336 LA'SSONii iriTU PLANTS 



red peppers ? There is a wealth of information respecting germi- 

 nation in the two thick volumes of Sir John Lubbock's "Contri- 

 bution to Our Knowledge of Seedlings." 



LXV. THE DISPERSION OF SEEDS 



412. It must be an advantage to any kind of 

 plant if its seeds are widely dispersed, thereby af- 

 fording it raore chances to find a place in which to 

 live and thrive. The earth is now covered with 

 plants, and there is, therefore, great competition, or 

 struggle for existence. Only a few seeds can pro- 

 duce mature plants, for the earth could not contain 

 the possible offspring of all plants. Even one kind 

 of plant, if allowed to multiply to its full capacity, 

 would soon cover the earth. (See Obs. Ixxiv.) 



413. Most seeds fall and remain near the 

 parent plant, and the colony of parents and off- 

 spring tends gradually to enlarge. In plants which 

 mature very slowly, however, as the forest trees, and 

 which are, therefore, exposed for a long time to 

 the struggle for existence, the colony is likely to 

 become broken and scattered, so that the trees oc- 

 cur singly here and there ; but under certain condi- 

 tions, the colony may dominate the area, and a con- 

 tinuous and homogeneous forest is the result. The 

 seeds of the greater number of plants merely drop 



