Blossoming 185 



to flower on the wind can form plenty of seed 

 without the help of Insects. Such trees can live 

 generation after generation in lands too cold and 

 bleak for butterflies or beetles, for wasps or bees. 



And so the evergreens, which depend altogether 

 upon the wind as a pollen-carrier, can form seed 

 in the far north, and live there generation after 

 generation. 



A bee goes straight from one cherry blossom 

 to another. She does not waste her time, and she 

 seldom mixes her nectars. The grains of cherry- 

 bloom pollen, clinging to her hairy body, are 

 almost sure to be taken at once to the place where 

 they are needed — the pistil of cherry blossom 

 number two. 



But the winds are careless and wasteful mes- 

 sengers. Trees which rely upon their services 

 must yield quantities of pollen so that there shall 

 be enough to meet the needs of the family after 

 the reckless breezes have spilled all they will. 



The long, swaying tassels from the spring 

 boughs, if brought Indoors, will astonish us by 

 the quantity of yellow powder they shed beneath 

 and about them. Most of the trees which employ 

 breezes as carriers bloom in earliest spring. 



Leaves would sadly interfere with the flight of 

 pollen ■ blowing from flower to flower or from 

 branch to branch. The precious dust would be 

 caught by the foliage and wasted there, instead of 

 finding its way to the pistils which need it. 



