THE OKIGIN OF THE VELD AND KAEROO 

 PLANTS. 



We now enter upon a new botanical field altogether. 

 It is nothing less than to discover how Nature makes 

 new plants out of old ones. 



Consequently we have to consider what happens 

 when fruits and seeds have been carried away to more 

 or less great distances from their old homes. 



Of course we all know that the climates, by which 

 we mean different amounts of heat or cold, dryness or 

 moisture, different kinds of soil, as sandy, clay, rocky, 

 or limestone, slate, granite, etc., make up the "sur- 

 roundings " of the plant which has to live among them. 

 Just as one tribe of man lives comfortably in the hot, 

 4amp forests of Central Africa, another in drier velds, 

 etc., so do some plants thrive best in one kind, others 

 in another kind of soil and climate ; but the question 

 is, supposing a plant suited for the dry veld or Karroo 

 be suddenly transported to a damp or wet bog, will it 

 live ? 



If we took the Water-lily out of a lake and planted 

 it in our garden, would it thrive and grow and blossom 



