130 THE NATURE-STUDY OF PLANTS 
number of ripe fruits from a plant and let them shoot 
their seeds in a closed box, and then sow them about 
half an inch deep all in the same pot, and keep the soil 
moist and in the open air during the summer, we 
shall find that in some cases germination commences 
in a fortnight, and that the cotyledons are well above 
ground and expanded within the first three weeks, 
that others germinate at irregular intervals until the 
winter sets in, while the remainder put in a belated 
appearance in the spring, although they are all the 
children of the same parent and are all treated, so far 
at it is humanly possible to do so, in exactly the same 
way. They will, therefore, to all appearances stand 
nine months’ burial. 
The Herb Robert is a plant that goes on flowering 
and producing seeds in continuous succession for 
about six months, and this habit, in conjunction with 
the variation in the period of dormancy, is no doubt 
all to the advantage of the species, as giving greater 
opportunities of eluding this, that, or another of the 
many dangers to which the seedlings are exposed. 
Germination and the release of the cotyledons is, of 
course, followed in the fullness of time by the pro- 
duction of foliage, and, having worked round to the 
seedling again, we arrive at last at the point from 
which we started the life-history, and the story of 
Geranium Robertianum will be repeated by Herb 
Roberts innumerable in our hedges, lanes and other 
suitable places from the Land’s End to John o’ Groat’s. 
