38 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



osier, poplar, and aspen ; but only a few of them hare 

 catkins which attract much attention, the silvery white 

 knobs of the willow family and a few others being the 

 only ones which most people pick in spring among the 

 woods. None of our own English trees has such a brill- 

 iant spring blossom as the flowering-almond, but among 

 southern plants similar masses of early bloom are not 

 uncommon. 



Ill every case the reason for the flower preceding the 

 leaves seems to be the same. It is in principle a chapter 

 of natural economy, and it illustrates very well the way 

 in which all nature is necessarily compelled to piece in 

 with itself in every part. The catkin-bearing plants are 

 chiefly, if not always, wind-fertilized ; and they have 

 their stamens on one tree and their pistils on another, 

 thus insuring the highest possible degree of cross-fertili- 

 zation. They produce enormous quantities of pollen, 

 which they require, owing to the distance that often in- 

 tervenes between one tree and another, and the wasteful 

 nature of the wind as a carrier ; and this pollen falls 

 from them as a copious yellow powder when they are 

 placed in a vase on a table, while it can be shaken in 

 great quantities from the trees themselves. If the cat- 

 kins did not come out till the branches were all covered 

 with foliage, their chance of fertilization would be very 

 slight ; for the leaves would interfere with the passage 

 of the pollen. But by coining out in early spring, be- 

 fore the foliage has begun to burst its buds, and when 

 the winds are strongest, the catkins stand the best possi- 

 ble chance of fulfilling their special functions. A March 

 nor' -easter whistling through the naked boughs is almost 

 sure to carry a grain or two at least of the golden dust 

 from one tree to the other, and so enable the alders, 

 beeches, and hornbeams to set their seed in safety. 



