Ail 
about the house a mistletoe bough (for the mistletoe is 
the plant I mean) with the understanding that one is 
free to steal a kiss from any maiden caught beneath it. 
And as mistletoe boughs are sold on our street corners 
and in our shops at Christmas, there has been no diff- 
culty in bringing one to school to-day. 
The greenish mistletoe berries are eaten by birds. 
Often their seeds are dropped by these birds upon the 
branches of trees. There they hold fast by means of 
the sticky material with which they are covered. Soon 
they send out roots which pierce the bark, and, like the 
roots of the dodder, suck up the juices of the tree, and 
supply the plant with nourishment. 
“Then there are water roots as well as earth roots. 
Some of these water roots are put forth by plants which 
are nowhere attached to the earth. These are plants 
which you would not be likely to know about. One of 
them, the duckweed, is very common in ponds; but it 
is so tiny that when you have seen a quantity of these 
duckweeds, perhaps you have never supposed them to 
be true plants, but rather a green scum floating on the 
top of the water. 
But the duckweed is truly a plant. It has both 
flower and fruit, although without a distinct stem and 
leaves; and it sends down into the water its long, hang- 
ing roots, which yet do not reach the ground. 
There are other plants which have at the same time 
underground roots and water roots. 
Rooted in the earth on the borders of a stream some- 
times you. see a willow tree which has put out above- 
ground roots. These hang over the bank and float in 
