LUTHER BURBANK 
to the shade. These violets reproduce themselves 
wholly by the self-fertilization which goes on 
within the colorless flower below. 
And there are those violets, of this same kind, 
blooming in the sunlight, which open their upper 
flowers, so that, if visited by insects, the seed 
within matures; but, as if in doubt of the effective- 
ness of their advertisement, the lower blossoms 
continue to produce their inbred seed. 
And there are still other violets which, as if 
assured of the friendship of the insects, have 
ceased to make the colorless blossoms below, and 
produce their entire output of seed at the base of 
the brilliant upper flower. 
Here, in these three kinds of violets, is written 
the story of a plant’s struggle with wild environ- 
ment in which man has not yet become a factor; 
the story of an unequal struggle in which the 
stages of failure, partial victory, and complete 
triumph are clearly laid before us. 
Into the life of the violet, some few hundred 
years ago, there came the new element of environ- 
ment—man. 
A single violet plant which was taken from its 
catch-as-catch-can existence, let us say, found 
itself in fine-combed soil in the shade of some 
one’s dooryard. 
[114] 
