58 BOTANY 



are growing directly under the shade of the parent tree the num- 

 ber will surprise you. Sometimes several hundred will be found 

 making a brave start in life. But nearly all these young trees 

 are doomed to die, because of the overshading and crowding. 

 Plants, like animals, are dependent upon their surroundings for 

 food and air. They need light even more than animals need it. 

 The soil directly under the shade of the old tree feeds the parent 

 and there is no room for the young plants. This overcrowding is 

 seen in the garden where young beets or lettuce are growing. The 

 gardener assists nature by thinning out the young plants so that 

 they may not be handicapped in their battle for life in the garden 

 by an insufficient supply of air, light, and food. 



It is evidently of considerable advantage to a plant to be able 

 to place its progeny, which are to grow up from seeds, at a con- 

 siderable distance from itself, in order that the young plant may 

 be provided with a sufficient space to get nourishment and foot- 

 hold. This is the problem which plants have to solve. Some 

 solve the problem to a very much higher degree than others. They 

 are the successful ones in the battle of life. 



Adaptations for Seed Dispersal. — Plants are fitted to scatter 

 their seeds either by having the adaptations in the fruit or in the 

 seed. Various agents, as squirrels, birds, and other animals, make 

 it possible for the seed to be taken away from the plant. 



Fleshy Fruits with Hard Seeds. — Fleshy fruits, for example, 

 are eaten by animals and the seeds passed off undigested. Most 

 wild fleshy fruits have either small, hard, indigestible seeds, or 

 else they have an unpleasant flavor. 



Birds are responsible for much seed planting of berries or other 



small fruit. Bears and other berry-feeding animals aid in this as 



well. 



Field Work. — • Examine the fruit of huckleberry, blackberry, wild straw- 

 berry, wild cherry, black haw, wild grape, tomato, currant. Report how 

 many of the above have seeds with hard coatings. Notice that in most, 

 if not in all, edible fruits the fruit remains green, sour, and inedible until the 

 seeds are ripe. In the state of nature, how might this be of use to a plant ? 



Hooks and Spines. — Some fruits possess hooks or spines which 

 enable the whole fruit to be carried by animals or other moving 

 objects away from the parent plant. Cattle are responsible for the 



