The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2

A ram and ewe both round and red,
I brought with me from Aengus.
I brought with me a stallion and a mare
From the beautiful stud of Manannan,
A bull and a white cow from Druim Cain.

Athelstan, in 930, received running-horses as a present from Germany; and he prohibited the exportation of English horses. King John imported "one hundred chosen stallions from Flanders." (20/42. Col. Hamilton Smith 'Nat. Library' volume 12 Horses, pages 135, 140.) On June 16th, 1305, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, begging for the loan of any choice stallion, and promising its return at the end of the season. (20/43. Michel 'Des Haras' page 90.) There are numerous records at ancient periods in English history of the importation of choice animals of various kinds, and of foolish laws against their exportation. In the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. it was ordered that the magistrates, at Michaelmas, should scour the heaths and commons, and destroy all mares beneath a certain size. (20/44. Mr. Baker 'History of the Horse' 'Veterinary' volume 13 page 423.) Some of our earlier kings passed laws against the slaughtering rams of any good breed before they were seven years old, so that they might have time to breed. In Spain Cardinal Ximenes issued, in 1509, regulations on the SELECTION of good rams for breeding. (20/45. M. l'Abbe Carlier in 'Journal de Physique' volume 24 1784 page 181; this memoir contains much information on the ancient selection of sheep; and is my authority for rams not being killed young in England.)

The Emperor Akbar Khan before the year l600 is said to have "wonderfully improved" his pigeons by crossing the breeds; and this necessarily implies careful selection. About the same period the Dutch attended with the greatest care to the breeding of these birds. Belon in 1555 says that good managers in France examined the colour of their goslings in order to get geese of a white colour and better kinds. Markham in 1631 tells the breeder "to elect the largest and goodliest conies," and enters into minute details. Even with respect to seeds of plants for the flower-garden, Sir J. Hanmer writing about the year 1660 (20/46. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843 page 389.) says, in "choosing seed, the best seed is the most weighty, and is had from the lustiest and most vigorous stems;" and he then gives rules about leaving only a few flowers on plants for seed; so that even such details were attended to in our flower-gardens two hundred years ago. In order to show that selection has been silently carried on in places where it would not have been expected, I may add that in the middle of the last century, in a remote part of North America, Mr. Cooper improved by careful selection all his vegetables, "so that they were greatly superior to those of any other person. When his radishes, for instance, are fit for use, he takes ten or twelve that he most approves, and plants them at least 100 yards from others that blossom at the same time. In the same manner he treats all his other plants, varying the circumstances according to their nature." (20/47. 'Communications to Board of Agriculture' quoted in Dr. Darwin 'Phytologia' 1800 page 451.)

In the great work on China published in the last century by the Jesuits, and which is chiefly compiled from ancient Chinese encyclopaedias, it is said that with sheep "improving the breed consists in choosing with particular care the lambs which are destined for propagation, in nourishing them well, and in keeping the flocks separate." The same principles were applied by the Chinese to various plants and fruit-trees. (20/48. 'Memoire sur les Chinois' 1786 tome 11 page 55; tome 5 page 507.) An imperial edict recommends the choice of seed of remarkable size; and selection was practised even by imperial hands, for it is said that the Ya-mi, or imperial rice, was noticed at an ancient period in a field by the Emperor Khang-hi, was saved and cultivated in his garden, and has since become valuable from being the only kind which will grow north of the Great Wall. (20/49. 'Recherches sur l'Agriculture des Chinois' par L. D'Hervey Saint-Denys 1850 page 229. With respect to Khang-hi see Huc's 'Chinese Empire' page 311.) Even with flowers, the tree paeony (P. moutan) has been cultivated, according to Chinese traditions, for 1400 years; between 200 and 300 varieties have been raised, which are cherished like tulips formerly were by the Dutch. (20/50. Anderson in 'Linn. Transact.' volume 12 page 253.)

Turning now to semi-civilised people and to savages: it occurred to me, from what I had seen of several parts of South America, where fences do not exist, and where the animals are of little value, that there would be absolutely no care in breeding or selecting them; and this to a large extent is true. Roulin (20/51. 'Mem. de l'Acad.' (divers savants), tome 6 1835 page 333.), however, describes in Columbia a naked race of cattle, which are not allowed to increase, on account of their delicate constitution. According to Azara (20/52. 'Des Quadrupedes du Paraguay' 1801 tome 2 pages 333, 371.) horses are often born in Paraguay with curly hair; but, as the natives do not like them, they are destroyed. On the other hand, Azara states that a hornless bull, born in 1770, was preserved and propagated its race. I was informed of the existence in Banda Oriental of a breed with reversed hair; and the extraordinary niata cattle first appeared and have since been kept distinct in La Plata. Hence certain conspicuous variations have been preserved, and others have been habitually destroyed, in these countries, which are so little favourable for careful selection. We have also seen that the inhabitants sometimes introduce fresh cattle on their estates to prevent the evil effects of close interbreeding. On the other hand, I have heard on reliable authority that the Gauchos of the Pampas never take any pains in selecting the best bulls or stallions for breeding; and this probably accounts for the cattle and horses being remarkably uniform in character throughout the immense range of the Argentine republic.

Looking to the Old World, in the Sahara Desert "The Touareg is as careful in the selection of his breeding Mahari (a fine race of the dromedary) as the Arab is in that of his horse. The pedigrees are handed down, and many a dromedary can boast a genealogy far longer than the descendants of the Darley Arabian." (20/53. 'The Great Sahara' by the Rev. H.B. Tristram 1860 page 238.) According to Pallas the Mongolians endeavour to breed the Yaks or horse-tailed buffaloes with white tails, for these are sold to the Chinese mandarins as fly-flappers; and Moorcroft, about seventy years after Pallas, found that white-tailed animals were still selected for breeding. (20/54. Pallas 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburg' 1777 page 249. Moorcroft and Trebeck 'Travels in the Himalayan Provinces' 1841.)

