NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 95 



Ah, think of it, my little friends, 

 And when some pleasure flies, 

 Why, let it go, and still be glad 

 That you have your ears and eyes. 



ALICE GARY. 



LESSON XXXII 



MOSSES 



Have you ever walked on Nature's carpet of green moss? No 

 carpet that we make is softer to the feet or more velvety to the 

 touch. 



This soft carpet is formed of thousands of tiny plants, growing 

 on short stems. They are the mosses. 



Mosses grow in tufts in cool, moist places, in woods, on the 

 trunks of trees, on rock. They are to be found wherever they can 

 find room and food for their tiny roots. 



Here is a patch of moss. It is the month of August, and the 

 moss is in fruit. These tall stalks bear each on the top a capsule 

 or moss spore. Each stalk rises up from the leafy stem, with a 

 capsule covered with a large pointed hood. It looks like a wheat 

 seed turned upside down. If you take off the hood, you will find 

 the capsule with a lid on the end. Lift off the lid with a pin. 

 This is full of dusty powder like pollen. These are the moss spores, 

 which will later produce new moss plants. 



You can see them as a kind of green coating on decayed wood 

 or moist soil. Have you ever noticed them? 



