FACT AND THEORY 251 



tropics, and dried tomato fruits the size of 

 hickory nuts — how could we expect an inkhng, 

 even, of what the tomato with less than half a 

 century of cultivation could become? 



How short, indeed, the time which environ- 

 ment requires to transform a plant beyond 

 recognition — especially when man, either con- 

 sciously or unconsciously, becomes a part of that 

 environment ! 



And, knowing what the Orientals did to the 

 pear, what the American Indian did to corn, 

 what we have done to the tomato, can we not see 

 that while stamen counting has its place, yet, 

 for real achievement in plant improvement, we 

 must look for help not so much to the stamen 

 counters as to the plants themselves as new en- 

 vironment brings their old heredities into view. 



How far, then, can plant combination be 

 carried? Is it possible to go above the genus 

 and make combinations between families? Or to 

 go above the family and make combinations be- 

 tween the orders ? Or to go above the orders and 

 make combinations between the classes? Or to 

 go above the classes and make combinations be- 

 tween the kingdoms? 



The limitations of our work are not generally 

 limitations imposed by nature; they are limita- 

 tions imposed by the clock and the calendar. 



