THE AxMERICAN BOTANIST. 87 



organ like the pitchered leaf of great advantage to the plant." 

 The statement that nitrogen is abundant in the habitat of the 

 pitcher-plant is also unusual. Most botanical writers state that 

 the insectivorous plants catch insects because of the dearth of 

 of nitrogen in the soils they inhabit. It is evident that the last 

 word on this subject has not been said. 



Pollen. — Even in our ordinary garden flowers which are 

 fertilized by the bee or other insects, the pollen grains enor- 

 mously outnumber the possible seeds and every bee-keeper 

 knows that the bee appropriates a very liberal percentage in 

 return for the service rendered in carrying the balance from 

 bloom to bloom and thus involuntarily mating them. Many 

 trees and other plants, in addition to the grasses, trust entirely 

 to the wind to carry the pollen to the female flowers, which 

 are frequently borne on other trees or on smaller plants than 

 those which bear the pollen flowers. In these cases, nature, 

 in order to secure the continuance of the species, despite the 

 enormous waste involved by such a mode of distribution 

 fashions a far greater quantity. At the right period, the stroller 

 through pine forests may now and again see or be enveloped 

 in what appear to be clouds of mist or smoke when a passing 

 breeze shakes the foliage and liberates the pollen of the flowers 

 associated with it. Countless millions — numbers, indeed, are 

 mocked at in such connections — must miss their goal for every 

 one which attains it, and yet in every one the race potencies 

 are complete despite the minuteness of the chance afforded 

 them for development. The human workman who was em- 

 ployed to make, say, a million delicate machines, knowing that 

 only one w^ould ever be used would, we fear, be tempted to 

 scamp a good many, but nature scamps nothing and perfection 

 is her maxim throughout. — Indian Gardening. 



