CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 



THE ACTIVITY OF VEGETABLES 



PAGE 



Plants which move — Sensitive Plant — A tourist from Neptune — The 

 World's and the British harvest — Working- of green leaves — 

 Power of sunshine — Work done by an acre of plants — Coltsfoot, 

 dandelion, pansies, in sunshine and in cold — Woodsorrel and 

 crocus — Foxglove — Leaves and light — Adventures of a carbon 

 atom— The sap— Cabbages and oaks requiring water— Traveller's 

 tree — The water in trees — An oasis in Greece — The associate life 

 of its trees and flowers . . . ... 13 



CHAPTER n 



ON SAVAGES, DOCTORS, AND PLANTS 



Savages knew Botany — First lady doctors and botanical excursions 

 — True drugs and horrible ornaments — Hydrophobia cure — 

 Cloves — Mustard — Ivy — Roses and Teeth — How to keep hair on 

 — How to know if a patient will recover — Curious properties of a 

 mushroom — The Scythian lamb — Quinine : history and use — 

 Safflower — Romance of ipecacuanha — Wars of the spice trade — 

 Cinnamon, logwood, and indigo — Romance of pepper — Baby- 

 lonian and Egyptian botanists — Chinese discoveries — Theo- 

 phrastus — Medieval times — The first illustrated book — Numbers 

 of plants known — Discoveries of painters and poets . . 27 



CHAPTER HI 



A tree's perilous LIFE 



Hemlock spruce and pine forests — Story of a pine seedling — Its 

 struggles and dangers — The gardener's boot — Turpentine of 

 pines — The giant sawfly — Bark beetles — Their effect on music — 

 Storm and strength of trees — Tall trees and long seaweeds — 

 Eucalyptus, big trees — Age of trees — Venerable sequoias, oaks, 

 chestnuts, and olives — Baobab and Dragontree — Rabbits as 

 woodcutters — Fire as protection — Sacred fires — Dug-out and 

 birch-bark canoes — Lake dwellings — Grazing animals and forest 

 destruction — First kind of cultivation — Old forests in England 

 and Scotland — Game-preserving . . . .40 



