FEUITS AND SEEDS 147 



10. Of the wonders of seed travel I have not told 

 you one half ; but I can tell you of only one more 



11. Seeds that cannot be seen. Some of the 

 seeds we have been looking at are very small, but 

 they can all be seen with the naked eye. Now, there 

 are millions of seeds so small that they can float in 

 the air, and can be seen only with the help of a 

 microscope. It is these unseen seeds that coat an old 

 apple tree with lichen, and a damp rock with moss. 

 God has so made the world that no part of it can long 

 remain bare or ugly; and so, on the places where 

 large plants could not live, minute plants spring into 

 life. Even an old fence rail is often beautiful. 



Questions and Exercises :— 



(1) How does the native blue-bell scatter its seed? 



(2) Break open a ripe seed-ball of the plane tree and find out its 

 secret of seed-dispersal. 



(3) Which is the prettiest seed balloon you know ? Make a list 

 of some of the finest. 



(4) Collect a number of different kinds of flat or winged seeds. 



(5) Give the colours of the lichens of your district. 



(6) Mildew is caused by minute plants that grow from invisible 

 seeds that float in the air. Where do we find mildew ? 



Composition Exercise : — Tell the adventures of a dandelion 

 seed as it flew away on the wings of a high wind. 



Drawing Exercise: — (1) Draw (a) a cluster of seed-balls of the 

 plane tree ; {b) a single seed (enlarged). (2) Draw the balloon of 

 the dandelion ; (a) unbroken ; {b) a single seed (enlarged to show 

 that the seed is prickly) with its balloon. 



