82 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



seems a reminiscence of such a condition of things 

 is still to be seen in the pistil-bearing flowers; 

 for each has from five to twelve '' abortive" sta- 

 mens undeveloped things which are of no use in 

 the trees' present domestic economy, but which 

 are still produced, probably from sheer force of 

 habit. 



We have seen that some of our familiar trees 

 seem to be passing through changes in the struc- 

 ture and mode of fertilization of their flowers. 

 Others are even now diminishing the number of 

 their seeds. Nature, keeping up an age-old habit, 

 forms a large number of germs ; but the trees, 

 having adopted a newer habit, neglect most of 

 these germs, and bring only a remnant of them to 

 maturity. But these comparatively few offspring 

 are sent into the world better nourished, better 

 provided for, better equipped for the battle of life 

 than they would have been had the parent tree 

 undertaken the maintenance of a larger number of 

 descendants, and thus they profit by the fate of 

 their 'little brothers which perished untimely. 



The horse-chestnut blossom has a three-celled 

 ovary, with two ovules in each cell; but the ripe 

 horse-chestnut bur never holds more than three 

 nuts, and sometimes only two, or even a solitary 



