CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XX 



WANDERING FRUITS AND SEEDS 



PAGE 



Ships and stowaway seeds — Tidal drift — Sheep, broom, migrating- 

 birds — Crows and acorns — Ice — Squirrels — Long flight of birds 

 — Seeds in mud — Martynia and lions — The wanderings of 

 Xanthium — Cocoanut and South Sea Islands — Sedg-es and floods 

 — Lichens of Arctic and Antarctic — Manna of Bible — The Tumble 

 weeds of America — Catapult and sling- fruits — Cow parsnips — 

 Parachutes, shuttlecocks, and kites — Cotton — The use of hairs 

 and wings — Monkey's Dinner-bell — Sheep-killing grasses . . 254 



CHAPTER XXI 



STORY OF THE CROPS 



Bloated and unhealthy plants — Oats of the Borderers, Norsemen, 

 and Danes — Wheat as a wild plant — Barley — Rye — Where was 

 the very first harvest? — Vine in the Caucasus — Indians sowing 

 corn — Early weeds — Where did weeds live before cultivation ? — 

 Armies of weeds — Their cunning and ingenuity — Gardeners' feats 

 — The Ideal Bean — Diseased pineapples — Raising beetroot and 

 carrot — Story of the travels of Sugar-cane — Indian Cupid — Beet- 

 root and Napoleon . . , ... 269 



CHAPTER XXII 



PLANTS AND ANTS 



Meaning of Plant Life — Captive and domesticated germs — Solomon's 

 observations denied by Buffbn but confirmed by recent writers — 

 Ants as keepers and germinators of corn — Ant fields — Ants 

 growing mushrooms — Leaf-cutting ants — Plants which are 

 guarded by insects — The African bush — Ants boarded by Acacias 

 and by Imbauba trees — Ants kept in China and Italy — Cock- 

 chafer V. ant — Scale insects — A fungus which catches worms . 281 



CHAPTER XXIII 



THE PERIL OF INSECTS 



The Phylloxera — French sport — Life history of the Phylloxera — 

 Cockchafer grubs — Wireworm — The misunderstood crows — 

 Dangerous sucklings of greenflies — "Sweat of heaven" and"Saliva 

 of the stars" — A parasite of a parasite of a parasite — Buds — The 

 apple-blossom weevil — Apple-sucker — The codlin moth and the 

 ripening apple — The pear midge — A careless naturalist and his 

 present of rare eggs — Leaf-miners — Birds without a stain upon 

 their characters — Birds and man — Moats — Dust and mites — The 

 homes of the mites — Buds, insect eggs, and parent birds flourish- 

 ing together . . . . ... 290 



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