56 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
If we have the patience to watch these buds, which 
in the Sweet Violet are to be found hidden away at 
the base of the leaves, on 
short stalks, and in the 
Wood Violet are on the 
leafy flowering shoot, we 
shall learn that although 
they never blossom they 
produce fruits and seeds ; 
and if we are keen we shall 
open some of them for 
ourselves and try with a 
lens to see the pistil in the 
centre and the stamens 
pressed around the stigma, 
so as to make sure that 
self-pollination shall take 
Fria. 16.—Seed-producing bud of 
the Wood Violet. Naturalsize. Place. It appears that the 
Violet’s plans for a cross 
are not very successful; but, on the other hand, 
those for self-pollination are about as certain as they 
can be. Moreover, there is no waste, nor are there 
any wages to be paid—the grains cannot be lost from 
the closed buds, and there are no insects to be fed with 
pollen or honey in return for their services. 

Ill. THe DEBT OF THE VEGETABLE TO THE INSECT 
WoRLD 
This great subject of Pollination, or rather of Cross- 
pollination, illustrates in a very happy way what I 
mean when I say that the Scheme of Creation is a 
co-operative one. I emphasized, when dealing with 
Nutrition, that it is the plants that provide the animals 
