CHAPTER X 



THE FORWARD MOVEMENT IN PLANT- 

 ' BREEDING 



THE first specific interest in cultivated plants was in 

 the gross kinds or species. As the contact with plants be- 

 came more intimate, various indefinite form-groups were 

 recognized within the limits of the species. Gradually, 

 with the intensifying of domestication and cultivation, 

 very particular groups appeared and were recognized. 

 These smaller groups came finally to be designated by 

 names, and the idea of the definite and homogeneous 

 cultural variety came into existence. The variety-con- 

 ception is really a late one in the development of the human 

 race. It is practically only within the past two centuries 

 that cultivated varieties of plants have been recognized 

 as being worthy of receiving designative names. It is 

 within this period, also, that most of the great breeds of 

 animals have been defined and separately named. 



All this measures the increasing intimacy of our contact 

 with domesticated plants and animals. It is a record 

 of our progress. The peoples that are most advanced in 

 the cultivation of any plant are the ones that have the 

 most named varieties of that plant. In Japan, to this 

 day, the plums are said to pass under ill-defined class 



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