We have seen in the chapter on the Dog that savages in different parts of North America and in Guiana cross their dogs with wild Canidae, as did the ancient Gauls, according to Pliny. This was done to give their dogs strength and vigour, in the same way as the keepers in large warrens now sometimes cross their ferrets (as I have been informed by Mr. Yarrell) with the wild polecat, "to give them more devil." According to Varro, the wild ass was formerly caught and crossed with the tame animal to improve the breed, in the same manner as at the present day the natives of Java sometimes drive their cattle into the forests to cross with the wild Banteng (Bos sondaicus). (20/55. Quoted from Raffles in the 'Indian Field' 1859 page 196: for Varro see Pallas ut supra.) In Northern Siberia, among the Ostyaks, the dogs vary in markings in different districts, but in each place they are spotted black and white in a remarkably uniform manner (20/56. Erman 'Travels in Siberia' English translation volume 1 page 453.); and from this fact alone we may infer careful breeding, more especially as the dogs of one locality are famed throughout the country for their superiority. I have heard of certain tribes of Esquimaux who take pride in their teams of dogs being uniformly coloured. In Guiana, as Sir H. Schomburgk informs me (20/57. See also 'Journal of R. Geograph. Soc.' volume 13 part 1 page 65.), the dogs of the Turuma Indians are highly valued and extensively bartered: the price of a good one is the same as that given for a wife: they are kept in a sort of cage, and the Indians "take great care when the female is in season to prevent her uniting with a dog of an inferior description." The Indians told Sir Robert that, if a dog proved bad or useless, he was not killed, but was left to die from sheer neglect. Hardly any nation is more barbarous than the Fuegians, but I hear from Mr. Bridges, the Catechist to the Mission, that, "when these savages have a large, strong, and active bitch, they take care to put her to a fine dog, and even take care to feed her well, that her young may be strong and well favoured."

In the interior of Africa, negroes, who have not associated with white men, show great anxiety to improve their animals; they "always choose the larger and stronger males for stock;" the Malakolo were much pleased at Livingstone's promise to send them a bull, and some Bakalolo carried a live cock all the way from Loanda into the interior. (20/58. Livingstone 'First Travels' pages 191, 439, 565; see also 'Expedition to the Zambesi' 1865 page 495, for an analogous case respecting a good breed of goats.) At Falaba Mr. Winwood Reade noticed an unusually fine horse, and the negro King informed him that "the owner was noted for his skill in breeding horses." Further south on the same continent, Andersson states that he has known a Damara give two fine oxen for a dog which struck his fancy. The Damaras take great delight in having whole droves of cattle of the same colour, and they prize their oxen in proportion to the size of their horns. "The Namaquas have a perfect mania for a uniform team; and almost all the people of Southern Africa value their cattle next to their women, and take a pride in possessing animals that look high-bred. They rarely or never make use of a handsome animal as a beast of burden." (20/59. Andersson 'Travels in South Africa' pages 232, 318, 319.) The power of discrimination which these savages possess is wonderful, and they can recognise to which tribe any cattle belong. Mr. Andersson further informs me that the natives frequently match a particular bull with a particular cow.

The most curious case of selection by semi-civilised people, or indeed by any people, which I have found recorded, is that given by Garcilazo de la Vega, a descendant of the Incas, as having been practised in Peru before the country was subjugated by the Spaniards. (20/60. Dr. Vavasseur in 'Bull. de La Soc. d'Acclimat.' tome 8 1861 page 136.) The Incas annually held great hunts, when all the wild animals were driven from an immense circuit to a central point. The beasts of prey were first destroyed as injurious. The wild Guanacos and Vicunas were sheared; the old males and females killed, and the others set at liberty. The various kinds of deer were examined; the old males and females were likewise killed, "but the young females, with a certain number of males, selected from the most beautiful and strong," were given their freedom. Here, then, we have selection by man aiding natural selection. So that the Incas followed exactly the reverse system of that which our Scottish sportsman are accused of following, namely, of steadily killing the finest stags, thus causing the whole race to degenerate. (20/61. 'The Natural History of Dee Side' 1855 page 476.) In regard to the domesticated llamas and alpacas, they were separated in the time of the Incas according to colour: and if by chance one in a flock was born of the wrong colour, it was eventually put into another flock.

In the genus Auchenia there are four forms, — the Guanaco and Vicuna, found wild and undoubtedly distinct species; the Llama and Alpaca, known only in a domesticated condition. These four animals appear so different, that most naturalists, especially those who have studied these animals in their native country, maintain that they are specifically distinct, notwithstanding that no one pretends to have seen a wild llama or alpaca. Mr. Ledger, however, who has closely studied these animals both in Peru and during their exportation to Australia, and who has made many experiments on their propagation, adduces arguments (20/62. 'Bull. de la Soc. d'Acclimat.' tome 7 1860 page 457.) which seem to me conclusive, that the llama is the domesticated descendant of the guanaco, and the alpaca of the vicuna. And now that we know that these animals were systematically bred and selected many centuries ago, there is nothing surprising in the great amount of change which they have undergone.

It appeared to me at one time probable that, though ancient and semi-civilised people might have attended to the improvement of their more useful animals in essential points, yet that they would have disregarded unimportant characters. But human nature is the same throughout the world: fashion everywhere reigns supreme, and man is apt to value whatever he may chance to possess. We have seen that in South America the niata cattle, which certainly are not made useful by their shortened faces and upturned nostrils, have been preserved. The Damaras of South Africa value their cattle for uniformity of colour and enormously long horns. And I will now show that there is hardly any peculiarity in our most useful animals which, from fashion, superstition, or some other motive, has not been valued, and consequently preserved. With respect to cattle, "an early record," according to Youatt (20/63. 'Cattle' page 48.) "speaks of a hundred white cows with red ears being demanded as a compensation by the princes of North and South Wales. If the cattle were of a dark or black colour, 150 were to be presented." So that colour was attended to in Wales before its subjugation by England. In Central Africa, an ox that beats the ground with its tail is killed; and in South Africa some of the Damaras will not eat the flesh of a spotted ox. The Kaffirs value an animal with a musical voice; and "at a sale in British Kaffraria the low "of a heifer excited so much admiration that a sharp competition sprung up for her possession, and she realised a considerable price." (20/64. Livingstone 'Travels' page 576; Andersson 'Lake Ngami' 1856 page 222. With respect to the sale in Kaffraria see 'Quarterly Review' 1860 page 139.) With respect to sheep, the Chinese prefer rams without horns; the Tartars prefer them with spirally wound horns, because the hornless are thought to lose courage. (20/65. 'Memoire sur les Chinois' by the Jesuits 1786 tome 11 page 57.) Some of the Damaras will not eat the flesh of hornless sheep. In regard to horses, at the end of the fifteenth century animals of the colour described as liart pomme were most valued in France. The Arabs have a proverb, "Never buy a horse with four white feet, for he carries his shroud with him" (20/66. F. Michel 'Des Haras' pages 47, 50.); the Arabs also, as we have seen, despise dun- coloured horses. So with dogs, Xenophon and others at an ancient period were prejudiced in favour of certain colours; and "white or slate-coloured hunting dogs were not esteemed." (20/67. Col. Hamilton Smith 'Dogs' in 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page 103.)

