ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 6 



been developed by man by the same process of 

 selection. Darwin l says : 



"From a remote period, in all parts of the 

 world, man has subjected many animals and plants 

 to domestication or culture. Man has no power 

 of altering the absolute conditions of life ; he can- 

 not change the climate of any country; he adds 

 no new element to the soil ; but he can remove an 

 animal or plant from one climate or soil to an- 

 other, and give it food on which it did not subsist 

 in a natural state. . . . Although man does not 

 cause variability and cannot even prevent it, he 

 can select, preserve, and accumulate the variations 

 given to him by the hand of nature, in any way 

 that he chooses ; and thus he can certainly pro- 

 duce a great result. Selection may be followed 

 either methodically and intentionally, or uncon- 

 sciously and unintentionally. Man may select and 

 preserve each successive variation with the distinct 

 intention of improving and altering a breed, in 

 accordance with a preconceived idea ; and by thus 

 adding up variations, often so slight as to be im- 

 perceptible to an uneducated eye, he has effected 

 wonderful changes and improvements. It can 



1 " The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication." By 

 Charles Darwin. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 1887. Vol. I. p. 2. 



