A BACKWARD GLANCE 
“And I make these observations and conclusions 
of mine a part of this work for two reasons: 
“First, because they are products not of 
imagination, reasoning, or any mental process— 
but the practical observations and conclusions 
which have gained force and proof, year by 
year, in a lifetime of experience with plants— 
throughout forty years of continuous devotion to 
the subject, during which time I have tried more 
than one hundred thousand separate experiments 
on plant life; and, as such, represent an important 
phase of my work. 
“Second, because an ever-present interest in 
evolution—an ever-eager mind to peer backward 
and forward—is essential not only to the practice 
of plant improvement, but even to the barest 
understanding of it.” 
To gain the first quick glimpse, let us liken the 
process of evolution to a moving picture as it is 
thrown on the screen. 
Imagine for example that some all-seeing 
camera had made a snapshot of Nature’s progress 
each hundred years from the time when plant life 
started in our world to the present day. 
Imagine that these progressive snapshots were 
joined together in a motion picture reel, and 
thrown in quick succession upon a screen. 
[285] 
