630  Empirical  Fallacies  (And  Others) .     j Amsep°tur"  1921s rm' 
Search  the  woodland.  No  morel  is  likely  to  be  found  until  the  ash 
tree  is  reached,  and  here  it  may  thickly  stud  the  leaf  mould.  Within 
a  radius  of  one  hundred  feet  about  an  ash  tree  this  writer 
has  gathered  a  basket  of  morels,  and  in  the  entire  woodland,  ex- 
cepting where  grew  an  ash  tree,  has  found  no  morel.  The  yellow 
poplar  (Liriodendron  Tulipfera)  also  sometimes  serves  to  a  lesser 
degree  as  a  culturing  shade  host  of  the  morel.  Empirical  reasoning 
would  say  that  some  influence  of  the  ash  tree  favors  the  growth  of 
the  morel.  Other  reasoning  might  intimate  that  in  times  gone  by  the 
seed  of  the  ash  tree  sprouted  in  a  bed  of  morels,  the  progeny  of 
which  still  lingers.  The  man  of  science  says  frankly,  "I  don't 
know,"  but  with  open  mind  he  perhaps  accepts  that  the  root  of  the 
ash  tree  infects  the  soil  with  an  unknown  "something,"  be  it  bacteria 
or  secretion,  that  favors  the  morel's  growth. 
Catalpa  and  Raspberry. — When  blooms  the  catalpa  tree  by  the 
wayside,  the  black  raspberry  ripens  in  the  field  and  thicket.  Ob- 
serving this,  the  empiricist  might  say,  ''The  blooming  catalpa  is  the 
cause  of  the  raspberry's  ripening."  Another  may  as  rationally  differ 
and  argue  that  ripening  raspberries  bring  the  blossom  to  the  catalpa. 
Judging  by  facts  only,  empiricism  might  thus  neglect  the  heat  and 
light  cause  that  both  ripens  the  raspberry  and  brings  the  bloom  to 
the  catalpa.    The  parellel  might  be  extended  indefinitely. 
The  Black  Beech. — When  start  the  leaves  of  the  "Black  Beech," 
red,  even  to  crimson,  dominates.  As  the  season  progresses  the  leaves 
darken  and  at  last  become  black.  Reasoning  from  observed  facts, 
the  empiricist  might  argue  that  a  black  coloring  matter  had  been 
deposited  in  the  leaf  from  which  the  red  had  faded.  Comes  the 
thoughtful  investigation  of  the  man  of  science.  Lo,  the  black  results 
from  a  combination  of  red  and  green  chlorophyll,  which  in  proper 
proportion  makes  the  black  pigment  of  the  matured  leaf  of  the  beech. 
Passes  further  the  scientific  investigator,  who  shows  that  vegetable 
green  is  a  mixture  of  blue  and  yellow.  Did  not  very  primitive  peo- 
ple make  shades  of  green  by  such  admixtures?  Thus  yellow,  blue 
and  red  makes  black  to  pigment  the  leaf. 
Clover  Fertilizer. — These  many  years  ago,  observing  farmers 
decided  that  red  clover,  raised  on  poor  ground,  then  plowed  under, 
enriched  the  earth  even  to  fertilization  sufficient  for  a  subsequent 
