Chances of Life 



^5 



but the scarcity evidently arose, not from want of seed, 

 but from want of opportunity for its growth. For all now 

 is altered: the cattle tread the seeds in, and don't, appar- 

 ently, eat the young plants which spring from them; for 

 dense forests and scrubs have arisen — not to the satisfac- 

 tion of the graziers, who would prefer grass alone. 



Some seeds appear to have only an occasional chance 

 of germinating in a state of nature; for they must either 

 be scalded, or scorched, or very hard frozen before they 

 can sprout at all, and even then they cannot prosper unless 

 they have a clear field, with no other plants to interfere 

 with them. This is the case with the seeds of the black 

 locust-tree, which are easily carried by the wind, and are 

 so very hard that they may lie exposed for years without 

 being any the worse for it, it is true, but also without 

 being able to germinate. If they were less long-lived, 

 they would probably die before their opportunity came. 

 But if, when a clearing is made in the forest, the trees 

 should be fired and the ground burned bare, as it is some- 

 times, then comes their long-waited-for opportunity, and 

 up they spring in numbers wherever the fire has passed. 



The seeds of a certain species of cedar could not be got 

 to grow at all at the Cape until they had been thoroughly 

 boiled. Such very hard-coated seeds are well protected 

 against injury, but in a state of nature they must be 

 dependent upon fires, frost, or perhaps on being swal- 

 lowed, for the opportunity of growing. 



Other seeds, again, though they require no special 

 preparation of themselves or the soil, are quite unable to 

 germinate unless they get rain immediately after they have 

 fallen, and that, too, continued for some little time. 



Thus the ''soft maples" planted in the streets of Rock- 



