I,] THE gardener's POWER. 35 



creation, but I choose a few from plants because these 

 are the most neglected, and because I am most familiar 

 with them. These are given to illustrate how important 

 external stimuli are in originating variation, and how it 

 is that some of these variations persist. 



Let me begin by saying that a good gardener loves 

 his plants. Now, a good gardener is one who grows 

 good plants, and good plants are very unlike poor plants. 

 They are unlike because the gardener's love for them 

 has made them so. The plants were all alike in Novem- 

 ber; in January, the good gardener's plants are strong 

 and clean, with large, dense leaves, a thick stem, and an 

 abundance of perfect flowers ; the poor gardener's plants 

 are small and mean, with curled leaves, a thin, hard 

 stem, and a few imperfect flowers. You will not believe 

 now that the two lots were all from the same seed -pod 

 three months ago. The good gardener likes to save his 

 own seeds or to make his own cuttings ; and next year 

 his plants v/ill be still more unlike his neighbor's. The 

 neighbor tries this seed and that, reads this bulletin and 

 that, but all avails nothing, simply because he does not 

 grow good plants. He does not care for them tenderly, 

 as a fond mother cares for a child. The good gardener 

 knows that the temperature of the water and the air, 

 the currents in the atmosphere, the texture of the soil, 

 and all the little amenities and comforts which plants so 

 much enjoy, are just the factors which make his plants 

 successful; and a good crop of anything, whether wheat 

 or beans or apples, is simply a variation. 



And do these unlikenesses survive? Yes, verily! 

 The greater part of the amelioration of cidtivated plants 

 has come about in just this way, — by gradual modifica- 

 tions in the conditions in which they are grown, by 



