THE GARDENER’S SELECTION. 153 
Now, by what means does man produce this extraordinary 
difference or divergence of several forms which are proved 
to be descended from the same primary form? In order to 
answer this question, let us follow a gardener who desires 
to produce a new form of a plant, which is distinguished by 
the beautiful colour of its flowers. He will first of all make 
a selection from a great number of plants which are seed- 
lings from one and the same parent. He will pick out 
those plants which exhibit most distinctly: the colour of 
flower he desires. The colour of flowers is a very change- 
able thing. Plants, for example, which as a rule have a 
white flower, frequently show deviations into the blue or 
red. Now, supposing the gardener wishes to obtain the red 
colour in a plant usually producing white flowers, he will 
very carefully, from among the many different individuals 
which are the descendants of one and the same seed-plant, se- 
lect those which most distinctly show a reddish tint, and sow 
them exclusively, in order to produce new individuals of the 
same kind. He would cast aside and no longer cultivate 
the other seedlings which show a white or less distinct 
red colour. He will propagate exclusively the individual 
plants whose blossoms show the red most markedly, and he 
will sow the seeds produced by these selected plants. From 
the seedlings of this second generation, he will again care- 
fully select those in which the red, which is now visible in 
the majority of them, is most distinctly displayed. If 
such a selection is carried on during a series of six or ten 
generations, and if the flower which shows the deepest red 
is most carefully selected, the gardener in the sixth or tenth 
generation will obtain the desired plants with flowers of a 
pure red, 
