100 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



parts of different plants, observing any 

 differences of plan that may strike lis, 

 and giving, for convenience in speaking 

 about them, special names to special 

 forms. Then, as our obsei'vations go 

 on, you will easily discover for yourself 

 that while plants vary so much in one 

 way or another that hardly any two are 

 just alike, still there are a good many 

 points in which even the most unlike 

 plants resemble each other, and that by 

 noticing these points of resemblance 

 we can readily parcel out the plants 

 that grow all about us into groups, and 

 these again into smaller groups, giving 

 them all ap})ropriate names, and, in 

 short, making for ourselves a classifica- 

 tion or orderly arrangement of them. 

 If you have commenced the study of 

 English grammar you know that one 

 of the first things you have to do is to 

 observe the peculiar uses of the differ- 

 ent kinds of words, and having learned 

 the uses of them to give them special 

 names, so that you discover in time 

 that every word in the language must 

 be classified under some one of the 

 eight parts of speech. Then you find 

 that while all the words in a certain 

 group are equally entitled to be called 

 nouns, we will say, yet the large group 

 of nouns may be broken up into smaller 

 groups which we call common nouns, 

 proper nouns, &c. In short you learn 

 to make a classification of words, and 

 you do not require to be told what an 

 advantage it is to have a clear under- 

 standing of this classification. Just so 

 in the study we are now beginning. 

 You will learn how to classify plants, 

 and this we hope you will do by so 

 using your own eyes as to read in the 

 plants themselves the reasons for their 

 position in the system. 



For our first examination it makes 

 but little difference what plants we 

 take, but let us choose two or three 

 which will be within everybody's reach, 

 particularly at the commencement of 



our Canadian summer. Obtain, then, 

 a specimen of each of the following, m 

 flowfir : — Hepatica, Dandelion, Ger- 

 anium, Wallflower, Buttercup. The 

 last-named is the best one to begin 

 with, for a reason which will appear 

 presently. In Canada there are a good 

 many kinds of Buttercups, but any one 

 of them will do just now. You will 

 be pretty sure to find one of some sort 

 in the first wet ditch or meadow that 

 you visit. The Hepatica will be in 

 bloom in April and May in every piece 

 of dry woods. You will observe that 

 the flowers appear before the leaves of 

 the season, so that you must gather a 

 few of the old leaves when taking up 

 the plant. The Dandelion is only too 

 common, and the Geranium and Wall- 

 flower are to be found in every collec- 

 tion of house-plants. You should be 

 careful, when gathering the out-door 

 specimens, to take up the root as com- 

 pletely as possible Having shaken off 

 the adhering earth, or, better still, hav- 

 ing gently washed it away by dipping 

 the roots in water, we are ready to 

 begin. Look first at the root of the 

 Buttercup. Observe its thread-like or 

 fibrous form, and contrast it with the 

 single stout tap-root of the Dandelion. 

 (How does it compare with the He- 

 patica?) Observe the much finer 

 threads that strike out from the sur- 

 face of all the roots ; we shall call these 

 rootlets. You see that the color of the 

 roots is not green like the upper part 

 of the plant, but generally pale or 

 brownish ; and above all satisfy your- 

 self that there are no huds or leaves, 

 or anything like them, on the roots. 

 If you ever find an underground part 

 which seems to have leaves or buds, 

 you may be perfectly sure it is not a 

 root. The Canada Thistle, the Couch- 

 Grass or Quick-Grass, and the Potato 

 all have such underground parts. The 

 root of our plant has a special duty of 

 its own to perform ; what that is, and 



