32 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



of life, co-equal and co-splendent with the human soul, the 

 analysis of being. 



It is a necessity with nature that every precaution of pro- 

 tection should surround this seed in its growth, to guard it 

 against destruction, and to complete its perfect development. 



The law of man's self-existence is, that when the seed becomes 

 his food whereby he lives, every effort of nature must be sec- 

 onded to make a perfect seed protection. When the seed is 

 not his food, then we must change, or entirely eliminate, one or 

 more of these natural guards, and allow other qualities to 

 displace these protective qualities. 



If wild areas were occupied by a species where the varieties 

 could not mix by pollination, those varieties that developed 

 vital seeds would thrive by perpetuating a race only slightly 

 at variance with the primal type. 



If the area was occujDied by mixed varieties, those having 

 the most virile pollen, or those the best sexed, would conquer in 

 the race for existence, and only that variety remain which 

 would be surrounded by the greatest protection against all 

 possible enemies. 



This would be accomplished by a change in each generation 

 of seed, imparted to it by pollen possessing the greatest 

 strength and enduring qualities. The growing plant from 

 such a seed, having more resistance to climatic changes, more 

 strength of root to forage in the soil, and more power of leaf 

 to elaborate its fruit, would produce, first, intermediate varie- 

 ties, and, finally, occupy the whole area with a variety indis- 

 tinguishable from the strongest type. 



Continuous cross-pollination would, with each generation, 

 tend to eliminate the weaker variety, while seedless varieties 

 would be destroyed immediately. 



It is this known law in its action, in natural selection and 

 adaptation, that the Citrus vulgaris var. bigaradia, or the sour- 

 bitter orange, may be regarded as the primitive type of many 

 of the California oranges. Whether or not this is the germinal 

 and historic species from which the historic varieties came, 

 it is the natural protective type to represent the purpose of 

 nature in the production of seed. 



Citrus Vulgaris, var. Bigaradia. — If nature had marked this 

 tree and fruit with the sign "Touch not, taste not," she could 



