22 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



the plant must, of course, be grown under glass. It is said to 

 do well in a temperature of 55 to 58 degrees and ordinarily 

 flowers twice a year. 



Cultivated Varities. — Regarding the forms of creation 

 Linnaeus wrote that ''there are as many different species as 

 the Infinite Being created in the beginning" and this idea has 

 largely prevailed in the public mind to the present day. It is 

 a mistake, however, to assume that species are unchanging 

 or that new forms appear only at long intervals. As a matter 

 of fact, such forms arise annually. One has only to visit the 

 nearest large area of plants in flower to discover many of them, 

 and the principal reason they do not persist and become distinct 

 species is because the type from which they spring is better 

 adjusted to the surroundings than they are. If one will take 

 the trouble to protect these aberrant forms they may be con- 

 tinued indefinitely and their peculiarities accentuated. It is 

 such care and cultivation that have given us the many forms 

 of garden flowers, often a hundred or more from a single 

 original species. The catalogue of any seedsman will present 

 much evidence on this point. Someone who has been invest- 

 igating the matter reports that of pinks there are 50 forms, 

 of petunias 57, pansies 62, poppies 68, nasturtiums 78, chrys- 

 anthemums 109, sweet peas 166, pyrethrums 180, larkspurs 

 218, carnations 224, phloxes 346, asters 457 and peonies 657. 

 If you have a favorite flower of which 3^ou would like a new 

 variety, sow plenty of seeds, select your own variety and 

 breed it up. 



