646 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
SEPT.',27 
for tl)c Doling. 
THE STUDY OF FLOWERS. 
BY UNCLE MARK. 
^ \ f ' yr ing the Garden Treasures 
■' 0 / '}■ ,, > have given tn the Cou- 
ARING 
enjoy 
. ir/jV sins an opportunity to 
f'i study flowers in a very 
SI pleasant way. 1 Rave 
'A X _ often watch«xi new flow- 
J fj> ers unfold, and know 
\ how interesting the buds 
are day after iltty os they 
S3. grow and finally open, | 
O 1 V You have enjoyed show- 
( y\J tr* ing your new iiow'crs to 
Ary o < school mates and friends, 
Out. I think you have often felt sorry that you 
did not know the names of them all, and have 
wished that you could give a better answer 
than “1 don't know” to the question “What, 
is iff* asked so often l>y your friends, lie fore 
next Spring you can, by studying botany, be 
prepared to find out the names of strange 
blossoms. Take up “How Plants Grow,” by 
Prof. Gray, or some other small, easy work on 
the subject; for you will enjoy it so much 
more If it, seems easy, and after studying a 
small book take up a larger one, and it will 
then seem just as easy as the small one did. 
The story of a plant from the time it wakes 
up in the seed until it has lived all its life, Is 
written in a simple wav, and the names of all 
the parts of plants, and the names given to 
their habits and their shapes are told. When 
you have learned these, you will be ready to 
analyze the flowers and learn their names 
from the Manual, and the pleasantest, part of 
the study will thou be reached. 
There is hardly a flower that blooms that 
has not delicate beauties or odd arrangements 
of its parts, that are seen only when the flower 
is examined closely; over and over ag.iin you 
will be surprised to see new beuuties In the 
commonest flowers. The milk weeds have a 
crown with little curved horns from within 
the crown. The lilies have anthers attached 
by the center to the filaments, so they swing 
there; apple, pear, and cherry blossoms are 
full of interest Learning the relationship of 
t he flowers is enjoyable, and quite surprising 
sometimes; the violet family Hourly all look 
alike, and are easily recogut'/ed as brothers 
and sisters, though the pansy is the most gor¬ 
geous; the rest are readily recognized, except¬ 
ing Rolea; it is the odd one in the family, 
having green flowers set closely along an up¬ 
right stem—it looks so little like a violet that 
it is quite a surprise to find it belonging to 
that family. 
You will gather flowers in the woods, that 
are unknown to you, and when you leflru their 
names in the botany, you cannot help feeling 
a little proud because you know what none of 
your friends could tell you. Almost any wood 
will have some rare plants in it; plants that, 
are not often found. If you analyze these, you 
will learn some of the most interesting parts 
of nature’s story—some of the chapters that 
all do not have a chance to read. If only a 
few- flowers are analyzed, what has been learn¬ 
ed will make it possible to understand what 
you may hear or read on the subject, and that 
alone will be a great benefit. Some of you 
will find the study so entertaining that analyz 
iug a few flowers will not satisfy you; all the 
flowers you can liud will to examined and 
classified, and, year after ycur, you will to ex 
an lining new flowers, and who knows but our 
eminent botanists in a few years will be some 
of my uieces and nephews! 
One reason why botany is important to 
farmer*’ children is that they may know the 
correct names, not only of flowers, but of the 
weeds on the farm. The same common name 
is often applied to several different weeds. 
This is one of the pleasantest subjects for 
home study: brothers and sisters can study to¬ 
gether and recite to each other. You will 
want time enough to stud> it well before 
Spring, and will lind it well to begin before 
the leaves are all withered this Fall. Commit 
to memory the names of the parts of the plant, 
and when you go into the yard or garden 
gather leaves from evprv plant and name the 
shape of each. If one forgets, the. others will 
remember, and. as you will all be anxious to 
learn, prompting will not have to be forbid¬ 
den, but you will find it a great help to tell 
each other forgotten definitions. When 
Spring comes you may need to go half-a-mile 
for the earliest flowers, and may spend an 
hour in tracing the fir it flower you try, to its 
order, genus, and species, but, having found 
these, the next flower will be examined with 
still more interest. 
The little folks can enjoy the study, and if 
they hear their older brothers and sisters talk¬ 
ing of sepals and petals, calyx and corolla, 
imr. 
■ ■ ■ 
o i 
they will soon learn what is meant, by the 
words; and will especially enjoy gathering 
flowers for the “ela'->” to analyze. and. more 
tbau likely, it will to their quick eyes that will 
find the rarest plants. Studying flowers you 
will learn how much books can help you to 
understand the things around you. It is well 
to study something that will make you totter 
farmers’ sons aud daughters, and botany is one 
of the studies that, will do this. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dkak Uncle Mark:— Papa has token your 
paper for six years, and we all think it very 
nice. 1 read the Cousins’ letters every week 
and find them very interesting, and with yout 
permission would liketo join the club. I am lfi 
years of age and liveon a farm about one mile 
out of town. I do not have much time for 
flowers or writing this Summer, as mamma 
and my little sister, who is 10 years old, are 
visiting friouds at Walworth, N, Y. The 
seeds sent arrived safely and were planted, 
but not all came up The “Union” corn came 
up, but did not do very well. Hoping t remain 
a cousin. 1 will close. minnie aiken. 
