THE CACTUS 125 



will show numerous individuals that are mark- 

 edly superior to their parents or their grand- 

 parents in regard to all the desired qualities. 



In the second generation (we are not now 

 speaking of the giants and dwarfs referred to 

 earlier in the chapter) is manifested the usual 

 tendency to recombination of the hereditary 

 factors. 



In such companies of seedlings as I developed, 

 where hundreds of thousands of plants are 

 grouped together, one is sure to find at least a 

 few specimens that combine the spineless quality 

 of one remote ancestor with the tendency to large 

 growth of another, the fruiting capacity of a 

 third, and so on. By attentive scrutinizing of the 

 seedlings, at an early stage of their development, 

 it was found possible to select thus the few in- 

 dividuals among the thousands that revealed the 

 best combinations of qualities. 



These are transplanted by themselves, and 

 given every favorable condition to stimulate their 

 growth and development, and finally placed in 

 long rows for field culture, where they are al- 

 lowed to stand for three or four years, and in the 

 end, if one out of three hundred or four hun- 

 dred is found sufficiently valuable with which to 

 continue the work, the experiment may be con- 

 sidered successful thus far. 



