212 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 
HOTS is (MEW OTOTMM 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
Several young friends ask me to tell them about 
studying flowers; they of course mean also the plants 
which produce them: one youngster, “ H. D. B.,’’ asks 
how I first began to study plants, and the way to pre¬ 
serve them by dryiug.—How I first studied plants! This 
takes me far back, to the time when a good friend, quite 
as old as my father, was always ready to teach me 
Fig. 1.— SECTION OF BUTTERCUP FLOWER. 
about such things. I should be very happy if I, as “ The 
Doctor,” could help you as that friend aided me. In 
Beginning Bessons About Flowers, 
I would, at the very start, impress you with one fact. As 
you go about the woods and fields you see various kinds 
of flowers, and in the garden you see many other kinds. 
Some of these flowers are large, others are small; they 
are of very various colors and shapes, yet you know them, 
whatever may be their size, shape or color, as flowers. 
Now, Wliat Are Flowers For ? 
If you look in the vegetable garden, you do not ex¬ 
pect green peas or cucumbers, unless the vines have 
bloomed; you would not expect strawberries, or rasp¬ 
berries, unless the plants had flowered ; nor would you 
look for apples unless there had been apple-blossoms. 
You well know, I think, that the flower is the beginning, 
or the starting point of the fruit. But a fruit need not, 
as some suppose, be something juicy. The pea, the 
bean, the wheat kernel and the corn kernel, are just as 
much fruits, as are the peach and the apple. Whatever 
follows the flower, if it bears a seed, is a fruit. In the 
garden you see a great variety of flowers; in early 
spring there may be hyacinths and tulips ; later there 
will be lilacs and roses.—So in the woods and fields 
there will be buttercups, violets, chickweeds, and wher¬ 
ever you turn, flowers of some kind. Now the very first 
thing that I would teach you about flowers, is this : 
However unlike flowers may be in size, in shape, or in 
color, they all have one end in view, which is 
The Production of Seeds. 
These, if sown, will produce other plants of a similar 
kind. But whether large and showy, or small and not 
attractive, each and every flower (at least every wild 
one,) has for its object the formation and the ripen¬ 
ing of the seeds of the plant to which it belongs. 
About the Flower, 
I say “ the flower,” because however flowers may be 
unlike—and they show a wonder¬ 
ful variety in some respects, they 
are all made upon one general 
pl'-n. If you thoroughly under¬ 
stand cne flower, its parts, and 
the uses of these parts, you will 
be able to understand all other 
flowers. It makes but little differ¬ 
ence what plant we start with, 
but we will select one, common 
about everywhere, and one every 
youngster knows, the Buttercup, 
and there is hardly a place in the 
whole country, where one or more 
fiig.b. PEA FLOWER, jjindg csn not be found. Some 
grow in damp soil, others in meadows among the 
grass ; the road-sides and the dry hill-sides furnish 
others. So we will take the Buttercup as a starting 
point in the study of flowers. Having gathered a num¬ 
ber of Buttercup flowers, you can look at them at first in 
their natural state; then take one, and with a sh^jp 
knife cut right down through it. One of the halves will 
appear as in figure 1, which is little larger than the real 
flower. Beginning below, you will first see some green 
flower-leaves, a , five of them. Then, next above these, 
five large yellow flower-leaves, b. I call these flower- 
leaves, because, as we shall see later, they are much like 
other leaves, but as they appear in the flower they have 
distinct names which are easily learned. Thus the set 
of green flower leaves, a, taken together, are the calyx , 
and each separate piece is a sepal. Learn these names 
now, as we shall find similar parts in most other flowers. 
The bright yellow parts, b , are called petals , and the 
whole five together are the corolla, which is the showy 
part of the flower. You will notice that the end of the 
flower stem, c, projects up into the flower and that all 
the other parts are attached to it. This end of the stem, 
whatever its shape may be, is the receptacle , as it re¬ 
ceives and holds all the other parts of the flower. Just 
within the petals are many little pod-like things on 
stalks, d, which are called stamens, and within these are 
other differently shaped objects, e, called pistils. I have 
given you these five parts and wish you to learn their 
names. Remember now ; beginning below, we have the 
calyx (its parts being sepals); next the corolla (its parts 
being petals); then the stamens, and inside of all, the 
pistils. These names may be new to you, but they are 
not many or difficult, and I wish you to learn them, 
as they are all the parts that any flower has, and many 
flowers do not have all of these. 
Now look again at your Buttercup flower. You see 
that these parts are in sets, one above the other—first 
the calyx, next the corolla, within this the stamens, and 
in the center of all the pistils. If you look at the But¬ 
tercup flower before it opens, you will see that the first 
two sets, the calyx and the corolla, are bent over and 
cover the parts that arc within. These two sets are 
called the floral envelopes, their use being to envelope 
and protect the smaller parts within. I called the parts 
in the very center, pistils. There are several of these in 
the Buttercup flower ; shaped as in figure 4. In cutting 
down through the flower, as in figure 1, you will be very 
apt to cut open one or more of these pistils, and if you 
have a magnifying glass, you may be able to see that 
each one has a hollow part in which is a little seed-like 
body as in figure 3. Look at this pistil, and you see that 
it is large and h®l!ow below; above there is a short neck, 
and at the very top a roughish place. The little body 
shown in figure 3, is called the ovule, and that partof the 
pistil which holds it is called the ovary. The ovule is 
the very beginning of the seed—and one of the curious 
things about the flower, is that the ovule can not become 
a seed without help from the stamens. A separate 
stamen is given in figure 2. You will see that it is a 
little case or pouch, at the end of a small stalk. This 
pouch is called the anther, and its little stalk is called the 
filament. Now when the anther is quite ripe, it bursts, 
usually by a crack on each side, and lets out the finest 
Fig. 6.—PARTS OF PEA FLOWER. 
