UC-NRLF

SDDCAIIOH UBB;

READER IN BOTANY

L

FROM SEED re LEAF.

SELECTED AND ADAPTED FROM WELL-
KNOWN AUTHORS,

BY

JANE H. NEWELL,

BOSTON, U.S.A. :

GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.

I895.

EDUCATION

COPYRIGHT, 1889.
Bv JANE H. NEWELL.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. GUSHING & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A.
PRESSWORK BY GINN & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A.

A)4-

v. l

EDUC,

PREFACE.

THE purpose of this book is to supply a course
of reading calculated to awaken the interest of the
pupil in the study of the life and habits of plants.
It is not to be judged as a complete work in itself,
but as a series of articles bearing on the subjects
of the lessons described in " Outlines of Lessons in
Botany." 1

Four of the articles, Nos. II., III., XIII., and XV.,
have been written especially for this Reader. Three
articles are translated from " Pflanzenleben," 2 and two
others owe much of their matter to the same book,
which is a very charming popular account of the most
recent discoveries in the physiology of plants. The
other chapters are from various sources.

Sachs' "Lectures on the Physiology of Plants"3 has
supplied several interesting notes, and is an invalu-
able work to the teacher who wishes to become more
acquainted with this fascinating new field of study.

1 " Outlines of Lessons in Botany." By Jane H. Newell. Boston :
Ginn & Co. 1889.

2 " Pflanzenleben." By Anton Kerner von Marilaun. Leipzig. 1888.

3 "Lectures on the Physiology of Plants." By Julius von Sachs.
Translated by H. Marshall Ward. Oxford, 1887.

M75O3O3

CONTENTS.

PAGE

I. ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS 1

Extracts from CHARLES DARWIN and ALPH. DE CAN-
DOLLE.

II. THE COTTON PLANT 12

NINA MOORE.

III. SEED-FOOD 24

FREDERICK LEROY SARGENT.

IV. MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS 34

Extracts from CHARLES DARWIN.

V. THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA 50

From the French of JOSEPH XAVIER SAINTINE.

VI. ROOT AND CROWN. Relative Position of Leaves and

Rootlets 60

From the German of A. KERNKR VON MARILAUN. " Pflan-
zenleben."

VII. TREES IN WINTER 72

VIII. YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES ........ 84

From the German. " Pflanzenleben.';

IX. LEAF-ARRANGEMENT 96

SIR JOHN LUBBOCK. From "Flowers, Fruits, and
Leaves."

X. CLIMBING PLANTS 115

Extracts from CHARLES DARWIN.

XI. PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE FROM THE

ATTACKS OF ANIMALS 134

From the German. " Pflanzenleben."

vi CONTENTS.

PAGE

XII. TRANSPIRATION 149

XIII. USES OF FORESTS AND OTHER PLANT COVERING OF

THE EARTH 160

N. S. SHALER.

XIV. PARASITIC PLANTS 172

XV. INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS 187

MARY TREAT.

A READER IN BOTANY.

ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.

ALL our food comes through plants. They are
the link between the animal and mineral king-
doms. They are able to take from the earth and
the air the inorganic substances they require, and
to build them into organized material on which
animals can live. Directly, through the use of
the plants themselves, and indirectly, through
animals which have been nourished by plants, we
get all our food through the vegetable kingdom.

Many of our fine varieties of garden vegetables
and flowers have been produced in the following
way: —

The gardener sows seed of his best plants, and
selects from the offspring those which best show
the characters he wishes to increase. From the
offspring of these he again selects the best, and so

2 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.

on, through many generations, till the fine color,
or sweet taste, or great size, he has been working
towards, becomes perfected. Then these improved
plants can be multiplied by grafts, buds, or cuttings,
which usually transmit the exact qualities of the
parent, until the variety is well established.
The seedlings of a plant have a tendency to inherit
the characteristics of the parents, and also to vary
somewhat. By selecting, through a long series of
generations, individuals tending towards a certain
desired character, and allowing the less desirable
to perish, distinct varieties are produced. In this,
man has unconsciously followed the process of
Nature herself, who through long ages has been
improving her work by suffering her weaker and
poorer children to perish, through their lack of
power to compete with those better suited to their
surroundings. The latter survive and hand down
their qualities to their offspring, whose descend-
ants in their turn, best adapted to take advantage
of their opportunities, usurp the room, which is
not wide enough for all.

With animals the process is the same. The
wonderful speed of the trotter, the pointing of
the hunting-dog, the direct flight of the carrier-
pigeon towards home, are all instincts that have

ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 6

been developed by man by the same process of
selection. Darwin l says : —

"From a remote period, in all parts of the
world, man has subjected many animals and plants
to domestication or culture. Man has no power
of altering the absolute conditions of life ; he can-
not change the climate of any country; he adds
no new element to the soil ; but he can remove an
animal or plant from one climate or soil to an-
other, and give it food on which it did not subsist
in a natural state. . . . Although man does not
cause variability and cannot even prevent it, he
can select, preserve, and accumulate the variations
given to him by the hand of nature, in any way
that he chooses ; and thus he can certainly pro-
duce a great result. Selection may be followed
either methodically and intentionally, or uncon-
sciously and unintentionally. Man may select and
preserve each successive variation with the distinct
intention of improving and altering a breed, in
accordance with a preconceived idea ; and by thus
adding up variations, often so slight as to be im-
perceptible to an uneducated eye, he has effected
wonderful changes and improvements. It can

1 " The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication." By
Charles Darwin. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 1887. Vol. I. p. 2.

4 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.

also be clearly shown that man, without any
intention or thought of improving the breed, by
preserving in each successive generation the indi-
viduals which he prizes most, and by destroying
the worthless individuals, slowly, though surely,
induces great changes. As the will of man thus
comes into play, we can understand how it is that
domesticated breeds show adaptation to his wants
and pleasures. We can further understand how it
is that domestic races of animals and cultivated
races of plants often exhibit an abnormal char-
acter, as compared with natural species ; for they
have been modified not for their own benefit, but
for that of man."

Until quite lately, the origin of almost all cul-
tivated plants was completely unknown. M. Al-
phonse De Candolle investigated the subject very
thoroughly, publishing his first results about thirty
years ago. In a recent review of the whole sub-
ject1 he gives a list of two hundred and forty-
seven species of cultivated plants, with their geo-
graphical origins, and the number of centuries or
thousands of years during which each has been
cultivated, as far as can be known. He says : 2

1 " Origin of Cultivated Plants." By Alph. De Candolle. New York.
1). Appleton & Co. 1885. 2 page i

OKIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 0

" The traditions of ancient peoples, embellished by
poets, have commonly attributed the first steps in
agriculture and the introduction of useful plants,
to some divinity, or at least to some great em-
peror or Inca. Reflection shows that this is hardly
probable, and observation of the attempts at agri-
culture among the savage tribes of our own day
proves that the facts are quite otherwise.

" In the progress of civilization the beginnings
are usually feeble, obscure, and limited. There are
reasons why this should be the case with the first
attempts at agriculture or horticulture. Between
the custom of gathering wild fruits, grain, and
roots, and that of the regular cultivation of the
plants which produce them, there are several steps.
A family may scatter seeds around its dwelling,
and provide itself the next year with the same
product in the forest. Certain fruit trees may
exist near a dwelling without our knowing whether
they were planted, or whether the hut was built
beside them in order to profit by them. War and
the chase often interrupt attempts at cultivation.
Rivalry and mistrust cause the imitation of one
tribe by another to make but slow progress. If
some great personage command the cultivation of
a plant, and institute some ceremonial to show its

6 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.

utility, it is probably because obscure and unknown
men have previously spoken of it, and that suc-
cessful experiments have been already made. A
longer or shorter succession of local and short-
lived experiments must have occurred before such
a display, which is calculated to impress an already
numerous public. It is easy to understand that
there must have been determining causes to excite
these attempts, to renew them, to make them suc-
cessful.

" The first cause is that such or such a plant,
offering some of those advantages which all men
seek, must be within reach. The lowest savages
know the plants of their country ; but the exam-
ple of the Australians and Patagonians shows that
if they do not consider them productive and easy
to rear, they do not entertain the idea of cultivat-
ing them. Other conditions are sufficiently evi-
dent : a not too rigorous climate ; in hot countries,
the moderate duration of drought ; some degree of
security and settlement ; lastly, a pressing neces-
sity, due to insufficient resources in fishing, hunt-
ing, or in the production of indigenous and nutri-
tious plants, such as the chestnut, the date-palm,
the banana, or the bread-fruit tree. When men
can live without work, it is what they like best.

ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 7

Besides, the element of hazard in hunting and
fishing attracts primitive, and sometimes civilized,
man, more than the rude and regular labor of
cultivation."

Darwin gives us in the book quoted above an
excellent idea of the beginnings of agriculture.1
"MM. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps and De Candolle
have remarked," he says, " that our cultivated
plants, more especially the cereals, must origi-
nally have existed in nearly their present state ;
for otherwise they would not have been noticed
and valued as objects of food. But these authors
apparently have not considered the many accounts
given by travellers of the wretched food collected
by savages. I have read an account of the savages
of Australia cooking, during a dearth, many vege-
tables in various ways, in the .hopes of rendering
them innocuous and more nutritious. Dr. Hooker
found the half-starved inhabitants of a village in
Sikhim suffering greatly from having eaten arum-
roots, which they had pounded and left for several
days to ferment, so as partially to destroy their
poisonous nature ; and he adds that they cooked
and ate many other deleterious plants. Sir Andrew
Smith informs me that in South Africa a large

1 Vol. I. p. 324,

8 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.

number of fruits and succulent leaves, and espe-
cially roots, are used in times of scarcity. The
natives, indeed, know the properties of a long
catalogue of plants, some having been found dur-
ing famines to be eatable, others injurious to
health, or even destructive to life. He met a
party of Baquanas, who, having been expelled by
the conquering Zulus, had lived for years on any
roots or leaves which afforded some little nutri-
ment, and distended their stomachs so as to relieve
the pangs of hunger. Sir Andrew Smith also
informs me that on such occasions the natives
observe as a guide for themselves, what the wild
animals, especially baboons and monkeys, eat.

" From innumerable experiments made through
dire necessity by the savages of every land, with
the results handed down by tradition, the nutri-
tious, stimulating, and medicinal properties of the
most unpromising plants were probably first dis-
covered. It appears, for instance, at first an inex-
plicable fact that untutored man, in three distant
quarters of the world, should have discovered
among a host of native plants that the leaves of
the tea-plant and mattee, and the berries of the
coffee, all included a stimulating and nutritious
essence, now known to be chemically the same.

Oil! GIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 9

We probably owe our knowledge of the uses of
almost all plants to man having originally existed
in a barbarous state, and having been often com-
pelled by severe want to try as food almost
everything which he could chew and swallow.

" From what we know of the habits of savages
in many quarters of the world, there is no reason
to suppose that our cereal plants originally existed
in their present state so valuable to man. Let us
look to one continent alone ; namely, Africa. Barth
states that the slaves over a large part of the cen-
tral region regularly collect the seeds of a wild
grass, the Pennisetum disticlmm ; in another dis-
trict he saw women collecting the seeds of a Poa
by swinging a sort of basket through the rich
meadow-land. Near Tete, Livingstone observed
the natives collecting the seeds of a wild grass ; and
farther south, as Anderson informs me, the natives
largely use the seeds of a grass of about the size
of canary seed, which they boil in water. They
eat also the roots of certain reeds ; and every one
has read of the Bushmen prowling about and dig-
ging up with a fire-hardened stake various roots.
Similar facts with respect to the collection of the
seeds of wild grasses in other parts of the world
could be given.

10 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.

u Accustomed as we are to our excellent vegeta-
bles and luscious fruits, we can hardly persuade
ourselves that the stringy roots of the wild carrot
and parsnip, or the little shoots of the wild aspar-
agus, or crabs, sloes, and so forth, should ever have
been valued ; yet from what we know of the hab-
its of Australian and South African savages, we
need feel no doubt on this head. The inhabitants
of Switzerland, during the stone period, largely
collected wild crabs, sloes, bullaces, hips of roses,
elderberries, beech-mast, and other wild berries and
fruits. Jemmy Button, a Fuegian on board the
Beagle, remarked to me that the poor and acid
black currants of Terra del Fuego were too sweet
for his taste.

" The savage inhabitants of each land, having
found out by many and hard trials what plants
were useful, or could be rendered useful by various
cooking processes, would after a time take the first
step in cultivation by planting them near their
usual abodes. Livingstone states that the savage
Batokas sometimes left wild fruit trees standing in
their gardens and occasionally even planted them,
' a practice seen nowhere else among the natives.'
But Du Chaillu saw a palm and some other wild
fruit trees which had been planted ; and these trees

ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 11

were considered private property. The next step
in cultivation — and this would require but little
forethought — would be to sow the seeds of useful
plants ; and as the soil near the hovels of the
natives would often be in some degree manured,
improved varieties would sooner or later arise.
Or a wild and unusually good variety of a native
plant might attract the attention of some wise old
savage ; and he would transplant it, or sow its
seed."

12 THE COTTON PLANT.

II.

THE COTTON PLANT.1

Bv NINA MOORE.

COTTON, like wheat, is older than history. In
the time of Herodotus, and probably long before,
the people of India wove the fibre of their native
species, Gossypium arboreum, into garments ; for
centuries they cultivated around the Hindoo tem-
ples Gossypium religiosum, reserving its product
for the tripartite thread, which, as a symbol of
the Brahmin Trinity, was used in the sacerdotal
robes of the priests.

India muslins are famed for their beauty. Tav-
ernier (1662) says that some of the muslins or

1 This classification of the species of Gossypium, founded on that of
Linnaeus, is given by Parlatore in his " Le Specie dei Cotoni."
Gossypium Arboreum ; native of India.
" Herbaceum.
" Religiosum.

Barbadense : sea island, long-stapled cotton ; native of

the Bahama Islands.
" Hirsutum : Georgia, upland, short-stapled cotton ; native

of Mexico.

" Sandvichensis ; native of the Sandwich Islands.
" Taitensis ; native of Tahiti.

THE COTTON PLANT. 13

" calicuts " l that lie saw were " so fine that you
could hardly feel them in your hand." The Rev.
William Ward goes further yet, and describes a
fabric " so exceeding fine that when laid on the

FIG. I. GOSSYPIUM BARBADENSE (Royle).

grass and the dew has fallen on it, it is no longer
discernible." The looms from which these mar-
vellous webs emerged were of the most primitive
sort; yet when they disappeared, under the ad-

1 Calicut was a town on the Malabar coast, whence cotton cloth was
imported. Our word calico is a corruption of the name.

14 THE COTTON PLANT.

vance of English machinery, the skill of the people
became almost a thing of the past, the new in-
dustry having quite, obliterated the old.

Abundant as India's cotton crop has always
been, that of America surpasses it. India stands
second, America first, among the cotton-producing
countries of the world.

Columbus, landing on San Salvador in 1492,
and touching at Guadeloupe in the following year,
found on these islands a rich supply of cotton,
in all likelihood Gossypium Barbadense (Fig. 1),
the sea-island or long-stapled cotton, which grows
wild on the Bahamas at the present day. For a
mere bagatelle he bought as much as he could,
and carried it back with him to the Old World.

Another species, Gossypium hirsutum (Fig. 2),
Upland, Georgia, or short-stapled cotton, grew upon
the mainland of North America. Cortez found it
in Mexico. He obtained from the Aztecs good
cloth of their own manufacture, and sent home to
Charles V., of Spain, " cotton mantles, some all
white, others mixed with white and black, or red,
green, yellow, and blue."

These long-staple and short-staple cottons, Gos-
sypium Barbadense and Gossypium hirsutum, of
the Bahamas and of Mexico, were early introduced

THE COTTON PLANT. 15

into Virginia and Georgia. It was in 1621 that
some cotton seeds, probably of Grossypium Barba-
dense from the West Indies, were planted in Vir-
ginia as an experiment. In 1739 a Swede named
Samuel Auspourguer, who had cultivated cotton in

FIG. 2. GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM (Royle).

Georgia, carried a sample of his fibre to England.
After that, small but increasing quantities were
sent over yearly until cotton became the most im-
portant export of the South.

In 1792 the cotton sent from the United States
to Liverpool amounted to 138,328 pounds. In

16 THE COTTON PLAtfT.

1794 the amount rose to 1,601,700 pounds. The
cause of this tremendous increase, and the still
greater increase that followed, was the invention,
in 1793, of the cotton gin.

The cotton fibre grows on the seed, and is firmly
adherent to the testa. To separate seed and fibre
by hand had been a slow and laborious task. The
cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney, was a machine
by means of which, as Mr. George Emerson has
said, "a new era in the culture of cotton was
established, three hands assisted by water power
being now able to separate, in the same time, as
much cotton from its seed as would before have
required three thousand pairs of hands."

At that time the planting, the hoeing, and the
gathering of the cotton crop was the work of the
Southern negroes. They also prepared the fibre
for the market. The cotton gin, while relieving
them of the latter task, increased the demand for
their services in the fields ; for, as immense quanti-
ties of cotton could now be furnished to all parts
of the United States and Europe, a large supply
must be sown and tended. It was a striking in-
stance of the action of machinery in cutting down
the sum of hand labor required at one point only
to raise it an hundred-fold at another. Field-

THE COfTOK PLANT. 17

hands were in great demand, and the immediate
effect of the invention of the cotton gin was the
tightening of the bonds of the slave. Slave labor
became all in all to the planters of the South.
Northern men were afraid to meddle in the in-
terest of humanity when the interests of King
Cotton were at stake. It was declared, and came
to be believed, that negro labor only was available
in those blazing cotton fields, and that only as
slaves could negroes be forced to work. Events
have abundantly proved, however, that free labor
is not injurious to cotton ; white men, as well as
negroes, are now employed in its culture, and the
crop is larger than ever.

In the United States census report for 1884,
Mississippi stands first among cotton - producing
States. Its particularly rich soil yields cotton at
the rate of eight-tenths of a bale per capita yearly.

Both kinds of cotton, the long-stapled and the
short-stapled species, are planted in Mississippi.
As soon as the frost is out of the ground the cotton
stalks of the preceding year are knocked down and
cleared away, or sometimes burned and plowed
under. The field is then scored in long furrows,
four or five feet apart in the best soil, where the
plants may be expected to grow large ; three or

18 THE COTTON PLANT.

four feet apart in poorer ground, where less grow-
ing room is needed.

Between the middle of March and the middle of
May planting is in order. The seeds are dropped
into the furrows, either by hand or by a machine
called a planter, and then lightly covered with
about an inch of soil. When the " stand," as
the collection of young plants is called, is fairly
up, and from six to ten inches high, the thinning
out begins. The weaker plants are relentlessly
hoed down, the stronger ones are left standing at
intervals of twelve or eighteen inches ; and before
long these are subjected to the process of topping ;
that is, the uppermost bud of each is clipped off,
and the plant, unable to continue its main shoot,
sends out numerous side-branches to make up for
its deficiency. As all of these side-branches bear
blossoms and fruit, the planter's purpose, that of
increasing his supply of fibre, is accomplished.

The flowers appear when the plant is from
twenty-four to thirty-six inches high, and the bolls
open about six weeks after the corolla has fallen.

Though the cotton plant is a biennial or a per-
ennial, it is always treated as an annual ; the old
plants are removed and new seeds sown each
spring. W. B. Dana, in his " Cotton from Seed to

THE COTTON PLANT. 19

Loom," says : " A cotton seed is something like a
bean in its early growth. Within it are two leaves
and a tap-root ; and after lying in the ground about
a week the tap-root strikes down into the earth,
while the two leaves open above, growing in a few
days from two to three inches high. . . . During
the next ten days two more leaves appear, and in
the following two weeks from five to six additional
ones. . . . When the cotton plant is about twelve
inches high it begins to throw out limbs, with
leaves about four inches apart, having at every
joint a form, or square, or shape — all these names
being used for what is really the bud.

" This bud, on its first appearance, is triangu-
lar in outline, with three leafy bracts on the out-
side. . . . The blossom opens after sunrise in the
morning, pure white, with three (or four, or five)
petals. It begins to close at about two o'clock
when a pale red streak may be seen running up
each petal, and at sundown it is wholly closed.
The next morning, at about sunrise, it is again
open, as fresh as ever, but, instead of being white,
it is now a beautiful pink. It lasts the day out,
but with the setting sun again closes, this time,
however, wilting and falling off, leaving at its
base a little boll about the size of a small bean."

20 THE COTTON PLANT.

The boll is filled with young seeds, surrounded
by a white pulp-like substance. As the boll ma-
tures, the pulp disappears, and the cavity becomes
wholly crowded with the densely packed silky
hairs, which have grown from the thick coats of
the seeds. The pressure of these soft hairs as
they expand, finally overcomes the resistance of
the seed vessel ; the valves part
(Fig. 3), and the beautiful white
cotton, spreading as it comes in
contact with the air, hangs out
in snowy "locks" several inches
long.

The sooner it is picked, now,
FIG. 3. BOLL OF COTTON the better. Exposure to the
weather darkens and weakens
the fibre. Picking begins in the middle of August,
and does not end until the last of September. " The
picking is performed," writes Mr. George Emerson,
" by male and female hands provided with Osna-
burgh bags, hung over the neck and shoulders,
into which the cotton is put as fast as picked.
These, when full, are emptied into large Osnaburgh
sheets, placed at convenient spots ; the sheets are
carried home in the afternoon. One hand can pick
about one hundred pounds per day of seed cotton."

THE COTTON PLANT. 21

Having been gathered, the cotton is spread out
to dry, and when thoroughly dried is ready to be
ginned for the market. Whitney's cotton gin con-
sists of a hopper, in which the cotton is confined,
and a roller thickly set with circular saws. One
side of the hopper has bars, adjusted to admit the
edges of the saws, but so close together that when
the saw teeth catch the cotton fibres, and pull them
out of the hopper, the seeds are held by the bars
and remain behind. Stiff brushes then take the
cotton from the saws ; it is passed between heavy
rollers, and comes out in loose, flat sheets. Other
gins, different in construction, are also used.

The sheets which come from the gin are rolled
in bales, not less than four hundred pounds in
weight; the bale cotton is afterward cleaned,
carded, drawn into a coarse, loose thread, and
then spun into stout or delicate yarns, as the need
may be.

The great usefulness of cotton depends, as will
be shown by the following extract from Edwin
Lancaster's " Remarks on the Natural History of
Cotton," on its power of forming a twist. " The
cotton fibre is a hair : it does not, however, grow
on the surface of the plant. ... It is not the
length or strength of the hair alone which gives to

22

THE COTTON PLANT.

it the power
twisted. If

FIG. 4. aandc, Mag-
nified Drawings of
Cotton Fibre ; b, the
Same, from some
Unravelled Threads
of Cotton Cloth
(Royle).

the hair give
a flat ribbon,

it possesses of forming a thread when
examined under the microscope, the
cotton hair will be found ap-
parently to consist of two deli-
cate, transparent tubes, the one
twisted round the other, so as
to have the appearance of two
pieces of cord wound round
each other (Fig. 4). If, how-
ever, the hair be examined in
its young state, it will be
found to be an untwisted,
cylindrical tube. It is during
its growth that this change
takes place. As the seeds and
hairs grow, the capsules do not
appear to expand with equal
rapidity ; and, consequently,
the hair is exposed to pressure
on all sides. The result of
this is, that the hair collapses
in the middle, leaving a half-
formed tube on each side.
These uncollapsed portions of
it the ' appearance,' says Bauer, ' of
with a hem or border at each edge.'

THE COTTON PLANT. 23

The hair does not, however, grow out straight, but
coming in contact with other hairs, and the sides
of the capsule or fruit, it becomes twisted ; thus
acquiring the appearance first described, of two
cords twisted together. This twisting is undoubt-
edly the great fact that makes the cotton hairs of
value to man. There are many hairs, such as
those of the cotton-grass and the bombax, which
are as long, and apparently as strong, as those of
the Gossypium, but which, failing in this irregu-
larity of their surface, are utterly incapable of
being twisted into a thread or yarn."

Of the seeds discarded by the cotton gin, a small
proportion are needed for sowing. The remainder
were formerly used for enriching the land. They
are now, however, turned to better account. The
oil which they contain, cotton-seed oil, is valuable
for cooking purposes ; it forms a good substitute
for olive oil, or for lard ; it is also excellent for
making soap, and for mixing paints. * The com-
pact mass which is left, after the oil has been
pressed out, is sold as cotton-seed cake, and fed to
cows and sheep.

24 SEED-FOOD.

III.

SEED-FOOD.

BY FREDERICK LE!IOY SARGENT.

IN the study of animals we find that as we
advance from the lower to the higher forms, there
is a wonderful improvement in the way the young
are cared for. It is the same with plants, and in
those higher forms which produce flowers and
seeds the provisions made for the welfare of off-
spring afford some of the greatest marvels of vege-
table life.

One of the most direct and obvious ways in
which the well-being of infant plants is promoted
is by the store of food that is laid up in the seeds.
This enables the sprouting seedling to develop
root and leaves before it is thrown entirely upon
its own resources ; and thus from the start the
plantlet can work to advantage.

The amount of this seed-food varies of course
very greatly, as we have all sizes of seeds from the
tiniest atoms up to such large ones as coco-nuts.1

1 More commonly but less correctly written " cocoanuts." — See
Imperial Dictionary.

SEED-FOOD. 25

But what is more interesting is that the amount of
space occupied by the embryo, as compared with
the amount of space filled by the seed-food sur-
rounding it, is also very different in different seeds.
In some cases, as for example in the coco-nut, the
nutmeg, and the date seed, the embryo is a mere
speck embedded in copious seed-food, much as in a
hen's egg the germ of the chick is surrounded by
the yolk and albumen. This resemblance sug-
gested to botanists the name albumen as a good
one to use for the seed-food which accompanies an
embryo. In other seeds such as those of maize,
morning-glory, and the castor-oil plant, we find a
medium-sized embryo and a moderate amount of
albumen; such might be compared to an egg in
which the chick had become partly developed at
the expense of the surrounding food. Finally there
are many seeds which like peanuts, almonds, and
chestnuts, are destitute of albumen ; but these have
the space within the shell filled by a well-developed
embryo, more or less gorged with food, and here
we have something to remind us of an egg just
ready to hatch. In every case the plantlet gets
all the food sooner or later, the only difference
being that some have to absorb more or less at the
time of germination, while with others the entire

26 SEED-FOOD.

food-supply is deposited within the embryo during
the formation of the seed.

