The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-13
HOW sEE,Ds TRAVEL.
Some Make Journeys With Wings; Others Hook Themselves to Nov ing Objects.

;
 Washington. March 12-some seeds make journeys with wings, and others travel from place to place by attach ing themselves to the clothes of men or the hair of animals; still others make their journey in the. stoachs of birds. These are facts that will interest the young people who are taking an interest in agriculture and are working in a garden at home or at school. According to the United tSates Department of Agriculture's s specialist, the seed as the starting point in the life cycle of a plant may well be studied first by young garden CTS.
 The seeds of the maple tree are particularly interesting They are provided with wings, and when they become detached fro the parent l tree a gentle breeze will carry them 9 considerable distance from the branch to which they were attached. There are many forms and modif1ca.- I lions of the, winged seed, as the Nn- den, the hornbeam, the elm, and the pine. These are all comon trees from which seeds for illustrative pur- poses can be secured.
 Some seeds are also provided with paTachutes or umbrellas, not for pro tection from rain and storm, but for purposes of 1oconnotion The seeds Of the missiles, the miIkweed, and the dande1ion-in fact, the seeds of all plants which have a. cottony growth are provided for these aerial jour neys.
 Besides these, some seeds are pro- vided with hooked appendages by which they can attach themselves to the clothing of men or to te air of animals, so tat they become trans ported from place to place. Other seeds have hard seed coats or shells, which are covered in many cases by edible fruit The fruits are eaten by l birds, but the seeds are not digested, in this way becoming distributed from place to place. The groves of ce- dars which are characteristic of the landscape in many sections of the country, 1t will be noted, are chiefly l along the lines of fences or fence rows. The fruit of the cedar is an l edible one, but the seed is not digest fbfe, and in this way the existence of these hedge rows of cedars is ex- plained. Cherries, grapes and other 1 fruits are to a considerable extent disseminated in like manner
 1 The hard nuts of our nut-bearine l trees are not used as food by birds l or large animals, but are usually sought by squirrels and small TO- dents, which are in the habit of gath ering and burying them in various T I titles for winter use. The result is
 that considerable percentagt od those which are buried in this man. ner are never rediscovered by those
 hiding the, e,7and in time nature cause.
 the hard shell to crack open, and the
 warth and moisture of the soil bring. the germ contained in the kernel in,
 to life and a tree springs into exis
 tence. It will be noted that ths
 nuts which were buried by the squir
 regs did not germinate inediately af
 ter being burier, but waited until tn,
 before they put forth their tende;
 shoots. This is not because the.
 wi1led it, but because the hard oute
 walls of the shell would not admit tn,
 air and water to the germ. so as t
 stimulate it's growth.
 It was necessary that the shell bi
 frzen and broken by the action of tn.
 frosts and the weather before mois
 ture could gain an entrance to caus
 the swelling of the germ This pc
 culiarity, when taken advantage o commercially, is called stratification
 Seeds with hard shells, such as cher
 ries, peaches, pIums and the like
 have to be stratifed-that is, the. must be planted in the fall where tn
 plants are to grow or they must Io
 packed away in boxes of sand in
 position where they will freeze ant
 remain frozen during the winter, il
 order that they may germinate tn
 following spring. If seeds of thi
 character are stored and kept dr-
 during the winter they will not germ
 mate if planted in the spring. Seed
 with thin seed coats, however, IlS'
 peas beans, etc, if treated in lik'
 manner, will be destroyed by the ac
 ton of the cold, and no plants vii result from planting them in the au
 f1ITnF1 S1IcT1 seeds must from in
 nature of the case, be retained in ;:
 dry and comparatively warm plac'
 during the winter season. in orde.
 that their vitality may not be de