NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 



It seems but fair to say that very much of 

 these systems has been built up upon a 

 slender base of experimentation. From his 

 unparalleled opportunities of observation he 

 arrives at certain conclusions. He does not 

 ignore the Survival of the Fittest or the 

 principles of Natural Selection, but he goes 

 beyond them. The grand principal cause 

 of all existing species and varieties of earth, 

 sea and air, he holds to be the Crossing of 

 Species. Upon this point he says : 



"The very existence of the higher orders 

 of plants which now inhabit the earth has 

 been secured to them only by their power 

 of adaptation to crossings, for through the 

 variations produced by the combination of 

 numerous tendencies, individuals are pro- 

 duced which are better endowed to meet 

 the prevailing conditions of life. Thus, to 

 Nature's persistence in crossing do we owe 

 all that earth now produces in man, animals 

 or plants ; and this magnificently stupendous 

 fact may also be safely carried into the 

 domain of chemistry as well ; for what are 

 common air and water but Nature's earlier 

 efforts in that line, and our nourishing foods 



348 



