THE IDEAL IN PLANTS 155 



scores of varieties. Roses of every variety of form, 

 colour, habit, texture are constantly appearing. 

 By purposeful mating, and supplying favourable 

 conditions of soil, temperature, etc., almost any 

 kind of variety can be produced. So we have not 

 only yellow roses of every shade from gold and 

 cream to lemon, but also white and red and pink 

 roses of every hue. We have single roses and roses 

 as full as small cabbages. And we have dwarf roses 

 and roses climbing 50 or 60 feet in height. 



From all this it is evident that within the original 

 seed of Rosa persica was a rose-spirit which refused 

 to be confined within the limits of Rosa persica 

 only, but stretched out far beyond as well. The 

 rose-spirit had latent in it, and was unconsciously 

 stretching out to, all the beauties which roses have 

 since attained to, and beyond that again to all the 

 beauties that are yet to come. The horizon of the 

 rose-spirit* was never confined by a single plan — ^the 

 plan of the Rosa persica — as the builder is confined 

 by the plan of the architect, beyond which he can- 

 not go. The rose-spirit could reach out along the 

 line of roses to an unlimited extent . It could produce 

 nothing but roses ; it could not produce laburnums. 

 But it could produce roses of unlimited variety, 

 provided favourable conditions were available. 



But the Rosa persica was itself the outcome of 

 a long line of development from a far-away primor- 

 dial plant-germ. From that original plant-germ 

 have sprung all the ferns and grasses, the shrubs 

 and trees and flowers, of the present day. So in- 

 that plant-germ must have resided the plant-spirit 

 with an ideal of all this variety of plant-life 



