224 FLOWERS AND FOLKS. 
life from them, does not thereby lose an iota 
of its native character. If a man is only 
original to begin with, — so the parable 
seems to run, — he is under a kind of neces- 
sity to remain so (as Shakespeare did), no 
matter how much help he may draw from 
alien sources. 
This truth of the vegetable world is the 
more noteworthy, because along with it there 
goes a very strong and persistent habit of 
individual variation. The plant is faithful 
to the spirit of its inherited law, but is not 
in bondage to the letter. Our “high-bush 
blackberries,”’ to take a familiar illustration, 
are all of one species, but it does not follow 
that they are all exactly alike. So far from 
it, I knew in my time — and the school-boys 
of the present day are not less accurately 
informed, we may presume — where to find 
berries of all shapes, sizes, and flavors. 
Some were sour, and some were bitter, and 
some (I can taste them yet) were finger- 
shaped and sweet. And what is true of 
Rubus villosus is probably true of all plants, 
though in varying degrees. I do not re- 
eall a single article of our annual wild crop 
— blueberries, huckleberries, blackberries, 
