SEPTEMBER 101 



only was the flower formed with calyx, corolla, pistil, 

 stamens, and ovary, with colours and lines and scents 

 to attract insects that would be friendly helps, or it 

 may be with an equally subtle arrangement to ward off 

 others that would be hurtful. That is something of 

 the past history of the seed, but it has also a future 

 history. That small object contains within itself a 

 something which will develop into root, stem, leaves, 

 flower, and seed, which will last for less than one 

 year, perhaps as an annual, or for hundreds of years in 

 a forest tree, according to the eternal law fixed upon 

 1 every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all 

 the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree 

 yielding seed.' 



But though such care has been taken to produce and 

 protect the seed, the apparent waste of seed is enor- 

 mous and quite inexplicable. I mean that the number 

 of living plants produced from every good seed bears 

 no proportion to the amount of seed formed and 

 ripened. In my own garden, for instance, there must 

 be millions of seeds formed, and for the most part 

 ripened every year; and yet, with the exception of 

 such things as groundsel, thistle, and other garden 

 weeds, which seem to have an unbounded power of 

 germination, it is very unusual to find any quantity of 

 seedlings. It is the same with our common forest 



