XIX. 



jfertilits ot IRature* 



THERE is no feature in the character of Dame Nature 

 more plainly marked than her liberality and profuse- 

 ness where the development of new beings is con- 

 cerned. Witness, in proof of this assertion, the tons 

 upon tons of yellow pollen or fertilising dust which 

 are shed from the pine forests in the early months of 

 the year, to be caught up by the winds and to be 

 blown among the cones, to inaugurate therein the 

 changes which result in the production of seeds. Much 

 of this pollen is lost and squandered. Travellers tell 

 us of this dust lying a foot deep or more on the bor- 

 ders of the great American lakes. Driven out of its 

 course by contrary winds, it has perished, useless 

 and forgotten. 



The liberality of Nature, then, in this matter of 

 pollen alone, would require to be of very great extent. 

 Wherever wind-fertilisation takes place, it would seem 

 as though, in aiming at that act through the medium 

 of the air-currents, Madre Natura rained her bullets at 

 the target from her machine-gun or Maxim, in place 

 of aiming directly at the bull's eye with a rifle. In 

 other words, she showers her loads of pollen not in 

 the hope that all will be utilised, but that some particles 

 here and there will fulfil their destiny. Now, this is 



