146 DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS. 



small, and heavy enough to fall directly into the 

 ground when the seed-vessel opens ; so that they 

 grow without further care, nearly in the same 

 place where the parent plant flourished. If the 

 seeds are so large and light, as to be borne by the 

 wind, they are often furnished with little hooks, to 

 prevent their straying too far, till they are safely 

 lodged in the earth. Some, on the contrary, have 

 little wings, that, when they are ripe, they may be 

 carried by the wind to some distance ; lest they 

 should all fall together, and come up so thick as 

 to injure each other. The seeds of the ash and 

 maple are of this description. Other seeds are 

 scattered, not by flying about, but by being 

 spurted, or darted away, by the plant itself: those 

 of the Wood-sorrel, for instance, which has a run- 

 ning root, are thrown off in this manner ; the 

 seed-vessel being of such a construction, that when 

 it begins to dry, it bursts open, and in a moment 

 is violently turned inside out, so that the seeds are 

 scattered to a great distance. When oats are 

 ripe, the grains are thrown from the calyx with 

 such a sound, that, in passing near an oat field 

 in a fine dry day, you may hear a crackling 

 noise. 



Birds and animals also sometimes disperse the 

 seed, when the seed-vessel forms part of their food. 

 This is the case with such fruits as the cherry, the 

 sloe, and haw ; which birds carry away, till they 



