Man a Creator 57 



late. But the breeders went to work by a pro- 

 cess of hybridization and selection, based on 

 Mendel's law, to unite the needed qualities in 

 one variety, and they succeeded so weU that in 

 three years' time they could begin to send the 

 farmers small amounts of seed that met the re- 

 quirements. Now these great prairie provinces 

 are producing regular and dependable crops. 



It was long taken for granted that improve- 

 ment could be effected in a herd of animals or a 

 plant crop by selecting from the general run of 

 individuals the best ones to use for continued 

 propagation. Thus the farmer went through 

 his field at harvest time and picked out the 

 largest heads of grain and those with the 

 heaviest kernels to use as seed for the ensuing 

 year, hoping that this process, repeated year 

 after year, would increase the yield of his land- 

 The chicken fancier selected the hens that 

 produced the largest number of eggs to use as 

 breeders, in the hope that the egg production 

 of the flock would gradually rise. But this sort 

 of mass breeding was found to yield very 

 unsatisfactory results. Galton had discovered 



