NATURE LORE 



vision the party required some resources. "Yes," 

 you may say, "and to know where to send it re- 

 quired some wit." But the roots of a tree always 

 tend downward, as the branches go upward. We are 

 at the end of our tether when we say that such is 

 the rule of nature. 



The winged seeds always find their proper habi- 

 tat, as if they had eyes to see the way. The seeds of 

 the cat-tail flag find the ditches and marshes as un- 

 erringly as if they were convoyed. But this intelli- 

 gence, or self-direction, is only apparent. The wind 

 carries the seeds in all directions, and they fall every- 

 where, just as it happens, on the hills as well as in 

 the ditches, but only in the latter do they take root 

 and flourish. Nature often resorts to this wholesale 

 method. In scattering pollen and germs by the 

 aid of the wind, this is her method: cover all the 

 ground, and you will be sure to hit your mark 

 night or day. 



After one or more windy days in November I am 

 sure to find huddled in the recess of my kitchen 

 door the branching heads of a certain species of wild 

 grass that grows somewhere on the hills west of me* 

 These heads find their ways across fields and high- 

 ways, over fences, past tree and bushy barriers, 

 down my steps, into the storm-house, and lie there, 

 waiting on the doorsill like things of life, waiting to 

 get into the house. Not one season alone, but every 

 season, they come as punctually as the assessor. 

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