n be
turned upon the wonderful mystery--one of the great mysteries of the
universe--of how this tiny atom can influence the whole future plant.
There is ample opportunity here to elevate his mind and spirit to a high
plane, and, by talking of the wonders of inheritance, to give many a
hint for future reflection. Without this law of inheritance the world
would be chaos. Imagine the seed of a rose sometimes developing into an
oak tree, the egg of a bird into a bee or a trout. Imagine eggs
developing haphazard into anything. There would be no use in living.
Nothing could be depended upon. But there is no danger that any such
thing will happen: the law of inheritance is unyielding. From a rose
seed must come a rose bush,--and this is good. But on the other hand,
from the seed of a weak, poor plant will grow another weak, poor plant.
Whatever the parent is, good or bad, that must the offspring be. But
sometimes the offspring inherits only the best in the parents, and so is
better than they.

Thus in gathering his seeds, the child will select only the largest and
best and take them from only the best plants to put in his garden the
next year, at the same time planting beautiful truths in the garden of
his soul. Not the least of these truths is a profound sense of the
immutability of law. Through his nature-work the child can learn as
nowhere else the stern, unbreakable decrees of law, and the respect and
reverence due to it from every intelligent being. Another important and
far-reaching fact that the child can learn from his garden is, that his
plants are good or poor according to the care he takes of them. They
must have the right kind of food (soil), the right amount of water, the
right temperature and surroundings,--some loving the open sunshine,
others needing to be partly protected from it. In short, according as
its environment is suited to its needs, and as its inheritance is good
or bad, will the plant be strong and handsome or otherwise.

Another truth to be learned from the flowers is the value of
cross-fertilization. This was demonstrated by the great Darwin, who
fertilized a number of flowers with their own pollen, and an equal
number with the pollen from the blossoms of another plant of the same
kind. When the seeds were ripe he gathered them, carefully keeping those
of the self-fertilized flowers separate from the others. The next season
he planted both sets of seeds under exactly the same conditions, that
is