If the reader revert to page 6, Fig. 3, he will see that the progress from a wild to a better root-form is marked by a more fleshy, but still a much forked, or finger-and-toed example. Now as it is held that a clear unbranched outline is essential to a well-formed root crop of every kind, whenever a crop becomes fingered-and-toed, it is looked upon as a disease. It must be understood that we are here speaking of finger-and-toe as distinct from anbury, which latter is a decidedly diseased condition, whether caused by insects or resulting, as some affirm, from a defect in the soil. The difference in the two states may be briefly summed up as follows:— FINGER-AND-TOE. | ANBURY. | Root simply branched or forked, | Root infested with irregular with tapering fleshy rootlets; | nodular protuberances, or with occurs in turnips, parsnips, | tumours suspended by roots, carrots, and mangold. (See | having very much the aspect of figs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, | rows of ginger; occurs in 10.) | turnips alone. (See fig. 12.) The example of a root at page 6 is a good form of a parsnip progressing from wildness to a better cultivated form. We now offer an engraving (fig. 5) of a hollow-crowned crop parsnip, fingered-and-toed, and evidently of a very objectionable form, as it will be seen on comparison how nearly alike are figs. 3 and 5. [Illustration: _Fig. 5._—Finger-and-toed degenerate Parsnip. Half nat. size.] Now, as every degenerate crop of parsnips will be found to offer a large proportion of such roots as fig. 5, we seem bound to conclude that, inasmuch as our fig. 3 _represents a root in progress towards ennobling_, so fig. 5 is that of a root declining to its level,—in other words, degenerating; seed, therefore, that produces such roots can only come from a poor stock. Our next fig. (6) is of a parsnip that had prematurely flowered. Sending up flowered stems the first year, in the case of a biennial, can only be looked upon as an instance of degeneracy. Plants that “run,” as it is termed, being comparatively useless, the best use, indeed, that can be made of them being that of pulling them up and giving them to the pigs. Now this propensity is always accompanied with forked roots, more especially in carrots, which roots are even more degenerate than those represented in figs. 3 and 5, as those were fleshy and succulent; but when the roots of runners are examined, they are always found to be tough and woody, and, in fact, they very nearly resemble the wild examples. [Illustration: _Fig. 6._ Carrot of First Year run to Seed. Half nat. size.] Fig. 7 is taken from a carrot that has run, and its rough, woody, nodular, forked root is fully apparent. [Illustration: _Fig. 7._ Forked Carrot run to seed. Half nat. size.] [Illustration: _Fig. 8._ Forked Belgian Carrot. Half nat. size.]