AND HIS PLANT SCHOOL 61 



to the sun, smiled upon him. He stooped to examine some 

 of the golden petals near his feet, saying: 



"This beautiful dress of bright golden hue which you 

 have worn so long is very becoming to you and exceed- 

 ingly appropriate to this land of perpetual sunshine. But, 

 Miss Golden Cup, if you would sometimes wear a dress of 

 white, pale cream, pink, or crimson, we would love you 

 still better than we do." 



Suddenly his practised eye caught a crimson hairlike 

 ray on one golden petal, as if Mother Nature had made a 

 mistake in using her crimson dye. He immediately re- 

 solved to form a poppy class in the plant school. He pro- 

 tected this plant from danger and shielded it until the 

 seeds ripened. . He knew that he must be watchful if he 

 would get the seeds, so he placed a paper bag over the 

 ripening pod. 



All the Eschscholtzia family have taught their pods to 

 pop suddenly open when thoroughly ripe, thus scattering 

 the seeds so that the young plants may have more room 

 and fertile soil for homes. When the seed pod bursts it 

 makes a loud noise, and the California children say, "Miss 

 Poppy is firing her pistol." 



The Eschscholtzia is intensely bitter, therefore has few 

 foes to war upon it. It is said to be more avoided by 

 slugs than any other plant. 



The seeds from the poppy with crimson ray were sown 

 in the plant school. Soon young Eschscholtzia pupils 



