294 Chances of Life 



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 

 Rockville, Indiana, though they have borne seed, have 

 never succeeded in sowing themselves till within the 

 last few years, as a single day's exposure to the hot sun 

 is fatal both to seeds and seedlings, and even daily 

 watering often proves insufficient to keep the latter 

 alive. In the wild state they spring up only in very 

 moist or watery places, though later on they will bear 

 transplanting to dry soil. 



One year, however, there was a storm which shook 

 down such a quantity of seed that the streets of Rock- 

 ville were yellow with it. Then followed several days' 

 rain, with sunny intervals, and the seeds sprouted 

 everywhere, all over the streets, in the yards and the 

 gardens, as thick as weeds — a sight never seen 

 before. 



But the cows ate those in the streets, human beings 

 weeded out those in the gardens, and the summer 

 drought killed the rest ; so that, of all the millions 

 which started into life, only one clump remains, and 

 these owe their survival to the fact that they are not 

 only out of the reach of animals, but in a damp spot 

 near a drain. 



To be beyond the reach of animals makes, as Mr. 

 Darwin has pointed out, an all-important difference in 

 the seedling's chance of life ; and he mentions the case 

 of an extensive heath near Farnham, in Surrey, part of 

 which was enclosed, and part not. Within the enclo- 



