CHAPTER II 
DANDELIONS 
Gold such as thine ne’er drew the Spanish prow 
Through the primeval hush of Indian seas, 
Nor wrinkled the lean brow 
Of age, to rob the lover’s heart of ease. 
’Tis the spring’s largess, which she scatters now 
To rich and poor alike. 
—Lowell’s lines ‘To a Dandelion,” 
AMONG the works of man whatever is accu- 
rately planned and exquisitely made is costly, and 
therefore uncommon. We are apt to think that 
the same rule holds in Nature, and that it is only 
the rare things which are marvellous in design and 
in construction. But in Nature it is the com- 
monest things which are the most wonderfully 
made. They are common just because they are 
so nicely adapted to the conditions of their lives 
that they are able to starve down and crowd out 
rivals which are not so well equipped for the 
battle of existence. Hothouses and _ horticultural 
exhibitions can show nothing more wonderful than 
some vagabond and outcast weeds. <A plant which 
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