HELLEBORINE AND ORCHIDS 



sheet the ground with scented white flowers in 

 June. 



This is Nature's method with the wild orchids 

 and other things instead of producing and bring- 

 ing to fruition a few seeds, she produces them 

 by the myriad, and lets them take their chance 

 in a world of pressing competition. One could 

 conceive of a machinery of production by which 

 the great proportion of the seeds formed would 

 be brought to perfection, and by varied and sure 

 agency sown in the right spot ; an arrangement 

 of clock-work precision, Nature concentrating on 

 the work of perfecting comparatively a few seeds, 

 and bringing these to fruition ; producing com- 

 paratively a few grains of pollen, but taking care 

 that the majority of these grains do their work. 

 But her actual method, how different ! To make 

 sure of a few plants, she produces an infinite 

 number of grains of pollen, and through these of 

 seeds. The great majority of pollen grains, and of 

 seeds, comes to nothing. A great waste ? No 

 for each seed, each grain, is used up to effect, " will 

 bloom to profit otherwhere." And yet it is clear 

 that this lavish method is sometimes, from a human 

 point of view, a failure ; in spite of all their seeds, 

 the wild orchids die out in places. 



