ORIGINATING NEW VARIETIES. 113 
hath been already of old time, which was before us.” 
Ecclesiastes. 
‘‘And he slept and dreamed the second time; and 
behold seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank 
and good.’’ Pharaoh’s Dream, Genesis. 
“We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt 
freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, 
and the onions and the garlic.’? Numbers. 
‘Six years shalt thou sow thy field and six years 
shalt thou prune thy vineyard and gather in the fruit 
thereof, but in the sevénth year shall be a Sabbath of 
rest unto the land.’’? Leviticus. 
“‘And he fenced it.and gathered out the stones thereof 
and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in 
the midst of it, and also made a wine press therein; 
and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it 
brought forth wild grapes.’? Isaiah. 
“The husbandmen who do not keep their fields well 
weeded are not equal to their business.’’ Chinese Sage, 
about 500 B. C. 
The work of the modern plant-breeder, while it is 
mainly creditable, does not rank with the performances 
of the prehistoric plant wizards. 
The latter, considered with reason, produced from 
wild nature through breeding practices of a high order, 
the many useful types of food and other plants now in 
cultivation, such as wheat, barley, rye, etc., in grains; 
cabbage, onion, radish, etc., in vegetables; our flax and 
cotton, and our many fruits. These as bred by them 
directly from the wild species (the most difficult part of 
plant breeding), have been so modified and improved 
in their form and character, that we of to-day are not 
able to trace the nativity of some of them. Our modern 
breeders, excepting in a comparatively few cases, have 
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