Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1871-08-12
NEWPORT, SATURDAY, AUG. II, 1871.

product of one was 7 lb. I on. The tubers
were generally quite uniform in size and
shape; several exceeded II pound each, and
the largest one in the lot weighed twenty
ounces. In adjoining rows the Early Rose
averaged lbs. 5 on. Several hills of Sebcc
ranged from 10 or to , lbs. 3 or. of White
Peach Blow, from . lbs. Is on. to 5 lbs. II
or. and of Peerless, from lbs. = on. to 5
lbs. 5 on.
It has afforded me much interest, while
critically examining the offspring of these
four different crosses, Scbec, White Peach
Blow. and Black Mercer, each worked on
the Early Rose, to observe the operation of
the laws ofinherltancc in cross-breeding, and
to trace back to its parents the several char
acters of each variety. For this was almost
invariably able to do. | am now prepared by
this experience, as well as by some others of
late, to attribute higher Importance than my
reading had led me To do, to the influence of
the male parent, and in future must select my
pollen with even greater care. The characters
of these seedlings may, in general terms, be
said to be intermediate between those of the
two parents. Yet, it sometimes happened in
II family of seedlings, that the father and the
mother were exactly reproduced Between
these extremes, however, it would seem us
though every possible gradation were occu-
pied, Us the various characters of both par
would seem that the different characters of
the parents lad been separated from the
original combinations, and having been
shaken together in common, prOmiscucOus
whole, that then that mass had been called
to supply material, just as chanced to come,
for each new form. Thus one of the new
varieties has some of the characters of one
parent blended with some derived from the
Other one. But this illustration is not COM
nIptp a. a ri
to have been composed of I'M infinite number
ofunits, (and those capable of selt-multiplica-
ton, tOO,) for its reappearance in the progeny
was accompanied with great notifications in
degree. Sometimes the characters reappear-
ed, aggravated or intensified to the fullest ex-
tent. For instance, the light tinge of red of
the Early Rose, which shows deeper red in
small, immature tubers, and often enters the
flesh in faint crimson streaks, in II few of
the seedlings displayed on the surface us deep
rose, and pervaded the flesh rs II blaze of
crimson. The even surface of the Early
Rose proved prepotent character, and
impressed some varieties so strongly that
their surfaces were almost us free from in
dcntations us an egg. The faint streaks of
purple about the eyes of the Sebec came, in
some of its descendants, to cover the whole
tuber with the deepest purple OF black, rem
derering valueless some of the earliest and
otherwise most promising sorts. The deep
eyes of the Sebec were sometimes sunk still
deeper, so that from the deletcrious influence
of these two characters (,tnd in the Sebec it.
self they are not so prominent us to dctact
much from its value,) was compelled to
reject nearly all its seedlings. Nor were
those characters which might be supposed
to be less positive without their influence;
as when the bars of white on the Black Mer-
Ger gave two white seedlings to one purple
one In the case Of these Mercer seedlings,
it would seem that the colors of the Mercer
were separated, the units of each (if we may
so speak) having greater affinity for each
other than for those of the opposite kind, re-
fusing to blend again. The plants rs well as
the tubers presented illustrations of the prin-
ciple that crossing favors extreme variabili-
ty. Some were much more dwarf than the
Early Rose; others spread wider than the
Excelsior. The leaflets of the Excelsior are
of moderate breadth; some of its seedlings
bore those in shape like an ash leaf. Those
of one variety advanced so much from the