THE WORK OF WINDS AND INSECTS 143 



" We were a million grasses on the hill, 



A million herbs which bowed as the wind blew. 

 Trembling in every fibre, never still ; 



Out of the summer earth sweet life we drew. 

 Little blue -flowered grasses up the glen, 

 Glad of the sun, what did we know of men ? " ^ 



II — How Doth the Busy Bee 



The story of Cross-Fertilisation, through generous 

 offices of Bees and other Insects, reads curiously like a 

 tale of friendly co-operation between them and Plants. 

 Between Plants, earth-bound, fixed immovably in one 

 spot for the term of their natural lives ; and Insects, 

 free to range hither and thither at will. 



Plants require help in the work of supplying their 

 pistils with the right pollen ; and Insects require food for 

 themselves and their young. So plants manufacture 

 and offer tempting supplies of honey and pollen ; while 

 insects, creeping or flying in to secure that food, give 

 the needed assistance by carrying pollen from one plant 

 to another. 



Books to any extent might be written, and in fact have 

 been written, on that one topic alone. In this small 

 volume no more can be attempted than to point out the 

 general mode pursued, with a few slight instances given 

 as examples of what goes on perpetually at flowering- 

 time throughout the world. The subject is one well 

 worth studying. 



For, indeed, it is a marvellous story of mutual inter- 

 course and mutual help; unconscious, we may say, on 

 both sides; though that which is done often looks 



^ From Lollingdon Downs, by John Masefield, published by 

 William Heinemann. By permission. 



