se of diminished root power, but the
plant grew as thriftily as ever. The lack of the dark marking in the
leaves was equivalent to the variegation in other varieties, only in a
reverse direction.

In practice, when gardeners wish to produce an abnormal condition in a
tree or plant, they will, if they wish to dwarf it, graft it on a
species or variety of diminished root power, and contrariwise, if they
wish to increase its growth, will graft it upon a stock of strong root
power. But in neither case can the graft be said to be diseased by the
action of the roots of the stock.

When this root power is so far diminished as to produce complete
albinism, the shoots from such roots appear to partake of this
diminished power, and to lose the power of making roots, and thus become
very difficult to propagate. It is sometimes said that albino cuttings
cannot be rooted at all, but this is a mistake, for I have succeeded in
striking such cuttings from the variegated leaved _Hydrangea_. It
required much care to do it; they did not, however, retain their albino
character after they rooted and started into growth.

Albinism and white variegation in leaves appear to be due to the
chlorophyl in such leaves being able to resist the action of the three
(red, yellow, and blue) rays of light. What we call color in any
substance or thing is due to its reflecting these different rays in
various proportions of combination and absorbing the rest of them, the
various proportions giving the various shades of color. White is due to
the reflection of all of them, and black to the absorption of them. In
some plants with variegated foliage we have the curious fact that the
cells containing chlorophyl reflecting one color produce cells which
reflect an entirely different color. In the coleus "Lady Burrill," for
instance, the lower half of the leaf is of a deep violet-crimson color,
and the upper half is golden yellow. In other varieties of coleus, in
_Perilla nankiensis_, and other plants, we have foliage without a
particle of green in it, and yet they are perfectly healthy. This shows
that green leaves are not absolutely necessary to the health of a plant.

As a proof of leaf variegation being a disease, the speaker alluded to
cited a case in which a green leaved abutilon, upon which a variegated
leaved variety had been grafted, threw out a variegated leaved shoot
below the graft. This can easily be explained. The growth of the trunk
or stem of a