ON THE NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT 



for a moment be understood as suggesting that 

 any such infinitesimal creatures with human intel- 

 ligence are really domiciled in the germ cell. But 

 to personify thus the inscrutable forces through 

 which the building together of the hereditary fac- 

 tors is brought about may serve to give tangi- 

 bility to the forces of heredity, and to help the 

 reader to memorize the facts already presented, 

 and gain clearer insight into the principles that 

 underlie them. 



It may chance that such a personification will 

 enable the plant developer to see a little more 

 clearly into the nature of the phenomena that are 

 presented before his eyes when two plants are hy- 

 bridized; and that he may thus be enabled to in- 

 terpret the phenomena in a way that will be to 

 his practical benefit. As elsewhere pointed out, 

 the incorrect interpretation of the early results of 

 a hybridizing experiment may put the experi- 

 menter off the track and lead him to give up an 

 effort which would have led to complete success 

 had it been carried forward another generation. 



But, in any event, whether or not the reader 

 finds the elfin architects of the germ plasm an aid 

 in his interpretation of the phenomena of hered- 

 ity, let the would-be developer of new fruits, or 

 the improver of old ones, bear in mind, as the 

 last word that experience can offer on the sub- 



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