Tr AC tier's Leaflet. 799 



(9). If you have found an autumn seedling describe its root; its crown. 

 "Was it near a plant which had scattered seeds ? 



Facts for the Teacher. — The wild carrot is known in some localities as the 

 " Bird's-nest Weed," the maturing seed-clusters curving inward and looking at first 

 soft and wooly from the myriads of tiny spines on the seeds, which while immature 

 are nearly white but later turn grayish-brown and become stiff. The abundance of 

 the seed is amazing; the writer counted the number in a single "bird's-nest" con- 

 taming thirt3--four of the tiny umbels ; the whole number of seeds was seven hun- 

 dred eighty-two and the plant from which it was taken would have developed nine 

 more such seed-clusters for, at the time, it bore two bird's-nests, three flower 

 clusters and five buds in different stages of development. 



A cheap lens is very desirable for the study of the seed, one of very moderate 

 power bringing out its elliptical or lemon-like shape, its grooved sides, with ridges 

 thickly beset with spines, which at the merest touch from a passing animal or a 

 person's garments " catch on for a ride " and the seed is carried far and wide. Its 

 color is grayish-brown and it is light in weight and may be carried b}' the wind. 



Birds prefer the smooth seeds of other plants to the spiny ones of this. The 

 stem of the plant even when green is tough and woody; its leaves are rough and 

 have an unpleasant odor and an acrid taste which protect it from grazing animals. 



Altogether, the wild carrot is a plant well fitted to maintain itself in a hard 

 struggle for existence, crowding out its betters in pasture and meadow and render- 

 ing them useless. Winter's cold cannot harm it for it is biennial, its seeds often 

 germinating in the fall and sending down a long slender tap-root crowned with an 

 inconspicuous little tuft of leaves ; it thus stores up a supph^ of starchy food which 

 enables it to start early the next season and attain great vigor. The root when 

 fully grown is six or eight inches long, about as thick as one's finger, and yellowish- 

 white in color. It is very acrid, somewhat poisonous and should not be tasted. 



The surest means of extermination is to prevent seed-production by cutting or 

 up-rooting the plant as soon as its first blossoms open ; but the work needs to be 

 very thoroughly done in any locality where it is prevalent for a few stragglers in 

 some out-of-the-way corner can supply seed enough to plant a whole country side. 



A WASP NEST. 



As it is quite impractical to ask the children to study hornets and wasps 

 while these peppery insects are carrying on the work of their families in 

 the nests, the next best thing is to study the finished nest and partly by 

 observations and partly by reading to give the pupils an understanding 

 of the life and architecture of these remarkable little socialists. 



