MAKING NEW KINDS OF PLANTS 441 



to the results which are obtainable in the hands of a 

 master. l 



From the standpoint of economics, plant- and 

 animal -breeding is of the highest importance, since 

 it adds, in a superlative degree, to the permanent 

 wealth and increased material happiness of a nation. 

 The work of our successful plant- and animal -breeders 

 cannot be too highly estimated, arid it is a pity that 

 it so seldom results in much pecuniary gain to them- 

 selves. Government work in this line has been totally 

 incommensurate with the importance of the subject. 

 The United States Government, however, has made a 

 beginning by establishing a laboratory for plant- 

 breeding. 2 



The whole doctrine of plant -breeding is intimately 

 connected with the question of the origin of species. 

 Darwin, seeking an explanation of this question, took 

 his cue from the experience of plant- and animal- 

 breeders, and conceived that species may originate 



1 Even in unskilled hands good results may often be obtained. For the 

 remarkable achievements of Canadian school -children, see an article by 

 George lies, "Teaching Farmers' Children on the Ground," in the World's 



Work for May, 1903. 



2 On the general subject of plant -breeding, see articles in the Year -Book 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture for 1899, by Webber and 

 Bessey; for 1901, by Hays (also those already referred to). Also the 

 bibliography in Bailey's "Plant Breeding," also articles in Country Life in 

 America for July, 1903, by Bailey; in The World's Work for 1902 (Vol. II, 

 p. 1209), by Bailey, and in the Sunset Magazine for December, 1901, February 

 and April, 1902, by Wickson, and in the Century tor March, 1907, by de Vries, 

 See also de Vries: Plant Breeding." 