In the various kinds of eggs there is scarcely
any difference in the nature of the food-supply.
Chemically considered, the contents of a hen's egg
is practically the same as that of other eggs. It-
is not so, however, with the food-supply of seeds,
for very various substances are made use of by
different plants. Among these the most important
are starch, oils, and albuminoids.

Starch forms about a third of the bulk of beans
and peas ; from half to two-thirds of wheat, oats,
rye, and barley ; and over four-fifths of maize and
rice. It is very much like sugar in its chemical
composition, and has about the same value as a
food.

Oil occurs in small quantities along with the
starch in the seeds just mentioned, but in many
cases it entirely replaces the starch, and forms the
principal part of the seed-food. Peanuts and cot-
ton seeds, for example, are very rich in an oil
which is extensively used as a substitute for that
obtained from olives. Walnut oil is put to the
same use. Flaxseeds afford the linseed oil so val-
uable as a medium for mixing paints. The albu-
men of the coco-nut when boiled and pressed yields

SEED-FOOD. 27

two fatty substances : one, called stearine, is solid
at ordinary temperatures, and is used in the manu-
facture of candles ; the other, being liquid, is burned
in lamps, or when fresh is used in cookery. Some
of our most valued nuts, such as the butternut,
hickory, pecan-nut, Brazil-nut, pistachio-nut and
almond, owe their rich flavor to the abundant oil
they contain.

In point of nutritive value the albuminoids form
by far the most important constituents of seed-
food, for in chemical composition they are very
similar to egg-albumen. No seeds are entirely
destitute of albuminoids, but as a rule the quan-
tity is not very large. In the cereals the propor-
tion ranges from seven and one-half per cent in
rice to nineteen per cent or more in wheat. Peas
and beans are the most nutritious seeds that we
commonly use, as about one quarter of their bulk
is albuminoid material. The value of wheat is
greatly enhanced by the fact that its albuminoid
food consists almost wholly of gluten. This sub-
stance it is which imparts to macaroni its peculiar
firmness and elasticity, and which gives to wheaten
dough that tenacity upon which the making of
raised bread depends.

Of all the sorts of food which plants lay by in

28 SEED-FOOD.

special organs as a reserve for the future, seed-
food is the most compact, as it is the freest from
water; for the same reason it is least liable to
change with long keeping, and from the larger
proportion of albuminoids contained it is the most
nutritious. This has led man from the earliest
times to use seeds as the chief source of their veg-
etable food ; many of the very kinds whose seed-
food we appropriate nourished men ages before the
pyramids were built. The evidences which have
come down to us of their earliest use are fragmen-
tary, but they clearly show that these productions
must have been of the utmost value to the men of
those days, and they are well calculated to impress
the mind with a sense of the importance to human
life of plants which have afforded the best food
from prehistoric times to the present day.

We learn from De Candolle that some of the
most ancient Egyptian monuments, older than the
Hebrew Scriptures, show the cultivation of wheat
already established, and when the Egyptians or
Greeks speak of its origin, they attribute it to the
mythical personages Isis, Ceres, or Triptolemus.
One interesting discovery of the Egyptologists was
the finding of a grain of wheat embedded in a
brick of the pyramid of Dash our, to which the

SEED-FOOD. 29

date 3359 B.C. has been assigned. There is also
evidence of the cultivation of barley, millet, and a
kind of lupin, in Egypt during prehistoric times.
Herodotus tells us that the lentil was largely used
by the ancient Egyptians, but because they con-
sidered it common and coarse it found no place
upon their monuments. The red pottage for
which Esau sold his birthright was made of
lentils, the color being due in all probability to the
seeds having been hulled, thus exposing the pale-
red kernels. It is still the practice in that region
to cook lentils in this way.

The occurrence of Sanskrit names for the lentil,
chick-pea, barley, millet, walnut, sesame, and cas-
tor-oil plant, indicate a very ancient use in India.

It is recorded that the Chinese Emperor Chin-
nong, who lived about 2700 B.C. instituted the
annual ceremony of sowing seeds of the five most
important plants of the Empire, as a token of
appreciation and gratitude for these gifts of
Heaven. The plants chosen were rice, wheat,
sorghum, a sort of millet, and a bean-like plant
known as soy, from which substances similar to
butter and cheese are largely extracted. No less
a personage than a prince of the royal blood can
take part in the ceremony, and the planting of the

30 SEED-FOOD.

rice seeds must be performed by the emperor him-
self. When we realize that rice gives food to
more human beings than any other plant, it is
not difficult for us to sympathize with the feeling
that prompts such special consideration for this
invaluable grain.

At a time probably anterior to the Trojan War,
before the dawn of European history, there lived
in the region of Switzerland a half-savage people,
of whose existence we know from remains of their
dwellings which have been discovered in the lakes.
Along with primitive implements of stone or
bronze have been found the seeds of wheat, two
kinds of barley, oats, lentils, and our common
garden pea.

Early Grecian coins and passages from the an-
cient writers show that the lentil, chick-pea, gar-
den pea, millet, and wheat were well known to
the Greeks. Barley was highly prized by them as
a strong food for athletes in training, and they
often represented the goddess Ceres with ears of
this grain plaited in her hair. A six-rowed variety
of barley is pictured upon medals of the Italian
town Metapontis, which date from about 600 B.C.

Some of our most valued seed plants are pro-
ducts of our own country, and were found in ex-

SEED-FOOD. 31

tensive cultivation by Columbus and his followers.
Cacao l was largely used, and so highly prized that
the seeds served as money. The peanut, now
widely cultivated in many parts of the world, is
in all probability a native of tropical America, and
the fact that seeds of the plant have been found in
ancient Peruvian tombs at Ancon, gives evidence
of use in quite early times. In these same tombs
have been found seeds of the Lima-bean and our
common pole-bean. By far the most important of
American vegetable products is the maize or Indian
corn, and we have abundant proof of its very
ancient and widespread cultivation. Aboriginal
burial mounds, the tombs of the Incas, and the
catacombs of Peru have been found to contain
ears or grains of maize. Just as the ancient Greeks
offered the first fruits of their grain harvest to the
goddess Ceres, so the Aztecs brought to their
goddess Cinteuil the first ears from their maize
fields. Although this old Mexican custom may
not antedate the Christian era, still the develop-
ment of such a ceremony must have been preceded
by a long period of widespread use.

With many plants provision is made for defend-

1 More commonly but less correctly written "cocoa." — See Im-
perial Dictionary.

32 SEED-FOOD.

ing the seed-food against the depredations of seed-
eating animals ; but strange to say, some of the
most effective of these means of defence constitute
the very attractions which lead to our using the
seeds. For example, it is probable that no wild
animal would think of eating mustard seeds — at
least a second time. Nutmegs are quite as well
protected by the aromatic oil which many of us
prize so highly, but which is probably distasteful
to animals, and if taken in quantity is poisonous.
To a certain extent the same is true of coffee and
cacao seeds, both of which are decidedly unpalata-
ble in the raw state.

Certain seeds containing the most virulent poi-
sons afford drugs which are often of great value
in medicine. Nux vomica, for example, yields the
important drug strychnine. The seeds of larkspur,
foxglove, lobelia, henbane, sabadilla, colchicum,
stramonium, croton and bitter-almond are each
rich in some powerful medicinal principle.

Perhaps the most curious expedient resorted to
for protection is hardening the seed-food to an
extent which will defy the best of teeth. A good
example of this is the ivory-nut, which is largely
imported from South America, and its albumen
used as a substitute for animal ivory in the manu-

SEED-FOOD. 33

facture of buttons, knobs, toys, and other small
articles. The same hardening of albumen occurs
in the coquilla-nuts of Brazil, and causes them to
be in much demand for making door knobs, um-
brella handles, and such articles of turnery.

Besides the substances we have mentioned as
being contained in seeds there are others, such as
alcohol and certain sugars which are obtained from
seeds by inducing chemical changes in their con-
tents. To consider these artificial products would
lead us too far from our subject, for a proper under-
standing of the processes of manufacture would
carry us deep into chemistry, and what is more,
the substances so produced are not seed-food.

34 MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

IV.

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

THE tips of all young growing parts of the
higher plants continually revolve, bowing succes-
sively towards every point of the compass. Dar-
win calls this movement circumnutation. In the
introduction to his book/ " The Power of Move-

1 " The Power of Movement in Plants " was published in 1880.
Darwin had previously published, in 1875, an essay on " Climbing
Plants," in which he had shown that the young tips of twining stems,
tendrils, leaf-stalks, etc., continually revolve, and that this movement
is the immediate cause of their twining. The later work extends this
conception to the tips of all young growing parts of plants. In his
autobiography, Darwin says, "In accordance with the principle of
evolution it was impossible to account for climbing plants having
been developed in so many widely different groups, unless all plants
possess some slight power of movement of an analogous kind. This I
proved to be the case, and I was further led to a rather wide general-
izationj viz., that the great and important classes of movements excited
by light, the attraction of gravity, etc., are all modified forms of the
fundamental movement of circumnutation. It has always pleased me
to exalt plants in the scale of organized beings ; and I therefore felt
an especial pleasure in showing how many and what admirably well
adapted movements the tip of a root possesses."

The conclusions of this book have not been generally accepted, and
have met with much criticism, especially in Germanyo Francis Darwin
says ("Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," II. p. 502), "The central
idea of the book is, that the movements of plants in relation to light,
gravitation, etc., are modifications of a spontaneous tendency to revolve

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS. 35

ment in Plants," he says,1 " The chief object of
the present work is to describe and connect to-
gether several large classes of movement, common
to almost all plants. The most widely prevalent
movement is essentially of the same nature as that
of the stem of a climbing plant, which bends succes-
sively to all points of the compass, so that the tip
revolves. This movement has been called by Sachs
c revolving nutation,' but we have found it much
more convenient to use the terms circumnutation
and circumnutate. As we shall have to say much
about this movement, it will be useful here briefly
to describe its nature. If we observe a circum-
nutating stem, which happens at the time to be
bent, we will say towards the north, it will be found
gradually to bend more and more easterly, until it
faces the east ; and so onwards to the south, then
to the west, and back again to the north. If the
movement had been quite regular, the apex would

or circumnutate, which is widely inherent in the growing parts of
plants. This conception has not been generally adopted, and has not
taken a place among the canons of orthodox physiology."

Nevertheless the book is one of exceeding interest. One critic has
said, " No one can doubt the importance of what Mr. Darwin has done,
in showing that, for the future, the phenomena of plant movement can,
and indeed must be, studied from a single point of view."

1 " The Power of Movement in Plants." By Charles Darwin and
Francis Darwin. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 1888. p. 1. The
references in this chapter are all to this work.

36 MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

have described a circle, or rather, as the stem is
always growing upwards, a circular spiral. But it
generally describes irregular elliptical or oval fig-
ures ; for the apex, after pointing in any one direc-
tion, commonly moves back to the opposite side,
not, however, returning along the same line. . . .

" In the course of the present volume it will be
shown that apparently every growing part of every
plant is continually circumnutating, though often
on a small scale. Even the stems of seedlings
before they have broken through the ground, as
well as their buried radicles, circumnutate as far
as the pressure of the surrounding earth permits.
In this universally present movement we have
the basis or groundwork of the acquirement, ac-
cording to the requirements of the plant, of the
most diversified movements. Thus, the great
sweeps made by the stems of twining plants, and
by the tendrils of other climbers, result from a
mere increase in the amplitude of the ordinary
movement of circumnutation." 1

After minute descriptions of many experiments
on the movements of radicles and cotyledons of
seedlings, he says : —

" In all the germinating seeds observed by us,
i p. 3.

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS. 37

the first change is the protrusion of the radicle,
which immediately bends downwards and endeav-
ors to penetrate the ground. In order to effect
this, it is almost necessary that the seed should
be pressed down so as to offer some resistance,
unless indeed the soil is extremely loose ; for
otherwise the seed is lifted up, instead of the radi-
cle penetrating the surface. But seeds often get
covered by earth thrown up by burrowing quad-
rupeds or scratching birds, by the castings of
earthworms, by heaps of excrement, the decaying
branches of trees, etc., and will thus be pressed
down ; and they must often fall into cracks when
the ground is dry, or into holes. Even with seeds
lying on the bare surface, the first developed root-
hairs, by becoming attached to stones or other
objects on the surface, are able to hold down the
upper part of the radicle, whilst the tip penetrates
the ground. . ." l This is well seen in the germina-
tion of Clover.

" The tip of the radicle, as soon as it protrudes
from the seed-coats, begins to circumnutate, and
the whole growing part continues to do so, prob-
ably for as long as growth continues. ..."

Then conies into play the action of gravitation,

1 p. 69.

38 MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

which causes the root to bend downwards towards
the centre of the earth. This bending is called
geotropism, from two Greek words meaning, " the
earth," and " to turn."

"Sensitiveness to gravitation," says Darwin,
speaking of the radicle of the seedling, " resides in
the tip ; and it is the tip which transmits some
influence to the adjoining parts, causing them to
bend. As soon as the tip, protected by the root-
cap, reaches the ground, it penetrates the surface,
if this be soft or friable, and the act of penetration
is apparently aided by the rocking or circumnu-
tating movement of the whole end of the radicle.1

" After the tip has penetrated the ground to a
little depth, the increasing thickness of the radicle,
together with the root-hairs, hold it securely in its
place ; and now the force exerted by the longi-
tudinal growth of the radicle drives the tip deeper
into the ground. This force, combined with that
due to transverse growth, gives to the radicle the
power of a wedge. Even a growing root of mod-
erate size, such as that of a seedling bean, can
displace a weight of some pounds."

The radicle is constantly growing in length,
and at the same time in thickness. Darwin says,3

1 p. 548. 2 p. 549. 3 p. 77.

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

39

" The growing part, therefore, does not act like a
nail when hammered into a board, but more like
a wedge of wood, which whilst slowly driven into

FIG. 5. SPLITTING OF A ROCK BY THE GROWTH OF THE ROOT OF A LARCH.
(" Pflanzenleben.")

a crevice, continually expands at the same time by
the absorption of water ; and a wedge thus acting
will split even a mass of rock" (Fig. 5).1

1 " The great force exerted by the increase in size of the stems and
roots of woody plants is sometimes demonstrated in an extraordinary

40 MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

Darwin tried many experiments to ascertain
how the movements of the radicle were affected
by contact with external objects. Some of these
experiments consisted in affixing, by shellac, or
gum, small bits of card to one side of the tip of
the radicle. The whole growing part of the radi-
cle bent away from the side bearing the card, or,
when card was placed on one side and paper on
the other, the radicle bent towards the thinner
paper. He also found that radicles bent toward
moisture and away from light. " It is not prob-
able that the tip when buried in compact earth
can actually circumnutate, and thus aid its down-
ward passage, but the circumnutating movement
will facilitate the tip entering any lateral or
oblique fissure in the earth, or a burrow made by
an earthworm or larva ; and it is certain that
roots often run down the old burrows of worms.
The tip, however, in endeavoring to circumnutate,
will continually press against the earth on all
sides, and this can hardly fail to be of the highest

manner by the development of seedlings in crevices. Thus, at the
Marien Cemetery, in Hanover, Germany, the base of a tree has dislodged
the stones of a strongly built tomb. One of the stones, which measures
23 by 28 by 56 inches has been lifted upon one side to the height of five
inches. The tree measures just above its base from ten to fourteen inches
in diameter." "Physiological Botany." By George Lincoln Goodale.
Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co. : New York and Chicago, p. 395, note 3.

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS. 41

importance to the plant ; for we have seen that
when little bits of card-like paper, and of very
thin paper, were cemented on opposite sides of the
tip, the whole growing part of the radicle was
excited to bend away from the side bearing the
card, or more resisting substance, towards the side
bearing the thin paper.1 We may therefore feel
almost sure that when the tip encounters a stone
or other obstacle in the ground, or even earth
more compact on one side than the other, the root
will bend away as much as it can from the obsta-
cle or the more resisting earth, and will thus follow
with unerring skill a line of least resistance . . ." 2
(Fig. 6).

1 "The accompanying figures of four germinating seeds (Fig. 6)
show, firstly, a radicle (A), the apex of which has become so much
bent away from the attached square as to form a hook; secondly (B),
a hook converted through the continued irritation of the card, aided
perhaps by geotropism, into an almost complete circle or loop. The
tip in the act of forming a loop generally rubs against the upper part
of the radicle, and pushes off the attached square ; the loop then con-
tracts or closes, but never disappears, and the apex afterwards grows
vertically downwards, being no longer irritated by any attached object.
This frequently occurred, and is represented at (C). ... In another
case, shown at (D), the apex in making a second turn or spire, passed
through the first loop, which was at first widely open, and in doing so
knocked off the card; it then grew perpendicularly downwards, and
thus tied itself into a knot, which soon became tight." "Power of
Movement in Plants," p. 178. The conclusions drawn from these
experiments are not accepted by many students, and the experiments
themselves are criticised, as containing sources of error.

2 p. 549.

42

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

"After a radicle has been deflected by some
obstacle, geotropism directs the tip again to grow
perpendicularly downwards ; but geotropism is a

FIG. 6. ZEA MAYS. Radicles excited to bend away from the Little Squares of Card
attached to One Side of their Tips (Darwin). See Note.

feeble power, and here, as Sachs has shown,
another interesting adaptive movement comes into
play; for radicles at a distance of a few milli-
metres from the tip are sensitive to prolonged

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS. 43

contact in such a manner that they bend towards
the touching object, instead of from it, as occurs
when an object touches one side of the tip. More-
over, the curvature thus caused is abrupt, the
pressed part alone bending. Even slight pressure
suffices, such as a bit of card cemented to one side.
Therefore a radicle, as it passes over the edge of
any obstacle in the ground, will, through the action
of geotropism, press against it, and this pressure
will cause the radicle to endeavor to bend abruptly
over the edge. It will thus recover as quickly as
possible its normal downward course.

" Radicles are also sensitive to air which contains
more moisture on one side than the other, and they
bend towards its source. It is therefore probable
that they are in like manner sensitive to dampness
in the soil. It was ascertained in several cases
that this sensitiveness resides in the tip, which
transmits an influence causing the adjoining upper
part to bend in opposition to geotropism towards
the moist object. We may therefore infer that
roots will be deflected from their downward course
toward any source of moisture in the soil.

" Again, most or all radicles are slightly sensitive
to light, and, according to Wiesner, generally bend
a little from it. Whether this can be of any ser-

44 MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

vice to them is very doubtful, but with seeds germi-
nating on the surface it will slightly aid geotropism
in directing the radicles to the ground. We as-
certained in one instance that such sensitiveness
resided in the tip and caused the adjoining parts
to bend from the light. . . .'u

" We believe that there is no structure in plants
more wonderful, as far as its functions are con-
cerned, than the tip of the radicle. If the tip be
lightly pressed or burned or cut, it transmits an
influence to the upper adjoining part, causing it to
bend away from the affected side ; and, what is
more surprising, the tip can distinguish between a
slightly harder and softer object, by which it is
simultaneously pressed on opposite sides. If, how-
ever, the radicle is pressed by a similar object a
little above the tip, the pressed part does not
transmit any influence to the more distant parts,
but bends abruptly towards the object. If the tip
perceives the air to be moister on one side than on
the other, it likewise transmits the influence to the
upper adjoining part, which bends towards the
source of moisture. When the tip is excited by
light (though in the case of radicles this was as-
certained in only a single instance) the adjoining

1 pp. 551, 552.

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS. 45

part bends from the light; but when excited by
gravitation the same part bends towards the centre
of gravity. In almost every case we can clearly
perceive the final purpose or advantage of the sev-
eral movements. Two, or perhaps more, of the
exciting causes often act simultaneously on the tip,
and one conquers the other, no doubt in accordance
with its importance for the life of the plant. The
course pursued by the radicle in penetrating the
ground must be determined by the tip; hence it
has acquired such diverse kinds of sensitiveness.
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of
the radicle, thus endowed, and having the power
to direct the movements of the adjoining parts,
acts like the brain of one of the lower animals ;
the brain being seated within the anterior end of
the body, receiving impressions from the sense-
organs, and directing the several movements." l

In seedlings, such as the Bean (Fig. 8), and
Squash (Fig. 9), which lift their cotyledons above
the ground, the stem below the cotyledons, called
by Darwin the hypocotyl, is the first to break out
from the seed-coats after the protrusion of the rad-
icle. In seedlings, such as the Pea, where the

1 p. 572. This is cojisjtfered aji extravagant .assumption by Sachs
.9,nd others.

46

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

8

FIG. 7. GERMINATION OF PEA. FIG. 8. GERMINATION OF BEAN.

MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

47

cotyledons remain buried (Fig. 7), the stem above
cotyledons, the epicotyl, breaks forth. These or-
gans are generally arched at first ; this form prob-

FIG. 9. GERMINATION OF SQUASH (Cucurbita Pepo).

ably saves the tender, growing apex from being
rubbed.

" As the arch grows upwards, the cotyledons
are dragged out of the ground. The seed-coats
are either left behind buried, or are retained for a
time, still enclosing the cotyledons. These are

48 MOVEMENTS OF SEEDLINGS.

afterwards cast off merely by the swelling of the
cotyledons. . . . The cotyledons can now assume
the function of leaves and decompose carbonic
acid ; they also yield up to other parts of the plant
the nutriment they often contain. When they
contain a large stock of nutriment, they generally
remain buried beneath the ground, owing to the
small development of the hypocotyl ; and thus
they have a better chance of escaping destruction
by animals. ..."

" Our seedling now throws up a stem bearing
leaves, and often branches, all of which whilst
young are continually circumnutating. If we look,
for instance, at a great acacia tree, we may feel
assured that every one of the innumerable growing
shoots is constantly describing small ellipses ; as is
each petiole, sub-petiole, and leaflet. The latter,
as well as ordinary leaves, generally move up and
down in nearly the same vertical plane, so that
they describe very narrow ellipses. The flower-
peduncles are likewise continually circumnutating.
If we could look beneath the ground, and our eyes
had the power of a microscope, we should see the
tip of eacli rootlet endeavoring to sweep small
ellipses or circles as far as the pressure of the sur-

i p. 556.

MOVEMENTS OP SEEDLINGS. 49

rounding earth permitted. All this astonishing
amount of movement has been going on year after
year since the time when, as a seedling, the tree
first emerged from the ground." 1

1 p. 558.

50 THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA.

V.

THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA.1

ONE day, at the usual hour, De Charney was
walking in the courtyard of his prison, his eyes
cast down, his arms crossed behind him. He was
pacing slowly step by step, as if thus he could
enlarge the narrow space permitted to him.

Spring was approaching ; he breathed a sweeter
air, and to be free, master of the earth and of
space, seemed to him an object of desire.

He counted one by one the stones of the little
courtyard, perhaps to verify former calculations,
for it was not the first time that he had numbered
them, when he saw at his feet a small mound of
earth, slightly cleft at the summit, thrown up
between two paving-stones. He stooped, and his
heart beat quickly, without his knowing why.
Everything is an object of hope or fear to the

1 Translated from the French of Joseph Xavier Saintine. " Picciola,"
Chap. III. Picciola (signifying " dear little one ") is the name given
by Count de Cliarney, a political prisoner of Napoleon in the fortress
of Fenestrella, to a plant which had sown itself in the courtyard of his
prison.

THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA. 51

captive ; for the most insignificant events he seeks
some important cause which may bring about his
deliverance. Perhaps this slight disturbance at
the surface is produced by some great work below.
There may be passages beneath the earth which
will open and admit him to the fields and moun-
tains. Perhaps his former friends and confederates
are digging a mine in order to reach him and bring
him back to life and liberty.

He listens attentively and thinks he hears a
dull, prolonged sound from the interior of the for-
tress ; he raises his head, and the breeze brings him
the rapid clang of the tocsin. The rolling of drums
is repeated like a signal of war along the ramparts.
He trembles and brushes the sweat convulsively
from his forehead. Will he soon be free ? Has
France changed her master ?

The dream vanishes ; reflection destroys the
illusion. Confederates he has no longer, and
friends he never possessed. He listens again. The
same noises strike his ear, but they bring far other
thoughts. This clang of the tocsin, this rolling of
the drum, are only the accustomed striking of a
clock, and the usual call which summons the sol-
diers of the citadel to their daily drill.

De Charney smiled bitterly and pitied himself

52 THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA.

to think that a tiny animal, a mole that had lost
its way, a field-mouse scratching up the earth
beneath his feet, had made him believe for an
instant in the fidelity of men and the overthrow
of a great empire.

He wished to satisfy himself, however, and bend-
ing down, he pushed away the earth on either side
of the cleft hillock. He saw then with astonish-
ment that his foolish emotion had been caused not
even by a sentient being, armed with claws and
teeth, but by a feeble plant, hardly able to germi-
nate, pale and languishing. Profoundly humiliated,
he rose and was about to crush it under his heel,
when a fresh breeze, laden with the odor of honey-
suckle and of syringa, blew across his face as if to
ask mercy for the poor plant, which perhaps some
day would also be able to offer him perfumes.

An idea struck him which arrested his movement
of disgust.

How had this tender herb, so fragile that it
might be broken at a touch, been able to pierce
the dry, sun-hardened earth, trodden by his foot-
steps, and almost cemented to the granite flags.
He bent again and examined the plant with more
attention.

He saw at its upper extremity a sort of double

THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA. 53

fleshy valve, which, embracing its first leaves, pre-
served them from the attacks of enemies, and gave
them the means of breaking through the hard
crust of earth to seek the air and the sun.

"Ah," he said, "there is the whole secret. Na-
ture has given it this strength, like the little
chickens, which, before they are hatched are al-
ready armed with a beak strong enough to break
the shell in which they are enclosed. Poor pris-
oner ! at least you possess in your captivity instru-
ments which will aid you to become free."

He looked at the plant and no longer thought
of destroying it.

The next day, in his usual promenade, walking
with* long strides and absorbed in his own thoughts,
he almost stepped upon it and stopped short.
Surprised by the interest which his new acquaint-
ance inspired in him, he noted its progress.

The plant had grown, and under the rays of the
sun had nearly lost the sickly pallor of the previous
day. He reflected on the power of this weak,
blanched stem to absorb the light, to nourish itself,
to strengthen itself, and to borrow from the prism
the colors which it needed, colors foreordained for
every one of its parts.

