280 Principles of Plant Culture. 



446. Those Who Improve Plants are True Benefac- 

 tors. He who produces fruits or flowers for others 

 works a transient good. But he who produces a variety 

 of fruit or flower that is superior to any now known 

 confers upon his race a permanent good. Until the 

 introduction of the Wilson strawberry, the markets of 

 our country were not supplied with this delicious and 

 wholesome fruit, because no known variety was suffi- 

 ciently productive to be generally profitable, or suffi- 

 ciently firm to endure long carriage. What a blessing 

 was conferred upon us by a Mr. James Wilson, of Al- 

 bany, N. Y. ! There are wild fruits in our copses to-day 

 that are doubtless worthy of improvement, and in most 

 of our fruits now under culture the development of supe- 

 rior varieties would greatly enhance their value. "The 

 harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few." 



The following books are recommended for reading in 

 connection with the preceding chapter: Plant Breed- 

 ing, Bailey; Variations of Animals and Plants Under 

 Domestication, Darwin; Propagation and Improve- 

 ment of Cultivated Plants, Burbridge; Origin of Culti- 

 vated Plants, De CandoUe; Punnett's Mendelism; Prin- 

 ciples of Breeding, Davenport. 



