Fruits and Seeds 3 



stifle one another when they begin to grow, and 

 Nature, the first sower of all, has taken various 

 means to insure the wide scattering of her seeds. 



Nature uses the winds as sowers. Winged seeds 

 are borne by the birch and catalpa, as well as by 

 the pines and many of their kin; while the ash, 

 ailanthus, elm (Fig. i), alder, and tulip tree 

 grow up from winged fruits, wind sown. The 



A |B 



Fig. J. A, Winged fruit of elm; B, Winged twin-fruits of maple. 



maple babies, too, are carried away from the 

 mother branch in little airships ( Fig. i ) . 



The wings which bear the ash tree's offspring 

 to new homes are papery and opaque. Those 

 which fly with their precious freight from the 

 boughs of elms and maples are, like the wings of 

 katydids, veined and gauzy. Some .of the wan- 

 derers, going by on autumn winds, are seeds in- 

 deed, and some are what an exact botanist would 

 call " fruits " ; for " fruit," to a botanist, means 

 what develops after the flower. It may be pleas- 

 ant to the eyes and good for food, or it may be 



