SECRETAKY'S POIITFOLIO. 2G9 



We are not niach wiser than this ])hilosopber. AVe sec a great deal of 

 apparent vraste in nature, but as -we grow wiser we shall recognize that every- 

 thing is created in wisdom. In a tul't of chestnut blossom there are about 

 live catkins, and each catkin contains about 500 llowers, and these 2,500 flow- 

 ers are all males, and all seem produced to fertilize two or three chestnuts on 

 the end of the branch. But they cannot fertilize those chestnuts, because 

 they fall before the pistillate ilowers open. Some have endeavored to account 

 for this superabundance of male flowers by supposing that tlie wind wafts 

 the pollen to distant trees which are more forward, and thus cross-fertilization 

 is promoted ; but the speaker questioned the truth of the theory. Others had 

 claimed that fragrance and brilliancy of color are given flowers to attract in- 

 sects, and thus cause cross-fertilization. But some fruits have very odorous 

 flowers, — liuhus strigosis for instance, — and are very shy bearers, while the 

 American Black-Cap which has scarcely perceptible petals, and little odor, is 

 remarkably productive. 



The object of sex in Ilowers, the speaker contended, is not primarily, to per- 

 petuate the individual. Many species of plants and some of the lower orders 

 of animals — may be reproduced by buds, cuttings, offsets, bulbs, tubers, and 

 cells. Mushrooms, for instance, increase by multiplication of cells under- 

 ground, or artichokes have propagated by tubers for centuries, without change, 

 and the Eed Dutch currant by cuttings. So we perceive that nature can re- 

 produce the individual by division w^ithout using the seed. Suppose we were 

 to propagate the higher orders in the same way by division. One Smith would 

 divide and make two Smiths^ or any number of Smiths exactly like the original 

 iu every essential, and there would be an unvarying uniformity. But wiien. 

 we propagate from seeds, there is a cross-fertilization of flowers of different 

 varieties and species, and thus we have variation in nature. Thus we see that 

 the primary object of sex in flowers is not to perpetuate the individual, but to 

 produce variation, increase varieties. 



Thus we have a clue to manv thino-s otherwise unaccountable. Thomas 

 Knight believed that varieties would wear out, and a great many others have 

 taught the same doctrine. When varieties wear out, it is the existence 

 of unfavorable conditions. Orchards are supposed by some, to be barren some 

 seasons, because insects are scarce. Apples bear alternate years, but not from 

 agency of insects. Manuring will remove barrenness. 



The origination of new varieties through cross-fertilization of flowers is a 

 matter of great importance. We should understand those laws bearing on 

 variation. Some species are naturally fertile and others infertile. The former 

 are ditEcult to change by cross-fertilization, while the latter change quite freely. 

 The most fruitful varieties are changed least by fertilization. 



ROOTS AND TUBERS. 



It is very common to use the terms root and tuber indiscriminately, and in 

 such a way oftentimes tliat they are misnomers. The Kural New Yorker 

 explains the meaning of the terms so clearly that there need be no mistake 

 made hereafter by those who read the following: 



A potato is a tuber; so is an artichoke. A sweet potato is not a tuber. 

 Neither is a Dahlia nor a Pa3ony. A tuber is an underground branch or 

 thickened rootstock. The so-called eyes of potatoes are really buds, as much 



