NEWS OF SPRING 



which, in regard to such matters as machinery, ballistics, 

 aerial navigation and the observation of insects, have often 

 anticipated the inventions and acquirements of man. 



It would be superfluous once more to trace the picture 

 of the great systems of floral fertilization: the play of 

 stamens and pistil, the seduction of perfumes, the appeal 

 of harmonious and dazzling colours, the concoction of 

 nectar, which is absolutely useless to the flower and is manu- 

 factured only to attract and retain the liberator from with- 

 out, the messenger of love — bee, humble-bee, fly, butterfly or 

 moth — that shall bring to the flower the kiss of the distant, in- 

 visible, motionless lover. . . . 



This vegetable world, which to us appears so placid, so 

 resigned, in which all seems acquiescence, silence, obedience, 

 meditation, is, on the contrary, that in which impatience, the 

 revolt against destiny are the most vehement and stubborn. 

 The essential organ, the nutrient organ of the plant, its root, 

 attaches it indissolubly to the soil. If it be difficult to dis- 

 cover among the great laws that oppress us that which weighs 

 heaviest upon our shoulders, in the case of the plant there is 



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