CHAPTER IX 



FIVE LINKS TO THE CHAIN 

 I. The Prodigality of Nature 



At ten o'clock this morning I sat on the veranda and 

 watched flying objects that traveled through the air ready for 

 planting and for growing. Dandelion seeds, by scores and by 



hundreds, sailed across my 

 vision like small parachutes 

 bearing a precious burden. 

 Maple seeds, thousands upon 

 thousands of them, whirred 

 by in zigzag fashion, steered 

 without hands, guided by 

 their delicate paddle rudders. 

 They too bore their treasure 

 of life and were ready for 

 growing. Elm-tree seeds 

 by the hundred thousand 

 showered down like brown 

 snowflakes in the sunshine, 

 and rolled over each other as if in a panic of haste to find 

 a lodging place for the elm trees of the next generation. 1 



As I watched all this I thought about the wasteful extrava- 

 gance of nature. At the same time I stepped out to do some 

 counting. Within one square inch of space I found twenty-five 



1 These different kinds of seeds are not all in their prime at the same 

 time, but in Ohio their seasons overlap each other. 



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Dandelion Seeds ready for 

 Flight 



