IV.] THE WORK OP THE HORTICULTURIST. 137 



of evolution, is whether plants and animals can be 

 profoundly modified by different conditions, and if these 

 modifications tend to persist. Every man before me 

 knows, as a matter of common observation and practice, 

 that this is true of plants. He knows that varieties with 

 the most marked features are passing before him like a 

 panorama. He knows that nearly every plant which has 

 been long cultivated, has become so profoundly and ir- 

 revocably modified that people are disputing as to what 

 wild species it came from. Consider that we cannot cer- 

 tainly identify the original species of the apple, peach, 

 plum, cherry, orange, lemon, wine grape, sweet potato, 

 Indian corn, melon, bean, pumpkin, wheat, chrysanthe- 

 mum, and nearly or quite a hundred other common cul- 

 tivated plants. It is immaterial whether they are called 

 species or varieties. They are new forms. Some of 

 them are so distinct that they have been made the types 

 of genera. Here is the experiment to prove that evolu- 

 tion is true, worked out upon a scale and with a definite - 

 ness of detail which the boldest experimenter could not 

 hope to attain, were he to live a thousand years. The 

 horticulturist is one of the very few men whose distinct 

 business and profession is evolution. He, of all other 

 men, has the experimental proof that species come and 

 go. 



NoTK.— A fuller statement of the author's views respecting species may be 

 found in "The Philosophy of Species-Making," Botanical Gazette, December, 