Its leaves, he thought, will doubtless be tinted

54 THE BIETH OF PICCIOLA.

with a different shade from its stem, and of what
color will the flowers be? Yellow, blue, red?
Why, since they are fed by the same juice as the
stem and leaves, do they not clothe themselves in
the same livery ? How can they find azure and
scarlet where the others find only a bright or dark
green ? It will be so, however ; for, in spite of the
disorder and confusion of the world, matter follows
its fixed, though blind march. " Very blind," he re-
peated. " To prove it I should only need to see that
the two fleshy lobes which have aided the plant to
leave the earth, but are now useless to its life, are
still nourished by its substance, and, hanging down,
weary it with their weight. Of what use are they
now ? " As he spoke, night was approaching, — a
wintry spring night. The two lobes rose slowly,
under his very eyes, and as if wishing to justify
themselves against his blame, approached each
other arid enclosed in their bosom the tender, frag-
ile leaves, which the sun was leaving, and which,
thus sheltered and warmed, slept beneath the pro-
tecting wings that the plant folded over them.1

1 This is perhaps the first allusion to the sleep of cotyledons. "Pic-
ciola" was published in 1856. Darwin, in " The Power of Movements in
Plants," published in 1880, investigates the subject, and concludes thus :
" Reflecting on these facts, our conclusion seems justified, that the
nyctitropic movements of cotyledons, by which the blade is made to

THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA. 55

The philosopher understood still better this mute
but decisive answer, because the outer surfaces of
the vegetable bivalve had been attacked and bitten
the night before by little snails, whose silvery
traces were still visible.

This strange discussion, thoughts on one side
and action on the other, between the man and the
plant, could not rest there. De Charney was too
familiar with metaphysics to be vanquished, so
readily by a good argument.

" Very well," he replied ; " here, as elsewhere, a
happy combination of circumstances has favored
this weak being. To be armed with a lever to
raise the soil, and a buckler to protect its tender
head, is a twofold condition of its existence. If
this had not been fulfilled, the plant would have
perished in its germ, like myriads of others of its
kind, that Nature has doubtless created imperfect,
unfinished, unable to live and grow. How can one
guess how many false and impotent combinations
she has tried before bearing a single being fitted
to live? For thousands of centuries matter has

stand either vertically, or almost vertically, upwards or downwards at
night, has been acquired, at least in most cases, for a special purpose:
nor can we doubt that this purpose is the protection of the upper sur-
face of the blade, and perhaps of the central bud or plumule, from
radiation at night."

56 THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA.

been torn by alternate attraction and repulsion.
Is it then surprising that chance has sometimes hit
the mark ? This covering may protect the first
leaves, — I grant it ; but will it increase, will it
shelter the other leaves against the cold and the
attacks of insects ? No. The next spring, when
another foliage will be born, fragile as this, will it
be here to protect that ? No. Nothing here has
been foreseen, nothing is the fruit of intelligent
thought, but only of a lucky chance."

Ah, Count de Charney, nature holds more than
one answer to refute your arguments. Wait, and
see in this weak and solitary plant, brought to you
in the dulness of your prison, a beneficent thought
of Providence rather than a stroke of chance.
These excrescences, in which you yourself have
divined a lever and a shield, have already rendered
other services to this feeble plant. After having
served it through the winter as a covering in the
cold soil, when the right time arrived they lent it
their nourishing breasts, they fed the simple germ
when it had neither roots to draw the moisture
from the earth, nor leaves to breathe the air and
the sun. You are right, Count de Charney ; these
protecting wings which now cover the young plant
£0 maternally will not develop with her ; they will

THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA. 57

fall, but after having finished their task and when
their charge has acquired the strength to do with-
out them. Do not trouble yourself about the
future. Nature watches over this plant, as over
her sisters, and while the northern winds bring
the snow and hail from the Alps, the new leaves,
still in the bud, will find there a sure refuge, an
asylum made especially for them, closed from the
air, covered with gum and resin, that expands
according to their needs, and opens only at the
right time, under a favorable sky. They will issue
clad in warm furs, silky garments of down that
will defend them from the late frosts and atmos-
pheric caprices. Has ever a mother watched more
carefully the welfare of her children ?

The philosopher had followed attentively the
progress and transformations of the plant. Again
and again he had argued with her, and for every
argument she had her answer.

" Of what use are these stiff hairs that clothe
your stem ? " he asked her.

And the next day she showed them to him cov-
ered with a light frost, which, held thus at a dis-
tance, had not been able to freeze the tender bark.

" Of what use in fine weather will be your warm
covering of wool and down.?"

58 THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA.

The fine weather came, and the plant took off
her winter mantle to put on her spring garment of
green, and her new branches were without these
silky coverings, henceforth useless.

" But if the storm rage, the wind will break you,
and the hail will tear your leaves, too tender to
resist."

The wind blew, and the young plant, too weak
to resist, bent to the earth, defending itself by
yielding. The hail came, and by a new manoeuvre,
the leaves, ranging themselves along the stem and
pressing one against the other for mutual protec-
tion, offered their solid ribs to the weight of the
missiles. Union gave them strength, and this time,
as before, the plant came out of the combat, not
without some light wounds, but living, strong, and
ready to expand under the rays of the sun, which
was already healing its injuries.

"Is chance, then, intelligent?" cried De Charney.
" Must we spiritualize matter or materialize spirit ? "
And he did not cease to interrogate his mute in-
terlocutor. He loved to see her grow, to follow
her in her gradual changes.

One day, after he had long contemplated her, he
fell into a reverie by her side, and his thoughts had
an unusual sweetness. Walking up and down the

THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA. 59

court, he felt calm and happy in them. Then,
raising his head, he saw at the grated window the
flycatcher, who seemed to be observing him. He
blushed at first as if the other had guessed his
thoughts, and then smiled, for he despised his
neighbor no longer. Had he the right to do so ?
Was not his spirit, also, absorbed in the study of
one of the lowest works of nature ?

"Who knows," he cried to himself, "if this
Italian has not found as many wonders in a fly as
I have discovered in my plant ? "

Entering his cell, the first thing which caught his
eye was this fatalistic sentence, written by himself
upon the wall two months before : Chance is blind
and is the sole author of creation.

He took a bit of charcoal arid wrote beneath the
words, perhaps.

60 ROOT AND CKOWN.

VI.

ROOT AND CROWN.1
THE GUIDING OF RAINWATER TO THE ROOTLETS.

ANY ONE who has been overtaken by a sudden
storm, and has taken refuge under the branches of
a tree, will remember that the leafy roof above
him afforded him shelter for a time, and that the
ground under the tree did not become wet. A
part of the rain, to be sure, runs down the tree
trunk, and in many kinds of trees, as, for instance,
the Yew and the Plane, this quantity is not insig-
nificant ; but in most trees, the rainwater that thus
reaches the earth quickly disappears, and is hardly
to be compared with the amount that pours from
the circumference of the leafy crown of the tree.
This effect is brought about by the position of the
surfaces of the leaves. In almost all our deciduous
trees, in the Linden and Birch, Pear and Apple,
Plane and Maple, Ash and Horse-chestnut, Poplar
and Alder, the leaves of the crown slope outwards

1 Freely translated from the German of Dr. A. Kerner von Mari-
laun. " Pflanzenleben." Leipzig, 1888. Vol. I. p. 85.

ROOT AND CROWN. 61

and lap over each other, so that the rain which
strikes on any one of the upper leaves of the tree
runs down to the apex of the leaf, where it collects
in the form of a drop, and falls on the shelving
surface of a leaf below. There it unites with
freshly fallen water, and so descends from step to
step, drawing ever nearer to the edge of the tree,
till it finally shows itself in a number of little
cascades on every side.

From the lower, outer leaves of the whole crown
the water falls on the earth, and the dry ground
under the tree is enclosed after every rain by a
zone of thoroughly wet soil. If we dig in these
wet places, we find that the young roots with their
absorbing fibrils have penetrated just as far as this
wet zone. In young trees, where the rootlets are
near the tree trunk, the crown is less spreading
and the wet zone is of correspondingly small cir-
cumference. But as the reach of the drip widens,
the roots, seeking moisture, also extend, and roots
and leaves actually keep step in their outward
growth. It seems to me probable that the gar-
dener's custom of pruning the branches and roots
of the trees which he transplants is for the purpose
of bringing them into accordance with this law.
Practically, the gardener or farmer always observes

62 ROOT AND CROWN.

the rule that the branches of the root and the
branches of the crown shall be equally shortened,
so that the forming roots shall be directly under
the drip of the forming crown.

There is also a similar way of carrying off the
water to be observed in the Evergreens. Let us
look at the common Pine.1 The branches start
nearly at right angles with the trunk, run out
horizontally for some distance, and then curve
upwards in the form of a bow. The needles near
the end of every branch point upwards, while those
a little further from the end, where the branch is
almost horizontal, are directed obliquely down-
wards and outwards. The raindrops which strike
the upraised needles run down along them to the
bark of the branch, and thence to other needles
with their points directed downwards and out-
wards. On the ends of these needles great drops
are gradually formed, which finally drop off and
fall on the upraised needles of a lower branch.
Guided in this manner, the rainwater is brought
ever lower and lower, and at the same time towards
the exterior of the tree.

So it is with the Larch. The raindrops which
fall on the bushy young sprouts collect and come

1 The common Pine in Germany is the Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris).

ROOT AND CEOWN. 63

gradually to the long, pendent shoots of the lower
branches, where great drops are always to be seen
on the ends pointed to the ground. These drops
finally make a stream which falls on the earth.
The long, pendent shoots of the Larch droop from
the outmost point of every branch, and the tree is
in the form of a pyramid, so that nearly all the
water that falls upon the tree reaches the long
shoots that hang down from the lowest, most
extended branches. Although the Larch, with its
tender needles, does not seem as if it would afford
shelter from the rain, nevertheless, the ground
under it remains dry, and most of the rainwater
falling on it is brought to the circumference of the
tree. In fact, it is one of those trees where very
little water runs down the main stem ; almost all
the rain which reaches it is guided to the rootlets
at a certain distance from the trunk.

Many shrubs and perennial herbs also guide the
rainwater to that part of the soil in which the
rootlets are embedded, or, to be more precise, the
roots, with their delicate fibrils, grow in the direc-
tion where the drip from the leaves moistens the
ground. Some members of the Arum family are
especially striking in this respect. Fig. 10 repre-
sents a Caladium. If one of these plants, which has

64 KOOT AND CKOWN.

been cultivated in open ground, be dug up, the
ends of the roots, which run out horizontally from
the stubby rootstock, will be found embedded di-
rectly under the points of the large leaves.

It must not remain unnoticed that the petioles
of leaves which lead the rainwater centrifugally,
as the leaves of Horse-chestnut and Maple, of shrubs
like the Lilac, and of climbing plants like the Tro-
paeolum,1 are not channelled on the upper side, but
are round and smooth. If a sloping leaf shows a
system of channels for the water, these channels
run along the veins and end at the apex of the
leaves, or at the points of the lobes. There the
water collects in the form of drops, and must fall
on the leaves which make the succeeding lower
and outer steps.

In striking contrast to these plants, with leaves
sloping outwards and roots spreading horizontally,
are those with bulbs or short rootstocks and de-
scending rootlets. This contrast in the growth of
the root is shown in Fig. 10, 1 and 2. Above the
ground it is foretold by the form and position of the
leaves on which the rainwater strikes. In all these
plants the leaf surfaces slope towards the axis.

1 When several examples of plants, illustrating a single point, are
given, the liberty has been taken of choosing those only which are well-
known in America. — ED.

KOOT AND CROWN. 65

They are also concave on their upper side, and
often show a system of channels which guides the
water to the stem, and thence to the tap-root and
short absorbing rootlets. The leaves of bulbous

FIG. 10. CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTRIPETAL CONDUCTING OF WATER.
I. In a Caladium. 2. In a Rhubarb Plant. (" Pflanzenleben,")

plants, like those of the Hyacinth and Tulip, all
slope inward and are concave on the upper side,
and often excavated into deep channels. Through
these channels the rainwater runs, and so reaches
that part of the earth where the bulb with its

66 EOOT AND CKOWN.

mass of rootlets is embedded. In plants with root-
stocks, if the leaves are in a rosette and the rosette
lies on the ground, as with the Dandelion, Plantain,
etc., a channel or several main channels are to be
found on the upper side of the leaf, and the leaves
are always so arranged that the rainwater, falling
on the rosette, must flow towards the centre, from
which the root runs perpendicularly downwards.
If plants which guide the rainwater centripetally
have petioled leaves, they have also a distinct chan-
nel on the upper side of the leaf-stalk, which is
often deepened by the growth of a green border,
or sometimes a dry border, on both edges. The
channels on the stems of the radical leaves of
Rhubarb (Fig. 10), Beet, Peony, and most Violets
are especially interesting.

The arrangements of plants with caul in e leaves
for carrying off the water are much more compli-
cated. When leaves on a stem high above the
ground catch rainwater, as the Rhubarb does, they
can keep their position better if their bases are
joined directly to the stem, or clasp it. If such
leaves were placed on long, upright stalks, they
would require an immense bulwark of supporting
cells, and, therefore, they are rarely petioled.
Among well-known plants we can only name some

ROOT AND CROWN. 67

Pelargoniums (as P. zonale, House-Geranium). In
most cases cauline leaves which lead the water
centripetally are either sessile or short-stalked, and
often clasp the stem with lobes or auricles.

If the leaves are opposite and decussating, the
water is usually carried down in two channels,
which run along the stem from one pair of leaves
to the next. . . .

When the leaves are not opposite, but are ar-
ranged in a spiral, the water filters down the spiral
from leaf to leaf. Many Thistles show this flowing
off of the water along a spiral line very beautifully.
With little grains of shot we may imitate the
action of the raindrops, and by this means see very
plainly, in plants with firm leaves, the path natu-
rally taken by the falling drops. Such grains of
shot dropped upon a growing plant of Alfredia
(Fig. II),1 will roll down over the concave surface
of the upper leaf, and strike the stem which the
leaf clasps. Then, rolling over a lobe of the base
of the leaf, it will fall on the middle of the surface
of the leaf below, because the clasping auricles of
each leaf lie over the middle of the next lower
leaves. Thence the grains of shot fall on the third
leaf, and so on, till they reach the earth close to

1 The Alfredia is a kind of thistle (Carduus cernuus).

BOOT AND CKOWK.

the stem. The raindrops naturally follow the
same path as the shot, but in their case not only

FIG. II. GUIDING OF THE RAINWATER.
I. In the Alfredia (I). 2. In the Mullein (Verbascum phlomoides). (" Pflanzenleben.")

the first leaf, but every leaf, is covered with drops,
and thus the stream, flowing from leaf to leaf, is

ROOT AND CROWN. 69

continually reinforced and becomes greater and
greater. . . .

A slightly different method of guiding the rain-
water may be seen in the Mullein (Fig. II).1 The
upper leaves, half clasping the stem, are upright,
like those of the Alfredia^ and guide the water
downward in the same way. But the leaves in
the middle portion of the stem are only upright
for two- thirds of their length. The upper third is
recurved, and the rain which falls on this upper
third drops from the points of the leaves, and
would thus seem to run off centrifugally. But the
shape of the plant is a slender pyramid, as the
leaves grow continually smaller towards the top of
the stem, and the water drops from the apex of
one leaf to the portion of the next lower leaf which
slopes inward, and thus leads the water centrip-
etally. In this way, the whole of the rainwater
falling on such a plant finally reaches the neighbor-
hood of the tap-root, and is used to the best ad-
vantage by the rootlets proceeding from it. ...

1 Our species of Mullein, Veibascum thapsus, carries off the rain-
water in the same manner. An experimenter has told me that it is
necessary to cultivate plants by themselves in order to see this relation
in the position of leaves and rootlets, for in the woods and fields so
many conditions enter into the result that the growth of the roots may
be determined by other causes. — ED.

70 ROOT AND CROWN.

The guiding of the water to the rootlets is of
the greatest importance, for the water is not only
absorbed by them, but is carried, as we shall see
later, over the whole plant. . . .

In the building up of the molecules of sugar, of
starch, of cellulose, and of all important substances
out of which the plant is formed, the atoms of
water are used as building stones, and without
water no growth could take place. From this
point of view water must be regarded as an indis-
pensable foodstuff of plants, no less than the car-
bonic acid of the air. Water, however, plays
another weighty part in the life of the plant. The
mineral salts which nourish water-plants, earth-
plants, and air-plants, as well as the organized food
on which parasitic plants feed, can be taken up
only in solutions. The salts can pass through the
cells only when their walls are saturated with
water, and must be dissolved in water in order to
be brought into the interior of the plant wherever
they are needed. Water acting in this capacity in
living plants is to be regarded as the motive power.
As the mill by the brook works only when its
wheels are put in motion by the water, so the
living, growing plant demands a great quantity of
available water in order that its complicated life

ROOT AND CKOWN. 71

processes may be carried on. This water will not
be chemically bound, like that which is used in
food, and will not long be retained. We must con-
ceive that water is continually streaming through
the living plant. In the course of a summer, an
amount of water passes through the plant which
many times exceeds its weight. The water which
is chemically united with the organic compounds
of the plant, is extremely slight in comparison
with that used in carrying its food materials. . . .
It is therefore plain, as water is a necessary
food, and is needful in transporting other food
materials, that a sufficient supply is indispensable
to the life of the plant.1

1 " Pflanzenleben," I. pp. 199, 200.

72 TKEES IX WLNTEK.

VII.

TREES JN WINTER.

IN Northern America we rejoice in a yearly
spectacle which exceeds in richness and variety
of color any other forest scene in the world. As
September advances, the Swamp Maples and Su-
machs clothe themselves in flaming red ; then the
Elms, Birches, Chestnuts, and, later, the Beeches,
imitate the sunshine ; lastly, the Oaks turn with
a variety of rich, deep hues, which are the most
beautiful and satisfying of all. The reason of
this brilliancy of coloring, so much more strik-
ing than the woods of Europe, is not understood,
although it is often attributed to the greater
dryness of the climate.

It is a common mistake to suppose that the
coloring of autumn leaves is due to frost. In
mild seasons the trees are often completely turned
before the thermometer has once sunk below the
freezing-point. The first change of color is a sure
sign that the tree is preparing for the winter, and

TREES IN WINTER. 73

that a change in the cell-contents of the leaves
has begun.1

The process of making food is carried on in
these leaf-cells. " They are the factories where
starch, or something very similar, is made." 2 The
raw material brought from the ground is here
changed into food, on which plants and animals
can live. Throughout the summer food has been
constantly made and carried from the leaves to
other parts of the plant, where it has been used
for food, or stored as a reserve for the future.
When this activity ceases, and the leaves fall from
the tree, it would be a great waste of valuable
material if all the food contained in their cells
were to be lost. Nature permits no such waste.
In autumn, when the life of the leaf is nearly
at an end, its food materials are withdrawn and
deposited in the stem and branches, for use in the
following spring. This withdrawal is preceded by
the breaking up of the contents of the cells. The
chlorophyll — the green coloring-matter of the
leaves — is decomposed ; and the products of this
change, together with the starch and other food

1 Sachs, "Die Entleerung der Blatter ira Herbst." Flora. 1863.
p. 200.

2 " Concerning a Few Common Plants." By G. L. Goodale. Bos-
ton : D. C. Heath & Co. 1886. p. 30.

74

TREES IN WINTER.

materials, are taken into the interior of the tree.
A little yellow or red coloring-matter is left behind,
and it is this which gives the leaves their bright
hues. When they finally fall, they are mere dead

FIG. 12. FALL OF THE LEAF. HORSECHESTNUT. (" Pflanzenleben.")

husks, emptied of nourishment, and of no further
use to the plant.

When the leaf falls, a scar is left behind. In
plants with compound leaves, like the Horsechest-
nut or the Ash, there is a similar scar at the base
of each leaflet (Fig. 12). The process which causes

TREES IN WINTER. 75

the fall is a curious and interesting one, and it
begins very early in the life of the leaf. At the
base of each leaf-stalk a layer of cells is formed
which gradually cuts across the whole petiole, and
finally completely separates the leaf from its stalk,
so that a gust of wind, or the mere weight of the
leaf, is sufficient to cause it u> fall. The walls of
the cells of this separating layer generally become
thickened and waterproof before the leaf falls, so
that the scar is already healed.

This process, then, is one that is a part of the
life-history of the leaf, and is not caused by
changes in temperature. In climates where the
plants are active during the entire year, the leaves
fall gradually. As new leaves are formed, the
old are dispensed with, and there is never a time
when the plants are leafless. But in our climate
most of the trees and shrubs are leafless for a
large portion of the year. This is a provision
which enables the plants to live through a long
period of cold. By the loss of their leaves, and
the withdrawal into safe places of all their food
materials, the plants are able to survive uninjured.
The fall of the leaves is hastened, although not
caused, by the cold. We do not understand ex-
actly why the leaves all fall at once ; we can only

76 TREES IN WINTER.

say, that in our climate, probably those plants
have survived and increased which were so con-
stituted that a long period of rest succeeded a
season of active work.1

In countries where a wet season is followed by
a hot, dry season, the plants lose their leaves when
the heat begins. Thus excessive cold and exces-
sive heat produce the same effect.

Another advantage to the plants in losing their
leaves is the lessened resistance which the tree
presents to storms, and especially to snow. The
weight of the winter snows would break the trees
if the leaves were obliged to carry such a load.
We sometimes see trees badly injured in this way
by a premature snowstorm.

Now that the trees are divested of their sum-
mer dress, we see that the provision for the next
season's garment has been already made. There
are the buds thickly studding the branches. Look
at the strong Horsechestnut buds, with their resin-
ous, waterproof covering, and think of the won-
derful sleep of the leaves within, wrapped in their
woollen blankets, and awaiting only the warmth
and moisture of spring to burst into renewed vigor
(Fig. 13). After one has studied naked branches,

1 "Pflanzenleben/'I.p. 329.

TREES IN WINTER.

77

FIG. 13. HORSECHESTNUT.
Branch in Winter State. 2. An Expanding Leaf- Bud. 3. Same, more advanced.

78 TKEES IN WINTER.

the trees become as beautiful and as distinctive in
their winter clothing as when they are leafy and
green.

If we examine a branch early in the summer,
we shall find that the growth of the next season's
buds has already begun. At the ends of the
branches and in the leaf-axils the new buds are
forming, to be completed and covered with some
protective envelope in the fall. Through the bitter
winter they remain thus, safely covered from wet,
and protected from the changes of the season.
Let us examine some of the protective contriv-
ances of the buds.

Many leaves in the bud are invested completely
in a garment of wool or down, which is a non-
conductor, and saves them from being exposed to
sudden changes. Young Horsechestnut leaves are
thus densely clothed with wool, and the young
leaves of the Beech are covered with silky hairs
(Fig. 19). Sometimes the bud-scales are lined with
down, as are the inner scales of the Red Maple.

The buds are usually covered by scales, which
consist of leaves, stipules, or flower-stalks, modi-
fied for the purpose of protection. In the Lilac the
scales pass so gradually into leaves, that it is hard
to draw any distinction between them (Fig. 14).

TREES IN WINTER. 79

The scales of the Elm, the Beech, the Tulip-tree
(Fig. 18), and Magnolia are stipules, and those of
the Horsechestnut are modified leaf-stalks. In all

I. Branch in Winter State (reduced). 2. Same, less reduced. 3. Branch, with Leaf-Buds
expanded. 4. Series in a Single Bud, showing the Gradual Transition from Scales to
Leaves.

these cases the outer scales have become thickened
and hardened, so as the better to protect the bud.
Often they are covered with resinous or waxy

80 TKEES IN WINTER.

matter to keep out the wet more effectually, as in
the Horsechestnut. The Balm-of-Gilead has bud-
scales thickly covered with a yellow substance,
which is strongly aromatic.

Occasionally we find a plant with naked buds,
like the Hobble-bush ( Viburnum lantanoides). This
plant contrives to live without any covering at all
for its buds.

The shape of a tree is better seen in winter
than at any other time. There is then nothing
to hide its outline, and the student of nature will
find nothing more admirable than these tree-forms.
He will admire them none the less because he
.connects the growth of the buds with the form of
the tree, and understands how the position, the
number, the non-development of some buds, and
the rapid growth of others have affected the shape
of the tree.

He sees that after the Elm has attained a certain
height the terminal buds are uniformly undevel-
oped, and that the axillary buds are exceedingly
numerous. This makes the branches dissolve into
many shoots, and these into finer spray, and helps
to give the tree its exquisite grace (Fig. 15) . When
he looks at the rough bough of a Horsechestnut,
he recognizes that the flower-clusters have contin-

TBEES IN WINTER.

81

FIG. 15. ELM TREE IN WINTER.

82 TREES IN WINTER.

ually_interrupted the growth of the branch, and
that another bud has grown from a leaf-axil to
supply its place ; while in the straight branches of
the Beech the terminal bud has carried on each
bough year after year. He knows that the rough-
ness of the apple and cherry twigs (Fig. 16) are
due to the multiplication of bud and leaf scars,
caused by the very small yearly growth ; and that
the Lilac-bush is continually forked because the
axillary buds have grown and the terminal bud
has been suppressed (Fig. 14). And this under-
standing of the ways of growth should open his
eyes the more to the variety and beauty they
create.

When the winter is safely passed, the first per-
ceptible change that takes place in the tree is the
conversion of the dry, starchy food materials stored
in the branches into a sugary sap.1 This chemical
change is largely brought about by the absorption
of water. The liquid thus produced occupies a
greater space than did the dry starch, and causes

1 "The stimulus to the movements of material, however, is always
given by the growth of the young organs. The buds of a tree put
forth shoots in the spring by no means because the nutritive sap enters
into them, as people are in the habit of saying, but exactly the reverse :
the nutritive matters are set in motion because the buds begin to
grow." Sachs, " Lectures on the Physiology of Plants," p. 364.

TREES IN WINTER.

83

a pressure which forces the sap into every twig of
the tree. The most fa-
miliar illustration of the
flow of sap in the spring
is the Sugar-Maple. The
pressure of the sap forces
a stream of liquid to flow
from holes bored in the
bark of the tree. The old
idea that the sap descends
into the root of a tree in
the fall, and rises in the
spring, is erroneous.

Then follows the most
striking phenomenon of
the whole year. The mild
days come. The supply of food in
the twigs is drawn up by the buds ;
they swell, they burst, and the leaves
begin to expand. A single week
has wrought a miracle whose wonder
never grows less. It has always
been the symbol of spiritual renewal
and the source of poetry, and it will
ever be so, however far we may trace
the physical causes of the change.