Turning to poultry, the old Roman gourmands thought that the liver of a white goose was the most savoury. In Paraguay black-skinned fowls are kept because they are thought to be more productive, and their flesh the most proper for invalids. (20/68. Azara 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay' tome 2 page 324.) In Guiana, as I am informed by Sir R. Schomburgk, the aborigines will not eat the flesh or eggs of the fowl, but two races are kept distinct merely for ornament. In the Philippines, no less than nine sub-varieties of the game-cock are kept and named, so that they must be separately bred.

At the present time in Europe, the smallest peculiarities are carefully attended to in our most useful animals, either from fashion, or as a mark of purity of blood. Many examples could be given; two will suffice. "In the Western counties of England the prejudice against a white pig is nearly as strong as against a black one in Yorkshire." In one of the Berkshire sub- breeds, it is said, "the white should be confined to four white feet, a white spot between the eyes, and a few white hairs behind each shoulder." Mr. Saddler possessed three hundred pigs, every one of which was marked in this manner." (20/69. Sidney's edition of Youatt 1860 pages 24, 25.) Marshall, towards the close of the last century, in speaking of a change in one of the Yorkshire breeds of cattle, says the horns have been considerably modified, as "a clean, small, sharp horn has been FASHIONABLE for the last twenty years." (20/70. 'Rural Economy of Yorkshire' volume 2 page 182.) In a part of Germany the cattle of the Race de Gfoehl are valued for many good qualities, but they must have horns of a particular curvature and tint, so much so that mechanical means are applied if they take a wrong direction; but the inhabitants "consider it of the highest importance that the nostrils of the bull should be flesh-coloured, and the eyelashes light; this is an indispensable condition. A calf with blue nostrils would not be purchased, or purchased at a very low price." (20/71. Moll et Gayot 'Du Boeuf' 1860 page 547.) Therefore let no man say that any point or character is too trifling to be methodically attended to and selected by breeders.

UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION.

By this term I mean, as already more than once explained, the preservation by man of the most valued, and the destruction of the least valued individuals, without any conscious intention on his part of altering the breed. It is difficult to offer direct proofs of the results which follow from this kind of selection; but the indirect evidence is abundant. In fact, except that in the one case man acts intentionally, and in the other unintentionally, there is little difference between methodical and unconscious selection. In both cases man preserves the animals which are most useful or pleasing to him, and destroys or neglects the others. But no doubt a far more rapid result follows from methodical than from unconscious selection. The "roguing" of plants by gardeners, and the destruction by law in Henry VIII.'s reign of all under- sized mares, are instances of a process the reverse of selection in the ordinary sense of the word, but leading to the same general result. The influence of the destruction of individuals having a particular character is well shown by the necessity of killing every lamb with a trace of black about it, in order to keep the flock white; or again, by the effects on the average height of the men of France of the destructive wars of Napoleon, by which many tall men were killed, the short ones being left to be the fathers of families. This at least is the conclusion of some of those who have closely studied the effects of the conscription; and it is certain that since Napoleon's time the standard for the army has been lowered two or three times.

Unconscious selection blends with methodical, so that it is scarcely possible to separate them. When a fancier long ago first happened to notice a pigeon with an unusually short beak, or one with the tail-feathers unusually developed, although he bred from these birds with the distinct intention of propagating the variety, yet he could not have intended to make a short-faced tumbler or a fantail, and was far from knowing that he had made the first step towards this end. If he could have seen the final result, he would have been struck with astonishment, but, from what we know of the habits of fanciers, probably not with admiration. Our English carriers, barbs, and short-faced tumblers have been greatly modified in the same manner, as we may infer both from the historical evidence given in the chapters on the Pigeon, and from the comparison of birds brought from distant countries.

So it has been with dogs; our present fox-hounds differ from the old English hound; our greyhounds have become lighter: the Scotch deer-hound has been modified, and is now rare. Our bulldogs differ from those which were formerly used for baiting bulls. Our pointers and Newfoundlands do not closely resemble any native dog now found in the countries whence they were brought. These changes have been effected partly by crosses; but in every case the result has been governed by the strictest selection. Nevertheless, there is no reason to suppose that man intentionally and methodically made the breeds exactly what they now are. As our horses became fleeter, and the country more cultivated and smoother, fleeter fox-hounds were desired and produced, but probably without any one distinctly foreseeing what they would become. Our pointers and setters, the latter almost certainly descended from large spaniels, have been greatly modified in accordance with fashion and the desire for increased speed. Wolves have become extinct, and so has the wolf-dog; deer have become rarer, bulls are no longer baited, and the corresponding breeds of the dog have answered to the change. But we may feel almost sure that when, for instance, bulls were no longer baited, no man said to himself, I will now breed my dogs of smaller size, and thus create the present race. As circumstances changed, men unconsciously and slowly modified their course of selection.

With racehorses selection for swiftness has been followed methodically, and our horses now easily surpass their progenitors. The increased size and different appearance of the English racehorse led a good observer in India to ask," Could any one in this year of 1856, looking at our racehorses, conceive that they were the result of the union of the Arab horse and the African mare?" (20/72. 'The India Sporting Review' volume 2 page 181; 'The Stud Farm' by Cecil page 58.) This change has, it is probable, been largely effected through unconscious selection, that is, by the general wish to breed as fine horses as possible in each generation, combined with training and high feeding, but without any intention to give to them their present appearance. According to Youatt (20/73. 'The Horse' page 22.), the introduction in Oliver Cromwell's time of three celebrated Eastern stallions speedily affected the English breed; "so that Lord Harleigh, one of the old school, complained that the great horse was fast disappearing." This is an excellent proof how carefully selection must have been attended to; for without such care, all traces of so small an infusion of Eastern blood would soon have been absorbed and lost. Notwithstanding that the climate of England has never been esteemed particularly favourable to the horse, yet long-continued selection, both methodical and unconscious, together with that practised by the Arabs during a still longer and earlier period, has ended in giving us the best breed of horses in the world. Macaulay (20/74. 'History of England' volume 1 page 316.) remarks, "Two men whose authority on such subjects was held in great esteem, the Duke of Newcastle and Sir John Fenwick, pronounced that the meanest hack ever imported from Tangier would produce a finer progeny than could be expected from the best sire of our native breed. They would not readily have believed that a time would come when the princes and nobles of neighbouring lands would be as eager to obtain horses from England as ever the English had been to obtain horses from Barbary."

