LUTHER BURBANK 



cause the undesirable trait to be latent and thus 

 seemingly to disappear from the fraternity; but 

 that a segregation and recombination of the hered- 

 itary factors may occur in the next generation in 

 such wise that the undesirable trait reappears. 



We have just seen that the matings of persons 

 who carry an hereditary taint, yet who themselves 

 are normal, will determine whether that taint will 

 reappear in their offspring or whether the off- 

 spring will be normal. 



In selecting a marriage partner, then, you are 

 selecting hereditary potentialities for your future 

 offspring. And in selecting environing influences 

 — in the broadest sense — for the offspring from the 

 hour of their birth, you are largely determining 

 whether the best or the worst of those hereditary 

 potentialities shall become realities. 



In a word, then, we might advantageously ap- 

 ply to the human plant the same general principle 

 which we saw to be the most fundamental one 

 guiding us in our plant experiments, saying that 

 here, no less than in case of the actual plant, selec- 

 tion is the first and last word. 



What was said in concluding an earlier chapter 

 with reference to plant breeding, may now ad- 

 vantageously be repeated with reference to the 

 breeding of human beings: "The beginning is 

 selection, and the end is selection." 



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