not expect a rapid maturity and tenderness of flesh together with ability to withstand adverse conditions.
Those qualities which have been developed in domesticated forms are the ones which make them less able to cope with their surroundings. Wild species on the other hand are constantly selected on their ability to endure climatic extremes, pests and diseases. Their chief aim in life is apparently to provide for reproduction. Anything beyond this is a handicap. Moreover there are physiological limits beyond which it is impossible to go. Obviously a cow cannot be expected to give milk which is all cream, neither can a sugar beet be all sugar. What the limit is can not be closely approximated. Certainly if one were familiar with only the wild gourds he would be inclined to think a pumpkin or water melon weighing over 100 pounds a fantastic dream not to be actually realized. The lime tree gives no indication that a near relative could produce a fruit as large as the tropical grape fruit which often weighs over ten pounds. Between the wild cattle in the parks of England and the prize winning Shorthorns and Herefords at the live-stock expositions there are almost incredible changes.
Selection even in the long expanses of time in which plants and animals have been domesticated could not bring these vast differences were it not for the variability made possible by frequent crossings between widely diverse stocks. When the origin of the familiar cultivated plants and domesticated animals is looked into it is significant that nearly all of the more important ones have been derived from more than one wild species and these are usually from separate regions.
As an example of a valuable animal which has been cared for in nearly every part of the world the domestic fowl can be taken. It has long been thought that all the diverse breeds and types of chickens came originally from the Jungle Fowl of India, Southern China and the East Indies but it is now believed that the unknown ancestor of the Aseel or Malay Fowl, which has been bred in captivity for over 3,000 years, is also in part responsible for present divergent development exhibited by the many different breeds and races.
According to Davenport "The Aseel has many points of difference from the Jungle Fowl and brings in a whole set of characters that our domestic races have and the Jungle Fowl lack. Thus the Jungle Fowl is a slender, agile bird with long wings, erect tail and a good flyer: while the Aseel is a very broad, heavy bird with short wings, drooping tail and unable to fly. The Jungle Fowl has a long slender beak, that of the Aseel is short and thick. The comb of the former is single, high, that of the latter triple (or "pea") and low. The former has slender olive colored shanks; the latter thick and yellow shanks. The Jungle Fowl has a red eye; that of the Aseel is pearl colored. The
