Roses and Apples 29 
quaintance; how then will the pollen-grains reach 
the stigmas? Many insects are very fond of pollen 
—some of the wild bees, many flies and small beetles 
commonly visit the Roses on that account, and as 
they fly from flower to flower they carry a few 
pollen-grains clinging to the hairs on their legs and 
under-sides. These insects almost always fly straight 
to the centre of the flower and alight on the cushion 
of stigmas, upon whose sticky surfaces the pollen- 
grains become detached. Even if they do not bring 
pollen with them from a previously visited Rose, these 
creatures are very hkely to kick or carry some from 
the anthers of this particular flower to its own 
stigmas; but strong efforts are made by many plants 
to insure cross-fertilisation—that is fertilisation by 
means of pollen brought from a separate plant of 
the same species. 
Roses do not produce honey as many flowers do, 
but the petals give out an attractive odour which 
insects smell, and so are guided to the flower. The 
flowers that excrete honey have 
usually fine lines and spots upon 
their petals indicating the direction 
in which the honey must be sought. 
Many examples of these guide-lines y 
will be given in subsequent chapters. 
We have reached the point in our 
Rose-history where the “hips” stand 
up in their polished ruddy glory on 
the bushes when autumn has thinned 
the leaves, and the schoolboy comes along 
and says, “Here’s a splendid lot of hips! Let’s 
have some fun with them!” He gathers a few, 
“Hips? 
