96 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



flowers are much larger, with broader petals, 

 especially on the outer edge, because they 

 have plenty of room in which to spread, and 

 plenty of light and air on which to feed. 

 Thus, in all crowded trusses of blossom, the 

 outer flowers tend as a rule to grow larger 

 and more showy than the inner ones ; and if 

 this natural tendency happens to aid the plant 

 by giving it an extra chance of insect fertili- 

 sation, it will be increased and specialised by 

 constant selection of those individuals which 

 best display it. Our gardeners carry the 

 process one step further ; for they artificially 

 select such guelder roses as have the largest 

 number of barren flowers in each head, until 

 at last they produce a carefully cultivated 

 monstrosity with all the flowers barren and 

 broad-petalled, so as to form a great white 

 fluffy ball. Such a monstrous variety could 

 never be perpetuated in a state of nature, be- 

 cause it produces no seed : it can only be 

 propagated by slips and cuttings. But our 

 florists are fond of these distorted forms, their 



