branches, or have been pruned out. As it was handicapped by 
having only seedless fruits, it would have been lost to the world 
forever, though this handicap is one of the chief characters that 
make it prized. 
Double-flowered variations of most single-flowered plants are 
generally either wholly seedless or capable of producing only a 
few seeds as compared to the single-flowering parent varieties, 
and usually there is nothing else about a double-flowering variety 
that makes up for this handicap in its struggle to increase its 
kind— no greater ability to reproduce itself by suckers, or by 
bulblets, etc.— and so, unless discovered in time by man, it per- 
ishes. In botanical excursions, quite a number of times I have 
found these double or semi-double flowered forms, but only as 
single plants generally. 
In the yellow carnation, a handicap of another type is found— 
the varieties for some unknown reason seem to be more prone to 
disease than varieties with flowers of other colors. 
Still another common variation in plants which handicaps its 
possessors is albinism, especially when it occurs in leaves and 
stems. The chlorophyll, which gives the green color to plants, 
is the plant’s food manufactory, and if even part of the foliage 
lacks this green chlorophyll, the plant is in the same fix in the 
struggle for existence as a battleship in battle with only one side 
equipped with guns and armor. When the green is wholly lack- 
ing, as quite often happens in corn (Zea mays), the plants die 
when a few inches high, after the reserve food in the seed has 
been used up. 
In the great majority of cases a multitude of conditions rather 
than any one condition governs the ability of a new variation to 
reproduce itself and compete with other members of its commun- 
ity, and the nature of these conditions is but little known as far 
as specific cases are concerned. 
When variations are not handicaps, and particularly if they 
give their possessor an advantage over the other plants of their 
kind or of their community, new wild varieties, sub-species, and 
eventually new species themselves are formed; but variations are 
probably more often handicaps than advantageous, and thus, 
unless the hand of man intervenes, more new forms perish un- 
known than succeed in maintaining themselves until they become 
numerous enough to be called a new species. 
In watching out for variations among wild plants and record- 
ing and preserving them, together with date as to place, time of 
year, character of soil, evidence if any of disease, etc., much 
pleasure and some profit is to be attained. If the variations are 
preserved and seed can be obtained and planted, more light on 
