Chances of Life 245 



In the matter of soil, too, a very short distance often 

 makes a great difference. The bee-orchis, for example, 

 grows plentifully on the chalk in Surrey, and one year it 

 suddenly made its appearance in a clayey field near 

 Thames Ditton, where it had never been seen before. 

 About a hundred plants blossomed in this one field, and 

 nowhere else in the neighborhood. But they gradually 

 dwindled away, and in the course of six or eight years all 

 had entirely disappeared. The seeds had probably trav- 

 eled to the clay-field in some chalk which had been brought 

 from another part of the county, but the colony could not 

 be a lasting one for some reason — most likely owing to 

 the change of soil, and perhaps also of situation. 



European plants, to the number of more than a hun- 

 dred and fifty, have been quite successful in New Zealand, 

 and are thoroughly established; but it is remarkable that 

 while so many European plants have made themselves at 

 home there, only two or three Australians have managed 

 to do so. Yet Australia is nearer than Europe, and the 

 intercourse between the two countries is much more close 

 and frequent than it is with Europe. Moreover, Austra- 

 lian seeds have been purposely and extensively scattered 

 in New Zealand, among them being, we may be sure, the 

 seeds of such common kinds as those of the acacia and 

 eucalyptus, yet none of these trees are to be seen grow- 

 ing wild. 



It is the same with our own garden-plants. How many 

 there are which, though they grow in the garden without 

 any special care, and bring abundance of seed to perfec- 

 tion, yet never run wild, even to the extent of appearing 

 on just the other side of the wall or hedge! Yet it is 

 impossible to suppose but that the seed is often carried 



