St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-04-10


fectly absurd to attribute this or anv
other work to chance, for in that sense
chance is nothing, and consequently
can do nothing. SO we regard it as the
result of evolution; but | can not see
that this relieves the difficulty, even if
the truth Of the theory of evolution he
admitted. Evolution is simply the
working out OF certain results under the
operation of law. But what is this law?
1t is not correct to say that it is force,
though l 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 q thousand or ten thousand second
airy causes, still this law must have
originated with lawgivcr, and behind
all these secondary causes the mind
must rest at last on the first cause, the
author OF all other causes But | did
not start out to write a 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 we'll 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 a long list of
similar plants, are furnished with a 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
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
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, goose5erries, blackberries, and
many others of like nature, are sown
broadcast over a large extent of coun-
try. During an invasion of the Rocky
locusts into Iowa a 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 lice," and burdock, and how
they adhere to any surface
" iClC oiiSF ItlH SCI q lol1l. ~ tHiS We
nay add the sand burr (Cenchr71s tri5u-
oiies), with its sharp spines, one of the
most execrable weeds | have made the
of. Some seeds, as of the
maple, ash, elm, etc, are furnished with
! wing that causes them to sail off some
distance in falling. The locust, Judas
rec, OF redbud, and others, have light
,ad that will often sail off to consid-
rable distance, thus scattering their
eeds.
Some kinds of bean have the pod so
that when it bursts it sudden
Y twists into a coil, throwing the seeds
considerable distance. This habit in
he Hnpatiens, or touch-me- not, gerani-
m, ETC., is well known. The squirting
ucumber (MOn01uicd clatcriun), when
ipe, bursts with a considerable report,
lrowing its seeds many feet.
A few plants, when their seeds are
pe, travel over the country and SOW
lem themselves. A good example of
lis kind is the "tllmble weed,n about
lie true name of which the doctors disa-
rec. Two species grow here; the
Irger, which is the tumble weed here,
rows in a thick cluster of very slender
ranches, and these so numerous that
le bunch, which is often as big as a
ogshead, can scarcely be seen through.
Then ripe they are torn from the roots
7 the wind, and then they roll
i'd tumble, often with the speed
a racehorse, till they meet an OBJ
ruction that they can not surmount,
I'd there they rest till the wind changes,
I'D then they start again; and this is
ept up till they are worn out and brok-
l to pieces. Their seeds are thus
over all the country.
A plant that grows on the deserts of
frica, the rose of Jericho (An0statlc1
when ripe, curls into a
ball, becomes detached from the soil,
I'd rolls about before the wind till
5ht shower of rain falls, when it opens
seed and pods and drops its seeds,
hich terminate in about eighteen
'urs. The wisdom of the arrange
ent here is seen when we remember
at if it remained where it grew the
hole plant would be covered the drift
g sands, and that if its seeds did not
rminate quickly, while the transient
DISTURB lasted, they never could grow
all. Thus does nature care for her
n YY,,f,I