154 LUTHER BURBANK 



resenting now two parents, will show a still 

 wider diversity of hereditary traits. 



JNIeantime, turning attention again to the 

 bulb, we find that this structure represents the 

 parent form with much greater fidelity. As 

 nearly as there can be identity between two dif- 

 ferent living things, the plant that grows from 

 any offset of the bulb of any given Tigridia will 

 be identical with the parent form. 



A certain amount of diversity there must 

 always be, because no two living organisms are 

 absolutely identical. 



But for all practical purposes it may be said 

 that the different plants grown from offshoots of 

 an original bulb are identical. The process of 

 bulb division can be repeated a thousand or a 

 million times, until the original bulb has been so 

 multiplied that its descendants people the earth. 

 But from first to last, one bulb will be substan- 

 tially like another, and all the myriads of plants 

 that have thus arisen may be said to constitute a 

 single personality. 



All this is such familiar matter of fact as to 

 excite no comment. 



Yet, rightly considered, it is a fact of the most 

 mystifying kind and one that must excite 

 wonderment on the part of anyone who gives it 

 serious consideration. 



