than the inferior ones; so that in this case there would be a kind of
unconscious selection going on. We see the value set on animals even by
the barbarians of Tierra del Fuego, by their killing and devouring their
old women, in times of dearth, as of less value than their dogs.

In plants the same gradual process of improvement through the occasional
preservation of the best individuals, whether or not sufficiently distinct
to be ranked at their first appearance as distinct varieties, and whether
or not two or more species or races have become blended together by
crossing, may plainly be recognised in the increased size and beauty which
we now see in the varieties of the heartsease, rose, pelargonium, dahlia,
and other plants, when compared with the older varieties or with their
parent-stocks. No one would ever expect to get a first-rate heartsease or
dahlia from the seed of a wild plant. No one would expect to raise a
first-rate melting pear from the seed of a wild pear, though he might
succeed from a poor seedling growing wild, if it had come from a
garden-stock. The pear, though cultivated in classical times, appears,
from Pliny's description, to have been a fruit of very inferior quality. I
have seen great surprise expressed in horticultural works at the wonderful
skill of gardeners in having produced such splendid results from such poor
materials; but the art has been simple, and, as far as the final result is
concerned, has been followed almost unconsciously. It has consisted in
always cultivating the best known variety, sowing its seeds, and, when a
slightly better variety chanced to appear, selecting it, and so onwards.
But the gardeners of the classical period, who cultivated the best pears
which they could procure, never thought what splendid fruit we should eat;
though we owe our excellent fruit in some small degree to their having
naturally chosen and preserved the best varieties they could anywhere find.

A large amount of change, thus slowly and unconsciously accumulated,