ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



BOTANY FOR WINTER. 



BY C. ANTOINETTE SHEPAED, NEW BRITAIN, CONN. 



Last year's seed-stalks furnish interesting 

 objects for study. By this time, Mother Nature 

 and her family have planted most of the seeds, 

 but the stalks remain. Very curious many of 

 them are, and we should be able to recognize 

 them. We all know the seed-stalks of the gold- 

 en-rod, but few recognize the seed-cases of the 

 indian-pipe. They are brown now, and very 

 erect, the pipe-bowl standing straight up on the 

 top of the stem. Under beech trees we see 

 curious branching seed-stalks that are standing 

 to tell the story of the curious beech-drops, a 

 parasitic plant, that grows upon the roots of the 

 beech-tree. If you want to see the plant at its 

 .best, make a note of the place, and visit it be- 

 tween August and October. 



Who has not walked in fields and woods in 

 winter, and found at the end of the walk quite 

 a collection of tick-seeds etc., clinging to his 

 garments? Very likely your only thought was 

 to get them off as quickly as possible, but if you 

 had carefully noted the varieties, and tried to 

 trace out the family history of each, you would 

 have had an interesting study for at least one 

 evening. 



All trees and shrubs form their flower-buds in 

 the fall and keep their secret till spring. If you 

 cut branches of Cassandra calyculata, ( leather- 

 leaf) and place them in a glass in a sunny win- 

 dow, you may induce her to tell her secret, while 

 the wind blows and the snow lies deep. Cas- 

 sandra is one of the first shrubs to bloom in the 

 spring. Many swamps are full of the small 

 bushes — the russet leather leaves remain all win- 

 ter, and present a strong contrast to the dainty 

 little white flower-bells along the stem. 



Red maple, the buds of fruit trees and many 

 shrubs will bloom for us in window-glasses. 

 Eoots of Hepatica triloba, (liver-leaf) andEpi- 

 gea repens, ( trailing arbutus ) taken from their 

 home in the woods and planted in a shallow 

 box, in a sunny window, will bloom in from 

 twenty-one to twenty-eight days. They should 

 have warm water daily. In this way we have a 

 chance to watch the development of the flower- 

 buds and the growth of young leaves. 



Sections of difl'erent buds and the bark from 

 trees and shrubs form interesting objects for the 

 microscope. 



We must not forget the lichens and mosses, 

 bright and beautiful always, but especially no- 

 ticeable at this season, when so many of the 

 grasses and tender plants are lying down to 

 sleep. We may well call the lichens and mos- 

 ses the flowers of winter. Few books have been 

 written on this subject, and most of them are 

 hard for the young student to understand, but 

 we can appreciate the delicate beauty of these 

 dainty plants. They are very easily pressed, 

 and when neatly mounted, form very pleasing 

 collections. 



Of all hobbies, the botanical hobby is one of 

 the best to manage. Go where you will, you 

 are sure to find something of interest. We won- 

 der why so few travelers avail themselves of the 

 opportunities they have for collecting herbarium 

 specimens. 



On one of the Raymond Excursions to Mexico 

 a few years ago, a rail-road botanist secured a 

 large and valuable herbarium. Every time the 

 train stopped he was sure to secure some plants. 

 Then there were flowers from the Pyramid of 

 Cholula and the Castle of Chapultepec etc. 



AW that is needed for an outfit for collecting 

 on a journey is a portable wire plant press and 

 a bundle of manilla papers with straw-board 

 covers, to place the plants in when dry. If the 

 patent press is too large and expensive — pur- 

 chase two sheets of strong wire-cloth of con- 

 venient size, cut sheets of cotton wadding to use 

 for dryers and secure vsfith a shawl-strap — and 

 your press is complete. Cotton-wadding is far 

 better than blotting paper for dryers, and should 

 be dark colored as the white wadding contains 

 chloride of lime, which will bleach specimens. 



When you have time, mount the specimens in 

 books or on cards. Label each with date of 

 getting and locality — and botanical names if 

 possible. 



Do not throw away a specimen if you can 

 not name it, but carefully save each one. Con- 

 sult a good botanist in regard to the doubtful 

 plants. You may have some rare specimens. 



Old collectors" will find plenty of work for 

 winter days, in mounting specimens gathered 

 during the summer, re-arranging the herbarium, 



