232 THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



been developed in these animals solely by selection and breed- 

 ing, and we are only at the beginning of intelligent work 

 along these lines. 



Equally true is it that among plants all that has hitherto 

 been done and this is a very great deal is probably only the 

 prelude to the grand symphony which man is yet to play upon 

 the great instrument of organized life. 



Tracy tells us the origin of a certain variety of sweet pea. 

 Nearly half a century ago a woman living in northern New 

 York noticed and saved the seeds of a particularly bright- 

 flowered plant of the old Painted Lady. These were planted 

 in a garden, and each year the seeds of what were considered 

 the best were saved and planted. She did not raise many, 

 some years not more than a dozen plants, and never more than 

 could be grown within the limits of three square yards. She 

 was the wife of a quarryman, and her little garden was always 

 over limestone ledges where the soil, though fertile, was very 

 thin. Gradually the plants became sturdier and more com- 

 pact, and after some years they were able to stand without 

 support. A quarter of a century thus slipped away, the wo- 

 man's only pay for her work being the pleasure which the 

 flowers and their constant improvement under her hand gave 

 her. Finally they attracted the attention of a seedsman, who 

 obtained a few seeds, and from these came the noted sweet 

 pea known as the Blanche Ferry. 



Henry de Vilmorin conducted an experiment extending over 

 a period of twenty years with a wild wort for the purpose of 

 proving that its slender and badly-branched roots could, by 

 selection alone, be made to take on the smooth, straight, thick, 

 conical form of the parsnip. For ten years very little amelio- 

 ration manifested itself, but after that the modifications be- 



