THE FLOWER 231 
261. Survival of the fittest.—In the fierce struggle 
continually going on among both plants and animals for 
food, shelter, and elbow room in the world, any indi- 
vidual that happens to vary in a way which adapts it to 
its surroundings a 
little better than its 
rivals, has an advan- 
tage that will enable 
it to survive when 
less favored mem- 
bers of the species 
will perish. Its off- 
spring, or some of 
them, may inherit 
this quality and 
transmit it, with the 
attendant advan- 
tage, to their poster- 
ity,’ and so on, till 
that particular 
breed outstrips all 
competitors, and in 
time, as the less fa- 
vored intervening j ae) Lea =) ela 
forms die out, be- Fic. 338.— A field of pumpkins grown from selected 
seed. 
comes differentiated 
as a new species. This is, in brief, the doctrine of natural 
selection and the survival of the fittest. 
262. Artificial selection. — Artificial selection enables the 
breeder to accomplish more quickly what nature appears to 
do by the slow process of natural selection. It is by this 
means that our choicest fruits and vegetables have been de- 
veloped from greatly inferior, and sometimes inedible, wild 
forms. Plants respond so readily to the influence of selec- 
tion, and the changes brought about by it are so rapid, 
that new styles of fruits and flowers succeed each other in 
