Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1903, by Forest and Strkam Pubushikg Co. 
Terms, 
4 A Year. J) Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, S2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1902 
( VOL. LIX.-N0. 21. 
1 No. 846 Broadway, New York. 
HOW PLANTS TRAVEL. 
One of the things which constantly impresses the ob- 
servant outdoor person at this season of the year is the 
enormous abundance of the fruit of various plants. The 
season for cultivating the ground is long past, and weeds 
of all descriptions run riot in ripening luxuriance. They 
grow in thick clusters, or widely extended beds, or in 
single plants in the pastures, along the fences, in the 
edge of the woods and on the rocky knolls that rise above 
the meadow, and each weed, it would seem, produces a 
thousand seeds. If one walks through the border of the 
swamp his trousers are coatgd with burrs, or with 
stickers and prickers of oneTcind and another, that are 
Groat BritalnT«S. I ; laborious process of 
I.. j_ , one. -.-ijone strikes his stick or 
his gun barrel among # growth of weed stalks, the seeds 
rain down noisily on the drying leaves. 
The farmer toils hard to protect his crops from their 
many enemies, but no one takes care of the weeds. These 
plants out of place are competent to stand up for them- 
selves. They need help from no man. In spite of the 
war continually waged against them with plow and hoe 
and cultivator, and in spite of the help given the farmer 
at this season of the year by the horde of sparrows and 
other seed-eating birds which feed upon the seeds, the 
weeds flourish and increase. It has been said of some 
of them that they produce so astonishing a number of 
seeds that a single plant may mature one hundred thou- 
sand seeds in a season, and if unchecked would pro- 
duce in the spring of the third year ten billion plants, but 
a piant would destroy its own offspring, unless there were 
some way of distributing its seeds, for plant would crowd 
on plr\nt iintil at last there would survive only a very few 
of the strongest. 
If the abundance of these seeds impresses us, we must 
be impressed also by the risk to which each seed is ex- 
posed — the danger that it will fall in some situation 
where it is impossible that it should sprout. 
Nature has provided a variety of means for the scat- 
tering of plant seeds over the earth, and beside the dis- 
persion of plants by seeds, there are other methods by 
which plants travel. These methods are very well known, 
and in a very brief pamphlet recently published by Mr. 
Clarence Moores Weed, they are concisely enumerated. 
Some plants travel by means of the stem. They may 
thrust this stem through the ground close to the surface 
of the soil, as does the red raspberry of our gardens, or 
they may push their stems along the ground just above 
the surface, as the strawberry and many other plants 
send out runners. Or again, the stem may rise above the 
ground, and then bend down to meet it and take root for 
a new plant, as does the black raspberry. One would 
hardly think of the willow tree as a stem traveler, yet it 
is one. If a willow branch be broken from the parent 
tree and thrust into moist earth, it will take root and 
grow. Now the stems of many willows are brittle and 
snap off easily in the wind, so that after a severe storm 
the ground is often covered with them. Such twigs may 
be carried down stream by flowing water, or may be 
blown across the ice of a pond or for considerable dis- 
tances over the smooth surface of snow. In either case 
if the traveler comes to rest in a suitable situation it 
may take root and start a new tree. 
One of the most familiar plants of the country is the 
jewel weed, whose orange flowers, often dotted with dark 
brown, overhang the brooks. The ripened seed pods of 
this weed when touched burst open with a snap that often 
throws the inclosed seeds several feet. From this the 
plant has been called "touch-me-not." Similar methods 
of seed dispersal are found in the witch hazel and in 
various tropical plants. 
But, after all, the wind is the agency which more than 
anything else scatters seed abroad far from the parent 
plant. The silky tufts of the milk weed, the down of the 
thistle, the winged seeds of the maple and ash, and other 
trees, and the plumose fruit of the aster and many other 
similar plants are lifted by the wind and scattered far 
and wide. 
There are other seeds which break off just below the 
seed head, or even just above the root, and which are 
rolled over and over by the wind, ''making long journeys, 
until at last they meet some obstacle which they cannot 
pass. An example of these is found in the familiar 
tumble weeds of our Western prairies. 
