THE KINDLY FRUITS OF THE EARTH 



finds a suitable home, the bird is fed and the 

 tree or shrub is planted. And so it is that the 

 fairest hedges are those sown by the winds and 

 the birds — they are the fairies who plant the 

 Wild Cherries, the Elders, the Blackberries, and 

 the Wild Rose. 



All fruits may be roughly divided into the 

 dry and the pulpy, the bright colored and the 

 dull. Most seeds that ripen in a capsule, that 

 is a dry envelope, are exposed by the opening 

 of the valves so that they may easily fall out 

 and are readily taken by the birds. A well- 

 known example is the seed-vessel of the violet. 

 Most seeds are rich in starch and many heavy 

 with oil; for example, the oil content of Cotton- 

 seed and Flaxseed is very great. Of seeds em- 

 bedded in pulp the books make several distinc- 

 tions such as berries, drupes, aggregate fruits, 

 and the like, but to the bird or the squirrel, the 

 mouse or the child the main point is — are they 

 pleasant to the taste? 



It is interesting to note in passing that 

 man is the greatest seed-eater of the world. 



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