THE OUTDOOR WORLD 



381 



the others, the gift of aspiration for that 

 which is purer and higher. 



Thus do all the trees speak to one 

 who can hear them, thus do they repre- 

 sent the spirits and company of his 

 own far-away friends, thus do they 

 each bestow upon him their tokens of 

 friendship, and he returns to his labors 

 with a shining face, radiating the peace 

 and power of one who has not been 

 friendless or alone. 



How Flowers Work, and What They 

 Do. 



BY HERBE;RT W. FAULKNER, WASHINGTON, 



CONNECTICUT. 



As the spring has really come at last. 



we will begin our excursions in search 



of our old friends, the wild flowers, and 



STAMEN P.ISTIL of WilD IRiS 



I 3/\R PERRY 



PlSTlL A STAMtNS 



o-^' ■Rose. Po<*oni/s 



Pistil of ptTCHtR- plant 



STA MEN c] 



see what new accjuaintances we can make 

 this season. 



But in order to make oiu- studies truly 

 profitable we must not be satisfied merely 

 to know what the flowers are, but must 

 also at the same time try to find out what 

 they do. Flowers are not merely beauti- 

 ful living creatures ; they are also exquis- 

 ite and wonderful mechanisms whose 

 workings are most interesting. Their 

 mechanisms are for the making of seeds 

 or for their distribution. Now in the 

 making of seeds two substances must 

 combine. Just as in chemistry two chemi- 

 cal substances must combine to form a 

 crystal, so in botany two vegetable sub- 

 stances, the pollen and the ovule, must 

 combine to form a seed wihich shall live 

 and grow. The pollen, as we all know, 

 is a yellow powder, and the ovule is like a 

 little green bead. The pollen is produced 

 by little bags or anthers on a long, slen- 

 der filament ; the two being the "stamen." 

 The ovule is formed and concealed in a 

 green vase, the "pistil," with a long" neck, 

 the "style," opening at the top in the 

 "stigma " 



The pollen is carried from the anthers 

 to the stigma by various agencies, such 

 as the wind, the bees and the birds, but 

 it has been found that it is better for the 

 race of plants to have the pollen carried 

 from the anthers of one flower to the 

 stigma of another, for this makes the 

 young seedlings more robust and better 

 able to fight the struggle for existence 

 This shifting of the pollen from flower to 

 flower is known as cross-fertilization, or 

 cross-pollination, and Dame Nature takes 

 the greatest pains to make sure that the 

 pollen is crossed. She invents the most 

 ingenious mechanisms for the purpose, 

 employs insects of every variety, lures 

 them with every charm of color, odor and 

 nectar, and takes advantage of each one 

 of their peculiar habits and tricks to make 

 them work for the good of the flowers. 

 But there are very few books which tell 

 us anything about the strange mechanisms 

 of flowers and the habits of the insects 

 which visit them. 



The botanies seem to confine them- 

 selves to the mere recoignizing and classi- 

 fving of our flowers, treating them as 

 soecimens. not as living creatures, with 

 schemes and ambitions. Yet the subject 

 is so full of interest that I hope my read- 

 ers will accomnnay me in manv excur- 

 sions this summer and will question a 

 host of our native flowers as to those 



