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1l:)ov\) ipiante Xive anb Morft. 



By E. Stenhouse, A.R.C.S., B.Sc. 



U 



I. — The Daily Life of the Individual. 



THE botanist — nay, 1 will not say the botanist, but one 

 with even a slight knowledge of that delightful science 

 — when he goes out into the woods, or into one of 

 those fairy forests which we call fields, finds himself welcomed by 

 a glad company of friends, every one with something interesting 

 to tell." So Sir John Lubbock, one of our greatest naturalists, 

 has said. But few of us can aspire to be botanists, yet we may 

 all hope to acquire such a knowledge of plants as shall enable us 

 to experience the great pleasure to which Lubbock refers. 



The object of the present paper is to give such an account of 

 the architecture of plants, of the way they breathe, feed, and mate, 

 of their methods of dispersal, as shall enable the most unscientific 

 reader to consider the lilies of the field with the loving apprecia- 

 tion of an intimate friend. There are botanists and botanists. 

 There are those who find a flower, pluck it, rush off to consult 

 friend or "flora,"' label the wilted weed, for it is now little more, 

 with a couple of awesome polysyllabic words, and straightway shut 

 it up between sheets of paper and squeeze the life-blood out of it 

 with heavy weights. Then they heave a sigh of pleased relief, and 

 are content to know that their herbarium contains another duly 

 labelled " specimen." 



Others there are who delight in " double flowers," and all the 

 wondrous varieties which judicious crossing can give rise to. The 

 production of these monstrosities is perhaps a little more praise- 

 worthy than would be the efforts of a farmer to produce by careful 

 breeding a flock of six-legged sheep. Verily, they have their 

 reward. Wordsworth's Peter Bell is the type of another class. 

 Such men are hopeless, and to be pitied. 



But the average man is neither a herbarium-filler nor a lulip- 

 fancier ; and to him "a primrose by a river's Ijrim " is bome- 

 thing more than a yellow primrose. He is peculiarly attracted by 

 the wealth of colouring. The sulphur-tint, which is the predom- 

 inant colour of the petals, the splash of rich, pure yellow at the 



