DARWIN AND WALLACE a7 
dividuals, favored by being a little stronger, a little 
more cunning, a little more attractively colored than 
their mates, survive to carry on the race. 
The skillful gardener, looking over his flowers, finds 
a plant of more than ordinary beauty and thrift of 
growth. When it comes to maturity he keeps its seeds 
separate from those of the rest and next year plants 
them by themselves. As they come up he weeds out 
all unthrifty plants, only allowing the strongest to 
come to maturity. As they break into bloom he plucks 
away all whose flowers do not come up to the high 
standard he has set for himself. After a while he 
has but a few plants left, but these are the thriftiest 
and bear the most beautiful flowers. Again he allows 
these to mature and selects the seed of the very finest. 
Next year the process is repeated. After a few gen- 
erations, usually three if the man is skillful enough, 
he has a definite strain of flowers that will thereafter 
come true. This is the process of artificial selection 
as carried on by man. 
Darwin saw that Nature is constantly carrying on 
a similar process. She produces seeds enough on al- 
most any plant to clothe the world in a few years if 
all of them could fall into proper ground and thrive 
like their parents. A friend of mine found a mullein 
stalk that bore more than seven hundred seed pods 
and averaged more than nine hundred seeds to the 
