SELECTIVE EVOLUTION 221 



low box until they have gprouted and then trans- 

 plant they till they attain a six or eight inch 

 growth. 



So far, let us see how we have shortened 

 nature's processes. 



In the first place, we have brought together a 

 large, insipid cherry and a homely, small, sweet 

 one, brought them from points, perhaps, two 

 thousand miles apart. 



In the natural course, those two cherries would 

 have spread; they would, eventually, have come 

 together, possibly; but we have brought them 

 together without delay. Perhaps, in this, we 

 have saved a thousand years. 



In bringing our two kinds of cherries to- 

 gether we have brought not only one of each 

 type, but dozens, or hundreds, each selected for 

 its size, or appearance, or some probable quality 

 which it contains within. In this simple selec- 

 tion of individuals we may have saved other 

 thousands of years. 



With unerring accuracy we have seen that the 

 pollen of the two kinds has been interchanged, 

 so that the five hundred or so resulting seeds will 

 represent the two heredities we wish to combine 

 — and only these. 



Who can estimate how long it might have 

 taken the bees and the winds, working even in 