FIG. 16. BRANCH
OF CHERRY.

84 YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES.

VIII.

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES.1

OBSERVE a young leaf which has just raised
itself above the ground, or one still half hidden
between the cotyledons of a seedling, or lying
within the opening scales of a bud. The very part
which performs the functions peculiar to the leaf,
breathing out water and producing organized sub-
stances, is far behind in its development ; while
the ribs stand strongly out, the green tissue is
entirely immature. It is not merely that the ex-
tent of surface is small, but the skin of the leaf
is not really formed ; the outer walls of the epi-
dermal cells are not protected by cork, are neither
water-tight nor impenetrable by water-vapor. This
unprotected green tissue would soon become dry
if spread out to the sunshine and the wind. The
conditions are the same whether the young leaf
has just pushed out of the ground, or is expanding
from a bud, or pressing out from between the

1 Translated from the German of Dr. A. Kerner von Marilaun.
" Pflanzenleben." Vol. I. p. 321.

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES- 85

cotyledons. It takes some time for the parts
which hold the green tissue to develop fully, and
therefore it requires very effective protective con-
trivances to allow the young leaves, exposed to
the changes of the weather, to grow normally and
form unhurt their green, transpiring tissue. These
contrivances are sometimes peculiar to young,
undeveloped leaves ; sometimes they may also be
observed in full-grown leaves.

The diminution of the extent of the upper sur-
face, which is directly exposed to the air and the
wind, the vertical position of the leaves, and the
covering of the green tissue under a protecting
mantle are the most important means of defence.

The small amount of surface exposed to the air
and sun is necessitated by the position of the leaf
in the bud. In the bud the room is very limited,
and the leaves are packed tightly into this room,
so that their surfaces are rolled, folded, or crumpled.
This is also an advantage when they emerge to
the light of day : it prevents the green tissue from
becoming dry, is continued until other protective
appliances are formed, and remains in some cases
throughout the life of the plant.

Many leaves are rolled in the bud, especially
in bulbous plants. The midrib, or often quite a

86 YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES.

wide strip in the middle of the leaf, remains flat,
but the margins are rolled up, sometimes on the
upper, sometimes on the under side. The side on
which the stomata are most numerous and the
green, transpiring tissue is pierced with air-pas-
sages, is always concave. In the Crocus the two
margins are rolled outwards and united by a broad,
white, flat stripe, and in the Star-of-Bethlehem
(Ornithogalum), whose leaves are marked with a
similar white stripe, the halves are rolled inwards.
In the Crocus the stomata are on the under side,
in the Star-of-Bethlehem on the upper side of the
leaf. The young leaves of Ferns are also rolled
together, but the midrib, instead of being flat, is
rolled inward spirally, like a watch spring, so that
the green segments, springing from either side of
the midrib, are packed closely one upon the other.
Less common than leaves which are rolled are
those which are crumpled in the bud. Here the
netted veins make a firm trellis work, or grating,
in the meshes of which the green tissue of the
leaf appears as if blistered, and the whole leaf
has the effect of a crumpled cloth. This is called
corrugate or crumpled vernation. Especially strik-
ing in this respect are the young leaves of many
species of Dock (Rumex), Rhubarb (Rheum), and

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES. 87

some Primroses (Primula). A leaf is often both
crumpled and rolled, the crumpled leaves having
their margins rolled up in the bud.

The commonest kind of vernation is folding.
In this form the ribs are flat, and only the green
tissue between the ribs lies in folds. The manner
of folding varies according to the form and dis-
tribution of the ribs of the leaf. When the leaf
has many radial ribs, like the Lady's Mantle
(Alchemilla, Fig. 177), the leaf is folded in the bud
like a fan. The ribs, which in the full-grown leaf
diverge like rays, lie side by side, and the tissue,
which eventually is stretched out flat, makes deep
folds, pressed one upon the other. If each of the
ribs makes the midrib of a segment, as in Five-
finger (Potentilla) and Oxalis (Fig. 178), the fold-
ing is the same ; each leaflet is folded along the
midrib like a sheet of paper, and these folded leaf-
lets lie together like the sheets of paper in a box.

When the leaves are feather-veined and the leaf-
lets are opposite each other on a common stalk,
like the leaves of Rose and Walnut (Fig. 173' 4),
they are folded together along the midrib and laid
one upon the other. In the Rose the common stalk
is so short in the bud that the leaflets all seem to
come from the same point like the Potentilla. In

88

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES.

most Maple leaves the folding is not along the
ribs, but along the short side nerves. Between
these large folds are smaller ones, and so this form

FIG. 17. VERNATION.

I, 2, of the Cherry (Prunus Avium); 3, 4, of the Walnut (Juglans regia); 5, 6, of the Snow-
ball (Viburnum Lantana); 7, of the Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris); 8, of the
Wood-Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella). (" Pflanzenleben.")

of vernation makes a connecting link with corru-
gate vernation.

The folding of the leaves of the Beech, the Oak,
and many other plants is peculiar. Every leaf has

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES, 89

a midrib with the veins running out on either side,
like the bones on the vertebral column of a fish.
The green tissue makes deep folds between these
veins, which lie upon each other like the folds of
a fan (Fig. 19). The folding is different in the
Cherry (Fig. IT' 2). Every leaf is folded along the
midrib in the bud, and remains so for some time
after it has expanded. The two halves lie so close
together and cover each other so perfectly, that at
first sight they appear to be one. Besides this,
they are firmly united by a balsam-like substance.
They are also always erect in this stage of their
development, which brings us to another contriv-
ance which can be observed in young, undeveloped
leaves.

We may affirm that except in the case of a
few corrugate forms, the surfaces of young leaves,
whether escaping from the earth, the cotyledons, or
the bud, are never parallel with the ground. The
green, transpiring, tender parts, especially, have
always at first a vertical position, and their sur-
faces are turned sideways, as in stems which serve
the purpose of leaves (pliyllodadia and phyllodia 1),

1 These are stems or petioles which serve as leaves. Myrsiphyllum,
known in our greenhouses as Smilax, is an example of a branch acting
the part of a leaf, and in Acacia the adult foliage is formed of leaf-
stalks.

90 YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES.

the equitant leaves of Iris, the leaves of the Com-
pass Plant,1 and the folded leaves of Grasses in
dry weather. Either the whole outspread or
rolled surface of the leaf is erect, as in most
bulbous plants, or the midrib of the leaf may be
bent towards the horizon. In the latter case, the
two margins make a single edge, turned away
from the rays of the midday sun, as in some Grasses
(Glyceria, Poo) and in the Cherry-tree. Some-
times the petiole is upright, and the tender tissue
is drawn down over it like a shut umbrella, as in
Podophyllum, and several of the Crowfoot family.
In the Horsechestnut the folded segments of the
leaves issuing from the bud are upright ; then they
droop, so that their points are directed to the
earth ; and later, when their epidermis is more
thickened, they raise themselves again till they
are nearly parallel with the ground. Sometimes
the upward-growing petiole is bent over in the
form of a bow, and the folded leaves hang verti-
cally on the curved end, as in the common Oxalis
(Oxalis acetosella) and many other plants (Fig.
178).

1 The blades of the Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum) take a
vertical position, by the leaves making a half twist. On the prairies
the direction of the leaves is usually north and south.

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES. 91

Screens and coverings of various kinds are an-
other form of protection for the tender undeveloped
parts of young leaves. This covering is usually
formed of stipules, which in Beeches, Lindens,
Oaks, Magnolias, and many other plants are mem-
branaceous, pale, and almost destitute of chlo-
rophyll. They form scales, which envelop the
young leaves pressing from the bud, which they
often protect from the rays of the sun. When
the leaf has outgrown this covering and needs it
no longer, the scales wither, detach themselves,
and fall to the ground. In Oak and Beech woods
as soon as the leaves have reached their normal
size, millions of such scales, which are called by
botanists " deciduous stipules," may be found.
Very deciduous are the stipules of the Tulip-tree
(Fig. 18), a kind of Magnolia, native in North
America, but now cultivated in every part of
Europe. The stipules are large, scaly, and placed
together in pairs, so as to form a sort of sack. In
this membranaceous, somewhat transparent sack
is enclosed the young leaf, whose stalk is bent over
upon itself, and whose blade is folded along the
midrib, like the leaf of Cherry. The leaf grows
there, as if in a little hothouse, till the cells of its
skin are so thick that there is no more danger of

92

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES.

its becoming dried up. Then the sack opens, the
two scaly stipules fall apart, shrivel, and finally

Fig. 18. VERNATION OF THE TULIP-TREE (Liriodendron Tulipifera).
(" Pflanzenleben.")

fall off. There remain only two scars at the base
of the leaf-stalk to remind us that here in spring
were two stipules, which protected the tender young
leaves from too great evaporation of water.

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES. 93

The coats of resin that often appear on young
leaves also preserve them from too great evapora-
tion, and when the leaf is fully expanded and the
skin has become thickened, they finally disappear.
It is a great protection for the leaves just escaped
from the bud to be clothed with hairs. In a great
many plants the leaves are only hairy in the begin-
ning of their development. The Silver Poplar, the
Pear, and the Mountain Ash are examples of this.
The leaves of the Horsechestnut are thickly cov-
ered with wool when they push forth from the
brown scales which they have forced apart, but
they lose this wool in the coarse of the spring so
completely, that in the full-grown leaves its former
presence could only be guessed by a few shreds
which hang here and there upon them. In the
Beech (Facjus sylvatica, Fig. 19) the garment of
the young leaves is formed of silky hairs, and
their position and action are so peculiar that it is
worth the trouble to examine the leaf more closely.
At the first glance the young Beech leaf appears
to be entirely clothed with silk on its under side,
but on looking more closely, the silky hairs are
to be found only on the margin and the side ribs,
while the green tissue of the leaf is not hairy,
but in fact perfectly bare. But as the green tissue

94

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES.

of the leaf lies in deep folds, the ribs are brought
very near together, and the long, silky hairs on
one rib project far over the next, so that the fur-
rows between are covered, and the effect of a leaf
clothed wholly with silk is produced. There can

FIG. 19. VERNATION OF THE BEECH.

I. Bud beginning to expand. 2. Same, more advanced, showing the Leaves between the
Scales. 3. Same, still more developed. 4. Back of a Young Beech Leaf, showing
the Plicate Folding. 5. A Part of the Same Leaf, showing the Silky Hairs. 6. Upper
Surface of Unfolded Leaf ; the Stipules withered and about to fall. 7. Cross-Section
of Leaf, perpendicular to the Midrib. 8. Vertical Section, parallel to the Midrib.
(" Pflanzenleben.")

be no doubt about the meaning of these hairs ; they
protect the tissue from the rays of the sun until
the epidermis is sufficiently thickened. After this
thickening has taken place, the folds straighten,

YOUNG AND OLD LEAVES. 95

the leaf takes a horizontal instead of a vertical
position, the lower side is turned away from the
sun, and the role of the hairs is completed. They
are now superfluous and drop off, or remain withered
and meaningless.

96 LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

IX.

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.1

MR. RUSKIN, in one of his most exquisite pas-
sages, has told us that " Flowers seem intended
for the solace of ordinary humanity : children
love them ; tender, contented, ordinary people
love them. They are the cottager's treasure ;
and, in the crowded town, mark, as with a little
broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the
workers in whose heart rests the covenant of
peace." I should be ungrateful, indeed, did I not
fully feel the force of this truth ; but it will be
admitted that the beauty of our woods and fields
is due at least as much to foliage as to flowers.

In the words of the same author, " The leaves
of the herbage at our feet take all kinds of
strange shapes, as if to invite us to examine
them, — star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped,
arrow-shaped, fretted, fringed, cleft, furrowed,
serrated, sinuated, in whorls, in tufts, in spires,

1 "Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves." By Sir John Lubbock. Macmillan
& Co. London, 1886. p. 97.

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. 97

in wreaths, endlessly expressive, deceptive, fan-
tastic, never the same from footstock to blossom,
they seem perpetually to tempt our watchfulness
and take delight in outstripping our wonder."

Now, why is this marvellous variety, this inex-
haustible treasury of beautiful forms ? Does it
result from some innate tendency of each species ?
Is it intentionally designed to delight the eye of
man ? Or has the form, and size, and texture
some reference to the structure and organization,
the habits, and requirements, of the whole plant ?

I do not propose now to discuss any of the
more unusual and abnormal forms of leaves ; . . .
I propose, rather, to ask you to consider the struc-
ture, and especially the forms, of the common,
every-day leaves of our woods and fields. . . .

In the first place, let us consider the size of the
leaf. On what does it depend? In herbs we
very often see the leaves decrease towards the end
of the shoot; while in trees the leaves, though
not identical, are much more uniform in size.

Again, if we take a twig of Hornbeam, we shall
find that the six terminal leaves have together an
area of about 14 square inches, and the section of
the twig has a diameter of .06 of an inch. In the
Beech the leaves are rather larger, six of them

98 LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

having an area of perhaps 18 inches ; and, corre-
sponding with this greater leaf-surface, we find
that the twig is somewhat stouter, say .09 of an
inch. Following this up we shall find that, cceteris
paribus, the size of the leaf has a relation to the
thickness of the stem. This is clearly shown in
the following table : —

Diameter of Stem Approximate Area of Six
in Inches. Upper Leaves in Inches.

Hornbeam 06 14

Beech 09 18

Elm . . . . . . .11 34

Nut 13 55

Sycamore 13 60

Lime 14 60

Chestnut 15 72

Mountain Ash 16 60

Elder 18 93

Ash 18 100

Walnut 25 220

Ailanthus ..... .30 240

Horsechestnut .... .30 300

In the Elm the numbers are .11 and 34, in the
Chestnut .15 and 72, and in the Horsechestnut
the stem has a thickness of .3, and the six leaves
have an area often of 300 square inches. Of
course, however, these numbers are only approxi-
mate. Many things have to be taken into con-

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. 99

sideration. Strength, for instance, is an important
element. Thus the Ailanthus, with a stem equal
in thickness to that of the Horsechestnut, carries
a smaller area of leaves ; perhaps because it is less
compact. Again, the weight of the leaves must
doubtless be taken into consideration. Thus, in
some sprays of Ash and Elder of equal diameter,
which I examined, the former bore the larger ex-
panse of leaves. Not only, however, is the stem
of the Elder less compact, but the Elder leaves,
though not so large, were quite as heavy, if not,
indeed, a little heavier. I was for some time puz-
zled by the fact that, while the terminal shoot of
the Spruce is somewhat thicker than that of the
Scotch Fir, the leaves are not much more than a
third as long. May this not, perhaps, be due to
the fact that they remain on the tree more than
twice as long, so that the total leaf -area borne by
the branch is greater, though the individual leaves
are shorter ? Again, it will be observed that the
leaf-area of the Mountain Ash is small compared
to the stem ; and it may, perhaps, not be unrea-
sonable to suggest that this may be connected
with the habit of the tree to grow in bleak and
exposed situations. The position of the leaves,
the direction of the bough, and many other ele-

106 LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

merits, would have also to be taken into consideraj
tion ; but still it seems clear that there is a corre-
spondence between thickness of stem and size of
leaf. This ratio, moreover, when taken in rela-
tion with the other conditions of the problem, has,
as we shall see, a considerable bearing not only on
the size, but also on the form, of the leaf. . . .

Perhaps it will be said that in some trees the
leaves are much more uniform in size than in
others. This is true. The Sycamore, for instance,
varies greatly. In the specimen tabulated its stem
was .13 in diameter, and the area of the six upper
leaves was 60 square inches. In another the six
upper leaves had an area of rather over a hundred
inches, and in this case the diameter of the stem
was .18.

Another point is the length of the internode.
In such trees as the Beech, Elm, Hornbeam, etc.,
the distance from bud to bud varies comparatively
little, and bears a tolerably close relation to the
size of the leaf. In the Sycamore, Maple, etc., on
the contrary, the length varies greatly.

Now, if, instead of looking merely at a single
leaf, we consider the whole bough of any tree, we
shall, I think, see the reason of their differences
of form.

LEAF-AHiUKGEMENT

Let us begin, for instance, with the common
Lime (Fig. 20). The leaf-stalks are arranged at
an angle of about 40° with the branch, and the
upper surfaces of the leaves are in the same plane
with it. The result is, they are admirably adapted
to secure the maximum of light and air. Let us

FIG. 20. LIME.

take, for instance, the second or third leaf in Fig.
20. They are 4? inches long and very nearly as
broad. The distance between the two leaves on
(each side is also just 4i inches, so that they ex-
;actly fill up the interval. In Tilia parvifolia the
.arrangement is similar, but leaves and internodes
are both less; the leaves, say, 1£ inch, and the
internodes .6.

1 02 LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

In the Beech the general plane of the leaves is
again that of the branch (Fig. 21), but the leaves
themselves are ovate in form, and smaller, being
only from 2 to 3 inches in length. On the other
hand, the distance between the internodes is also
smaller, being, say, li inch against something less
than 2 inches. The diminution in length of the

FIG. 21. BEECH.

internode is not, indeed, exactly in proportion to
that of the leaf ; but, on the other hand, the leaf
does not make so wide an angle with the stem.
To this position is probably due the difference of
form. The outline of the basal half of the leaf
fits neatly to the branch ; that of the upper half
follows the edge of the leaf beyond, and the form
of the inner edge being thus determined, decides
the outer one also.

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. 103

In the Nut (Corylus) the internodes are longer,
and the leaves correspondingly broader. In the
Elm the ordinary branches have leaves resembling,
though rather larger than, those of the Beech;
but in vigorous shoots (Fig. 22) the internodes

FIG. 22. ELM.

become longer, and the leaves correspondingly
broader and larger, so that they come nearly to
resemble those of the Nut.

But it may be said that the Spanish Chestnut
(Castanea vulgaris, Fig. 23) also has alternate
leaves, in a plane parallel to that of the branch,

104

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

and with internodes of very nearly the same
length as the Beech. That is true ; but, on the
other hand, the terminal branches of the Spanish
Chestnut are stouter in proportion. Thus, imme-
diately below the sixth leaf, the Chestnut stalk
may be .15 of an inch in thickness, that of the

FIG. 23. CASTANEA.

FIG. 24. CASTANEA AND BEECH.

Beech not much more than half as much. Con-
sequently the Chestnut could, of course supposing
the strength of the wood to be equal, bear a
greater weight of leaf ; but, the width of the leaf
being determined by the distance between the in-
ternodes, the leaf is, so to say, compelled to draw
itself out. In Fig. 24 I have endeavored to illus-
trate this by placing a spray of Beech over one of

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. 105

Spanish Chestnut. Moreover, not only do the
leaves on a single twig thus admirably fit in with
one another, but they are also adapted to the rami-
fications of the twigs themselves. . . .

The leaves of the Yew (Fig. 25) belong to a
type very different from those which we have

FIG. 25. YEW.

hitherto been considering. They are long, narrow,
and arranged all around the stem, but spread right
and left, so that they lie on one plane, parallel to
the direction of the branchlet, and their width
bears just such a relation to their distance apart-
that when so spread out their edges almost touch.

106

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

The leaves of Conifers are generally narrow and
needle-like. I would venture to suggest that this
may be connected with the absence of the fibro-
vascular bundles, which are present in the stems
of dicotyledons, such as the Beech, Oak, etc. The
leaves of the Scotch Pine are needle-like, 1? inches
in length, and TO in diameter. They are arranged

FIG. 26. BOX.

in pairs, each pair enclosed at the base in a sheath.
One inch of stem bears about fifteen pairs of
leaves. Given this number of leaves in such a
space, they must evidently be long and narrow.
If I am asked why they are longer than those of
the Yew, I would suggest that the stem, being
thicker, is able to support more weight. In con-
firmation of this we may take for comparison the

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. 107

Weymouth Pine, in which the leaves are much
longer and the stalk thicker.

Fig. 26 represents a sprig of Box. It will be
observed that the increase of width in the leaves
corresponds closely with the greater distance be-
tween the points of attachment.

FIG. 27. HCRSECHESTNUT.

When we pass from the species hitherto consid-
ered to the Maples (Fig. 29), Sycamores, and Horse-
chestnuts (Figs. 27 and 28), we come to a totally
different type of arrangement. The leaves are
placed at right angles to the axis of the branch,
instead of being parallel to it, have long petioles,
and palmate instead of pinnate veins. In this
group the mode of growth is somewhat stiff ; the
main shoots are perpendicular, and the lateral ones

108 LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

nearly at right angles to them. The buds, also,
are comparatively few, and the internodes, conse-
quently, at greater distances apart, sometimes as
much as a foot, though the two or three at the
end of a branch are often quite short. The gen-

FIG. 28. HORSECHESTNUT.

eral habit is shown in Figs. 27 and 28. Now, if
we were to imagine six Beech or Elm leaves on
these three internodes, it is obvious that the leaf-
surface would be far smaller than it is at present.
Again, if we compare the thickness of an average
Sycamore stem, below the sixth leaf, with that of

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. 109

a Beech stem, it is obvious that there would be a
considerable waste of power. Once more, if the
leaves were parallel to the branch, they would, as
the branches are arranged, be less well disposed
with reference to light and air. A glance at Figs.
27, 28, 29, however, will show how beautifully the
leaves are adapted to their changed conditions.
The blades of the leaves of the upper pair form
an angle with the leaf-stalks, so as to assume a
horizontal position, or nearly so ; the leaf-stalks of
the second pair decussate with those of the first,
and are just so much longer as to bring up that
pair nearly or quite to a level with the first ; the
third pair decussate with the second, and are again
brought up nearly to the- same level, and immedi-
ately to the outside of the first pair. In well-grown
shoots there is often a fourth pair on the outside of
the second. If we look at such a cluster of leaves
directly from in front, we shall see that they gen-
erally appear somewhat to overlap ; but it must be
remembered that in temperate regions the sun is
never vertical. Moreover, while alternate leaves
are more convenient in such an arrangement as
that of the Beech, where there would be no room
for a second leaf, it is more suitable in such cases
as the Sycamores and Maples that the leaves should

110 LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

be opposite, because if, other things remaining the
same, the leaves of the Sycamore were alternate,
the sixth leaf would require an inconvenient length
of petiole.

Perhaps it will be said that the Plane-tree, which
has leaves so much like a Maple that one species
of the latter genus is named after it (Acer plata-

FIG. 29. ACER.

noides, Fig. 29), has, nevertheless, alternate leaves.
In reality, however, I think this rather supports
my argument, because the leaves of the Plane,
instead of being at right angles to the stem, lie
more nearly parallel with it. Moreover, as any one
can see, the leaves are not arranged so successfully
with reference to exposure as those of the species
we have hitherto been considering, perhaps be-
cause, living as it does in more southern localities,

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. Ill

the economy of sunshine is less important than
in more northern regions.

The shoot of the Horsechestnut is even stouter
than that of the Sycamore, and has a diameter
below the sixth leaf of no less than T36- of an inch.
With this increase of strength is, I think, con-
nected the greater size of the leaves, which attain
to as much as 18 inches in diameter; and this
greater size, again, has perhaps led to the dis-
section of the leaves into five or seven distinct
segments, each of which has a form somewhat
peculiar in itself, but which fits in admirably with
the other leaflets. However this may be, we have
in the Horsechestnut, as in the Sycamore and
Maples, a beautiful dome of leaves, each standing
free from the rest, and expanding to the fresh air
and sunlight a surface of foliage in proportion to
the stout, bold stem on which they are borne.

Now, if we place the leaves of one tree on the
branches of another, we shall at once see how
unsuitable they would be. I do not speak of put-
ting a small leaf, such as that of a Beech, on a
large-leaved tree, such as the Horsechestnut ; but
if we place, for instance, Beech on Lime, or vice
versa, the contrast is sufficiently striking. The
Lime leaves would overlap one another ; while, on

112

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

the other hand, the Beech leaves would leave con-
siderable interspaces. Or let us in the same way
transpose those of the Spanish Chestnut ( Castaned)
and those of Acer platanoides, a species of Maple.
I have taken specimens in which the six terminal

FIG. 30. LEAVES OF CASTANEA.

leaves of a shoot of the two species occupy approxi-
mately the same area. Figs. 23 and 29 show the
leaves in their natural position, those of the Span-
ish Chestnut lying along the stalk, while those of
the Maple are ranged around it. In both cases
it will be seen that there is practically no over-
lapping and very little waste of space. In the
Spanish Chestnut the stalks are just long enough

LEAF-ARRANGEMENT. 113

to give a certain play to the leaves. In Maple
they are much longer, bringing the leaves approxi-
mately to the same level, and carrying the lower
and outer ones free from the upper and younger
ones.

Now, if we arrange the Spanish Chestnut leaves
round a centre, as in Fig. 30, it is at once obvious

FIG. 31. MAPLE LEAVES ON CHESTNUT.

how much space is wasted. On the other hand,
if we place the leaves of the Maple on the stalk
of a Spanish Chestnut at the points from which
the leaves of Chestnut came off, as in Fig. 31, we
shall see that the stalks are useless, and even mis-
chievous as a cause of weakness and of waste of
space ; while, on the other hand, if we omit the
stalks, or shorten them to the same length as those

114 LEAF-ARRANGEMENT.

of the Chestnut, as in Fig. 32, the leaves would
greatly overlap one another.

Once more : for leaves arranged as in the Beech
the gentle swell at the base is admirably suited ;
but in a crown of leaves, such as those of the
Sycamore, space would be wasted, and it is better
that they should expand at once, as soon as their

FIG. 32. MAPLE LEAVES ON CHESTNUT.

stalks have borne them free from those within.
Moreover, the spreading lobes leave a triangular
space (Fig. 29) with the insertion of the stalk at
the apex, which seems as if expressly designed to
leave room for the pointed end of the leaf within.
Hence we see how beautifully the whole form
of these leaves is adapted to the mode of growth
of the trees themselves and the arrangement of
their buds.

CLIMBING PLANTS. 115

X.

CLIMBING PLANTS.

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, in " My Summer in
a Garden/' gives the following description of the
growth of a vine : " I, however, believe in the in-
tellectual, if not the moral, qualities of vegetables,
and especially weeds. There was a worthless vine
that (or who) started up about midway between a
grape-trellis and a row of bean-poles, some three
feet from each, but a little nearer the trellis.
When it came out of the ground, it looked around
to see what it should do. The trellis was already
occupied ; the bean-pole was empty. There was
evidently a little the best chance of light, air,
and sole proprietorship on the pole ; and the vine
started for the pole, and began to climb it with de-
termination. Here was as distinct an act of choice,
of reason, as a boy exercises when he goes into a
forest, and, looking about, decides which tree he
will climb. And, besides, how did the vine know
enough to travel in exactly the right direction, three
feet, to find what it wanted ? This is intellect."

