FAIR MAIDS OF FEBRUARY 43 



dependent upon seed for their multiplication than 

 most. 



The history of plants in time is a very long- 

 story, and we know little about it except by the 

 methods of inference. In human affairs it is well 

 known that races driven into the least desirable 

 parts of the earth by the competition of stronger 

 rivals often acquire in their new environment a 

 new strength, in virtue of which they are able to 

 retaliate upon their ancient enemies, grown soft 

 with easy living. Most of the great conquering 

 races, whether in Europe or Asia, came out of the 

 North, and if we could push back their history 

 we should almost certainly find that they did not 

 go into the North as conquerors. Whether any- 

 thing analogous to this has occurred in the slow 

 evolution of plant forms no one can say, but 

 there are facts which suggest it. Not a few with 

 the distinctive equipment of the spring plant 

 the store of nutrition enveloping the well-formed 

 flower, ready to push up at the earliest suitable 

 moment and live in a hungry season on its own 

 capital occur in the wealth of summer when such 

 a provision is unnecessary. An imaginative 

 botanist would say that they are plants which 

 got out and got on, and got strong and came 

 back. But if there are any such the snowdrop 

 is not among their number. It is still a 

 backgoer, seeking a place for itself outside the 

 competition. 



