ON FACT VS. THEORY 



a shift in new environment; after which we must 



rebuild our bridges and revise all our maps." 



***** 



Since the subject of classification is an impor- 

 tant one; and since Mr. Burbank upsets some 

 man-made law or theory on an average of about 

 once in every sixty days, it may be well, at this 

 point, to take a bird's-eye glimpse over the maps 

 and charts which have been worked out. 



With a subject in which the bulk of truth is 

 masked in the obscurity of past ages, and with 

 many men of many minds attacking it from many 

 viewpoints, it is only to be expected that there 

 should be differences of opinion. 



But, for the sake of making the explanation 

 clear, we may, for the moment, overlook minor 

 divergences and view, only, the main backbone 

 plan which meets with the broadest acceptance. 



To begin at the beginning, we see, first, 

 spread before us, three kingdoms, whose boundary 

 lines are well surveyed, and whose extent is 

 all-inclusive. These, as our Duffy's second reader 

 told us, are the mineral, the animal, and the 

 vegetable kingdoms. 



Our interest lies now in the vegetable kingdom, 

 which divides itself into six (perhaps seven) 

 branches, or subkingdoms, called phyla. 



The lowest of these subkingdoms includes 



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