278 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



growth, and yet are not ambitious enough 

 to put up a structure that will resist the cold 

 as the trees do. So they grow fresh ten- 

 der leaves and flowers, but as winter comes 

 on they remove all their live material from 

 the parts above ground and run it down 

 into the earth. There they store it up as a 

 rich deposit of starch. This is what makes 

 the fleshy portion of plants of which we use 

 the underground parts for food, such as the 

 turnip and the potato. It is this portion 

 that we plant year after year in the case of 

 our tulips, crocuses, and caladiums. When 

 the supplies have been carried beneath 

 ground, these plants desert the old leaves 

 and stem and let the elements destroy them. 

 Next year they build all of them afresh. 

 Of course such plants never grow very large. 

 But, after all, it is a fairly successful plan 

 and one in very common use. 



THE DANGER OF BURGLARS 



The great drawback to the method is its 

 temptation to thieves. Many animals like 

 the starch that has been stored away; so 



