Changes Indicated. 163 



these two directions, according to the leading i 

 in their products. The apple and the rose already 

 referred t<>, lei'. 11-- to the same botanical family ; yet 

 they are ped, in nearly all their variations, in 



opposite directions. 



The potato has for its leading idea the formation 

 'iiiul stems or tubers ; while its brother, 

 the tomato, has for its idea the production of a fruit 

 nding in structure to the potato-grape-. 

 They show this in all their variations. In the p' 

 tT .vood, and in the mint, essen- 



tial oil. Hut in such plants as do not readily pro- 

 duce varieties the line of development is determined 

 with difficulty. 



4. Some plants in their native state give indica- 

 tions of the kind of change likely to take place in 

 them by cultivation. The rose, for example, by its 

 large corolla in comparison with the fruit, shows that 

 nge of flower is most likely to take place. In the 

 irge, fleshy fruit indicates a tendency to 

 variation and improvement in that direction. The 

 viburnum opnlus, the hydrangea, and other plants, by 

 the circle of sterile flowers, much larger and more 

 beautiful than the fertile flowers, indicate change in 

 the direction of beauty. Those beautiful circles of 

 sterile flowers in some of our native shrubs, and the 

 neutral rays of some of our composite, may be re- 

 as ornaments, rather than as of use in the 

 economy of the plant. When, therefore, a new plant 

 is brought under cultivation, there is little doubt in 

 what direction it will vary, if at all. The increase 



