92 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
I shall be guilty of defying one of my own golden rules, 
namely, to know exactly what one wants to do and to 
do that first, resolutely leaving the attractive side 
issues to be dealt with afterwards, or not at all, as 
inclination and opportunity may allow. 
Now, if we were going to write the life of a man, 
we should not begin by describing what he was like 
or what he did in his prime, but we should start 
with birth and childhood. We should in fact make 
the narrative continuous from infancy to death, and I 
have found this much the more satisfactory way of 
dealing with plants. 
Fortunately it is easy to watch our friend from 
its babyhood to its grave, and I will give its history 
in outline as clearly as I can. 
Although it will grow and flower in almost any 
situation, it thrives and is at its best when in a damp 
spot, among more or less dense low-growing herbage 
where it is sheltered from 
parching winds, and gets 
some sunshine’ which 
must not be too hot and 
continuous. It was ina 
position of this kind that 
I made almost the whole 
of these observations, 
some of which do not hold 
good for plants that grow 
Fia. 33.—Herb Robert seedlings, 12 Very hot and dry places. 
Half natural size. 4 In the moist places 
A, cotyledons; B, first foliage leaf. (Photo.) there is no difficulty 
about finding seedlings of various ages from mid- 
July until the following April, that is to say for 
nine months of the year. Even in mid-winter there 

