107 



A Gardener Botanist, 



Tlie Surviccd of the Unlike, a Collection of Evolution Kssai/s suggested 

 hg the Stndg of Domestic Plants. By L, H. Bailey. New 

 York: The Macmillan Company. 1896. .Pp.515. 



Having, it must humbly be confessed, had somewhat more than 

 our fill of theories of evolution, we turn from the first portion of 

 this book, which deals with yet another hypothesis to explain the 

 all-embracing process, to the second, which treats a variety of 

 points connected with the facts of development as they are to be 

 observed in gardens. Of the more philosophical portion of Mr. 

 Bailey's work, and especially of the essay from which the whole 

 collection is named, and which appears to contain the pith of his 

 system, we need only say that we find it hard to feel sure that we 

 apprehend his main contention, and that if we have apprehended 

 it, we are unable to agree with him. 



But in the practical portion, where he entertains us with 

 specimens of his horticultural experience, we find him a delightful 

 companion, no less instructing than entertaining, and learn many 

 pregnant circumstances concerning the marvellous plasticity of 

 nature under the hand of man. 



In a charming essay, for example, entitled " The Progress of 

 the Carnation," we are led to follow the process by which that 

 handsome flower has been induced to adapt itself to a type 

 arbitrarily predetermined by man. He made up his mind that its 

 blossom should be flat, and a century ago forced it to be so by 

 means of a disc of cardboard beneath the lower petals, on which 

 all petals were artificially "placed" with tweezers as fast as they 

 appeared, any which refused to conform being removed. Now 

 well-bred carnations grow in the same form of their own accord. 

 Similarly, it has been always held for a j^oint of perfection that 

 the flower should be full, yet the calyx should remain entire, or 

 at least should not burst, but to secure this it was necessary to 

 bind the calyx with cord, or else to slit it with a penknife. Now 

 a good carnation is expected to be a '* whole flower " without 

 artificial help. 



Another most interesting question is introduced in connection 

 with grapes and plums. The varieties of these fruits cultivated in 

 America have been usually of European derivation, the long period 

 of Old World cultivation having developed qualities which are not 

 to be obtained, at least in similar perfection, from native stocks. 

 But experience appears to show that with all their advantages the 

 immigrants will have to yield to the aboriginals. The former are 

 liable to diseases which the others can defy, having already out- 

 grown them in their ancestral experiences of New World conditions. 

 The thing therefore, Mr. Bailey contends, for American nurserymen 

 to do, is to make sure of the best native originals upon which to 

 exert their art. In some instances, where a good variety has 

 appeared, it has been found difficult or impossible to trace it to its 

 ultimate source. This has been the case, for example, with the 



