SEED-TIME AND SOWING 61 



lengthens and shortly two crimson-winged key 

 fruits, or samaras, swing gracefully where once 

 the little pistillate flower bloomed. By and by 

 it is ripe -and ready, and we pluck the little key 

 before the wind has a chance to bear it away. 

 We will plant it, and several others, later and 

 watch them grow. (See chapter ' ' Seedlings and 

 Shoots.") 



Let us look at a cherry blossom: Both pistil 

 and stamens are found in one flower. In the 

 depths of the cup is a straight column of dainty 

 green. This is the pistil. The stamens are 

 poised near the rim. A bee or fly settles upon 

 the blossom in quest of nectar and a shower of 

 pollen is scattered from the stamens. It is prob- 

 able, too, that the insect is already well-dusted, 

 and a speck of pollen settles upon the sticky 

 part of the pistil. If this bit of pollen is from 

 another blossom, so much the better. It will 

 form a much stronger seed than that which has 

 ripened in the same flower, and thus the little 

 seedling "which may result will have a much 

 stronger constitution. The tiny speck of pollen 

 is at once absorbed by the eager little stigma, 

 and a tube is begun, as in the case of the maple. 

 When the little tube reaches and enters the 

 ovule, a tiny drop of jelly from the pollen passes 

 down the tube and unites with a similar drop al- 



