ON HURRYING EVOLUTION 



meat of the five hundred cherries which we have 

 crossed, we can safely assume, will taste the same, 

 and be the same, as though we had let the bees 

 attend to pollenation; the cherries that result will 

 be no different in flavor or appearance than the 

 other cherries on the tree. 



But inside the stony seed of each of those 

 cherries we shall find an indelible living record 

 of what we have done. 



So, disregarding the fruit, we save our five 

 hundred cherry seeds and plant them in a shallow 

 box until they have sprouted and then transplant 

 them 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, no doubt; but we have brought them 

 together without delay. Perhaps, in this, we have 

 saved a thousand years. 



In bringing our two kinds of cherries together 

 we have brought not only one of each type, but 

 dozens, or hundreds, each selected for its size, 



[195] 