116 CLIMBING PLANTS.

This expresses very prettily a thing which every
garden-lover must have noticed, — that a vine will
find out its support anywhere within a reasonable
distance. Of course, the choice between the trellis
and the pole is a genial fancy of the gardener ;
but it is a fact that a plant with tendrils will
find out and clasp a stick placed at a short dis-
tance from it on any side, and, similarly, that
a Morning-Glory will wind about a pole in its
neighborhood, on whichever side this may happen
to be. The explanation of this curious phenome-
non was sought and found by Charles Darwin,
and he was led to study the subject in the follow-
ing way.

In August, 1858, Dr. Gray read a short " Note
on the Coiling of Tendrils " before the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences.1 In this paper he
spoke of the views of a German, Hugo von Mohl,
who had published a book on the subject twenty
years before.2 Von Mohl said that the coiling was
due to an irritability excited by contact, that it
was of the same nature as the closing of the leaves
of the Sensitive Plant at the touch. Dr. Gray

1 "Proe. Amer. Acad. of Arts and Sciences." 1858.

2 "Ueber das Bau und das Winden der Ranken und Schlingpflan-
zen." 1827.

CLIMBING PLANTS. 117

indorsed this view, and gave his own observations
thus : —

"The tendrils in several common plants will
coil up more or less promptly after being touched,
or brought with a slight force into contact with a
foreign body, and in some plants the movement of
coiling is rapid enough to be directly seen by the
eye ; indeed, is considerably quicker than is needful
for being visible. And, to complete the parallel,
as the leaves of the Sensitive Plant and the like,
after closing by irritation, resume after a while
their ordinary expanded positions, so the tendrils in
two species of the Cucurbit acece, or Squash family,
experimented upon,1 after coiling in consequence
of a touch, will uncoil into a straight position in
the course of an hour ; then they will coil up at a
second touch, often more quickly than before ; and
this may be repeated three or four times in the
course of six or seven hours.

" My cursory illustrations have been principally
made upon the Bur-Cucumber (Sicyos angulatus).
To see the movement well, full-grown and out-
stretched tendrils, which have not reached any
support, should be selected, and a warm day ;
77 F. is high enough.

1 " Sicyos angulatus und Echinocystis lobata."

118 CLIMBING PLANTS.

" A tendril which was straight, except a slight
hook on the tip, on being gently touched once or
twice with a piece of wood on the upper side,
coiled at the end into 2 £-3 turns within a minute
and a half. The motion began after an interval
of several seconds, and fully half of the coiling
was quick enough to be very distinctly seen. After
a little more than an hour had elapsed, it was
found to be straight again. The contact was re-
peated, timing the result by the second-hand of a
watch. The coiling began within four seconds,
and made one circle and a quarter in about four
seconds.

" It had straightened itself again in an hour
and five minutes (perhaps sooner, but it was then
observed) ; and it coiled the third time on being
touched rather firmly, but not so quickly as before ;
viz., li turns in half a minute.

"I have indications of the same movement in
the tendrils of the Grape-vine ; but a favorable
day has not occurred for the experiment since my
attention was first directed to the subject."

This paper set Darwin also to studying climbers.
In 1863 he writes to Sir Joseph Hooker : * —

1 "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin/' By Francis Darwin.
Vol. II. p. 484.

CLIMBING PLANTS. 119

MY DEAR HOOKER, — I have been observing pretty care-
fully a little fact which has surprised me ; and I want to
know from you and Oliver whether it seems new or odd
to you ; so just tell me whenever you write : it is a very
trifling fact, so do not answer on purpose.

I have got a plant of Echlnocystis lobata [Fig. 33] to
observe the irritability of the tendrils described by Asa
Gray, and which, of course, is plain enough. Having the
plant in my study, I have been surprised to find that the
uppermost part of each branch (i.e., the stem between
the two uppermost leaves excluding the growing tip) is con-
stantly and slowly twisting round, making a circle in from
one-half to two hours. It will sometimes go round two or
three times, and then at the same rate untwists and twists
in opposite directions. It generally rests half an hour
before it retrogrades.1 The stem does not become perma-
nently twisted. The stem beneath the twisting portion
does not move in the least, though not tied. The move-
ment goes on all day and all early night. It has no relation
to light, for the plant stands in my window, and twists
from the light just as quickly as towards it. This may be
a common phenomenon for what I know, but it confounded
me quite when I began to observe the irritability of the
tendrils. I do not say it is the final cause, but the result is
pretty ; for the plant, every one and a half or two hours,

1 This reversal of the direction of the movement is not the normal
method of the plant. lie s js of it afterward ("Climbing Plants,"
p. 128), " The course generally pursued was with the sun, but often in
an opposite direction. Sometimes the movement during a short time
would either stop or be reversed ; and this apparently was due to inter-
ference from the light, as, for instance, when I placed a plant close to
a window."

120 CLIMBING PLANTS.

sweeps a circle (according to the length of the bending
shoot and the length of the tendril) of from one foot to
twenty inches in diameter, and immediately that the tendril
touches any object, its sensitiveness causes it immediately
to seize it. A clever gardener, my neighbor, who saw the
plant on my table last night, said : " I believe, sir, the ten-
drils can see ; for wherever I put a plant it finds out any
stick near enough." I believe the above is the explanation,
viz., that it sweeps slowly round and round. The tendrils
have some sense, for they do not grasp each other when

young.

Yours affectionately,

C. DARWIX.

Here he has found the explanation of the
curious fact which we noticed in the beginning of
this article. Two years later his paper on " Climb-
ing Plants " was printed in the Journal of the
Linnsean Society, and in 1875 the essay was re-
vised and published as a separate book.

Darwin divides climbing plants into four classes :
(1) Twiners, or plants which climb by the stem
winding about its support. (2) Leaf-climbers and
tendril-bearers, plants which possess irritable
organs by which they grasp any object with which
they come in contact. (3) Hook-climbers. (4)
Root-climbers, which attach themselves by means
of aerial rootlets. The last two classes have no

CLIMBING PLANTS.

121

122 CLIMBING PLANTS.

special movements, and we shall not here consider
them.

The first division is well represented by the Hop
or Morning-Glory. If we observe a young shoot
which has grown beyond its support (Fig. 34,
Morning-Glory), we can see that its tip describes a
circle, or rather an ellipse. This is not caused by
the twisting of the shoot, for it would soon break
if it continued to twist round and round. We can
see, by holding a string in one hand and twisting
it with the other, how great a strain is thus
brought to bear. Such a strain would at once
snap a delicate stem in two.

The movement is caused by the bowing of the
shoot successively to every point of the compass.
If we hold a stick upright, we can bend it towards
the north, then, without twisting the stick, to the
northeast, then to the east, and so on, till we bend
it to the north again. If we make a mark on the
upper side of the stick when it is bent towards the
north, the mark will be on the under side when
the stick bows towards the south. Dr. Gray thus
explains this bowing movement : 1 "To learn how
the sweeps are made, one has only to mark a line

1 "How Plants Behave." By Asa Gray. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor,
& Co. 1872. p. 13.

CLIMBING PLANTS.

123

of dots along the upper side of the outstretched
revolving end of such a stem (Fig. 34), and to note
that when it has moved round a quarter of a circle
these dots will be on one side, when half round

the dots occupy the lower side,
and when the revolution is com-
pleted they are again on the
upper side. That is, the stem
revolves by bowing itself over to
one side; is either pulled over,
or pushed over, or both, by some
internal force, which acts in turn
all round the stem in the direc-
tion in which it sweeps ; and so
the stem makes -its circuits with-
out twisting." : " The first pur-
pose of the spontaneous revolving movement, or,

1 " The phenomenon finds its explanation in the fact that first one
and then another side of the organ elongates more rapidly than the
rest. If this takes place alternately on two opposite sides, the apex
therefore bends over at one time to the left, at another to the right ; but
if at the circumference of the organ different sides in succession gradu-
ally take their turns in the process, then the pendent apex must rotate
in space." — Sachs, "Lectures on the Physiology of Plants," p. 546.

FIG. 34. MORNING-
GLORY.

124 CLIMBING PLANTS.

more strictly speaking, of the continuous bowing
movement, directed successively to all points of
the compass, is, as Mohl has remarked, to favor
the shoot finding a support. This is admirably
effected by the revolutions carried on night and
day, a wider and wider circle being swept as the
shoot increases in length. This movement like-
wise explains how the plants twine, for when a
revolving shoot meets with a support, its motion
is necessarily arrested at the point of contact, but
the free projecting part goes on revolving. As this
continues, higher and higher points are brought
into contact with the support and are arrested,
and so onwards to the extremity ; and thus the
shoot winds round its support. When the shoot
follows the sun in its revolving course, it winds
round the support from right to left, the support
being supposed to stand in front of the beholder ;
when the shoot revolves in an opposite direction,
the line of winding is reversed. As each internode
loses from age its power of revolving, it likewise
loses its power of spirally twining."

Darwin tried experiments with many twiners.
In the case of one plant (Ceropegia Gardnerii} the

1 "The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants." By Charles
Darwin. D. Appleton & Co. 1888. p. 14.

CLIMBING PLANTS. 125

revolving shoot was 31 inches long. " The extreme
tip thus made a circle of above 5 feet (or 62 inches)
in diameter and 16 feet in circumference, travel-
ling at the rate of 32 or 33 inches per hour. The
weather being hot, the plant was allowed to stand
on my study-table ; and it was an interesting spec-
tacle to watch the long shoot sweeping this grand
circle, night and day, in search of some object
round which to twine." 1

Most twiners move around in the contrary direc-
tion from the hands of a watch, but a few move
from the left to the right of the observer. In rare
cases the direction may reverse in the same plant.
This reversal happens frequently with leaf-climbers.
Tropceolum (Garden Nasturtium) is a good example
of this class of plants, where the petioles of the
leaves clasp the support (Fig. 35). The young
shoots of leaf-climbers revolve like the stems of
twiners, and in some cases the leaves revolve also.
" The object gained by the revolving movement is
to bring the petioles, or the tips of the leaves, into
contact with surrounding objects ; and without this
aid the plant would be much less successful in
climbing. With rare exceptions, the petioles are
sensitive to contact only whilst young. . . . They

. i " Climbing Plants," p. 6.

126 CLIMBING PLANTS.

always bend towards the side which is pressed or
touched, at different rates in different species,
sometimes within a few minutes, but generally
after a much longer period. After temporary
contact with any object, the petiole continues to
bend for a considerable time ; afterwards it slowly
becomes straight again, and can then re-act. A

FIG. 35. TROP/EOLUM MINUS. (Sachs).

petiole, excited by an extremely slight weight, some-
times bends a little, and then becomes accustomed
to the stimulus, and either bends no more, or be-
comes straight again, the weight still remaining
suspended. Petioles which have clasped an object
for some little time cannot recover their original
position. After remaining clasped for two or three
days they generally increase much in thickness,

CLIMBING PLANTS. 127

either throughout their whole diameter, or on one
side alone ; they subsequently become stronger and
more woody, sometimes to a wonderful degree ;
and in some cases they acquire an internal struc-
ture like that of the stem or axis." l

In one species of Tropceolum examined by Dar-
win the first young leaves were like tendrils, with-
out anything resembling a leaf-blade. As the
plant grew older it produced these tendril-like
filaments with enlarged tips, then with partly
formed blades, and finally with perfect leaves.
The filaments, as well as the perfect leaves, were
very sensitive, and they moved spontaneously and
contracted spirally, as do perfect tendrils. The
plant would be called a tendril-bearer if it acted
in this way when mature ; but when full-grown it
is a true leaf-climber. This shows us very plainly
that tendrils are modified leaf-stalks. They may
also be formed from modified branches or flower-
stalks.

Plants with tendrils are wonderfully interesting
in their perfect adaptation for purposes of climb-
ing. The tendrils sweep round and round, and
when they come in contact with a support, their
sensitiveness to pressure makes them bend towards

.! " Climbing Plants/' p. 81.

128 CLIMBING PLANTS.

the object and clasp it. Then they begin to con-
tract into a spiral, thus dragging the stem of the
plant nearer to the support, and allowing other
tendrils to grasp it also. The twist is in one direc-
tion for a number of turns, and then is reversed,
so that the strain is not too great (Fig. 36). Be-
sides bringing the shoot near its support, the spiral
contraction is useful as rendering the tendrils elas-
tic. "It is this elasticity which protects both
branched and simple tendrils from being torn away
from their supports during stormy wea-ther. I
have more than once gone on purpose, during a
gale, to watch a Bryony, growing in an exposed
hedge, with its tendrils attached to the surround-
ing bushes ; and as the thick and thin branches
were tossed to and fro by the wind, the tendrils,
had they not been excessively elastic, would in-
stantly have been torn off and the plant thrown
prostrate ; but, as it was, the Bryony safely rode
out the gale, like a ship with two anchors down,
and with a long range of cable ahead to serve as
a spring as she surges to the storm [Fig. 36]." 1

When a tendril finds no support, it contracts
into a spiral coil, and as the end is free the turns
are all in the same direction (Fig. 36). In this

1 "Climbing Plants," p. 164.

CLIMBING PLANTS. 129

case it soon withers ; but if it has been able to take
hold of any support, it becomes firmer and stouter

FIG. 36. WHITE BRYONY (Bryonia dioica). (Sachs.)

than before. If it does not clasp anything, it curls
up into a simple spire and gradually withers away.

130 CLIMBING PLANTS.

One of the strangest things about tendrils is
that they do not often clasp each other. Although
they are so sensitive to contact, they do not move
when rubbed with other tendrils. Darwin says
about the Echinocystis : " One of my plants bore
two shoots near together, and the tendrils were
repeatedly drawn across one another, but it is a
singular fact that they did not once catch each
other. It would appear as if they had become
habituated to contact of this kind, for the pressure
thus caused must have been much greater than
that caused by a loop of soft thread weighing only
the one-sixteenth of a grain." l

Nor do the tendrils often clasp the stem. When
a tendril, revolving horizontally, reaches the part
of its course where it would strike the stem of the
plant, it rises vertically upward, becomes stiff, and
so passes the stem, when it droops to its original
position and continues its horizontal course.

The tendrils of Virginia Creeper (Fig. 37) make
little discs, which adhere firmly to the wall or tree
on which the vine grows. These discs probably
secrete a kind of cement, which glues them firmly
to the wall. If the tendrils do not become at-
tached to anything, they soon wither and drop

1 "Climbing Plants/' p. 131.

FIG. 37. VIRGINIA CREEPER (Ampelopis hederacea). (Sachsr.)

132 CLIMBING PLANTS.

off ; but when the discs are formed and attached,
the tendril becomes very strong.

" Plants become climbers, in order, as it may be
presumed, to reach the light, and to expose a large
surface of their leaves to its action and to that of
the free air. This is effected by climbers with
wonderfully little expenditure of organized matter,
In comparison with trees, which have to support
a load of heavy branches by a massive trunk.
Hence, no doubt, it arises that there are so many
climbing plants in all quarters of the world, be-
longing to so many different orders. These plants
have been arranged under four classes, disregard-
Ing those which merely scramble over bushes with-
<out any special aid. Hook-climbers are the least
•efficient of all, at least in our temperate countries,
.and can climb only in the midst of an entangled
mass of vegetation. Root-climbers are excellently
adapted to ascend naked faces of rock or trunks
<of trees; when, however, they climb trunks, they
are compelled to keep much in the shade ; they
cannot pass from branch to branch and thus cover
the whole summit of a tree, for their rootlets
require long-continued and close contact with a
steady surface in order to adhere. The two classes
of climbers and of plants with sensitive organs,

CLIMBING PLANTS. 133

namely, leaf-climbers and tendril-bearers taken
together, far exceed in number and in the perfec-
tion of their mechanism, the climbers of the two
first classes. Those which have the power of
spontaneously revolving and of grasping objects
with which they come in contact, easily pass from
branch to branch, and securely ramble over a
wide, sunlit surface." l

1 " Climbing Plants," p. 189.

134 PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE

XI.

PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE FROM THE
ATTACKS OF ANIMALS.1

THE cells of plants contain albuminoids similar
to the white of egg, and in their green tissues are
formed carbohydrates, such as starch and sugar,
which are easily digestible. What wonder that
numberless animals find this green tissue a very
desirable food ! Many animals, as is well known,
live entirely at the expense of plants. In this
respect the animal and vegetable kingdoms are
hostile to each other, for the removal of all the
green parts of the plant ensures its destruction, if
its store of reserve food is exhausted. Hunger
drives grazing animals to snatch the plants unmer-
cifully, and thus completely destroy them. The
beasts cannot foresee, as men do, that if the plant
be robbed of all its green organs it will die, and
that, consequently, in the following year, their
own existence will be imperilled for lack of food.
Man leaves enough of the plants which he uses to

1 Condensed extracts from "Pflanzenleben," Vol. I. p. 399.

FROM THE ATTACKS OF ANIMALS. 135

secure their growth and increase; nay, he himself
assists their growth, and protects them at the cost
of much labor from the attacks of animals. But
only a very small proportion of the whole number
of plants are thus cared for by man ; the rest, from
which he receives no advantage, must find means
to protect themselves, or perish. These means of
protection, it is true, are all defensive, so that the
relation between plants and animals is not to be
compared to a state of war, but rather to an armed
peace.

Nevertheless these defences are often dangerous
to the assailant, and they include poisons and
corrosive fluids, as well as sharp weapons.

It is mysterious how grazing animals suspect the
existence of poison in leaves. Sometimes poison-
ous plants have a strong odor which is disagreea-
ble to men, as is the case with the Thorn-Apple
(Datura Stramonium)-,1 but many others, which
are equally shunned by animals, have leaves which
are scentless to us, as long as they are unbruised,
like the Aconite, the Euphorbia, and the Gentians,
which are never eaten by wild animals, nor by
grazing flocks and herds. As long as they remain

1 A good American example is the Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus
fuetidus') .

136 PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE

uninjured in field and wood, they have no odor
perceptible to man; but animals must recognize
these plants by the sense of smell, before they
have bitten and injured them.

That the green leaves of the Rhododendrons
and Azaleas, of the Partridge-Berry, the Bearberry,
and of many other low evergreen plants, which
form a large part of the vegetation of pastures
and moors, as well as of the high mountain slopes,
are avoided by grazing animals is explained by the
fact that they are indigestible, owing to their tough
skin, often containing silica. It is certain that the
formation of a thick arid hard cuticle, and the pres-
ence of silica in the epidermis is a means of protec-
tion against grazing animals, by which, of course,
we do not mean to say that this structure has no
other function.

Water is another excellent means of defence for
many plants. The water which is collected by
certain leaves from the rain and dew often remains
in special receptacles for days and weeks. Rumi-
nating animals do not graze in the morning when
the grass is covered with dew, they wait till the
cold drops are dried up, and even later in the
day they avoid those plants on which drops are
hanging.

FROM THE ATTACKS OF ANIMALS. 13?

But the most important means of defence to the
plant against hungry animals are organs which run
out into sharp, protruding points, ready to wound
an aggressor. We may call these the weapons of
the plant. They may be divided botanically into
thorns and prickles. A thorn is an organ which
runs out into a sharp spine, composed principally
of woody tissue, or traversed by fibrovascular bun-
dles. A prickle is an outgrowth from the skin of
a plant, without woody bundles, one-celled or many-
celled, always ending in a sharp point, capable of
wounding an assailant. This distinction is not an
important one and cannot always be maintained.

Spines and prickles appear on every possible
portion of a plant. They are generally above or
near the green tissue which they protect, but often
the path leading to the green parts over leaf-
stalks, stem, and sometimes aerial roots, is pro-
vided with prickles and thorns, in order to keep
off the crawling creatures that eat the leaves,
especially the snails. The lower parts of the stem
up which they must climb to reach the green tissue
are armed with thorns and prickles in many plants,
as in Locusts and Roses.

It is a very interesting fact that many woody
plants are armed only while they are low, and

138 PROTECTION OF THE GKEEN TISSUE

their leaves can be reached by grazing animals.
As soon as their twigs and branches are out of
reach of the jaws of the beasts, they develop no
thorns. The Holly is an example of this. The
leaves which deck the crown of the high tree-
trunks are entire and unarmed, while on the low
shrubs the margin of the leaves is drawn out into
sharp, spiny teeth.1

We may divide the weapons of the plant into
two classes, the first of which includes the forms
where the green tissue is protected by thorns and
prickles developed on the green parts themselves ;
and the second, those where other portions of the
plant are turned into arms to defend the unarmed
green parts.

To the first class belong those leafless plants
which have developed green tissue in their stems
and twigs. It is true that the green branches of

1 This is the subject of a little poem by Southey : —

" O Reader! hast thou ever stood to see

The Holly-tree?
The eye that contemplates it will perceive

Its glossy leaves;

Ordered by an Intelligence so wise
As might confound an atheist's sophistries.
Below, a circling fence, its leaves are seen

Wrinkled and keen;
No grazing cattle through their prickly round

Can reach to wound;

But, as they grow where nothing is to fear,
Smooth and unarmed their pointless leaves appear."

FROM THE ATTACKS OF ANIMALS. 139

these plants are so stiff and hard that we should
hardly think they would tempt animals to eat
them. But "Hunger is a stern master," and expe-
rience shows that they are eaten. Not to be wholly
at the mercy of such attacks, these leafless green-
stemmed plants are often armed, especially by the
ends of their green branches running out into
spines, bristling against the assailant. Indeed,
many of these plants are built up wholly of
many-branched green thorns, which gives them a
very singular appearance.

But the weapons formed on leaves are far more
numerous than those with which green stems are
provided. Sometimes sharp points proceed from
the ends of the ribs and veins which make the leaf
framework ; sometimes they are formed of cells or
groups of cells which originate in the epidermis
of the leaf and stand out, now from the surface,
now from the margin, like little daggers.

In the Southern Alps is found a species of grass
(Festuca alpestris), growing in some places very
abundantly. Its stiff leaves, which stand out in
every direction, end in sharp points. This grass
is more hated than any plant in the whole region,
and the shepherds try to destroy it wherever it
grows in any quantity. Grazing animals seeking

140 PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE

other plants among the sods of Festuca alpestris,
often prick themselves so severely that they come
home from the pasture with their noses all running
with blood. It is curious that when such grasses
are easily uprooted the sheep themselves undertake
their destruction.

Another bristly grass (Nardus stricta), when it
grows on the heaths, is pulled out of the ground
by the sheep, who seize the clods near the ground,
uproot them, and again let them fall, so that the
grass soon withers and dies. It is absurd to sup-
pose that the flocks undertake with forethought
this improvement of their pasture, but we can
understand that they may pull up the bristly grass
in order to enjoy the other sprouting plants beneath
it, without the danger of wounding their mouths
with the sharp points. . . .

Another form of leaf armed with spines is that
belonging to the Thistles and their allied forms.
Thistle leaves are often three, four, or five-divided,
and variously incised and lobed. If the ends of
all these divisions are metamorphosed into sharp
points, little is left of the green tissue of the leaf;
:only a small green space remains in the centre,
from which yellow and white thorns stand out on
every side (Fig. 38).

FROM THE ATTACKS OF ANIMALS. 141

FIG. 38. GROUP OF THISTLES (Cirsium nemorale). (" Pflanzenleben.")

142 PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE

The prickly organs , which are not to be regarded
as metamorphosed ribs, but which originate in the
epidermis of the leaf, are sometimes many-celled,
sometimes one-celled. One form of the one-celled
prickles are barbs, formed of oblique conical cells,
which stand out from the margin of the leaf.
They end in a firm, hard point, which is usually
somewhat hooked (Fig. 39, 7, 8). Leaves with
their margins thickly covered with such barbs look
like a saw under the microscope, and they are really
able under some circumstances to act like a saw.
If we stroke one of these barbed leaves very gently
from the side towards which the barbs point, they
do not cut into the opposing hand, but they also
do not bend, but make a firm resistance. With
increased pressure of the hand, the leaf itself is
bent, but, as this is also well stiffened, the pressing
hand experiences a resistance which would not be
expected from so tender a leaf. If the hand is
passed violently over the sharp margin, a bloody
cut is made, in which the flinty teeth act precisely
like the teeth of a fine saw. It is natural that
grazing animals should shun these sharp leaves,
and, in fact, they only eat them under great stress
of hunger.

Another form of arms, which has its origin in

FROM THE ATTACKS OF ANIMALS. 143

the cells of the epidermis, consists of stiff hairs, or
bristles, with thick, siliceous cell-walls, and sharp
points. They arise generally in great numbers on

FIG. 39. WEAPONS OF PLANTS.

3. Section through a Leaf of Nettle (Urtica dioica), provided with Stinging Hairs. 6. Bristle
of the Bugloss (Echium Italicum). 7. Margin of the Scabrous Leaf of a Sedge (Carex
stricta). 8. Margin, beset with Barbs, of a Leaf of a Scabrous Grass (Festuca arundi-
nacea). (" Pflanzenleben.")

the upper surface of the green leaves, and turn
their points towards the side from which an attack
is to be expected. In comparison with the barbs

144 PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE

they are large; for even the smallest is much
larger than these, and the largest look like needles
with their heads buried in the leaf. The bristle
itself is formed of a single cell, which is on a sort
of pedestal of regularly arranged cells, surround-
ing its base. The wall of this long cell is hard-
ened by deposits of silica, and often thickened
by little knots (Fig. 39, 6). The Borrage family
is provided with this form of bristles, as may be
seen in the Bugloss (Echium), the Comfrey (Sym-
phytum), etc.

A very peculiar form of protection against the
attacks of larger plant-eating animals is the pos-
session of stinging hairs, which may be seen on
the leaves of Nettles and some other plants.
These are formed of large cells, like the sharp
bristles of the Borrage, round and enlarged below,
and long-drawn-out above. The top is generally
enlarged and bent in the form of a knee (Fig.
39, 3). Here the cell-wall of the hair is very
thin, so that the smallest pressure is able to
break it. As the breaking follows an oblique
line, a sharp point is made. If this brittle end
of the hair is shattered by a pressure from above,
the sharp point formed at the place of breaking
presses into the opposing body ; if this be soft and

FROM THE ATTACKS OF ANIMALS. 145

yielding, like the skin of man and beasts, the
cell-contents are poured into the wound. If many
stinging hairs side by side be pressed into the skin,
there follows redness, swelling, and violent pain,
from the poison contained in the cells. Grazing
animals avoid plants with stinging hairs most
carefully.

