104 INTENSIVE FARMING 



never be known, but their work gives both 

 pleasure and profit to others as well as to them- 

 selves. 



The pecuniary reward is not the only return 

 from effort expended in plant breeding. The 

 pleasure that comes from successful accomplish- 

 ment in this field is in direct proportion to one's 

 love of plants. Plant breeding carries enough 

 of the element of chance to place it almost 

 within the list of questionable occupations or 

 diversions. Once one becomes interested it is 

 as intoxicating as a game of chance, but for 

 those who learn the laws and rules of the game 

 the 'play becomes a scientific achievement. 



Among the master minds that started the 

 thoughts that evolved into the theories out of 

 which our modern science of plant breeding has 

 developed were Chas. Darwin, Herbert Spen- 

 cer, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Thos. Andrew 

 Knight in England, and Mendel, Van Mons, 

 Nileson, Tschermak, and the Vilmorins on the 

 continent, and Sturtevant, Cape, Saunders, Bai- 

 ley, and others in America. No single mind 

 gave a complete solution for the problem, but 

 all have made contributions of inestimable 

 value. 



