376 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



true of many of our tree fruits, the navel orange being a striking 

 example. Along with the absence of seeds and the presence of fine 

 flavor there is truly a monstrous form, in that one orange is within 

 and at the " navel " end of the other. 



Should we glance at some of our garden vegetables, as, for ex- 

 ample, the cabbages in their various races, every one will be struck 

 with the strangeness, to say the least, of the forms produced. In 

 contrast with the head of the true cabbage, where leaf is folded 

 upon leaf until a mass of metamorphosed foliage as large as a half 

 bushel is produced, there is the cauliflower, with the edible sub- 

 stance stored in a fleshy inflorescence that has lost its normal func- 

 tion and become truly monstrous. Were it not so tender and deli- 

 cate a food we might be disposed to smile at the absurdity of the 

 whole thing, or at the kohl-rabi, with its turniplike bulb in the stem 

 just above the surface of the ground. It is certainly a plastic spe- 

 cies that will give such diverse and fantastic forms so far from the 

 wild state, and for that reason so useful to man. 



In the same manner a comparison of our orchard fruits with the 

 forms from which they came would lead to the thought that man 

 has made them to his liking, and not for service to the plant species. 

 They are abnormal, judged by all standards in Nature ; monstrous 

 in size and in many cases have lost their essential structure as seed- 

 producing organs. 



Coming to the ornamental grounds, the disguises are largely 

 swept away, and there is but little hope of judging what the original 

 plants may have been from which have descended the favorites of 

 the flower bed and the conservatory. Species have been split into 

 a thousand and one varieties, each with its peculiarities and each 

 with the potency for greater deviation. Where shall we cast the 

 line and land an example ? The rose show of June is only surpassed 

 by the chrysanthemum exhibition in autumn. There must be the 

 new sorts brought out each year, whether the fancy be for a special 

 shade or color or a striking new shape of bud or form of bloom. 

 Would you realize what a novelty means to those in the craft who 

 watch a group of carnation growers as they hang over the exhibit of 

 a " new " rival, and consider all the merits and defects of the can- 

 didate for a certificate ? 



All the beauties of the flower garden are so familiar to us that 

 it is not expected that they will be considered unnatural. If the 

 hydrangea makes a panicle larger than it can bear, man helps it out 

 with a string or stake, for by overdoing it is not undone any more 

 than is the coddled peach tree held up at fruiting time by a dozen 

 poles, or the forced lily with a weak back supported upright by an 

 artificial green stem at church on Easter morning. 



