SfGJVS OF AUTUMN 245 



Were these means of transport and protection 

 wholly effectual, did every berry find its billet in 

 the ground, the result would be such a thick 

 growth of young trees that they would crush each 

 other out of existence. But in the air and on the 

 ground are many creatures awaiting the largesse 

 of the trees. The squirrel and fieldmouse fill 

 hidden storehouses with mast and other kernels ; 

 swine and pigeons fatten on the acorns. But 

 although so many seeds are thus destroyed, there 

 remain enough to carpet the ground, next year, 

 with the green of seedling trees. The waste of 

 these must be great, for of all the thousands which 

 each large tree brings annually into existence, 

 only one here and there, at long intervals of time, 

 attains even the dimensions of a shrub. In the 

 contest of trees the weak are obstructed by the 

 stronger, and fade and die. The plants survive 

 as species mainly by this waste of unfit life. 



An analogous contest is waged throughout the 

 animal world, and it is useless for us to mourn the 

 fact or to seek to alter it. Variation and death 

 are twin forces which mould the active creation. 

 The contest is so close that only the very 



