FINAL SELECTION 



selection. For of course he will not make his 

 hybridizing tests at random, but will select for 

 his parent stock individuals that manifest in 

 pronounced degree the qualities that he wishes 

 to combine in his projected new race. 



So when we pass from the stage of simple 

 selection of "spontaneous" variations, to the 

 stage of inducing variations along given lines by 

 cross-breeding, we are not abandoning selection 

 but are only dealing with selection in its more 

 complicated aspects. 



Rightly understood, then, it is not too much 

 to say that the entire task of the plant developer 

 is a matter of selection. First, he may select 

 varieties as nature presents them to him. Second, 

 he may through selective breeding improve these 

 varieties. Next he selects among these and makes 

 combinations for further variations; and then he 

 is ready for a new series of selections. So from 

 first to last it is only the same story presented in 

 different aspects. 



How important a part does selection play in 

 the life about us! Whether it be in animal or 

 human life, whether it be the selection of materials 

 for a nest, an appropriate club or stone to lay low 

 an enemy, the selection of materials for a dynamo 

 or a pyramid, or of words to convey certain 

 thoughts, aspirations or emotions; but selection 



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