Annual Report of the Consulting Botanist for 1878. 353 
members of the Society who send samples of seed to be tested 
will not hesitate to furnish such information as may lead to the 
prevention of the adulteration and killing of seeds. 
Information has been supplied by me to members as to the 
nature of the weeds infesting their ground, and the best means 
of eradicating them ; the treatment of different soils in relation 
to the life of the plants cultivated on them ; the character of 
the permanent pastures fitted for particular soils : and other 
subjects. 
My attention has been directed to the subject of improving 
our cultivated cereals ; and after the following Report was sub- 
mitted to the Committee, proposals were adopted for offering 
prizes for new varieties of seed which have been approved by 
the Council : — 
" Changes in plants are due to — 
" 1. Soil, food, climate, &c. Such ciianges belong to the in- 
dividual plant, and are not transmitted to its descendants. 
" Sports, which arise without any apparent cause, and which 
are handed down to a larger or smaller number of the plant's 
descendants. 
" 3. Cross-hreeding, whereby more or less of the peculiarities 
of both parents are found in the descendants. Cross-breeding 
may be of three kinds — (a) of individuals of the same species, 
and this may be either natural, as in the case of plants which 
are actually or practically unisexual, or artificial, when man 
interferes and applies the pollen of one individual to the stigma 
of another ; {b) of permanent varieties of the same species, as in 
cultivated plants ; and (c) of different species of the same genus. 
" New varieties require to be tested by cultivation. Some of 
the descendants lose the character for which the variety is prized, 
and revert to the original stock ; while others retain these quali- 
ties, and in some they may become intensified. 
" It is necessary to select the seed after each harvesting, in order 
to secure a uniform and permanent variety. Time is thus neces- 
sary to the production of a new variety. A variety secured by 
experiment in 1879 should be sown by the person who secures it 
for at least three years ; that is, during 1880, 1881, and 1882, in 
order to establish its permanency, to get rid of the parent forms 
that may appear, and to secure a certain amount of seed. The 
seed might be sent after the harvest of 1882, and be tested in 
various localities by the Society in 1883." 
The alarm created in 1877 by the threatened appearance of 
the Colorado beetle happily did not show itself during the past 
year. This was no doubt largely due to the action of the 
Society in distributing so extensively accurate information and 
VOL. XV. — S. S. 2 A 
