Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-04-08

other work to chance, for in that sense
chance is nothing, and consequently
can do nothing. So we regard 1t as the
result of evolution; but can not see
that this relieves the difficulty, even IL
the truth of the theory of evolution be
admitted. Evolution is simply the
working out of certain results under the
operation of law. But what is this law?
It is not correct to say that it is force,
though I may think many make this
mistake. Law is only the established or
der or manner in which force operates so
that if we admit the Intervention of law
and a thousand or ten thousand second
ary causes, still this law must have
originated with lawgiver, and behind
all these secondary causes the mind
must rest at last on the first cause, the
author of all other causes. But l did
not start out to write moral or philo-
sophical essay, but to call attention to
some of natures method of distributing
the vegetable kingdom over the world.
In producing these results we find three
classes of agents at work: the waters,
the winds, and animals, besides certain
arrangements within the plants them
selves for the accomplishment of this
purpose. And we find the seeds them
selves adapted to these different means
of transportation. The light character
of many seeds well adapts them to float
ing from place to place, while their i'm
pervious coverings protect them while
being carried long distances by the cur
rents of the ocean or of rivers, and then
when they lodge on some island or
other shore they readily spring up and
grow, What, for instance, can be better
adapted to floating from island to island
than the tough, corky covering of the
cocoanut? The seeds of grasses and
other plants are washed down from the
higher grounds by streams, and they are
thus widely distributed.
The seeds of many plants, as of the
dandeloin, thistle, and q long list of
similar plants, are furnished with tuft
of downy or silky pappus, that will en-
able them, when ripe, to float away on
the breeze and thus be scattered far and
wide. The seeds of some species of
poplar, as cottonwood, are attached to
a bunch of cotton that serves as a buoy
to bear them up through the air, by
means of which they are frequently car
ried many miles from the parent tree.
Seeds are often disseminated through
animal agency. Animals frequently
carry seeds and nuts away and bury
them for winter food, where they are
forgotten and left to grow.
Ia Many seeds of fruits are swallowed by
birds and carried to distant places and
voided uninjured, and there spring up
and grow. Thus the seeds of cherries.
grapes, gooseberries, blackberries, and
nfh If Gn
broadcast over large extent Of coun-
try. During an invasion of the Rocky
mountain locusts into Iowa few years
ago, they left the ground where they fed
thickly strewn with the seeds of some
species of grass, new to that locality,
which they had brought from the far
Northwest. Many seeds are provided
with hooked barbs, by which they cling
to clothing and the coats of animals,
and are carried about from place to place.
Many people are familiar with the
cookie burr, the Spanish needle, the
"beggar ice," and burdock, and how
tenaciously they adhere to any surface
where they can get hold. To this we
may add the sand burr (Cenchrus tribu-
loides), with its sharp spines, one of the
most execrable weeds have made the
acquaintance of. Some seeds, as of the
maple, ash, elm, etc., are furnished with
q wing that causes them to sail OF some
distance in falling. The locust, Judas
tree, or redbud, and others, have q light
pad that will often sail off to consid-
cradle distance, thus scattering their
seeds.
Some kinds of bean have the pod so
arranged that when it bursts it sudden
ly twists into coil, throwing the seeds
considerable distance. This habit in
the Inapatiens, or touch-me-not, gerani-
um, etc., is well known. The squirting
cucumber (Monaordica elateriuna), when
ripe,. bursts with considerable report,
throwing its seeds many feet.
A few plants, when their seeds are
ripe, travel over the country and sow
them themselves. A good example of
this kind is the stumble weed" about
the true name of which the doctors disa-
gree. Two species grow here; the
larger, which is the tumble weed here,
grows in a thick cluster of very slender
branches, and these SO numerous that
the bunch, which is often rs big as a
can scarcely be seen through:
When ripe they are torn from the roots
1hC nuu tnCh bhCy wi
and tumble, often with the speed
of a racehorse, till they meet an OBJ
that they can not surmount,
and there they rest till the wind changes,
and then they start again; and this is
kept up till they are worn out and brok-
en- to pieces. Their seeds are thus
scattered over all the country.
A plant that grows on the deserts of
Africa, the rose OF Jericho (Anastdtica
heirochuatica), when ripe, curls into a
q ball, becomes detached from the soil,
and rolls about before the wind till
light shower of rain falls, when it opens
its seed and pods and drops its seeds,
which germinats in about eighteen
hours. The wisdom of the arrange
ment here is seen when we remember
that il it remained where it grew the
whole plant would be covered the drift
ing sands, and that il its seeds did not
terminate quickly, while the transient
moisture lasted, they never could grow
at all. Thus does nature care for her
j. L. Tsnplin, Hutchin-
SON, Kansas, in Gardeners Monthly.