* - Plant Degeneration The poet • Vergil was not at all
in my mind when I wrote recently about the quick degeneration of plants when the specialist relaxes his labours ; bat a very close classical parallel is quoted to me by W. J. H. from the Georgics. • " Vidi lecta din at multo spectate labore Degenerare tamen si cis humans quotannis Maxima- quaeque menu legeret, sic omnia fatis In pejus mere ac retro sublapsa referri."
The cultivators of Vergif s age were exactly imitated by Mr. Robertson, a famous name in Canadian agriculture. He had some notable records in the • yield of wheat secured by the agency of school children instructed in the art of selecting the biggest ears for seed purposes. In our days of course the laws of Mendel and the art of hybridization have vastly increased man's control ; but some of the most salient successes (for instance in the multiplication of colours in the Nemesia, that best of half-hardy annuals) have been due wholly to skilful selection.
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