126 THE ROMANCE OF EVERIFARM 



in order to have a balanced ration he would need 

 some of Farmer Johnson's fresh eggs, that he knew 

 to be in the nests of the little white chicken-house 

 just at the edge of the apple orchard; so Bobby- 

 started off across the bottoms of the little valley, 

 through which the stream flowed. He soon came to 

 a wire fence enclosing a field of alfalfa, and as he 

 crawled through between the wires the cockle burr 

 that was still on Bobby's front leg was pulled off 

 and dropped to the ground, where he soon settled 

 himself in a comfortable position with the other weed 

 seeds that were lying on the ground. 



Thus were the burrs of the plant in Fanner Care- 

 less's field scattered over many miles and many 

 farms, using many different methods of transporta- 

 tion. Winter came on. Spring with its warm rains 

 washed the burrs into the soil and in a short time 

 one of the two seeds of each burr germinated and 

 started again the reproduction program. Only one 

 of the seeds of each burr germinated this year, as na- 

 ture has provided that both seeds shall not grow the 

 same year. However, the other seed would ger- 

 minate the following year, thus insuring the con- 

 tinuation of the plant. Of course all the burrs in 

 the tail and fetlocks of Big Dick were scattered all 

 over the farm of Farmer Careless, as were those 



