SOME OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF ECONOMIC BOTANY. 623 
“amore important crop” in India “than either rice or wheat, and 
are grown more extensively, being raised from Madras in the south to 
Rajputana in the north. They occupy about 85 per cent of the food 
grain area in Bombay and Sinde, 41 per cent in the Punjab, 39 per 
cent in the Central Provinces,” “ in all about 30,000,000 acres.” 
Having chosen proper subjects for experimenting, the cultivators 
would make use of certain well-known principles. By simple selection 
of the more desirable seeds, strains would be secured to suit definite 
wants, and these strains would be kept as races, or attempts would be 
made to intensify wished-for characters. By skillful hybridizing of the 
first, second, and higher orders, tendencies to wider variation would be 
obtained and the process of selection considerably expedited.* 
It is out of our power to predict how much time would elapse before 
‘satisfactory substitutes for our cereals could be found. In the im- 
provement of the grains of grasses other than those which have been 
very long under cultivation, experiments have been few, scattered, and 
indecisive. Therefore we are as badly off for time ratios as are the 
geologists and archeologists, in their statements of elapsed periods. 
It is impossible for us to ignore the fact that there appear to be occa- 
sions in the life of a species when it seems to be peculiarly susceptible 
to the influences of its surroundings.t <A species, like a carefully laden 
ship, represents a balancing of forces within and without. Disturbance 
may come through variation from within, as from a shifting of the cargo, 
or in some cases from without. We may suppose both forces to be 
active in producing variation, a change in the internal condition ren- 
dering the plant more susceptible to any change in its surroundings. 
Under the influence of any marked disturbance, a state of unstable 
equilibrium may be brought about, at which times the species, as such, 
is easily acted upon by very slight agencies. 
One of the most marked of these derangements is a consequence of 
cross-breeding within the extreme limits of varieties. The resultant 
forms in such cases can persist only by close breeding or by propaga- 
tion from buds or the equivalents of buds. Disturbances like these 
arise unexpectedly in the ordinary course of nature, giving us sports 
of various kinds. These critical periods however are not unwelcome, 
since skillful cultivators can take advantage of them. In this very 
field much has been accomplished. An attentive study of the saga- 
*In order to avoid possible misapprehension, it should be stated that there are a 
few persons who hold that at least some of our cereals, and other cultivated plants, 
for that matter, have not undergone material improvement but are essentially un- 
modified progeny. Under this view, if we could look back into the farthest past, 
we should see our cereals growing wild and in such admirable condition that we 
should unhesitatingly select them for immediate use. This extreme position is un- 
tenable. Again, there are a few extremists who hold that some plants under culti- 
vation have reached their culminating point, and must now remain stationary or 
begin to retrograde. 
tGray’s Botanical Text Book, vols. 1 and 1. 
