GARDEN LESSONS 281 



Your first and perfect form ye show, 

 The same that won Eve's matron smile 

 In the world's opening glow. ' 



But though the laws of plant-life are so strict that it 

 is impossible for a plant to grow except in obedience to 

 the laws, yet, within certain limits, it is possible for 

 man to produce changes, or for the plant itself to show 

 varieties, which may be more or less permanent, and it 

 is to these changes and variations that we owe many 

 of our most beautiful garden flowers. But the limits 

 of varieties are strictly defined, and however many 

 varieties may be produced, the original typical plant 

 goes on just the same. The wild potato on the coast 

 of Chili is the same that was found in the sixteenth 

 century. The wild scarlet pelargonium, from which our 

 numberless varieties have sprung, may still be found at 

 the Cape. And so strict are the limits of variation, 

 that in spite of all efforts, these two plants have never 

 become in the least degree hardier than when first 

 introduced, and probably never will be ; and though 

 the gardeners have so much altered the pelargonium 

 that it is now a flower with five almost equal petals, 

 yet the original irregular form cannot be entirely 

 obliterated, and the one larger petal of the typical 

 plant is always shown by the curious hole at the base, 

 which no hybridising has completely destroyed, but the 



