272 Seed-Carriers 



Turkeys are employed to prepare the haws when 

 hawthorn hedges are wanted, in some parts of France ; 

 for the bony cores are quite indigestible, and are 

 softened by being swallowed. Blackbirds, jays, and 

 others keep the haws in their crops for a time, and 

 then bring up the seeds clean and whole, with the thin 

 covering of flesh gone ; and no doubt they are respon- 

 sible for the planting of many a thorn-tree. 



Some trees seem to be entirely dependent upon 

 birds for getting their seeds scattered, and cannot 

 spread without them. The red cedar is apparently one 

 of these; for, though introduced into Indiana nearly 

 fifty years ago, it did not run wild, and was not to be 

 found in the forest, until some of the birds became 

 sufficiently familiar with it to venture to eat the seeds. 

 During the last few years numbers of young saplings 

 have made their appearance, and it is likely to be one 

 of the forest-trees of the future. The seeds of the red 

 cedar have so hard an outer covering that gardeners 

 find it well to scald them before planting ; and it is 

 therefore, no doubt, a great advantage to them to be 

 swallowed. 



How, except by being swallowed by birds, does the 

 mountain-ash berry get conveyed to the top of high 

 walls, where young trees may sometimes be seen 

 growing ? How, save in this way, does the mistletoe 

 reach the top of the oak ? or how do the wild-rose and 

 privet find their way to the walls of Cologne Cathedral ? 

 The reader may possibly be inclined to add another 

 ' how ' to the series, and ask how, when they get there, 

 do they manage to find soil to germinate and grow in ? 

 But, as already remarked, a very little soil is enough 

 for seeds to sprout in ; and tb's, in the case of build- 



