LUTHER BURBANK 



Eighth, the variety, which ranks below a species 

 and above the individual. 



Yet with but one certainty in the entire scheme 

 of classification — that certainty being the indi- 

 vidual, itself. 



Men may tell us that a plant belongs to one 

 genus or to another, that it is of this species, or 

 of that — or that it is even of a different family 

 than at first we thought — but these, after all, are 

 but theories, built up about the plant by man — 

 theories which serve merely as guide posts in our 

 work. 



The plant itself, the individual plant, if we but 

 watch it and give it an opportunity^ to show, will 

 tell us for itself, beyond dispute or denial, just 

 what manner of plant it is — just what we may 

 liope for it to do. 



Next in importance to classifying plants, from 

 a superficial standpoint, is a method of naming 

 them. 



When we go to the florist's we ask for roses, 

 or marigolds; when we go to the fruiterer's we 

 talk to him of oranges, and plums, and cherries; 

 when we go to the green grocer we ask for lettuce, 

 or cabbage, or peas; when we select furniture we 

 talk of it as being made of mahogany, or oak, or 

 walnut. 



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