"We now understand that crossing is good for the species ; 

 because it constantly re-vitalizes offspring with the strongest 

 traits of the parents, and ever presents new combinations. 

 But crossing alone can accomplish comparatively little, the 

 chief power in the progression of plants is selection ; the force 

 which augments, develops and fixes types, and we must con- 

 stantly select the best, in order to make anv advancement." 



—BAILEY. 





"Although it is well known that selection is the great force 

 in improvement, too many professional growers are content 

 with selecting the seed parent only ; and the credit they would 

 like to take for this care and enterprise would make them the 

 subjects of ridicule with those who are improving by selection 

 all useful forms in the animal kingdom." 



H. H. GROFF, before Waterloo Horticultural Society 

 and Provincial Association of Fruit Growers. 



j» j» j» «<* 



"Varieties improved from man's point of view must receive 

 kind treatment and richer food than wild forms of the same 

 plant. The cultivated plant, like the domesticated animal, 

 yields in a measure its powers of self-defense to adapt itself 

 to our service. Man must in return provide for its safety and 

 nourishment. In the improvement of plants the action of man, 

 much like influences which act on plants in the wild state, only 

 brings about slow and gradual changes, often scarcely notice- 

 able at first. But if the first efforts toward the desired end be 

 kept on steadily, the changes will soon become greater and 

 greater, and the last stages of the improvement will become 

 much more rapid than the first one." — VILMORIN. 



