 CHAPTER 1 Why Plants Travel? Plants are great travelers. They often wander far and wide, sometimes they even cross the ocean and take up their abode in a new land. The oxidesi are a common meadow buttercup and the little canada thistle, now so abundant everywhere, are not native Americans, but came here from Europe. Very likely they sailed in the ships with the early settlers and took possession of the new world with them. They are so much at home now that most people think they always grew here, but they did not. And when the pilgrim fathers looked over their new home, the fields were not white with daisies, nor yellow with buttercups. No doubt the pilgrim fathers were glad of this. For daisies and buttercups often cover the fields and spoil the hay, and while daisies in the meadow seem very lovely to the city people who go to the country for the summer, daisies in the hay are another matter, and the farmers do not think them lovely at all. It is not the grown-up plants that travel as a rule, though some of them do, for you must know the plant world is a topsy-turvy kind of place where the parents stand still at home and the children wander about. Of course the children are the seeds, and they are free, but when they once settle down and begin to grow, their wandering days are over. Plants with roots are great homebodies, nothing short of actual violence can make them move from the spot they have chosen. Frequently it happens that they die if moved. Not so with the seed, however. They wander about, and their parents often take great pains to send them out into the world. For the children of the plants are very apt to die if they remain at home too long. They need to find a place in which to settle down and grow, and it is often better for them to do this at a distance from their parents. Plants eat what is in the soil, and each kind of plant needs some particular earth food. When plants of one kind are crowded too closely in a place, the earth is often impoverished, and the plant might die out if it were not able to find a fresh growing place. Then again if the seed always fell close to the parent plant, the earth would soon become too crowded to support more than a very few new plants. So for these and other reasons it is best for the seeds to go while they are able and find a place for themselves. Nearly all seeds are provided with some way of moving about, and while some of them go very short distances, others go very long ones. They travel for their profit, and why may we not say for their pleasure, for if a plant is able to feel and enjoy at all, and I for one believe it is, then the dandelion seeds must feel very joyous sailing before the wind in the early summer, and later the thistle down, and the milkweed seeds scutting before the breeze. Chapter 2 of Little Wonders by Margaret Wernher-Morley Those that fly with plumes or down. Dandelions Everyone is well acquainted with the dandelion, but not everybody knows that it was brought to this country from Europe. It is not probable that a dandelion seed could come on the wings of the wind three thousand miles across the ocean, nor is it probable that people would bring it on purpose. Very likely dandelion seeds were accidentally mixed in with the grass and clover seeds the settlers brought from their homes in the old world. Before the coming of the white man the Indian did not see the roadside's yellow with dandelions, nor did he see dandelions at all, accepting a kind that grows sparingly way up north and another that grows in the rocky mountains. The European dandelions liked the new world and when they had the chance spread very fast so that now they are everywhere, at least in the east. The reason they are able to spread so is that the dandelion seeds were able to fly. If they had not flown away, but had dropped down close to the parent plant and grown there, they would not have been allowed to spread much. For people do not like dandelions in their fields and lawns and try hard to root them out. This would be easy if the dandelions kept together in patches, but they seemed to say catch me if you can, and they fly on the wings of the wind dropping down here, there, and everywhere, striking root and merrily growing. The parent dandelion takes very good care of its seed children and plans for their future success, by giving each one a little plume by which it can be blown about in the wind. Everybody knows the pretty fluffy white-headed dandelions that come after the yellow flowers. Children often blow on them to see what time it is. If all the seeds fly away but one, they say it is one o'clock. If two remain, they say it's two o'clock and so on. They also blow on them to see if mother wants me, as every child knows. Each little silky part that flies away is a seed case and its plume. If you look carefully at the part of the dandelion that flies about, you will see the little brown seed case at one end shaped something like a tiny cucumber and with little teeth near its top. Part of its top grows a silky white stalk and at the end of this is a tuft of soft little hairs by means of which the seed case can flow to the air. Each dandelion seed case contains one little seed but the case fits the seed so closely that most people speak of the whole thing seed case and seed together as the seed. The proper name for such a seed case and its seed is akeen. Not all akeens have plumes. The top of the dandelion stem is a flat cushion and the little akeens, when the seeds are ripe, stand on it pointing out in different directions so there may be room for everyone with its spread out plume. The plumes do not open out until the seed is ready to be blown away and the akeens do not stand pointed out in all directions until the time to fly has come. For that time they are all packed closely together. Because the little akeen is so light and feathery the breeze bears it along sometimes for quite a distance but at last it drops down to the earth or else it is blown among the grasses or weeds or stones and lodges there and when the right time comes the seed that is in the little brown seed case sprouts. Sometimes the air seems to be full of dandelion akeens floating about. Although the dandelion is so bright and pretty people do not like it in their lawns. Accepting when in bloom or when it is whiteheaded it is not as pretty as grass. It does not make a very beautiful, velvety carpet to the earth but its leaves look ragged and uneven and spoil the appearance of the lawn. It is from its leaves that the dandelion gets its name. For dandelion means tooth of a lion and if you look at a well grown dandelion leaf you will understand why it came to have such a fierce name. Dandelions are very fond of growing in lawns. They like to be taken care of and they seem to like to have their heads cut off. Anyway the lawnmower does not trouble them in the least. Their leaves grow close to the ground in the shape of a rosette and when the lawnmower passes over only the large outer leaves are harmed. The young ones towards the center of the rosette remain unhurt and have more light and air and space to grow in so our dandelion flourishes in spite of its pruning. When a dandelion once gets its roots started it does not make so very much difference if it has its flowers cut off for it does not die when winter comes. Only its leaves die. Its root continues alive in the earth and in spring wakes up and puts out new leaves. So cutting off the flowers does not destroy the dandelion it merely prevents seeds from forming and more dandelions from starting. Dandelion roots kill the grass by pushing it aside and taking the earth food for themselves. If a dandelion gets started in a lawn they will soon kill out the grass and then there will be a dandelion lawn instead of a grass lawn. A dandelion lawn is very beautiful for a little while in the early summer. Because it looks like a carpet of gold the yellow flowers are so thick and fine but when they are done blossoming the lawn is a sorry looking sight. Dandelions do not trouble the hay fields for where the grass is allowed to grow tall it soon smothers them. Boys are often hired to dig dandelion roots out of lawns and near large cities poor women may often be seen digging them out for the sake of the young leaves which when they first come up in the spring make very good greens. These people sell them or eat them instead of spinach. Tender young dandelion leaves are very good indeed and some people like them better than spinach. Dandelion plants have a wise way of protecting their seed children until the time for flight. The flower buds come out of the center of the leaf rosette close to the ground. They have very short stems and seem to sit right on the rosette. There are a great many flowers in one dandelion head. Each little yellow part of the dandelion flower head is a separate blossom and each separate blossom has one seed case with a seed inside growing to the bottom of it. All these blossoms are shut up at first in a case of green leaf like parts and form the bud. As the bud grows older its stem lengthens a little as you can see in the picture on page 9 unless it is on a lawn then it does not lengthen. It seems to know the lawnmower will come along and take off its head if it grows taller so it stays close to the ground. After a while the green bud opens and many little yellow flowers push their way out and the dandelion is in bloom. Towards night the dandelion shuts up again. The tiny yellow flowers press close together and the outer covering of green bracts as they are called closes up too and shuts them in all snug and safe. When the dandelion has once closed it does not open again but its stem which was very short begins to lengthen. It is a hollow stem as you know and has a bitter milky juice. Longer and longer grows the stem with the closed up flower cluster at its top but this wise stem does not stand up oh no indeed it lies down or leans over concealed by the grass and weeds unless it grows on a lawn then the wise stem does not lengthen much it is afraid of that lawnmower. If the dandelion is growing among tall grasses the stem will grow very long indeed if among short grass it will not grow so long. By this time you can guess why. When the seeds are ripe and the silky plumes all nicely formed that stem stands up it stands straight up and looks over the tops of the grasses then the green bracts on the outside turn back and the silky tufts spread out and pull themselves free from the remains of the tiny flowers which have withered and are no longer yellow. They do not fall off when the flower first closes but make a little cap to protect the growing Ikeens and when these get ready to open out the cap is pushed off by them. The hollow stem stands up and its lovely silky head of plumed Ikeens shines in the sunlight there is nothing much prettier in the plant world than the head of the fairy dandelion Ikeens all ready to fly away they stand and shine until the breeze comes along