A SHARP LOOKOUT 11 



readily, and of course lend their wings to scatter 

 the seed far and wide. The same is true of juni- 

 per-berries, and the fruit of the bitter-sweet. 



In certain other cases where the fruit tends to 

 hang on during the winter, as with the bladder-nut 

 and the honey-locust, it is probably because the 

 frost and the perpetual moisture of the ground 

 would rot or kill the germ. To beechnuts, chest- 

 nuts, and acorns the moisture of the ground and 

 the covering of leaves seem congenial, though too 

 much warmth and moisture often cause the acorns 

 to germinate prematurely. I have found the ground 

 under the oaks in December covered with nuts, all 

 anchored to the earth by purple sprouts. But the 

 winter which follows such untimely growths gener- 

 ally 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 persons 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 occasion, and behave in an unusual manner; it 

 will show original resources; it will seem to try 

 intelligently to master the difficulties. Up by Pur- 

 low Lake, where I was camping out, a young hem- 

 lock had become established upon the end of a 



