CHAPTER XXIII. 



CULTIVATED PLANTS AND THEIR ORIGIN: 

 PLANT-BREEDING. 



I. From the most remote ages the human race has derived 

 much of its sustenance from the Vegetable Kingdom. At first, 

 no doubt, men were content to roam about and feed upon the 

 roots, stems, leaves, fruits and seeds of various species of plants 

 found growing wild, just as the lowest savage races do at the ■ 

 present day. With a settled mode of life and increasing 

 population would come the necessity to select and cultivate 

 close at hand particular species possessing useful and agreeable 

 qualities, so that a constant and more certain supply of food 

 might always be obtained. 



By whom or at what period in the history of mankind was 

 begun the selection and first cultivation of the different wild 

 plants which have given rise to our chief cultivated food-plants, 

 is not known. Extensive researches by De Candolle and others 

 have shown that the majority of our common vegetables, fruits and 

 cereals have been in cultivation for many hundreds and in some 

 instances thousands of years : during this time they have under- 

 gone extensive modification. 



In the case of wheat, maize, broad bean, and a few others, the 

 wild species from which they have been developed are unknown ; 

 in most cases, however, the wild prototype of the various 

 cultivated farm and garden plants can be recognised with more 

 or less certainty. On comparing cultivated varieties with the 

 wild species it is noticed that the former differ from the latter 

 in possessing a greater development and generally an improved 