that is strong enough to dislodge them then all in a moment they are off sailing through the air. The parent plant is not sorry to have them go for that is what it has worked so hard to accomplish and as they float away if it thinks at all it no doubt hopes that each little shining wanderer will alight at last in a beautiful home of its own with plenty of space and sunlight and food for its growth. If there is not a breeze enough to carry away the dandelion Ikeens when night approaches or a storm gathers the careful parent plant does not allow these silky treasures to become soaked and spoiled by moisture each little plume shuts up again the silky tufts no longer spread out and the green bracts too turn up and cover them safely as before they go to sleep hoping no doubt for better luck next day there is no better fun than to watch the dandelions do these things when children blow the heads of the dandelion away that is just what the dandelion wants for it sets all the Ikeens flying about in the air above the earth the main thing for a dandelion seed is to get started if it can get up in the air free from the weeds and grasses it will be sure to take quite a journey and will doubtless subtle in a new home the bitter milky juice of the dandelion very likely protects it from being eaten by various plant eating creatures the juices familiar to country children who picked the long stems of the dandelions split them and curl the parts in their mouths these pretty stems make a very long and fine curls as every little country girl knows end of chapter 2 chapter 3 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain thistles nobody can help liking thistles that is to look at we do not care to handle them nor do they care to have us which perhaps is why they are covered all over with such sharp prickles the prickles are an intimidation to us to let them alone they do not want to be handled and they do not want to be eaten when a plant arms itself with thorns or prickles that is its way of saying hands off few creatures besides the donkeys eat thistles it is said that donkeys are fond of them and some horses will nibble at them but on the whole the thistles are let alone accepting by the farmer who digs them up thistles are much more troublesome than daddy lions for they get into the hay and grain and if let alone some kinds will kill out all other plants and occupy the land themselves there are many kinds of thistles are large native ones that bear beautiful showy purple or pink or white heads are not as a rule very troublesome to the farmer the little canada thistle is the pest he dreads that like the dandelion came from Europe no doubt its seeds were first brought over a very few of them with other seeds from the old world but all the little immigrant asked was to get started once across the sea it was able to conquer the plants of America and get a place for itself for its seeds fly like those of the dandelion and in very much the same way the canada thistle spreads by running roots that live through the winter as well as by seeds so no wonder it quickly found its way far and wide it is for this reason sometimes called the creeping thistle and because it is so troublesome it is also named the cursed thistle there is a thistle in Europe which bears a light yellow flower head and is called the blessed thistle or the holy thistle it has its name because people used to believe it had power to counteract poison this thistle has been brought over from Europe and is sometimes to be found in the southern part of the united states where it has run wild thistle heads are often very large and handsome like the dandelion flower clusters they are made up of a large number of small blossoms bees and butterflies are very fond of thistle honey and they can almost always be found on the blossoms sucking out the drop of honey which is to be found in each little flower of the cluster at the bottom of each little flower as in the dandelion is an akeen an akeen we remember is a tight fitting seed case containing one seed the thistle akeen also has a plume to fly with the thistle plume has no stock but grows right from the top of the akeen the plume the keens are packed tightly away beneath the scaly bracts that surround them these bracts in the thistle are generally covered with sharp prickles so although one likes to look at a thistle and inhale its fragrance it is not a pleasant flower to handle when the thistle seeds are ripe the prickly covering loosens and the akeens come trooping out in a soft fluffy mass away they fly one by one as the breeze dislodges them and carries them off they are much more showy than the dandelion akeens for the plumes are much larger away they go this way and that and after a while the wind blows them against the tree branch or a fence rail or a stone then the akeen that stopped drops off from the plume to the ground the akeen in this case is done sailing about it has come to rest and very likely will lie until next spring before it sprouts the plume is not harmed at all when the akeen let's go but at the next gust of wind flies on lighter than ever one often sees these seedless plumes sailing about in the summer and fall people sometimes gather the heads of large thistles before the seeds are ripe pull out the pink part of the flowers carefully pull off the prickly bracts and hang the rest up to dry the akeens do not then fall off but the plume part puffs out and makes a pretty pom-pom with which the children's hats can be trimmed and chapter three chapter four of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain milkweeds most of us like milkweeds they are not so troublesome as the dandelions and thistles they generally grow in waste places along stone walls or outside fences where they do no harm to the crops but make the roadsides charming most kinds of milkweeds have a milky juice as their name tells it is thicker and stickier than the dandelion juice and is very disagreeable if one gets it on his fingers this no doubt is why the plant makes it that way it does not wish us to get its juice on our fingers it wishes us to let it alone it also wishes animals to let it alone and not eat it and most animals are not fond of it this is not true however of certain caterpillars towards fall you will generally see the milkweed leaves covered with bright yellow and black caterpillars that certainly are lovely whether you think so or not if you take the largest of these caterpillars and put them in a box of earth with plenty of fresh milkweed leaves to eat as long as they want to eat which will not be gone you will see what happens something happens and you will do well to find out about it milkweeds have pretty fragrant flowers that grow together many in a bunch but not close together in a solid head like each little dandelion flower each milkweed flower has its own little stem not all the flowers in the bunch of milkweed go to seed generally only one or two from each bunch do the rest are crowded out and wither and fall off for the milkweed flower develops a very large seed pod that holds a great many seeds and there is not room on the stem for many of these big pods the flowers of our common milkweed are pink purple in color and the pods are fuzzy and irregular on the outside and are shaped as you see in the picture inside they are lovely the pod itself is as smooth and shiny as satin and there is a bridge running lengthwise to this grows the seeds a great many in each pod each seed has a plume and looks very much like the thysylakene with its plume but these seeds have no seed case accepting the large pod in which they all lie together they grow inside this case which opens to let them escape the milkweed seed looks so much like the thysylakene that you would have to examine it very carefully to discover the difference the milkweed seeds are brown and round and flat and each has a silky plume with no stock to the plume the seeds lie packed closely together in the pod with their plumes unopened but when they are ripe the pods splits open down one side and the plumes fluff out then you will see a pretty sight from the gap in the pod the pretty silky seeds come spilling out their plumes touch each other and hold the seeds together in a soft feathery mass until long comes the breeze then one after another the pretty seeds float away and the empty pods are left behind sometimes children catch bees in empty milkweed pods the bees make a great buzzing in the pod and it is not fair to keep them long for it interferes with their honey gathering in poland collecting if there is anything a bee hates it is to waste time with so many hungry mouths at home waiting to be fed like the thistle when the milkweed seeds become quite dry they often drop away from their plumes particularly if they strike against something when sailing about there are a number of species of milkweed one common species has bright orange flowers and is called butterfly weed its flowers look a little like bright butterflies and the butterflies are fond of its honey there is a lovely milk weed in florida that has large pea green leaves with broad pink veins running all through them some species of milkweed have long slender smooth pods and very likely you have noticed them along the roadside end of chapter four chapter five of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley the sleeper vox recording is in the public domain lettuce those who have seen lettuce only on the table or growing in the early spring garden or in the greenhouse will feel like laughing at the idea of lettuces flying yet they do fly at least their seeds do sometimes lettuces look like rosettes growing out of the ground and sometimes they look like little cabbages but that is only the leaves if lettuces are let alone and not picked in time they will go to seed a stalk will grow up from the middle with small leaves on it and a great many little flower heads that look somewhat like tiny dandelions these flower heads are made like those of the dandelion or thistle the lettuce has no prickles but its juice is milky and bitter and gets more bitter as the plant grows older the lettuce flowers have akeens like the dandelion and each akeen has a plume like that of the dandelion a way fly the pretty plume dekeens and lettuce is the zone by the wayside but one seldom sees garden lettuce growing except in gardens for it is so tender the strong rough weeds choke and kill it there is a wild lettuce however that has a large number of flower heads and of course a great many pretty silky top dekeens these lettuces sometimes shine as if they had been snowed upon when their silky white plumed keens first open out i advise you to see if you can find some of them next summer the best place to look is along fences and hedges and in the corners of pastures there is a lettuce so troublesome to the farmer that large sums of money have been appropriated to exterminate it it is called the prickly lettuce because its leaves and