LUTHER BURBANK 



istics that make for speed at the trotting gait were 

 in a few generations so fixed that a new race of 

 horse was produced. 



The principle thus illustrated applies with 

 equal force to the breeding of plants. Indeed, it 

 is possible here to hold even more rigidly to the 

 idea of inbreeding, inasmuch as the individual 

 flowers may be self-fertilized. We have just seen 

 this illustrated in the case of the wheat and allied 

 cereals. 



There is no question whatever that any given 

 characteristic of a plant, once it appears, can be 

 accentuated and fixed, first in individuals, and 

 finally indelibly in the heredity of the descendants 

 of the plant by systematic inbreeding. 



But, unfortunately, there are complications in 

 the case of most experiments that the originator 

 of new plants is called upon to undertake, that 

 robs the method of its simplicity. The com- 

 plications arise from the fact that the would-be 

 originator of new races of fruit or flowers is 

 usually seeking to develop not merely a single 

 quality, but a number of qualities. And this alters 

 the case fundamentally. 



In the case of the trotting-horse, the one all- 

 essential quality desired is speed. 



The capacity to trot a full mile at high speed 

 does, indeed, imply the possession of stamina and 



[226] 



