454 ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS. 



keeping notes of parentage, &c., when in the following 

 year 1860 I was more than compensated for all past 

 labour by the extraordinary flush of success already 

 stated. I say, then, to my brother-horticulturists who 

 may be working in this field Never despair ; persevere 

 and wait. 



" Let us then be up and doing, 



With a heart for any fate ; 

 Still achieving, still pursuing, 



Learn to labour, and to wait." 



My experience in selecting, hybridising, and cross-breeding 

 tells me that he who is seeking to improve any class of 

 plants should watch narrowly and seize with alacrity any 

 deviation from the fixed character, and the wider the 

 deviation the greater are the chances of an important 

 issue. However unpromising in appearance at the outset, 

 he knows not what issues may lie concealed in a variation, 

 sport, hybrid, or cross-bred, or what the ground newly 

 broken is capable of yielding under careful and assiduous 

 cultivation. If we would succeed in this field we must 

 observe, and think, and work. Observation and experi- 

 ment are the only true sources of knowledge in Nature, 

 and while observing and experimenting we should above 

 all things guard against prejudices. 



My remarks have hitherto been chiefly of horticulture, 

 and addressed to horticulturists. But there are three other 

 great and important classes of the community who are 

 deeply interested here the agriculturist, the manufacturer, 

 and the merchant, to each of which I would momentarily 

 address myself. 



To the agriculturist I would say, You have of late 

 years practised draining, deep cultivation, and high 

 manuring, and the increased fertility of your soil has 

 largely rewarded your industry, enterprise, and skill. 

 The next step with you is the improvement of the races 

 of your cereals and root crops. I have in the opening 

 of this paper shown what you may accomplish by selection 



