Sunshine and Shade 



selves in the centre of good plants, from which it 

 is often difficult to get rid of them. In these 

 cases, too, it is possible that the seed is sown 

 elsewhere also, but those sown in the middle of 

 other plants are protected from or overlooked by 

 the birds, and so come to the perfection which we 

 do not ask for. But beyond protection given 

 by one plant to another, I feel sure that all plants 

 are more parasitical than we are generally inclined 

 to fancy. I do not mean that they are parasiti- 

 cal in the same sense that the mistletoe, dodder, 

 broomrapes, toothworts, and epiphytal orchids 

 are parasites, actually living on, and in many 

 cases destroying, their hosts ; but they are 

 parasites in the sense of the better class of Greek 

 and Roman parasites, not necessarily sponges, but 

 with a liking to live in company ; they dislike 

 solitude. 



Indeed, the whole subject of protection to 

 vegetation is curious and far-reaching, and I saw 

 a remarkable instance of it lately. In 1899 there 

 was a very remarkable landslip at Airolo, which 

 practically brought down a large side of the 

 mountain, exposing a bare surface over a great 

 extent. I saw it in 1900, and it Was curious to 

 note that in some parts fir-trees were standing 

 upright on the bared soil, even in large patches ; 

 but wherever these patches occurred, the trees had 

 been saved by the presence of a rock more or less 

 large, the size of the rock determining the size of 

 the saved patch below it. Now this meant that 



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