170 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



" I thought buckwheat was a kind of corn," said 

 Henry ; " for it is used to feed pheasants." 



" The seeds produce a wholesome meal," replied 

 his father, " and you have tasted it in the form of 

 ' crumpets,' which are chiefly made of it ; but it 

 is very different in growth from corn plants, which 

 you know are grasses. Many of our commonest 

 and most despised weeds bear close relationship to 

 valuable plants ; it is so with GOOSEFOOT, which is 

 of the same tribe with spinach, beet, and mangold- 

 wurzel." 



There was a smile among the children when 

 " goosefoot " was mentioned ; for they remembered 

 the trick Henry once played on his little brother. 

 by getting him to gather a sprig of stinking goose- 

 foot,* to examine the grayish-green, mealy-looking 

 leaves, and calyx, there being no petals to these 

 plants. 



" Robert did not look at it long," said Mary ; 

 " but was glad enough to fling it into the sea ; 

 for it was in a field close by, that we found it." 



" The worst of it was," said Eobert, " that after 

 I had washed my hands several times, I could smell 

 the goosefoot still." 



* Chenopodium olidum. 



