Re: How About a Treat!

Andrew said
 
It's really about the creativity of nature and something much bigger than us, anyhow.  But it's fun for we humans to think that we were involved in some important way with the results of this genetic juxtapositioning...
 
Hi Andrew,
     When it comes to breeding anything, we humans have been  very much involved. We carry plants and animals from their native habitats to mix them with others from locations far enough away that they never would have interbred on their own. Then we choose which of the progeny to mix together and continue generation after generation until we achieve results which only faintly resemble the originals.
     Without this, we would never have managed to progress to the level of civilization we have attained. Modern corn was once an inch or so in length and sparsely produced. You like to take an economics-oriented view of things so I ask: If that was the way things were today, how much would it cost to put food on your family's table?  The dogs and cats we keep as pets were bred from wild animals that would terrify us if we encountered them in our backyards today. And of course without the Benedicts, Adens, Smiths, Lachmans, Savorys, Chastains, and so many others, we would have only a few green species hostas in our gardens, along with the occasional sport. We'd probably be trying to eat them because of the price of non-bred food.
     The focus of the First Look meeting is squarely on these "deluded" folks and the wonderful things they've created and shared with the rest of us, often without any financial compensation whatsoever. In a few weeks the hostas will be up again and we will be surrounded by the beauty they have given the world. Let's all pause once and awhile to just say "Thanks".
                                                                                                           ......Bill Meyer
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