92 JOUKNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The wild chamomile, Matricaria Chamomilla, is abundant on un- 

 occupied ground in arable fields, farmyards, by haystacks, &c. And if 

 the seeds have reached a bare place on roadside grass, whence a heap of 

 stones has been removed, or where turf has been cut, the plants are 

 sharply bounded within the oval line or oblong space by the surrounding 

 grass. The seeds must have fallen alike among the grass, but they fail 

 to grow there. This shows how seeds of this annual cannot stand 

 against perennial grasses. 



On the other hand, the latter succumb before perennials with creeping 

 stems. Many a patch may be seen of the following plants whence the 

 grass has vanished : — The creeping buttercup, B. repens ; Dutch clover, 

 Trifolium repens ; stinging-nettle, Urtica dioica ; colt's-fcot, Tussilago 

 Far far a ; bracken, Pteris aquilina, and many others. Similarly on a 

 cut lawn plantains and daisies may multiply till the grass has been utterly 

 spoilt ; but if it be left uncut for a few years, not a daisy or plantain 

 would be found. Both grass and the other plants are equally fitted to 

 thrive if the conditions be changed. 



In gardens, as well as in nature, thousands of seeds are shed every 

 year but fail to put in any appearance, as in a rhododendron bed, those of 

 laburnums, and others which yield a profusion of seeds, comparatively few 

 appear as seedlings. What becomes of the great majority of the seeds 

 and why should a few only be " naturally selected " ? 



Hedges afford excellent examples of the struggle for existence and the 

 survival of the best adapted under the circumstances. In Warwickshire 

 the hedges are made of "quickset," Cratcegus Oxyacantha; but birds 

 (probably) have dropped seeds of elder, privet, holly, &c, while sitting 

 in them. By other means ash and maple " keys," nuts, acorns, sloes, hips, 

 &c, have dropped into them. All these interlopers have thriven and the 

 quickset has had to give way. To such an extent has this occurred that 

 at the present time a hedge would in great part be deemed a privet hedge 

 (and trimmed too), instead of being entirely of quickset, which only 

 betrays itself at intervals. Perhaps the most effective and continuous 

 supplanter is elm ; for the numerous suckers from the roots of the elm 

 trees standing in the hedge have in many instances converted it for long 

 distances both ways into a perfect elm-hedge. Such are a few illustra- 

 tions of the struggle for existence, which the observer can easily multiply. 



There is, however, no "ill-adaptation " in the quickset hedge. It has 

 long been recognised as one of the best adapted of woody plants for 

 hedges ; but it cannot stand against such broader- leaved ones as those 

 mentioned, which soon obscure the light from it, so that the quickset is 

 killed. 



The same results follow from ivy on a tree ; as soon as it reaches and 

 spreads over the branches, from which it then hangs freely, the dense 

 foliage obscures the light, and the tree in time perishes. Similar struggles 

 for existence may be seen among aquatic plants. 



Natural selection, therefore, is no " cause," nor has it any influence. 

 The cause of survival resides in the one plant and conditions of life, as 

 well as the cause of the extermination of the other. 



I have remarked that natural selection stands for the distribution of 

 plants. The following is a common illustration. A hedge, without any 



