RHUBARB SPROUTS. 45 



grow older they also get oxidised, and so assume their 

 bright hues. 



In fact, the pigment of the petals in many cases is 

 exactly the same, both in colour and in chemical com- 

 position, as that of the autumn leaves from which the 

 chlorophyll has disappeared, or of the young spring 

 foliage in which it has not yet been developed. So that, 

 to put it simply, all plants, whether they produce brilliant 

 fruits and flowers or otherwise, have in them all the 

 material necessary for such a display, and could be in- 

 duced to assume bright hues under proper circum- 

 stances, just as our gardeners have made the leaves of 

 geraniums and many other plants do so since the taste 

 for coloured foliage plants set in. Besides, such bright 

 hues are especially apt to appear in the neighbourhood 

 of the fruits or flowers, and do often appear there with- 

 out any special reason. If, then, in the wild state, they 

 ever happened to show themselves in such a manner as 

 to benefit the plant by attracting birds or insects, we 

 may be pretty sure that the tendency once set up would 

 continue and increase from generation to generation. 

 As a matter of fact, it is manifest that some familiar 

 fruits and flowers only show the tendency even now in a 

 very nascent or incipient form, while others show it in a 

 highly developed degree. For example, in peaches and 

 apples only the sunny side is coloured at all, and that in 

 a very irregular and patchy manner ; whereas oranges 

 are fully coloured in every part. On the other hand, 

 pears as a rule hardly show any signs of colouring be- 

 yond a slight browning of the peel on one side. Cher- 

 ries give us every stage from the merely pink- 

 cheeked whitehearts, to the deep and uniform red of the 



