down to hard ground. That isn't so good. You loosen
up the bottom and put your plants evenly over the ground and put in a
little dirt, and if you have it a little barnyard manure.

Mr. Miller: I suppose the idea of putting that in the bottom is that it
is so hard to cultivate the manure on the top without doing as you
mentioned?

The Running Out of Varieties.

PROF. C. B. WALDRON, HORTICULTURIST, AGRI. COLLEGE, N.D.

There is no fact more familiar to gardeners, orchardists and farmers
than the "running out" of varieties, and no question that is more
obscure as to its causes. The possibility of deterioration of varieties
is noted to a greater or less extent in all field and garden crops,
particularly with those that are most highly developed, or which
represent the greatest departure from the original species.

It is evident that the cause must lie either in the environment which
surrounds the variety or in the selection which it has received, or in a
combination of the two. It is held also by some that aside from the
influence of soil and climate, and in spite of the most rigid selection,
there is an inherent tendency in varieties to depart in a more or less
marked degree from the type in which they first appeared. This is
particularly true of new varieties that have not yet become established.
Almost before the plant breeder can determine their type they have
broken up into so many distinct forms that it is impossible to get any
further than the first generation.

This has been noted several times with new varieties of squashes and
other cucurbits, and to a similar but less marked degree with tomatoes
and some other garden crops. These might well be termed evanescent
varieties, and since they never become fixed or find their way into
cultivation they are of interest only to the plant breeder.

The influence of environment, particularly soil and climate, upon the
size, quality and productiveness of certain garden crops is well known,
though just what effect this may have in determining the hereditary
character of a variety has never been very well worked out and is still
a matter of much doubt. We know, for instance, that there is a tendency
for corn grown in the middle or southern latitude to attain to a larger
size and require a longer period for maturity than the same corn grown
in the north. This tendency is shown in the first generation, but
whether it appears as a constant hereditary character or n