SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, APKIL 11. 



lix 



far as I remember, kept up better as a cropper, and continued com- 

 paratively free from disease, but it was never a favourite on the table 

 at home unless for use in spring, not being "dry" enough. It sold 

 comparatively well, probably on account of its shape and keeping 

 qualities. The ' Bruce ' took the place of the ' Magnum,' being some- 

 what similar in character, but I do not think it was ever so good a 

 cropper, and it has now given place to newer varieties. The ' Up-to- 

 Date ' seems to have something of the character of these last two, and 

 does not appear to have degenerated yet. 



As to whether a variety which had lost some of its vigour would 

 regain it by being transferred from the South of England to Scotland, 

 I do not know of the experiment having been tried. I should think 

 there is at least a probability of improvement if soil and lccality be 

 properly chosen. The duration of a variety depends largely on its power 

 to resist disease and its place on the market, aloug with its capabilities as 

 a cropper. For disease-resisting power it has been found necessary from 

 time to time to obtain new varieties, and when new varieties have found 

 favour on the market, they have naturally displaced the old on that 

 account alone. 



Prof. Hexslow : Whether potatoes " deteriorate " in value is a question 

 for the trade ; but that they vary according to the soil and climate of the 

 localities where a particular variety is grown is well established. Prof. 

 Bailey has given a good example in the case of the ' Newtown Pippin ' 

 (The Survival of the Unlike, p. 99) : " It originated upon Long Island, 

 N.Y., and has been widely disseminated by grafting. In Virginia it has 

 varied into a form known as 1 Albemarle Pippin/ and a New York apple 

 exporter tells me that it is a poorer shipper than the northern 'Newtown,' 

 and is not so long-keeping. In the extreme north-western States ... it 

 is markedly unlike the eastern fruit. ... In Xew South Wales it is called 

 the 1 Five-crowned Pippin,' " &c. Conversely with the Chilian strawberry : 

 " Within two years this plant, growing in my garden, varied from its wild 

 type so widely as to be indistinguishable from the common garden straw- 

 berry ... an instructive case of sexless evolution/' Professor Bailey 

 then adds : " Any plant which is widely distributed by man by means 

 of cuttings or other vegetative parts may be expected to vary in the same 

 manner." 



The above seems to me to answer the question. In many cases, by 

 departing from the typical characters, the variety might be said to 

 " deteriorate " ; but there is also the chance of its acquiring something 

 new, which might balance its value. There does not appear to be any 

 evidence of a variety " dying out " in any other sense. 



Prof. Scott-Elliot : There are two cases in which there is distinct 

 evidence of deterioration in vegetatively reproduced plants. First, the 

 sugar-cane, which has until the last few years been invariably propagated 

 by non-sexual methods. Its culture dates back to a period so distant 

 that the priests in India had had time to produce an "observed " law — 

 viz. that " if any cultivator saw a cane in flower he would die within the 

 year, his house would be reduced to beggary, and his entire fortune be 

 destroyed." The cultivation has been carried on in very distant parts of 

 the earth, under totally distinct methods, and in widely varying conditions 



