SOME EARL Y FLO WERS 



clusters, and this plan has many advantages. One stalk 

 will raise them up where they can be seen by insects ; they 

 are more conspicuous in the mass than if they were alone ; 

 bees can visit them more quickly, and a cluster lasts much 

 longer than a single flower ; the shooting star clusters last 

 several weeks; the cluster lily three or four months; while a 

 single buttercup, violet, or peony keeps its petals only a 

 few days. As the seeds of all these wild flowers ripen, the 

 plant must have some device to scatter them. Two of the 

 plants shake out their seeds, two fling them, and the other 

 has tiny hooks that help. Find out all about them for 

 yourselves. 



In collecting these wild flowers you have probably 

 already found several other sorts. In moist, shady places 

 you would be almost sure to find the little chickweed and 

 the miner's lettuce. This chickweed is one of several kinds 

 that are world-wide weeds. The miner's lettuce was used 

 for salad by the miners in early days. Some of the other 

 early flowers will be referred to later on, others you will 

 have to study by yourselves. 



In your gardens, too, are early flowers that you can 

 easily watch and study by yourselves, the calla, for instance. 

 What a fine storehouse it has ! We usually give it no time 

 to rest in our gardens because we water it all the year 

 round, but if it is kept dry in the summer, it will take a 

 rest, and begin life again very vigorously in the winter. Be 

 sure to notice the little side shoots from the main store- 

 house stem. Each one can become a separate plant, and, 

 as they break off very readily, it is not easy to rid a garden 

 of callas after they have once become established there. 



Notice the leaves and leaf-stems of the calla; try to 

 imagine where the water falling on them in a rain would 

 run off; watch and see. The grooves or channels carry it 

 toward the centre, and it reaches the ground just where it 

 will most benefit the underground stem with its short roots. 



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