stalks are prickly it came to this country from europe it is quite as destructive to the farmers crops as the canada thistle and a chapter five chapter six of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain climatus of course the climatus akeens fly nothing so fluffy as they in the seed world could do otherwise the wild climatus that grows over the bushes in some swamps is a beautiful vine with glossy leaves and clusters of pretty white flowers after the snowy flowers have gone it is still beautiful for then each little keen waves a long shining curly plume the whole vine is covered with these shining twinning plumes but a day comes when they no longer shine each curling plume looks like a mass of down for its parts have separated and stand out and we now see that it is shaped like a feather a downy fluffy feather the whole vine is a soft fluffy mass this does not last long for the akeens leave the parent vine and are born aloft on their airy plumes by the wind that scatters them far and wide some fall upon the right kind of soil where they are covered by the leaves of autumn and lie safely until spring comes then they wake up and grow each into a beautiful climatus vine with shining leaves there is a beautiful climatus with large blue purple flowers that grows in the mountains of virginia and in some other places and a chapter six chapter seven of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain asters and golden rod asters and golden rod blossom in the fall then the country roads are lovely to walk over and the fields are as bright as can be with blue or purple or white asters and yellow golden rod some kinds of golden rod and asters blossom in the summer but most of them wait until late in the season they are almost the last flowers to come and almost the last to go when their bright flowers fade they are still pretty each flower of the aster is like the dandelion a cluster of very small flowers and the golden rod flower head is made up of very many tiny flowers each little flower has its own akeen and plume quite like the dandelion but a great deal smaller and in time the clusters that were flowers become clusters of soft downy plumes this state does not last long for the akeens are blown away by the wind and sown far and near overfield and roadside if you brush against the downy aster and golden rod heads when the seeds are ripe the akeens will cling to your clothes like cobwebs and you will carry them about with you until finally they fall off perhaps that is one way by which the golden rod and aster seeds travel about they cling to animals that pass and so are carried far away but they do not cling as well as some other seeds we are soon to know about and a chapter seven chapter eight of little wanderers by market warner morally the sleeper box recording is in the public domain the willow the willow that children know and love the best is the pussy willow it grows in damp or swampy places and before the leaves come out in the spring the pussies are seen on the branches they are little soft silvery pussies and it is not everybody who knows what they really are each pussy or catkin as we must call it is a group of small flowers or rather flower buds for after the flowers are fully out the pussies lose their soft silky appearance and no longer deserve to be called pussies the older catkins are covered with stamens full of yellow pollen or else with seed pods for willows bear two kinds of flowers the stamen bearing or staminate flowers and the seed bearing or pistolate flowers the staminate flowers grow on one willow tree and the pistolate ones on another the pollen in the staminate flowers is very abundant and is carried by the wind or by insects to the pistolate flowers if you shake a twig of ripe staminate catkins your hands and clothes will be covered with pollen dust bees are fond of willow pollen and eagerly gather it in the early spring the willow catkin has a tiny drop of nectar at the base of each little flower and bees and flies are fond of this and visit the willows to get it of course as the insects fly from one catkin to another they carry pollen from one to another after a time the staminate flowers wither and fall but the pistolate ones are followed by seed pods and the stem that bears them lengthens to make room for the growing pods and at last when the seeds are ripe the pods split open and out comes the diniest of little seeds each with a tiny plume of down and away they fly there is a great many species of willow and not all of them are as pretty as the pussy willow one reason why the pussy willow is so pretty is that the catkins appear before the leaves in some willows the catkins come with the leaves and in some they come after the leaves are fully grown many willows have bright red or yellow or green stems that give color to the landscape even in midwinter in all willows the pistolate catkins bear pods that open and let out fluffy seeds the cottonwood trees are relatives of the willows their seeds are so very downy that when they are ripe the ground beneath the trees will often be white as though a light snow had fallen it is because the seeds are so abundantly supplied with soft cottony plumes that the tree is called cottonwood poplars are also closely related to the willows and like them have fluffy seeds in the early summer if you look in the right place you will see plenty of them willow and poplar twigs are very strong and limber and some kinds are used to make baskets and chairs and cradles and a great many other useful things the slender young twigs are woven together and make very strong and durable articles since only the long twigs can be used people get them in large quantities by cutting off the heads of the trees when long sprouts shoot up all around the ends of the cut limbs cutting off the tops of the trees in this way is called pollarding and a pollard willow or poplar is rather a funny sight particularly after it has had its head cut off a number of times willow branches about as large around as one's finger make very good whistles in the spring of the year the sap flowing under the bark loosens it so that by pounding the twig the bark can be slipped off unbroken the wood beneath cut as desired and the bark slipped on again the dotted line shows how the wood should be cut away under the bark willow twigs also make very good switches and long uh very long ago when children used to be naughty willow switches were in great demand in these later days children are never naughty i suppose or is it only that switching has gone out of fashion these switches did not come from weeping willows though that certainly would have been a very appropriate name for them weeping willows are large and beautiful trees that come from the eastern part of asia the twigs are very long and slender and hang down like a veil all about the tree weeping willows are favorites in parks and pleasure grounds and it used to be the fashion to plant them in cemeteries at the heads of gravestones everybody who has tried to preserve bird skins or the skins of small animals doubtless knows what salicylic acid is but not everybody knows that this is obtained from the bark of willows and poplars some species of willow contain a great deal of the substance from which salicylic acid is made salicylic acid prevents animal tissue from decaying and it is also used as a medicine it is not poisonous but rather unpleasant to handle as it is apt to make one sneeze the bark of willows is also used in europe for tanning instead of oak or hemlock bark which is commonly used in this country tan bark is bark that has been ground up and has the tannin or substance that hardens leather extracted from it the tan bark is then put on roads or walks or sometimes on city streets to deaden the noise it is often used in the country for banking uphouses in the winter willows grow quickly and some of those that like wet places are often planted on sandy shores of lakes or streams or on banks that their roots may bind the sand or loose earth together so keep the shore from shifting very often a willow twig can be made to grow by merely sticking the cut end in damp earth and many a large willow has thus been planted as a twig by the hand of a little child and the chapter eight chapter nine of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley the sleeper fox recording is in the public domain cat tails cat tail seats fly too it is surprising to know that cat tails blossom but they do in the early spring cat tails look green instead of brown and the thickened green part near the top is made of very very small flowers packed tightly together the brown velvety part of the cat tail succeeds the green flowers and is but a collection of tiny seed pods that fluff out with tiny plumes in the autumn there are two kinds of flowers in the cat tail as there are in the willow only in the cat tails the two kinds are on the same plant if you look at a cat tail in its green stage you will easily find the staminate flowers growing at the very top of the stock at a in the picture out of these staminate flowers you can shake clouds of yellow pollen below the staminate flowers at B are the pistilate flowers very small and packed very closely together each one has a seed pod at its base and each seed pod when ripe has a tiny plume of course the seed pods fly away on the wings of the wind being so small and light they are sometimes carried a long distance a good many no doubt are so unfortunate as to fall on dry ground and that is the end of them but others fall in swamps and ditches where they grow vigorously and often fill up the swamp or the ditch so that it becomes a bed of cat tails the downy cat tail seeds are gathered in some places and made into mattresses for people to sleep on and a chapter nine chapter 10 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain geraniums the bright flowers raised in hot houses are in windows and that we call geraniums do not often bear seed in the house in that part of the world where they grow wild and out of doors in the summertime they do and their seeds are very curious indeed for they can not only fly about but can bury themselves in the ground the geranium flower bears five curious seed pods that grow close together around a common center each seed pod has one seed and when the seed is ripe the pod splits away from the centerpiece the pod runs up to a point as you can see in the picture there is a long feather-like plume packed in the long stem-like part of the pod and this comes out when the pod splits away then the whole thing is floated off by the wind this curious plume curls up like a corkscrew when dry and so pushes the seed down into the grass or the earth where it has fallen when the plume is made damp by rain or dew it straightens out at the bottom of the seed case are a few hairs or bristles that point backwards and hold the seed so that it cannot be pulled out of the ground when the bloom curls and straightens but must