1 886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



115 



The Plants Have A Party. 



BY ANNA C. STARBUCK. 



Little Dandelion 

 awoke one fine 

 morning and said 

 to herself: 



"It's my birthday 

 to-day. How pleas- 

 ant it is! I think 

 I'll have a party." 



So she wrote her 

 notes of invitation 

 on the neatest and 

 greenest clover 

 leaves she could find, 

 and sent them to all 

 the other Dandelions 

 and to the little 

 white-haired Chick- 

 weeds, and to the 

 little birds of the 

 garden called Gold-finches. 

 = She didn't have to wait many 



minutes before her guests were all before her. 

 They were dressed in their very best and 

 laughing and chatting. More members of the 

 Dandelion family were present than she could 

 count. They were all dressed in yellow, and with 

 very round faces. The little Chick-weed sisters 

 wore white dresses, but they were so small and 

 said so little that hardly any but the brightest 

 ej'es would have seen them at all. 



But the happiest, and prettiest, and best of 

 all the company at the party were the five birds 

 that belonged to the Gold-finch family. They 

 wore long yellow vests of exactly the same 

 color as the Dandelions, and on their heads lit- 

 tle black caps to match their wings. They did 

 look lovely, and their little black ejes snapped 

 with joy to think they were invited to the party. 

 While they were getting acquainted, they 

 suddenly looked up and saw two little friends, 

 hand in hand, coming to the party, that Dan- 

 delion hadn't invited to come. They generally 

 stayed in another part of the garden by them- 

 selves, and so Dandelic^n hadn't thought to in- 

 vite them. But here they were, asking mod- 

 estly if they might come to the party. The 

 Yellow Birds whispered to Dandelion and asked 

 who the two were. Dandelion said that they 

 were two little people from the city, and their 

 names were " Heart's-ease " and little cousin, 

 " Johnny Jump-up." They ha<l on little purple 

 hoods, and looked very modest and sweet. 



" But," said the Yellow Birds, "do the}' know 

 how to sing?" 



The Finches were very fond of music, and 

 did't want anj-body at the party that couldn't 

 sing. 



"No," replied Dandelion, "they can't sing; 

 but neither can any of the Dandelions, nor the 

 Chick-weeds: so you needn't be so awfully par- 

 ticular." 



"Well," said the birds, "if they'll promise 

 not to make fun of us when we sing, let them 

 come into the party." 



80 " Heart's-ea-se " and " Johnny Jump-up," 

 still taking hold of hands in timid fashion, 

 joined the party. They behave<l so well that the 

 birds .'iaid they were "agreeably surprised." 



After this Dandelion said: " We'U now 

 take some refreshments. " 



They all looked pleased, and said: "Thank 

 you; we do feel a bit huugi'y." 



Dandelion asked the brightest and liveliest 

 Yellow Bird to pa.ss around the refreshments ; 

 and what do you think they were? They were 

 large, white flutfy balls, full of little black 

 seeds, that Dandelion had made herself, on pur- 

 pose to please the delicate appetites of the birds. 

 To quench the thirst of both the birds and the 



flowers. Dandelion obtained some sparkling 

 dew drops, that were as clear and sweet as 

 honey. 



Once a noisy boy came along throwing stones, 

 and the birds were, of course, frightened, and 

 had to get " excused." Then a dog came along 

 and barked; and this time they had the "fid- 

 gets " drea<lfully, and went without even ask- 

 ing to be "e.xcused." 



Soon they all came back. They thought it 

 was time to have a little singing. But one 

 bird said he had such a bad cold he would have 

 to be excused. 



" Oh, what a poor excuse," said all. " You 

 must get a better one than that." 



Then he said he hadn't recovered from his 

 last fright, when the dog barked. Really he 

 did seem rather pale, poor fellow, and so they 

 excused him. But the other Finches ranged 

 themselves in a quartette, and, without any 

 book, they sang a beautiful hymn, called " The 

 Good God Made Us All. " 



There were no words to the hymn, but you 

 could tell by the tune that they were happy be- 

 cause God had made such a beautiful world 

 and such beautiful things to be in His world. 

 Then they began to discuss the hj-mns that 

 they liked the best. Then little "Johnny 

 Jump-up " spoke for the first time and said he 

 liked best to hear " Old Oaken Bucket," with 

 variations. 



And then they aU laughed and said that 

 wasn't a hymn; it was a song. He felt a little 

 spunky because they laughed at the only thing 

 he had dared to say at the party, and so he 

 spoke up quickly : 



" I didn't say it was a hymn, did I * " 

 Then they laughed at him more for showing 

 his temper. Finally, when the party had lasted 

 a long time, the Yellow Birds noticed that the 

 Dandelions were all beginning to get nervous 

 and shrug their shoulders, and pull their yellow 

 capes up closer and closer about them. One 

 little Dandelion, especially, was ver}' anxious. 

 The birds asked them what the matter was, 

 and the Dandelions said they felt as though 

 they ought to be going home, for they thought 

 it was going to rain. All at once, plump came 

 down a large rain drop, soon another and an- 

 other, and the flowers all covered their heads 

 with tiny green hoods, and said good-by to the 

 birds, and disappeared. 



After the flowers had gone, it was raining so 

 hard that the birds thought they might as well 

 go, too : for, if they couldn't have any more fun 

 at the party, they surely didn't want to get 

 wet. So they flew away to the thick branches 

 of the trees, where the rain couldn't reach them, 

 and there they talked over, in their bird lan- 

 guage, what a fine time they had had, and won- 

 dered when they would be invited to another 

 party. — The Cosmopolitan. 



Birds Robbed of House and Home by 

 Mice. 



