CREATION BY LAW 157 



met with. On this depends the possibility of obtaining 

 breeds, races, and fixed varieties of animals and plants and it 

 is found that any one form of variation may be accumulated 

 by selection, without materially affecting the other characters 

 of the species ; each seems to vary in the one required direction 

 only. For example, in turnips, radishes, potatoes, and carrots 

 the root or tuber varies in size, colour, form, and flavour, while 

 the foliage and flowers seem to remain almost stationary ; in 

 the cabbage and lettuce, on the contrary, the foliage can be 

 modified into various forms and modes of growth, the root, 

 flower, and fruit remaining little altered ; in the cauliflower 

 and broccoli the flower heads vary ; in the garden pea the pod 

 only changes. We get innumerable forms of fruit in the 

 apple and pear, while the leaves and flowers remain almost 

 undistinguishable ; the same occurs in the gooseberry and 

 garden currant. Directly, however (in the very same genus), 

 we want the flower to vary in the Kibes sanguineum, it does 

 so, although mere cultivation for hundreds of years has not 

 produced marked differences in the flowers of Eibes grossu- 

 laria. When fashion demands any particular change in the 

 form, or size, or colour of a flower, sufficient variation always 

 occurs in the right direction, as is shown by our roses, auri- 

 culas, and geraniums ; when, as recently, ornamental leaves 

 come into fashion, sufficient variation is found to meet the 

 demand, and we have zoned pelargoniums and variegated 

 ivy, and it is discovered that a host of our commonest shrubs 

 and herbaceous plants have taken to vary in this direction 

 just when we want them to do so ! This rapid variation is 

 not confined to old and well-known plants subjected for a long 

 series of generations to cultivation, but the Sikkim rhodo- 

 dendrons, the fuchsias, and calceolarias from the Andes, and 

 the pelargoniums from the Cape, are equally accommodating, 

 and vary just when and where and how we require them. 



Turning to animals we find equally striking examples. 

 If we want any special quality in any animal we have only to 

 breed it in sufficient quantities and watch carefully, and the 

 required variety is always found, and can be increased to 

 almost any desired extent. In sheep, we get flesh, fat, and 

 wool ; in cows, milk ; in horses, colour, strength, size, and 

 speed ; in poultry, we have got almost any variety of colour, 



