WHAT VARIETIES COME TRUE FROM SEED?

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 63, 24 September 1872, Page 3

WHAT VARIETIES COME TRUE FROM SEED?

An intelligent correspondent asks the question given above. fie queries still farther, and says: "An a'>|)le-seed produces an apple-five, but a Baldwin a'pplc-secd will not produce a Baldwin apple-tree. Wheal of :inv variety produces the same; seed of a scurlef vii'-ietv of verbena- will no L always produce its like. Why'this anomaly?" The "why" of the matter can'not be told, but a few general vules may be usefu 1 . Seeds of plants found in ! tr wild stat \ in their native habitats, almost invariably p-oduee a progeuv identical with the parent, and many species, even after they have been subjected to long years of cultivation, never aprevr to change seemingly in the slightest degree. Other species under cultivation quieklv develop varieties entirely different, from the original, and bee nne what is' technically termed '• broken." Thus the original species of our wellknown verbena is indigenous to South America, baring a comparatively small scarlet flower, from this, and probably some other species hybridized with it, we have the gorgeous and varied colouring of the variety of to-day. " But it took many years to produce 'these, for we can well remember in our early gardening davs there wis no white, and the furore that took place in the floricultuval wurld when ver--1 eua tenic-.-oides, the first whit r appeal el. It wa* far from being an attractive plant, but the colour was novel, and single plants were sold by the florists of that time at a price that would buy a hundred. The verbena, then, is one of the genus whose species have given us innumerable varieties The' chrysanthemum, dahlia, fuchsia, geranium, pansey, petunia, the rose, and many others,, are also familiar examples where the original species has " broken" from what may be termed its primary condition into ever changing'variety. Thus changed it is probable that their seeds will never produce two individual plants exactly alike anymore than two identical human faces or forms are produced. It is probable that all species of animals and vegetables, under long years of domestication and cultivation, would ultimately "break" from the original type, though we know that in some species this tendency sooner developes than in others. It is not to b" wondered at that amateur agriculturists are puzzled at what leoks like inconsistency in nature —why she refuses to produce always again the Baldwin apple o- the Rareripe peach", the striped petunia or the double carnation, yet gives back productions seemingly identical with the parent, corn or wheat, tomato or cabbage, or in flower mignonette or alyssum. Seemingly, for it may bo doubted if they are identical, ©idy that the variation is so slightly marked that it

escaped notice. Many wlio.se experience in sach matters should have taught them better are always p'unts rained ir >m cuttings or slip:* with those raised £'• >m seeds, and cannot sec why the plant raised from tie slip or root of a white dahlia, or the tree raided from the graft of a Baldwin apple, should he always identical with the plant or tree from which they are taken, while tho seed.', taken from either would not produce the name. Any cutting from a root or a brunch, whether rooted itself or engrafted on another .•stock (except in rare case-, of hporta), will be identical with that of the original form from which it wan take!) ; in fact, it i- only a separated part of the same plant, while the plant, raised from_ seed is a distinct individual.-— Ameri.cnu Ajrimitai'ld.