132 THE ROMANCE OF SEED-SOWING. 



the seeds are fully ripe, and ready to be scattered by the bursting 

 of the pods in the August sunshine. 



Finally, there are some plants which by movement ensure 

 protection. The little Linaria of our rockeries and walls — 

 ' Mother-of-Thousands,' as West-country folk call it, revels in 

 sunshine, but as soon as it is fertilized, it pushes itself into 

 some cranny or nook, hiding its seeds away until they are ripe. 

 Dandelion keeps its stalk bolt upright during the three or four 

 days of flower-expansion, but it bends down close to the earth, and 

 buries its flowers among the grass for ten or twelve days while the 

 seeds are getting ripe, afterwards becoming erect once more, for a 

 reason which we shall presently consider. 



Now, let us see what are the agencies by which seeds are sent 

 or carried on their journeys. There are four chief ones, besides 

 one or two minor methods seen in only a few instances. We will 

 take the four principal ones first of all. 



I. — Water. — Under this head I include the action of rivers 

 and ocean-currents. 



Comparatively few seeds are carried by water, owing to 

 their being, as a rule, unable to withstand prolonged immer- 

 sion ; but it is still true, that the agency of water is a very 

 important one, especially in the form of marine currents. 

 Many seeds are small and light enough to need no further 

 adaptation ; but in the case of the larger kinds, they must not 

 only be able to answer to the law governing floating bodies, too 

 well known to quote here, but they must also be absolutely imper- 

 meable to water itself The Cocoa-nut rind is woody and fibrous. 

 Hence these fruits can easily withstand the action of sea-water 

 and protect the seed within. They may be carried for thousands 

 of miles over the sea, and yet when stranded, the seeds can readily 

 germinate. In this way we account for the wide range of this 

 Palm and its presence on the main coral islands of the Pacific. 

 Many seeds and fruits have thus been carried by the great 

 current of the Gulf Stream from Mexico, to the marshes on Ire- 

 land's western coast, to the lakes of the Hebrides, and to the 

 Norway coast. Others have gone by currents from Madeira 

 to the Canaries, and thence to the African borders. 



Rivers, again, act in a similar manner. Seeds and fruits are 



