482 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



remainder; but the art seems to have been lost with the passing of the 

 pioneers of the Daniel Boone type, and the wild cucumber now hangs 

 untouched, and tempts nobody. It is three inches or less in length, 

 generally slightly curved, and is green in color until fully ripe. Even the 

 flowers which produce the fruit are green, with the merest suggestion of 

 yellow. They are so inconspicuous that few persons ever notice them, 

 even though cucumber trees stand in door yards. The ripe cucumbers 

 are dark red or scarlet, or rather the seeds are, which grow on the surface 

 like grains of corn on a cob, though fewer in number and farther apart. 

 Something seems to be lacking in the machinery by which the flowers 

 are fertilized, with the result that often nearly half the seeds which ought 

 to cover the surface of the cucumber, fail to materialize. There are 

 many blank spaces representing flowers which the pollen missed. 



There is likewise something missing in the modus operandi of 

 scattering the seeds. They have no wings, and the wind is powerless to 

 carry them. They are as bitter as quinine and no bird, squirrel, or 

 mouse will plant, carry, or touch them. Nature appears to have for- 

 gotten to provide any other means for dispersing the seeds of this re- 

 markable tree. When seeds are fully ripe, they drop away from the 

 parent fruit the cucumber but the fall of each seed is arrested by a 

 small thread which suspends it from one to three inches below the fruit. 

 There the seeds hang, swinging and dangling in the wind. What part the 

 threads play in the economy of nature is not apparent, unless their 

 purpose is to expose the seeds to a chance of becoming entangled with 

 the wings, feet, or feathers of flying birds, whereby they may be carried 

 away and dropped in suitable places for growing. There can be no 

 doubt that this happens occasionally, and constitutes one of the methods 

 of seed dispersal. Others are transported by flowing water. 



The chances seem to be greatly against the survival of the cucumber 

 tree in competition with maples, birches, pines, and cottonwoods, whose 

 winged seeds are wind-borne; or with oaks, hickories, and walnuts 

 whose heavy, wingless nuts are planted hither and thither by accommo- 

 dating squirrels which are intent only on providing for their own winter 

 wants, but in reality are industrious and effective forest planters. Not- 

 withstanding the disadvantages under which the cucumber tree is placed, 

 it has managed to hold its ground in the forest during immense periods 

 of time, and it seems to be as firmly established now as eVer. 



The leaves of this tree are from seven to ten inches long, and four 

 to six wide. In autumn before they fall they turn a blotched yellow- 

 brown color. The first severe frost brings them all down in a heap. 

 At sunset the tree may be laden with leaves, and by the next noon all 

 will be on the ground. They are so heavy that the wind does not move 



