8 
SEED DISPERSAL. 
in the soil, at or near the close of the growing season, pull 
downward and outward large numbers of bulblets that 
form around a parent bulb of some kinds of leeks, tulips, 
star-of-bethlehem, globe hyacinth, and monkshood. The 
pull of the roots is much greater to one side than down- 
ward, because most of the longest roots extend sidewise. 
Marilaun reports that a certain lawn in Vienna was mown 
so frequently that tulips could not go to seed, but after 
twenty years, from a very few bulbs planted near each 
other, a space twenty paces in diameter was well covered 
by tulips. And this is one way tulips travel, slow and 
sure. 
5. Roots hold plants erect like ropes to a mast. — Did 
you ever lift vines of cucumbers, squashes, and the like, 
where they had rooted at the joints, and observe how 
forlorn they looked after the operation, with leaves tipped 
over, unable to remain erect ? While growing, the stem 
zigzags or winds about more or less, and thus enables it 
to hold the leaves erect; besides, the tendrils catch on to 
weeds and curl up tight, and the roots at the joints are 
drawn taut on each side after the manner mentioned 
above, and act like ropes to a mast to hold the stem in its 
place, and thus help to hold the leaf above erect.. 
6. How oaks creep about and multiply. — Oaks come 
from acorns ; everybody knows that. The nuts are pro- 
duced in abundance, and those of the white oak send out 
pretty good tap roots on the same year they fall. Some 
of the nuts roll down the knoll or are carried about by 
