SEED-TIME AND SOWING 6$ 



Some of our most troublesome weeds have 

 burr seed boxes. We never find such boxes on 

 the trees. Why? One of our little friends sug- 

 gests that the trees are too honorable for such 

 methods! No doubt they are. But the real 

 reason is probably because they depend chiefly 

 on the wind as the sower. They must fashion 

 seeds which he can scatter with ease. So 

 winged seeds are borne by the birch, maple, 

 pine, ash, elm, elder, and a host of others. The 

 willows and poplars fling swarms of plumed 

 seeds to the breeze. The sycamore seed has a 

 little furled sail. The sweet gum tree sways 

 little balls of woody, pointed pods, which snap 

 open in the wind. The little flat, triangular 

 seedSv of the magnolia hang by threads from 

 their opened pods. 



The majority of trees ripen their seeds from 

 September to November. Most of these seeds 

 lie buried in the grass and leaves until the fol- 

 lowing spring, or possibly until a season later, 

 before they begin to sprout. Nearly all trees 

 have their off years in producing fruit. Forest 

 trees, like orchard trees, are apt to "slacken 

 their efforts every other summer." Trees in 

 the open always bear more freely than those in 

 clumps and groves. Why? What becomes of 

 the vast quantities of seed which ripen every 