All the plants which we have mentioned belong
to the group of forms where the green tissue itself
possesses its weapons of defence. With this group
we may contrast another where the defences are
formed by neighboring members of the plant. To
this second group belong those plants, the side
branches of which are metamorphosed into woody
thorns, which protect the unarmed leaves from
attack. The stem and branches of these plants
are not leafy to their ends. If there is any trace
of leaves on the ends of the branches, they are
small, scaly, and anything but an attractive food.
The end of the woody branch is sharp and runs
out into a pointed thorn. Here the work of
defence is carried on by a division of labor. The
green leaves can carry on their office undisturbed,
under the protection of the thorns. An example of
this may be seen in Cytisus spinosus (Fig. 40, 5).1

1 A plant belonging to the same genus as the cultivated Laburnum.

146 PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE

FIG. 40.

4. Robinia Pseudacacia in Spring. 5. Cytisus spinosus. 6, 7. Berberis vulgaris (Barberry)
in Spring. (" Pflanzenleben.")

FROM THE ATTACKS OF ANIMALS. 147

In the Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), there are
two kinds of leaves, the foliage leaves and others
which are not leaf-like at all, but are completely
converted into sharp thorns. These are grouped
in five to seven needle-like points at the base of
the branch ; higher up they are in groups of three
(Fig. 40, 6, 7). Contemporary with these meta-
morphosed leaves, and close above them, arise
short shoots, which are covered with ordinary
green leaves. These shoots are terminated by
buds, which develop in the next spring and form
either flowers or a long shoot. The leaves of the
rosette under this bud fall in the autumn; the
thorns at the base remain behind, together with
the winter buds, and stand out from the branch in
three directions with their three-forked needles.
In the following spring, when the terminal buds
swell and expand, the tender young leaves are
well protected from attack, during the time that
they are overtopped by the thorns.

In the common Locust-Tree (Eobinia Pseu-
dacacia), the whole leaves are not metamorphosed
into thorns, as in the Barberry, but only the stip-
ules. These are not leaf-like, but are triangular,
sharp, brown thorns. When the leaf falls in
autumn these metamorphosed stipules remain

148 PROTECTION OF THE GREEN TISSUE.

behind, and last through the winter and even
through the following summer. In the niche
between these stipules, which make with each
other an angle of 120°!, nestles the bud, which
unfolds in the following spring. As long as the
tender young leaves remain in the niche between
the thorny stipules (Fig. 40, 4), they are carefully
shunned by animals ; and only when they have
grown beyond these thorny points, does this pro-
tection come to an end.

Most of these protective contrivances only pro-
tect the green leaf while it is in a young state.
But it is just at this time that defence is most
needful. If single leaves which project beyond
the thorns are eaten, a part of the leaves remain,
and the loss is not of much importance.

One extremely curious means of defence is not
mentioned in the foregoing article. Certain plants
secrete a nectar which is very attractive to black
ants, who, therefore, take up their abode upon
these plants, and constitute a sort of standing
army, ready to resist furiously the onslaughts
of leaf-cutting ants, of caterpillars, and even of
the larger animals.

TRANSPIRATION. 149

XII.

TRANSPIRATION.1

TRANSPIRATION means the evaporation of water
from a plant. Let us imagine a plant which con-
tains as much water as it is capable of holding,
and is in contact with an available supply of
water in the ground. Each cell contains its full
amount of liquid, and, if no water is lost, no water
will be absorbed by the plant. But now suppose
that evaporation begins to take place from the
cells which are in contact with the atmosphere.
As the cell-walls allow liquids to pass freely, these
cells immediately begin to draw on the water sup-
ply of their neighbors, and these, in turn, on the
cells adjoining them, and so on, till throughout
the whole plant there is an ascent of water to
supply the place of what has been lost. Finally
the call is made on the rootlets, and these promptly
answer the demand by sucking in the needed liquid

1 In compiling this article the editor has availed herself largely of
the charming chapters on transpiration in " Pflanzenleben." The book
contains many interesting suggestions on this subject, besides those
which are given here.

150 TRANSPIRATION.

from the surrounding earth. Suppose this evapo-
ration into the air to be continuous, and we have
a constant stream of water flowing from the
damp earth, through roots and rootlets, stem
and branches, to the leaves. This is what actu-
ally does take place, and this stream is known
as the transpiration current.

But roots do not absorb water alone. The
delicate hairs, — outgrowths of the skin, — which
clothe thickly all their young parts, give out an
acid which can dissolve the mineral matters in
the soil. It is not certainly known what this acid
is, but, whatever it may be, by a most beautiful
arrangement it dissolves the food of the plant
just where the root-hairs are present to absorb
it. In this way roots are able to disintegrate
the soil, and to absorb its mineral matters in
weak solutions, which are carried all over the
plant. They are brought in the way we have
described into the cells communicating with the
external air, where they are greatly concentrated
by the escape of water, and are then ready to be
converted into food. This is done by the action
of carbonic acid gas, absorbed from the air. By
means of this gas the raw mineral material
brought from the ground is converted into or-

TRANSPIRATION. 151

ganic matter, the food of plants and the food also
of animals.

The path of the ascent of the crude sap is
through the woody portions of the plant. The
woody tissues of the roots carry the water from
cell to cell to the fibrovascular bundles of the stem ;
it then rises through all the branches and twigs
till it reaches the leaves. Each leaf has a woody
framework, which divides again and again, till it
makes a network of fibres, on which the green
tissue (parenchyma) is supported. The most deli-
cate fibrils of this woody framework are in close
contact with the cells of the leaf which communi-
cate with the outer air, and the water which has
been brought hither from the roots escapes into
the atmosphere.

We can see that it must be the wood which con-
ducts the water, by looking at old trees, whose
trunks are hollow and whose bark has also been
destroyed around the base of the tree. This is
especially striking in old olive trees, which often
are not only hollow and destitute of bark, but are
pierced and broken, so that the upper part of the
tree looks as if it were mounted on stilts, and is
only connected with the ground by woody tis-
sue. Yet these olive trees are healthy, bring forth

152 TRANSPIRATION.

new branches every year, bloom, bear fruit, and
supply their wants with nourishment, which could
have come to them in no other way than through
the wood of their scraped and hollow trunks.1

We may also prove that the crude sap rises
through the woody tissues by girdling the stem
of a tree ; that is, by cutting off a ring of bark
without injuring the wood.2 This does not kill
the tree, as may be seen in birch trees which have
been girdled for the sake of the bark. But if
the wood be cut in a similar ring the tree will
soon die. Most of the water in a tree is carried
up in the outermost layer of wood, just under
the bark.

When the water reaches the leaves and is carried
through the ribs and veins into the cells of the
parenchyma of the leaf blade, it cannot escape
into the air to any extent through the cell-walls
of the epidermis, because their outer walls have
been thickened and made waterproof. But the
leaves are pierced by openings, connecting with
the external air, through which water-vapor can
escape and air can enter. These openings are

1 " Pflanzenleben," Vol. I. p. 252.

2 See "Lectures on the Physiology of Plants." J. von Sachs.
Trans, by H. Marshall Ward. Oxford, 1887. p. 229.

TRANSPIRATION.

153

called stomata (Fig. 41). They are formed by two
cells, called guardian cells, with a narrow slit be-
tween them, which they have the power to open

FIG. 41.

I. Stomata on a Leaf of Peperomia arifolia. 2. Cross-Section of the Same Leaf.
(" Pflanzenleben.")

or to close. Both the cells are shaped like a half-
moon, with the concave side towards the slit and
the convex side joining the neighboring cells of
the epidermis. Beneath the opening of each stoma

154 TRANSPIRATION.

is an air space, whence the air can pass into other
cells of the plant. The stomata, therefore, are the
breathing pores by means of which water is exhaled
from the plant, and carbonic acid gas is inhaled.
When the guardian cells absorb water they swell,
and this makes them curve farther apart and
widens the slit, so that the water can evaporate
faster. When the plant begins to wilt, which is
caused by a collapsing of the cell-walls for want
of sufficient water, the guardian cells contract, and
this closes the slit and checks the evaporation of
water, so that most of the liquid brought from the
roots is retained within the plant.1 If plenty of
water be again supplied to the plant which has
begun to wilt, it will recover itself, the cells again
become turgid, the stomata open, and transpira-
tion is resumed.

Stomata open more widely in light than in
darkness. According to some observers, they are
always open in sunlight. This will explain the
reason why stomata are generally more numerous
on the under side of the leaf. Transpiration would
go on too rapidly if they were exposed to the
direct rays of the sun. Where the leaves are

1 The mechanism is too complicated for further explanation here.
See Sachs, " Physiology of Plants," p. 249.

TRANSPIRATION.

155

vertical instead of parallel with the ground, the
stomata are on both sides of the leaf.

FIG. 42. COMPASS PLANT (Silphium laciniatum),
I. Seen from the East. 2. Seen from the South.

An excellent example of this is the Compass
Plant (Silphium laciniatum, Fig. 42) of the Western

156 TRANSPIRATION.

prairies, which has its leaves placed vertically,
with the edges pointing north and south, so that
the plant is said to guide travellers on their jour-
neys across the prairie.1 At morning and evening
the leaves are warmed directly by the sun's rays,
but at midday, when the sun is hot overhead, the
beams fall on the edges of the leaves, and the
plant is protected from too great transpiration.
Young leaves, by taking a vertical position, are
protected from exposure to the direct rays of the
sun.2

The leaves of plants which float on the surface
of the water, as the Water Lily, have their stomata
all on the upper side. Submerged water-plants
have no stomata at all, nor are the outer cells of
their epidermis waterproof. They transpire from
their whole surface, and this is the reason why they
collapse so immediately when they are taken from
the water. Their food is all about them, and they
have no need for such a complicated arrangement

1 Longfellow mentions this in " Evangeline " :

" Look at this delicate plant that lifts its head from the meadow,
See how its leaves all point to the north, as true as the magnet;
It is the compass flower, that the finger of God has suspended
Here on its fragile stalk to direct the traveller's journey
Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert."

He is in error, however, in calling the plant delicate.

2 See VIII. " Young and Old Leaves," p. 84.

TRANSPIRATION. 157

for pumping it up from the roots as land-plants
possess.

The stomata are of course a great deal too small
to be seen without a microscope, but there is a
way in which we can tell on which side of any
leaf they are to be found. Dip the leaf in water,
and, after holding it there for some time, take it
out and shake it. Wherever a film of water
covers the leaf, there are no stomata ; but where
the leaf is dry, there they will be sure to be found.1
It would be an injury to the plant to have its
breathing pores clogged with water. Therefore
the surface where the stomata are is protected in
various ways from the wet. Many leaves have
what we call "bloom" upon them. This is a
waxy coating which prevents the rainwater from
adhering to the leaves. It can be observed on the
leaves of Cabbage, Nasturtium, Castor Oil Plant,
Begonias, and Primroses. The beautiful Gold and
Silver Ferns in our conservatories have the lower
side of their leaves covered with a sort of yellow
or white meal, which answers the same purpose.

Another mode of protection is through the help
of hairs. A countless number of leaves of our
common plants are covered with fine hairs, and

i •« Pflanzenleben," Vol. I. p. 267.

158 TRANSPIRATION.

these are more frequent on the lower sides of the
leaves. If we dip these leaves in water, the wet
collects in the form of drops, which roll off when
the leaf is shaken and leave no moisture behind.
It might be thought that the under side of a leaf
would be protected by its position from rain, but
if we turn over a leaf on a dewy morning, we
shall find that the water is as much on its under
as its upper side. We forget, when we speak of
the falling of the dew, that this is only a figure of
speech, — that the dew is really condensed just as
much on the lower as on the upper side of a leaf.

These waxy coverings to the leaves and their
garments of hair prevent excessive evaporation,
and are often also a defence against the attacks
of animals.

Another means of defence is the occurring of
numberless little projections all over the surface
of the leaf. When the falling drops of water roll
over such a surface, they cannot dislodge the air
which fills the depressions. As the stomata are
always in these pits, they are kept dry, and are
not wet even if the whole plant is immersed in
water. This means of protection is common with
plants growing in places where they are liable to
be immersed for weeks together, as with some

TRANSPIRATION, 159

Grasses (Glyceria aquatica, Phalaris arundinacea),
Sedges (Carex stricta), and Knot-weeds (Polygonum
ampliibium). It is a pretty sight to see one of
these leaves held under water. The whole under
surface shines like quicksilver, and however we
may shake and turn the leaf, we cannot dislodge
its covering of air. When we take it out of the
water this side of the leaf is quite dry, while the
other is wet. Stomata are also found on stems,
but they are not so numerous as on leaves.

Some kinds of trees may have a great effect in
transferring water from the soil to the atmos-
phere. The Eucalyptus tree is the most useful
for this purpose, and is often planted in order to
drain marshy places.

160 USES OF FORESTS AND OTHER

XIII.

USES OF FORESTS AND OTHER PLANT COVER'NG
OF THE EARTH.

BY N. S. SHALER.

THE greater part of the land surface of the
earth is thickly covered with growing plants.
Where the rainfall is sufficient and where the
region is exempt from wide-spread fires, such as
sweep over the prairies of the Mississippi Valley,
we always find a growth of forest trees. Where
the rainfall is scanty, or where these annual confla-
grations occur, the forests are replaced by grasses,
or other low-growing plants, which may maintain
their roots in a living state through the winter, but
have no permanent growth above the level of the
soil. Generally speaking, only those regions where
the rainfall is less than about ten inches a year
are without plant covering of any kind, and this
area is but a small part of the surface of the
earth.

The influence of this coating of plants on the
conditions of the earth is very important in many

J>LANT COVERING OF THE EARTH. 161

Ways. We will consider some of its simpler effects,
paying particular attention to the influences which
most concern man.

The most immediate effect produced by forests
is the improvement of the soil into which their
roots penetrate. Wherever trees succeed in finding
a foothold upon the surface of the earth, they pro-
ceed at once to make and to preserve a coating of
soil, which in the end may become fit for cultivation.
The roots penetrate downward into the crevices of
the rock, starting as slender filaments which, grow-
ing in size, wedge the stones apart and thus make
the beginnings of a soil. Into every cranny of the
disrupted stone, yet other roots find their way and
repeat the process of breaking. In this way in
the subsoil, the rock is fractured into bits, becomes
subjected to the dissolving action of the soil water,
and so affords food for plants. As long as the
rock remains in the condition of a solid mass, it
can yield but little plant-food. In that condition
there is only a small amount of surface for the
water to work upon. If we break a cubic foot of
that rock into bits a cubic inch in size, we multiply
the surface exposed to solution twelve-fold. If
these bits are in turn divided into cubes the
twelfth of an inch on a side, we again multiply

162 USES OF FORESTS AND OTHER

the surface exposed to the water by an equal
amount; and when we come down to the fine
grains of mud which in time are made from the
larger fragments, we find that the surface of
the rock from which the waters may dissolve
plant-food is increased many thousand fold by
the process of division. The root-hairs, also,
secrete an acid, capable of dissolving mineral sub-
stances with which they are in contact, and this
acid fluid aids them to decompose the particles of
stone. In this way the rootlets of the plants serve
in part to create from the solid rocks the soil that
gives them support.1

Not only do the trees help to make the soil upon
which they dwell, but they also preserve it from
destruction. If the reader will notice any tilled
field in a time of heavy rain, he will perceive that
the soil is rapidly borne away in the form of mud
to the rivers and thence to the sea. If he will
observe such a piece of ground after a heavy rain,

1 This influence of plants on their mineral substratum is clearly evi-
dent where Lichens and Mosses attach themselves to the free surfaces
of rocks, e.g., on high mountains. The solid crystalline surface of the
stone becomes gradually converted, by the activity of the roots of these
plants, into a friable, crumbling, loose substance. This decay continu-
ally penetrates deeper into the stone, and so affords a substratum in
which even the stronger roots of larger plants can then obtain a hold.
" Lectures on the Physiology of Plants." Sachs.

PLANT COVERING OF THE EARTH. 163

lie will often notice flat pieces of stone or potsherds
resting on top of little columns of soil. From this
he may draw the conclusion that during the rain
the soil has washed away to a depth equal to the
height of the column on which the flat fragments
rest. In fact, they have protected the earth imme-
diately beneath them from the destruction which
the rain brings about. It is a well-known fact
that in all countries where the soil has long been
tilled, it constantly diminishes in depth and, unless
great care is taken, in a few centuries it passes
away into the streams, only remaining where the
surface is very level. Thus in Italy and in many
of the countries which have long been tilled, the
soils on the steeper slopes which once were fertile
have now so far disappeared that many extensive
districts are given over to sterility.1

1 In May, 1888, a new forest law went into effect in Italy, by which
the government pledged itself to pay three-fifths of the cost of reforesta-
tion of the mountain districts, the rest of the expense to be met by the
owners. In case the owners do not consent to the plan prepared by
the Department of Agriculture, the government is to be at liberty to
take the land with proper compensation and perform the work alone.
The estimated cost of the plan proposed is $12,000,000. Such enormous
expense in the near future can be spared to America at a very small
cost of present money and labor. If we do not soon take some more
effective means than at present to preserve our forests our descendants
will have to follow the example of Italy and spend millions, where
we might have accomplished better results with thousands.

164 USES OF FORESTS AND OTHER

Forests serve not only to prevent the wasting of
the soil under the pelting influence of the rain but
they also greatly restrain the action of the rivers,
even the largest. Thus the Mississippi River and
other similar great streams are restrained in the
destruction they would otherwise bring to the allu-
vial plains ort either side of their current by the
constant growth of trees which line the banks.
Willows, Poplars, and certain other water-loving
plants thrive along the banks of the stream, send
their roots downward beneath the surface occupied
by the flood-waters and so make a strong net-work
which resists the cutting action of the river and
keeps the stream within narrow bounds. Even in
our brooks where they flow through virgin forests
the falling trees and other drift-wood make fre-
quent dams across the path of the waters, and here
the soil washed from the highlands is retained,
making little patches of earth.

Forests also act to prevent floods. If the rain
falls on an unforested country the water flows
quickly over the bare surface to the brooks and
thence to the larger rivers on its way to the sea.
In such a region the rain goes away to the ocean
as it does from our house roofs or paved streets.
When, however, the rain falls upon the forests,

PLANT COVERING OF THE EARTH. 165

the water enters into a thick spongy layer, com-
posed of partly decayed leaves together with trunks
and branches which are constantly dropping from
the trees upon the surface of the earth. Through
this sponge the water moves but slowly on its way
to the streams, and when it is actually in the
brooks its progress downward is retarded by numer-
ous dams made as we have just described by fallen
timber and drift-wood. The result is that instead
of pouring swiftly to the sea, the flood-waters may
slowly creep away, requiring weeks in place of
hours for their discharge to the greater rivers.

There is another effect which forests have upon
the soil, an effect which is not exercised by any
plants less in size than our trees. The strong
roots of trees, penetrating far down into the crev-
ices of the rocks and into the subsoil, draw upward
above the surface and build into their trunks the
solid matter which we find in the ash remaining
after the wood is completely burned. This valua-
ble nutritive matter drawn from the depths is
returned to the earth when leaves and branches
decay, and is thus stored in the upper part of the
soil, and becomes accessible to the growing crops.
Furthermore the trees in their growth gather, as is
the case with all plants, a large part of their sub-

166 USES OF FORESTS AXD OTHER

stance from the air. All the material which goes
into the air when we burn wood came from the
atmosphere during the growth of the plant. When
the tree dies, or when its leaves and branches fall
in the perennial death of its parts which attends
the growth of the whole plant, this carbon drawn
from the atmosphere is more or less built into the
soil, giving it the blackish look which is always
found in fields recently won from woodlands.
This mixture of decayed vegetable matter serves
in several important ways to make the soil fruitful.
The farmer has to imitate the natural process which
goes on in the forest by ploughing in clover, buck-
wheat, or other crops in order to introduce the
vegetable matter into the soil and so maintain its
fertility.

The utility of forests to man, though best exhib-
ited in the processes by which they make, save,
and enrich the soil, is shown in many ways. From
the forests we derive the construction timber, which
constitutes a large part of all houses, and of itself
is sufficient for the greater part of the dwellings
inhabited by man ; without this supply hardly one
of our arts could be maintained. Even in our
large cities, where the outer walls are of masonry,
the greater part of the structure is composed of

PLANT COVERING OF THE EARTH. 167

wood. So, too, timber is necessary for the con-
struction of our agricultural machinery, of the
greater part of our ships, and of a host of other
structures which are essential to the well-being
of man. In the present state of our arts, we
could more easily give up all the other resources
drawn from the earth, except perhaps iron, than
forego the use of wood from our civilization.

Although mineral coal has, in the more civilized
parts of the world, to a great extent taken the place
of wood for heating purposes, probably three-fourths
of the domestic hearths in the world are supplied
from the forests. In time it is to be hoped that
the use of stone coal will become yet more exten-
sive, for it will diminish the tax which is made
upon the woods, and so spare them for more
necessary uses.

Among the uses of the forests we must include
the shelter which they afford to human beings, and
to the cattle of our farms. Where the country is
untimbered, the winds, having a free sweep over
the surface of the earth, move in times of storm
more furiously than in the forests, where the trees
afford a most important shelter. In the prairie
districts of the upper Mississippi, it has been found
necessary to plant trees about the homesteads in

168 USES OF FORESTS AND OTHER

order to make thefti reasonably habitable during
the blizzards and to shelter the stock.

The character of the forests varies greatly in
different parts of the world. The noblest woods
of the earth are probably those of North America.
The district of the Appalachians from Northern
New York to Alabama, though much harmed by
the woodsman's axe and more by fires, still presents
the finest areas of broad-leaved trees in the world.
Individual members of related kinds in other coun-
tries may be nobler specimens of growth, but
nowhere else are the -woods so continuous and
so luxuriant over a wide-spread surface. In the
western parts of the continent, near the Pacific
coast, the narrow-leaved coniferous trees take on
a lofty growth. The great Sequoias or Eedwoods
of California are probably to be ranked as the
noblest plants in the world, being only approached
in size by some of the great trees of Australia,
which do not, however, attain the same majesty
as those of the Pacific coast.

Where trees grow in the close-set order of the
forest they attain a greater height than in the
open ground. For great forests have been devel-
oped in the endeavor of each tree to overtop its
neighbors and obtain a measure of the sunshine,

PLANT COVERING OF THE EARTH. 169

without access to which the plant cannot do its
best work. To develop a forest of very tall trees
demands long ages. If we cut a wood away and
permit the trees to grow again, they will develop
with much shorter stems than the parent wood.
Only slowly does the forest climb again to its
primeval elevation. Hence it comes about that
the forests of the New World are so much higher
than those of the Old. In Europe there are hardly
any woods, at most but scant patches, which have
escaped the axe. Almost all the timber is of the
second growth.

The close relation of forests to the needs of man
make it essential that in any country, which is to
be kept in the best condition for human occupa-
tion, a large share of its woodlands should be
spared destruction. When civilized men first
came to this country, they found all the regions
to which they had access in the state of dense
woods. It was a difficult matter to clear away
these forests in order to reduce the soil to the uses
of the plough. Thus the farmers have got into
the habit of looking upon the woods as enemies to
be driven away. The result of this is that the de-
struction of the forests has proceeded with great
rapidity ; indeed, with a recklessness which jeop-

rapidii

170 USES OF FORESTS AND OTHER

ardizes the interests of many communities. Thus,
in the valley of the Ohio, the rapid destruction of
the woods now necessitates the bringing of timber
for building purposes from great distances.

In almost all countries a portion of the surface
seems marked by nature as the fit place for the
growth of woods. The steep mountain slopes or
the rocky parts of the lower hills which are not by
their position well suited to the growth of tillage
crops are generally admirable places for forest uses.
Trees will not only grow but flourish exceedingly
on slopes so steep or so stony that they are unfit
for cultivation. A proper economy dictates that
all such regions should be left in their original
forest condition, or if they have been recklessly
cleared away, that trees should be replanted upon
them.

Last of all, we may note the elements of beauty
which are afforded by our woods. None accus-
tomed to dwell near pine trees or within accessible
distances of the primeval forest has any idea how
important are these elements in the landscape. If
he will dwell awhile on the prairies, where trees
are found only near the larger streams, and there,
indeed, in scanty growth, he will soon come to
recognize that the beauty of the woods is in a way

PLANT COVERING OF THE EARTH. 171

essential to him, and he thus can measure how
great is his enjoyment in the sight of forests.

The woods not only afford a noble life in their
own trees, but they supply a place for the protec-
tion of a host of beautiful animals. A large number
of our birds are not found in countries where trees
do not abound. Our squirrels and various other
mammals depend upon the forests for their main-
tenance. Thus the woods maintain a wider range
of animals than can possibly exist in countries
wThere there are no forests.

172 PARASITIC PLANTS.

XIV.

PARASITIC PLANTS.

TRUE parasites are plants which attach them-
selves to others and feed, either wholly or in part,
upon stolen juices.

Bacteria are microscopic parasites which mul-
tiply with marvellous rapidity, building up cell
after cell at the expense of the organism in which
they live. Our contagious diseases are ascribed to
the presence of bacteria in the blood.

Many fungi and lichens are parasitic, drawing
their nourishment from the plants on which they
grow. The gardener scrapes his fruit trees, that
the fungi on the bark may not extract the food
which should all be used to nourish blossom and
fruit.

We will now consider only the parasites which
are found among the higher plants.

(Parasitic ;plants may be either colored or green.
The former class have no green leaves. They
are therefore unable to digest their own food, and
must take it ready-made from others. The Dodder

PARASITIC PLANTS. 173

is an example of this kind of parasite. It has no
roots or leaves, but lives by sending suckers into
its foster-plant, or host-plant, and absorbing its
sap.

Green parasites are able to elaborate their own
food, and may therefore be either wholly or par-
tially parasitic. An example of a parasite which
has no connection with the ground is the English
Mistletoe. As it has green leaves it can take its
raw material from the host-plant and make it into
food, so that it probably lives both on the crude
sap and food materials of the plant on which it
grows.

Partially parasitic plants live apparently in the
usual way, by the fruits of their own labor, and
steal secretly from the prepared stores of others.
Our Gerardias are of this class. Their roots make
an underground connection with the roots of other
plants and draw food from them.

We will now examine some examples of these
classes a little more in detail.

