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WINTER 
197 
way. Very often there are marks on the flower 
which attract the insects’ notice, and direct them 
to the part where the honey is concealed. 
These are only a very few examples of the 
wonders connected with plant life. The know¬ 
ledge of such things is not essential to make a 
good gardener, for many very excellent ones 
know but little of the botanical structure or 
classification of plants ; but surely, having once 
read these few scraps of information, children 
will not be content until they know more. 
When summer comes again and the garden 
is visited every day there will always be some¬ 
thing to notice, and if there is not any striking 
change in some growing plant to attract atten¬ 
tion, the field of botany and the wonders of 
insect life will furnish just as interesting a 
theme. The world of nature outside the 
garden—the woods, the lanes, the roadsides, or 
the river banks—will for ever be adding fresh 
items to the store of knowledge of any child 
who watches and notices and does not pass by 
the book of nature without trying to turn over 
and read its leaves. Many a lesson of great 
use in gardening can be learnt in the fields 
or where nature is untouched by art. The 
keener the efforts in gardening, the wider is 
the interest taken in all the beauties of the 
natural world; and on the other hand, the 