always be pushed farther in it is a good plan for everyone who has not seen the geranium seed case tried to plant itself to gather some ripe seeds and lay them on the earth in a flower pot let them get dry then moisten them and then let them become dry again and so on until one has seen just how they work and a chapter 10 chapter 11 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Moorley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain cotton down south are a great many cotton fields cotton was brought to the united states from china and other faraway places it did not find its way here accidentally with other seeds like the dandelions and canada thistles but was brought on purpose and carefully cultivated a cotton field in early summer is rather a pretty sight it is covered with light green little plants in straight rows they have pretty leaves and yellowish flowers that soon turn red these flowers are about the size of a morning glory in the fall a cotton field is much more interesting the cotton plants are three or four feet high and have branched out into quite large bushes the leaves have withered but the bushes are covered with cotton balls or pods out of which are bursting quantities of snowy white cotton the field looks as if a sky full of soft little snowballs had fallen upon it the cotton flowers are succeeded by pods or bowls as they are called and these contain black seeds about the size of a white bean each seed when ripe wears a coat of long soft white cotton fibers and when the bowls split open to let out the seeds out gush streams of snowy cotton the cotton field is most picturesque during the picking season when the negroes the women with bright kerchiefs over their heads go into the fields pick the cotton and carry it away in large baskets each cotton seed is covered with cotton fiber that clings very close and has to be removed by machinery the machine that does this is called a cotton gin and is a very interesting and wonderful machine cotton seeds are cleaned more than once the first time the long fibers are pulled off and this is the best of the cotton then the seeds are cleaned again of less valuable because shorter fibers and finally of the short fuzzy coat that clings to them after the second cleaning the result of this last cleaning is a very inferior cotton used only for a few kinds of cheap cloth not all cotton has white fiber the nankin cotton which is grown near the mouth of the mississippi river in this country is naturally of a light tan color cotton is one of the most useful plants in the world and a great deal of attention is given to raising and manufacturing it the cotton has to go through a good many processes before it is finally ready to be spun into thread and then we'll win into cloth some very useful cotton is not spun into thread but comes to us in clean soft rolls which we call cotton batting this is useful for many household purposes and when very thoroughly cleaned is used by doctors in dressing wounds a large part of our clothing is made from the cotton that grows on the seeds of the cotton plant the plant did not make the cotton for us but probably to enable its seeds to be carried away by the wind and firmly fastened to the ground when they lodge there for a cotton seed clings very tightly to the earth particularly after it has been wet cotton seeds are very useful aside from the cotton they are clothed in they contain a good deal of oil and are ground in mills that the oil may be pressed out this oil is put to a number of uses and when purified is even used instead of all of oil as food the meal that is left after the oil has been pressed out makes a valuable fertilizer and is also used as food for cattle horses will not eat it but cows are so fond of it that they will come long distances to the mills in order to lick up what meal they can find this is the way its value as a food for cattle was discovered cotton seed meal is bright greenish yellow in color and as it colors everything it touches the cotton seed mills are rather picturesque to look at though not very pleasant to walk about in the bark of the root of the cotton plant is used as a medicine but though so many parts of this wonderful plant are useful the cotton that covers the seeds is the most valuable of all in a chapter 11 chapter 12 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain other flyaways a great many other plants have plume seeds and some have seeds with cottony coats but of all the cotton covered seeds those of the cotton plant are the only ones with fibers long and strong enough to be spun and woven it would be useless to try and tell about all the flyaway seeds there are so many of them one would never get through but it is great fun to discover them for ourselves if we watch through the summer we shall find many and many of them quite a number of the grasses have plumes to their seeds and some of these plumed grasses are very pretty indeed we often see them used to decorate houses and in florida one can see very beautiful grass plumes growing in swamps everywhere the fields and woods are full of seed wanderers that fly about to find a home and all that anyone need do who wants to see these pretty things is to look about and find them end of chapter 12 chapter 13 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain seeds that fly with wings maples maple seeds also fly but they have no silky or feathery or cottony plumes they have wings instead the fruit of the maple tree is called a samura and consists of a seed pod with a wing usually two pods grow together though when thoroughly dry they fall apart the wings are thin and light and the wind sometimes carries them a long distance the maple blooms in the spring or early summer and though its flowers have only stamens or pistols and no bright petals yet they are very pretty maples like willows and cattails often have two kinds of flowers one maple tree will often have all staminate flowers and will look as if trimmed with fringe as the staminate flowers have slender stems like threads the red maple which blooms early in the spring before its leaves come out has bright red fringes sometimes these red flowered trees bloom in january in florida when the trees and bushes around them are bare and you can imagine they make the swamps where they grow look very bright the pistolate flowers are not quite as airy as the staminate ones but still they make pretty fringes upon the trees the wind blows the pollen from the staminate flowers to the pistolate ones growing on neighboring trees and that is why the flowers hang out on long stems some maples have green fringes and some have yellow ones but all are beautiful after the flowering season is over the staminate flowers disappear but the pistolate flowers are followed by clusters of samurai which are sometimes almost as bright in color and as pretty as the flower fringes when the samaras are ripe they fall from the tree and are blown about by the wind they cannot fly as far as the plumed seeds but they sometimes get carried quite a distance the seed within the samara often sprouts soon after it falls you can see little maple trees starting to grow by the roadside or even along city sidewalks or in lawns the samaras of the early flowering maple trees fall quite early in the summer but there are other maples whose samaras remain on the trees until autumn maples make beautiful shade trees and some species grow to a large size one of the largest and most beautiful of them is the sugar maple which is not only valuable as a shade tree but yields delicious maple syrup from its sap the bark of this tree is tapped that is a hole is bored through it into the wood beneath early in the spring and a little wooden tube or trough is driven into the hole a pail is hung or set beneath to catch the sap as it runs out sap runs best when the days are warm and the nights are cold then there are merry times in the sugar camps the sap is collected in large kettles and boiled to syrup or until it hardens into sugar just before it is ready to turn to sugar it makes delicious wax you pour the hot thick syrup upon the snow and when it thickens into a sticky paste you eat it it is better than any kind of candy at least i think so a great deal of sugar is made in the new england states where the maple grows abundantly and in the early days the only sugar some of the people had was maple sugar sometimes the sap of other trees as birches or elms is made into syrup but none is as abundant or as good as the maple syrup the wood of the sugar maple is hard and is valuable for furniture and other uses indeed the wood of most of the maples is prized for furniture making the birds eye maple is a very pretty satiny wood dotted over with round spots that look a little like eyes it comes from certain sugar maples whose wood is full of little naughty places the curled maple is also a pretty wood with wavy shining lines made by irregular streaks in the wood it is sometimes found in sugar maples and sometimes in other maples maple wood is light in color and the bark of the tree is rather smooth it is gray in most species and often has white spots on it end of chapter 13 chapter 14 of little wanderers by market warner moorley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain elms the american elm is one of the most beautiful trees in the world it is so majestic in size and so graceful in form if you do not know the elm tree get someone to point it out to you at once and you will feel that you have made a new friend it is a very good thing to make friends with the trees and to learn to know them when you see them elm trees have winged seed pods or samaras the trees are covered with pretty short fringes in the springtime very pretty but not as airy and pretty as the maple fringes the pistilate flowers are followed by samaras that do not grow two together and that have the wing growing around them instead of from one end the bark of the elm is very handsome it is marked quite regularly and is easy to recognize it is a good thing to learn to know a tree by its bark the bark of trees is an interesting and beautiful subject to study the wood of the elm is tough and hard and is used in building ships and making wheels and for other purposes where a tough hardwood is required there are a number of species of elm trees but the best known one is the beautiful american elm that is everywhere used in parks and for shade trees next to this is the red elm or slippery elm whose inner bark is fragrant and musilaginous and good to chew this bark is good for colds and is sometimes ground up and made into lozenges every country boy lays up a supply of slippery elm bark to dry in the attic along with his nuts and a chapter 14 chapter 15 of little wanderers by margaret warner morley this leverbox recording is in the public domain ash trees ash trees are tall straight and handsome with a very dark colored bark so regularly marked that ones who learned to know it at a glance