CHAPTER VII. 
PLANTS THAT ARE CARRIED BY ANIMALS. 
With the frosts of autumn ripe acorns, beechnuts, bit- 
ternuts, butternuts, chestnuts, hickory nuts, hazelnuts, and 
walnuts are severed from the parent bush or tree and fall 
to the ground among the leaves. 
37. Squirrels leave nuts in queer places and plant some of 
them. — Even before the arrival of frosts many of these 
are dropped by the aid of squirrels, gray and red, which 
cut the stems with their teeth. The leaves, with the help 
of the shifting winds, gently cover the fruit, or some 
portions of it, and make the best kind of protection from 
dry air and severe cold ; and they come just in the nick 
of time. Dame Nature is generous. She produces an 
abundance ; enough to seed the earth and enough to feed 
the squirrels, birds, and some other animals. The squirrels 
eat many nuts, but I have seen them carry a portion for 
some distance in several directions, and plant one or two 
or three in a place, covering them well with soil. It 
may be the thought of the squirrel — I cannot read his 
thoughts — to return at some future time of need, as he 
often does. But in some cases he forgets the locality, or 
does not return because he has stored up more than he 
needs ; or in some cases the squirrels leave that locality 
