There is little doubt, but that it was the same principle as that which
has led, after many centuries, to the complete isolation and improvement
of the very best races of the mixed varieties. It further proves that
the mixed conditions of the cereals was known to man at that time,
although distinct ideas of specific marks and differences were of course
still wholly lacking. It is proof also that cultivated cereals from the
earliest times must have been built up of numerous elementary forms.
Moreover it is very probable, that in the lapse of centuries a goodly
number of such types must have disappeared. [107] Among the vanished
forms are the special barley and wheat of the lake-dwellings, the
remains of which have been accidentally preserved, but most of the forms
must have disappeared without leaving any trace.
This inference is supported by the researches of Solms-Laubach, who
found that in Abyssinia numerous primitive types of cereals are still in
culture. They are not adequate to compete with our present varieties,
and would no doubt also have disappeared, had they not been preserved by
such quite accidental and almost primitive isolation.
Closing this somewhat long digression into history we will now resume
our discussion concerning the origin of the method of selecting cereals
for isolation and segregate-cultivation.
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