“No, dears,” she whispers, “there is other work for you to do.” Then the shaded seedlings do not try any more to grow into plants. They give up the materials they have collected to the little brothers and sisters who have started in the good ground and the sunlight.
They fade away, but they are happy, for they, too, are doing their work. The materials in them let go of each other. They change into gases and float off in the air, or to minerals and other substances and sink to the ground. These gases and solid substances pass into other plants and help make them strong.
“It is better to help another than to do poor work alone, dears,” Mother Nature whispers, as she lays them to rest.
Then she visits all the weak plants, and all those in poor soil or in too much light or too much shade, and lays them to rest. Their materials go to nourish the strong plants, who are doing good work in the world and growing in beauty. Not all the plants that live to blossom are good alike. Some are better than others, but Mother Nature lets them grow if they are strong enough and can find food. At last the blooming comes. The flowers do their best. The strong ones make large, bright flowers full of color and full of sweetness. Mother Nature smiles at them and is pleased. The weaker flowers do their best; they are not so bright nor so large. Mother Nature smiles at them, for she loves them, too, and she will tell them what to do. The bees come and fly to the brighter flowers; they have rich, abundant pollen and rich nectar. The bees know this; they do not care so much for the duller, smaller flowers.
When the bees do not come, Mother Nature whispers to the little flowers, “Never mind, dears, there is work for you to do.” So they are happy, though their ovules get no pollen and they set no seeds. They are happy to do the work dear Mother Nature has for them to do.
The strong flowers set their seeds; they are strong, and they have been well fertilized. The weak flowers set few seeds; they are not strong to make many seeds, and they have not been well fertilized. So year by year and century by century Mother Nature watches her plants and encourages the strong to grow and helps the weak to find other work.
And this is why the flowers are so bright.
Mother Nature selects those that are to grow and blossom and sends the rest to help them. This is what we call natural selection, and this is what makes the earth so beautiful. Only the best continue to grow; the others are glad to help them.