| Show E 1 T t H a WESTERN NATURE STUDIES I By J H PAUL PAULo PAULI I K o STRANGE WAYS OF PLANT TRAVELERS l 1 The carpet of ot flowers and of ot ver ft dure spread over the naked crust cUst of ot f il I our planet Is unequally woven it is f t f e thicker Icker where the sun rises high In the f f fi ever cloudless heavens heaven and thinner to towards toj W tir wards yards the poles in the less happy t j a j i climes where returning frosts often otten de destroy deft ft i r stroy troy S the opening buds of ot spring or ther the r f 4 1 ripening fro Its of autumn Every Everywhere Everyl l t i I a H where however man finds some plants l to minister to his support and enjoy enjoyment t 1 ment Humboldt H J IJ I F Migration of Wheat WheatOn ti I On his visit to America more than i f J y 2 half a century ago Humboldt the Ger German Geri GerH H i man traveler was much impressed by bythe bythe bythe the contrast which he observed on the theto two to opposite sides aides of the earth in the thet t 1 0 distribution of ot the farinaceous I i s grasses the cereals On this side of the planet he found nations to whom T flour or meal from rom grasses t i i and the use of ot milk were completely J unknown while the nations of al almost almost almost most all parts of ot the other hemisphere hemis here A at that time cultivated the cereal cereals and reared animals In the theis is f new continent he said from 52 de degrees den r n grecs grees north to 46 degrees south tat laU latitude tude we see only one species cultivated ed d namely maize m In the old continent on in n the other hand we wo find everywhere from the earliest times of ot history the i fruits of Ceres wheat barley spelt i or red wheat and oats A ne negro 0 gro Kro slave of ot the great Cortes was the j first who cultivated wheat In New I Spain He found three grains of it f 1 amongst the rice which had been brought from Spain for provision for forthe fortt tt the army Would that there 1 had been preserved everywhere in the continent the names not of those I I ff 1 who made the earth desolate by bloody 1 I conquests but of ot those who first on en ent J t trusted to it these niese its fruits so early 1 d associated with the civilization of ot man mankind mant t continent land kind l nd in the old continent r J When the first migrations of men took place we do not know but in his j i earliest man nian probably car carried cari i I 1 ried with him the plants upon which i t I he lie depended for food clothing and andt t ornament The lake dwellers of Swit Switzerland Switzerland f lived in houses erected on the tops of piles driven Into the ground l e 1 through the water ater and used only stone stoned stoney y Implements yet et they already must d have understood something of agriculture agriculture I ture since they cultivated at a t least leat three kinds of wheat two of barley and two of millet None Hone of ot these plants i are nrc natives of Europe but the black blackened t tined ened remains of the grains found asso asso l t r fi s dialed with these primitive dwellings show low that they had brought these theae i grains with them tem In their migrations o I I from their earlier homes In Asia t f 1 n J First Homes of Useful Plants t j SI 1 Within the historical period we wo know fi f that the Greeks Gr eks brought brou ht to western a fF t Europe the garden rose and the lily Illy oft Even Een the myrtle the olive and the lau 4 iel with which which the name of Italy Ital IB is I Inow isi i now so closely associated were brought c 1 W t 1 y the Grecian colonists who held these plants sacred to the memory of ot I SOT sorro somo of their goddesses The orangeL orange L too was formerly unknown to both r Greeks G Gt eks and Romans while no trees ex except ext t r ce t the evergreen oUt olive cypress and andr t r oleander oleander are depicted upon the walls wallo 1 t of Pompeii PompeU Rico Rice was first made I t f known to to the Greeks from the con conquests conquests conquests quests of Alexander In Asia while an au aur alle r a eastward e migration of ot various useful j I plants such as the bean pea eucum cucumber I ber melon lucern saffron spinach it I Inrid t and others previously unknown to the C i east cast took place In tile the second century I I s j BiC when the Chinese Ambassador I t C In carried their seeds from G the shores of the Caspian sea Into his I j f own on country The peach tree on the theother theother I C other hand Is said sard to be a native of oft t t China Ch Ina and It has for ages been cultivated cultivated I there The Romans brought it ItJi itt t Ji to the west under the name of the I Persian apple Cherries too were 1 brought from Armenia to Rome about I 68 B C they became so popular that I I Pliny says pays In less than years yea V after other lands had cherries even as asfar I Ifal vas far as Britain beyond the ocean The larger stinging nettle was brought by 1 Roman soldiers to Britain In order to rub and ami chafe their limbs for they had h d been told that the climate of ot the I island was wall so cold that It was not to tobe tobe toI I a be endured without some friction to I Ic t warm rm their blood The date palm was c brought o 0 Italy In Roman times but I did not bear fruit from a lack probably proba probably ably bly a of the proper Insects to fertilize