CHAPTER XXIV. 



CARNATIONS THE PRODUCT OF ADAPTATION BY SELECTION— 

 SURVIVAIv OF THE FITTEST— ORIGIN OF VARIETIES- 

 BASIS OF SPECIES— FOUNDATION OF GENERA- 

 ESSENCE OF ORDERS. 



THE law of adaptation by selection may not be comprehend- 

 ed; it is the process by which carnations have become 

 what they are. Mr. Rudd has stated that he obtained 

 seventy-two carnation seeds from one pod, three times the average 

 number. If ]\Ir. Rudd would sow these seeds, and they all germi- 

 nated and grew to their blossoming stage, when he would critical- 

 ly review the lot and destroy all that were weak, sickly, single- 

 flowered, off colored, short stemmed, bursted calyxes and procum- 

 bent habits, and repeat this operation a number of times during 

 several years until but one was left that approached his ideal of 

 what a carnation should be; then repeat this process on the seed of 

 this sole seedling for forty years, this would be artifically adapt- 

 ing the carnation to his ideal and wants, by selection. 



It is estimated b}^ cross-fertilizers that not one seedling in a 

 thousand is worthy even of a name. That one is the originator's 

 darling, he magnifies its merits and minimizes its faults; it is 

 again subjected to the growers, the elective court of last resort. 

 It merges all sentiment and flies the pirate's flag of sordid com- 

 mercialism, bearing the merciless motto of ''How much money is 

 there in itT This is the final verdict on all questions in life, issued 

 daily, by the mercinary parliament of the world's religion. 



In 1S95 there were six hundred listed carnations in America. 

 Parties organized in the interests of carnations sent one thousand 

 circulars to carnation growers asking them to vote for or against 

 the merits of each carnation they grew, or knew, and return the 



