138 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



tlie j^lant was never widely spread or in great abundance 

 an\'vvherej and when the separation took place it was 

 made to appear like a waif or stray for all time to come, 

 because it was not in force enough to assert its nationality. 

 This is all supposition, and much of the botanical doctrine 

 is no better. Of this we feel satisfied, that many plants 

 have from the earliest ages obtained a hold on certain 

 parts of these islands, but have been unable to spread 

 themselves, and they now appear as accidents, whereas 

 they are as truly indigenous as any vegetables known to 

 us. Man is a terrible destroyer of plants, and at the 

 same time a most eifeetual preserver and multiplier. Since 

 he came upon this scene the vegetation must have altered 

 much, not only as a consequence of natural changes in the 

 climate, but of man's operations as a hunter, a forester, a 

 farmer, and a perpetvial consumer of everything eatable 

 the earth produces. We will suppose the flowers of some 

 particular plant to be much liked by man, by his cattle, 

 and by wild birds and beasts. How long would such a 

 plant last in a country abounding with animal life ? It 

 would be quickly obliterated, for it would have but few 

 opportunities of ripening seeds. As a matter of fact, 

 man stands almost alone as a consumer of flowers : the 

 animals, of whatever kind, but rarely touch them ; the 

 family cow will not eat the buttercups that are said to 

 o'ive their colour to the butter, and the bee that sucks 

 the honey from a flower rarely does it any harm, but 

 rather promotes the spread of the plant by brushing the 

 pollen from the stamens, and so causing the fertilisation 

 which insures a growth of perfect seeds. As for man, 

 he plucks flowers because tb.eir beaut}' impresses him, 

 or because he wishes to obtain their odours and their 



