December, 1920 
The Glad Philosopher’s 
M usings. 
Every once in a while some sentimen- 
talist prates about “plant intelligence,” 
as though such an attribute existed. 
A plant is a non sentient being, devoid 
of volition, much less intelligence. The 
evidence of a seeming intelligence in 
the growth and action of plant life is 
the general intelligence of nature, 
whose laws move ihe plant to an ac- 
cordant action. Given like conditions 
in vegetable life, nature will prod ce 
unvar> ing results. If a be. m vine had 
volition, some day one would start 
twining toward the left instead of the 
right, just for the novelty of the thing 
or as an experiment. 
Man alone is intellectual. He is the 
only known creation that has the 
ability to reason and the power ol initia- 
tive. I he lower animals, guided b> an 
inheient instinct, do everything by 
rule, absolute and unalterable. The 
ant, it must be admitted, has a fair 
claim to rank ntxt to man in the scale 
of intelligence, but Sir John Lubbock 
found by exhaustive experimenting 
that while ants showed very high in- 
telligence in many established func- 
tions of communal life, he could get 
no satisfactory evidence of individual 
reasoning that might enable them to 
overcome obstacles that would require 
only the most rudimentary intelligence 
to remove. 
John Burroughs, after a lifetime 
spent in close observation of the ways 
and habits of the lower animals, con- 
fesses that he has never been fully able 
to persuade himselt that the lower ani- 
mals ever show anything more than a 
faint gleam of what we call thought 
and reflection the power to evolve 
ideas from sense impressions, - except 
feebly in the case of the dog and the 
apes, and possibly the elephant. He 
finds that nearly all the animal be- 
havioi that the credulous public looks 
upon as the outcome of reason is 
simply the result of the adaptiveness 
and plasticity of instinct. He says 
the animals have impulses and impres- 
sions where we have ideas and con- 
cepts. 
Had Burroughs not qualified his 
opinion with exceptions he might ex- 
pect to be disputed by every owner of 
a dog, most of whom would in all sin- 
cer ty want to vouch for known cases 
furnishing positive evidence of that 
anim.J’s possession of considerable 
reasoning power. My own love for the 
dog and experience in training them 
would make it hard for me to deny 
him the compliment of such a belief. 
But it must be remembered that for 
thousands of years the dog has been 
man’s close companion and this close 
companiomhi has moi ified his nature 
and “humanized” his instincts, and 
though he has a routine intelligence of 
an apparently high order, he seems to 
lack the abili'y to apply it to any new 
problem or untamiliar condition. 
Olje /lower (Grower 
We are led to think an animal intel- 
ligent when we see it perform tricks 
that have been taught it. In teaching 
an animal to perform a trick we repeat 
the impression made upon its senses 
over and over many times until a habit 
is finally «stablished and the animal is 
trained, but it is not educated. 
We cannot but marvel at the pro- 
found intelligence of nature when we 
take notice of the many ingenious ways 
and devices plants have for scattering 
their seed ; but since the preservation 
of the species is ever the most impor- 
tant end to be achieved in either plant 
or animal life, it is natural that here 
we may expect wise old Mother Nature 
to give fullest expression of her subtle 
genius. 
The Glad Philosopher. 
Proposed Plan for Inspection and 
Regulating the Naming of New 
Varieties of Flowers. 
BY WILLIAM H. PHIPPS. 
[ Written expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
One of the questions that concern 
real flower growers is placing on the 
market new varieties that are not up 
to the improved standard. Propaga- 
tors are often influenced by the desire 
to realize financially on some mediocre 
variety and it is named, catalogued 
and often advertised beyond its merits. 
If growers would only realize that in 
so doing they lower their own stand- 
ard and consequently are so rated by 
the public, we think that they would 
use more care and if such flowers are 
sold at all to sell them in a mixed 
grade. By so doing they would avoid 
much of the trouble and disappoint- 
ment now experienced by growers who 
are seeking the best in every line. 
