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Personality of plants

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ART IN THE PLANT WORLD<br />

Nature is the true and original sculptor.<br />

From her we learn our rules <strong>of</strong> symmetry and<br />

design. All her plant creations are finished<br />

with a faithfulness to artistic principles which<br />

is quite exact. Nor does she build houses with<br />

false exteriors. Her structures show forth the<br />

necessity <strong>of</strong> truth in real esthetic creation.<br />

Bartholdi's exquisite Statue <strong>of</strong> Liberty, viewed<br />

from the interior, is an ugly, hollow tube. A<br />

stalk <strong>of</strong> corn not only has a pleasing exterior<br />

but is made up <strong>of</strong> symmetrically formed and<br />

packed interior cells. From a giant Redwood<br />

to a microscopic vegetable organism, every line<br />

and structual unit in the plant world is perfect<br />

in its inception and execution.<br />

Each plant, viewed as a whole, has its own<br />

peculiar style <strong>of</strong> structural beauty—the variation<br />

<strong>of</strong> line and form which stamps it with charm.<br />

This differentiation extends to all parts <strong>of</strong> the<br />

plant and gives character to leaves, stem,<br />

flowers and fruit. Marvellous is the art worked<br />

out in the minute parts. The tendril <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Passion Flower, the radicle <strong>of</strong> a Seedling<br />

Maple, the feathery hair on a stalk <strong>of</strong> Mullein<br />

all these are shaped according to the unknown<br />

[101]<br />

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