94 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of evolution. We are ourselves the culmination of the whole process; wo 

 look back over the whole story, gleaning a little here and a little there; 

 and, putting together all the details we can glean, we draw our generali- 

 zation. It is a swift process of mind that looks over such an area o? 

 thought, and it is one of the very best studies we can present to young 

 men at the present time for broadening them out and bringing them into 

 sympathy with the world. It is therefore of practical and intrinsic edu- 

 cational advantage. 



I shall not attempt to trace one half or one tenth of the theories of 

 evolution, nor even any of them in its details, but for a few moments 1 

 should like to present a few of the notions that scientific men hold. I 

 may say that it is the general opinion that all the vegetable world is a 

 retrogression from the starting point of the animal, so that while there 

 are certain philosophies and theories which will apply to the evolution of 

 the animal world, it does not necessarily follow that they will apply to 

 the vegetable world. We often hear it said, that because men breed 

 animals with a certain degree of definiteness, we can breed plants with 

 the same exactness. 



All the forms of life that we know today were originally from amphib- 

 ian life. All life was once aquatic, and all the plants and animals have 

 been derived from the old plants and animals of the sea. It would be 

 useless to attempt to convince you, if that were necessary, of the general 

 truth of evolution, unless I tell you how it may have taken place and some 

 of the reasons why evolution must be true. It is diflQcult to believe in it 

 from an abstract proposition. 



In the first place, let us consider that there is a struggle for existence, 

 and that some organisms must die and some live. If you once get that 

 thought fixed, you will see that there must be either evolution or extinc- 

 tion. The world is full of life and plants; no more can grow next year 

 than grow this year, unless some die, or unless they take on different 

 forms. The world is full of animal life. It is not big enough for as many 

 more animals as will be born next year. 



Half of the plants are annuals; a small percentage are biennial, and 

 live two years, like the turnip. Forest trees sometimes die; these leave 

 vacant places. In these places the new generation must grow. Every 

 plant and animal which lived on the earth today has the power of per- 

 petuating itself wholly beyond the means of finding a place in which to 

 live. 



Take the microbe, so small that we can not see it. One of our best 

 authorities says that if one of these microbes were to break in two, and 

 each of these two, again, and this operation took place every hour, ani 

 none of these should die and nothing interfere with them — that, starting 

 with this one ten-thousandth of an inch, in five days they would fill 

 the oceans of the earth! If one pair of the rabbits which live in our 

 woods were allowed to multiply without let or hindrance, the earth 

 would soon be a rabbit farm, and we could grow nothincr on it. 



Every plant and animal, then, attempts to propacate itself far beyond 

 the possibility of its finding a place to live. Therefore, there is a strug- 

 gle. Some must live and some die. If any one tree in Adrian were to 

 produce its full crop of seeds in one year, and they all crew into trees, 

 Adrian would be a forest. But a large part of the seed falls on ''stony 



