THE COLTSFOOT 



can carry on its living functions with a minimum 

 of such material. Thus it can pioneer new ground 

 — ground, too, for which there is little or no com- 

 petition. Also, the fact that a plant builds its 

 structure and living materials in considerable part 

 from the atmosphere and from water, and not 

 from the soil, has to be remembered. 



The nitrogenous and mineral matters derived 

 from the soil are, it is true, important in carrying on 

 the living processes, but when the water has been 

 driven off in the substance of a leaf (or if preferred, 

 of a great tree trunk), only some six or seven per 

 cent, by weight would represent their value. The 

 bulk of their dry weight, therefore, is manufac- 

 tured from the atmosphere, from materials assimi- 

 lated by the leaves. 



Seeing that the soil is only important from the 

 nitrogenous and mineral standpoint, it is clear 

 that if the coltsfoot could only surmount the diffi- 

 culty of carrying on its physiological processes 

 with a minimum supply of nitrogenous and mineral 

 material, it would then be able to go on building 

 its structure in its poor soil just as well as those 

 plants which grow in more select situations. In- 

 deed, I will endeavour presently to show that it 

 derives advantages from being upon such ground ; 

 but, so as to lead up naturally to what I have to 

 point out, we may glance at the coltsfoot's method 

 of procedure as it develops. 



Here on this first day of February it holds up 

 its flower-heads, inviting by their golden hues the 

 earliest insects that are abroad. But how came it 



109 



