Yet the defences adopted by plants are just as wonderful, and are often most ingenious.
It seems at first remarkable that the most usual food of animals, grass, should be apparently unprotected. It is upon grass that the great herds of bison, of buffalo, of antelope, and guanaco, are or were supported. Yet grass is so wonderfully reproductive, produces such enormous quantities of buds and foliage, and grows in such luxuriance, that there is no fear of its being killed out.
There are many places in the world where vegetation defies the attacks of the animal world. Neither man nor elephant can live comfortably in the thick jungles of West Africa and the great forests of Brazil. Nor can either man or elephant utilize great tracts of country in Central Africa which are covered by the Elephant Grass.
For, perhaps, four or five hours the weary caravan plods on through a sort of burrow, two feet wide, made in this gigantic grass. The stems are ten feet or more in height, and nearly meet overhead. There is nothing whatever to be seen except the narrow path. The atmosphere is stifling and hot. To cut a new road a few hundred yards long through it involves hours of labour. It is only when there has been a long drought that it is possible to set fire to the Elephant Grass, and then for a very short time the young growing shoots can be grazed. But no cattle can break through when it is fully grown.
The very exuberance of vegetation in such cases prevents any harm.
Perhaps it is best to show how, even in Great Britain, all plants have many dangerous foes. The roots of trees are nibbled by mice, voles, and sometimes by swine. The bark is injured by cattle, roedeer, reddeer, fallowdeer, who tear the bark with their horns, and especially by rabbits and hares. The leaves are eaten by the same animals and also by horses, goats, sheep, etc. The young buds are attacked by squirrels, who also break off the leading shoots of certain firs when they happen to be in a playful mood.
But it is in cultivated lands and in open, rather dry and arid country that one finds the most interesting weapons in the fights between plant and animal. It is in such places that some of the most beautiful and useful creatures have their home. The horse, ass, camel, goat, and sheep probably belong to those wonderful lands which border the great deserts of Africa and Asia. These animals have been obliged to travel far and fast, and to perfect their bodily strength in order to pick up a living.
Stereo Copyright, Underwood & UnderwoodLondon and New York