NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



happiness of the whole human race. Plant- 

 breeding is the intelligent application of the 

 forces of the human mind in guiding the 

 inherent life -forces into useful directions by 

 crossing to make perturbations or variations 

 and new combinations of these forces, and by 

 radically changing environments; both of 

 which produce somewhat similar results, thus 

 giving a broader field for selection, which 

 again is simply the persistent application of 

 mental force to guide and fix the perturbed 

 life -forces in the desired channels. 



"Plant -breeding is in its earliest infancy. 

 Its possibilities, and even its fundamental 

 principles, are understood but by few. In 

 the past it has been mostly dabbling with 

 tremendous forces, which have been only 

 partially appreciated, and it has yet to ap- 

 proach the precision which we expect in the 

 handling of steam or electricity. Notwith- 

 standing the occasional sneers of the ignorant, 

 these silent forces embodied in plant - life have 

 yet a part to play in the regeneration of the 

 race which, by comparison, will dwarf into 

 insignificance the services which steam and 

 electricity have so far given. Even un- 



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