DIVERSITIES IN NATURE. 183 



ing the extra efforts that were put forth to tide it over its inevitable fate. 

 On the other hand we see occasionally new varieties making their a})pear- 

 ance. " Sports?" but if that which is asserted in the January number of the 

 Century magazine be true, that tlie wheat plant is self-fertilizing and com- 

 jjletely protected from contact with pollen from other flowers, how do these 

 occasional specimens originate? 



Professor Folen, in his inaugural discourse at Cambridge in 1831 said: 

 "Jacob, in his dream, wrestling with the Lord of Heaven and earth, bearing 

 ofO in his lameness a revelation of Omnipotence, is the true emblem of Ger- 

 man philosophy." So, in like manner do we come limping back, with the 

 meager revelations made to us, as we wrestle with nature, and seek solutions 

 in philosophy. Do we turn to the animal kingdom? The same tendency is 

 as clearly apparent. In the improved breeds of horses, cattle, sheep and 

 swine, the best efforts that man is capable of putting into action have been 

 and are being put forth to breed these creatures up to an ideal standard ; 

 nature disputes the ground step by step, pointing back to the normal state 

 of these creatures, and were it not for the ability that is in man to concen- 

 trate his efforts to a single point, utter disappointment would be the result. 



I have now in my mind the case of a man who thought he fancied the 

 Jersey cow, and purchased some of them, and as he saw them in his large 

 pastures day after day, the thought occurred to him, that b'y judicious man- 

 agement he might make a great improvement in his stock. He commenced 

 crossing with the Shorthorn, but it was unsatisfactory; he changed to some 

 other breed, with results no better, he then went back to the Jerseys; the 

 results were worse and worse, for they looked neither like Jerseys nor 

 anything else. He has sold them all, and now proposes to commence anew. 



I was not a little surprised the other day, while trying to select four sugar 

 beets from a jjile of forty or fifty bushels, that I could not find four that 

 looked alike; in size and contour they nearly resembled each other, but there 

 was no trouble to see wherein they differed ; and the thought suggested 

 itself to my mind: can there be as much difference in the matter that consti- 

 tutes these several beets, as there is in their external appearance? Are not 

 all sugar beets alike? or is there about the same difference in the internal 

 structure and composition of each as there is in their external appearance? 

 If there is, can you tell me how to select a good sugar beet, as I could tell 

 you how to select a good cow for milk, a good sheep for mutton or wool, or 

 a good horse for work. 



Many of the vegetables grown in the garden, especially parsnips and 

 carrots, when allowed to seed themselves and follow the bent of their own 

 inclination, soon triumphantly disport themselves in their true character, 

 viz., as noxious weeds. It is man's prerogative to develop them to an indefinite 

 point of excellence, and, paradoxical as it may appear, nature assists man in 

 his efforts to improve and develop, and at the same time asserts her privilege 

 of holding them to their normal condition. 



The transmutation of wheat into chess I shall pass by, because only those 

 who know something about it believe in it. 



Now one thing more, and that is in regard to fruit. Why is it that some 

 of the choicest varieties in sections not far remote from us are so inferior 

 when planted here? If I take the scions and put them in good, healthy, 

 thrifty tops, can they help themselves? I can only answer, they do; and 

 not only that, but before they give it up they generally kill the tree that 

 they are put inl^o. 



