Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1896 — HOW DESERTS ARE BEAUTIFIED. [ARTICLE]

HOW DESERTS ARE BEAUTIFIED.

Seed Carried by Various Means to the Desolate Spots of Earth. The terrible eruption of Krakatoa, In the Suuda Strait, in 1883, furnished the opportunity for illustrating the ease with which nature can replant witii vegetable life a district that has become completely desolated. The vol-canic-eruption was one of the most destructive recorded in history, the loss of human life being estimated to exceed 100,000. df the thirty-five volcanoes on and near the Island of Java twenty-six. were in violent eruption at the same time. The center of.disturbancelwas the Island of Krsrkatoa, which emitted molten lava and burning ashes in such abundance that every living thing, whether animal or vegetable, on the island was destroyed, and an observer from a ship which approached close to the land declared that the whole Islanu was red hot. Four years from the date of the eruption the island was visited by an eminent naturalist, who found that the ashes and lava had cooled to such an extent as to permit the beginnings of vegetable life, and on making a closer examination he discovered that , during the brief space of four years nature had stocked the island with 246 different kinds of plants. There are many seeds which seem, by their formation, to be specially designed for transmission through the air, and of these several are quite as good illustrations as the thistle. The seed of the common dandelion, a plant to be seen on every common, has wings which will carry it away on the very slightest breath of air. The wings are very slight filaments, radiating backward from the seed, so that when the latter finally lodges it falls tip first, in the most favorable position for taking root. Country children in’the United States often find amusement in blowing the seeds from the stalk and watching to see how far they will go before falling to the ground, but whenever there is even a moderate breeze the experiment is uniformly a failure, as the fleecy seed fly out of sight and are gone in an instant, and the next season a dandelion springs up in somebody's lawn where the plant was never seen before. The common tumble weed is another example of the winged seed. The plant grows in a woolly bunch which when dried is easily separated from the stalk and a light breeze sets the ball rolling over the ground to scatter its seed wherever it goes. The seeds of many ferns and microscopic plants are so constructed as to be readily lifted and carried away by the wind, while some of considerable size are provided with an elaborate arrangement for aerial transportation. The common maple is an example of the last kind, for projecting from its large head is a membrane closely resembling in size, shape and general appearance the wing of the locust. When the seed is separated from the tree, even If the air be still, it does not fall diiectly to the earth, but by its peculiar construction acquires in falling a spiral motion that takes it several feet from beneath the starting point, and when a brisk breeze is blowing one of these winged seeds has been known to twirl through the air for six miles before its journey came to an end and it sank to the ground, there to germinate and start a maple grove—St Louis Globe-Democrat