The London dray-horse, which differs so much in appearance from any natural species, and which from its size has so astonished many Eastern princes, was probably formed by the heaviest and most powerful animals having been selected during many generations in Flanders and England, but without the least intention or expectation of creating a horse such as we now see. If we go back to an early period of history, we behold in the antique Greek statues, as Schaaffhausen has remarked (20/75. 'Ueber Bestandigkeit der Arten.'), a horse equally unlike a race or dray horse, and differing from any existing breed.

The results of unconscious selection, in an early stage, are well shown in the difference between the flocks descended from the same stock, but separately reared by careful breeders. Youatt gives an excellent instance of this fact in the sheep belonging to Messrs. Buckley and Burgess, which "have been purely bred from the original stock of Mr. Bakewell for upwards of fifty years. There is not a suspicion existing in the mind of any one at all acquainted with the subject that the owner of either flock has deviated in any one instance from the pure blood of Mr. Bakewell's flock; yet the difference between the sheep possessed by these two gentlemen is so great, that they have the appearance of being quite different varieties." (20/76. 'Youatt on Sheep' page 315.) I have seen several analogous and well marked cases with pigeons: for instance, I had a family of barbs descended from those long bred by Sir J. Sebright, and another family long bred by another fancier, and the two families plainly differed from each other. Nathusius — and a more competent witness could not be cited — observes that, though the Shorthorns are remarkably uniform in appearance (except in colour), yet the individual character and wishes of each breeder become impressed on his cattle, so that different herds differ slightly from one another. (20/77. 'Ueber Shorthorn Rindvieh' 1857 s. 51.) The Hereford cattle assumed their present well-marked character soon after the year 1769, through careful selection by Mr. Tomkins (20/78. Low 'Domesticated Animals' 1845 page 363.) and the breed has lately split into two strains — one strain having a white face, and differing slightly, it is said (20/79. 'Quarterly Review' 1849 page 392.), in some other points: but there is no reason to believe that this split, the origin of which is unknown, was intentionally made; it may with much more probability be attributed to different breeders having attended to different points. So again, the Berkshire breed of swine in the year 1810 had greatly changed from what it was in 1780; and since 1810 at least two distinct sub-breeds have arisen bearing the same name. (20/80. H. von Nathusius 'Vorstudien...Schweineschadel' 1864 s 140.) Keeping in mind how rapidly all animals increase, and that some must be annually slaughtered and some saved for breeding, then, if the same breeder during a long course of years deliberately settles which shall be saved and which shall be killed, it is almost inevitable that his individual turn of mind will influence the character of his stock, without his having had any intention to modify the breed.

Unconscious selection in the strictest sense of the word, that is, the saving of the more useful animals and the neglect or slaughter of the less useful, without any thought of the future, must have gone on occasionally from the remotest period and amongst the most barbarous nations. Savages often suffer from famines, and are sometimes expelled by war from their own homes. In such cases it can hardly be doubted that they would save their most useful animals. When the Fuegians are hard pressed by want, they kill their old women for food rather than their dogs; for, as we were assured, "old women no use — dogs catch otters." The same sound sense would surely lead them to preserve their more useful dogs when still harder pressed by famine. Mr. Oldfield, who has seen so much of the aborigines of Australia, informs me that "they are all very glad to get a European kangaroo dog, and several instances have been known of the father killing his own infant that the mother might suckle the much-prized puppy." Different kinds of dogs would be useful to the Australian for hunting opossums and kangaroos, and to the Fuegian for catching fish and otters; and the occasional preservation in the two countries of the most useful animals would ultimately lead to the formation of two widely distinct breeds.

With plants, from the earliest dawn of civilisation, the best variety which was known would generally have been cultivated at each period and its seeds occasionally sown; so that there will have been some selection from an extremely remote period, but without any prefixed standard of excellence or thought of the future. We at the present day profit by a course of selection occasionally and unconsciously carried on during thousands of years. This is proved in an interesting manner by Oswald Heer's researches on the lake- inhabitants of Switzerland, as given in a former chapter; for he shows that the grain and seed of our present varieties of wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, lentils, and poppy, exceed in size those which were cultivated in Switzerland during the Neolithic and Bronze periods. These ancient people, during the Neolithic period, possessed also a crab considerably larger than that now growing wild on the Jura. (20/81. See also Dr. Christ in Rutimeyer's 'Pfahlbauten' 1861 s. 226.) The pears described by Pliny were evidently extremely inferior in quality to our present pears. We can realise the effects of long-continued selection and cultivation in another way, for would any one in his senses expect to raise a first-rate apple from the seed of a truly wild crab, or a luscious melting pear from the wild pear? Alphonse de Candolle informs me that he has lately seen on an ancient mosaic at Rome a representation of the melon; and as the Rotnans, who were such gourmands, are silent on this fruit, he infers that the melon has been greatly ameliorated since the classical period.

Coming to later times, Buffon (20/82. The passage is given 'Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat.' 1858 page 11.) on comparing the flowers, fruit, and vegetables which were then cultivated with some excellent drawings made a hundred and fifty years previously, was struck with surprise at the great improvement which had been effected; and remarks that these ancient flowers and vegetables would now be rejected, not only by a florist but by a village gardener. Since the time of Buffon the work of improvement has steadily and rapidly gone on. Every florist who compares our present flowers with those figured in books published not long since, is astonished at the change. A well-known amateur (20/83. 'Journal of Horticulture' 1862 page 394.), in speaking of the varieties of Pelargonium raised by Mr. Garth only twenty-two years before, remarks, "What a rage they excited: surely we had attained perfection, it was said; and now not one of the flowers of those days will be looked at. But none the less is the debt of gratitude which we owe to those who saw what was to be done, and did it." Mr. Paul, the well-known horticulturist, in writing of the same flower (20/84. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1857 page 85.), says he remembers when young being delighted with the portraits in Sweet's work; "but what are they in point of beauty compared with the Pelargoniums of this day? Here again nature did not advance by leaps; the improvement was gradual, and if we had neglected those very gradual advances, we must have foregone the present grand results." How well this practical horticulturist appreciates and illustrates the gradual and accumulative force of selection! The Dahlia has advanced in beauty in a like manner; the line of improvement being guided by fashion, and by the successive modifications which the flower slowly underwent. (20/85. See Mr. Wildman's address to the Floricult. Soc. in 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1843 page 86.) A steady and gradual change has been noticed in many other flowers: thus an old florist (20/86. 'Journal of Horticulture' October 24, 1865 page 239.), after describing the leading varieties of the Pink which were grown in 1813 adds, "the pinks of those days would now be scarcely grown as border- flowers." The improvement of so many flowers and the number of the varieties which have been raised is all the more striking when we hear that the earliest known flower-garden in Europe, namely at Padua, dates only from the year 1545. (20/87. Prescott 'Hist. of Mexico' volume 2 page 61.)

