LUTHER BURBANK 



Eighth, the variety, which ranks below a species 

 and above the individual. 



Yet with but one certainty in the entire scheme 

 of classification that certainty being the indi- 

 vidual, itself. 



Men may tell us that a plant belongs to one 

 genus or to another, that it is of this species, or 

 of that or that it is even of a different family 

 than at first we thought but these, after all, are 

 but theories, built up about the plant by man- 

 theories which serve merely as guide posts in our 

 work. 



The plant itself, the individual plant, if we but 

 watch it and give it an opportunity to show, will 

 tell us for itself, beyond dispute or denial, just 

 what manner of plant it is just what we may 

 hope for it to do. 



A * * * * 



Next in importance to classifying plants, from 

 a superficial standpoint, is a method of naming 

 them. 



When we go to the florist's we ask for roses, 

 or marigolds; when we go to the fruiterer's we 

 talk to him of oranges, and plums, and cherries; 

 when we go to the green grocer we ask for lettuce, 

 or cabbage, or peas; when we select furniture we 

 talk of it as being made of mahogany, or oak, or 

 walnut. 



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