﻿96 
  Elementary 
  Species 
  

  

  and 
  needs, 
  and 
  this 
  is 
  a 
  question 
  of 
  improve- 
  

   ment. 
  

  

  The 
  fact 
  that 
  our 
  cultivated 
  plants 
  are 
  com- 
  

   monly 
  mixtures 
  of 
  different 
  sorts, 
  has 
  not 
  al- 
  

   ways 
  been 
  known. 
  The 
  first 
  to 
  recognize 
  it 
  seems 
  

   to 
  have 
  been 
  the 
  Spanish 
  professor 
  of 
  botany, 
  

   Mariano 
  Lagasca, 
  who 
  published 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  

   Spanish 
  papers 
  dealing 
  with 
  useful 
  plants 
  and 
  

   botanical 
  subjects 
  between 
  1810 
  and 
  1830, 
  

   among 
  them 
  a 
  catalogue 
  of 
  plants 
  cultivated 
  in 
  

   the 
  Madrid 
  Botanical 
  Garden. 
  Once 
  when 
  he 
  

   was 
  on 
  a 
  visit 
  to 
  Colonel 
  Le 
  Couteur 
  on 
  his 
  farm 
  

   in 
  Jersey, 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  Channel 
  Islands 
  off 
  the 
  

   coast 
  of 
  France, 
  in 
  discussing 
  the 
  value 
  of 
  the 
  

   fields 
  of 
  wheat, 
  he 
  pointed 
  out 
  to 
  his 
  host, 
  that 
  

   they 
  were 
  not 
  really 
  pure 
  and 
  uniform, 
  as 
  was 
  

   thought 
  at 
  that 
  time, 
  and 
  suggested 
  the 
  idea 
  

   that 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  constituents 
  might 
  form 
  a 
  

   larger 
  part 
  in 
  the 
  harvest 
  than 
  others. 
  In 
  a 
  

   single 
  field 
  he 
  succeeded 
  in 
  distinguishing 
  no 
  

   less 
  than 
  23 
  varieties, 
  all 
  growing 
  together. 
  

   Colonel 
  Le 
  Couteur 
  took 
  the 
  hint, 
  and 
  saved 
  the 
  

   seeds 
  of 
  a 
  single 
  plant 
  of 
  each 
  supposed 
  va- 
  

   riety 
  separately. 
  These 
  he 
  cultivated 
  and 
  mul- 
  

   tiplied 
  till 
  he 
  got 
  large 
  lots 
  of 
  each 
  and 
  could 
  

   compare 
  their 
  value. 
  From 
  among 
  them 
  he 
  

   then 
  chose 
  the 
  variety 
  producing 
  the 
  greatest 
  

   amount 
  of 
  the 
  finest, 
  whitest 
  and 
  most 
  nu- 
  

   tritious 
  flour. 
  This 
  he 
  eventually 
  placed 
  in 
  the 
  

  

  