Chap. XXI. FAVOURABLE CIRCUMSTANCES. 223 



colour and size ; but as it is an animal of little value and 

 bred by poor people, there lias been no selection, and distinct 

 races have not been formed. We must not attribute the 

 inferiority of our asses to climate, for in India they are of 

 even smaller size than in Europe. But when selection is 

 brought to bear on the ass, all is changed. Near Cordova, as I 

 am informed (Feb. 1860) by Mr. W. E. Webb, C.E., they are 

 carefully bred, as much as 200Z. having been paid for a 

 stallion ass, and they have been immensely improved. In 

 Kentucky, asses have been imported (for breeding mules) 

 from Spain, Malta, and France ; these " seldom averaged 

 " more than fourteen hands high : but the Kentuckians, by 

 " great care, have raised them up to fifteen hands, and some- 

 " times even to sixteen. The prices paid for these splendid 

 " animals, for such they really are, will prove how much they 

 " are in request. One male, of great celebrity, was sold for 

 " upwards of one thousand pounds sterling." These choice 

 asses are sent to cattle-shows, a day being given for their 

 exhibition. 50 



Analogous facts have been observed with plants : the 

 nutmeg-tree in the Malay archipelago is highly variable, but 

 there has been no selection, and there are no distinct races. 51 

 The common mignonette (Reseda odorata), from bearing in- 

 conspicuous flowers, valued solely for their fragrance, " remains 

 " in the same unimproved condition as when first intro- 

 *' duced." 52 Our common forest-trees are very variable, as 

 may be seen in every extensive nursery-ground ; but as they 

 are not valued like fruit-trees, and as they seed late in life, 

 no selection has been applied to them ; consequently, as Mr. 

 Patrick Matthews remarks, 53 they have not yielded distinct 

 races, leafing at different periods, growing to different sizes, 

 and producing timber fit for different purposes. We have 

 gained only some fanciful and semi-monstrous varieties, 

 which no doubt appeared suddenly as we now see them. 



Some botanists have argued that plants cannot have so 



50 Capt. Marryat, quoted by Blyth 645. 



in 'Journ. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal,' 52 Mr. Abbey, in ' Journal of Horti- 



vol. xxviii. p. 229. culture,' Dec. 1, 1863, p. 430. 



51 Mr. Oxley, 'Journal of the 53 'On Naval Timber,' 1831, p. 

 Indian Archipelajo,' vol. ii., 1848, p, 107. 



