EVOLUTION OF VEGETAL LIFE.* 



In touching the question of development, even as it af- 

 fects the most insignificant plant, Ave are feeling the pulse 

 of the deepest mysteries : 



" To me the meanest flower that blows can give 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 



On the 26th of last July I was wandering around among 

 the rocks where Cape Ann thrusts her granite arm out into 

 the turbulent Atlantic, and bears from hour to hour through 

 the ages the buffeting thunder-strokes of its mighty surf. 

 The breeze was fresh ; bright sunlight was reflected from 

 the orange-gray rocks ; and the air was full of the perfume of 

 the bay -berry. But perhaps most lovely of all, where all was 

 charming, was the myriad of wild roses which covered the 

 bushes springing from the stony soil. We all know and 

 love these delicate blossoms, which everywhere make our 

 roadsides so attractive at midsummer. Professor Gray 

 enumerates six species as growing in the Northern United 

 States, and some varieties of these are to be found in al- 

 most every locality where there is a trace of wildness left. 

 I have here roses from a bush of a different character, but 

 we shall hardly say that they are less lovely. I want to 

 ask you to follow me in an inquiry into the stages of th e 

 develojDinent of the bush from which they were taken ; the 

 different steps of growth which occurred before I could 

 place before you these royal blossoms. 

 i^ln what shape did it first appear as a growing plant ? Prob- 

 ably as a short cutting from a branch, bearing a few buds, 

 and inserted for a part of its length in sandy loam : that is, 

 it was simply a part of another bush. The bush from 

 which it was taken doubtless originated in the same way, 

 and so back for many generations, or quasi-generations, — 

 for, as a matter of fact, we have here no change by gen- 

 eration, but simply the prolongation of the life of a single 



* COPYBlfiiiT, 1889, by The New Ideal rnhlishiiip; Co. 



