CHAPTER V 
ALLIES OF THE PLANT WORLD 
“T wish I were a willow tree— 
Young wind in the green hair of me 
And old brown water round my feet, 
And a familiar bird to greet.” 
—Elizabeth Fahnestock. 
VERY division of terrestrial life consti- 
tutes a struggle. The plants grow and 
carry on their business and social activities so 
unobtrusively that we seldom think of them as 
appealing to arms—yet their whole existence 
is a battle royal. They must fight with aspiring 
neighbours for every inch of their upward 
growth, and at the same time wage incessant 
warfare against a hundred insects and animal 
foes. 
Under such strenuous conditions, it is only 
to be expected that the plants should seek profit- 
able alliances with birds, insects and animals 
having interests similiar to their own. Such 
pacts are described by botanists as examples of 
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