252 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



There is often a depth of several feet of muck and 

 peat below and if one investigates he will find that 

 very few roots occupy it. So, then, there is no 

 lack of space beneath the surface and the "crowd- 

 ed out " theory fails. Without a doubt they come 

 to the top of the mud "voluntarily" and into the 

 air to absorb oxygen, as the soil of swamps is almost 

 destitute of that prime necessity. Often these 

 roots are sent up to a height of several inches and 

 then folded back so that the returning growth is 

 in contact with the ascending, thus forming a 

 perfect loop. These loops seem to explain the 

 growth of the curious cypress knees which in 

 ancestral forms doubtless grew in the same way 

 but have now been further modified by consolida- 

 tion into one united growth. 



It seems to me that there is a soul throughout 

 nature, that the animals, and I like to believe, 

 the plants, to a certain extent, think, something 

 in the same manner that human beings do. Howe 

 invents the sewing machine, Bell the telephone, 

 McCormick the reaper all devices to perform some 

 service for the benefit of man. A palm sends its 

 growing stem deep into the earth and buries its 

 vitals to protect them from fire; the mangrove 