possible dust, called pollen. The curious thing about it 
is, that unless some of this pollen from the stamens 
falls upon the upper part of the pistil, no seed will be 
formed. But there are so many stamens and so much 
pollen, that some of it is quite sure to fall upon the pis¬ 
tils. What takes place can not well be described just 
now, but it is sufficient to say that this pollen, or fine 
dust, so acts upon the little ovule in the ovary partof the 
pistil, that it grows and forms a seed. Now let us review 
our Buttercup flower: We have its green and leafy calyx, 
then its golden-yellow corolla, then many stamens ; and 
within these, many little pistils. The pistils become 
little seed pods after the pollen has acted upon them. 
Now that you have learned the names of all these parts 
in the Buttercup flower, and their position in rows or 
series one above another, you will be ready to look for 
the same parts in any other flowers you may And. First, 
I must tell you that, while the Buttercup has all the parts 
that you will find in any other flower, every flower will 
not have all these parts. Not only will there be in some 
flowers no corolla, but sometimes the stamens will be in 
one flower and the pistils in another flower. But we can 
talk about that another time. What will puzzle you 
most is the fact that the parts of the flower, all of which 
are so distinct and separate in the Buttercup, may grow 
together in other flowers. In some flowers the sepals of 
the calyx are all in one piece, and in many other flowers 
the parts of the corolla are united.—Besides this, the 
same parts of the flower are not of equal size and shape 
as they are in the Buttercup. You will be puzzled by 
this, and I can now give you but one example of the 
many unusual forms you will meet with. When the peas 
are in bloom, you may not at first see how the pea 
flower, figure 5, is actually made upon the same plan as 
the Buttercup, while in appearance it looks as unlike it 
as can well be. Carefully pick it apart, and you will find 
five petals. Though they are UDliko in size and shape, 
as shown in figure 6, you will see that they are petals, 
and stand in the same place with respect to the other 
parts of the flower as do the regular ones of the Butter¬ 
cup. But it will not do to undertake too much at once. 
If every one of my young friends will study well the 
flower of the Buttercup, learn the different parts, and 
their position, and their uses, they will be well prepared 
to understand all other flowers. However unlike flowers 
may seem to be, we shall learn, as already said, that all 
are made upon a similar plan, and if one is well under¬ 
stood, it is a key to all the rest. The Doctor. 
Our Puzzle Box. 
PATCHWORK. 
(Find in each of the following sentences the letters, 
necessary to spell the implied word. Example .— 1 To 
impair. Answer.— Mar. ‘‘Harm ” would not fill the re¬ 
quirements, as tnere is no h, in “To impair.”) 
1. A mixture of things. Not "hash,” which would 
require two h's). 
2. A free black on the West India Mountains. 
3. A roll,—strip of cloth. 
4. To lean,—to remain. 
5. A meadow,—a plain. 
6. .One not a clergyman. 
DISLOCATION. 
(Find in the following lines the words necessary to 
form a well-known proverb). 
“ Will you come to the bower I've shaded for you?” 
From the crest of the hill there’s a beautiful view, 
There's a lovely green meadow where lambs gaily play,. 
Should the waik be too long we can rest by the way. 
ALPHABETICAL ARITHMETIC. 
(The letters stand in the place of figures.) 
RSY)KOELGCY)YOORL 
A G L 
G C O L 
G Y R A 
C E C 
Y S A 
G R O Y 
G R R Y 
C S 
PUZZLE. 
Take fifty and five and by nothing divide, 
And then add one-fourth of a tome, 
And if placed aright you’ll need nought beside 
To show you a sweetner of home. 
NUMERICAL ENIGMAS. 
I am composed of 11 letters:— 
My 1, 5,10,7, 2, is a piece made up of different authors 
My 11, 9. 6, 4, is to probe. 
My 3, 2, 7, 5, is to denote. 
My 8, 5, 11, 9, is a boundary. 
My whole is a great blessing. Belle Spar.. 
2. I am composed of 23 letters: — 
My 1. 5, 19, 4, is a kind of fairy. 
My 17. 20, 1. 4, 11, is spiritless. 
My 3. 9, 1, 18, is a narrow fillet. 
My 12, 13, 16, 14, is a nobleman. 
My 4, 10, 7, 2, 6,11, 8, IS, 22, 23, 21,3, is glowing with heat. 
My whole, according to Aisop, made a mouse achieve 
great success. 
CONCEALED SQUARE WORD. 
1. The monkey amused the children very much, with 
bis tricks 
2. She is a person whom every one respects. 
3. We left them making mud pies. 
4. They said one was for me and one for Rate. 
RHYMING PUZZLE. 
Make a rhymed couplet out of the following sentence. 
No words or letters are to be added or taken away :— 
Little Johnny wanted to see the dancing bears, but said 
it would cost him a dime. 
