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 
