Apple and Peach. 161 



other parts of these plants, for the development of 

 their flowers in the line of beauty at the exper.se 

 of seed. And when annual plants become truly 

 double, they at the same time become perennial. 



:is examine another group of plants, belong- 

 ing to the same natural order as the rose. For 

 what purpose is the fruit of the apple-tree, the pear- 

 tree, and the peach? Their seed is evidently for 

 the propagation of the species. But still we ask : 

 F<>r what pin pose are the apple and the/wr/// The 

 germ is in the seed or within the stone. The 

 economy of the plant does not require that the 

 covering of the seeds should be increased in quan- 

 tity or heightened in flavor, for the seeds come 

 to their fullest development in the unchanged native 

 fruit. If the improvement in size and flavor is not 

 for the seed, it has no relation to the plant. And 

 probably no candid person will contend that the 

 change in cultivated fruits which renders them more 

 valuable to man, has any more relation to the wants 

 of the individual plant, or of the species, than the 

 milk of the mother has to her own wants. If this 

 change has any purpose at all, it is for something 

 outside of the plant. The seed is not for the plant 

 that produces it, but for the species. j 



The change of covering, as already indicated, is / 

 of no advantage to the seed. Its increase in size is 

 therefore a draft upon the tree, without having any 

 relation to the species. So far as the economy of 

 the plant is concerned, it is a mistake. The machi- 

 nery is out of order. There is an absolute throwing 



