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.