THE COMMON BLUE VIOLET 159 



closely at the home of these seeds. Where shall 

 we find them ? [Each child has a flower and finds 

 the pistil.] Where are the little seeds? How is 

 the pollen to reach them? (It must fall on the 

 sticky top of the pistil and pass down through 

 that tube to the seeds.) The sticky top is the 

 stigma and the tube is the style. 



Watch one clump of violets at or near your home 

 this spring. Look for seed pods. Here are some 

 which I gathered last summer. Let us see who 

 will be the first to find one on his clump. 



Look far down among the violet leaves for some- 

 thing that grows up from the underground stem about 

 which we have not spoken. Tell about it to-morrow. 

 [The next day the children are questioned in 

 regard to their discoveries. They will tell of 

 queer little three-sided buds, of roundish, hard balls, 

 something that looked like the flowers but had no 

 petals, etc. The teacher should have some of these 

 apetalous flowers in the class room, showing dif- 

 ferent degrees of development. It will be easy 

 to find other seed pods also.] What are these ? 

 (Queer little flowers with no petals.) Why do they 

 not come up where we can see them ? (They 

 have no pretty petals to show.) Have they borne 



