Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1872-01-25
TREES THAT WEAR HATS.
by OLIVE THoRNE.

z =
! thing new
I These trees that wear hats-and there
4 are don't know how many hundreds of
kinds of them-are very wonderful and
beautiful dare say you've been in the
woods and seen them a hundred times,
even gathered them into baskets and ear
4 red them home.
! may as well tell YOU that you don't
4 call them trees, but mosses--and it's only
/ by the help of the microscope that you
! can see the perfect tree, and the cunning
/ little hats they wear.
i These hats are not like your fathers
/ ''stoye pipe Some Of them are round
4 like a skull cap; Others are shaped like
4 the helmets the old knights used to wear
you've seen pictures of them. Some
are high. with long point, like tent;
+ and Others look like the high fur caps the
! Russians wear Some have long tassels
! ON top, like gentleman's smoking cap;
and others are short and square like pa
/ per hat. In fact, here hardly Il shape of
4 hat YOU ever saw, or could think of, that
/ couldn't be found among these wonderful
+ little trees.
/ They are not Just TO look pretty, either,
any more than yours is. They cover, and
protect from the rain and sun, tiny seeds,
! till they are ripe and ready TO start life for
4 themselves
/ Then, as the hats are no longer useful,
4 they Just fall OIL, or trip over one side,
and let the little atoms of seeds fall To
/, the ground, or sail off in the breeze To
start new family Of moses some
| where.
Their hats are not the only odd things
about these little wonders. Part of the
tiny plants we call MOSES are called by
the wise men Gyerworts-iust because
they donf wear hats They carry their
seeds in the daintiest boxes and baskets,
just the right size for fairy.
The baskets are most elegant little
things, and when filed with seeds, look
like birds nests full of eggs And all, You
must remember, too small To be seen with
out microscope.
When the seeds are ripe they get loose
from the basket, and the first rain washes
them out.
/ The boxes are even more curious. They
are tightly closed till the seeds are ripe,
when they suddenly spring open and
scatter the seeds far of
Just the bursting of the box would not
throw them far, you know; but there Is
most wonderful little spiral spring coiled
up in the box IL is the pressure of the
spring that bursts the box and scatters the
seeds. Not all the boxes open wide; some
lust open little door in one side and
the seeds drop out; others jerk "A trap
door of the top, and shoot out the
seeds.
The seed cups are not the only beanti-
FIJI part of them. Their lcavcs-for they
| do have leaves, though you can hardly
/ believe it, If you haven't a microscope To
see thcm-thc leaves are eXquisitciy
beautiful, pointed. and often trimmed
| with white fringe on the end.
The delicate stems, with their branch,
cs. look under the microscope exactly like
forest of evergreen trees.
Not all MOSES are so small One kind,
common in Europe, and called Silver
Heather, is large enough TO be made into
door mats, In Lapland-w0rse still
ii il made into beds, mattress, blanket,
and all
This lazy Laplandcr, you must know,
| gOes out where the moss is thick, and
cuts two large pieces, a. you've seen turf
cut for sodding. One of these he lays
! right side up, and the other ON top of it,
wrong side up. When he craws in be,
tween them YOU see he has a snug bed
Of moss, over and under, which, besides
being warm, Is fresh and fragrant.
II isn't at all strange that "A Iaplander
should like q moss bed, for the first one
! he ever had was made Of it. When he
was a baby he had cradle the shape Of "A
slipper This his mother filled with soft
, fresh moss. and put him in. There he
spent the whole day, slung over her back,
! or hung 10 a tree.
The little MOSES cradle other things
! besides babies-they cradle rivers. This
| is wonderful, but it is true. I'll tell you
! how.
These tiny plants were made to collect
and keep moisture, and splendidly they
do their duty. Long, and thick, and
spongy, they hold every drop Of water
/ that fall, into their arms, feeding it out
gradually to the giant trees, whose feet
they cover When their laps are too full
to hold, the drops gather together, and
/ trickle off in tiny streamlet other little
threads Of water join il 1t grows larger
and stronger. and finally becomes broad
river, Graded, and constantly fed by the
! moss beds up in the mountains.
You see your old song is true after all :
:" Little drops Of water,
! Little grains Of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
| And the beauteous land"
There's another and more wonderful
work, done by these atoms Of life. 1t is
their work TO soften rocks, and prepare
/ them for the growth Of larger plants.
! They do it in the most beautiful way
You know that wherever there's any
dampness Oh rock, or tree, or roof, there
comes tiny green film, which grows into
a regular moss. Well, those tiny rootlets,
day and night, year after year, dig down
! into the rock The water the moss
holds softens it, and so gradually it is
made porous. Little particles Of sand and
earth lodge there. Tiny plants grow, die
and decay, forming more earth. And, At
last the bare hard rock is a fruitful place,
covered with trees. Thanks only to the
humble and beautiful little trees that wear
hats.
There's another lovely thing about them.
When all nature Is gay and glorious in
summer the soft little MOSES almost dry
up bat the moment the frost comes, and
green tree, and gaudy flower, alike turn