S^unior IRaturalist /Iftontbl^ 



Published monthly by the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University from 

 October to May, and Entered at Ithaca as Second-class Matter. L. H. Bailey, Director. 



ALICE G. McCLOSKEY, Editor. 



New Series. Vol. 3. 



ITHACA, N. Y., APRIL, 1907. 



No. 7. 



THE HEPATICA. 



'' All the woodland path is broken 

 By warm tints along the way, 

 And the low and sunny slope 

 Is alive with sudden hope 

 When there comes the silent token 

 Of an April day, 

 Blue hepatica." 



— Dora Read Goodale. 



^ ■ ^OR SUMMER work in Nature Study, there is one thing 

 \ i^^"""^^ that we want our boys and girls to plan for another 

 year; that is a wild garden. Have some place on the 

 school ground that will contain all the different kinds 

 of spring blossoms that can be found in the nearby 

 woods and waysides. 



It is not best to gather wild plants while they are in 



blossom. If you find a thrifty hepatica or Jack-in-the- 



pulpit or trillium, place a wooden label beside it with 



your name or the name of your school on it. Then in 



the fall take it up and plant it in your garden and the 



next spring it will probably blossom. 



The hepatica is one of the plants that, doubtless, you will all find. 



It is beloved by young folks and old. You might take one plant into 



the schoolroom this year so that you may become familiar with it. Do 



not uproot wild flowers needlessly. 



Perhaps instead of bringing hepaticas to school you can take a 

 little trip into the woods some day. If so, take these Leaflets with you 

 and see how many of the following questions you can answer: 



1. Where do hepaticas grow, in sunny or shady places? In which 

 season do they get the most sunlight? 



2. Watch the first sign of life in the plant. Do the new leaves or 

 the flowers come first? 



3. Look at the hepatica blo.'^som a long time. How many different 

 parts can you see in it? Whether you know the names of these parts 

 now does not matter. I want vou to see them. 



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