrayfield, Edinburgh ; Mr. J. W. 
Moss, Kelvedon, Essex ; Mons. Mottet, of Messrs. Vilmorin's establish- 
ment at Verrieres ; Mr. Gr. Paul, V.M.H. ; Mr. Leonard Sutton ; Mr. 
Rolfe, of Kew ; Dr. Stuart, Chirnside, N.B. ; Mons. Philippe de Vilmorin ; 
Messrs. James Veitcli & Sons ; Mr. W. Watson, Kew. 
I can only regret that unavoidable limitation has prevented the use 
<of much valuable information. 
