The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-07-11
Plants and Animals Travel

Apples were unknown in Califor-
MIA previous to the Eastern emigration
to the coast in 1849. In that year,
says the Chicago Chronicle, and the
following years until the railroads
we're built the thousands that went
overland made large provisionsi for
sustcnance on the way. Bales of hay
and whole oats were carried along for
the cattle and mules, and from the
Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean
there sprung up grasses that were
strange to that country, and to this
day the old trails are marked with
timothy and oats that grow wild and
arc indestructible. In course of time
oats came to be cultivated in some
sections, as barley had always been.
1t was the same with certain kinds Of
fruits. l;migrants from Michigan and
Wisconsin, 10th apple growing States,
took with them the finest Of apples to
eat, as they moved across the plains.
The seeds Of this fruit were dropped
here and there on receptive soil in
favorable climates, and hence the new
region Of the Rockies and beyond was
soon thereafter known as an apple
growing region. Now some Of the
finest Of Baldwins and pippins to be
found anywhere are grown abundantly
in California.
This is only one instance of what is
happening al! the world over, Nun
bers Of the common plants and weeds
OF civilized countries, as we'll as Of
| the birds, beasts and insects seen
around the HON ,s in these countries,
travel, unnoticed, thence with man
and so pass to the remotest continents
and islands. Like him, they possess
the property of crushing the resistance
of the natives and ousting them from
their ancient possessions. A recent
investigator reports that to New Zea-
land, within this century, see species
of plants, besides animals and birds,
have come from England alone and
established their quarters. Many of
them are small species, but all are
driving out the natives before them.
Scotch thistles have spread enormous
ly- The stinging nettle bears it con-
pany. Dock and snow thistle flourish
amazingly, while the ponds are choked
with watcrcresses.
Besides the fine cultivated orange
trees of Florida. which have been i'm
proved from the native stock, there
are yet thickets Of thorny wild orange
trees in the Southern Lake regions of
that State. The fruit Of thesei is coarse
and sour and of no value. The origin
CT them dates from three centuries ago
before some Spanish invader in Ponce
De Icons force carelessly dropped the
seeds of one Of the last oranges the
company had brought on the long
voyage TO guard against sourvy the
trees were unknown in A.erice.
Down in the lonely Antarctic Sir
John Hooker found wild flower
Frightening with iss dainty blossoms
lonely islet. The great naturalist
knew the flower for one which had
gradually spread from its home in
Central Asia across the Continent Of
Europe to Britain, but how it had
jumped into this far corner of the
earth he vas puzzled to imagine. He
knew, too, that some fifty years before
his visit the island had been bleak and
bare, and now there was not q spot
uncovered. He set out to explore.
In the center Of the island he found
the grave of an English ex-sailor. 1t
turned out that the spade the grave
had been dug with had last been used
in England. A single seed Of the
flower must have clung to the mold on
its blade, and from this grew carpet
that covered the whole island.
Invading armies are great agents in
the spread of. plants. Naturalists
twenty years hence, writing on South
African botany, will date many weed
back to this year Of war. Enormous
quantities Of forage is being sent up
country from Cape Town every day to
the front. The hay comes largely from
Canada as we'll as from England, and
the seeds Of which it is full will ger
inmate and spread on the river banks
and vei6t. The common s0rroi, with
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