A BACKWARD GLANCE 



"And I make these observations and conclusions 

 of mine a part of this work for two reasons : 



"First, because they are products not of 

 imagination, reasoning, or any mental process — 

 but the practical observations and conclusions 

 which have gained force and proof, year by 

 year, in a lifetime of experience with plants — 

 throughout forty years of continuous devotion to 

 tlie subject, during which time I have tried more 

 than one hundred thousand separate experiments 

 on plant life; and, as such, represent an important 

 phase of my work. 



"Second, because an ever-present interest in 

 evolution — an ever-eager mind to peer backward 

 and forward — is essential not only to the practice 

 of plant improvement, but even to the barest 



understanding of it." 



* * * « * 



To gain the first quick glimpse, let us liken the 

 process of evolution to a moving picture as it is 

 thrown on the screen. 



Imagine for example that some all-seeing 

 camera had made a snapshot of Nature's progress 

 each hundred years from the time when plant life 

 started in our world to the present day. 



Imagine that these progressive snapshots were 

 joined together in a motion picture reel, and 

 thrown in quick succession upon a screen. 



[285] 



