Ci.vr. I. UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION. 45 



a suspicion existing in the mind of any one at all acquainted 

 with the subject, that the owner of cither of them has deviated 

 in any one instance from tlie pure blood of Mr. BakewcU's 

 flock, and yet the difference between tlie sheep possessed by 

 these two f^entlemen is so f^reat that they have the appear- 

 ance of being quite difl'erent varieties." 



If there exist savages so barbarous as never to think of 

 the inherited character of the offspring of their domestic ani- 

 mals, yet any one animal particularly useful to them, for any 

 special purpose, would be carefully preserved during famines 

 and other accidents, to Avhich savages are so liable, and such 

 choice animals would thus generally leave more offspring than 

 the inferior ones ; so that in this case there would be a kind * 

 of unconscious selection going on. We see the value set on 

 animals even by the barbarians of Tierra del Fuego, by their 

 killing and devouring their old women, in times of dearth, as 

 of less value than their dogs. 



In plants the same gradual process of improvement, through 

 the occasional preservation of the best indi\4duals, whether or 

 not sufBciently distinct to be ranked at their first appearance 

 as distinct varieties, and whether or not two or more species 

 or races have become blended together by crossing, may plainly 

 be recognized in the increased size and beauty which we now 

 see in the varieties of the heart's-easo, rose, pelargonium, 

 dahlia, and other plants, when compared \\-ith the older varie- 

 ties or with their parent-stocks. No one would ever expect 

 to get a first-rate heart's-ease or dahlia from the seed of a wild 

 plant. No one would expect to raise a first-rate melting ]jear 

 from the seed of the wild pear, though he might succeed from 

 a poor seedling growing wild, if it had come from a garden- 

 stock. The pear, though cultivated in classical times, appears, 

 from Pliny's description, to have been a fruit of very inferior 

 quality. I have seen great surprise expressed in horticultm-al 

 works at the wonderful skill of gardeners, in having produced 

 such splendid results from such poor materials ; but the art 

 has been simple, and, as far as tlie final result is concerned, 

 lias been followed almost unconsciously. It has consisted in 

 always cultivating the best-known variety, sowing its seeds, 

 antl, when a sliglitly-better variety has chanced to appear, 

 selecting it, and so onward. But the gardeners of the classi- 

 cal period, who cultivated the best pear they could procure, 

 never thought Avhat splendid fruit we should eat; though wo. 

 owe our excellent fruit, in some small degree, to their having 