The Dodder is one of our most common para-
sites. Its yellow, thread-like stems wind about
low bushes and bear clusters of white flowers, but
they do not possess any trace of leaves. This
plant is not especially troublesome with us, but its

174 PARASITIC PLANTS.

near relatives in Europe attack the Flax, Clover,
and Hop fields, and are much dreaded. The Dod-
der which infests the Hop is called in Germany
"Devil's thread" (Teufelszwirn) . The germina-
tion of our common species, Cuscuta Gronovii is
similar, excepting that the embryo is more coiled
in the seed.

" Among the species of Cuscuta, certain Euro-
pean ones have obtained a specially bad reputation,
because they are so troublesome in agriculture.
The most notorious of these is Cuscuta trifolii,
called Clover-silk (Kleeseide), whose advent in the
clover fields is so displeasing to the farmer, and
whose destruction gives him so much trouble.
Another unwelcome guest is Cuscuta epilinum,
which winds about the stern of the Flax and hin-
ders it in its growth, and a third, Cuscuta Europcea
(Fig. 43), often destroys the Hop. The last is the
most widely distributed of all the species of Cus-
cuta, and is found from England, through Central
Asia, to Japan, and southward as far as Algeria.
It is not only parasitic on the Hop, but also on
the Elder and many other shrubs, and it especially
prefers the Nettle.

"The seeds of this, as well as almost all the
species of Cuscuta, germinate on damp earth, on

PARASITIC PLANTS. 175

leaf -mould, or upon the decayed bark of old tree-
trunks. The embryo, which lies embedded in the
albumen of the one-celled seed, is in the form of a
thread and rolled spirally. It forms a circle of
a single turn or a turn and a half, and is thickened

FIG. 43. CUSCUTA EUROP/EA, PARASITIC ON THE HOP. (Natural Size.)
(" Pflanzenleben.")

at one end in the shape of a club. There is not a
trace of cotyledons in the true species of Cuscuta.

" The seed lies on the ground in the open air all
through the winter, and germinates very late in
the following spring, at least a month later than
the other seeds .which have reached the same spot

176 PARASITIC PLANTS.

of ground. This fact is of great importance to
the parasite, because when it germinates peren-
nial plants have already sent up stems from their
underground rootstocks. If the seed had germi-
nated early in spring, it would not easily have
found a support in its immediate neighborhood,
while later, the stem of an annual, or the sprout of
a perennial plant, is seldom wanting about which
it can wind.

" In germination the spirally rolled embryo
stretches itself, makes a turn to the left, takes the
form of a bow, and pushes out its club-shaped end
from the seed-coats (Fig. 45, a to/). This enters
the ground and there clings to withered leaves, etc.
The small end of the filiform embryo, still sur-
rounded by the seed-coats and the albumen, raises
itself in the opposite direction. Further growth
does not take place at either end, but in the middle
of the thread, and is very rapid, so that on the
fifth day the whole seedling has lengthened itself
fourfold. On the third day of germination the
seed-coats, covering the upper end, are thrown off,
and the apex of the seedling is exposed. The store
of food provided for the young plant for its journey
is now used up, and it is thrown entirely on its
own resources. As it has no trace of breathing-

PARASITIC PLANTS. 177

pores it cannot supply itself with nourishment
from the air, nor can it absorb water with its
club-shaped end. It grows without doubt at the
expense of the materials which are contained in
this thickened end, which then begins to shrink
and soon dies away, while the upper end of the
thread lengthens perceptibly. In the meantime,
if this part of the seedling comes in contact
with anything that would serve it as a support,
it embraces it, and its future is generally as-
sured.

" If the seedling finds no support, it falls upon
the ground after the withering of the club-shaped
end; in this act it often strikes a neighboring
plant, and twines itself immediately about it. If,
however, a support is wanting and the young seed-
ling lies on the bare earth, its future growth is
stopped. It keeps alive a wonderfully long time,
and may remain unchanged for four or five weeks,
waiting for rescue. Often the relief comes when
another plant germinates at its sides, or a growing
sprout pushes up beside it and touches the Cuscuta.
In this case it seizes the friendly cable and twines
about it. If no support is forthcoming, the seed-
ling dies. It is worthy of notice that these threads
which develop suckers when they are fastened to a

178 PARASITIC PLANTS.

living plant, are unable to develop any such absorb-
ing organs in the damp earth.

" If the filiform Cuscuta seedling grasps a support,
either while it still possesses its club-shaped lower
end, or after this has withered away, it makes two
or three turns about its prop, and then raises again
its growing apex, which circles around like the hand
of a clock. By this movement, which makes the
impression on the beholder that the plant is grop-
ing for a support, the thread comes in contact with
new stalks, branches, and leaf-stems of other plants,
seizes them, and makes again two or three close
turns about the new support. In this way the
growing apex of the young plant dispenses as soon
as possible with dead supports, and gives the pref-
erence in a remarkable manner to the living por-
tions of the plants on which it has fastened.

" When the Cuscuta has embraced its support,
the thread swells somewhat and forms suckers,
which are generally near together in a row of
three, four, or five (Fig. 43).

" Such a piece of stem, furnished with suckers,
resembles a little worm, which creeps around the
supporting stem. At first these suckers are exactly
like forming roots and appear smooth on the upper
surface, but they soon assume a finely granular

PARASITIC PLANTS. 179

appearance, by the walls of the epidermal cells
arching outward. By the help of these papillae,
and especially by means of a juice which they
secrete, the suckers fasten themselves to their
support. If the suckers have attached themselves
to a dead body they flatten themselves out upon it,

FIG. 44. CROSS SECTION OF CUSCUTA, PARASITIC ON THE HOP.
(" Pflanzenleben.")

and make a kind of disk, which undergoes no fur-
ther development and serves only as an organ of
attachment; but if the prop is a living plant, a
bundle of cells presses forth from the middle of the
sucker, and presses into the living tissue of the
assailed plant (Fig. 44). This entrance is effected
with great violence. The bundle of cells breaks
through the firmly united cells of the epidermis

180 PARASITIC PLANTS.

of the host-plant, often through a thick rind, and
penetrates as far even as the woody tissue. Once
having entered the host-plant, the cells, until now
united in a bundle, isolate themselves, move apart,
force themselves singly into the cells of the host,
and become now active absorbing cells. They
draw out the organic substances of the foster-plant
and bring them by the shortest road to the fibres,
which, in the meantime, have developed in the
stem of the Cuscuta, and are grouped in a narrow
circle there. When such a connection is finally
established, between the parasite and the host-
plant, the lower portion of the parasite dies away.
The club-shaped end has already disappeared, and
the Cuscuta is now no longer connected with the
earth in which it has germinated, but is rooted
only to the host-plant, by means of the suckers."

Another kind of parasite which is without green
coloring matter, and therefore unable to digest its
own food, is Beech-drops (Epiphegus Virginiana).
This is an example of a root-parasite. It belongs
to a family (Orobancliacece) consisting of brownish
or yellowish plants, with scales instead of leaves,
which are all root-parasites. The Epiphegus lives

1 This account of the germination of Dodder is quoted from "Pflan-
zenleben," p. 159.

PARASITIC PLANTS. 181

on the roots of the Beech. It has a seed without
cotyledons or distinction of root and stem. The
seedling is a thread which grows downwards till
it comes in contact with a root on which it fastens.
It is unable to take its food from the soil. Fig.
45, g to m, represents the seedling of a Broom-
rape (Orobanche epithymum), a European member
of this family. When the seedling fastens on the
root it thickens and becomes knotty and warty.
In England there are eight species of Broom-rapes,
which grow on the roots of Broom, Clover, Hemp,
etc. They injure the clover fields by stealing the
nourishment from the roots of the plants.

There are a great many of these brown, yellow,
or flesh-colored parasites in tropical countries. The
largest flower in the world is said to belong to a
parasitic plant, Eafflesia Arnoldi. It is a yard
across. It lives in Sumatra on the roots of a kind
of vine.

The English Mistletoe is a good example of a
wholly parasitic plant. The bright white berries
are very attractive to birds, who eat them freely.
The hard seeds are not digested by the birds and
fall on the trees, where they soon germinate if the
situation suits them. They are especially fond of
the Black Poplar (Populus nigra). The occurrence

182

PARASITIC PLANTS.

5 I

J3 C

O «

o £

PARASITIC PLANTS. 183

of the Mistletoe on the Oak is extremely rare, so
that it is said to have been regarded by the Druids
as a sacred event, and to have formed part of their
religious rites.

The seedling has two cotyledons which are
imbedded in albumen. In germination the por-
tion of the caulicle under the cotyledons elongates,
and grows towards the bark of the tree, exactly as
the caulicle of an ordinary seedling grows towards
the ground. When it reaches the bark it makes
a disk, and, out of the middle of this disk, a fine
root-fibre enters the bark of the tree, and pene-
trates it as far as the wood.

The following year the tree forms a new ring
of wood, which surrounds the root-fibre of the
Mistletoe and pushes out the bark before it. The
root does not grow into the wood, but the wood
grows around the root, so that it would in course
of time be completely buried up. To prevent this,
a zone of cells is formed around the base of the
Mistletoe root, which keeps pace in its growth
with the ring of wrood, and apparently continues
outward the growth of the root. This growing
zone of cells sends out side branches which run
parallel with the axis of the branch and incorpo-
rate themselves with the bark. These branches

184

PARASITIC PLANTS.

develop new roots, which grow perpendicular to
the axis of the branch, and become gradually sur-
rounded with wood, exactly as happened to the
first root. As this is continued every year, the

FIG. 46.

I. Mistletoe (Viscum album), Parasitic on the Branch of a Tree. Cross-Section through
Branch and Parasite. 2. Piece of Fir Wood, pierced by the Root- Fibres of the Mistle-
toe. (" Pflanzenleben.")

branch becomes pierced with many roots, sur-
rounded with yearly rings of wood, which decrease
in number in proportion as the distance from the
original root increases (Fig. 46, 1).

As the Mistletoe has green leaves, it can digest

PARASITIC PLANTS.

185

o 3?
« 1

8 iE

186 PARASITIC PLANTS.

its own food, and is not dependent on the organ-
ized sap of its host-plant.

Finally, there are many partially parasitic green
plants. We should not know from their appear-
ance that they were living on stolen stores. The
Gerardias, Cow-wheat (Melampyrum), and Yellow-
rattle (Rliinanthus) are examples of this class.
The parasitic habit is not visible in these plants in
the first stage of their development. Fig. 45, n to
2), on p. 182, shows the germination of a seedling
of a European species of Cow-wheat (Melampyrum
sylvaticum). The seedling throws out a main root
an inch and a half long in the first week, from
which half a dozen side roots branch, without
being attached to any other plant. When these
side branches have grown long enough to come
in contact with the roots of other plants, they
fasten upon them, develop suckers, and steal their
juices.

There are other plants, like Indian Pipe, which
live on decaying matter in the soil. These are
called Saprophytes.

There is a great deal still to be investigated
about these parasitic plants, and any good observer
could record many interesting facts.

INSECTIVOROUS TLANTSo 187

XV.

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.1

MARY TREAT.

THERE are many seemingly strange things in
nature, but perhaps none more remarkable than
the fact that some plants kill and consume small
animals, thus reversing the order of nature's laws,
or as we have been taught to look upon her laws.

The most common of these plants are the Sun-
dews or Droseras. There is scarcely a swamp in
any part of our country, either North or South,
which does not contain one or more species of
these interesting plants. The leaves of the dif-
ferent species are covered with hair-like glands or,
more properly, tentacles surmounted with glands,
which exude a clear, viscid fluid that glistens in
the sunshine like tiny drops of dew, from which
the plants take the name of Sundew.

The Eound-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia)
is more often found in the Northern States than

1 The first experiments on the digestion of animal substances by
plants were made by Kanby on Dionaea (1865) and by Mrs. Treat on
Drosera (1871). In 1875, Darwin published " Insectivorous Plants."

188 INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS,

either of the other species. Its leaves are ar-
ranged in a rosette and lie flat on the ground, or
on the moss among which they often grow. Some
of these little plants have a rosy, pink hue, and
look wonderfully attractive as they sparkle in the
sunshine. No doubt the glistening brightness
lures many little thirsty insects to the cool-look-
ing, dewy leaves. But no sooner does one touch
a leaf than it finds itself held by the deceptive,
sticky fluid, and the more it struggles to become
free, the more it is entangled. As it stretches and
reaches out to get away, it only comes more and
more in contact with other bristling filaments,
until finally it has no power to move, and the re-
maining filaments which it did not reach are all
soon curved and bent toward the poor captive,
which is quickly bathed in the slimy secretion,
and dies within ten or twenty minutes after it is
caught. This secretion dissolves or digests all
the soft parts of the little victim which are ab-
sorbed by the plant, while the shelly, indigestible
parts remain on the leaf until it becomes dry,
when the particles are blown off. As soon as the
insect is disposed of, the tentacles resume their
erect position and the glands again begin to se-
crete the sticky dew in readiness for more prey.

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

189

The illustration of the Sundew (Fig. 48) repre-
sents two leaves magnified about three times.
One leaf has all the tentacles in the normal posi-
tion, while the other has a part bent over some
small creature.

Why Drosera consumes insects is easier asked

FIG. 48, LEAVES OF SUNDEW (Drosera). (Magnified).

than answered. The plants live in water, or in
very moist places, where the roots can imbibe or
drink so as to supply the viscid secretion that it
may capture its prey. And this Round-leaved Sun-
dew grows mostly among sphagnum moss where
it is almost impossible for it to obtain the usual
plant-food or nitrogenous matter except as it gets

190 INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

it from the insects which it entraps and consumes.
But this cannot be said of the Long-leaved Sundew
(D. longifolid) which grows in black, muddy ponds
and bogs.

The latter sometimes grows in water from ten
to twelve inches in depth, and the roots are im-
bedded in the black mud beneath. But the caudex,
or rhizoma, is prolonged so that the leaves and
flowers are above the water. And very beautiful
they look when they stand thickly on the water
as they sometimes do. Other water-plants grow
in the same shallow pond with this Sundew.
Water-lilies — both Nymphcea and Nupliar — and
the Water-shield (Brasenia peltata), and the pretty
little Floating-heart (Limnanthemum lacunosum),
all of which require an abundance of nitrogenous
food, and would not grow in the pond unless they
could obtain it. And yet this Long-leaved Sun-
dew which grows with them is a most expert
fly-catcher, and, although it cannot be said that it
is necessary for this plant to capture insects for
food, it entraps them all the same. Sometimes
large flies and small butterflies and moths are
caught and the leaves roll entirely around them.
They roll from the apex to the base, holding their
prey until all the soft parts are absorbed, when

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 191

they unfold and let the wings and legs and other
indigestible portions fall off.

But the most beautiful and curious species is
the Thread-leaved Sundew (D. filiformis). Its
leaves are erect, and from six to twelve inches in
length — simply thread-like and covered with ten-
tacles and glands from base to tip. It grows from
a little bulb usually in pure white sand in springy
places so that the sand is gently overflowed with
water. I do not know of any other plant more
attractive than this. It looks so fresh and clean
and sparkling in the pure sand and water. The
viscid dew makes it look as if covered with little
gems of various hues. The flower-scape is a trifle
longer than the leaves, and bears charming rose-
purple flowers an inch or more across.

Hosts of insects are lured by the brightness of
the plants, which they no sooner touch than they
are held captive. And here we can see that it
looks as if the plants needed them for food, grow-
ing as they do in sand and water. This species
kills and consumes much larger insects than either
of the others. Great dragon-flies, butterflies, and
moths, as well as two-winged flies, are caught and
killed.

The long leaves, standing erect and thickly to-

192 INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

gether, hold and bind the victims much more
effectually than the other species. The larger
the insect the more leaves it reaches and draws
around itself, until it is soon bathed in the sticky
secretion which closes the trachea or air-tubes,
when it speedily dies.

Like the other species, it absorbs the nutritious
parts and lets the rest fall at the base of the
plant, where we can find a good share of the re-
mains of the prey it has slaughtered, especially of
the larger insects. Probably this debris is some-
thing of a fertilizer and helps to nourish the plant.

I have observed two additional species of Sun-
dew in Florida : D. capillaris, which grows in
boggy ponds, and bears pale, rose-colored flowers,
and D. brevifolia, --a pretty little plant with
rather large white flowers, — found in the damp
Pine-barrens. Both of these plants have the same
fly-catching habits. There is still another species,
the Slender Sundew (D. linearis), with which I am
not familiar. This grows about the shores of
Lake Superior. These are all of the Sundews, so
far as I know, in our country.

The Venus' s Flytrap (Dioncea muscipula) is one
of the most singular and wonderful plants in the
world. It belongs to the Sundew family. But,

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

193

while quite different from these plants, it is more
nearly related to them than to any others, so that
botanists, not knowing what else to do with* it,

FIG. 49. VENUS'S FLYTRAP (Dionaea muscipula). (" Pflanzenleben.")

have placed it here. It is found only in the east-
ern part of North Carolina and in the adjacent
parts of South Carolina. It grows in sandy bogs
in the low Pine-barrens. The illustration (Fig. 49),

194 INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

although reduced in size, shows how singular it
is. The curious leaves are all at the base of the
plant close to the ground. The flower-scape arises
from the centre, is about a foot in height, and
bears from eight to ten pretty white flowers.

FIG. 50.

I. Outspread Leaf of Venus's Flytrap. 2. Section through a Closed Leaf.
(" Pflanzenleben.")

This novel Flytrap has no sticky secretion, like
the Sundews, with which to capture prey, but in-
stead of this its leaves are converted into traps
something like a steel trap. The midrib or central
vein, which is thick and strong, divides the leaf
into two lobes, each of which is furnished with three
very sensitive, short hairs or filaments, as may be
seen in the illustration of the single leaf (Fig. 50).

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 195

If either of these filaments is touched, the two
lobes fly together instantly, and the stout bristles
on the edge of the leaf interlock after the fashion
of a steel trap.

Now when an unwary insect alights on a leaf-
trap, which nature has set, it is sure to touch one
or more of the sensitive filaments and is caught,
and unless it is large and strong it cannot escape.
Strong beetles and the stronger flies will force
their way out between the bristles, but the weaker
ones are held as if in a vice, and are soon envel-
oped in a slimy secretion, which at once begins to
exude from the inner surface of the trap, and after
several days digests all of the soft parts, when the
leaf slowly opens, and, if it is still healthy, is now
ready for another victim.

In my experiments, I have found that the Sun-
dews digest their prey more quickly than the
Dioncea. But I have worked with only culti-
vated plants ; it may be different with those
growing in their native bogs, which I hope some
of my young readers may be able to investi-
gate.

The Pitcher-plant (Sarracenia purpurea) (Fig.
51) is another remarkable Flytrap quite common
in bogs from New England to Florida. It is a

196

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

handsome plant ; both its leaf and flower are curi-
ous and beautiful.

On large plants the leaves are from six to eight

FIG. 51. PITCHER-PLANT (Sarracenia purpurea). (" Pflanzenleben.")

inches in length, and the flower-scape is a foot or
more in height, bearing at the top a single, large,
dark, purple flower. The singular fiddle-shaped

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 197

petals are arched over the expanded umbrella-
shaped style in a strange manner. The leaves
grow in the form of fanciful pitchers, and hold
water and usually many drowned insects.

I have observed this species closely, but have
never been able to find what it is that attracts so
many insects into the pitchers. I am satisfied,
however, from repeated experiments, that there is
something. I have large, strong plants growing
in an artificial bog near the house, where I can
conduct experiments at my leisure. When the
new leaves have fully expanded, I set bottles
(which have about the same breadth of mouth as
the leaves, and will hold about the same amount)
partly filled with clear water by the side of some
of the plants, and these bottles do not capture
any insects. Other bottles of the same capacity,
partly filled with sweetened water and set near
the leaves, invariably captured as many insects as
the leaf-pitchers, and yet I could not detect any
luring bait about these leaves ; but the insects
must find something or they would not enter into
them any more than they would into the bottles
of clear water.

There is a Pitcher-plant (S. variolaris) which
grows in the South, that has a tempting bait ex-

198 INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS.

tending from the base of the leaf to the top, and
this is another reason I have for thinking that
our Northern species must have some similar con-
trivance — but in a lesser degree — to lure insects
into its cups.

The leaves of this Southern species are straight
tubes, somewhat trumpet-shaped, standing erect,
and are from twelve to fifteen inches in length.
A hood or arch covers the top so that it is almost
impossible for water to enter them. The flowers
are yellow, but shaped like our purple ones. It
captures great numbers of insects, which are at-
tracted by the sweet, sugary secretion which ex-
tends along the entire length of the leaf and
around the upper edge of the opening or mouth
of the tube. As far as I have observed, the in-
sects which partake of this secretion always go
inside of the tube or pitcher and never return.

There is a difference of opinion among observers
with regard to the action of the sweet secretion on
the insects which partake of it. I have given my
observations and experiments quite fully in "Home
Studies in Nature," 1 and have no reason to modify
in the least my views as therein stated.

1 " Home Studies in Nature/' By Mary Treat. Harper & Brothers.
1871.

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 199

And here is a good field for the young observer
to make careful experiments, in order to settle
the question with regard to the action of this
secretion on the various insects which feed on it,
and to determine why they do not get out of the
pitchers.

BOOK I. 40 cts. introd. BOOK II. 60 cts. introd.

TARBELL'S

LESSONS IN LANGUAGE.

By H, S, TARBELL, Superintendent of Schools, Providence, RJ,

Here is at last a series that harmonizes "language " and "grammar" and
makes expression through -written forms as natural as thought and speech.

It is believed that nothing crude, notional, or simply " taking " will be
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years were spent in maturing the plan, and five years more in working out
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A course in which so much good thought has been embodied must possess
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pleased with them. They insure better teaching, because most teachers will almost literally
follow the text-book and Tarbell's Lessons have evidently been arranged with this fact in
view. Accordingly, all subjects are treated with sufficient fullness for the common school
and in due proportion with reference to theory and practice.

A. Wanner, City Supt. of Schools, York, Pa. : They are admirably adapted to teach
the pupil " to use his native tongue with readiness, clearness and accuracy in both its spoken
and written forms."

Mary A. Bacon, Teacher of English, Girls' Normal and Industrial School, Milledge-
ville, Ga. : I have no hesitation in saying that they are the best books on the subject now in
the field. The most inexperienced teacher could not fail of fair success with such texts.

R. W. Stevenson, Supt. of Schools, Wichita, Kansas : It will, by the force of merit,
push itself into many of our best schools. Teachers will find it one of the best arranged and
the best graded of the many books on language culture for primary schools. The exercises
for composition are fresh and pointed, and if followed must result in making the pupil able
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N. Somerville, Supt. of Public Schools, Denison, Texas: Tarbell's Lessons in Language
have been in use in the public schools of this city five months, and I have had an excellent
opportunity of testing their efficiency by actual experiment in the school room. . . . On the
whole it may be said that they are without a rival, so far as merit is concerned.

George S. Albee, Pres. State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis. : It constitutes the best
basis for a child's progress in culture in language known to me. Its lessons are not merely
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language, but in addition, they constitute a linguistic center, which calls for exercise upon
the child's varied field of knowledge.

CINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS,

Boston, New York, and Chicago.

STICKNEY'S READERS.

Introductory to Classics for Children. By J. H. STICKNEY, author of
The Child's Book of Language, Letters and Lessons in Language^
English Grammar, etc. Introduction Prices: First Reader, 24 cents;
Second Reader, 32 cents ; Third Reader, 40 cents ; Fourth Reader,
50 cents; Fifth Reader, 60 cents; Auxiliary Books : Stickney & Pea-
body's First Weeks at School, 1 2 cents ; Stickney's Classic Primer, 20
cents.

THESE books are, first of all, readers. This main purpose,
is not sacrificed in order to get in all sorts of " features " to
entrap the unwary.

The vitality of methods and selections preserves the chil-
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The editor aimed at positive excellence, and not simply to
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able or ill-informed, could discover a feature definite enough
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Good reading would not be good if it did not appeal to
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Give the children a chance at these Readers. They are
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When it is a question of obstacles, wings are sometimes
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Best in idea and plan ; best in matter and make ; best in
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They have found favor with our teachers and pupils from the first.
To me the books seem to be just what the gifted author intended them
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greatest success. — A. R. Sabin, Assistant Supt., Chicago, III.

CINN & COMPANY, Publishers,

Boston, New York, and Chicago,

OPEN SESAME!

About One Thousand Pieces of the Choicest Prose and Verse.

COMPILED BY
BLANCHE WILDER BELLAMY AND MAUD WILDER GOODWIN.

VOL. I. for children from four to ten years old.
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VOL. III. for children of a larger growth.

Illustrated, and handsomely bound in cloth. Price of each to
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No Eastern romancer ever dreamed of such a treasure-
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With this " Open Sesame " in his possession a boy or girl
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The best writings of our classic authors are here, with
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It is very good indeed. We think it the best of all the collections. — E. A.
SHELDON, Prin. State Normal School, Os-wego, N. Y.

I think it by far the best collection of memory pieces I have ever seen. — F. B.
PALMER, Prin. State Normal School, Fredonia, N. Y.

It is a beauty, and of all similar works I have seen, it has the most desirable
selections. — W. E. BUCK, Supt. Public Schools, Manchester, N. H.

The book is a handsome specimen of the arts of typography and binding,
while the selections and their arrangement speak well for the judgment and taste
of the editors.— C HAS. W. COLE, Supt. Public Schools, Albany, N. Y.

It [Volume I.] is a rare and rich collection of poems and a few prose
articles. — INTER-OCEAN, Chicago.

The whole book is full to overflowing of the best things to be found in the
English language, and is a thoroughly happy production which children, parents,
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It is not often that a collection of verse so thoroughly representative, of what
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The editors have brought to their task a sufficiently wide and sympathetic
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acter and of a practicable sort. — SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES, Philadelphia.

CINN & COMPANY, Publishers,

Boston, New York, Chicago, and London.

THE NATIONAL MUSIC COURSE

Aims

To place vocal music on the same footing as the regular school studies, and
enable the class teachers to give successful instruction in music, as in geog-
raphy and arithmetic, under competent direction.

IT HAS srcci:i:i>i:i>

Fully, as the list of places using it proves. The testimony of teachers,,
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" If there is any argument in pure merit, the National should head the list of music
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The books stand the severest tests of time and use." — T. E. HAZELL, Special Teacher
tf Music, New York City.

