CHAPTER V 
THE FACTORS OF LIFE—-THE PRESERVATION OF THE 
RACE—-THE CARE OF THE CHILDREN—THEIR 
PATRIMONY AND TRAVELS 
E have now to find out a little about what 
plants do by way of providing for the well- 
being of their children and giving them something 
wherewith to start life on their own account. 
To my mind, this, the seventh Factor of Life, the 
Care of the Children, is, from the human point of view, 
at once the most interesting and attractive of them 
all, and those of my readers who know, or have known, 
the blessings of a happy home, a good wife or husband. 
and healthy children in the nursery or at school, will, 
I am sure, agree with me cordially. 
Our children have not only to be clothed and fed, 
or in a word, brought up, but afterwards they have to 
be started in life on their own account. Similarly 
the children of the vegetable world must be brought 
up and sent forth to play their part in the Scheme of 
Creation. 
We have to provide for our own children until they 
can fetch and fend for themselves, and so do the 
plants; again, if we are good parents, we do our 
utmost to give them the best chances of success on 
their own lines, and so do the plants. I imagine that 
their treatment of their children furnishes valuable 
59 