M. E, Thomson, in Science Gosxip, reports a 

 case of this kind which has recently fallen un- 

 der his observation, as follows: 



I have to-day found two nests deserted and mice 

 in possession. The one was that of a long-tailed 

 tit, who had been sitting for some time, and whose 

 nest was in a hedge in a field; the other, that of a 

 robin on a bank in a wood. 



On going to visit my little friend, the tit, I ex- 

 pected to find her a very busy, happy, little mother 

 with a large family to provide for, instead of which 

 I found a very different state of affairs. No little 

 " mother bird " was to be seen. There was a look 

 of desertion about the home, as of burglars having 

 been at work. 



I carefully put in two lingers to feel if the eggs 

 were there all right. Out ran a small mouse, through 

 a hole which he had made in the nest. My fingers 

 came out somewhat hastily, not having expected to 

 find the thief at work ! All the eggs were gone, not 

 even the remains of the shells being left : 



When I first saw the robin's nest, I took out one 

 egg— leaving two or three The one which I took 

 had been pushed nlinost into the side of the nest, 

 and I had a little difficulty in getting it out. 



The bird returned to the nest, for on going to-day 

 to see how the little birds were getting on, I found 

 two more eggs in the nest, but all quite cold and 

 deserted. I noticed that another e^g was in the 

 same curious position, so I exammed it more 



carefully and found that it had been drawn half- 

 way through a small round hole. 



Suspecting, from the neat way in which the hole 

 was made, that a mouse had done it, I removed the 

 nest and found that it was a mouse's hole, into 

 which he had evidently been removing the eggs. 

 The robin, no douljt. too indignant at such treat- 

 ment to remain at his post, liud ile.serted it. To 

 show my deep sympathy for Poor Hobin, I deprived 

 Mr. Mouse of his expected feast: 



A Plant at Sleep Out of Natural 

 Hours. 



That plants pass through a state which may 

 be called sleep is well known. Thus the 

 Sensitive Plant, so remarkable Iiecause the 

 leaves close and hang down when touched, 

 goes through the same movements at the ap- 

 proach of darkness. The return of light re- 

 vives them again. 



A French chemist subjected a Sensitive Plant to 

 an exceedingly trying course of dtscipline, by coin- 

 iilctcly c-liaiiging Its hours— exposing it toa'bright 

 light at night, so as tit prevent sleep, and putting it 

 in a dark room diiriug the day. The plant ap- 

 peared to be much puzzled at first. It oipcnt-d and 

 closed its leaves irregularly, sometimes nodding in 

 spite of the artificial sun that shed its beams at 

 midnight, and sometimes waking up, from the force 

 of habit, to find the cham))er dark in spite of the 

 time of day. Such are the trammels of use and 

 wont. But, after a useless struggle, the plant sub- 

 mitted to the change, and turned day into night 

 without any apparent ill effects. 



PET BIRDS, ANIMALS, ETC. 



Ants' eggs are a treat for all birds. 

 Feed the birds plenty of green food. 

 Care will kill a cat, says an old proverb. 

 Humming Birds, says a scientific journal, are 

 birds when at rest, insects when in motion. 



Elsie.— No, dear, you cannot raise a crop of cana- 

 ries by planting bird seed.—New Haven \ews. 



New York has boarding houses for birds whose 

 owners have left the city during the summer months. 

 Cats for Service. We have learned that the U. S. 

 Post Office Department has on its rolls nearly 1000 

 cats, who are on the lookout for rats and mice in 

 the mail matter, and who are most faithfully cared 

 for in the way of " board and lodging." Nothing 

 like a cat for some purposes. 



Putting the Cat to Use in Fruit Time. Our 

 feathered pets of the tree tops, much as we value 

 them for the grubs and bugs they kill, do sometimes 

 annoy us when they take of the nicest berries and 

 other fruits. But there is Tabby.well cared for, and 

 fed with milk, the J'earthrough, she can do some- 

 thing for us In return, in keeping off the birds, even 

 if it be not so pleasant for her. Do you ask how y 

 Stretch a wu-e upon which a loose ring has been 

 slid across the strawberry or other fruit patch. Put 

 a collar on the cat, and from the collar run a short 

 cord or wire to the ring on the stretched wire. 

 Tabby may not fancy this restraint during the herr)- 

 season, but her movements back and forth along 

 the wire will prove a terror to over-bold birds and 

 save our fruit. 



About Pigeons. Common pigeons are not of any 

 distinct breed. Tliere are very few common pig- 

 eons now in which .some traces of the higher classes 

 cannot be detected. They originally came from 

 the Blue Rocks. Next to a common pigeon, per- 

 haps, the best known, at least by name, is the carrier 

 pigeon, known to make long flights. The fan-tails 

 are special favorites. The white ones are the most 

 common and easiest to breed, but some are also to 

 be had in black, brown, blue, red and yellow. The 

 two latter are rare, and easily bring from $10 to J30 

 a pair. No breed of pigeons has so many varieties 

 and sub-varieties as the tumbler pigeons. Many who 

 own them expect them to perform, whether the 

 birds are given a chance or not. I'sually they are 

 kept with a lot of other birds and are Mown with 

 them. There are also many tumblers who do not 

 tumble at all. All of the short-faced varieties are 

 not supposed to be performers. Pouters are the first 

 selection of many prominent pigeon-fanciers, and 

 rarely is this bird entirely abandoned for other va- 

 rieties. They are somewhat difticult to breed, and 

 good ones always command high prices. Kiftj- 

 dollars for a pair of first-class birds would not be 

 extravagant. Mr. Schell, of Brooklyn, had one he 

 refused $Sn for. They can he had in pure while, 

 black, red, yellow and Isabella. .V. )'■ York Mail 

 and Express. 



