New-York tribune., 1906-01-28

Rambling over the Downs in late summer or
autumn you may often see the short, smooth
turf veiled with a soft moving mist Il is the
down Ioosened from the ripened heads Of the
little dwarf plume thistle floating about in the
breeze. SO IL sails along, hither and thitber
until it finds a resting place where It may grow
and reproduce its kind. Sitting in this garden,
again, which here slopes down 70 the willow
fringed river. the south wind watts toward you
the soft white down Of the willows ripened
seeds. Thus. making the wind their travelling
car. many plants travel round the globe The
seeds Of The locust tree have been carried from
Africa To Italy. on April =, 1897. a thunder
storm passed over the latter country Mingled
with the rain there came the sand Of the African
desert and. the seeds Of the locust tree The
familiar dandelion is one of the greatest wind
travellers. Each seed, surmounted by a little
delicate parachute, is admirably adapted for an
aerial voyage. Crossing rivers seas and noun
tain ranges il has Jraversed the wide world.
With the adventurous Parry II has entered the
Arctic regions. and with the sailor il has crossed
the line appearing in both Northern and South
eTn hemispheres. The Rose Of Jericho uulizes
the wind in d peculiar way in seeking fresh
woods and pastures new for its offspring. II
IS an annual, growing in dry. sandy places and
its seeds rpen the leaves wither and the
branches dry up and curl inward ball is thus
formed, inside Of which are the seedpods This
Is soon loosened from the sandy soil and be-
comes the plaything Of the wind In the deserts
Of Syria and Egypt many Of these balls may be
seen drifting about. When the rain comes they
uncOU and the seeds may germiuate. The
Wind Witch Of the Russian steppes is a plant
which travels in q similar way. This is a sort
Of thistle. which, after Towering Curls up into
q ball Then the stem TOts off and the plants
start off on the wings Of the wind. There they
60, careering over The plains outstripping the
swiftest horseman Now they rise suddenly
into the air. hopping and dancing along in er-
ratio and fantastic courses. Sometimes two
hook 10 each other and 60 spinning off to-
gether. dozen more join them and the mass
rolls lightly along before the brisk east wind.
Some day, at the gentle invitation Of the rain,
they will uncOil and the seeds grow.
AS you wander by the olumps Of furze and
broom in August and September a little sharp
Crack! Crack, resOunds on every side. II IS the
bursting open Of the seedpods and the scattering
Of the seeds. Each pod in fact, is a little gun.
and the seeds are the bullets The contraction
Of the pods by drying Is the firing Of the gun
The outside Of each division Of the pod contracts
most and tends To curl outward In time this
force overcomes that which keeps the divisions
Of the pod together, and they spring apart. The
seeds are thus shot out Cranes bills. or native
wilC geraniums adopt the principle Of the sling.
You illustrate the method thus: Hold g
stone iE each hand, the arms being held down 10
the sides. Raise the arms sharply and at the
same time open the hands. The stones fly out 10
some distance. This is precisely how the gera-
MUM scstters its seeds only II has five arms in
stead OF two Examine ripe head Of seeds.
The five seeds are arranged at the cases Of five
round central axis. The outsides OF these
arms contract more quickly they dry than
the insdes and this gives them a tendency to
curl outward. This is restrained by the attach
nlents at the bases. until the force IS sufficient
% break them. Then the arm flies suddenly ONT
and throws away the seed. Selecting a seed a.
the right stage and giving II a little assistance
you may see the singing away Of the seed your-
self The seed OF the dandeliOn may blow aDv-
where and not inffequently reaches places where
TIE young plant cannot grow In other plants
however, there are special provisions for getting
the seed into suitable place The rnangrovs a.
one Of the most interesting Of these. It grows in