EFFECTS OF SELECTION, AS SHOWN BY THE PARTS MOST VALUED BY MAN PRESENTING THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF DIFFERENCE.

The power of long-continued selection, whether methodical or unconscious, or both combined, is well shown in a general way, namely, by the comparison of the differences between the varieties of distinct species, which are valued for different parts, such as for the leaves, or stems, or tubers, the seed, or fruit, or flowers. Whatever part man values most, that part will be found to present the greatest amount of difference. With trees cultivated for their fruit, Sageret remarks that the fruit is larger than in the parent-species, whilst with those cultivated for the seed, as with nuts, walnuts, almonds, chestnuts, etc., it is the seed itself which is larger; and he accounts for this fact by the fruit in the one case, and by the seed in the other, having been carefully attended to and selected during many ages. Gallesio has made the same observation. Godron insists on the diversity of the tuber in the potato, of the bulb in the onion, and of the fruit in the melon; and on the close similarity of the other parts in these same plants. (20/88. Sagaret 'Pomologie Physiologique' 1830 page 47; Gallesio 'Teoria della Riproduzione' 1816 page 88; Godron 'De l'Espece' 1859 tome 2 pages 63, 67, 70. In my tenth and eleventh chapters I have given details on the potato; and I can confirm similar remarks with respect to the onion. I have also shown how far Naudin concurs in regard to the varieties of the melon.)

In order to judge how far my own impression on this subject was correct, I cultivated numerous varieties of the same species close to one another. The comparison of the amount of difference between widely different organs is necessarily vague; I will therefore give the results in only a few cases. We have previously seen in the ninth chapter how greatly the varieties of the cabbage differ in their foliage and stems, which are the selected parts, and how closely they resemble one another in their flowers, capsules, and seeds. In seven varieties of the radish, the roots differed greatly in colour and shape, but no difference whatever could be detected in their foliage, flowers, or seeds. Now what a contrast is presented, if we compare the flowers of the varieties of these two plants with those of any species cultivated in our flower-gardens for ornament; or if we compare their seeds with those of the varieties of maize, peas, beans, etc., which are valued and cultivated for their seeds. In the ninth chapter it was shown that the varieties of the pea differ but little except in the tallness of the plant, moderately in the shape of the pod, and greatly in the pea itself, and these are all selected points. The varieties, however, of the Pois sans parchemin differ much more in their pods, and these are eaten and valued. I cultivated twelve varieties of the common bean; one alone, the Dwarf Fan, differed considerably in general appearance; two differed in the colour of their flowers, one being an albino, and the other being wholly instead of partially purple; several differed considerably in the shape and size of the pod, but far more in the bean itself, and this is the valued and selected part. Toker's bean, for instance, is twice-and-a-half as long and broad as the horse-bean, and is much thinner and of a different shape.

The varieties of the gooseberry, as formerly described, differ much in their fruit, but hardly perceptibly in their flowers or organs of vegetation. With the plum, the differences likewise appear to be greater in the fruit than in the flowers or leaves. On the other hand, the seed of the strawberry, which corresponds with the fruit of the plum, differs hardly at all; whilst every one knows how greatly the fruit — that is, the enlarged receptacle — differs in several varieties. In apples, pears, and peaches the flowers and leaves differ considerably, but not, as far as I can judge, in proportion with the fruit. The Chinese double-flowering peaches, on the other hand, show that varieties of this tree have been formed, which differ more in flower than in fruit. If, as is highly probable, the peach is the modified descent of the almond, a surprising amount of change has been effected in the same species, in the fleshy covering of the former and in the kernels of the latter.

When parts stand in close relationship to each other, such as the seed and the fleshy covering of the fruit (whatever its homological nature may be), changes in the one are usually accompanied by modifications in the other, though not necessarily to the same degree. With the plum-tree, for instance, some varieties produce plums which are nearly alike, but include stones extremely dissimilar in shape; whilst conversely other varieties produce dissimilar fruit with barely distinguishable stones; and generally the stones, though they have never been subjected to selection, differ greatly in the several varieties of the plum. In other cases organs which are not manifestly related, through some unknown bond vary together, and are consequently liable, without any intention on man's part, to be simultaneously acted on by selection. Thus the varieties of the stock (Matthiola) have been selected solely for the beauty of their flowers, but the seeds differ greatly in colour and somewhat in size. Varieties of the lettuce have been selected solely on account of their leaves, yet produce seeds which likewise differ in colour. Generally, through the law of correlation, when a variety differs greatly from its fellow-varieties in any one character, it differs to a certain extent in several other characters. I observed this fact when I cultivated together many varieties of the same species, for I used first to make a list of the varieties which differed most from each other in their foliage and manner of growth, afterwards of those that differed most in their flowers, then in their seed-capsules, and lastly in their mature seed; and I found that the same names generally occurred in two, three, or four of the successive lists. Nevertheless the greatest amount of difference between the varieties was always exhibited, as far as I could judge, by that part or organ for which the plant was cultivated.

When we bear in mind that each plant was at first cultivated because useful to man, and that its variation was a subsequent, often a long subsequent, event, we cannot explain the greater amount of diversity in the valuable parts by supposing that species endowed with an especial tendency to vary in any particular manner were originally chosen. We must attribute the result to the variations in these parts having been successively preserved, and thus continually augmented; whilst other variations, excepting such as inevitably appeared through correlation, were neglected and lost. We may therefore infer that most plants might be made, through long-continued selection, to yield races as different from one another in any character as they now are in those parts for which they are valued and cultivated.

