Evolution of Vegetal Life. 1 1 7 



come from one species since 1S02 in France and 1804 in Eng- 

 land. With the varieties of these you are likewise familiar. 

 So also with the hyacinths. The original flower, which was 

 brought from the East, had the petals narrow, wrinkled, 

 pointed, and of a flimsy texture. In ir)97 there were f(nir 

 varieties; in 1G29 there were eiglit; in 17G8 there were 

 said to be nearly 2000. The number has since, it is be- 

 lieved, very much decreased. Of chrysanthemums, " it is 

 said that at least 10,000 seedlings have been exhibited for 

 the flrst tinu' this year. The diversity of form and color 

 displayed is almost infinite, and the various strains have 

 been so intercrossed that the seeds from a single flower- 

 head will often produce examples of the types most widely 

 separated in structure and size, together with intermediate 

 and kindred forms." 



These numerous varieties have been j)roduced first by un- 

 conscious, then by conscious as well as by unconscious se- 

 lection. The least of a botanist among us knows enough 

 to gather the finest cluster of mayflowers which she may 

 find by brushing aAvay the dry leaves with Avhich they are 

 covered in the early spring ; the best huckleberries o/blue- 

 berries that grow upon the mountain top. We all know 

 that there is a difference. So in the orchard or in the gai-- 

 den. If there are too many apple-trees, it is not those which 

 bear the finest apples which Avill be sacrificed ; if the rose- 

 bushes need protection from the frost, it is not those which 

 produce the smallest and the most scentless blossoms that 

 Avill be most tenderly cared for. We know, too, that as we 

 give a more steady supply of moisture and nourishment to 

 the plants which we protect, they improve in quality and 

 increase in variety. Hoir they will vary, at the outset we 

 do not know, nor do we knoAV ^vhen they will vary. But 

 experience has shown us that they will vary, and that by 

 protecting such varieties as please us most, and propagating 

 them, and conversely, by neglecting or destroying those 

 which are less satisfactory, the variations once begun can 

 be increased and made definite upon the lines chosen. 



From this elementary condition, cultivation has- gone for- 

 ward until it has become the aitistic representative of a 

 science, and until it almost seems that due diligence only is 

 required to enable the floriculturist to turn out a flower of 

 any pattern which may be suggested to him. 



It must be borne in mind however, that these results are 



