178 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



tall to the Salt Marsh grass which grows over three feet tall and 

 has a blossom eighteen inches long. 



Grasses, like flowers, have long Latin names but most of them 

 have a common name as well. Most people can identify ten 

 different trees or wild flowers — Then why not ten 

 different grasses. There are so many grasses common in the 

 yards and fields and woody places of our state. Why not see 

 how many you already know? Here are some very common 

 ones to start with — the Poa, Timothy, Fox-tail, Finger-grass, 

 Oats, Red Top, Couchgrass, Witch, Cockspur, Orchard and Beard 

 also their cousins Pennsylvania Sedge, Yard Rush and Sand Mat. 

 Within a quarter of a mile of my home I have found over thirty dif- 

 ferent varieties, and they are not all by any means. Maybe 

 you can find more. Try it." 



Wild Flower Garden 



If you enjoy collecting things and have even a small garden 

 spot you will find it most interesting to bring home wild plants 

 from the woods and fields and try to make the little newcomers 

 feel at home in your own yard. Mrs. Edgar C. Lakey has such 

 a garden which has been giving her much pleasure for the last 

 ten years. Living plants make charming souvenirs. Canada 

 Violets blooming luxuriantly in her Providence garden remind 

 Mrs. Lakey of a happy day spent on a mountain side 150 miles 

 north of Montreal. 



The Violets 



Every Rhode Island child knows that the Violet is our State 

 Flower but very few are familiar with the different kinds of Vio- 

 lets growing in our state. Miss Ida M. Arnold, secretary of the 

 R. I. Field Naturalists Club, has selected the Violets as her hobby, 

 realizing that this family is more complicated than most people 

 suppose. There is a famous Botanist in Vermont, (whose grand- 

 son is attending our Rhode Island schools) who has been studying 

 the Violets for many years and is now writing a book on this 

 family with 80 beautifully colored illustrations. This spring 

 Miss Arnold hopes to learn a great deal about Rhode Island 

 Violets by comparing them with these pictures. She may even 

 send some of the more troublesome ones to Dr. Brainerd himself. 



