Congenial Surroundings 



are less fit to struggle for place than their fellows, 

 would not survive, and by isolating them removes 

 the need for competition. He perpetuates a form 

 which pleases him, but which is less efficient in 

 performing its functions, and which is therefore 

 a weaker and more delicate variety. In seeking to 

 attain his ends he often oversteps the bounds which 

 limit the plant's powers of self-adjustment. 



It must not be supposed that plants reach their 

 most perfect development when growing wild, or 

 in their native homes attain their ends with the 

 greatest degree of efficiency. It is, in fact, com- 

 paratively rare to find a plant in Nature so placed 

 as to perform all its functions f uUy. All one can say 

 is that a wild plant is attuned to its environment to 

 a greater or less extent. It has to compete with 

 others, and not infrequently it fails to estabHsh itself 

 under the conditions that suit it best, either because 

 circumstances prevent it finding them, or because 

 other plants oust it from them. The cultivator 

 may often provide better environment than the 

 plant has when growing wild ; then he will secure 

 well-developed plants in good health. 

 - Every species has its own best environment, and 

 every gardener knows that all the varieties even of 

 one species do not thrive alike within the same 

 environment ; possibly even individual plants differ 

 in their precise requirements. Though this is so, 

 and while it would be manifestly impossible to deal 



3 