it The northern barbarians who I i overran ove overran the empire In later times cared i nothing for a tree which was only I X beautiful arid and therefore allowed allo ed It to todie I dle die out so that Italy was again with without without out t palms till the Saracens brought brough i them back What the Saracens Brought The Saracens destructive as they 1 were had a great love loe for trees and it itIs ItIs itis it 1 Is curious to note that Europe tints os S the presence of many of its beautiful trees flowers and useful plants fanatical Arabs The Tho unspeakable Turk brought the horse chestnut and the tulip In Inthe the fifteenth century the latter plant was held In such admira admiration admiration tion Uon In Holland that extravagant sums were afire re paid for choice varieties A thou thousand thousand sand dollars was no unusual price for fora I a 3 single Ingle root and nd a trader of lIar Har laam learn in one case gave entire nUre fortune for a rare bulb The Saracens r brought also the orange lemon sugar sugarcane sugarcane sugarcane cane rice cotton saffron and the lo locust locust loi i cust cult tree The Arab loved the saffron 1 It f provided him with perfume flavor dye and medicine The orange lemon and and citron natives of China came caIne to I Ij f j I the Arabs In a remote time while I 1 IJ buckwheat which grows wild about J the river Amoor came to Europe with J the Gypsies These wandering people 1 t could make good use of oC a plant which grows on en n poor soil and reaches maturi maturity ty In a short period l I If Americas Contributions America too has contributed contribute her plants to the world garden The sword t leaved aved l agave or aloe the century plant the magnolia the unique prickly pear the silver sll spruce and others that now ornament the gardens of ot Europe Europ were from Crom this country So too the maize the toma tomatoes tomatoes toes tOOl and the potatoes as well as the to tobacco tobacco bacco the Jerusalem artichoke the scarlet runners the tho string beans and andr various arious beautiful flowers among them r f out western columbine were all nil gifts ra of the new to the old world My friend friendt t Johnson of oC Salt Lake City has reared rearM 1 i from the teed seed many of our native nati e wild wildflowers Ud x flowers Powers and some Orne of ot them the sego the clarkia the the hill hlll hillside hilla a side primrose the bluebell the golden z and others are now finding favor fa favor 1 vor vor among gardeners being usually i I more beautiful in western gardens than most of o the Introduced species Many 2 of these are destined to a worldwide i iv t I distribution as their unique ornamental value lue becomes better known v K s A Tiny Marvel I 3 have also their unaided i Plants own wanderings much as men and animals 11 j jF jt jt js F 1 t t I s 3 do Though crowded out of one place their seeds travel elsewhere to germin germinate ate and grow anew Some of ot the lower plants have spores germs that travel and some somo of ot the algae have the power of oC locomotion One of the spore producers described by Prof Proto Favor before the writers classes at the University Is a common fungus that fires its spores off of as asIf asIf asif If from a small pistol The operation Itself can readily be observed with the naked eye though a lens will aid in inthe Inthe inthe the preliminary Inspection This fun fungus fungus fungus gus is a mould that grows growson on stable litter In early spring it is about the size of the mould that forms on old bread crusts It has a 11 yellow yellowish ish appearance and at Its fruiting stage develops barrel shaped cells on the tops of Its tiny stalks Protruding from each of ot these barrels Is Isa a black blackhead blackhead blackhead head like a minute cannon ball bail which contains numerous particles the spores Imbedded In a colorless Jelly This barrel finally swells up by absorbing water The ball is not elastic but on the soft the tension becomes so great that the wall finally ruptures rup ures and the ball ban is sent fly ing the spores stringing out in its wake and thus becoming scattered Kerner says the whole process Is vis ble to the eye the development of ot the mechanism requiring about 20 hours beginning at midday The spores are formed tormod during the night and the ex cx i s plu ion occurs as soon as daylight ap appears appears pears If It the fungus IS Ia ke In the side of a flower with a glass on each end that glass which faces fa es the light will be found blackened with tho the spores while the other one is free from them The explosion may shoot the to a distance of several sev several several eral feet Merited Fate of the Fly Most of the Jower lower plants the bacteria algae fungi seaweeds ferns multiply and are distributed by I small cells called spores which take the place of the seeds of higher plants Spores generally sail on the wings of ot I the wind but many float or even swim In water They carry the germs of disease produce decay and fermentation fermentation tion and are arc the finer agents in the process of from rom the rocks Some of them will be discussed in an another another another other article The fungus that frequently causes the death of o the common house fly has hasa a method of ot expelling its spores sImilar to that of ot PUo olus