I PROLEGOMENA 13 



Q 

 plant world, opposes the same energy as it works 



through the ^tate of nature, but a similar an- ^^ 

 is everywhere manifest between the 



artificial and the natural. Even in the state of 

 nature itself, what is the struggle for existence \ 

 but the antagonism of the results of the cosmic -% 

 process in the region of life, one to another ? l 



IV 



Not only is Uie state of nature hostile to the 

 of art of_ the garden; but the principle of 



_ 



the horticultural process, by which the latter is 

 created and maintained, is antithetic to that of the 

 eusmie process. The characteristic feature of the 

 latter is the intense and unceasing competition of 

 the struggle for existence. The characteristic of 

 I he former is the elimination nf that struggle, by 

 tin- removal of the conditions which give rise to 

 it. The tendency of the cosmic process is to bring 

 about the adjustment of the forms of plant life ' 

 to the current conditions; the tendency of the 

 horticultural process is the adjustment of the con- 

 ditions to the needs of the forms of plant life ' 

 which the gardener desires to raise. 



The cosmic process uses unrestricted multiplica- 



1 Or to put the case still more simply. When a man lays 

 hold of the two ends of a piece of string and pulls them, with 

 intent to break it, the right arm is certainly exerted in 

 antagonism to the left arm ; yet both arms derive their energy 

 from the same original source. 



