FOUNDERS OF PLANT BREEDING 
303 
“a species in its spontaneous condition with the same species 
cultivated, transported, that is to say, most often into conditions of 
climate, soil, etc., completely different from those where it lived 
before, we shall be struck by seeing that in our gardens this latter 
will show deviations of type more numerous than in the wild state. 
We shall derive from this fact the consequence that the faculty 
of varying, which is proper to the plant, augments with culture. 
If we observe, then, that the plants cultivated in our gardens 
which have varied the most — as, for example, the dahlias, the 
roses, the camellias, the rhododendrons, the potato, etc. — are not 
borrowed for the most part from our flora, nor from one of 
the neighboring floras, but on the contrary, come from distant 
countries, where they grow under conditions often absolutely 
different from those in which we cultivate them, we shall con- 
clude that the more a species is depatriated, the more it will easily 
vary;” and again: “The more plants are cultivated, the greater 
their variations are, and, by the same token, the easier they are 
to fix. We will possibly be contradicted, but we do not hesitate 
to consider, once more, long-practiced culture as one of the most 
favorable antecedents to the rapid fixation of variations.” 
Verlot’s Summary , — Verlot summarizes his views upon hy- 
brids in the following words, which are worth reproducing be- 
cause they fairly well represent the general knowledge of the time, 
as follows : ( 1 ) “Hybrid fecundation is not able to produce any- 
thing but variations which, will be able, it is true, to multiply them- 
selves mechanically, but which will not be fixable, and which 
consequently cannot be brought to constitute races or varieties, 
the products which arise from them being sterile, or if they are fer- 
tile, having only a fertility limited to a few generations, or disap- 
pearing after a certain time by the disjunction of the types. 
(2) One of the characters of the hybrids is also a great develop- 
ment of the vegetative organs, coincident with less abundant 
flowering. They are in general intermediate between the species 
types, but often approach more the father. (3) The hybrid, self- 
fertilized, returns more or less rapidly to the parents. (4) The 
hybrid, fertilized by a parent, returns also promptly to the parent. 
(5) Crossing — that is to say, reciprocal fertilization of varieties 
or races of the same species — will serve for obtaining new varia- 
tions, intermediate between the parents, very fertile, and which can 
be fixed more or less rapidly, and constitute new varieties or 
races.” • 
Reviewing this list of statements in the light of present know- 
