14 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



Domesticated species existed first in the wild. The plain 

 inference from all this is that domesticated races originated in 

 the wild. This conclusion is abundantly supported by a mass of 

 incontrovertible evidence too voluminous for full presentation 

 here, showing also that man has appropriated these wild species 

 and put them to his service from time to time as he has felt 

 the need. Some of this was done so long ago that the manner 

 of the domestication is lost in the dim and ancient past, and the 

 history of it must be read backwards if it is read at all ; but 

 some of it is so recent that the exact record exists both in 

 printed literature and in the recollection of men that still walk 

 and talk among us. 



The more ancient races such as the dog and the horse, like 

 wheat and barley, date from a period long before recorded his- 

 tory, and more than likely before the invention of the art of 

 writing ; but on the other hand, the American wild grape that 

 clambers over the trees and shrubs of the eastern United States 

 is known to be the parent of all the cultivated varieties grown 

 east of the Rocky Mountains. In the same way most varieties 

 of- plums trace straight to the thickets of eastern American 

 rivers. So again, the gooseberry and the currant, the blackbern- 

 and the raspberry, in all their varieties have been developed 

 from wild races, and mostly within the last half century, just 

 as all the varieties of the rose have arisen from the common 

 wildling of the hedges and the hills. How this has been done 

 and the story of it will develop in the student's mind as we 

 come to inquire more specifically into the life history of the 

 separate domesticated species. 



Species change in domestication. It is not to be assumed 

 that domesticated races are identical with their wild antece- 

 dents. On the contrary, in most cases, substantial improvement 

 has taken place in domestication, as will be seen whenever a 

 domesticated race is compared with its nearest wild relative. 



There are many wild apples, but none so rich or so large 

 as the best products of our orchards. Most wild oranges are 



