HOW PLANTS LIVE TOGETHER 



Of all the millions and millions of seeds which 

 settle down into the ground every autumn, how many 

 do you suppose come up? All of them? Oh, no. 

 There never would be room for them all. What 

 would become of our orchards if every seed in every 

 apple which a large apple tree bore should grow into 

 an apple tree itself? We should have an apple forest 

 and that would never do, for an apple tree could not 

 bear fruit if it were crowded like a forest tree, and 

 had to grow tall and slender without its spreading 

 branches. Do you not know how few chestnuts you 

 find on a chestnut tree that is crowded among other 

 trees in the woods? 



No, the earth has not room for all the seeds to grow, 

 but she sows plenty so she may be sure to have 

 enough plants. Indeed, .she must always provide for 

 more than enough. So she scatters her seeds broad- 

 cast over the ground, and as many as can, come up. 

 Many of the others just sleep a little longer and wait 

 their time. 



Have you not seen blueberry bushes growing in a 

 wood that had been cut down or burned over? 

 Where did they come from? There were no blue- 

 berry bushes there before. Did the birds drop seeds 

 enough throughout the wood to make all those blue- 

 berry bushes? Or were there some blueberries grow- 



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