MARVELOUS POSSIBILITIES 275 



anywhere? Is it not the fact that poor land 

 often means that the plants have been poorly 

 chosen for it, or poorly adapted to it? 



These are all problems which will be treated 

 in their proper places, and which offer rich 

 rewards to plant improvers of skill and patience. 



So far, in mentioning some of these opportu- 

 nities for plant improvement, we have referred 

 only to the betterment of plants now under cul- 

 tivation. 



When we remember that every useful plant 

 which now grows to serve us was once a wild 

 plant, and when we begin to check over the 

 list of those wild plants which have not yet 

 been improved, the possibilities are almost 

 staggering. 



Not all plants, of course, are worth working 

 with not all have within them heredities which 

 could profitably be brought forth combined and 

 intensified. But, as a safe comparison, it might 

 be stated that the proportion between present 

 useful plants and those yet wild which can be 

 made useful, is at least as great as or greater 

 than the proportion between the coal which has 

 already been mined and the coal which is still 

 stored in the ground. 



Greater, by probably a hundred times, for 

 while we have depleted our coal supply, our 