MORE

THAN

ANY

OTHER

endorsed by wide use and satisfactory results.
approved by musical authorities here and abroad,
recommended on a careful examination of its merits,
enjoyed by the teachers who teach and the children who study it*

SOME POINTS OF EXCELLENCE,
x. It is based on the fundamental principles of education.

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4. The best composers are represented, and the. best song-writers.

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6. The literature is appropriate, dignified, and improving.

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& It is endorsed by long and wide use, in America and in foreign countries.

g, It is endorsed by practical teachers of school music, by superintendents, by clasi
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10. Those who have most thoroughly studied the System are most firmly convinced ol
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11. Thoroughly tested under most varied conditions, it is beyond the period oi
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12. It is fresh and abreast of the times, and will always be kept in line with the newest
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13. It exerts a strong influence toward the good order of the school and the refinement
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14. It not only appeals to the musical children, but awakens and develops the un
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GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS,
BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO.

Musical Publications.

Tnfrrwl

Caswell & Ryan : Time and Tune Series. Price.

Book I. The ^Eolian $0.65

Book II. Ths Barcarolle 94

Coda Supplementary Music for Public Schools. No.

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Eichberg Girls' High School Music Reader 1.25

New High School Music Reader 94

High School Music Reader (old edition) 94

Eichberg & Sharland: Fourth Music Reader (Revised) 94

Abridged Fourth Music Reader (Revised) 75

Emerson, Brown & Gay: The Morning Hour 50

Leib Voices of Children 40

Mason New First Reader 25

New Second Reader 40

New Third Reader 40

Independent Reader 70

Abridged Independent Reader 60

National Music Teacher 40

Hymn and Tune Book for Female Voices 60

Hymn and Tune Book for Mixed Voices 60

Independent and Hymn and Tune Book for

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New First, Second, and Third Series of Music

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Time-Name Chart 75

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Common School Chart 5.00

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GINN & COMPANY, Publishers,

BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO.

NATURAL SCIENCE.

Elements of Physics.

A Text-book for High Schools and Academies. By ALFRED P. GAGE,
A.M., Instructor in Physics in the English High School, Boston. 12mo.
424 pages. Mailing Price, $1.25; Introduction, $1.12.

HPHIS treatise is based upon the doctrine of the conservation of
energy, which is made prominent throughout the work. But
the leading feature of the book — one that distinguishes it from
all others — is, that it is strictly experiment-teaching in its method ;
i.e., it leads the pupil to "read nature in the language of experi-
ment." So far as practicable, the following plan is adopted : The
pupil is expected to accept as fact only that which he has seen or
learned by personal investigation. He himself performs the larger
portion of the experiments with simple and inexpensive apparatus,
such as, in a majority of cases, is in his power to construct with the
aid of directions given in the book. The experiments given are
rather of the nature of questions than of illustrations, and precede
the statements of principles and laws. Definitions and laws are not
given until the pupil has acquired a knowledge of his subject suffi-
cient to enable him to construct them for himself. The aim of the
book is to lead the pupil to observe and to think.

Wm. Noetling, State Normal
School, Bloomsburg, Pa. : I know of
no other work on the subject that
I can so unreservedly recommend to
all wide-awake teachers as this.

Benj. F. Thomas, Prof, of Physics,
Ohio State University : I have used
it with preparatory classes for sev-
eral years with satisfaction. I re-
gard it as the best for class-room
work.

H. Wilson Harding, Prof, of

Physics, Lehigh University : I be-
lieve Gage's Elements of Physics to
be based on the true method of study-
ing that branch of science, — that of
practical work in the laboratory by
the student himself.

C. F. Emerson, Prof, of Physics,
Dartmouth College : It takes up the
subject on the right plan, and pre-
sents it in a clear yet scientific way.

100 NATURAL SCIENCE.

Introduction to Physical Science.

By A. P. GAGE, Instructor in Physics in the English High School, Bos-
ton, Mass., and author of Elements of Physics, etc. 12mp. Cloth.
viii + 353 pages. With a color chart of spectra, etc. Mailing price,
$ 1.10; for introduction, $1.00.

rpHE constantly increasing popularity of Gage's Elements of

' Physics has created a demand for an easier book, on the same
plan, suited to schools that can give but a limited time to the
study. The Introduction to Physical Science meets this demand.

In a text-book, the first essentials are correctness and accuracy.
It is believed that the Introduction will stand the closest expert
scrutiny. Especial care has been taken to restrict the use of scien-
tific terms, such as force, energy, power, etc., to their proper signifi-
cations. Terms like sound, light, color, etc., which have commonly
been applied to both the effect and the agent producing the effect,
have been rescued from this ambiguity.

Recent advances in physics have been faithfully recorded, and
the relative practical importance of the various topics has been
taken into account. Among the new features are a full treatment
of electric lighting, and descriptions of storage batteries, methods
of transmitting electric energy, simple and easy methods of mak-
ing electrical measurements with inexpensive apparatus, the com-
pound steam-engine, etc. Static electricity, now generally regarded
as of comparatively little practical importance, is treated briefly;
while dynamic electricity, the most promising physical agent of
modern times, is placed in the clearest light of our present
knowledge.

The wide use of the Elements under the most varied conditions,
and, in particular, the author's own experience in teaching it, have
shown how to improve where improvement was possible. The
style will be found suited to the grades that will use the book.
The experiments are of practical significance, and simple in manip-
ulation. ^The Introduction is even more fully illustrated than the
Elements.

The Introduction, like the author's Elements, has this distinct
and distinctive aim, — to elucidate science, instead of " populariz-
ing" it; to make it liked for its own sake, rather than for its gild-

NATURAL SCIENCE.

101

ing and coating; and, while teaching the facts, to impart the spirit
of science, that is to say, the spirit of our civilization and progress.

Alexander Macfarlane, Prof, of
Physics, University of Texas : I con-
sider that the principal features of
the book — its clearness and accuracy
of statement, its information being
up to date, and the practical nature
of the instruction — make it valua-
ble as a first text-book in Physics in
high schools and academies, and es-
pecially for those institutions that
prepare for the universities.

I. Thornton Osmond, Prof, of
Physics, State College, Pa. : For
selection of matter and method of
treatment, for comprehensiveness,
brevity, clearness, and accuracy, for
the simplicity and value of experi-
ments, it was, and yet is, unrivalled
as a text-book for high school and
academic work.

George E. Gay, Prin. of High
School, Maiden, Mass. : With the
matter, both the topics and their pre-
sentation, I am better pleased than
with any other Physics I have seen.

J. P. Naylor, Prof, of Physics, De
Pauw University; In its scientific

spirit, and in accuracy and clearness
of statements of principles, I know
nothing that is its superior. The ex-
tent to which the work is carried is
also about what can be well done in
the time our schools usually have to
give to the subject. It is used in
preparatory work at this University
as the best we can get.

0. C. Kinyon, Teacher of Physics
in High School, Syracuse, N. Y. : It
not only insures an interest in the
study but tends to thoroughly arouse
those powers of observation, the de-
velopment of which is the especial
province of scientific study.

B. C. Hinde, Professor Natural
Science, Trinity College, N. C. : I
have used Gage's Introduction to
Physical Science for two years, and
I consider it the best book published
for its purpose. It is strictly in
accord with the best modern teach-
ing of Physics. I have made it a
point to call the attention of my stu-
dents to this book that they may use
it in their teaching.

Physical Laboratory Manual and Note Booh.

By A. P. GAGE, Instructor in Physics in English High School, Boston,
and author of Elements of Physics, Introduction to Physical Science,
etc. 12mo. Boards, xii + 244 pages. By mail, 45 cents ; for introduction,
35 cents.

manual has been prepared especially to accompany the
" author's text-books, but is adapted for use in connection with
any good text-book on the subject. The left-hand page contains
cuts of apparatus to be used, directions for performing experiments
(upwards of one hundred in number), and questions to be an-
swered in connection with the experiments. Suggestions to
teachers, the needed tables, etc., are provided at the beginning.
The right-hand pages are left blank for the pupil's notes.

102

NATURAL SCIENCE.

A Students' Manual of a Laboratory Course in

Physical Measurements.

By WALLACE CLEMENT SABINE, A.M., Instructor in Harvard Univer-
sity. 8vo. Cloth, ix+126 pages. Mailing price, $1.35; for intro-
duction, $1.25.

manual, which is intended for use in supplementing col-
lege courses in physics, contains an outline of seventy experi-
ments in mechanics, sound, heat, light, magnetism and electricity,
arranged with special regard to a systematic and progressive de-
velopment of the subject. The description of each experiment is
accompanied by a brief statement of the physical principles and
definitions involved, and a proof of necessary formulae.

Le Koy C. Cooley, Professor of
Physics, Vassar College : I have ex-
amined it and am ready to com-
mend it.

Fernando Sanford, Professor of
Physics, Leland Stanford Junior
University: I like the book very

much. It is better adapted to the
kind of work which I am trying to
do than any other book I have seen.
J. F. Woodhull, Professor of Sci-
ence, Teachers' College, New York:
I find Sabiue's Laboratory Manual
a thoroughly good thing.

High School Laboratory Manual of Physics.

By DUDLEY G. HAYS, CHARLES D. LOWRY, and AUSTIN C. RISHEL,
Teachers of Physics in the Chicago High Schools. 8vo. Cloth.
iv + 154 pages. Mailing price, 00 cents; for introduction, 50 cents.

manual has been written: First, to present a logically
arranged course of experimental work covering the ground
of Elementary Physics. Second, to provide sufficient laboratory
work to meet college entrance requirements. It contains equiva-
lents of most of the exercises in the Harvard Pamphlet.

The experiments are largely quantitative, but qualitative work
is introduced. Apparatus has been chosen that may in most
cases be duplicated at small cost. Special care has been taken to
make details of work clear, and to instruct the pupil in the
methods of making generalizations from his results. Alternate
pages are blank for convenience in taking notes.

W. S. Jackman, Teacher of Science,
Cook Co. Normal School, Englewood,
III. : It is a most excellent manual

and I believe it meets the needs of
high schools on this subject better
than any other book I have seen.

NATURAL SCIENCE.

103

Introduction to Chemical Science.

By R. P. WILLIAMS, Instructor in Chemistry in the English High
School, Boston. 12mo. Cloth. 216 pages. By mail, 90 cents; for
introduction, 80 cents.

fTlHIS work is strictly, but easily, inductive. The pupil is stimu-
lated by query and suggestion to observe important phenomena,
and to draw correct conclusions. The experiments are illustrative,
the apparatus is simple and easily made. Such elements, com-
pounds, and experiments as pupils have no use for, are omitted.
The nomenclature, symbols, and writing of equations are made
prominent features. In descriptive and theoretical chemistry, the
arrangement of subjects is believed to be especially superior in
that it presents, not a mere aggregation of facts, but the science
of chemistry. Brevity and concentration, induction, clearness,
accuracy, and a legitimate regard for interest, are leading charac-
teristics. The treatment is full enough for any high school or
academy.

Though the method is 'an advanced one, it has been so simplified
that pupils experience no difficulty, but rather an added interest,
in following it ; the author himself has successfully employed it in
classes so large that the simplest and most practical plan has been
a necessity.

H. T. Fuller, Pres. of Polytechnic
Institute, Worcester, Mass.: It is
clear, concise, and suggests the most
important and most significant ex-
periments for illustration of general
principles.

Thos. C. Van Nuys, Prof, of Chem-
istry, Indiana University, Bloom-
ington, Ind.: I consider it an excel-
lent work for students entering upon
the study of chemistry.

0. W. Shaw, Prof, of Chemistry,
Pacific University, Forest Grove,0r.:
I am especially pleased with it as
filling a place which no other work
has filled.

W. J. Martin, Prof, of Chemistry,
Davidson College, N.C. : I think it
is one of the most admirable little
text-books I have ever seen.

Wm. F. Langworthy, Teacher of
Chemistry, Colgate Academy, Hamil-
ton, JV. Y. : I am much pleased that
we introduced it.

T. H. Norton, Prof, of Chemistry,
Cincinnati University, 0. : Its clear-
ness, accuracy, and compact form
render it exceptionally well adapted
for use in high and preparatory
schools. I shall warmly recommend
it for use whenever the effort is made
to provide satisfactory training in

104

NATURAL SCIENCE.

accordance with the requirements for
admission to the scientific courses of
the University.

C. F. Adams, Teacher of Science,
High School, Detroit, Mich. : I have
carried two classes through Wil-
liam's Chemistry, and the book has
surpassed my highest expectations.
It gives greater satisfaction with
each succeeding class.

C. K. Wells, formerly Supt. of
Schools, Marietta, 0. : The book
bears acquaintance the best of any
book of like character that I have
ever examined.

W. T. Mather, Teacher of Science,
Williston Seminary, Fasthampton,
Mass. : I have used the book in the
laboratory very successfully. I can
heartily commend it for the method
used and the clear and concise treat-
ment of the subject.

J. W. Simmons, Supt. Schools,
Owosso, Mich. : The proof of the
merits of a text-book is found in the
crucible of the class-room work.

There are many chemistries, and
good ones; but, for our use, this
leads them all. There is enough and
not too much in the work. It is
stated in language plain, interesting
and not misleading. A logical order
is followed, and the mind of the
student is at work because of the
many suggestions offered. Our high
schools have no province in chemistry
beyond the basic facts. Too many
text-books go beyond this introduc-
tory field, but not far enough to clear
away the mists that arise. The stu-
dent's mind is lumbered with things
of which he sees no application. It
is not education but the barest kind
of stuffing.

We use Williams's work and the
results are all we could wish. There
is plenty of chemistry in the work
for any of our high schools. The
above opinion is based upon an ex-
perience of twelve years as teacher
of chemical science.

Laboratory Manual of General Chemistry.

By R. P. WILLIAMS, Instructor in Chemistry, English High School, Bos-
ton, and author of Introduction to Chemical Science. 12mo. Boards,
xvi + 200 pages. By mail, 30 cents ; for introduction, 25 cents.

rpHE book contains one hundred experiments in general chemistry
and qualitative analysis, blanks opposite each for pupils to
take notes, laboratory rules, complete tables of symbols, with
chemical and common names, reagents, solutions, chemicals, and
apparatus, and the plan of a model laboratory. Minute directions,
and suggestions designed to help the pupils observe and draw
inferences, characterize each experiment.

W. M. Stine, Prof, of Chemistry,
Ohio University, Athens, 0. : It is a
work that has my heartiest endorse-
ment. I consider it thoroughly peda-

gogical in its principles, and Its use
must certainly give the student the
greatest benefit from his chemical
drill.

108

NATURAL SCIENCE.

Scheiner's Astronomical Spectroscopy.

Department of Special Publication. — Translated, revised and en-
larged by E. B. FROST, Associate Professor of Astronomy in Dart-
mouth College. 8vo. Half leather. Illustrated, xiii + 482 + pages.
Price by mail, $5.00 ; for introduction, $4.75.

HP HIS work aims to explain the most practical and modern
methods of research, and to state our present knowledge of
the constitution, physical condition and motions of the heavenly
bodies, as revealed by the spectroscope.

There are three parts : — I. Spectroscopic Apparatus ; II. Spec-
tral Theories ; III. Results of Spectroscopic Observations, with a
fourth containing tables of wave-lengths of lines of the solar
spectrum, catalogues of stars with special types of spectra, and a
full bibliography brought down to 1893. Some matter has been
added and some changes made in the translation to adapt it more
nearly to English and American readers. Rowland's system of
wave-lengths is thoroughly brought down to date.

Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany.

For High Schools and Elementary College Courses. By DOUGLAS
HOUGHTON CAMPBELL, Ph.D., Professor of Botany in the Leland Stan-
ford Junior University. 12mo. Cloth, ix + 253 pages. Price by
mail, $1.25; for introduction, $1.12.

rpHE fundamental peculiarity and merit of this book is that it
begins with the simple forms, and follows the order of nature
to the complex ones. Tradition has been discarded throughout,
and the most recent and reliable authorities are followed.

K. Ellsworth Call, Teacher of
Natural Science, High School, West
Des Moines, la. : It is the only
manual which combines just enough

Plant Organization.

technic with a logical treatment of
the more minute structure of plants
to render it a help to the teacher of
to-day.

tion, 75 cents.
TT consists of a synoptical review of the general structure and

morphology of plants, with blanks for written exercises by
pupils.

NATURAL SCIENCE. 109

Blaisdell's Physiologies.

By ALBERT F. BLAISDELL, M.D.
The Child's Book of Health.

Ke vised Edition. In easy lessons for schools. Illustrated. Mailing
price, 35 cents; for introduction, 30 cents.

How to Keep Well.

Revised Edition. A text-book of health for use in the lower grade of
schools. Mailing price, 55 cents ; for introduction, 45 cents.

Our Bodies and How We Live.

Revised Edition. A text-hook of physiology and hygiene adapted for
use in advanced grammar schools and high schools. 12mo. Cloth,
vi + 403 pages. Mailing price, 75 cents ; for introduction, 65 cents.

How to Teach Physiology. A Handbook for Teachers. 10 cents.

T>LAISDELL'S PHYSIOLOGIES are true, scientific, interesting,
and teachable. The matter is fresh and to a considerable
extent new. The language is clear, terse, and suggestive. Special
emphasis is laid upon the personal care of health. Reference is
made throughout the series to the evil eft'ects of stimulants and
narcotics on the human system.

The important facts in " How to Keep Well " and " Our Bodies "
are illustrated by a systematic series of simple experiments. This
feature is peculiar to the Blaisdell books and has been found no
less valuable than original. Endorsed by the W. C. T. U.

A Hygienic Physiology.

For the Use of Schools. By D. F. LINCOLN, M.D., Author of School
and Industrial Hygiene, etc. 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated, v + 206
pages. Price by mail, 90 cents; for introduction, 80 cents.

TT is the distinctive feature of this book to put hygiene first and
make anatomy and physiology tributary, instead of making
anatomy and physiology the main things and introducing hygiene
incidentally.

An Epitome of Anatomy, Physiology, and Hy-

giene. —Including the Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco.

By H. H. CULVER, formerly Teacher of Physiology in Bishop College,
Marshall, Texas. 8vo. Boards. 22 pages. By mail, 25 cents; for
introduction, 20 cents. A concise, tabular view of the whole subject.

MONTGOMERY'S

Histories of England and France are said by all to be, in
their departments,- unequalled in scholarship, in true historic
insight and temper, in interest and class-room availability.
They are admittedly the

LEADING

text-books on their subjects. Their popularity and wide use
have been duly proportionate to their merits. Hundreds of
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satisfaction. These

FACTS

led every one to expect a great deal of the author's History
of the United States. No one has been disappointed. The
attractive and enduring qualities of the other books are here
found in even higher degree. Not the least

OF

these are the numberless incidental touches of thought, fact,
or feeling that illuminate the narrative, and both stimulate
and satisfy the reader's interest, — one result of the author's
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thoroughly

AMERICAN

in his sympathies and feelings, — too American, in fact, to
be sectarian, partisan, local, or narrow, — and so we find
remarkable life and breadth, as well as insight and instruc-
tion, in this book. What we have is, in short, a

HISTORY

of the American people, of its development in all depart-
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great movements distinctly traced: a vivid and attractive
panorama of the leading facts of our history.

Introductory Price, $1.00
GINN & COMPANY, Publishers,

BOSTON. NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO.

A REVOLUTION IN SCHOOL READING

HAS BEEN WROUGHT BY THE USE OF THE

Classics for Children

The books in this carefully edited series are widely used
in place of the ordinary Reading Books in the upper grades
of the Grammar Schools and in the High Schools. They
are also used as Supplementary Readers in hundreds of
schools throughout the country.

DESIGN —

To supply material for practice in reading, form a taste for
good literature, and increase the mental power of the pupils by
providing them with the best works of standard authors, complete
as far as possible, and judiciously annotated.

AUTHORSHIP —

Varied, and of world-wide reputation. In the list of authors
are Shakespeare, Ruskin, Scott, Irving, Goldsmith, Johnson,
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EDITORS —

Of recognized ability and discriminating taste. Among them
are John Fiske, Edward Everett Hale, Henry N. Hudson,
Charlotte M. Yonge, John Tetlow, Homer B. Sprague, D. H.
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Mary S. Avery.

INDORSED BY

Teachers, Superintendents, Librarians, eminent Literary
Authorities, and the Educational Press.

CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN.

Choice Literature ; Judicious Notes ; Large Type ; Firm
Einding ; Low Prices.

Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales.

* FIRST SERIES: Supplementary to the Third Reader.

* SECOND SERIES: Supplementary to the Fourth Reader.
*/Esop 's Fables, with selections from Krilof and La Fontaine.
*Kingsley's Water-Babies : A story for a Land Baby.
*Ruskin 's King of the Golden River : A Legend of Stiria.
*The Swiss Family Robinson. Abridged.

Robinson Crusoe. Concluding with his departure from the island.
*Kingsley's Greek Heroes. FranciUon's Gods and Heroes.

Lamb 's Tales from Shakespeare. " Meas. for Meas." omitted.

Scott's Tales of a Grandfather.
*Martineau's Peasant and Prince.

Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

Scott's Lady of the Lake. Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Lamb 's Adventures of Ulysses.

Tom Brown at Rugby. Lord Chesterfield's Letters.

Church 's Stories of the Old World.

Scott's Talisman. Complete.

Scott's Quentin Durward. Slightly abridged.

Irving 's Sketch Book. Six selections, including '• Rip Van Winkle,"

Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

Scott's Guy Mannering. Complete.

Scott's Ivanhoe. Complete. Scott's Rob Roy. Complete.

Johnson 's Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.

Gulliver's Travels. The Voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag.

Plutarch 's Lives. From Clough's Translation.

Irving-Fiske's Washington and His Country.

Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield.
*Franklin: His Life by Himself.

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Grote and Segur's Two Great Retreats.

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Scott's M arm ion. Scott's Old Mortality.

Don Quixote. Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Epictetus*

Starred books are illustrated.

CINN & COMPANY, Publishers,

BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO.

WENTWORTH'S ARITHMETICS.

Adopted for exclusive use in the state of Washington, and in
countless cities, towns, and schools.

MASTERY : their motto.

LEARN TO DO BY DOING: their method.

PRACTICAL ARITHMETICIANS: the result.

WENTWORTH'S PRIMARY ARITHMETIC.

By G. A. WENTWORTH, Professor of Mathematics in Phillips
Exeter Academy, and Miss E. M. Reed, Principal of the Train-
ing School, Springfield, Mass. Profusely illustrated. Introduc-
tion price, 30 cents.

In a word, this book — the fruit of the most intelligent and
painstaking study, long-continued — is believed to represent the
best-known methods of presenting numbers to primarians, and to
present these methods in the most available form. It is com-
mended as profoundly philosophical in method, simple and
ingenious in development, rich and varied in matter, attractive
in style, and practical in effect.

It has been carefully and critically examined by myself and my teachers, and in our
estimation it stands ahead of anything else of the kind that we have found. — PRINCIPAL
CAMPBELL, State Normal School, Johnson, Vt.

WENTWORTH'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL ARITHMETIC.

Illustrated. Introductory price, 65 cents.
Answers free on teachers' orders.

Intended to follow the Primary Arithmetic and make with that a
two-book series for common schools. It is designed to give pupils
of the grammar-school age an intelligent knowledge of the subject
and a moderate power of independent thought, by training them to
solve problems by neat and intelligent methods and keeping them
free from set rules and formulas. It is characterized by accuracy,
thoroughness, good sense, school-room tact, and practical ingenuity.

Eminently practical, well graded, and well arranged. ... I consider it the brightest,
most attractive, most scholarly text-book on this subject that has been issued for years.
— PRINCIPAL SERVISS, Amsterdam, N. Y.

In a word, these books represent the Best Methods, made
feasible, with the Best Problems, — ingenious, varied, practical,
and abundant.

GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.

BOSTON, NEW YORK, CHICAGO, AND LONDON.

WENTWORTH'S ARITHMETICS.

Crystallized from years of study and experience ; sharp in outline ;
clear in substance. These books are characterized, like the author's
academic text-books, by the closest adaptation to the needs of the
pupil and the requirements of class-room study. They economize
time and mental energy, while they secure the most distinct and
lasting impressions. Note the following testimonials : —

PBIMABY ARITHMETIC,
Warren Holden, Prof. Mathematics,
Girard College, Philadelphia : I think
it admirably adapted for the purpose
intended.

J. A. Graves, Prin. South Gram-
mar School, Hartford, Conn.: I am
glad to find at last a real Primary
Arithmetic.

T. M. Balliet, Supt. Schools, Spring-
field, Mass. : It is based on right prin-
ciples, and the details are worked out
with care.

E. C. Branson, Supt. Schools, Ath-
ens, Ga. : The best to date in America ;
and, in fact, the only Primary Arith-
metic worth putting into the hands of
pupils at all.

J. M. Green, Prin. State Normal and
Model Schools, New Jersey : It is a
book in which the authors manifest
what seems to me to be the true un-
derstanding of what constitutes pri-
mary work in number.

S. A. Ellis, Supt. Schools, Rochester,
N. Y. : The methods followed are ap-
proved by our best educators. The
examples are practical and sufficiently
numerous ; and, in fact, nothing seems
to have been omitted that would tend
to give a young pupil a clear and sat-
isfactory idea of the various processes
•in Arithmetic.

GRAMMAR SCHOOL ARITHMETIC.

A. B. Fifield, Prin. Eaton School,
New Haven, Conn.! It is a model
text-book.

John R. Dunton, Prin. Grammar
School, Lewiston, Me. : It is an excel-
lent book. Both its matter and meth-
ods of treatment are well adapted to
grammar school needs.

E. C. Willard, Prin. High School,
Westerly, R.I.: Nearly every page
bears the characteristic marks of the
author, who easily leads to-day in
mathematical book-making.

P. T. Bugbee, Prin. Union School,
Newark, N. Y.: It has stood the test
of several years with us, and I consider
it superior to any other Arithmetic of
grammar grade which I have seen.

G. S. Albee, Pres. State Normal
School, Oshkosh, Wis.: The abun-
dance of concrete problems tending
to exercise the pupil in more respects
than in a mere process, is a very com-
mendable feature.

Edward Taylor, Supt. Schools, Vm-
cennes, Ind.: It is sufficient to say
that we have been using it as the sole
pupil's text in that grade for five years
past, and always with entire satisfac-
tion.

GINN & COMPANY, Publishers,

BOSTON, NBW YORK, AND CHICAGO.

"VB 36068