I have no reason to doubt the correctness of Mr. Carman's statement that in his experiments with wheat some of the offspring differed slightly from the parents. But it is an open question whether those differences were due to the means he employed or to the inherent tendency of this plant to vary, without the aid of cross-fertilization. It is admitted that crossing cannot be accomplished through natural agencies, and if so one of two things must be true, either the earliest inhabitants of the globe understood cross-fertilization as practiced by Mr. C, or all the varieties known until a recent period were the result of cultivation, pure and simple. We cannot believe that the first method was known at an early date, otherwise the ancients do not receive as much credit from the moderns as they deserve. And we are assured that in the wheat plant varieties have been obtained without the aid of artificial crossing.

No better illustration can be given of this variable tendency than is presented by the experiments of M. Fabre, of France, on AEgilops ovata, an annual grass common in the south of Europe, and still used as an article of food by the poorer classes of Sicily. In 1838, M. Fabre sowed the seed of this grass, and continued the process for eight years in succession, at the end of which time he obtained a fair sample of wheat. This was disputed at the time and caused quite a controversy, the substance of which was published in the London Gardener's Chronicle, in the year 1846 or 1847. A similar series of experiments was conducted by Prof. Buckman, of England, between the years 1855 and 1859, which resulted in confirming M. Fabre's reports in every particular. In the latter case modification took place by the disappearance of the awns of the palets and the shortening of those which spring from the lateral ribs of the glumes; the ears at the same time losing their fragility, and the increase of the grain in size, etc.

Whilst these experiments were in progress, considerable variation would no doubt be observed in the annual crops, and we cannot suppose that in either case a point was reached beyond which no further change could take place. Varieties so obtained may possess characters that are comparatively stable, but secondary traits such as color and size of grain, large or small ears, earliness or latenesss, weight of straw, etc, might all occur through diversity of soil, climate, etc, and these we claim to be the chief agents in producing the different varieties of wheat. There is nothing in this but that might be accomplished by an unintelligent people impelled by the pressing law of necessity, acting upon their natural instincts and sagacity.

Whether AEgilops ovata is to be regarded as the prototype of the varieties of wheat in cultivation has not yet been determined, but from the glimpes we obtain of its use by the earliest settlers of Europe, it undoubtedly has played an important part in this connection. We know that before history began to be written, and whilst the Europeans made war upon each other and the brute creation, with weapons made of stone and bone, AEgilops was not unknown to them as an article of food. For in the lake dwellings of Switzerland it has been found associated with the relics of that primitive people in such a state of preservation as to leave no room to doubt its relationship with wheat.

In all the accounts which have come under our notice in reference to the amelioration of this grain, no mention is made of crossing having been resorted to as a means to that end. Perhaps there is not now a true hybrid in cultivation. If there is, how, where and from what species obtained? It is true Mr. Carman tells us he has crossed wheats hundreds of times, and Mr. Beaton as unequivocally asserts that to do so is impossible. When statements are so opposite a fallacy must lurk somewhere, and all we are after is to know the facts of the case. As Mr. Beaton was a close observer and painstaking experimentalist, I have hitherto placed much confidence in his statements, and chiefly because they are in harmony with my own observations on related cleistogamous plants. It would seem that there is something in the economy of such plants that requires concealment, but if by such handling as has been described, nature can be made to swerve from the ordinary course by the invasion of her private compartments while performing special work; and if Mr. C. has been successful in getting in advance of the normal process of fertilization in his experiments, nothing remains for us but to accept his conclusions, however opposed they may be to preconceived opinions.