THE HUMAN PLANT 355 



a condition of things is not conducive to the 

 betterment of the race and cannot possibly con- 

 tinue long without great deterioration of the 

 race. No one could hope to produce an improved 

 variety of plant of any kind if he had not free- 

 dom of choice in determining that the more 

 desirable individuals should be mated and their 

 progeny preserved to the exclusion of the 

 progeny of the less desirable. 



The entire foundation of plant improvement 

 depends wholly, as we have all along seen, on 

 such freedom of choice. And in proportion as 

 the plant developer selects wisely, chooses the 

 individual plants that have the best hereditary 

 tendencies, mates the right individuals, and 

 rigidly selects the best only among their progeny, 

 can he ever hope to progress in the direction of 

 improvement. 



It would appear, then, that unless human 

 society can devise a means whereby a preponder- 

 ant number of the offspring of each successive 

 generation are the progeny of those members of 

 the community who are superior in body and 

 mind and morals, we cannot expect that the 

 human race will improve generation after 

 generation. 



Any colony of plants left to breed indiscrim- 

 inately, good or bad, will inevitably degenerate 