The infected fly is frequently seen on the windowpane window windowpane wIndowpane pane It dies and the cells of the hitherto hidden In the body cavity grow out Into long tubes which pierce the skin of ot the flys corpse and I appear as short structures I Ion on the surface From these a little I globule of ot spores Is thrown off oft the same as in though the dis distance distance tance of ot projection is only about one 1 ne I third of an Inch The dead fly is then I surrounded by a sort of halo of fine threads of the fungus these thele are sticky and attach it ft to the window pane Should a living fly bo be struck ruck s by the projected spores the latter will send tubes into nto Its body and destroy it IL The caterpillar of the white or cabbage but butterfly butterfly is often killed by a similar fun fungus fungus gus the final enveloping threads of ot which form a th web resembling a cocoon around the dying caterpillar c Is the name of one of our bunch grasses though there are several others that are also called c bunch grass the most valuable one being the large Our two larger r kinds of vary ary from one to four feet In height and are arc widely idely d over the plateau region They form striking examples of adaptation to seed carry carryIng carryIng carrying Ing and they do their own planting Our species have hae a hardened pointed and bearded stipe at the base and a abent abent abent bent awn or streamer which acts as a alever alever lever In the wind and enables enable the he sees seed to bore Its way into the earth In one of ot our two large species S 5 the awn is from 4 i to 6 Inches long scabrous especially esp above shining variously I curled and twisted The other S virl I dula has an awn or bristle from 1 to i 2 12 inches long usually twice bent pubescent below and rough scabrous above J said Prof Favor before the writers classes In nature study is a common grass in this region It is also according to Kerner one of ot the characteristic grasses of the Russian steppe region where on account of ot the enormous development of its plumose or feathery awns It is called Feather grass Its tufts of ot white feathery streamers called awns sway In the wind and make a beautiful picture over oer the level or rolling Russian landscape The featherlike lIke awn Is s a streamer that rises s from rom the top of the outer glume the scale that in all grasses covers the fruit When ripe the fruit wrapped in its glume breaks from the stem and the breeze bre ze carries carrie it over the steppe the tile awn acting like a large sail to buoy up the apparatus Finally It alights seed s ed downward downArd and a curious thing oc occurs occurs occurs curs The lower tip of the glume that the fruit is rigid and sharp 6 x t t a c o g gJ gi gAt o o t I J 7 0 s Ira a t k ka kt ki kr r t 1 tJ J Ji i 1 i i At the center No 1 an American SUpa tho Black showing the long awn arising from the tho upper glume or pale the true lower and outer glumes shown below At the left No 2 the Russian or Feather F lUler Grass Gras waving In the wind No aa 3 a single plumed awn of the Feather Grass showing the bent knee At the extreme right No 4 showing barrel ba barrel 1 and No 5 S discharging Its spores No 6 G the fungus furgus that kills the housefly No 7 the fly fungus discharging Its Us spores No 8 a n fly attacked by the fungus All redrawn after Kerner by Seventh grade pupils of the State Normal Training school schoot pointed and an so 50 sticks Into the tho ground like ar at alt arrow The hairs on the lower tip of tho tb glume are stiff and directed upwards but they cling close to the glume Every time therefore that the fruit Is swayed by the breeze It is driven a little further into the ground where It ItIs ItIs lIs Is held by the bristles which act In such suh a way as to press the fruit deeper with each change in its position For the plumed awn flutters from side to side aide even if It the wind is from one direction ton only and this change in its position causes the fruit sticking into the soil to incline to various arlous sides A seesawing motion Is thus Inevitable and the wind using the awn as a lever drives the fruit deeper and deepens Moreover these awns are twice bent like a knee just below the feathery portion and are also twisted spirally like a corkscrew The twisted part in damp weather absorbs moisture and they thel the knee straightens while the spiral unwinds and becomes straight also as It does so It turns the glume around g and so 50 bores it deeper Into the earth carth When the air becomes dry the glume twists up again These latter movements insure penetration of the soil foil even when the feathery awn has become entangled with other herbage and Is not blown toward the various points of ot the com compass compass compass pass by the shifting wind The Tho common already de do described described scribed In these art articles cles likewise has this corkscrew arrangement which serves to Implant Its seeds In the same sameI I manner First the seed Heed Is loosed from the base and Its long carpel curls into a corkscrew as it frees itself the upper end however stretching out somewhat like the feathery awn of Stipp The fruit too is s pointed and bearded similarly simi similarly to the glume of the grass and be being beIng being ing the heaviest part sticks |
