MOSSES 



IT seems as if nature filled up all her vacant spaces 

 with tiny flowerless plants. Where nothing else can 

 grow, these find a home and make the earth more beau- 

 tiful. Of all these plants the mosses are the loveliest, 

 but they are not showy. Did you ever notice their 

 delicate coloring, their variety of form, and their fine, 

 lacelike leaves? The careless passer-by sees nothing of 

 their real beauty. But Ruskin, who loved them, said : 

 "No words that I know of will say what these mosses 

 are. None are delicate enough, none perfect enough, 

 none rich enough." 



Ferns and flowering plants require soil for their 

 roots, but mosses thrive where there is but little. Some 

 grow upon the ground ; but many like best the rocks or 

 trunks of trees. Others grow on decayed wood, 

 stumps, or fallen trees. Ponds and small streams, too, 

 have their share, for many of them are water lovers. 

 Indeed, mosses are hardly absent from any place except 

 salt water. 



In the arctic regions where there is little plant life, 

 they carpet the ground, giving a beautiful greenness to 

 the mountains and valleys. On the hot plains of Africa 



91 



