SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, MARCH 28. 



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subject then ensued, opened by following introductory remarks by Dr. 

 Masters : — 



" Nothing is more certain than that individuals when no longer in 

 harmony with their surroundings disappear. In the struggle for existence 

 and in the competition with other individuals, the one least well adapted 

 to sustain the onslaught succumbs, or, as the old adage has it, the weakest 

 goes to the wall. What is true of individuals must be true of species, 

 which are collections of individuals, and must be equally certain in regard 

 to varieties. But let us suppose that the conditions remain favourable, 

 that no one individual dominates over another, then the balance is 

 maintained — individuals, varieties, species remain as they were. 



" Although these are truisms, yet every now and again the question is 

 raised — Do varieties degenerate ? 



" Under cultivation every effort is made to maintain the favourable 

 conditions unimpaired, to secure the permanence of the variety, to afford 

 it preferential treatment, and to protect it not only from adverse conditions 

 but from internecine competition. 



" Hence it is that, on the one hand, certain varieties, such as the 

 1 Black Hamburgh ' grape, the ' Admiral Curzon ' and 1 Sportsman ' 

 carnations, the ' Ashleaf ' or the ' Beauty of Hebron ' potatoes, still 

 retain so much of their pre-eminence that they have not been displaced 

 or supplanted by newer comers. 



" On the other hand, many varieties appear, have but a short career, 

 and then disappear. Not one of the five hundred varieties of carnations 

 mentioned in Thomas Hogg's catalogue is now in existence, according to 

 Mr. Douglas. 



" Now, what we want to know is whether a wearing-out process really 

 occurs, independently of external agencies ; whether the so-called de- 

 generacy is innate, or whether it is merely apparent, arising from the 

 substitution of some newer variety which is supposed to have, or really 

 does possess, superior qualities. 



" These are the questions which are to be discussed at this meeting, 

 and in order to give point to the discussion, and to obviate discursiveness, 

 it is judged advisable to confine the discussion, so far as possible, to the 

 question whether varieties propagated by vegetative methods do deteriorate 

 independently of external conditions, and, if so, why ? For convenience 

 sake, and because potatoes loom largely in the public mind at this time, 

 the illustrations are confined as nearly as might be to the potato. In 

 other words, Do varieties of potatoes raised from sets and subject to 

 unaltered conditions deteriorate, and, if so, why ? " 



Mr. A. Deax then read a short paper on the subject of deterioration, 

 with special reference to the potato : — 



Do Potato Stocks Deteriorate ? 



In dealing with the assumed deterioration of the potato, it is needful 

 to be clear that potatoes as edible products are not referred to, but as 

 varieties of a species. The assumption is that varieties of potatoes have 

 comparatively short lives, compared with other kinds of vegetables. 

 That assumption is by no means proved. One probable cause for the 



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