868 
Supplement to the " Tiopikal Agnculturist'' [JtrxR ], 1900. 
This arLicIe is not tbe proper place to discuss 
selection aud its relation to evolution, of which the 
creation of varieties by selection is only one pliase ; 
jior is it the place to discuss the relative perma- 
nence of existing species. The task of the im- 
prover of cultivated plants is not to create new 
species, but to establish and fix in known siiecies 
well-defined and constant races posses>inj,' distinct 
characters which may render them useful or agree- 
able to man. 
■ The practice of selection is almost or quite a8 
old as the practice of cultivation itself. It is 
certain that from the most remote beginnings of 
pastoral life primitive man has preferred the 
finest and best-«haped animals for breeding pur- 
poses. In the same way, when the culture of 
certain useful plants had succeeded to a more pri- 
mitive form of pastoral agriculture, or had become 
associated with it, the domesticated race? of plants 
were cradually ameliorated by the diligence of 
some men who were more observant and interested 
than others; and the improved races were disemi- 
natedfrom jihice to p-lace. 
THE EFFECTS OF CULTIVATI'JN ON PLANTS. 
Much has been said of cultivation as a means of 
improving plant?. The writer believe', however, 
that the selection of the individual intended to 
reproduce a sort has dotie infinitely more in this 
direction than cultivation properly so called. 
"Without doubt, the larger amounts of plant food, 
air, and room that are provided for the plant under 
'careful cuUivatio!!, as compared with wild con- 
ditions are the means by which some given plants 
attain to a greater individual development; but 
cultivation in general advances improvement 
principally because it gives to man an opportunity 
to observe the plant closely, to notice even the 
slightest variation in the characters of the different 
individuals, to note at the time of their occurrence 
all the variations which appear useful to him, and 
to fix them by sowing the .-eed from iill the indivi- 
duals that have shown these variations. Super- 
' abundance of food supply undoubtedly favours 
the appearance, in cultivated plants, of variations 
which consist of multiplications of parts of a plant 
or the excessive development of certain parts 
among them ; but heredity interfevos to fix these 
■ characters, so that they are teen to persist in in- 
dividuals escaped from cultivation and are per- 
' potuated for a long time even after the causes 
■' that brought them into existence have ceased to 
' act. We possess few records bearing on the history 
of the improvement by selection of the various 
useful or ornamental plants iu ancient times ; yet 
the figures which have been left to us in paintings, 
mosaics, and sculptures indicate a notable im- 
provement of the species cultivated by the 
Egyptians, the ancient Greeks, and the Eomans 
over the wild types of the same plants found ia 
those regions at the present day. The leeks of 
jigypt, 10 the fame of which the sacred writings bear 
witness, are represented on the bas-relieis and 
paintings of Egyptian tombs as of a sizTe far 
superior to that of the wild leeks of the mountains 
of Central Asia, which, without doubt, represent 
the primitive tyije of the ftpecies. The Romans 
cultivated several varieties of Brassica oleracea 
tliat represented an immense advance over the 
wild type found on the coast regions of Europe. 
The flowers and fruits, figures of which are found 
frequently in Roman works of art, resemble more 
the varieties of the present day than the primitive 
types from which they were developed. 
In passing it may be remarked, in reference to 
those fruits and flowers that are propagated by 
grafts and not by seed, that selection is not entirely 
uncoiicerned in tiieir culture, but even iu such 
cases is found to exert its infiuence in various ways. 
A new variety generally originates from a seed 
wliich may have been accidentally planted, there- 
suiting plant being reproduced and multiplied by 
grafting, or from seed planted liy mm, tiie various 
young plants being carefully observed from day to 
day and compared with each other, and meritorion* 
novelties, if such appear, selected and propagated. 
In grafting, few things mu*t be taken into con- 
sideration. In the first place, only those stocks 
should be used that are healthy, vigorous, as far 
as possible from defects and direa^e-', and well pro- 
vided with roots; and in the second place, the 
grafts should be taken from the youngest and 
healthiest shoots of the plant that is to be pro- 
pagated, and always from those that represent 
most faithfully the character; it is desired to re- 
produce. Sometimes variations are produced in 
plants by dimorphism, as by variation in the form 
or colour of the foliage or in the shape or hue of 
the flowers, as often occurs in the c!irys;intliemum. 
There is then opportunity for the selecrion of the 
raodilied branch, which is propagated hy cuttings 
or any other method. Tlie question of tlie per- 
mauenc? or running out of varieties of fruit tree?, 
which is so often and so contradictorily discussed in 
the horticultural pre.ss of all countries, is intimately 
connected with this question of selecrion. There 
is no reason wliy a giren type should run out if 
only proper bl ocks and heiltliy grafts are used in 
propagation, but the variety will certainly dis- 
appear if it is attacked by parasites to the extent 
that it is no longer possible to find a graft that does 
not carry with it its enemy. 
To return to the history of selection of cultivated 
vegetables and flowers propagated hy seeds. Italy, 
Provence, Elanders, and the neighbourhood of 
Paris were, at about the beginning of modern 
times, the principal centres of the improvement of 
common plants. Seeds grown in these places bore 
a high reputation throughout Europe, and the 
popuhirity that they enjoyed shows that the cha- 
racteristics developed in the different varieties of 
plants by these skilful and careful gardeners were 
well fixed, else they could not have reproduced 
themselves faithfully whea cultivated under very 
different conditions of soil aiul cliriiate. Vegetable 
gardeners have been for the most part the creatora 
of European varieties of vegetables (and at the same 
time of many varieties of flowers, for the two 
occupations of vegetable gardener and florist were 
very often followed by the same individual, as is 
frequently tie case at the present day), and the 
uniformity, the constancy, and the cooking qualities 
of the varieties of vegetables originating in Kaplei, 
Milan, Lyons, Paris, and the Low Countries bore 
witness to the skill, fine observation, and judgment 
in the application of selection which our predecessors 
possessed. 
