1 86 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



of producing hops, that is to say, little leafy 

 imbricated cones which cover the blossoms. 

 After flowering, the scales of the cone be- 

 come much enlarged, and quite conceal the 

 small seed-like fruits ; and it is these protec- 

 tive organs which we Northern nations apply 

 to our own uses, corrupting corn with them, 

 as Tacitus naively remarks, in quandam vini 

 similitudinem. Indeed, it may be said 

 roughly that human beings invariably defeat 

 the original intention of plants, by cultivating 

 and selecting them in order to eat up those 

 very seeds, fruits, roots, and tubers which the 

 plants themselves had richly stored with 

 starches, albumens, and other food-stuffs for 

 the use of themselves or their descendants. 

 We plunder the storehouses which the species 

 designed for its own benefit ; yet by saving 

 some for seed and sowing it in fitly prepared 

 places we keep up the life of the species far 

 more effectually than it could ever have been 

 kept up had the plant been left entirely to its 

 own devices. 