With animals we see nothing of the same kind; but a sufficient number of species have not been domesticated for a fair comparison. Sheep are valued for their wool, and the wool differs much more in the several races than the hair in cattle. Neither sheep, goats, European cattle, nor pigs are valued for their fleetness or strength; and we do not possess breeds differing in these respects like the racehorse and dray-horse. But fleetness and strength are valued in camels and dogs; and we have with the former the swift dromedary and heavy camel; with the latter the greyhound and mastiff. But dogs are valued even in a higher degree for their mental qualities and senses; and every one knows how greatly the races differ in these respects. On the other hand, where the dog is kept solely to serve for food, as in the Polynesian islands and China, it is described as an extremely stupid animal. (20/89. Godron 'De l'Espece' tome 2 page 27.) Blumenbach remarks that "many dogs, such as the badger-dog, have a build so marked and so appropriate for particular purposes, that I should find it very difficult to persuade myself that this astonishing figure was an accidental consequence of degeneration." (20/90. 'The Anthropological Treatises of Blumenbach' 1856 page 292.) Had Blumenbach reflected on the great principle of selection, he would not have used the term degeneration, and he would not have been astonished that dogs and other animals should become excellently adapted for the service of man.

On the whole we may conclude that whatever part or character is most valued — whether the leaves, stems, tubers, bulbs, flowers, fruit, or seed of plants, or the size, strength, fleetness, hairy covering, or intellect of animals — that character will almost invariably be found to present the greatest amount of difference both in kind and degree. And this result may be safely attributed to man having preserved during a long course of generations the variations which were useful to him, and neglected the others.

I will conclude this chapter by some remarks on an important subject. With animals such as the giraffe, of which the whole structure is admirably co- ordinated for certain purposes, it has been supposed that all the parts must have been simultaneously modified; and it has been argued that, on the principle of natural selection, this is scarcely possible. But in thus arguing, it has been tacitly assumed that the variations must have been abrupt and great. No doubt, if the neck of a ruminant were suddenly to become greatly elongated, the fore limbs and back would have to be simultaneously strengthened and modified; but it cannot be denied that an animal might have its neck, or head, or tongue, or fore-limbs elongated a very little without any corresponding modification in other parts of the body; and animals thus slightly modified would, during a dearth, have a slight advantage, and be enabled to browse on higher twigs, and thus survive. A few mouthfuls more or less every day would make all the difference between life and death. By the repetition of the same process, and by the occasional intercrossing of the survivors, there would be some progress, slow and fluctuating though it would be, towards the admirably coordinated structure of the giraffe. If the short- faced tumbler-pigeon, with its small conical beak, globular head, rounded body, short wings, and small feet — characters which appear all in harmony — had been a natural species, its whole structure would have been viewed as well fitted for its life; but in this case we know that inexperienced breeders are urged to attend to point after point, and not to attempt improving the whole structure at the same time. Look at the greyhound, that perfect image of grace, symmetry, and vigour; no natural species can boast of a more admirably co-ordinated structure, with its tapering head, slim body, deep chest, tucked- up abdomen, rat-like tail, and long muscular limbs, all adapted for extreme fleetness, and for running down weak prey. Now, from what we see of the variability of animals, and from what we know of the method which different men follow in improving their stock — some chiefly attending to one point, others to another point, others again correcting defects by crosses, and so forth — we may feel assured that if we could see the long line of ancestors of a first-rate greyhound up to its wild wolf-like progenitor, we should behold an infinite number of the finest gradations, sometimes in one character and sometimes in another, but all leading towards our present perfect type. By small and doubtful steps such as these, nature, as we may confidently believe, has progressed, on her grand march of improvement and development.

A similar line of reasoning is as applicable to separate organs as to the whole organisation. A writer (20/91. Mr. J.J. Murphy in his opening address to the Belfast Nat. Hist. Soc. as given in the 'Belfast Northern Whig' November 19, 1866. Mr. Murphy here follows the line of argument against my views previously and more cautiously given by the Rev. C. Pritchard, Pres. Royal Astronomical Soc., in his sermon Appendix page 33 preached before the British Association at Nottingham 1866.) has recently maintained that "it is probably no exaggeration to suppose that in order to improve such an organ as the eye at all, it must be improved in ten different ways at once. And the improbability of any complex organ being produced and brought to perfection in any such way is an improbability of the same kind and degree as that of producing a poem or a mathematical demonstration by throwing letters at random on a table." If the eye were abruptly and greatly modified, no doubt many parts would have to be simultaneously altered, in order that the organ should remain serviceable.

But is this the case with smaller changes? There are persons who can see distinctly only in a dull light, and this condition depends, I believe, on the abnormal sensitiveness of the retina, and is known to be inherited. Now if a bird, for instance, receive some great advantage from seeing well in the twilight, all the individuals with the most sensitive retina would succeed best and be the most likely to survive; and why should not all those which happened to have the eye itself a little larger, or the pupil capable of greater dilatation, be likewise preserved, whether or not these modifications were strictly simultaneous? These individuals would subsequently intercross and blend their respective advantages. By such slight successive changes, the eye of a diurnal bird would be brought into the condition of that of an owl, which has often been advanced as an excellent instance of adaptation. Short- sight, which is often inherited, permits a person to see distinctly a minute object at so near a distance that it would be indistinct to ordinary eyes; and here we have a capacity which might be serviceable under certain conditions, abruptly gained. The Fuegians on board the Beagle could certainly see distant objects more distinctly than our sailors with all their long practice; I do not know whether this depends upon sensitiveness or on the power of adjustment in the focus; but this capacity for distant vision might, it is probable, be slightly augmented by successive modifications of either kind. Amphibious animals which are enabled to see both in the water and in the air, require and possess, as M. Plateau has shown (20/92. On the Vision of Fishes and Amphibia, translated in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' volume 18 1866 page 469.), eyes constructed on the following plan: "the cornea is always flat, or at least much flattened in the front of the crystalline and over a space equal to the diameter of that lens, whilst the lateral portions may be much curved." The crystalline is very nearly a sphere, and the humours have nearly the same density as water. Now as a terrestrial animal became more and more aquatic in its habits, very slight changes, first in the curvature of the cornea or crystalline, and then in the density of the humours, or conversely, might successively occur, and would be advantageous to the animal whilst under water, without serious detriment to its power of vision in the air. It is of course impossible to conjecture by what steps the fundamental structure of the eye in the Vertebrata was originally acquired, for we know nothing about this organ in the first progenitors of the class. With respect to the lowest animals in the scale, the transitional states through which the eye at first probably passed, can by the aid of analogy be indicated, as I have attempted to show in my 'Origin of Species.' (20/93. Sixth edition 1872 page 144.)

