MARCH 41 



of darkness into light, and we may be quite certain 

 that that particular method is the only one suitable to 

 it. Darwin noticed that some flowers break through 

 the ground as arches, the flower being formed under- 

 neath the ground, and then coming up curled almost 

 like a fern. He instances the parasitic Lathrea, Helle- 

 bwus niger, Epimedium, and Ranunculus ficaria ; I have 

 noticed the same thing in some of the fumitories, 

 and probably it occurs in other plants. Why these 

 should act so differently to all other plants is a 

 mystery. But the greatest mystery of this bursting 

 forth of the plants is that it is done when the growth 

 is at its tenderest age ; when the shoot is tender and 

 brittle it has power to push through everything that 

 binds it down. Instances are on record where funguses 

 have lifted large paving-stones, and in my own garden 

 I have an example almost as curious. Many years 

 ago I filled up a flower-bed, and brought a gravel path 

 through the midst of it. By accident a bunch of white 

 crocuses was left in the ground, and now every year 

 there is a bunch of these white crocuses coming up 

 through the hard gravel path, apparently quite happy 

 in their ungenial position. When I look on that 

 bunch of crocuses I get an excellent object-lesson in 

 the enormous strength of even the smallest plants. 

 The leaves and flowers of the crocus are apparently so 



