82 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
seems a reminiscence of such a condition of things 
is still to be seen in the pistil-bearing flowers; 
for each has from five to twelve ‘‘abortive”’ sta- 
mens—undeveloped things which are of no use in 
the trees’ present domestic economy, but which 
are still produced, probably from sheer force of 
habit. 
-We have seen that some of our familiar trees 
seem to be passing through changes in the struc- 
ture and mode of fertilization of their flowers. 
Others are even now diminishing the number of 
their seeds. Nature, keeping up an age-old habit, 
forms a large number of germs; but the trees, 
having adopted a newer habit, neglect most of 
these germs, and bring only a remnant of them to 
maturity. But these comparatively few offspring 
are sent into the world better nourished, better 
provided for, better equipped for the battle of life 
than they would have been had the parent tree 
undertaken the maintenance of a larger number of 
descendants, and thus they profit by the fate of 
their little brothers which perished untimely. 
The horse-chestnut blossom has a_ three-celled 
ovary, with two ovules in each cell; but the ripe 
horse-chestnut bur never holds more than three 
nuts, and sometimes only two, or even a solitary 
