THE GARDENERS SELECTION. 1 53 



Now, by what means does man produce this extraordinarj^ 

 difference or divergence of several forms which are proved 

 to be descended from the same primary form ? In order to 

 answer this question, let us follow a gardener who desires 

 to produce a new form of a plant, which is distinguished by 

 the beautiful colour of its flowers. He will first of all make 

 a selection from a great number of plants which are seed- 

 lings from one and the same parent. He will pick out 

 those plants which exhibit most distinctly the colour of 

 flower he desires. The colour of flowers is a very change- 

 able thing. Plants, for example, which as a rule have a 

 white flower, frequently show deviations into the blue or 

 red. Now, supposing the gardener wishes to obtain the red 

 colour in a plant usually producing white flowers, he will 

 very carefully, from among the many different individuals 

 which are the descendants of one and the same seed-plant, se- 

 lect those which most distinctly show a reddish tint, and sow 

 them exclusively, in order to produce new individuals of the 

 same kind. He would cast aside and no longer cultivate 

 the other seedlings which show a white or less distinct 

 red colour. He will propagate exclusively the individual 

 plants whose blossoms show the red most markedly, and he 

 will sow the seeds produced by these selected plants. From 

 the seedlings of this second generation, he will again care- 

 fully select those in which the red, which is now visible in 

 the majority of them, is most distinctly displayed. If 

 such a selection is carried on during a series of six or ten 

 generations, and if the flower which shows the deepest red 

 is most carefully selected, the gardener in the sixth or tenth 

 generation will obtain the desired plants with flowers of a 

 pure red. 



