DEVELOPING CHARACTERS 195 



doubt; wholly undesirable as compared with the 

 plant which the seed bought at any grocery store 

 will produce. 



Nevertheless, in the wild brother of our plant 

 there is confined an infinity of old heredity just 

 as an infinity of old heredity was confined 

 in those two daisies; and the bees and the 

 winds can bring forth variation between the 

 tame and the wild just as striking and just 

 as widely divergent as the variations in the 

 daisies. 



Without doubt the first attempt to combine 

 the heredities of tame and wild might produce no 

 improvement — only retrogression. But if we 

 make numerous selections from a multitude of 

 plants, we shall soon see before us evidences of 

 all of the tendencies of the plant — which, though 

 perhaps not desirable, point the way to an end 

 worthy of accomplishment. 



Then, instead of working with a single wild 

 and a single cultivated plant, if we seek out a 

 dozen wild plants or a hundred of them — some 

 plants from mountain environments and some 

 from swamps, some from rich woodland soil, 

 and some from the desert, we shall get a still bet- 

 ter idea of the possibilities stored within the 

 plant — which need only combination and selec- 

 tion to bring forth a perfected product. 



