366 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



its action, and we have often observed them sailing through the air, 

 in pursuit of a new and distant home. It is scarcely necessary to 

 refer to the winged capsules of the maple and the ash, which, in con,- 

 nexion with the seeds, are propelled by the wind to a distance from 

 their respective trees. Nor is it necessary to say how effectually the 

 same object is secured by the winged seeds of the catalpa and pine, 

 which, in a similar way, are elevated and propelled through the air. 



Some seeds are enclosed in an inflated calyx, more resembling a 

 balloon than a sail, but equally effectual in diffusing over the globe 

 the seeds which they enclose. But the feathery crown which invests 

 the seeds of compound flowers affords a more beautiful specimen of 

 mechanism than any of these, and it is brought into operation through 

 the agency of dry air at the very moment best suited for their disper- 

 sion. Aided by this, the erigeron of Canada has travelled from 

 America to Europe, and thence it has been diffused over the eastern 

 continent. Aided also by this, the dandelion, a native of Europe, has 

 diffused itself over every part of our country ; neither impeded by the 

 broadest rivers nor intercepted by the loftiest mountains, it has already 

 passed over the Alleghany and become a tenant of the woods of Ohio. 

 The minuteness of some seeds facilitates their dispersion by the wind, 

 and it is found that those which are most minute are most extensively 

 diffused. It is chiefly on this account that mosses and ferns are more 

 widely scattered than those whose seeds are large. Swartz found in 

 Jamaica the same moss which he had been accustomed to gather 

 when climbing the mountains of Europe, and there too the same 

 ferns which he had frequently seen in France, though the other plants 

 were all new and peculiar. 



The fruit of many plants being the food of animals, they in various 

 ways scatter the seeds abroad. The squirrel fills his storehouses with 

 a stock of winter's food ; but he is either destroyed, or forgets where 

 his treasures were deposited, till they are no longer desirable food. Here 

 his nuts are permitted to germinate, and the very means which 

 threatened to destroy, are made to preserve the trees to which they 

 belong. Birds also lay up a store of food for themselves and their 

 young. While the Hollanders were in possession of the Spice Islands, 

 they endeavored to destroy the nutmegs which they could not defend; 

 and before they relinquished any of their possessions, they carefully 

 rooted out this, their most valuable production. But notwithstanding 

 the vigilance and the jealousy of the Dutch, birds disseminated the 

 seeds of the nutmeg over these very islands, evidently indicating that 

 nature will not acknowledge the improper restrictions which man 

 would make supreme. 



But more than birds and animals, more than wind and tide, man 

 contributes to the dispersion of seeds. Of this we shall be convinced, 

 as we learn the history of many well known vegetables, as we trace 

 them from one country to another, and observe in what way they have 



