ARID AGEICULTUEE. 



237 



"What is the mystery of plant breeding?" only 

 this: "Good care, varying circumstances, and ju- 

 dicious selection for what you want." Of course 

 this covers the subject of cross poUenization and 

 other means of artificially inducing variation, 

 observation, and judgment to discover useful 

 characters, ability to take advantage of muta- 

 tions, and arranging circumstances to supply 

 plants with the internal necessities and the ex- 

 ternal comforts. The value of the work is un- 

 told, nor can it be estimated. We can hardly 

 make statements so extravgant that they woiild 

 be untrue. Our agricultural interests are so 

 vast that their commercial importance far excels 

 any other industry. 



vAi^vE OF The influence of plant improvement on the 



^™™,„^ welfare of man is most profound and far-reach- 

 ing. One can hardly imagine what our condi- 

 tion of life would be if we should suddenly be- 

 come dependent on wild animals and undomesti- 

 cated plants. The subject bears a deeper signifi- 

 cance than one of mere subsistence, for the very 

 refinements of our minds are, without doubt, 

 more intimately associated with all the influ- 

 ences of a tamed environment. Would not civ- 

 ilization itself, a result of domestication, be par- 

 tially obliterated if we were deprived of the 

 society of improved forms of other kinds of life ? 

 Who will attempt' to compare the ethical effect 

 of our everyday use, and association witli a 



