JUNE 129 



their pods were cut before the seeds were 

 hard enough to join the wheat in the thresh- 

 ing. But whatever cockle bloomed just in 

 time to harden its seeds by the time the 

 grain was thoroughly ripened had its seeds 

 mingle with those of the wheat under the 

 flail. So man planted them with his wheat 

 at the next sowing and again selected, all 

 unconsciously, those seeds which coincided 

 in their ripening with the maturing of the 

 grain. Just as truly as man has, with set 

 purpose, developed a cow which shall give 

 large quantities of milk and come into milk- 

 ing often, he has, though quite without such 

 intention and even- in spite of his desires, 

 cultivated a cockle that can hide in his 

 wheat when it is young, be gathered with 

 the wheat and scattered again with it in 

 preparation for the new crop. 



The pink-purple flowers of the plant are 

 so narrow in the throat and deep in the tube 

 that only the long-tongued butterflies can 

 reach to the bottom. The nectar, how- 

 ever, is so abundant that bumblebees would 

 gladly rob it by means of their familiar 



