JUKE 10 
THE RURAL 
for t\)( J)oim0. 
MY BABES IN THE WOOD. 
Once, walking tn the forest wide, 
Two little darlings I espied. 
The leaves had not yet begun to grow, 
And chill wind* wandered to and fro; 
Yet strange \ beside a giant tree 
No sweeter face* could there be 
Than those that looked up timidly, 
With teardrops in their deep-blue eyes, 
While I looked down with glad surprise 
l thought of those two children sweet 
Whose Btory little folks repeat— 
The poor, forlorn babett In the wood— 
And thpn I spoke in kindly mood : 
“Dear little darlings! oh, how fair. 
All, all alone In this cold air! 
The night may brtsig us snow and frost: 
Tell me, my pretties, are you lost? 
They seemed to nestle closer then, 
And. though I gently spoke again, 
They gave no answer to my words, 
But were as niute as gongless birds. 
I bore them homeward tenderly, 
And called my little ones to see 
The pretty darlings 1 had feund. 
Oh ! how the merry shouts rang round. 
Perhaps you may have guessed my pets?— 
They were the first spring violets. 
A TALK ABOUT INSECTS. 
UNCLE MARK. 
Probably most of my young readers know 
that there are three great divisions or de¬ 
partments in nature, known as the mineral 
kingdom, the vegetable kingdom and the 
animal kingdom. To ihis last-named king¬ 
dom belong all animals of whatever name or 
nature, but they are again divided into two 
sub-kingdoms known as Vertebrates and In¬ 
vertebrates, the former comprisingall animals 
having a vertebral column or back bone; the 
latter comprising those which have a jointed 
body and limbs. To this latter division, or 
more properly to a subdivision of it, known 
as Articulates, belongs the great class of In- 
secta, or the insects, concerning which I am 
going to state a few facts. 
The word insect means cut into, the body 
of each true insect being cut into or divided 
into three portions called the head, thorax and 
abdomen. Now, if my young friends ns they 
read this will catch an insect and examine 
it they will see that from the head segment 
proceed two stems, that are known as a?t- 
tenmv, which are the organs of feeling and 
touch, and they will also see two eyes which, 
if they could closely examine them with a 
microscope, would be seen to consist of nu¬ 
merous little eyes called facets, each perfect 
in itself. In the common house fly these 
facets are said to be 4,000 in number, while 
in some kiuds of beetles there are over 26,000. 
Some insects have two simpie eyes only, but 
most are compound as those just mentioned, 
while others have both. 
The second division or thorax has three 
rings, each of which bears a pair of legs, 
and the secoud, generally, aud sometimes the 
third, has a pair of wings, while the third di¬ 
vision, known as the abdomen, has typically 
11 rings or segments. In the wasp the second 
and third divisions are separated by a very 
deep cut, as everyone has noticed. 
Of the single class or division of the Articu¬ 
lates called insects there are said to be up¬ 
wards of 190,001) known species. By the term 
“class” we here mean the Insectida?, which 
comprises all insects; by “ order” we mean one 
division of a class, as the Hymenoptera; by 
“family” is meant one of the divisions of any 
order, as the Apidre; by “ genus,” a division of 
a family, generally given in technical terms as 
apis, a bee, and by “species,” a division of a 
genus, as apis meUiflca, the honey bee. All 
true insects are called he&apoda, meaning 
six footed. I say true insects, since some¬ 
times the spider, for instance, is called an in¬ 
sect, but it is not. The spider belongs to yet 
another class known to entomologists as 
Arachnids. 
Now I want to give my young readers some 
hard names both to pronounce and remember 
but when they get a little older and begin to 
study about insects, they will meet many such. 
Bo let us begin gradually to learn them. More¬ 
over, when we meet one of these words here¬ 
after in reading we shall know what it 
means. 
All the six-footed insects are classed in the 
foliowiug orders according to the number or 
nature of the wings: 
1. Hymenoptera, or Membraneous-winged 
insects. Under this head come bees, ants, 
gall flies, ichneumons, etc. The wings are 
marked with coarse veins, and the females 
have sharp stings. 
2. Lepidopte.ra, or Scale wings. To this 
order belong the butterflies, moths, etc. These 
have their wings covered with little scales 
which the slightest touch will remove, and 
they are so numerous that 400.000 have been 
counted on one insect. 
3. Diptera, or Twc-wings are represented 
by the mosquito, flies, etc. The number of 
species of this order, in North America, in 
stated at about 10,000. 
