for their own food; the English racehorse and greyhound could not have been improved up to their present high standard of excellence without constant training. As conspicuous deviations of structure occur rarely, the improvement of each breed is generally the result of the selection of slight individual differences. Hence the closest attention, the sharpest powers of observation, and indomitable perseverance, are indispensable. It is, also, highly important that many individuals of the breed which is to be improved should be raised; for thus there will be a better chance of the appearance of variations in the right direction, and individuals varying in an unfavourable manner may be freely rejected or destroyed. But that a large number of individuals should be raised, it is necessary that the conditions of life should favour the propagation of the species. Had the peacock been reared as easily as the fowl, we should probably ere this have had many distinct races. We see the importance of a large number of plants, from the fact of nursery gardeners almost always beating amateurs in the exhibition of new varieties. In 1845 it was estimated (21/43. Gardener's Chronicle' 1845 page 273.) that between 4000 and 5000 pelargoniums were annually raised from seed in England, yet a decidedly improved variety is rarely obtained. At Messrs. Carter's grounds, in Essex, where such flowers as the Lobelia, Nemophila, Mignonette, etc., are grown by the acre for seed, "scarcely a season passes without some new kinds being raised, or some improvement effected on old kinds." (21/44. 'Journal of Horticulture' 1862 page 157.) At Kew, as Mr. Beaton remarks, where many seedlings of common plants are raised, "you see new forms of Laburnums, Spiraeas, and other shrubs." (21/45. 'Cottage Gardener' 1860 page 368.) So with animals: Marshall (21/46. 'A Review of Reports' 1808 page 406.), in speaking of the sheep in one part of Yorkshire, remarks, "as they belong to poor people, and are mostly in small lots, they never can be improved." Lord Rivers, when asked how he succeeded in always having first-rate greyhounds, answered, "I breed many, and hang many." This, as another man remarks, "was the secret of his success; and the same will be found in exhibiting fowls,-- successful competitors breed largely, and keep the best." (21/47. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1853 page 45.)