CHAPTER XIII 

 THE RED ROCKERY 



I HAVE sometimes dared to doubt if Adam was quite 

 the gardener we are accustomed to suppose. A con- 

 siderable antiquity has thrown some haze over the 

 actual facts, and one would be the last to dispel it ; 

 but consider his disadvantages, and ask yourself what 

 you would have felt if brought suddenly face to face 

 with the six thousand genera. Two words must 

 instantly have leapt to your lips : " Bentham " and 

 " Hooker." Then imagine your position on learning 

 that neither Bentham nor Hooker had arrived ; that 

 you were standing at the dim beginning of all things ; 

 that as yet no science of botany existed. 



We have actually nothing named after Adam, except 

 " Adam's needle " ; and that should be called tl Eve's 

 needle/' because there can be no shadow of doubt 

 that it was the Mother of us all who deftly manu- 

 factured that first masonic garment from the leaves 

 of ficus. Note her immature judgment in the matter. 

 She had all the fine foliage plants of paradise to select 

 from ; Adam might have worn caladium esculentum, 

 or musa, for raiment; Eve might have donned the 

 autumn foliage of vitis Coignetiae, and trimmed it 



with exquisite berries coloured ruby or sapphire, topaz 



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