Solomon's IRivals 101 



for then come the changed forest leaves and the 

 gorgeous hosts of dahlias, asters, and chr^^santhe- 

 mums. 



Insects seem to have preferences for special colors. 

 Sir John Lubbock proved, to his own satisfaction at 

 least, that bees prefer blue, flies dull yellow or flesh- 

 color, moths white or lemon-yellow. 



The color in plants is not confined to leaves and 

 blossoms. It is spread in stems, wood, bracts. We 

 have only to look into a seedsman's window to see 

 green, yellow, brown, whit^, pink, red, purple, 

 lavished* upon seeds. Possibly the next window will 

 be that of a fruit store, and what can outvie the gold 

 of oranges and lemons, the pink of peaches, the 

 purple of grapes and plums, the mingled colors of 

 melons and apples, the deep glow of pomegranates, 

 the vivid ruby of currants and cherries ? 



Whoever called roots " dull brown things " has 

 not looked well at beets, carrots, turnips, the snowy 

 white, the orange, and red roots laid bare in forest or 

 garden by a little digging. 



In a study of plant colors let us begin with green. 

 The green matter in the leaf is a soft pulp, composed 

 of cells, and is called chlorophyl, or leaf-green ; leaf- 

 green let us call it. This is a very important sub- 

 stance, not only in ])reparing plant- food, but in puri- 

 fying and oxygenating the atmosphere. 