CHAPTER 2.XXI

SELECTION, continued.

NATURAL SELECTION AS AFFECTING DOMESTIC PRODUCTIONS. CHARACTERS WHICH APPEAR OF TRIFLING VALUE OFTEN OF REAL IMPORTANCE. CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO SELECTION BY MAN. FACILITY IN PREVENTING CROSSES, AND THE NATURE OF THE CONDITIONS. CLOSE ATTENTION AND PERSEVERANCE INDISPENSABLE. THE PRODUCTION OF A LARGE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS ESPECIALLY FAVOURABLE. WHEN NO SELECTION IS APPLIED, DISTINCT RACES ARE NOT FORMED. HIGHLY-BRED ANIMALS LIABLE TO DEGENERATION. TENDENCY IN MAN TO CARRY THE SELECTION OF EACH CHARACTER TO AN EXTREME POINT, LEADING TO DIVERGENCE OF CHARACTER, RARELY TO CONVERGENCE. CHARACTERS CONTINUING TO VARY IN THE SAME DIRECTION IN WHICH THEY HAVE ALREADY VARIED. DIVERGENCE OF CHARACTER, WITH THE EXTINCTION OF INTERMEDIATE VARIETIES, LEADS TO DISTINCTNESS IN OUR DOMESTIC RACES. LIMIT TO THE POWER OF SELECTION. LAPSE OF TIME IMPORTANT. MANNER IN WHICH DOMESTIC RACES HAVE ORIGINATED. SUMMARY.

NATURAL SELECTION, OR THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, AS AFFECTING DOMESTIC PRODUCTIONS.

We know little on this head. But as animals kept by savages have to provide throughout the year their own food either entirely or to a large extent, it can hardly be doubted that in different countries, varieties differing in constitution and in various characters would succeed best, and so be naturally selected. Hence perhaps it is that the few domesticated animals kept by savages partake, as has been remarked by more than one writer, of the wild appearance of their masters, and likewise resemble natural species. Even in long-civilised countries, at least in the wilder parts, natural selection must act on our domestic races. It is obvious that varieties having very different habits, constitution, and structure, would succeed best on mountains and on rich lowland pastures. For example, the improved Leicester sheep were formerly taken to the Lammermuir Hills; but an intelligent sheep-master reported that "our coarse lean pastures were unequal to the task of supporting such heavy- bodied sheep; and they gradually dwindled away into less and less bulk: each generation was inferior to the preceding one; and when the spring was severe, seldom more than two-thirds of the lambs survived the ravages of the storms." (21/1. Quoted by Youatt on 'Sheep' page 325. See also Youatt on 'Cattle' pages 62, 69.) So with the mountain cattle of North Wales and the Hebrides, it has been found that they could not withstand being crossed with the larger and more delicate lowland breeds. Two French naturalists, in describing the horses of Circassia, remark that, subjected as they are to extreme vicissitudes of climate, having to search for scanty pasture, and exposed to constant danger from wolves, the strongest and most vigorous alone survive. (21/2. MM. Lherbette and De Quatrefages in 'Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat.' tome 8 1861 page 311.)

Every one must have been struck with the surpassing grace, strength, and vigour of the Game-cock, with its bold and confident air, its long, yet firm neck, compact body, powerful and closely pressed wings, muscular thighs, strong beak massive at the base, dense and sharp spurs set low on the legs for delivering the fatal blow, and its compact, glossy, and mail-like plumage serving as a defence. Now the English game-cock has not only been improved during many years by man's careful selection, but in addition, as Mr. Tegetmeier has remarked (21/3. 'The Poultry Book' 1866 page 123. Mr. Tegetmeier, 'The Homing or Carrier Pigeon' 1871 pages 45-58.), by a kind of natural selection, for the strongest, most active and courageous birds have stricken down their antagonists in the cockpit, generation after generation, and have subsequently served as the progenitors of their race. The same kind of double selection has come into play with the carrier pigeon, for during their training the inferior birds fail to return home and are lost, so that even without selection by man only the superior birds propagate their race.

In Great Britain, in former times, almost every district had its own breed of cattle and sheep; "they were indigenous to the soil, climate, and pasturage of the locality on which they grazed: they seemed to have been formed for it and by it." (21/4. 'Youatt on Sheep' page 312.) But in this case we are quite unable to disentangle the effects of the direct action of the conditions of life, — of use or habit — of natural selection — and of that kind of selection which we have seen is occasionally and unconsciously followed by man even during the rudest periods of history.

Let us now look to the action of natural selection on special characters. Although nature is difficult to resist, yet man often strives against her power, and sometimes with success. From the facts to be given, it will also be seen that natural selection would powerfully affect many of our domestic productions if left unprotected. This is a point of much interest, for we thus learn that differences apparently of very slight importance would certainly determine the survival of a form when forced to struggle for its own existence. It may have occurred to some naturalists, as it formerly did to me, that, though selection acting under natural conditions would determine the structure of all important organs, yet that it could not affect characters which are esteemed by us of little importance; but this is an error to which we are eminently liable, from our ignorance of what characters are of real value to each living creature.

When man attempts to make a breed with some serious defect in structure, or in the mutual relation of the several parts, he will partly or completely fail, or encounter much difficulty; he is in fact resisted by a form of natural selection. We have seen that an attempt was once made in Yorkshire to breed cattle with enormous buttocks, but the cows perished so often in bringing forth their calves, that the attempt had to be given up. In rearing short- faced tumblers, Mr. Eaton says (21/5. 'Treatise on the Almond Tumbler' 1851 page 33.), "I am convinced that better head and beak birds have perished in the shell than ever were hatched; the reason being that the amazingly short- faced bird cannot reach and break the shell with its beak, and so perishes." Here is a more curious case, in which natural selection comes into play only at long intervals of time: during ordinary seasons the Niata cattle can graze as well as others, but occasionally, as from 1827 to 1830 the plains of La Plata suffer from long-continued droughts and the pasture is burnt up; at such times common cattle and horses perish by the thousand, but many survive by browsing on twigs, reeds, etc.; this the Niata cattle cannot so well effect from their upturned jaws and the shape of their lips; consequently, if not attended to, they perish before the other cattle. In Columbia, according to Roulin, there is a breed of nearly hairless cattle, called Pelones; these succeed in their native hot district, but are found too tender for the Cordillera; in this case, however, natural selection determines only the range of the variety. It is obvious that a host of artificial races could never survive in a state of nature; — such as Italian greyhounds, — hairless and almost toothless Turkish dogs, — fantail pigeons, which cannot fly well against a strong wind, — barbs and Polish fowls, with their vision impeded by their eye wattles and great topknots, — hornless bulls and rams, which consequently cannot cope with other males, and thus have a poor chance of leaving offspring, — seedless plants, and many other such cases.

