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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
148
"These,
then,
are
seeds,"
you
will
say.
Not
yet;
they
are
only
ovules,
or
little
bodies
which
may
become
seeds.
If
they
were
left
as
they
are
they
would
all
wither
and
die.
But
those
little
grains
of
pollen,
which
we
saw
sticking
to
the
knob
at
the
top,
are
coming
down
to
help
them.
As
soon
as
these
yellow
grains
touch
the
sticky
knob
or
stigma,
as
it
is
called,
they
throw
out
tubes,
which
grow
down
the
column
until
they
reach
the
ovules.
In
each
one
of
these
they
find
a
tiny
hole,
and
into
this
they
creep,
and
then
they
pour
into
the
ovule
all
the
protoplasm
from
the
pollen-grain
which
is
sticking
above,
and
this
enables
it
to
grow
into
a
real
seed,
with
a
tiny
plantlet
inside.
This
is
how
the
plant
forms
its
seed
to
bring
up
new
little
ones
next
year,
while
the
leaves
and
the
roots
are
at
work
preparing
the
necessary
food.
Think
sometimes
when
you
walk
in
the
woods,
how
hard
at
work
the
little
plants
and
big
trees
are,
all
around
you.
You
breathe
in
the
nice
fresh
oxygen
they
have
been
throwing
out,
and
little
think
that
it
is
they
who
are
making
the
country
so
fresh
and
pleasant,
and
that
while
they
look
as
if
they
were
doing
nothing
but
enjoying
the
bright
sunshine,
they
are
really
fulfilling
their
part
in
the
world
by
the
help
of
this
sunshine;
earning
their
food
from
the
ground
working
it
up;
turning
their
leaves
where
they
can
best
get
light
(and
in
this
it
is
chiefly
the
violet
sun-waves
that
help
them),
growing,
even
at
night,
by
making
new
cells
out
of
the
food
they
have
taken
in
the
day;
storing
up
for
the
winter;
putting
out
their
flowers
and
making
their
seeds,
and
all
the
while
smiling
so
pleasantly
in
quiet
nooks
and
sunny
dells
that
it
makes
us
glad
to
see
them.
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