252 



Plant-Breeding 



progress in the amelioration of plants must come as a re- 

 sult of the very best cultivation and the most intelligent 

 selection and change of seed. Every reflective person 

 must admit that the cultivation of plants which is the 

 fundamental conception of agriculture has been and is 



crude and imperfect, and that 

 there has been no conscious effort 

 on the part of the human race to 

 produce any given final result 

 upon the cultivated flora. Yet, 

 this imperfect cultivation has al- 

 ready modified plants so pro- 

 foundly that we cannot deter- 

 mine the originals of many of 

 them, and we can trace the evo- 

 lution of but few. The science of 

 rural industry is now fairly well 

 understood in its essential funda- 

 mental principles, and the in- 

 telligence of those classes of per- 

 sons who deal with plants is 

 rapidly enlarging. The first part 

 of the twentieth century will vir- 

 tually mark a new era for agri- 

 culture, and from that time on the onward evolution 

 of plants should proceed confidently and unchecked. 

 Our eyes are too often dazzled by the novelties which 

 suddenly thrust themselves upon us, and we look for 

 some mystic power which shall enable us to produce 

 varieties forthwith at our will. We need not so much 

 varieties with new names as we do a general increase 



FIG. 68. Single type. 



