the wind, the bees, the birds carry the pollen to flowers far off and
drop it on their pistils. Marvelous, is it not? Everything has to be
just right, or the pollen does not do its work nor the pistil, either.
Pollen has to be ripe to help make the seed.

"But how can the work of the wind and the bees and the birds be improved
on? Just as the old gardener was doing it. He had one pansy, oh such a
large one, but not at all beautiful in colour. He had another one, small
but exquisite in colouring. If he could but grow those two together,
shake them up, say a magic word and get a pansy both beautiful and
large!

"Rodney's gardener used magic but not a magic wand. He took a little
knife called a scalpel. He carefully took some pollen from the beautiful
pansy and then rubbed it gently over the pistil of the big pansy. The
pollen was all ready to drop, and by this he knew it was ripe.

"Why did he place a bag over the pansy? Well, simply because he didn't
wish that pansy interfered with. Suppose the bag were not on; suppose
after he had put the pollen on, the wind had blown other pollen to this
same pistil? Let us suppose that this other pollen came from a very
inferior flower. The experiment would have been spoiled.

"Any of you can try this plant improvement. I see by Katharine's eyes
and Dee's also that they are going to try it. It is well if you have a
pair of forceps. Then you need not use your fingers against the plant at
all. Gently pull the pistil a bit forward, gently place the pollen on
with the scalpel and you have performed the operation entirely with the
proper instruments.