1 6 IMPROVEMENT OF FRUITS, ETC. 



clever in itself from force of habit, be guided by a mind bent 

 on bettering or improving the individuals to which life, or a 

 separate existence, is to be given. 



Notwithstanding the enormous strides made in the improve- 

 ment and variation of our florists' flowers, fruits, and vegetables, 

 there yet remains a wide field for further improvement. Hy- 

 bridisers and cross-breeders work too much in the same groove, 

 one following the other. No sooner does a Dominy, a Seden, 

 a Bause, a Rivers, or a Laxton originate a new race of flowers, 

 fruits, or vegetables, than a host of imitators set to work on 

 the same plants, and we are surfeited with tens or hundreds, 

 as the case may be, of seedlings which resemble each other so 

 closely that we are bewildered with a host of indefinite forms, 

 and turn with a sigh of relief to the old species or types. It 

 was so with Fuchsias, Calceolarias, Pelargoniums, Coleus, 

 Caladiums, and it is equally as bad in the case of such vege- 

 tables as Peas, Potatoes, different kinds of the Cabbage family, 

 and Cucurbits. What we really do want is original work 

 among distinct types not yet hybridised ; and there 'is not the 

 slightest reason for the cultivator to confine his experiments 

 solely to garden-plants, since those of the farm and the forest 

 are equally useful, and in many cases more permanently 

 beneficial. 



