NUTS AND NUTTING. 237 



aninical. But the plant lias its own ideas ui)on tlie 

 subject, too ; or, to speak more correetly, it has 

 been provided with means of defence for itself in 

 very much the same fashion as if it were really an 

 animated being, capable of looking after its own 

 interests and protecting its young seedlings. Let 

 us look for a moment at the matter from the point 

 of view of the oak or the hazel, and consider why 

 it is necessary that their nuts should thus be pro- 

 tected from the persistent attacks of their he- 

 reditary foes. 



To us, as to the squirrels and dormice, a nut is 

 merely a nut — that is to say, a toothsome mor- 

 sel, to be husked, cracked, eaten, and, in due 

 time, properly digested, for our ow!i use cand grat- 

 ification only. But to the tree on which it grows 

 it is something far more interesting and important 

 than that. It is a seed, the predestined ancestor 

 of future generations of nuts, and the hope of the 

 species throughout all prospective ages. It has to 

 hand down all the qualities and properties of the 

 parent-stock to the young seedlings that are to 

 come after it. Now, seeds of all sorts are in per- 

 petual danger of being eaten, and so destroyed ; 

 and it is the great aim of the plant, so to speak, to 

 prevent them from suffering this ignominious 

 fate, just as it is the great aim of the parent bird 

 to keep its eggs from being devoured by snakes or 

 stolen by boys, and just as it is the great aim of 



