BY THE RIVERSIDE. 109 



in some sense still alive. After two thousand 

 years buried seeds have germinated and grown. 

 On our own forest lands, when the old growth 

 is burnt over, a new one of a different character 

 springs up. They are from seeds deep buried 

 in the mould, where the fire did not reach them. 

 Wild cherries are common in such second 

 growths ; the seeds have been dropped by birds 

 that had eaten the fruit and just here let us 

 say that all the eatable part of the cherries was 

 Nature's plan to get the seeds cast abroad. By 

 this means the birds are made to do her work ; 

 she offers the palatable juicy pulp to the birds 

 that swallow it and then cany the seed away. 

 Thus with all fruits and berries, they were not 

 produced by the trees and shrubs that grew on 

 this earth before birds appeared. There were 

 no birds when the great forests grew through 

 millions of years that furnished the material 

 for coal mines. Birds and berries came along 

 together in the order of creation, as we read 

 from the fossil history of once living forms. 

 The first true seeds were naked seeds. Nature 

 never exactly repeats herself the thing " that 

 hath been " will never exactly be again ; so there 

 must be immense variety ; and some seeds will 

 have a covering worth eating, and if they do 

 hungry birds will try their qualities; it will be 



