| → — I speak after careful observation, — perhaps 1866 1869 1872 |
| perhaps 1859 1860 |
| I speak after careful observation, perhaps 1861 |
|
| → OMIT 1860 1861 1866 1869 1872 |
| I may add, 1859 |
|
| → the full acknowledgment of the 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| works of high antiquity, in which the full 1872 |
|
| → in works of high antiquity. 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| is acknowledged. 1872 |
|
|
the leaves and flowers of the same set of varieties. See how different the leaves of the cabbage are, and how extremely alike the flowers; how unlike the flowers of the heartsease are, and how alike the leaves; how much the fruit of the different kinds of gooseberries differ in size, colour, shape, and hairiness, and yet the flowers present very slight differences. It is not that the varieties which differ largely in some one point do not differ at all in other points; this is hardly ever,
→— I speak after careful observation, — perhaps
never, the case. The
of
the importance of which should never be overlooked, will ensure some differences; but, as a general rule,
cannot
that the continued selection of slight variations, either in the leaves, the flowers, or the fruit, will produce races differing from each other chiefly in these characters. |
|
| It may be objected that the principle of selection has been reduced to methodical practice for scarcely more than three-quarters of a century; it has certainly been more attended to of late years, and many treatises have been published on the subject; and the
→OMIT
has been, in a corresponding degree, rapid and important. But it is very far from true that the principle is a modern discovery. I could give several references to
→the full acknowledgment of the
importance of the principle
→in works of high antiquity. In rude and barbarous periods of English history choice animals were often imported, and laws were passed to prevent their exportation: the destruction of horses under a certain size was ordered, and this may be compared to the "roguing" of plants by nurserymen. The principle of selection I find distinctly given in an ancient Chinese
rules are laid down by some of the Roman classical writers. From passages in Genesis, it is clear that the colour of domestic animals was at that early
|