i once knew three of them that stood in an open pasture on the shore of lake ontario it was worth going to the pasture in a high wind to see the tall beautiful trunks sway as the wind struck them i used to wish i could climb up into the tops of them though it would have been a very unsafe perch indeed you've guessed by now that the ash trees have winged seed pods and so they have when the little clusters of ash flowers first show in the springtime they are black and the tree seems to have black tipped branches soon the black tips develop into dark green fringes though these are not airy and light like the maple and elm fringes the best way for you to find out just how ash blossoms look is but you know perfectly well what is the very best way to find out and i hope you will take care to do it ash seeds are winged like those of the maples and are called samaras but they do not grow two together ash trees often bear great numbers of samaras more than any other tree where ash trees grow near houses the samaras often fall on the roofs and fill up the gutters so that they have to be cleaned out sometimes more than once in a season the wood of the ash is so very tough and elastic that from all time it has been used to make bows and spear shafts of course it is also valuable for less warlike uses when you read the one hosche you will find one use to which ash wood is sometimes put the ash tree used to be held sacred by the ancient Norsemen in someday you will read beautiful stories about the wonderful ash yggdrasil the small tree we call mountain ash is not an ash at all and it has as you know red berries instead of samaras end of chapter 15 chapter 16 of little wanderers by market warner moorley this lever box recording is in the public domain pines pine trees bear cones and cones do not fly but if you examine the scales of the cone you will find a winged seed under each when the cones are ripe the scales open and the seeds drop out and are caught by the wind and floated away there are a great many species of pine trees the seeds of some are large and sweet and are sold as pine nuts these trees do not grow in this country however and we should have to go to south america or to asia or western europe to find pine trees from which we could gather nuts squirrels gather nuts from all the pine trees however for they are not as particular as we and think them all good they are very clever at gathering cones gnawing off the scales and getting out the seeds pine trees like the maples and elms have two kinds of not exactly flowers but something answering to them the ovules or young seeds are born under the scales of the cones and the stamens are in the catkins sometimes these catkins are very large and they bear a great deal of pollen which the wind carries to the cones a pine forest is always a sweet and delightful place when the sun shines on the trees they fill the air with fragrance pine trees used to grow all over the northern part of the united states but they make very valuable timber and so have been carelessly cut down and the forests destroyed until now in many places there are almost no pine trees left this was a great mistake as the people now know the white pine of the north gave a soft white wood that could be easily carved or turned and it was used more extensively than any other wood as long as the forests lasted a large part of the south is still covered by forests of yellow pine whose wood is dark hard and valuable for building purposes the pine forests of the south also yield large quantities of tar resin and turpentine and it is sad to see the forests being carelessly destroyed each year the trees are cut for their sap from which turpentine and other products are made but if the same trees are cut three years in succession they die the turpentine makers however cut them as long as they will yield sap because it is easier to stay in one place three years than to move their camps to a region of fresh trees this is wrong and will result in destroying the valuable southern pine forests in a short time we should take care of the trees for they are our good friends besides providing wood for all sorts of uses they protect the earth keep it moist and prevent the streams from drying up in many places the farming land has been destroyed because the forests were cut down when the land all about dried up so that nothing of value to man could grow on it with proper management trees can be cut for use without destroying the forests end of chapter 16 chapter 17 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain seeds that fly without wings or plumes poppy seeds have no wings and no plumes and yet they are carried far and wide by the wind that is because they are so very small and so very light they look more like dust than seeds the poppy pod is like a cup with a cover on but around the edge just below the cover is a row of small holes each covered by a lid these lids do not open until the poppy seeds are ripe then they do and the fine seeds can get out of the holes but how do they get out they cannot move of themselves but the wind sways the poppy pod this way and that on its long stalk and the little seeds are shaken out only to be caught by the wind and blown away perhaps you think that this is not a very sure way for seeds to escape but if you examine a poppy head that has been ripe for some time you will find scarcely a seed in it so it proves to be a better way than it looks nature's way is generally the best way to accomplish an object poppies are often seen growing by the roadside or in the garden far from the flower beds that is because the wind has blown the seeds to these places in england the wheat fields are often gay with scarlet poppies which have no doubt been sown with the wheat they are beautiful to look at though the farmer does not enjoy seeing them in his wheat opium is obtained from the juice of the partly ripened seed pods of some kinds of poppies opium is a very valuable as a medicine but it has to be used with great care as it is also a powerful poison a valuable oil is expressed from the seeds of the opium poppy this oil is used for illuminating purposes in some parts of the world and also for soap making the finer quality is used as food instead of olive oil in countries where oil is eaten instead of butter and it is also used in grinding artists colors enter chapter 17 chapter 18 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley this sleeper box recording is in the public domain other seeds that are moved by the wind many many other plants have seeds or seed pods that can be carried away by the wind the fields and hedges are full of plumes and winged seeds and of seeds so light as to be readily carried away without special plumes or wings at the top of this page is the picture of a trumpet vine when you have the chance examine the seeds in the pod of a trumpet vine and see how they are enabled to fly away hops are pretty plants and useful ones as well and if you examine hop seeds you will see what you will see some clovers have seeds that fly see if you can find them linden trees are covered with clusters of white sweet scented flowers in the early summer each cluster of flowers is attached in a curious way to a wing and often the whole cluster with its wing falls together and is blown to some distance by the wind when the lindens are in bloom you will know it by the humming of the bees for they are very fond of linden honey and the trees often sound like an enormous beehive there are so many bees about them it would take altogether too long to tell about all the seeds that are carried by the wind but you can find a great many of them without being told and that after all is the best way at the bottom of this page are the seed pods of the cow parsnip a very large course but rather handsome weed often found in the corners of pastures you can see that its seed pods fly and a chapter 18 chapter 19 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley this lever box recording is in the public domain tumbleweeds tumbleweeds are funny they do not fly in the air but they go scurrying over the surface of the earth they grow on the western plains and in other places and sometimes get to be as large as a bushel basket they are not very interesting until they begin to tumble this happens in the fall of the year the plants grow like ordinary little bushes in the summer and bear a great many clusters of small flowers late in the season the leaves fall off and the stems of the plant curl over and make a ball of it the seeds do not fall yet they can be seen in pretty brown clusters inside the ball along comes a gust of wind the tumbleweed all rolled up and quite dry now breaks loose from the earth and away it goes head over heels rolling like a wild thing across the prairies it is very funny to see a prairie full of tumbleweeds racing along they look as if they are playing tag when a train passes those near the track are caught in the draft and off they start head over heels as fast as they can they look exactly as if they were chasing the train tumbleweed does not send its seed children out alone into the world it goes along and spills them over the prairies as it tumbles about for after a while the seeds get thoroughly ripe and fall off if you were to see the tumbleweeds rolling about over the prairies in the fall you would not wonder there were so many of them growing everywhere in the summer there are several kinds of tumbleweeds in the west one of them is called the russian thistle though it is not a thistle it came from europe and has proved to be the very worst weed the farmer has to deal with it tumbles about in the fall rolling far and wide over the prairies before the high winds in a few years it has become such a nuisance that large sums of money are spent by the government to exterminate it in some places the school children have been taught to recognize it and to pull it up wherever they see it growing and to chapter 19 chapter 20 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley the sleeper fox recording is in the public domain wanderers that cling bird oaks seeds have other ways of going about besides being blown by the wind one way is to fasten on to anything or anybody that passes and get carried to some other place bird oaks do this bird oaks grow in door yards if they get a chance and in fence corners and pastures and along road sides and in fact almost anywhere they are sturdy weeds and often grow quite large in the ugly duckling hands anderson tells us about them in a sunny spot stood a pleasant old farmhouse circled all about with deep canals and from the walls down to the water's edge grew great bird oaks so high that under the tallest of them a little child might stand upright like the dandelions and canada thistle the bird oaks came from europe and a great many people wish they had stayed at home that is because of their burrs which are a nuisance in the fall of the year everybody knows what burrs