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top. Now, as the lily Ijell hangs downward, the 

 under side only of the stigma — in this case merely 

 the expanded crest of the style — is exposed to the 

 anthers bending above, and if the pollen shower were 

 ready it would almost inevitably fall upon the 

 ground, and be very little likely to reach the stigma. 

 As an example of erect flowers, where the j^istils 

 were short, the book gave the rose, and again ignored 

 objections of equal force. All this shows how im- 

 portant is an unbiased examination of all the facts 

 in a case, and the being willing to study seriously 

 and experiment carefully, even in instances where 

 we think we know. Such work secured the vast 

 amount of important facts with which Darwin 

 dowered his age. 



The case of wind-carried pollen for trees where 

 one tree bore only staminate and some other pistillate 

 flowers, was earlier understood. The " Beginners " 

 book gave an instance of two poplars, forty miles 

 apart, one with pistillate the other with staminate 

 blossoms. Of course no seed was matured until the 

 growth of the two had lifted them above intervening 

 obstacles, when the wind finally bore the pollen to 

 the waiting pistils. 



Hugh Miller relates that when he was a lad some 

 girls told him of a large thorn tree which never bore 

 fruit. Miller at once saw that it was a tree having 



