84 PRACTICAL FLOKICTTLTUBE. 



" broken " from what may be termed its primary condi- 

 tion into everchanging variety. Thus changed, it is pro- 

 bable that their seeds will never produce two individual 

 plants exactly alike, any more than two identical human 

 faces or forms are produced. It is probable that all species 

 of animals and vegetables, under long years of domesti- 

 cation and cultivation, would ultimately " break " from 

 the original type, though we know that in some species 

 this tendency sooner develops than in others. It is 

 not to be wondered at that amateur horticulturists, like 

 my friend, are puzzled at what looks like inconsistency in 

 nature why she refuses to produce always again his 

 Baldwin apple, or his Rareripe peach, his Striped Petunia, 

 or his Double Carnation, yet gives him back seemingly 

 identical with the parent his corn or his wheat, his tomato 

 or his cabbage, or in flowers his Mignonette or Alyssum. 

 I say seemingly, for it may be doubted if they are 

 identical, only that the variation is so slightly marked 

 that it escapes notice. Many whose experience in such 

 matters should have taught them better, are always con- 

 founding plants raised from cuttings or slips with those 

 raised from seeds, and can not see why the plant raised 

 from the slip or root of a White Dahlia, or the tree raised 

 from the graft of a Baldwin apple, should be always iden- 

 tical with the plant or tree from which they are taken, 

 while the seeds taken from either would not produce the 

 same. Any cutting from a root or a branch, whether 

 rooted itself or engrafted on another stock (except in rare 

 cases of sports), will be identical with that of the original 

 form from which it was taken; in fact, it is only a 

 separated part of the same plant, while the plant raised 

 from seed is a distinct individual. 



Very few not engaged in the cultivation of flowers as a 

 business, know that many of the most beautiful ones used 

 to decorate flower-beds in summer, and the hot-house or 

 parlor in winter, can be raised from seed. The price of 