4. Coleopf.era or Sheath-wings, to which 
belong the various species of beetles, bark- 
borers, weevils, etc. If yon hold iu your 
handafuli grown May-beetle, you will no¬ 
tice that the body has a horny covering, but 
when the insect is about to fly the hard, horny 
texture is lifted, forming the two forewings 
and disclosing two rear, membraneous wings; 
but the latter are the sole organs of flight. 
5. Hcmiptera, or Half-wines, under which 
order comes the Seventeen-year Locusts, the 
squash bug, plant lice etc. These have the 
fore wings partly membraneous and partly 
leathery or opaque. 
6. Orthoptera, or Straight-wings. The 
katydid and grasshopper represent this order, 
whose fore wings are of a leathery texture 
while the rear wings are membran eous and 
fold like a fan. 
7. Neuroptera or Nerve-wings. This order 
includes the beautiful dragon-flies, or Devil’s 
Darning needles as they are sometimes called 
which are so well known to nearly every boy 
and girl. 
Now whenever any of the young folks 
come across insects in the garden or the 
field let them classify them under their proper 
orders, as given above, and before tbe Summer 
passed I will endeavor to give some direction 
for further classification. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —My sister Beatrice 
and I attend school, about two miles from our 
home, across the prairie. We walk when the 
weather is pleasant, aud when it is bad we 
ride little Dick, our pony. Every night at 
this season of tbe year the horizon all around 
us is red with prairie fires; it is a beautiful 
sight, but sometimes the fires areas dangerous 
as they are beautiful. We are going to have 
a little garden this Summer and raise cabbage 
and peanuts. I always sew and cut the leaves 
of Papa’s Rural for him when it arrives. I 
take Harper’s Young People, the money for 
which I earned myself. Papa is drilling in 
oats to day. We have had a very mild Win¬ 
ter. Peach trees are in bloom and our peas, 
onions and lettuce are all up. We have early 
corn planted. Beatrice wants to know if 
Uncle Mark is a very old man. 
Mignonette Schwartz. 
Coffer Co., Kan. 
[Uncle Mark is not so “very” old, but just 
old enough. He is somewhat reticent on this 
question, for “Uncles” as well as “Aunts” 
sometimes preserve an ominous silence when 
anyone asks if they are “ very old.”] 
Dear Uncle Mark: Our folks take the 
Rural New-Yorker, and I sometimes read 
the cousin’s letters. I will tell you what I 
raided last Summer. I planted some melon 
seeds, and raised just one nice watermelon 
which I sold for 10 cents; I had a very few 
watermelons, and a small bed of real nice 
lettuce. I planted about fifty radish seeds, but 
not one came up. I was very much disap¬ 
pointed, for I am very fond of nice radishes. 
1 raised almost a peck of popcorn from about 
one dozen hills. I sold the corn for six cents. 
I had 10 bushels of potatoes, I selected the best 
and sold them for $5 00; the small ones went 
to the pigs. Fighting potato bugs is a kind of 
work I don’tlike very well. From fifty peach 
pits which I planted only two produced auy 
young tress. I help take care of one span of 
horses, 12 head of cattle, 18 sheep. 10 lambs, 
find two pigs. I am most 15 years old, 
and would like to become one of the Rural 
cousins. Henry Johnson. 
Manist ee Co., Mich. 
Dear Uncle Mark. —I gues3 I shall have 
to be counted as one of the silent cousins, but 
I work in the garden so much at planting 
seeds and raking and watering the plants,that 
I have hardly any time to write letters. My 
sister and I have each a little garden about 
eight feet square besides a p lace separate for 
the prize watermelon. I pi anted my prize 
melon seeds the 21 «t of April, about two 
inches deep, also some radishes and peanuts 
the same day. We received the free seed 
distribution safely and have planted the 
hollyhock, celery, and the Rural Fliut Corn 
and the corn is coming up nicely. Your niece, 
Morris Co., Kan. Pansy. 
Uncle Mark: — Having read some of 
the numerous letters which appear In the 
Rural from the Cousins, I am interested in 
their work and I And one m ly get a great 
dealof useful information by carefully looking 
over the reading for young folks. I, for two 
years, have had a flower garden from which I 
gathered numerous bouquets. I want to try 
a flower and vegetable garden on a small 
scale this Summer. 1 would like to join the 
Horticultural Club aud with your permission 
have my name enrolled on the long list of 
names of the other Cousins. Jessie Kilborn. 
Emmet Co., Mich. 
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