280 Chances of Life 



we cannot tell by looking at it which seed will produce 

 which blossom. 



And even if, in some cases, we should be able to do 

 this, we are still not a whit nearer solving the mystery 

 of the how and the why. We may conclude that there 

 is some minute difference in the food which the roots 

 take up, according as the blossoms are of one colour 

 or another ; for we know that the pink hydrangea will 

 turn blue if supplied with an extra amount of iron ; 

 and we may argue that, though the peas all look alike, 

 one has that within it which causes it to take up what 

 will produce pink blossoms, and another that which 

 will produce purple ones. But it is a mystery still. 



We may prevent their growing at all, we may keep 

 them till the possibility of life has died out of them ; or, 

 though we let them grow, we may prevent their blos- 

 soming ; but if allowed to grow and blossom without 

 interference, in their native soil, one will bear its pink, 

 and another its purple blossoms without fail. 



But if the seed tells us nothing as to the colour of the 

 blossom which will spring from it, it often tells us also 

 just as little as to the size of the plant which it will 

 produce, and the length of that plant's life. 



Here, for instance, are three seeds of different sizes, 

 but all belonging to the bean-like or leguminous order 

 of plants. Supposing that we had never seen them 

 before, and were told that one would produce a tree, 

 another a shrub, and the third a dwarf annual, should 

 we be likely to guess that, from the two smaller seeds, 

 would grow a laburnum and a broom-plant, while 

 from the third, which is so many times larger, would 

 spring only a broad, or Windsor, bean ? 



Some of the orchids bear large blossoms, and others 



