116 Evolution of Vegetal Life. 



at 300. In 1829, 2562 kinds of roses were enumerated as 

 cultivated in France alone. Most cultivated roses have be- 

 come double, and gradually less fertile, and less sure of re- 

 production in kind by seed, so that propagation by cuttings 

 and by budding and grafting is resorted to, when the same 

 characteristics are desired. Our apples belong to the rose- 

 family. You know how much they vary. If they do not 

 all come from the common crab, there are no wild species 

 living, or of which there is any trace, resembling the pres- 

 ent forms, and these are continually being increased in num- 

 ber. 



This may be as good a time as any, to speak of another 

 variation, — a variation which sometimes occurs immediate- 

 ly in the fruit produced from the pollen of one plant when 

 placed upon the flower of another, and not simply as seen 

 in the fruit of a plant resulting from seed so produced. 

 As an illustration of this, I will give a single instance. 



At St. Valery in France there is an apple-tree which has 

 blossoms with a double calyx having ten divisions, and with 

 fourteen styles, but without corolla or stamens. The 

 flowers therefore require artificial fertilization with pollen 

 from another tree. The girls of the village go annually to 

 ^^fairesespommes,'^ — to make their apples, each marking 

 her own fruit with a ribbon, and as different pollen is used, 

 the fruit differs on the tree. This is an exceptional case, 

 but the same thing has occurred where the conditions were 

 not so unusual. 



Almonds, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, nectarines, etc., 

 belong to the rose-family. The peach is believed to have 

 been derived from the almond, and the nectarine is sup- 

 posed to have grown from a peach-stone, in Boston, Eng- 

 land. It is certain that peach-trees frequently produce 

 nectarines, while nectarines at times produce peaches, 

 sometimes both kinds of fruit appearing together on the 

 tree. Occasionally a part of a single fruit is peach, and a 

 part nectarine. You know what a vast difference there is 

 in the varieties of grapes. Most of these are supposed to 

 have risen from a single Asiatic species. Of gooseberries 

 there were eight varieties known in 1629 ; now there are 

 over 300. 



Pansies are believed to have been derived from five wild 

 stocks, variously crossed. You are all familiar with their 

 varieties and differences. Dahlias are believed to have all 



