Chances of Life 20 n 



which would produce red cabbages and which green, and 

 from which will come crinkle-leaved savoys, curly-leaved 

 kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, or cauliflowers. All 

 these are but varieties of the cabbage, though they are so 

 very different in appearance; and as long as they are only 

 seeds, they are so nearly alike that their secret is quite safe 

 from ordinary people. 



Even when we know that certain plants will spring from 

 certain seeds, we are in many cases quite unable to tell 

 what the color of the blossom will be. There is no differ- 

 ence at all to be detected in the seed, yet one seed will 

 produce blossoms of one color and another of another. 

 But why.? 



For instance, from the seed of the verbena, phlox, and 

 sweet-pea, we know, because it has been so in the past, 

 that we shall get verbenas, phloxes, and sweet-peas; and 

 we may go a step beyond this, and say that there will be 

 no quite blue flowers nor any yellow ones among them. 

 This we know from experience. We know, too, that, 

 though the seeds of each sort look so exactly alike, no two 

 plants will be absolutely similar, and the blossoms will 

 vary much. Some of the pea-blossoms may be pink of 

 different shades, others pink and white or purple, though 

 they grow side by side; and there will be still greater 

 variety in the colors of the phloxes and verbenas, some of 

 which will also have white eyes, and some not. But we 

 cannot tell by looking at it which seed will produce which 

 blossom. 



And even if, in some cases, we should be able to do 

 this, we are still not a whit nearer solving the mystery of 

 the how and the why. We may conclude that there is 

 some minute difference in the food which the roots take 



