PART II—PLANT BREEDING 
CHAPTER XV 
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION 
Plant improvement is nearly as old as agriculture. Our earliest agri-: 
culturists must have protected the trees or plants that yielded food or 
shelter. Under protection the desirable forms among the chosen species 
were preserved. The finest example of this earliest plant improvement 
is found in rice, which has been cultivated for 5000 years or more in 
India and China and has long been grown in Egypt, East Africa, Japan, 
the Philippines, Java, Turkey and Italy. The remarkable plasticity of 
this species has enabled it to produce literally thousands of locally adapted 
forms. The oldest records of intentional preservation of superior plants 
are found, according to Darwin, in ancient Chinese encyclopedias that 
were translated by the Jesuits during the 18th century. The best plants 
and fruit trees were used for propagation; an imperial edict recommended 
the choice of large seed; and even the Emperor Khang-hi is said to have 
originated the imperial rice by preserving and propagating a form which 
he noticed in a field. The original progenitors of our most important 
crop plants are mostly lost in antiquity, their descendants having been 
preserved by man’s conscious or unconscious selection of desirable mu- 
tants or natural hybrids. 
The Beginning of Plant Breeding.—Long before any one thought of 
making a philosophical study of plant improvement the hybridization of 
flowers and the preservation of choice strains or favorite varieties was 
a common practice among gardeners and husbandmen. According to 
Fruwirth hybridization was practised in ancient times in China with 
various flowers, in Italy during the Roman Empire with roses, and in the 
17th century in Holland with tulips and primulas; and the artificial 
pollination of the female date palm was mentioned by Theophrastus 
as the beginning of the study of plant culture. The earliest syste- 
matic work in the production of new varieties, of which we have authentic 
records, was done by the Dutch flower fanciers. The hyacinth, ac- 
cording to Darwin, was introduced into England in 1596 and in 1629 
eight varieties were known. During the next hundred years or more 
the selection of varieties was carried on by the Dutch growers until, in 
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