SEEDS 



Look, if your eyes are good enough to see it, at the 

 minute dust that escapes from 

 the bursting capsule of the 

 orchid ; unfold with care the 

 final small wisp of paper in 

 the inner packet of gloxinia 

 or begonia seed and think of 

 the superb Odontoglossum 

 spray, the spotted long deep 

 throat of the Gloxinia and the 

 lovely flushed bloom of the 

 Begonia that is ' shut within. ' 

 What subtle power is there 

 in these specks of brown dust, 

 these tiny germs, which are 

 able to extract from the moist 

 earth a mere trace of mineral 

 salts and, with the sun and air, 

 build up a myriad forms of 

 beauty, all modelled with 

 varied grace, painted with a 

 delicacy or richness of hue, 

 perfumed with a sweetness, 

 exquisitely perfect ! 



51 42 



THE HANDSOME SPIKE OF THE BULRUSH AFTER PRO- 

 TECTING ITS SEED ALL THROUGH THE FROSTS AND 

 RAINS OF WINTER DISPERSES IT ON THE FIRST WARM 

 DAY OF SPRING, BURSTING INTO A CLOUD OF THE MOST 

 BEAUTIFUL WHITE PAPPUS; AS BROWNING SAYS:- 



' A MARSH 



OF BULRUSH WHITENING IN THE SUN ' 



