LUTHER BURBANK 



the more desirable individuals should be mated 

 and their progeny preserved to the exclusion of 

 the progeny of the less desirable. 



The entire foundation of plant improvement 

 depends, as we have all along seen, on such free- 

 dom of choice. And in proportion as the plant 

 developer selects wisely, chooses the individual 

 plants that have the best hereditary tendencies, 

 mates the right individuals, and rigidly selects the 

 best only among their progeny, can he hope to 

 progress in the direction of his ideal plant. 



It would appear, then, that unless human 

 society can devise a means whereby a preponder- 

 ant number of the offspring of each successive 

 generation are the progeny of those members of 

 the community who are superior in body and mind 

 and morals, we cannot expect that the human race 

 will improve generation after generation. 



Any colony of flowers left to breed indiscrim- 

 inately, good or bad, will inevitably degenerate 

 from the stage of culture to which artificial selec- 

 tion has brought it. The reason for this is that 

 the conditions imposed by cultivation are different 

 from the conditions of Nature and the special 

 development of the plant has taken place along 

 the lines of man's tastes and needs without special 

 regard to the needs of the plant itself. 



But if you remove the artificial conditions, so 



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