234 



THE FLOWER 



4. Why are wind-fertilized plants generally trees or tall herbs? 



5. If March winds should cease to blow, would vegetation be 

 affected in any way? 



6. Can you trace any connection between the winds and the corn 

 crop? 



7. Is it good husbandry to plant different varieties of corn, or other 

 grain in the same field? 



8. Why do the seeds of fruit trees so seldom produce offspring 

 true to the stock? (333.) 



9. Would you place a beehive near a field of buckwheat? Of 

 clover? Near a strawberry bed? In a peach orchard? Near a fig 

 tree ? Under a grape arbor ? 



10. Why are very conspicuous flowers like the camellia, hollyhock, 

 and pelargoniums so frequently without odor? 



11. Why is the wallflower -'sweetest by night"? (335.) 



12. What advantage can flowers like the morning-glory gain by their 

 early closing? (335.) 



13. Of what use to the cotton plant, Japan honeysuckle, and hibis- 

 cus is the change of color their blossoms undergo a few hours after 

 opening? (335.) 



14. Why does the Japan honeysuckle, that has run wild so abun- 

 dantly in many parts of our country, produce so few berries? 



15. If the trumpet vine grows in your neighborhood, examine a 

 number of corollas and account for the dead ants found in them. Try 

 to account also for the large hole (sometimes three quarters of an inch 

 in diameter) often found near the base of the tube. (336.) 



1 6. Do you see any connection between the greater freshness and 

 beauty of flowers early in the morning and the activity of bees, birds, 

 and butterflies at that time ? 



17. The flowers most frequented by humming birds are the trumpet 

 honeysuckle, cardinal flower, trumpet vine, horse mint (Monarda), 

 wild columbine, canna, fuschia, etc. ; what inference would you draw 

 from this as to their color preferences ? 



FIELD WORK 



The subject is itself so suggestive that it is hardly necessary to do 

 more here than append a list of some of the plants which it would be 

 interesting to examine with reference to their mode of pollination. 



The orchids present the most wonderful adaptations for insect polli- 

 nation, of all the vegetable kingdom, but they are rare and difficult to 

 be obtained, so it is better to look for specimens nearer home. In 

 neighborhoods where the pogonia, the purple and yellow fringed orchis, 

 or the moccasin flower (Cypripedium) are found, they should, of 

 course, receive attention. Some more easily obtainable specimens are : 



