RECORDING EXPERIMENTS 37 



dreds of species from which I expect no very 

 definite return. Yet it is further true that the 

 main body of my experiments have been always 

 concerned with flowers or fruits that seem to 

 offer opportunities for practical improvement. 



I have usually been seeking, in the experi- 

 ments to which most time has been given, to 

 modify the plant in such a way as to make it a 

 more beautiful and desirable garden ornament, 

 or to modify a vegetable or fruit in such a way 

 as to make it a more valuable food product, or a 

 tree to make it produce better fruit, nuts, timber, 

 or some valued chemical product. 



Such being the case, it will be understood that, 

 with regard to large series of experiments, I have 

 been concerned with results rather than with 

 methods. As to the latter, it often happens 

 that numberless experiments might be described 

 in substantially the same terms. Once the prin- 

 ciples of combination and selection have been 

 clearly mastered, they may be applied to almost 

 every variety of plant life. There are differences 

 in the detail, but the broad outline is the same for 



each. 



ESSENTIALS VERSUS NONESSEXTIALS 



It would then be but a foolish waste of time to 

 record over and over details as to these broader 

 outlines of plant experimentation. Where any- 



