4 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



also be clearly shown that man, without any 

 intention or thought of improving the breed, by 

 preserving in each successive generation the indi- 

 viduals which he prizes most, and by destroying 

 the worthless individuals, slowly, though surely, 

 induces great changes. As the will of man thus 

 comes into play, we can understand how it is that 

 domesticated breeds show adaptation to his wants 

 and pleasures. We can further understand how it 

 is that domestic races of animals and cultivated 

 races of plants often exhibit an abnormal char- 

 acter, as compared with natural species ; for they 

 have been modified not for their own benefit, but 

 for that of man." 



Until quite lately, the origin of almost all cul- 

 tivated plants was completely unknown. M. Al- 

 phonse De Candolle investigated the subject very 

 thoroughly, publishing his first results about thirty 

 years ago. In a recent review of the whole sub- 

 ject 1 he gives a list of two hundred and forty- 

 seven species of cultivated plants, with their geo- 

 graphical origins, and the number of centuries or 

 thousands of years during which each has been 

 cultivated, as far as can be known. He says : 2 



1 " Origin of Cultivated Plants." By Alph. De Candolle. New York. 

 1). Appleton & Co. 1885. 2 p age i 



