444 The Living Plant 



compel plants to go as he wishes, but he can lead them in any 

 direction they are capable of going. The forces of improvement 

 lie deep inside of the plants themselves, seething and smoldering 

 ready for an outbreak; all that man can do is to suppress or bank 

 them in places where they are doing no good, and give them free 

 vent where they can produce beneficent results. The method of 

 effecting desired results through the guidance of internal forces is 

 not, however, confined to plant breeding, but is that by which all 

 great organizers of large enterprises, and all great leaders of men, 

 effect their successes. By this method they succeed when those 

 who try to force the improvement from without meet only with 

 failure. 