We have seen bow the water carrier along the twigs of 
the willow tree, and it is certain that it will not disdain 
to transport the seeds of any plant which fall into it if 
they are light enough to float. Some seeds possess small 
air chambers which enable them to float for a long time. 
If the elements are at work all through the season of 
fruitage, scattering the seeds of plants over the earth, liv- 
ing creatures are also most important agents in distribut- 
ing plant life. Birds carry the seeds, far and near, and 
drop them in places which favor their sprouting. Ducks 
and herons pick up the seeds of water plants on their 
plumage or legs or bills and carry them to the next stream 
or pond which they visit; fruit-eating birds devour ber- 
ries and as their seeds are too hard to be digested, these 
pass through the alimentary canal or may be disgorged 
through the mouth. 
All the great family of burdocks, Spanish needles and 
many other plants are provided with hooks or spines by 
which they attach themselves to the fur or wool of ani- 
mals, and so are transported from place to place. Some 
flat seeds seem provided with a gummy secretion, which 
enables them to cling closely to a ver^ smooth surface. 
Wittingly or by chance, man contributes his share to 
the distribution of seeds. Beside carrying the seeds of 
useful and beautiful plants from point to point, he sends 
the seeds of others which are noxious far and wide with- 
out meaning to do so. Many well-known plants of 
Europe are now almost as familiar here as there, even 
though they have been introduced for a comparatively 
short time. 
IVILLL4M K. MOODY. 
In another column is reported the death of William K. 
Mood}^ v.'hose Boston correspondence over the familiar 
signature of Special had for years been a feature of the 
Forest and Stream. Mr. Moody has a very wide ac- 
quaintance among sportsmen, and the news of his death 
will bring to many a heart unaffected sorrow. The char- 
acteristics of the man. which could not fail to impress 
themselves upon all who came in contact with him, were 
the open simplicity of his nature and his rugged honesty. 
It was good to know him. To talk with him and to be in- 
iected with his spirit was refreshing and stimulating. Mr. 
Moody was a native of Maine; he was ever loyal to the 
State of his birth, and was deeply interested in its game 
and fish and their preservation. His pen and his voice, 
his influence and his friendship will be missed. 
THE COLD STORAGE CASE. 
Every sportsman and every intelligent citizen as well 
will be interested in the session of the Court of Appeals 
which began at Albany on Monday, the loth instant. The 
calendar made up for this session contains as case No. 34o 
the famous cold storage litigation, technically known as 
the case of the People of the State of New York against 
Jacob V. Bootman and Howard R. Robinson. This is the 
case brought by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of 
the State against the Arctic Freezer Company for the al- 
leged posession of a vast amount of game during the close 
season. The State has retained the well-known law firm 
of Black. Olcott. Gruber and Bonynge, of this city, to 
represent the People, and the accused cold storage firm 
is represented by Julius Offenbach and Louis Marshall. 
The court records show that the action was begun hy 
the service of a summons and complaint on Aug. i8, IQOI. 
The order on which this action was begun was made by 
the chief protector on July 6. iQOi. 
.An amended complaint was afterward filed by the at- 
torneys for the State, basing the cause of action on nine- 
teen separate and distinct counts for unlawfully and know- 
ingly possessing game out of season, as follows: (i) 496 
srrou«e and 236 quail, entailine a nenalty of $i8..l6o: (2) 
371 grouse and 741 auail. penalty $27,860; (3) 49i grouse 
and 37 quail, penalty $i.3,?6o; (a) q6 woodcock. 1,168 
grouse, i.o.^o auail. penaltv $.=;7.4io: ($) t.?6.^ grouse, 42S 
ouail oenalty $47,260; (6) .'^.04Q grouse, quail, nen- 
altv $84.22';; (7) 422 grouse. 1,048 quail, penalty $.?6,8io: 
(8) 4 ducks, penalty $r6o: fo) 441 ducks, penaltv $11.08=; : 
(10) 432 ducks, penalty $10,860: di) 400 dttcks, penalty 
$10,060; (12) 338 ducks, penalty $Q.0T0 ; (13) 141 ducks, 
penalty $3,585 ; (14) 808 plover, penalty $20,260 ; (15) 876 
English snipe, 602 plover, 1,416 snow buntines, 96 snipe, 
penalty $74,810 ; (16) 288 reed birds. 3,630 plover, 1,152 
snow buntings, penalty $126,935: (17) i.3,36 snipe, 3,168 
sandpipers, penalty $112,660; (18) 720 reed birds, 5,760 
snow buntings, 1,439 sandpipers, 488 yellow legs, 150 
plover, penalty $217,085; (19) 3,658 plover, 3,000 sand- 
pipers, 4,800 snipe, 300 yellow legs, penalty $294,110. 
