52 
SOME *LITi lke TRAMPS 
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AN SS V4 /)) 
We SWE. 
= B= we 
By, S 
i 
FIG. 43 
HEN I came home from that walk in the woods 
the other day, it took me some time to rid my 
clothes of many odd-looking little things, such as you 
see in the picture above (Fig. 43). 
This round burr (Fig. 44) was one of the worst of my 
hangers-on. You know it quite well. It is the fruit of 
the burdock. Can some child tell me why I 
call this prickly burr a fruit? 
Now let us look carefully at this seed case or 
fruit of the burdock. 
Instead of being smooth to the touch, like 
some other fruits we know, such as the apple and the 
pear, it is covered with stiff hooks. By these hooks it 
fastened itself so firmly to my clothes, that it was diffi- 
cult to pull it off without making a tear. 
Why does the burdock put its seeds into such a 
prickly case? 
Please stop reading for a moment and try to answer 
this question. 
Cudgel well your brains for the use of such a prickly 
seed case as that of the burdock plant. 
