The Yellowstone journal., 1894-06-07
THE SECRET OF THE FLOWERS.
0 Beauty Is but Utility, Then This Ex.
PLANTATION Will Serve.

n Beauty Is but Utility, Then This Ex-
PLANTATION Will Serve.
What are flowers, these parts Of
plants rendered so conspicuous by
their form and color? The poets
call them the wedding garments of
plants, but afford us no answer to
the question, Why do some of the
daughters of Flora, for example, the
grasses. the prime source of our fOod
supply, wear such inconspicuoUs
wedding garments, while others are
decked in such brilliant array or eX
hale such delightful perfumes Sci
entific investigation has solved the
riddle. There are numerous plants
which can be fortified only by the
agency of insects. which in then
pursuit of food transfer the pollen o!
the anthers to the pistil. 1t is to at
tract these insects that flowers don
their bright garb and eXhale thci1
perfume Flowers are tavern signs
informing insects that here the table
is with pollen and with ne t..
spread. The fact is now universally
known. but simple and natural a. i.
appears it was first discovered only
century ago. Strange,
There have been countless lovers
Of flowers for thousands of yeaTs
and not one of them had an Idn.
of the purpose which the flower
served until an Observant schoolmas
ter in his ramble through the envi
rons of Berlin and Spandau had hii
attention awakened by observing the
unwearied persistence with whlcr
the insects visited flower after flower,
caught nature in the act" indeed.
and in the year 1898 published his
remarkable work, the title of which,
translated into English, would be.
"The Discovered Secret of the StrUc
ture and Fertilization of Flower,
1t was a work indicative of monu
mental industry, with 26 copper
plates containing LILY illustrations
The German schoolmaster was Chris
tian Konrad Sprengel. the son of
Brandenburger Clergyman. After Il
first appointment in a Berlin schoOI
he was called 11S0 to the rectorshiT
of the Great School now GymnaSi
um1 at Spandau. where he collected
and worked up the material of his
work. an astonishing task, which
even today excites the unqualified
admiration of botanists. At that
time the work brought Sprengel nc
honcr. His love of flowers occupied
so much of his time that he limited
himself to only the most absolutely
necessary of his rectorial duties. He
died in complete obscurity, April :
1916. in his sixty-siXth year.
Shortly before hi, death he pub
lished a short memoir entitled The
Utility of Bees" and the Necessity
of Bee Culture From a New Paint Of
View, in. which he drew, more pre-
cisely, the distinction between wi
fertilized and insect fertilized plan
He showed here experimentally the
incapacity of insects to fertilize tie
flowers of currents, gooseberries. az
Piles, violets and others. These
flowers are protected from the visits
of insects by small canopy of gauze
The labors of Sprengel were prac
tcally disregarded. He experienced
no recognition, and he did not even
retain a single copy of his work.
Charles Darwin was the first to
bring Sprengels remarkable book"
to light and do full justice to the
German schoolmaster He was
ahead Of his age wrote Darwin.
land his discoveries lay long neglect
ed. ."-Neber Land Und Meer.