Colour is generally esteemed by the systematic naturalist as unimportant: let us, therefore, see how far it indirectly affects our domestic productions, and how far it would affect them if they were left exposed to the full force of natural selection. In a future chapter I shall have to show that constitutional peculiarities of the strangest kind, entailing liability to the action of certain poisons, are correlated with the colour of the skin. I will here give a single case, on the high authority of Professor Wyman; he informs me that, being surprised at all the pigs in a part of Virginia being black, he made inquiries, and ascertained that these animals feed on the roots of the Lachnanthes tinctoria, which colours their bones pink, and, excepting in the case of the black varieties, causes the hoofs to drop off. Hence, as one of the squatters remarked, "we select the black members of the litter for raising, as they alone have a good chance of living." So that here we have artificial and natural selection working hand in hand. I may add that in the Tarentino the inhabitants keep black sheep alone, because the Hypericum crispum abounds there; and this plant does not injure black sheep, but kills the white ones in about a fortnight's time. (21/6. Dr. Heusinger 'Wochenschrift fur die Hei1kunde' Berlin 1846 s. 279.)

Complexion, and liability to certain diseases, are believed to run together in man and the lower animals. Thus white terriers suffer more than those of any other colour from the fatal distemper. (21/7. Youatt on the 'Dog' page 232.) In North America plum-trees are liable to a disease which Downing (21/8. 'The Fruit-trees of America' 1845 page 270: for peaches page 466.) believes is not caused by insects; the kinds bearing purple fruit are most affected, "and we have never known the green or yellow fruited varieties infected until the other sorts had first become filled with the knots." On the other hand, peaches in North America suffer much from a disease called the "yellows," which seems to be peculiar to that continent, and more than nine-tenths of the victims, "when the disease first appeared, were the yellow-fleshed peaches. The white-fleshed kinds are much more rarely attacked; in some parts of the country never." In Mauritius, the white sugar-canes have of late years been so severely attacked by a disease, that many planters have been compelled to give up growing this variety (although fresh plants were imported from China for trial), and cultivate only red canes. (21/9. 'Proc. Royal Soc. of Arts and Sciences of Mauritius' 1852 page 135.) Now, if these plants had been forced to struggle with other competing plants and enemies, there cannot be a doubt that the colour of the flesh or skin of the fruit, unimportant as these characters are considered, would have rigorously determined their existence.

Liability to the attacks of parasites is also connected with colour. White chickens are certainly more subject than dark-coloured chickens to the "gapes," which is caused by a parasitic worm in the trachea. (21/10. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1856 page 379.) On the other hand, experience has shown that in France the caterpillars which produce white cocoons resist the deadly fungus better than those producing yellow cocoons. (21/11. Quatrefages 'Maladies Actuelles du Ver a Soie' 1859 pages 12, 214.) Analogous facts have been observed with plants: a new and beautiful white onion, imported from France, though planted close to other kinds, was alone attacked by a parasitic fungus. (21/12. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1851 page 595.) White verbenas are especially liable to mildew. (21/13. 'Journal of Horticulture' 1862 page 476.) Near Malaga, during an early period of the vine-disease, the green sorts suffered most; "and red and black grapes, even when interwoven with the sick plants, suffered not at all." In France whole groups of varieties were comparatively free, and others, such as the Chasselas, did not afford a single fortunate exception; but I do not know whether any correlation between colour and liability to disease was here observed. (21/14. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1852 pages 435, 691.) In a former chapter it was shown how curiously liable one variety of the strawberry is to mildew.

It is certain that insects regulate in many cases the range and even the existence of the higher animals, whilst living under their natural conditions. Under domestication light-coloured animals suffer most: in Thuringia (21/15. Bechstein 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands' 1801 b. 1 s. 310.) the inhabitants do not like grey, white, or pale cattle, because they are much more troubled by various kinds of flies than the brown, red, or black cattle. An Albino negro, it has been remarked (21/16. Prichard 'Phys. Hist. of Mankind' 1851 volume 1 page 224.), was peculiarly sensitive to the bites of insects. In the West Indies (21/17. G. Lewis 'Journal of Residence in West Indies' 'Home and Col. Library' page 100.) it is said that "the only horned cattle fit for work are those which have a good deal of black in them. The white are terribly tormented by the insects; and they are weak and sluggish in proportion to the white."

In Devonshire there is a prejudice against white pigs, because it is believed that the sun blisters them when turned out (21/18. Sidney's edition of Youatt on the 'Pig' page 24. I have given analogous facts in the case of mankind in my 'Descent of Man' 2nd edition page 195.); and I knew a man who would not keep white pigs in Kent, for the same reason. The scorching of flowers by the sun seems likewise to depend much on colour; thus, dark pelargoniums suffer most; and from various accounts it is clear that the cloth-of-gold variety will not withstand a degree of exposure to sunshine which other varieties enjoy. Another amateur asserts that not only all dark-coloured verbenas, but likewise scarlets, suffer from the sun: "the paler kinds stand better, and pale blue is perhaps the best of all." So again with the heartsease (Viola tricolor); hot weather suits the blotched sorts, whilst it destroys the beautiful markings of some other kinds. (21/19. 'Journal of Horticulture' 1862 pages 476, 498; 1865 page 460. With respect to the heartsease 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1863 page 628.) During one extremely cold season in Holland all red-flowered hyacinths were observed to be very inferior in quality. It is believed by many agriculturists that red wheat is hardier in northern climates than white wheat. (21/20. 'Des Jacinthes, de leur Culture' 1768 page 53: on wheat 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1846 page 653.)