Since it is evident that vast num- 
bers of new named varieties are being 
catalogued this year, many of which 
will soon be discarded, we necessarily 
are concerned as to some method that 
will protect both the propagator and 
the public. The writer is one of the 
buying public but hopes soon to have 
some new varieties to offer for consid- 
eration, hence he will be affected from 
both angles of the question. I there- 
fore propo>e the following : 
1. In each general flower society, viz: 
“ The American Peony Society ” and other 
societies of that sort formed to promote and 
and cultiva e the Peony, “The American 
Gladiolus Society,” and subordinate branches, 
etc., appoint a committee in each society to 
pass upon and give a rating to all heretofore 
produced and named Gladioli, Peonies, 
Roses, et al. 
2. Appoint district judges for each state 
and territory, who shall examine and pass 
upon the merits of new varieties when re- 
quest! d so to do by any grower announcing 
the production of a new variety; that such 
grower shall pay such district judge or judges 
as the case may be, the sum of five dollars 
for making such examination. 
3. That if such district judge finds the 
new variety to possess mt rit he shall make 
a certificate showing the kind, quality and 
name ol the new variety and recommend 
that it be placed on the accepted list. Such 
certificate shall be handed to such grower 
and a copy thereof shall be forwarded to the 
general secretary of the society, who shall 
191 
thereupon enter such variety in the list of 
named varieties; that when such variety 
shall have been so entered it shall be en- 
titled to enter competitive classes in any 
show or exposition conducted under the 
rules and regulations of such society ; that 
no variety that has not passed such exami- 
nation and has been so certified shall enter 
any contest for ptizes, certificates of merit, 
nor in any manner enter in any competition 
conducted under the rules and regulations 
of such society. 
4. That any grower who desires to ap- 
peal from the decisions of such district judge 
may do so by giving notice of his intention 
so to do in writing, by filing the same with 
such district judge who shall forward the 
same togeiher with a copy of his findings, 
to the general secretary of the socirty, who 
shall enter the appeal and refer it to the 
judges of the society who are annually ap- 
pointed to judge all flowers entered for ex- 
hibition at the annual show. 
If such appellant so desires he may enter 
a general appeal to the whole membership 
of the society and he must then lurnish not 
less than three blooms or spikes to be placed 
on exhibition at the annual show and in 
such case each member of such society 
present at the show, shall have the right to 
examine the flower. If approved he shall 
vote yes, if disapproved he shall vote no. 
A majority of votes cast in the affirmative 
shall be required to support the appeal. 
That in case of appeal he shall pay a further 
sum of $5 to the general secretary. 
5. That in case a variety is rejected the 
district judge shall write rejected on the ap- 
plication and such variety shall not again be 
presented until after the expiration of two 
years from the date of such rejection, either 
in the first instance or on appeal as herein 
provided. 
6. No district judge shall sit in his own 
case but he must submit his application to 
some other disinterested judge, or to the 
general secretary who shall present the mat- 
ter to the exhibition judges as herein pro- 
vided in appealed cases and they shall ren- 
der a final decision, provided, however, that 
in every instance a grower may ask for the 
decision of the general membership of the 
society as herein provided in appealed cases. 
7. No variety that has been twice rejected 
shall thereafter be eligible to consideration 
at the hands of the district or general judges. 
The general secretary shall publish a list of 
all new entries and of all appeals by bulle- 
tin which shall be available for the use of 
all members of the society. 
8. The general secretary shall call atten- 
tion of all members who attend the annual 
meeting to the list of appeals wherein such 
appeal is directed to the general member- 
ship and request that each member present 
pass upon the appeal. Should the appeal 
be sustained then the general secretary shall 
issue the certificate of approval to the appel- 
lant grower. 
The above is submitted for consider- 
ation. It is not complete but it is a 
start in the right direction and if car- 
ried into effect must have a beneficial 
result. 
We will know that a variety is good 
that carries a certificate. 
We will avoid waste of time and 
money. 
We will be saved from the extravagant 
claims of over-enthusiastic growers. 
It will weed out all poor varieties 
and present only the best for consider- 
ation. 
Mr. Phipps’ suggestion is at least a 
start in the right direction. Some 
check should be put on the promis- 
cuous and unlimited naming of new 
varieties of flowers. 
