New Series, 1907. 649 



belie its looks. Taste it and note its sweetness ; it is one of the plants 

 from which sugar may be extracted, like the corn stalk and the beet. 

 Sugary foods make heat and fat and that is why the carrot is such good 

 winter food for stock. Observe the fine, thread-like roots fringing the 

 sides and reaching out from the tip of the main root; or if they have 

 been cleaned off from your specimen, you can see the dimples from which 

 they grew. These are the " working-roots," reaching out on all sides for 

 food to send up to the leaves, to help make starch for storage in the 

 big main root. 



Cut a root across and lengthwise. Notice the lighter colored and 

 more fibrous central part, separated from the orange-colored outer sec- 

 tion by a faint green line. Observe that wherever a rootlet springs, 

 there is a pin-like fiber within the root which reaches to its center. Care- 

 fully peel of? a bit of the skin and note its extreme thinness and lack 

 of color, like gray tissue paper. 



When the leaves have come forth, pick one of the largest ; note the 

 slender tapering stem, beautifully fluted on the under part, and with 

 deeply grooved upper side, forming a trough to gather rain and dew. 

 Note the strong fibers — like fiddle-strings — beneath the fluted surface of 

 the stem, giving it strength to hold itself so gracefully upright. Count 

 the leaflets on each stem, and observe that they are much divided. What 

 are such divided leaves called? Does the number vary on different 

 stems? Taste the leaf; what an unpleasant taste. Do you think the 

 disagreeable taste helps the plant by keeping enemies from molesting it 

 while it manufactures starch for storing in the large fleshy root which 

 should blossom and form seed next year? For the carrot is a biennial, 

 growing the first year only leaves, and the big root which lives through 

 the winter and matures seed the second year. 



CATS. 



" Close by the jolly fire I sit 

 To warm my frozen bones a bit." 



— Robert Louis Stkvenson. 



It is cold out-of-doors these March nights. The wind howls about 

 the eaves and rattles the window blinds. You sit before the fire and 

 think that it is very nice to be at home. The gray kitten comes in lazily, 

 yawns, stretches, and then sits beside you. She does not like the cold. 

 None of her family like it. Lions, tigers, and cats enjoy life best in the 

 warmer lands. 



We want you to think about the gray kitten this month. If you 

 have cared for her tenderly all the days that you have known her, she 



41 



