OBTAINING VARIATIONS 101 



It has often been pointed out that in such 

 experiments there may not be very much encour- 

 agement in the first generation or two. Some 

 forms of plant, and in particular those that have 

 not been very much under cultivation, or that 

 are represented by only one or two species, may 

 hold fixedly to their type and show at first only 

 a slight range of variation. In such cases you 

 must be content to go forward by very slow 

 stages, making but the shortest step ahead with 

 each generation for the first two or three years. 



But even where progress is as slow as this in 

 the beginning, the time will almost surely come 

 when the effect of what I have several times 

 referred to as the momentum of variation begins 

 to be felt. Some season, to your surprise and 

 delight, you will discover that the plants are 

 varying much more widely than they have done 

 hitherto. 



Instead of having to examine your seedlings 

 with the utmost care to determine which ones are 

 largest and most vigorous; and then in turn to 

 examine ^vith equal care the blossoms — when 

 they appear — to determine which are largest and 

 most brilliant, you will find that some few seed- 

 lings will jump ahead of the others as if they 

 belonged to another race, bringing to your mind 

 the familiar tale of Jack's Beanstalk, or the less 



