32 SELECTION BY MAN. Chap. I. 



all the best breeders are strongly opposed to this prac- 

 tice, except sometimes amongst closely allied sub-breeds. 

 And when a cross has been made, the closest selection is 

 far more indispensable even than in ordinary cases. If 

 selection consisted merely in separating some very dis- 

 tinct variety, and breeding from it, the principle would 

 be so obvious as hardly to be worth notice ; but its im- 

 portance consists in the great effect produced by the 

 accumulation in one direction, during successive gene- 

 rations, of differences absolutely inappreciable by an 

 uneducated eye — differences which I for one have vainly 

 attempted to appreciate. Not one man in a thousand 

 has accuracy of eye and judgment sufficient to become 

 an eminent breeder. If gifted with these qualities, and 

 he studies his subject for years, and devotes his lifetime 

 to it with indomitable perseverance, he will succeed, and 

 may make great improvements ; if he wants any of these 

 qualities, he will assuredly fail. Few would readily 

 believe in the natural capacity and years of practice 

 requisite to become even a skilful pigeon-fancier. 



The same principles are followed by horticulturists ; 

 but the variations are here often more abrupt. No one 

 supposes that our choicest productions have been pro- 

 duced by a single variation from the aboriginal stock. 

 We have proofs that this is not so in some cases, in which 

 exact records have been kept ; thus, to give a very 

 trifling instance, the steadily-increasing size of the com- 

 mon gooseberry may be quoted. We see an astonishing 

 improvement in many florists' flowers, when the flowers of 

 the present day are compared with drawings made only 

 twenty or thirty years ago. When a race of plants is 

 once pretty well established, the seed-raisers do not pick 

 out the best plants, but merely go over their seed-beds, 

 and pull up the " rogues," as they call the plants that 

 deviate from the proper standard. With animals this 



