VI.] EVOLUTION EXPLAINS CULTIVATION. 179 



result of our domestication of plants will come as a 

 result of unobtrusive forces working slowly through 

 the years, not from summary and brilliant creations; 

 and yet this simple truth does not seem to be appre- 

 hended by the great body of plantsmen. 



This, then, is the main thought which I wish to 

 bring you: that the theories of evolution explain the 

 possibility of the very existence of cultivation itself; 

 that they discourage all sudden and spasmodic attempts 

 at the amelioration of the vegetable kingdom; and that 

 they impress upon us with overwhelming force the 

 importance of those slow and silent processes of 

 adaptation and selection which have been operating 

 throughout all time. 



