180 :fBotam 



orange, apple, and pear seeds, assuring them against 

 rapid decay. Of such fruits the bird partner desires 

 only the soft, sweet, pulpy covering, and this he gets 

 as his share in the seed-j^lanting venture. 



Most of our choicest fruits and nuts owe their 

 especial richness and size to the careful cultivation 

 which produces valuable qualities from common, 

 hard, acrid, wild varieties. 



Although October is the " month of fruits," there 

 still linger flowers to grace the waning year. Not 

 only are bold and hardy plants left to defy the first 

 cold, rough autumn wdnds — one of the most delicate 

 and beautiful of our wild flowers crowns October 

 days, lingering after its natal month of September, 

 as if loath to leave the world to gloom. The poets 

 love the gentian — some call it " blue," some "purple;" 

 whether because they are color-blind, or because the 

 word chosen better fits their lines, who can tell? 

 Thus Bryant says : 



**Blue, bhie, as if the sky let fall 

 A flower from its cerulean wall." 



And another says : 



''There came a purple creature 

 Which ravished all the hill." 



This lovely blossom, the fringed gentian, grows on 

 a stem from one to two feet high, branching at the 



