52 The Tree and How it Lives 



It falls rapidly this time, and the wind has little 

 effect on it. 



So wings have been given to these seeds. 

 With them they are blown about far and wide 

 through the forest, and where there are no trees. 

 If all had fallen to the ground and remained 

 under the old tree, there would not have been 

 room for so many of them, and few of the seeds 

 would ever have grown into trees. 



Some seeds are large and heavy, far too heavy 

 for the wind to carry. The wind could never 

 carry the acorns, the hickory nuts, the chestnuts, 

 or black walnuts very far. So Nature, always 

 wise, has found another way. 



The squirrels and little chipmunks live on 

 nuts and acorns. In the fall they pick them up, 

 hiding away many of them to feed on through 

 the long winter. Sometimes these little animals 

 carry off so many nuts that they forget where 

 all of them are hidden; or perhaps they have 

 more than they can eat. In the spring, there- 

 fore, many of the nuts which the squirrels have 

 forgotten sprout and grow. It is said that three 

 out of every five nut trees have been planted 

 by the squirrels. Birds, too, are carriers of seeds; 



