38 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



breeder perceives by a lightning like glance. The work is not easy, requiring 

 an exceedingly keen perception of minute dififerences, great practice and ex- 

 treme care in treating the organisms operated upon ; and even with all the 

 naturally acquired variations added to those secured by crossing and numerous 

 other means, the careful accumulation of slight individual differences through 

 many generations is imperative, after which several generations are often but 

 not always necessary to thoroughly "fix" the desired type for all practical 

 purposes. 



The above applies to annuals, or those plants generally reproduced by 

 seed. The breeder of plants which can be reproduced by division has great 

 advantage, for any valuable individual variation can be multiplied to any ex- 

 tent desired without the extreme care necessary in fixing by linear breeding the 

 one which must be reproduced by seed ; but even in breeding perennials, the 

 first deviations from the original form are often almost unappreciable to the 

 perception, but by accumulating the most minute differences through many 

 generations the deviation from the original form is often astounding. Thus 

 by careful and intelligent breeding any peculiarity may be made permanent, and 

 valid new species are at times produced by the art of the breeder, and there is 

 no known limit to the improvement of plants by education, breeding and 

 selection. 



The plant breeder is an explorer into the infinite. He will have "no time 

 to make money," and his castle, the brain, must be clear and alert in throwing 

 aside fossil ideas and rapidly replacing them with living, throbbing thought 

 followed by action. Then, and not till then, shall he create marvels of beauty 

 and value in new expressions of materialized force, for everything of value 

 must be produced by the intelligent application of the forces of Nature which 

 are always awaiting our commands. 



The vast possibilities of plant breedinig can hardly be estimated. It would 

 not be difficult for one man to breed a new rye, wheat, barley, oats or rice 

 which would produce one grain more to each head, or a corn which would 

 produce an extra kernel to each ear, another potato to each plant, or an apple, 

 plum, orange or nut to each tree. What would be the result? In five staples 

 only in the United States alone the inexhaustible forces of Nature would pro- 

 duce annually without effort and without cost : 

 5,200,000 extra bushels of corn, 



15,000,000 " " " wheat, 



20,000,000 " " " oats, 



1,500,000 " " " barley, 



21,000,000 " " " potatoes. 



But these vast possibilities are not alone for one year, or for our own 

 time or race, but are beneficent legacies for every mafi, woman and child who 

 shall ever inhabit the earth. And who can estimate the elevating and refining 

 influnces and moral value of flowers, with all their graceful forms and bewitch- 

 ing shades and combinations of color and exquisitely varied perfumes? These 

 silent influences are unconsciously felt even by those who do not appreciate 

 them consciously, and thus with better and still better fruits, nuts, grains and 

 flowers will the earth be transformed, man's thoughts turned from the base, 

 destructive forces into the nobler productive ones which will lift him to higher 



