ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS. 437 



an acquaintance with at least some of the laws of veget- 

 able physiology. In adopting the former, we seize upon 

 certain variations or phenomena which we meet with in 

 Nature, and endeavour to " fix" or render permanent that 

 which we are accustomed to call accidental ; in pursuing 

 the latter, we start with a conception which we labour to 

 convert into a fact. To the mere man of business selec- 

 tion is usually the more attractive ; the method is more 

 suitable to his habits of thought and practice ; but to the 

 scientific mind hybridising or cross-breeding are usually 

 more inviting, and the results more satisfactory. To both 

 methods are we largely indebted for improvements in the 

 vegetable kingdom, and it would be exceedingly difficult, 

 perhaps impossible, to say how much we owe to the 

 simple process of selection, and how much to the more 

 complex and scientific labours of the hybridist. 



It will be my purpose to-day to place before you, as 

 fully and clearly as I can, a few instances of improvements 

 by both processes, drawing, as far as practicable, from my 

 own observations and experiments. 



First, of selection. It is well known to observers in 

 this field that most plants, and especially cultivated plants, 

 when raised from seed, are prone to vary 



" The earth was made so various, that the mind 

 Of desultory man, studious of change, 

 And pleased with novelty, might be indulged." 



We sow a handful of seed, and in some cases scarcely any 

 two of the young plants which arise therefrom prove 

 absolutely identical ; there is a difference in size or 

 appearance, in form, colour, or texture. This shows an 

 inherent capacity of progress or development. It is more 

 marked in cultivated than in wild plants, and the tend- 

 ency increases under cultivation ; yet it appears in both 

 states. Among wild plants I have met with no more 

 striking example than that of the Lychnis diurna, which 

 grows plentifully in the hedge-rows surrounding my 



