sing the breeds; and this necessarily implies
careful selection. About the same period the Dutch attended with the
greatest care to the breeding of these birds. Belon in 1555 says that good
managers in France examined the colour of their goslings in order to get
geese of a white colour and better kinds. Markham in 1631 tells the breeder
"to elect the largest and goodliest conies," and enters into minute
details. Even with respect to seeds of plants for the flower-garden, Sir J.
Hanmer writing about the year 1660[487] says, in "choosing seed, the best
seed is the most weighty, and is had from the lustiest and most vigorous
stems;" and he then gives rules about leaving only a few flowers on plants
for seed; so that even such details were attended to in our flower-gardens
two hundred years ago. In order to show that selection has been silently
carried on in places where it would not have been expected, I may add that
in the middle of the last century, in a remote part of North America, Mr.
Cooper improved by careful selection all his vegetables, "so that they were
greatly superior to those of any other person. When his radishes, for
instance, are fit for use, he takes ten or twelve that he most approves,
and plants them at least 100 yards from others that blossom at the same
time. In the same manner he treats all his other plants, varying the
circumstances according to their nature."[488]

In the great work on China published in the last century by the Jesuits,
and which is chiefly compiled from ancient Chinese encyclopaedias, it is
said that with sheep "improving the breed consists in choosing with
particular care the lambs which are destined for propagation, in nourishing
them well, and in keeping the flocks separate." The same principles were
applied by the Chinese to various plants and fruit-trees.[489] An {205}
imperial edict recommends the choice of seed of remarkable size; and
selection was practised even by imperial hands, for it is said that the
Ya-mi, or imperial rice, was noticed at an ancient period in a field by the
Emperor Khang-hi, was saved and cultivated in his garden, and has since
become valuable from being the only kind which will grow north of the Great
Wall.[490] Even with flowers, the tree paeony (_P. moutan_) has been
cultivated, according to Chinese traditions, for 1400 years; between 200
and 300 varieties have been raised, which are cherished like tulips
formerly were by the Dutch.[491]

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