Cultivated-Plant Study 675 



3 . From what part of the plant do the runners spring ? When do the 

 runners begin to grow? Does the runner strike root before forming a new 

 plant or does the little plant grow on the runner and draw sustenance 

 from the parent plant ? 



4. What happens to the runners after the new plants have become 

 established? Does the parent plant survive or die after it sends out 

 many runners ? 



5. Describe the strawberry blossom. How many parts are there to 

 the hull or calyx ? Can you see that five of these are set below the other 

 five? 



6. How many petals has it? Does the number differ in different 

 flowers? Has the wild strawberry as many petals as the cultivated ones? 



7. Study with a lens the small green button at the center of the 

 flower. This is made up of pistils so closely set that only their stigmas 

 may be seen. Do you find this button of pistils in the same blossom with 

 the stamens ? Does the wild blossom have both stamens and pistils in the 

 same flower? 



8. Describe the stamens. What insects carry pollen for the straw- 

 berry plants ? 



9. Are the blossoms arranged in clusters? Do the flowers all open at 

 the same time? What parts of the blossom fall away and what parts 

 remain when the fruit begins to form ? 



10. Are the fruits all of the same shape and color? Is the pulp of the 

 same color within as on the surface? Has the fruit an outer coat or skin? 

 What are the specks on its surface? 



1 1 . How many kinds of wild strawberries do you know? How many 

 kinds of cultivated strawberries do you know ? 



1 2 . Describe how you should prepare, plant and care for a strawberry 

 bed. 



THE PUMPKIN 

 Teacher's Story 



If the pumpkin were as rare as some orchids, people would make long 

 pilgrimages to look upon so magnificent a plant. Although it trails along 

 the ground, letting Mother Earth help it support its gigantic fruit, yet 

 there is no sign of weakness in its appearance ; the vine stem is strong, 

 ridged, spiny and purposeful. And the spines upon it are surely a protec- 

 tion under some circumstances, for I remember distinctly when, as 

 children, bare-footed and owning the world, we "played Indian" and 

 found our ambush in the long rows of ripening corn, we skipped over the 

 pumpkin vines, knowing well the punishment they inflicted on the un- 

 wary feet. 



From the hollow, strongly angled stem arise in majesty the pumpkin 

 leaves, of variously lobed patterns, but all formed on the same decorative 

 plan. The pumpkin leaf is as worthy of the sculptor's chisel as is that of 

 the classic acanthus: it is palmately veined, having from three to five 

 lobes, and its broad base is supported for a distance on each side of the 

 angled petiole by the two basal veins. The leaves are deep green above, 

 paler below and are covered on both sides with minute bristles, and their 

 edges are finely toothed. The bristly, angled stem which lifts it aloft is a 



