FIXING GOOD TRAITS 13 



istics that make for speed at the trotting gait 

 were in a few generations so fixed that a new 

 race of horse was produced. 



The principle thus illustrated applies witK 

 equal force to the breeding of plants. Indeed, it 

 is possible here to hold even more rigidly to the 

 idea of inbreeding, inasmuch as the individual 

 flowers may be self -fertilized. We have just seen 

 this illustrated in the case of wheat and allied 

 cereals. 



There is no question whatever that any given 

 characteristic of a plant, once it appears, can be 

 accentuated and fixed, first in individuals, and 

 finally indelibly in the heredity of the descendants 

 of the plant by systematic inbreeding. 



But, unfortunately, there are complications in 

 the case of most experiments that the originator 

 of new plants is called upon to undertake that 

 rob the method of its simplicity. The complica- 

 tions arise from the fact that the would-be orig- 

 inator of new races of fruit or flowers is usually 

 seeking to develop not merely a single quality, 

 but a number of qualities. And this alters the 

 case fundamentally. 



In the case of the trotting horse, the one all- 

 essential quality desired is speed. 



The capacity to trot a full mile at high speed 

 does, indeed, imply the possession of stamina and 



