INGENUITY IN VARIATION 133 



second; but now it has gone clear back to 

 ordinary com. This plant improvement does 

 not pay." 



Do you know how corn reproduces itself? 



Do you realize that if you plant good corn on 

 one side of the fence and inferior corn on the 

 other, the corn cannot see the fence? 



Would you expect that a cross between a race 

 horse and some family dobbin would produce a 

 line of racers? 



Separate your good com from your poor, and 

 keep it by itself, and you will find that it does 

 not "run out," but even gradually, by careful 

 selection, improves each season. 



Every farmer knows that com must be 

 planted in large quantities close together — that 

 a single kernel of corn, planted in one corner of 

 a lot, apart from other growing corn, would be 

 nonproductive. 



Yet how many of those who depend upon 

 corn for their living fully realize the reason 

 for this? 



The dianthus, with its nectar, its fragrance, 

 its color, and its structural arrangement, has 

 built up a partnership with the bee to perform 

 its pollination; while corn, with no advertise- 

 ment, no honey, no brilliant reds, no fragrance, 

 has developed an equally effective plan of 



