120 THE GARDEN OF EARTH 



Yes ; they not only live for it, but also they die for 

 it. Until the flower fades and falls, the seed has no 

 hope of beginning its life as a new plant. 



You may remember what Keble wrote, on the subject 

 of the work of flowers, when describing a day in early 

 November — 



" Why blowest thou not, thou wintry wind, 

 Now every leaf is brown and sere. 

 And idly droops, to thee resigned. 

 The chaplet of the year ? 



*' Now quiet shows the woodland scene; 

 Each Flower and Tree, its duty done. 

 Reposing in decay serene. 



Like weary men, when age is run." 



So each tree, each leaf, each flower, may be looked 

 upon as just doing its duty. 



Ill — ^How THE Seeds grow 



Inside the small ovary of the pistil are tiny bodies, 

 called Ovules ; sometimes many, sometimes only one or 

 two. And since it is they that are meant to grow into 

 seeds, the question of new young plants depends on 

 them. 



The word " ovule " means " little egg " ; and an 

 ovule is, in a sense, as much the beginning of a future 

 plant as a bird's egg is the beginning of a future young 

 bird. The ovary is a kind of case which holds the 

 ovules. 



Each of these has to begin life as a single small cell, 

 with its lining of living substance. That cell has power 

 to grow other cells ; and when they are formed, the one 



