﻿72 
  Elementary 
  Species 
  

  

  tion, 
  is 
  supported 
  in 
  a 
  large 
  measure 
  by 
  the 
  his- 
  

   toric 
  fact 
  that 
  the 
  most 
  of 
  them 
  are 
  far 
  older 
  

   than 
  the 
  method 
  of 
  conscious 
  selection 
  of 
  plants 
  

   itself. 
  This 
  method 
  is 
  due 
  to 
  Louis 
  Vilmorin 
  

   and 
  dates 
  from 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  last 
  century. 
  

   But 
  in 
  the 
  sixteenth 
  century 
  most 
  of 
  our 
  present 
  

   varieties 
  of 
  beets 
  were 
  already 
  in 
  cultivation. 
  

   Caspar 
  Bauhin 
  gives 
  a 
  list 
  of 
  the 
  beets 
  of 
  his 
  

   time 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  difficult 
  to 
  recognize 
  in 
  it 
  a 
  

   large 
  series 
  of 
  subspecies 
  and 
  varieties 
  and 
  

   even 
  of 
  special 
  forms, 
  which 
  are 
  still 
  cul- 
  

   tivated. 
  A 
  more 
  complete 
  list 
  was 
  published 
  

   towards 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  century 
  by 
  Olivier 
  

   de 
  Serres 
  in 
  his 
  world-renowned 
  " 
  Theatre 
  

   d 
  ' 
  Agriculture 
  " 
  (Paris, 
  1600). 
  

  

  The 
  red 
  forage-beets 
  which 
  are 
  now 
  cultivated 
  

   on 
  so 
  large 
  a 
  scale, 
  had 
  been 
  introduced 
  from 
  

   Italy 
  into 
  France 
  only 
  a 
  short 
  time 
  before. 
  

  

  From 
  this 
  historic 
  evidence, 
  the 
  period 
  during 
  

   which 
  the 
  beets 
  were 
  cultivated 
  from 
  the 
  time 
  

   of 
  the 
  Romans 
  or 
  perhaps 
  much 
  later, 
  up 
  to 
  the 
  

   time 
  of 
  Bauhin 
  and 
  De 
  Serres, 
  would 
  seem 
  far 
  

   too 
  short 
  for 
  the 
  production 
  by 
  the 
  unguided 
  se- 
  

   lection 
  of 
  man 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  now 
  existing 
  types. 
  On 
  

   the 
  other 
  hand, 
  the 
  parallelism 
  between 
  the 
  

   characters 
  of 
  some 
  wild 
  and 
  some 
  cultivated 
  

   varieties 
  goes 
  to 
  make 
  it 
  very 
  probable 
  that 
  

   other 
  varieties 
  have 
  been 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  same 
  

   way, 
  some 
  in 
  this 
  country 
  and 
  others 
  in 
  that, 
  

  

  