246 The Great World's Farm 



beyond these limits; and weeds make their way in with- 

 out difficulty. 



In considering what becomes of the vast amount of 

 seed which is annually ripened, we must, of course, bear 

 in mind that a great deal is consumed as food — luckily for 

 us; for if there were no seed-eating birds, we should be 

 overrun with thistles and other weeds. Some seed also 

 falls upon soil which does not suit it; some requires bury- 

 ing, and gets killed by remaining exposed; some cannot 

 germinate without special preparation of itself or the soil, 

 or both; still more, if transported to a distance, will find 

 the climate unsuitable. 



But in many cases want of space is the only obstacle, 

 and a very serious one it is. There is generally plenty of 

 room for weeds in a garden, and they are not slow to take 

 advantage of it; for there is a good deal of crowding on 

 the other side of the wall, where, in fact, a constant strug- 

 gle for existence is going on, and only the stronger sur- 

 vive. Seeds falling upon ground already covered, and 

 thickly covered, with vegetation, as a hedge-bank gener- 

 ally is, have but little chance. In fact, they hardly reach 

 the soil at all, the great majority of them. 



Look among the long meadow-grass, and you may 

 often see hundreds and thousands of downy seeds caught 

 among the stems and suspended, each with its seed point- 

 ing downwards, ready to take advantage of any crack in 

 the soil in which to insert itself, but quite unable and 

 unlikely to reach it. And even of the seeds which do 

 reach it, how many must find that the first-comers are 

 stronger and better fitted for the situation than them- 

 selves! and so, even if they spring up, they are speedily 

 overpowered and crowded out. 



