* * * *
Natural Degeneration This point was raised with one of the growers of those superlative vegetables, and he justified his art persuasively. Everyone who has grown any annual plant from seed will know the truth of his argument. All our highly developed garden growths—green peas, hollyhocks or what-not—utterly relapse if left to themselves. Let a crop of Shirley poppies seed themselves and within a year or two every seedling will bear a close resemblance to the red poppy that spoils and glorifies the wheatfields of East Anglia. As for the wheat itself, if left to seed itself it would totally disappear. Within three or at the most four years (so an experimenter decided) you would seek in vain for a single plant. The glorious wheat harvest of this year, though it grew with such apparent lustiness and hardihood, would not leave a trace behind. Yeoman II or Square Head Master, or Victor or Wilhehnina would be words of the past.
* * *
Previous page
