2 /:.- *: lpJn,nl.-Bieeding 



ity of the operations of nature, and it were strange if 

 some underlying principle of the unfolding or progression 

 of plant-life does not dominate the origin of the varied 

 and innumerable varieties which, from time unknown, 

 have responded to the touch of the cultivator. Let us 

 first, therefore, make a broad survey of the subject in 

 a philosophical spirit, and later, discuss the more specific 

 instances of the origination of varieties. 



The fact of individuality. There is universal difference 

 in nature. No two living things are counterparts, for no 

 two are born alike or into exactly the same conditions and 

 experiences. Every living object has individuality; that 

 is, there is something about it that enables the acute 

 observer to distinguish it from all other objects, even of 

 the same class or species. Every plant in a row of lettuce 

 is different from every other plant, and the gardener, 

 when transplanting them, selects out, almost uncon- 

 sciously, some plants that please him and others that do 

 not. Every apple tree in an orchard of a thousand 

 Baldwins is unlike every other one, perhaps in size or 

 shape, or possibly in the vigor of growth or the kind of 

 fruit it bears. Persons who buy apples for export know 

 that fruit from certain regions stands the shipments better 

 than the same variety from other regions ; and if one were 

 to go into the orchards where these apples are grown, he 

 would find the owner still further refining the problem by 

 talking about the merits of individual trees in his orchard. 

 If one were to make the effort, he would find that it is 

 possible to distinguish differences between every two 

 spears of grass in a meadow, or every two heads of wheat 

 in a grain-field. 