are they stick fast to the clothes of people and get on the tails and means of horses where they must cause a great deal of discomfort and where it is a great deal of work to pick them out they get upon the tails of cows too and the fleeces of sheep and dogs get them on their ears the reason is this the burrs are full of seed pods the bird oaks flower head is like the dandelion made up of a great many tiny flowers and each flower has a close fitting pod containing one seed or an akeen as we have learned to call it the head of flowers is covered by stiff green bracts and at the end of each bract is a hook these hooks are soft when the flowers are in blossom and they do not catch fast to things but when the seeds ripen the bracts grow hard and stiff and so do the hooks at the end now when an animal or a person comes along and brushes against these ripe burrs the strong hooks catch the burr full of ripe akeens is pulled from the plant and is carried away it is easy to guess why this happens when one tries to pull a ripe burr from the clothes it falls all to pieces and the akeens spill out then each hook has to be pulled out separately and very likely each one will prick the fingers children sometimes pick the burrs before they are ripe and stick them together to make baskets and other things then the burrs do not fall to pieces nor prick the fingers much the bird ock has a rank disagreeable odor that clings to the fingers a long time after the burrs have been handled it is not easy even to wash it off children often pick ripe burrs and throw them at each other some think this is funny and some think it is naughty bird ocks yield a valuable medicine so they are useful as well as troublesome end of chapter 20 chapter 21 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain cockle burrs and sand spurs cockle burrs are covered with hooks too but they are much uglier than bird ocks for their seed pods are very hard and are covered on the outside with stiff strong hooks that prick like needles when one walks among cockle burrs he soon stops to pick them off for they hurt so he cannot bear it sand spurs are even worse than cockle burrs they are the seed coverings to a kind of grass in florida this grass grows and tufts and spreads out close to the ground some of its stalks are covered with sand spurs that like the cockle burrs are hard and are covered not with hooks but with very hard spines these spines stick out in all directions and readily fasten upon whomever or whatever comes along when they leave the parent grass and are carried away after a time they are picked off and thrown on the ground or they fall off and that is their way of traveling to find a place to grow dogs often get them in their feet and then they have a hard time picking them out for of course the poor things cannot walk with sand spurs between their toes there was once a dog that hated sand spurs and loved people so much that when anyone came near him with sand spurs on his clothes he would at once begin to pick them off and the expression with which he jerked them out of his mouth showed very plainly what he thought of sand spurs and a chapter 21 chapter 22 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley this Lieber Vox recording is in the public domain tick tree foil when walking in the woods in the late summer we sometimes find queer-jointed little pods like unfinished pea pods clinging to our clothes these come from plants that belong to the pea family and are called tick tree foil they are nearly two dozen kinds of them and sometimes they seem to be everywhere in the woods and thickets the pods are like pea pods only that they are jointed and the joints break apart so that each may be carried away separately each joint contains a little pea like seed the outside of the pod seems fuzzy and it clings very closely to whatever it touches if we look at the fuzz with the magnifying glass we shall find it made up of innumerable little hooks the hairs that cover the pods are turned up at the end to form little hooks very delicate but able when there are so many of them to hold on very tightly they seem to snuggle down into the cloth they touch so that it is difficult to pick them off and the joints all separate when we try to remove them so that each one has to be taken off separately another plant whose seed pods are covered with hooked hairs is the sweet scented bed straw this is a pretty little plant that spreads about on the ground its flowers are small and greenish but the whole plant when in bloom has a pretty lace-like effect as we find it in the woods very often growing about fallen logs its seed pods are small and like the tick tree foil are covered with hairs that under the magnifying glass are seen to be hooked the enchanter's nightshade is another little plant whose seed pods are covered with hooked hair it is as pretty as its name and is to be found in damp woods there is a tall leafy kind they grow sometimes two feet high and is topped with numerous branches of small white flowers as the flower stems lengthen the flowers continue to unfold at the tip while lower down are the many little seed pods shaped like little tennis rackets the prettiest enchanter's nightshade however is a little fairy that sometimes grows on decaying logs it is often not more than three or four inches high and ends in a branch of pretty little white flowers with bright red calyx lobes after these dainty blossoms come the little hooked-haired racket shaped seed pods look for enchanter's nightshade the next time you go to the woods in the summertime below is a picture of the large one end of chapter 22 chapter 23 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain stick tights stick tights are troublesome to us and we call them very disagreeable names such as beggar ticks and beggar lice but they are really not bad at all and are quite pretty if they stick to us that is our fault quite as much as theirs for we should keep away from them if we are unwilling to carry them about they cling to whatever comes along because that is their way of traveling about they cannot walk or creep or crawl or jump neither can they fly very far nor move in any other way excepting as they are carried you know how they look so of course this little brown flat object with horns isn't a keen inside it is a seed the two horns at the top are able to fasten it quite tightly to a woolen dress or a sheep's fleece if you look carefully you will see little hard teeth on the edge of the stick tight that help it to cling on one species of stick tight these teeth point backwards like the barbs of a fish hook and that kind sticks very tightly stick tight plants blossom in the summertime the greenish yellow flowers are clustered in heads like the dandelion flowers and like those each stick tight flower has an akeen at the bottom these akeens grow much larger than those of the dandelion and they have the two horns on their heads the akeens stand on a flat cushion just as the dandelion akeens do but these do not wait for the wind to blow them away though if nothing comes along to pull them loose they in time become very dry and fall out and then the wind often carries the light little things some distance but their favorite method of traveling is by stagecoach and if you happen along at the right time they will take you for their stagecoach and let you carry them to a new place sometimes the plants grow so closely together that in passing through them one becomes quite covered with the little brown things and it is a long and tiresome task to pick them out they too get on the tails and manes of horses and the tails of cows and the coats of dogs and the fleeces of sheep but they are not nearly as troublesome to these creatures as are the bird oaks there are several species of stick tights or beggar ticks as they are more generally called some have rather large flower heads with the outer flowers each provided with a long broad yellow petal these are often called wild sunflowers because they look something like a little sunflower there is a plant called Spanish needles very closely related to the stick tights and that has four horns to its seed pod the Burr marigold which grows in wet places and whose greenish flower heads are round like a marble is also related to the stick tights and like the Spanish needles has four horns a great many plants have these little horned seed cases and when you go about the country in the fall of the year you will be certain to make the acquaintance of some of them the plants with horned seed pods wish their seeds to get out of the dense thickets in which they usually grow and they do what they can to help them end of chapter 23 chapter 24 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley the sleeper fox according is in the public domain agrimony and other weeds in the fall of the year and towards the end of summer we find a great many weeds in the woods and along the roads sending their seeds out into the world by means of stout hooks or else hooked hairs or sharp spines the agrimony is one of these it is a common rather pretty plant with yellow flowers and it has a burr or seed pod armed with hooked prickles around the way so to speak after a walk in the country through the woods and fields in the autumn one will be likely to find a number of little things clinging to one's clothes instead of merely shaking or picking them off and throwing them away carefully collect them and when there is time look at them you will very likely find yourself decorated with a number of different kinds of seeds or seed pods that vainly hoped in you to find a means of traveling to new and better places of growth all these little brown things are disappointed or would be if they could feel disappointed but you can profit by their misfortune and by carefully examining the little wanderers can learn a great many interesting and wonderful truths about the plant world in its effort to scatter its seeds and a chapter 24 chapter 25 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley the sleeper box recording is in the public domain flax the flax is a very useful plant for the fibers of its stems are long and strong and are spun into thread and then woven into linen besides this the seeds are useful they contain an oil which is pressed out and is known as linseed oil it is used a great deal by painters in mixing their paints when flax seeds are wet they become very sticky on the outside a jelly like substance covers them and this it is which we drink in flax seed tea to cure our colds you can easily see this jelly like covering by putting a few flax seeds in a few drops of water and leaving them there for a little while you can readily see that when the flax seeds are shed in the field and are met by the rain they would stick to the feathers feet and beaks of birds that came to eat the seeds if the birds flew to another place as they often would to clean their plumage they would rub off the flax seeds that