Judgment is demanded on the several counts against the 
defendant in the sum of $1,168,315 and costs. 
The attorney for the accused demurred on the ground 
that the complaint did not state a cause of action, and 
also that the court had no jurisdiction. The case was 
tried before Mr. Justice O'Gorman in the Supreme Court 
of New York County, who held in favor of the accused 
on the counts from 14 to 19 inclusive on the ground that 
Sections 30 and 33 of the game law could not be recon- 
ciled. This, if sustained, released the plover, snow bunt- 
ing, reed birds and snipe as factors in the case. He de- 
cided also that the game law extends over the entire State ; 
that an offender against the law is liable both criminally 
and civilly, and that possession during the forbidden sea- 
son is prima facie evidence of violation of the law. Both 
the State and the defendant thereupon appealed to the 
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, which affirmed 
Justice O'Gorinan's decision. An appeal was then taken 
by both parties to the Court of ^Appeals ; the attorneys for 
the People against the findings of the Court as to the in- 
terpretation of Sections 30 and 33, and the attorneys for 
the accused against those portions of the decision which 
found the cold storage company guilty of violations of the 
law. This case was watched with great interest by sports- 
men as well as by the cold storage companies and by in- 
telligent citizens generally. 
In the brief now on file with the clerk of the Court of 
Appeals, the lower court certifies that the questions of 
law involved are as follows: 
1. Do counts I to 13 inclusive constitute a sufficient 
cause of action? 
2. Is the plaintiff entitled to maintain a civil action to 
recover penalties under Section 39 of the Fish and Game 
Law for a violation of any of the provisions of Article 2 
Df the statute of which it is a part ? 
3. Is the complaint defective in not alleging that the 
various birds were taken in the State of New York? 
4. Are sufficient facts to form a cause of action stated in 
counts 14 to 19 inclusive. 
5. Can the defendants be made liable under Section 33 
of the Fish and Game Law as amended by Chapter 91 of 
the laws of 1901 and Section 39 of said act. 
The attorney for the People is under express instruc- 
tions from the Commission, and has been so from the start, 
to urge this case to a conclusion with all the speed com- 
mensurate with the dignity' of the courts. 
The facts herein stated can easily be verified by any in- 
terested person from the court records on file in New 
York City in the oflice of either of the firms mentioned. 
A RECORD OF THE MISSOURL 
The Forest and Stream of Nov. i contained an ar- 
ticle and illustration of a stone picked up near the mouth 
of the Heart River in North Dakota, engraved with a 
number of names and the date 1849. At this time the 
Territory was without white inhabitants, except the trap- 
pers and traders who occupied the occasional posts 
of the American Fur Co., which were scattered along the 
Missouri River and at other points in what was then 
known as the Far West. In that account we asked, 
"Who were the men who carved their names on this im- 
perishable register?" "Can any of our readers help to 
read the story told by this stone?" 
This week's Forest and Stream contains an answer 
to these two questions in the form of a letter from Mr. 
'theo. Louis, who, 50 years ago, was in the employ of the 
American Fur Co., and traveled far and wide over the 
western plains then ranged over only by wild beasts 
and still wilder men. 
The discovery through the account in Forest and 
Stream, of a man who knew one of the travelers whose 
names are engraved on this stone, is hardly less interest- 
ing than the discovery of the stone itself. It shows — -as 
has often been shoAvn before in most curious fashion — 
the far reaching influence of Forest and Stream, the 
wide circle which it covers and the deep interest felt by 
all its readers in the subjects of which the paper treats. 
All our readers will feel grateful to Mr. W. D. Hoard, 
of Ft. Atkinson, Wis., and Mr. Theo. Louis, one of the 
few surviving Qld-timers of the West, 
