14 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 
Domesticated species existed first in the wild. The plain 
inference from all this is that domesticated races originated in 
the wild. This conclusion is abundantly supported by a mass of 
incontrovertible evidence too voluminous for full presentation 
here, showing also that man has appropriated these wild species 
and put them to his service from time to time as he has felt 
the need. Some of this was done so long ago that the manner 
of the domestication is lost in the dim and ancient past, and the 
history of it must be read backwards if it is read at all; but 
some of it is so recent that the exact record exists both in 
printed literature and in the recollection of men that still walk 
and talk among us. 
The more ancient races such as the dog and the horse, like 
wheat and barley, date from a period long before recorded his- 
tory, and more than likely before the invention of the art of 
writing ; but on the other hand, the American wild grape that 
clambers over the trees and shrubs of the eastern United States 
is known to be the parent of all the cultivated varieties grown 
east of the Rocky Mountains. In the same way most varieties 
of plums trace straight to the thickets of eastern American 
rivers. So again, the gooseberry and the currant, the blackberry 
and the raspberry, in all their varieties have been developed 
from wild races, and mostly within the last half century, just 
as all the varieties of the rose have arisen from the common 
wildling of the hedges and the hills. How this has been done 
and the story of it will develop in the student’s mind as we 
come to inquire more specifically into the life history of the 
separate domesticated species. 
Species change in domestication. It is not to be assumed 
that domesticated races are identical with their wild antece- 
dents. On the contrary, in most cases, substantial improvement 
has taken place in domestication, as will be seen whenever a 
domesticated race is compared with its nearest wild relative. 
There are many wild apples, but none so rich or so large 
as the best products of our orchards. Most wild oranges are 
