ittle we know. Our great masters in natural history
have immortalized themselves by their discoveries, but they have not
exhausted the field; and if seeds and fruits cannot vie with flowers
in the brilliance and color with which they decorate our gardens and
our fields, still they surely rival them--it would be impossible to
excel them--in the almost infinite variety of the problems they
present to us, the ingenuity, the interest, and the charm of the
beautiful contrivances which they offer for our study and our
admiration."[5]

[Footnote 5: _Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves_, by Sir John Lubbock, p.
96.]

Frequent rotations seem to be the rule for many plants, when left
to themselves in a state of nature. Confining to a permanent spot
invites parasites and other enemies, and a depleted soil, while
health and vigor are secured by frequent migrations. The more we study
in detail the methods of plant dispersion, the more we shall come
to agree with a statement made by Darwin concerning the devices for
securing cross-fertilization of flowers, that they "transcend, in
an incomparable degree, the contrivances and adaptations which the
most fertile imagination of the most imaginative man could suggest
with unlimited time at his disposal."[6]

[Footnote 6: _Fertilization of Orchids_, p. 351.]

Let no reader think that the topics here taken up are treated
exhaustively, for if he will go over any part of this work and verify
any observation or experiment, he will be sure to find something new,
and very likely something different from what is here stated.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Means of Plant Dispersion. By E. J. HILL. _Am. Nat._ Vol. xvii, pp.
811, 1028. 1883.

Why Certain Kinds of Timber Prevail in Certain Localities. By JOHN
T. CAMPBELL. _Am. Nat._ Vol. xix, p. 337. 1885.

Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture for 1888. Article
on the "Food of Crows." By W. B. BARROWS. p. 498.

Report of the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture for 1890. Article on
"Seed Planting by Birds." By W. B. BARROWS. p. 280.

Report of the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture for 1893. Article on
"Food Habits of the Kingbird, or Bee Martin." By W. B. BARROWS. p.
233.

Bulletin No. 6, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Division of
Ornithology and Mammology. "The Common Crow of the United States."
By W. B. BARROWS and E. A. SCHWARZ. 1895.

Bulletin No. 7, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Division of
Ornithology and Mammology. "Food of Woodpecker