UNDER THE MAPLES 



Remove the danger which threatened the extinction of 

 a family, and immediately Nature removes the defensive 

 armor. On the desert, for instance, the yucca has a 

 thorn like a point of steel. Follow it from the desert 

 to the high tropical table-lands of Mexico where there is 

 plenty of soil and moisture, plenty of chance for yuccas 

 to thrive, and you will find it turned into a tree and the 

 thorn merely a dull blade-ending. Follow the sahuaro 

 and the pitahaya into the tropics again, and with their 

 cousin, the organ cactus, you will find them growing a 

 soft thorn that would hardly penetrate clothing. 



But are they not just as much exposed to browsing 

 animals in the high table-lands as in the desert, 

 if not more so? 



Mr. Van Dyke asserts that Nature is more solic- 

 itous about the species than about the individual. 

 She is no more solicitous about the one than the 

 other. The same conditions apply to all. But 

 the species are numerous; a dozen units may be 

 devoured while a thousand remain. A general will 

 sacrifice many soldiers to save his army, he will 

 sacrifice one man to save ten, but Nature's ways 

 are entirely different. Both contending armies are 

 hers, and she is equally solicitous about both. She 

 wants the cacti to survive, and she wants the 

 desert animals to survive, and she favors both 

 equally. All she asks of them is that they breed 

 and multiply endlessly. Notwithstanding, accord- 

 ing to Van Dyke, Nature has taken such pains to 

 protect her desert plants, he yet confesses that, 

 although it seems almost incredible, it is neverthe- 



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