Hybridization and Selection 



297 



Fig. 186. Vegetable trial grounds of the Office of Seed and Plant Introduction, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 



Mode of inheritance the same in plants and animals. One of 



the most remarkable facts of heredity is the similarity of behavior 

 of hereditary factors in both plants and animals. Not only can 

 we predict from the behavior of one plant what will occur in 

 another plant, but we can predict in many instances what will 

 happen in animals. This may be taken as further evidence of 

 the essential similarity and close relationship of plants and 

 animals. 



Selection. The heritable variations or mutations and the 

 products of hybridization furnish the materials from which valu- 

 able new varieties of animals and plants may be isolated. The 

 plant breeder grows large numbers of plants derived in these 

 several ways in gardens which h^e calls " plots," in order to 

 determine what the plants do or how they will behave under a 

 certain set of conditions. Then, from among the hundreds or 

 thousands of individuals he selects those most nearly approach- 



