Of THf 



RIVEBSITI 



LETTER XII 



Seeds Seed-cases Picturesqueness of Seed-pods Lily Seeds 

 Crown Imperials Violets Nigella Snapdragon Swallows 

 Owl's Feather. 



i;M October 1886. 



DEAR MARCO I take great interest just 

 at this time in the seediness of my garden ; 

 seeds and seed -cases are perhaps the most 

 wonderful of any of the parts of plant life. 

 The theories of germs, fertilisation, and the 

 origin and perpetuation of species have been 

 so thrashed out by the scientists lately that, 

 even if I were able, I have no wish to discuss 

 the subject in a letter to you ; but there is 

 much pleasure to be derived by any ordinary 

 observer who has a garden in the study of the 

 various forms of seeds and of the construction 

 of their cases. Has it ever struck you, as an 

 artist, that there is more picturesque architec- 



