SEED-TIME AND SOWING 63 



nished with dainty air-ships. The fruit of this 

 tree is a little hard, olive-green nut, covered with 

 soft hairs. As it lies on the ground these hairs 

 suck up water like a sponge, and the moisture 

 hastens the germination of the seed. 



Baby peaches, plums, and cherries are little 

 green seed-cases, in color and texture not 

 unlike the tiny pods on the locust trees. 

 But what a change as summer advances ! Take 

 the peach: the outer part of the seed-case be- 

 comes velvety and damask-hued, the middle part 

 swells to rich, juicy lusciousness, and the in- 

 ner part becomes as hard as ivory. No less 

 wonderful is the change in the plum and the 

 cherry. In all these fruits the seed is the ker- 

 nel at their very heart. Its bitterness is an 

 added precaution against its being eaten. 



How many have seen the treasure boxes of 

 the chestnut or the chinquapin tree? So round 

 and prickly and so hard to open! Inside in a 

 soft velvety lining are the smooth shiny brown 

 seeds, or nuts, with white at the tip. Soon you 

 will be gathering the treasures in the boxes of 

 the hazelnut, walnut, and hickory nut. They 

 are enclosed in green shelly coverings. What 

 is it makes the shells open and the nuts come 

 dropping out? 



What precaution Nature has taken with the 