mean time had become dry again and often the seeds would drop off as the bird moved about in this way they would get planted in new places no doubt the sticky covering to the wet seed also helps to anchor it to the ground and keep it from blowing away when once it has settled down on the earth the flax plant that we find so useful is not wild it is carefully cultivated in many parts of the world and has been cultivated for so long a time and in so many places that nobody knows where it first came from it is a pretty plant that bears bright blue flowers why do you not go buy a penny's worth of flax seeds at the drugstore and plant them in your garden and become acquainted with this very interesting and beautiful little plant end of chapter 25 chapter 26 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Marley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain mistletoe the mistletoe goes on trees it has no roots of its own but attaches itself to the bark of the trees and sucks out the sap since it lives up in trees its seeds must be able to find lodgement in these high places and this the birds help them do the mistletoe has light green leaves it grows in bunches and bears white berries the seeds in the berries are covered by a viscid substance and when the birds eat the berries some of these seeds will be apt to cling to them and be left on the branches of some other tree if the seed happens to get swallowed that does not hurt them for they are not digested but are passed out just as they were swallowed and they then often fall upon the tree branches where they can grow the English mistletoe very often grows upon the oak tree and from very early times the plant was reverenced by the people and particularly by the druids who used it in their religious observances a survival of this old superstition about the mistletoe is found in its use today at christmastime and a chapter 26 chapter 27 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain other plants with sticky seeds or seed pods quite a number of plants prepare sticky coverings to their seeds or seed pods in order to help the seeds get away the squirting cucumber is one of the most curious of these it grows wild in southern europe but is sometimes seen in gardens in this country not because of its beauty but because it is so curious it is a hairy plant and not at all pretty but when its hairy cucumber shaped seed pods are ripe something funny happens the pod falls from the vine and through the round hole left when it fell away from its stem that which is inside the pod is shot out with a violence outfly seeds and a quantity of sticky liquid if a bird happens to be about when this happens he will make haste to get far from such a queer acting plant and if he was shot by it he will carry some of the sticky seeds with him or he may get the seeds attached to him after they have been shot out you see the squirting cucumber has two ways of sending its seeds on their journey into the world it shoots them some distance at the start and also provides them with a sticky covering so that they may have a chance to get carried still farther some plants have sticky hairs growing to their seed pods we know that a good many plants have their pods covered with hairs which are hooked at the ends well some are covered with hairs that have a drop of this substance at the tip instead of a hook these hairs fasten on quite as firmly as if they were hooked the pretty little twin flower or ground vine as it is sometimes called has a pair of scales growing about its seed pod and these scales are covered with sticky hairs the soft little mouse ear chickweed that grows everywhere in waste places has several species which are covered all over with fine hairs which have a sticky tip when the plant withers it is easily pulled from the ground and as it remains sticky even after withering the whole plant is often carried away by passing animals or people and its seeds shed in some distant place see if you can find some plants that have their seeds carried because some parts of the plant is sticky there are not a great many of them still if you look long enough you will be sure to find some and a chapter 27 chapter 28 of little wanderers by market warner moorley this the provokes recording is in the public domain wanderers that float some kind of plants live in the water or on the edge of it these often have seeds or seed pods light enough to float you can generally see little seeds floating about on ponds if you take the trouble to look into these ponds come ducks or herons or other waterfowl the birds come to find something to eat and as they swim or wade about they come in contact with the wet seeds that cling to them after a time the birds bearing the seeds on plumage beak or feet fly to another pond or marsh and as they alight the seeds are floated off the wind then blows them to the shore or else in time if they live in the water they sink to the bottom and sprout the coconut is a seed that is surrounded by a strong shell and a thick coat of fiber that protects it from the water and also makes it light the nut inside this thick overcoat is hollow when ripe accepting for a watery liquid that we call the milk of the coconut as we see coconuts in stores the outer coat has been taken off coconuts grow near the tops of tall coconut palms and these palms are fond of standing on the seashore when the nuts get ripe they often fall in the sea and are carried long distances by ocean currents in this way no doubt many acoral island has received its lovely fringe of coconut palms the nuts are floated to these little islands and washed into crevices on them where they lodge and in time grow into stately trees the coconut palm is a very important tree in tropical countries the nuts are used as food and a valuable oil is obtained from them cocoa oil is used for eliminating and also for making saffes the thick fiber that surrounds the nut is strong and tough and is made into cloth matting brushes baskets coarse rope and a number of things matting is used in some hot countries to make the sides of houses and the coconut fiber is useful to that shrews the wood of the tree is hard and durable and is made into many household articles the hard shell of the nut makes good cups and dishes so you see the coconut tree affords almost everything the people in the hot countries need they make their home and furnish them from it they get food and drink from it for the milk of the coconut is a very pleasant beverage and they use the oil to light their abodes at night no wonder people value this noble tree very highly end of chapter 28 chapter 29 of Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley this LibriVox recording is in the public domain scenes that animals like to eat the hickory the meat of the hickory nut is a seed the hickory trees bear two kinds of blossoms like the willow it has staminate catkins and also bears pistilate flowers from which grow nuts some hickory catkins are very long and slender and make pretty green tassels on the trees in the spring hickory nuts are good to eat and you may wonder how these delicious nuts that many creatures are fond of ever get a chance to grow squirrels are fond of nuts and they are generally on hand when the nuts are ripe the green nuts have an outer covering that splits open when the nut is ripe and lets it fall to the ground of course when a squirrel has eaten a nut that is the end of it but squirrels are good housekeepers and store away nuts and holes in the trees or in the ground chipmunks do the same and some birds as nutcrackers and blue jays hide nuts in the same way often these nuts are forgotten or else the little creatures that hid them may die or be killed then the nuts that have been put in the ground have nothing to do but grow when spring warms the earth you see they have been planted by the little nut lovers that certainly had no intention of planting them no doubt a great many nut trees get started in this way hickory nuts are often called walnuts in new england the hickory tree belongs to north america and before this continent was discovered only the indians enjoyed hickory nuts now they are sent to england and indeed all over the world the wood of the hickory is hard tough and flexible and is very valuable andrew jackson was called old hickory because of his unyielding nature and when you study the history of the united states or read the life of jackson you will not wonder that he was so named hickory switches were used long ago when children were naughty they were preferred to willow because they did not break so easily a better use to put hickory too is to burn it hickory logs make a very hot and beautiful fire and hickory is one of the best woods to burn in a fireplace and a chapter 29 chapter 30 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley this leverbox recording is in the public domain walnuts and butternuts black walnuts grow on large handsome trees a very hard fragrant dark colored wood walnut wood used to be prized more highly than it is today for furniture and the inside finished houses it takes a fine polish but grows rather dark and somber looking with age the black walnut is a native of the eastern part of north america it belongs to the same family as the hickory and like that there's two kinds of flowers the nuts have hard thick black shells and also a softer outer covering or rind that is very bitter and disagreeable to the taste and that stains the fingers a dark brown the meat or kernel of the walnut is very oily and some people do not like it because of its rather strong flavor squirrels are fond of walnuts however and often plant them in the way we have seen the english walnut is an asiatic tree belonging to the same family which has been cultivated in europe and to a small extent in this country its nut is larger than the black walnut has a thin shell and a large sweet kernel the nut is delicious and a great favorite at christmas time it is sometimes picked green and pickled and some people are very fond of pickled walnuts the nut yields an abundance of valuable oil and the wood of the tree is very beautiful and useful for many purposes one of which is to finish houses on the inside and another to make gunstocks there is another tree belonging to the same family that grows in america and looks very much like the black walnut tree it is the butternut butternut wood is valuable and butternuts have sweet oily kernels that most people like the flowers of course are like those of the walnut a brown dye is made from the inner bark of the butternut tree and also a medicine is obtained from it during the war of the rebellion the southern soldiers were often dressed in homespun clothes dyed by the bark of the butternut and on this account they were called butternuts and a chapter 30 chapter 31 of little wanderers by market warner morally this labor box recording is in the public domain the chestnut the chestnut is a very large and beautiful tree