156 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



our attentive notice, that many of those plants 

 most valuable to man are precisely those most 

 disposed to/'^n into varieties. This is remark- 

 ably the casein one of the most useful fruits of 

 the temperate zone, the apple, of which Mr. G. 

 Don enumerates fourteen hundred varieties cul- 

 vated in gardens ; and the benevolent intent of 

 such an arrangement is at once seen, in the 

 great extension given to the usefulness of the 

 plant. The wild apple, or crab, is a harsh, 

 sour fruit, but from it, by cultivation, this vast 

 diversity has been developed, affording a combi- 

 nation of qualities suited to a variety of uses, 

 and thus making it most extensively applicable 

 as an article of food and luxury. The same 

 author gives six hundred and seventy-seven 

 varieties of the pear, two hundred and seventy- 

 four of the plum, sixty of the nectarine, and 

 nineteen of the orange. One hundred and 

 sixty varieties of yce are known in Ceylon 

 alone. It seems difficult to believe that the 

 red cabbage, cauliflower, savoy, Brussels' 

 sprouts, and white cabbage, have all sprung 

 from the Brassica oleracea, as found on our 

 shores, with its sea-green leaves, no appearance 

 of a head, and flowers like charlock yet such 

 is the case. The rose, again, sports into four- 

 teen hundred varieties, and many of our 

 favourite garden flowers, which delight equally 

 the sight and smell, are similarly disposed. 

 How bountiful and kind a provision is thus 

 made by our heavenly Father, to minister to 

 the wants, comforts, and pleasures of his crea- 



