AUTUMN PLANTS 



CHAPTER III. 



PLANTS THAT KNOW HOW TO MEET HARD TIMES. 



We talk of hard times when money is hard to get, 

 because we want money to pay for food and clothing and 

 shelter. These things the plants make for themselves, but 

 they must have warmth and material to work with. Our 

 California climate is kind to plants in supplying warmth , 

 and the air and soil are constantly furnishing materials that 

 plants require, but oh, how much water they need! Water 

 as part of their food, water for dissolving all other food, 

 and water for carrying food from roots to leaves. In many 

 parts of California, however, there is little or no rain for 

 half the year; so from May to November there are hard 

 times indeed for California plants. 



When these hard times come, some plants give up at 

 once, the bur-clover, for instance, the filaree and many 

 grasses. During the warmer rainy months they have lived 

 fast and have made haste to store up food for their many, 

 many seeds, but they themselves do not try to live through 

 the dry season. It is these dead plants that, by the first of 

 June, give California fields and hills their summer tints of 

 brown and gold. 



There are other plants that store up food for them- 

 selves, usually below ground; as the dry season advances, 

 the leaves which give off so much precious moisture are 

 dropped, and perhaps the shoots die back nearly or quite 



