334 N. H. STATE AGPJCULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



al diffusion of seeds. There arc comparatively few seeds of 

 common plants and trees that can be carried to any extent 

 by wind. Birds and animals assist in distributing them, 

 but it must be in a limited degree. So that we are forced 

 to the conclusion that they must come from plants of the 

 same kind that have previously stood upon the same spot. 

 The distinguished modern traveller, Stephens, where he 

 found, in Central America, buried under the trees of a gi- 

 gantic forest, ruins of temples and dwellings, and other 

 traces of the rule of man, did not hesitate to conclude 

 that at some previous time, what was then a dim and un- 

 peopled forest, had formerly sustained and cherished a 

 mighty people. 



