A SHARP LOOKOUT. 13 



and the perpetual moisture of the ground would rot 

 or kill the germ. To beech-nuts, chestnuts, and acorns 

 the moisture of the ground and the covering of leaves, 

 seem congenial, though too much warmth and moist- 

 ure often cause the acorns to germinate prematurely. 

 I have found the ground under the oaks in Decem- 

 ber covered with nuts, all anchored to the earth by 

 purple sprouts. But the winter which follows such 

 untimely growths generally proves fatal to them. 



One must always cross-question Nature if he would 

 get at the truth, and he will not get at it then unless 

 he frames his questions with great skill. Most per- 

 sons are unreliable observers because they put only 

 leading questions, or vague questions. 



Perhaps there is nothing in the operations of 

 Nature to which we can properly apply the term 

 intelligence, yet there are many things that at first 

 sight look like it. Place a tree or plant in an unusual 

 position and it will prove itself equal to the occa- 

 sion, and behave in an unusual manner ; it will show 

 original resources ; it will seem to try intelligently to 

 master the difficulties. Up by Furlow Lake, where I 

 was camping out, a young hemlock had become es- 

 tablished upon the end of a large and partly decayed 

 log that reached many feet out into the lake. The 

 young tree was eight or nine feet high ; it had sent 

 its roots down into the log and clasped it around on 

 the outside, and had apparently discovered that there 

 was water instead of soil immediately beneath it, and 

 that its sustenance must be sought elsewhere and that 



