34 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
orchids go even further in their repudiation of the 
pollen which they themselves have produced. The 
pistil seems poisoned by it, and withers at its 
touch. 
Many flowers have special devices for securing 
pollen from other blossoms and for avoiding the 
use of their own. 
In a number of species the stamens ripen, 
open, and shed their store, while the pistil is yet 
too young to make use of any pollen grains it 
may receive. Then when the pistil is old enough 
to commence business, and asks for gold, the sur- 
rounding stamens are a bankrupt community, with 
none left to give. But ‘‘all things come at last 
to one who knows how to wait.’’ Pollen will be 
wafted to the pistil by a summer breeze, or car- 
ried to it by a winged messenger—beetle, fly, 
wasp, moth, butterfly, humming-bird, or bee. But 
it will be pollen from another flower, and that is 
exactly what wise Mother Nature has been plan- 
ning from the first. 
So the insects which flit through our gardens are 
combining business with pleasure and doing im- 
portant errands for the flowers. The flowers vie 
for their attentions with charming toilettes, and 
pay for their services with free lunches. 
