On the Origin of Species · ¶56

Sterility has been said to be the bane of horticulture; but on this view we owe variability to the same cause which produces sterility; and variability is the source of all the choicest productions of the garden. I may add, that as some organisms will breed most freely under the most unnatural conditions (for instance, the rabbit and ferret kept in hutches), showing that their reproductive system has not been thus affected; so will some animals and plants withstand domestication or cultivation, and vary very slightly—perhaps hardly more than in a state of nature.

Charles Darwin · John Murray, London, 1859, first edition · Gutenberg #1228; original diagram from Darwin Online F373
Charles Darwin · John Murray, London, 1859, first edition · Gutenberg #1228; original diagram from Darwin Online F373
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