The Golden Rule for Fioiuers 219 



from a hundred to three hundred in each fertile 

 blossom, and there are an equal number of pistils. 

 The pistils are set upon a cone-shaped receptacle in 

 the centre of the blossom ; each one contains in its 

 ovary a single ovule, and the ovary and ovule ripening 

 together, develop into a tiny nut, which is the fruit 

 properly speaking. 



As the nuts grow, the conical receptacle on which 

 they are set grows too, and becomes soft, fleshy and 

 sweet, forming what we erroneously call the ' berry.* 



But if the * berry ' is to grow properly, every one of 

 the pistils must receive a few grains of pollen, and if 

 any are left out, the ovules belonging to them do not 

 grow, and the part of the receptacle which surrounds 

 them does not grow either, but remains hard. The 

 hard spots sometimes found in strawberries, with a 

 number of little ' seeds ' crowded together, are due 

 simply to the fact that the ovules have not been 

 fertilized, and have withered instead of growing. 



So, too, with the raspberry. Each one of the sixty 

 or seventy little fruits composing the * berry ' depends 

 upon pollen for the power of developing, not only its 

 seed, but also the sweet, juicy envelope surrounding 

 each seed. Towards the end of the season these often 

 fail and wither, because the bees are either dying off, 

 or do not care to come out unless the weather is 

 tempting. 



Then again with apples : one may often see an apple 

 which is deformed, having grown on one side; and 

 the reason here, too, is similar. 



The calyx of the apple-blossom is a tube which 

 spreads out at the top into five leaf-like divisions. 



