138 WHEN BERRIES ARE RIPE 



When we used to go for Violets we passed little 

 white strawberry blossoms in the grass. We 

 never picked them, and I remember, too, that 

 close by them and hugging the ground were ever 

 so many little yellow blossoms. They looked 

 something like Buttercups, only their leaves were 

 more like strawberry leaves. When I asked 

 Tommy if they were yellow strawberry blossoms, 

 he said their names were Five-fingers, or Com- 

 mon Cinquefoils. I thought this a queer name 

 to give the pretty little yellow flowers until Tommy 

 showed me that the leaves were divided into five 

 pieces, something like fingers when they are short 

 and fat. 



Each year this little Common Cinquefoil 

 spreads itself by making new plants at the ends 

 of runners, and the Wild Strawberry makes its 

 new plants grow in the same way. Perhaps 

 they both think this is a better plan to keep them- 

 selves from vanishing than by making and sowing 

 seeds. 



Even though Wild Strawberry blossoms are 

 gone, the pretty little Five-fingers have stayed in 

 bloom; and I have learned to know one of their 

 relatives, which grows quite high and has a 

 shrubby look. Its round, yellow flowers, and the 

 five-fingered leaves made me think at once of the 

 little common one, although they grew on such a 

 large plant. 



I remember now that Strawberry blossoms 



