FEBRUARY— AND PLANT-LIFE STILL SLEEPS IN NORTHERN CLIMES 



873 



the big fellow here shown in Figure 9, and note how it 

 towers among a perfect army of different species of 

 olants, every one of which has gone to seed several 

 months or more ago. Nearly all the seeds of this 

 plant have been borne away by their feathery tufts, 

 and there is scarcely a single meal left for some soli- 

 tary goldfinch that may, with his long undulating 



OUR SAW WHET OWL IS A VERY ATTRACTIVE LITTLE BIRD, 

 AND IN FEBRUARY WE MAY OCCASIONALLY MEET WITH ONE 

 IN THE WOODS 



Fig. 12 — His place is among the smaller members of his family, and 

 ornithologists call him Cryptoglau\ a. arcadica. He sleeps nearly all 

 day long. 



dips a-wing, come that way. One naturally associates 

 these goldfinches with the thistles-gone-to-seed — occasion- 

 ally so vividly that it requires no stretch of the 

 imagination to hear their plaintive notes, although 

 the little black-and-yellow fellows may be nowhere 

 near. This is especially the case when the plants are 

 growing in masses, as they are here shown in Figure 10. 



Aside from studying flowers when they are in the en- 

 joyment of their perfect and normal condition, there is 

 another most interesting chapter in their lives which 

 deserves our earnest consideration and exhaustive re- 

 search. Reference is made to their diseased states, or 

 other manifestations in them indicating various departures 

 from the healthy ones. This is a very large and very 

 important subject, and much attention has already been 

 paid to it by phytopathologists, or those who take into 

 consideration the diseases of plants, shrubs, and trees. 



Diseases of a great many different natures may attack 

 any part of any vegetable growth— as the stem, the 



trunk, or any of the branching portions. Flowers, seeds, 

 pods, leaves, roots, bark — indeed any of the numerous 

 structures of plants are subject to disease, to the attacks 

 of parasites, to fractures or other injuries, burns and 

 scalds, lightning strokes, strangulations, impact of foreign 

 bodies, drowning effects of excessive solar heat, and many 

 other liabilities. In Figure 11 we have an example of 

 the effects of an attack on the part of some parasite on 

 the leaves and flowers of the common wild Sunflower. 

 In a previous number of American Forestry it was 



SOME PLANTS ARE PARTICULAR VICTIMS OF PARASITIC 

 GROWTHS; HERE WE HAVE SOME VERY REMARKABLE ONES 

 ON THE WILD SUNFLOWER (Helianthus decapetalus) 



Fig. 11 — These big bulbs are caused by the sting of an insect, the larvae 

 of which we may find by cutting one of them open. The flower is fre- 

 quently included in the pathologic growth, as may be noted here. 



shown how oak-galls were produced through the attack 

 of certain species of insects, and what an important in- 

 dustry resulted from ascertaining the value to man of 

 these products. 



February, especially in the more northern States, is the 

 month when the owls make themselves heard in the land. 



