164 
THE WITCH HAZEL 
many places. The strong, woody pods from last year's 
flowers mature beside the new flowers and soon they 
noisily open to eject small, nutlike seeds. This 
fusilade can be enjoyed beside the fire by placing a 
spray loaded with mature pods in a warm place. In 
a few minutes they will begin to pop open and eject 
the nutlets in all directions, sometimes with surpris- 
ing force. But in the silence of the autumn woods, in 
the listening hush of falling leaves, this strange 
reproductive effort seems most impressive. When 
every tree and shrub seems saddened into silence by 
the slowly-dying year, when the withered leaves give 
back the strength and richness they borrowed from 
the earth, when the air is still with the moist chill of 
approaching winter, the snapping of a Witch Hazel 
pod, sending the twin seeds on their mission with 
the mystery of life, is a gladdening reminder of the 
perpetual activity that brings new life out of the 
year's decay. 