that grows abundantly in some parts of new england and over the alagini mountains children always know the chestnut trees if they live near them like the hickory and walnut the chestnut has its daemonet flowers in capcans but these are white instead of green and give the chestnut a very handsome appearance when they cover it with airy plumes in the early summer the nuts grow in prickly burrs two or three in a burr when the nuts are ripe in the fall the burrs open to let them out as everyone knows they have a thin shell and a sweet kernel they are sometimes boiled and sometimes eaten raw squirrels chipmunks and some birds are fond of them and are often the means of planting them chestnut wood is soft and has rather a coarse loose grain it is used largely for fence rails cheap shingles and railroad ties chestnuts grow in some parts of europe and asia and there is one kind that bears a nut as large as a black walnut this nut is not as sweet as our chestnuts but it is extensively used as food in some parts of europe the people go in families to gather the nuts and prize them as we prize wheat and corn end of chapter 31 chapter 32 of little wanderers by market warner moorley this leverbox recording is in the public domain other edible seeds there are other nuts like the pecan whose tree belongs to the hickory family and grows wild in the southern part of the united states the beech nut which grows on a stately tree of our forests and the hazelnut that grows on bushes in thickets near streams sometimes or on the borders of woods but squirrels chipmunks birds and such folk are not the only ones that plant seeds some ants do indeed ants are great hands to plant seeds they do not take the hard nuts but rather the seeds of certain grasses and other plants that bear rather small seeds the ants carry the seeds into their holes where they sometimes eat only one part of the seed not enough to hurt it in the least and so the seeds buried in the ant hills are able to grow ants often drop the seeds they are carrying and lose them and so the road to the home of the seed eating ants is often grown over by plants the ants have sown into chapter 32 chapter 33 of little wanderers by market warner moorley this leverbox recording is in the public domain berries some berries such as raspberries and strawberries are so good that they seem to grow on purpose to be eaten very likely they do it is quite necessary for the blackberry and raspberry bushes to have their seeds sown at some distance from the parent plants and it is also an advantage to strawberries to have their seeds dispersed so what is better than to get the help of birds to this end the berries are sweet and juicy when ripe and they are bright in color so that the birds can easily find them a bird often picks a berry and carries it somewhere else to eat and often it eats only a part and leaves the rest which falls to the ground all berries have seeds in them or outside of them strawberries have the little seeds on the outside as you can easily see gooseberries currents and grapes have the little seeds inside but whichever way it is some of the seeds will be left or scattered about by birds that eat the berries if some of the seeds are swallowed that does not seem to hurt them like the mistletoe seeds they are able to sprout after having been eaten by a bird birds eat a great many kinds of berries that we never think of eating notice how often in the late summer and the autumn you will see bright red or blue or black or white berries shining out from the leaves or bare branches of the wayside hedges all of these are eaten by birds and carried away to new growing places not all birds eat berries or seeds watch the birds and see if you can find out which kinds eat berries and seeds end of chapter 33 chapter 34 of little wanderers by Margaret Warner morally this labor box recording is in the public domain cherries there is no need of describing cherries as everybody knows them well the birds are so fond of ripe cherries that we sometimes have difficulty in getting our share before the robins and thrushes have taken all birds frequently fly away with the cherry eat the pulp and drop the stone which of course contains a seed and this seed then often sprouts and grows into a cherry tree we sometimes find good cherries growing in hedges and thickets far from the orchard these have been planted there by the birds the sweet cherry is not a native of this country but was brought here from europe we have a number of wild cherries however whose fruit we do not esteem but the birds are fond of it and they are the means of planting a good many wild cherry trees over the country plums peaches and apricots are delicious fruits with hard shelled seeds the fruit is gathered the pulp eaten and the stone thrown away we do not eat the seed of the plum peach and cherry as we do that of the hickory and butternut we throw it away and thus disperse the seed children of these fruit trees the birds spread the seeds of the wild plums as they do those of the cherries the kernels of all these seeds are bitter and contain a very poisonous substance cherry trees have beautiful white blossoms that come early in the spring and the peach trees have lovely pink blossoms the peaches bloom the earliest of all and their flowers come out before the leaves they turn the world into a maze of pink beauty in the parts where the peach orchards are and a chapter 34 chapter 35 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley this leverbox recording is in the public domain apples apples have tough cores in which they're somewhat delicate seeds are protected when we eat apples we throw the cores away we now know that this is just what the apple wants if the core is tossed into a hedge by the roadside its seeds may get a chance to sprout and indeed they often do for in the country we often come upon apple trees in out of the way corners where they were not planted by man on purpose apples do not grow wild in this country accepting crab apples no doubt the birds carry away the ripe crab apples and drop the cores pears and quinces have cores like the apple and they are not natives of this country but we're broad here because of their delicious fruit sometimes we find them growing wild and we know how this happened the next time we get a chance let us look for the fruit trees the birds have planted there are a good many wild fruits that the birds are fond of and whose seeds they are in the habit of dispersing over broad sections of country into chapter 35 chapter 36 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley this libra box recording is in the public domain seeds that are shot away oxalis some plants have a way of shooting their seeds out of the pods you know about the squirting cucumber the little sheep sorrel or yellow flower doxalis that grows everywhere in the fields and gardens has a way of shooting off its seeds when they are ripe there is an elastic covering over each seed and when the pod opens this covering splits and suddenly curls up with force enough to send the seed quite a distance the leaves of the oxalis are sour and children sometimes eat them a very powerful poison can be extracted from them which is called oxalic acid and sometimes salt of lemons but there is not enough of this poison in the leaves to make them harmful to eat the poison when obtained in large quantities is useful in the manufacture of calico where it is used in printing the colors and it is also sometimes used in a diluted form to clean metalwork be sure to look for the seed pods of the oxalis they stand up like little candles and are very pretty gather some that are almost ripe and see how they shoot their seeds and a chapter 36 chapter 37 of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley this leap of ox recording is in the public domain which hazel this little tree blossoms in the fall of the year after the leaves are gone and sometimes after the snow has come it stands in the edge of the woods dressed in a fairy costume of yellow lace like flowers after the flowers come the pods they are very hard and horny and do not ripen until the next fall it is fun to gather ripe witch hazel pods for when they have been in the house a little while and have become thoroughly dry they go off you may be sitting by the table reading when pop a hard shining little black seed strikes you in the face it is the witch hazel beginning its canon aid pop spat crack the battery has opened and the seeds are flying with great force in all directions they are sometimes shot several yards of course in the woods this shooting is intended to start the seed children on their journey in the world the witch hazel pod bursts open and the edges turn in and press against the smooth seeds with great force so that when they leave the pod they fly as though shot out of a sling get some witch hazel pods and see how they do it another name for witch hazel is hama milis and from the bark is made a medicine which is put upon bruises a forked twig of witch hazel is sometimes used as a divining rod to find where to dig for water or for gold or silver or other metals the rod is held in the fingers of the diviner who walks about and wherever the rod turns and points down it is supposed to be the place to dig divining rods are not much used these days people are not as superstitious in some ways as they used to be and they know the rod cannot help them end of chapter 37 chapter 38 of little wanderers by margaret warner morally this labor box recording is in the public domain touch me not the touch me not or snap weed is a delicate little plant that grows in wet places its yellow flowers are eerily poised on slender stems and the seed pods are very curious if one of them is touched it goes off with a suddenness that is startling until one gets used to it when the pods are ripe they shoot the seeds out in all directions and if you disturb a tangle of touch me knots in the late summer you can hear the seeds popping on all sides there's a violet that shoots the seeds out of its pod and the wild geranium pod swings its seeds to some distance by suddenly curling up on its long stock a good many seed pods have this interesting habit but i doubt if you would discover that some peas and beans do this unless you were told the lupin which belongs to the pea family shoots off its seeds by twisting the dry pod as it opens to let them out even our garden sweet peas and some of our garden beans do this watch to see if you can catch them at it plants have many many ways of sending their precious seed children out in the world to find a growing place there is no better way to spend our spare time than to watch the ripe fruits of plants and find out how the seeds are dispersed nearly all plants have some method of sending their seeds abroad you will enjoy the plants more than ever when you begin to discover for yourself some of the things they do and a chapter 38 end of little wanderers by margaret warner moorley