30 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



off to make a call upon a third crocus, and when 

 she departs she leaves some of her dusty load 

 behind her, as a souvenir of her visit. 



So each crocus " sets " its seed by aid of pollen 

 brought from another flower. 



Each flower has gratified its preference for yellow 

 dust of foreign manufacture, and has received enough 

 of the imported article for her dainty uses, and each 

 has sent the pollen of her own making to the exact 

 spot " where it will do the most good." The bee 

 meantime has been entertained everywhere with 

 pretty shows and luxurious fare, and she is another 

 well-satisfied member of the mutual benefit society. 



Bees are by no means the only pollen-carriers 

 employed by flowers. 



A large number of blossoms entrust their fate, 

 or rather the fate of their posterity, to the mercy 

 of the wind. Others, which grow and blow in 

 ponds or streams, confide their pollen messages to 

 the water. Flowers which conduct their affairs 

 after these methods need be at no special pains 

 to please the insects, whose services they neither 

 ask nor need. So "wind-fertilized" and "water- 

 fertilized" blossoms have not bright colors, nor 

 fragrance, nor nectar. But, on the other hand, they 

 must produce enormous quantities of pollen to 



