24 | [ ASSEMBLY 
become developed into a large yielding, large tubered, compactly fruit- 
ing (if the tubers be termed the'fr uit) plant, ‘from asmall yielding, small 
tubered and diffusely fruiting original, and in correspondence with the 
improvement, the power of bearing fertile flowers hag mainly disap- 
peared. ‘There have also been secured variations in hardiness, earliness, 
size of tuber and of plant, and edible quality of tuber. The beet, from 
a worthless sea-side plant, has been changed into three types, the beet 
proper, the chard beet, and the mangold, each of which has varied into 
many distinct forms, and the types coming true from seed. ‘The turnip, 
from a disputed or hybrid original, has acquired a series of variations 
which has adapted it for most varied wants, as a garden plant and as 
a field crop, the varieties varying most noticeably in shape of root, size, 
earliness, color, foliage and hardiness. The cabbage, froma worthless 
original, has furnished types which may almost be called species, the 
resemblance being so little marked, and the variations being so strongly 
marked in the various kales, kohl- rabis, marrow- cabbages, cabbages, 
Brussels sprouts and cauliflowers. Among the garden plants the com- 
mon kidney bean, unknown in a wild state, has furnished hundreds of 
varieties, each well marked. ‘The wild carrot with small woody root, 
has been changed into a plant bearing succulent large roots of very 
diverse forms; the celery from a suspicious, oftentimes poisonous plant, 
now furnishes our most esteemed saJad, and in one series of varieties 
the root has become changed to a bulb; the cucumber, egg-plant, en- 
dive, and lettuce, have also given us numerous var ieties widely varying 
from the wild state. The onion, from a scarcely recognized original, 
produces not only bulbs of varying size and form, but also changed 
habits of bearing, as in the potato onion, the top onion, etc. Peas 
have changed from the wild. plant into numerous varieties, differing 
not only in the appearance of the seed, and the shape and quality of 
pod, but as well in earliness and habits of growth ; ; peppers vary so 
strikingly that it is only by the historical record that many varieties can 
be assigned to the same species. Noteworthy variation can also be 
mentioned for the whole squash or pumpkin class of plants, for the 
tomato and others 
All these variations, as striking as they are to the imagination, are 
the outcome of the force exercised by man and directed antagonistic to 
the design of nature; for in nature the dominant intent is the preser- 
vation of existence of the species ; under art the dominant intent is to 
become subservient to man’s wants, trusting to him for that protection 
which in nature the plant must acquire for “itself. 
It follows from these facts that development in the natural plant is 
in accordance with the necessity of self-preservation, the plant aequir- 
ing that character which best fits it for competing with itself and its 
adversaries, and as the seed is the predominant and well nigh univer- 
sal means whereby i in nature dispersion and reproduction is secured, 
the floral organs acquire a prominence and a fixity in proportion to the 
uniformity of the object to be attained, and hence furnish the data for 
a natural system of classification as expressing the motive of the spe- 
cies’ existence. 
It equally follows, that under art, the necessity for self-preservation 
is removed and the necessity | for the development of the floral organs 
becomes subordinate, as man’s care provides for the preservation and 
perpetuation of the species. Under art a new force is exercised upon 