Morris Co., Kansas. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— Many thanks for the 
“Rural Treasures.” The seeds came up very 
well, and most of them are blooming nicely. 
I have heeded your advice about the weeds, 
and although they got the advantage of me 
several times, they did not keep it long. I 
have one Sensitive Plant: a hen peeked the 
top off of it, which retarded its growth, but 
now it is growing nicely. I have a plant that 
looks very much like sage, its leaves are 
covered with down; what is the name of iff 
The crops here were much injured by a terri¬ 
ble storm of rain and wind on the 6th of July. 
It destroyed but few dwellings, but a good 
many barns and much timber. There are no 
peaches here atoll, and not mauy apples We 
had a good many raspberries; they were only * 
the common wild ones, but well cultivated, 
and were quite large and fine. The potato 
crop was a good one. Papa laid tobacco stalks 
in the rows and the potatoes were very tine. 
Our entire crop consists of the White Ele¬ 
phant. I planted the Niagara Grape seeds, 
but they never came up. We ho ve no grapes, 
hut I have just planted some seed and hope to 
raise some Hoping that this will not reach 
the waste basket, I will bid good-bye to Uncle 
Mark and cousins. katie m. mobley. 
Todd Co , Ky. 
[1 cannot tell what the plant is from your 
description. I hope the grape seeds you have 
planted will gr ow this time; grapes are a de¬ 
licious fruit, so keep trying until you get a 
good vine. uncle mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark: — I do love that dear 
little name Beth, and so will all the Cousins 
that have read “Little Women,” by Louisa 
M. Alcott. Uncle Mark 1 want to thank you 
for tolling ns so mauy good and interesting 
things on our page. But what pleased me 
most was to Know you weut into the kitchen 
to see and help the little girls wash dishes; if 
you would see me with my lips stuck out and 
my brows drawn down vou would soon “skip” 
as brother says. I only like to wash them when 
lie helps me, for then we have a good talk all 
by ourselves He is very busy farming and 
doesn’t have time often; he would rather read 
than help me, although be does so sometimes; 
don’t thiuk I have to wash dishes all the time, 
for momma doesn’t let me when she can help 
it 1 wish Aunt Beth would toll us how she 
did her work when she was a little girl. Our 
Rural flowers are blooming nicely; we enjoy 
them so much, we keep flowers in all our rooms, 
so wherever we go we can see them. We 
have a white fence willow tree that measures 
15 feet niches, 8 feet from the ground, have 
any of the Cousinsa largeronef Your uiece 
Wash Co., Iowa. Ada shaffnkr 
[The talks you have with your brother must 
make washing the dishes seem very pleasaut; 
if I came into the kitchen and found your face 
in a scowl, 1 think it would look brighter 
when I gave you a little help, aud you would 
to laughing at my awk ward ness before l had 
been there long. Did you read what sister 
Beth wrote for you about mending? “Little 
Women” is a good book for all the Cousins 
to read. uncle mark ] 
Dear Uncle Mark:— l send you a rough 
outline of a muskmelou which 1 raised this 
Summer. It was creased between the parts, 
and the seed cavities were separated by about 
an inch aud a naif of flesh. It weighed seven 
pounds. You may see from the sketch that J 
am no artist, and 1 had to have help to make 
that. 1 have fourteen kinds of flowers from 
the seeds sent. W e recognize all but oue which 
I wish you would please name: it grows about 
one foot high and has had one flower, which 
has just faded; there is a yellow and brown 
head over half an inch across, surrounded by 
1 arew of petals; I send a leaf and one of the 
petals, and hope they may reach you in good 
condition. I expect to set a small patch of 
strawberries this Fall. 1 may report if they 
do well, ALLEN MARTIN. 
Knox Co., O. 
[Your sketch shows quite plainly how the 
melon looked; It was a double one, a freak of 
nature, putting two melons in one rind The 
leaf and petal yon send look as though the 
plant was a dwarf marigold, but l cannot be 
sure. uncle mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark :—I raised cabbage, 
pop-corn, beans, potatoes and peas on my gar¬ 
den spot. There are no weeds on it I did not let 
the bugs eat up my potatoes. My grandmother 
has a large flower garden. She is going to 
send some seeds to the Rural. Plea c e put L. 
for my middle letter My name is Waldo 
Lawrence. From your nephew, 
New London Co., Ct. waldo l. wat.ey. 
Dear Cousins:—You recollect I was antici¬ 
pating something nice when my asters and 
balsams bloomed; they are now at their best, 
aDd I am not disappointed. Canterbury Bells 
continue to bloom quite freely. Snow on the 
Mountain is now looking its name. I assure 
you, and so say all who see it, A double sun¬ 
flower haB 2b blossoms, all looking us fresh as 
cau be. There are four kinds of sunflowers— 
tall and dwarf—all branching; the flowers of 
one have very long petals, with cen tors scarce¬ 
ly two inches across; all are handsome. I count¬ 
ed 153 cups around a stalk of Shell-flower; the 
plant is three feet high, with no side branches; 
it is considered a enriosity here. There are 
four different kinds-of the old pot Marigold; 
one has a dark-brown center, another is a 
bright nankeen, gold-bordered; all are very 
double and handsome. I have spoken of the 
poppies; there is a beautiful variety. A lady 
of excellent taste said to me, not long ago, 
that there were some things she never could 
like till she saw my Garden Treasures. She 
will now own there are admirable flowers 
among marigolds and popples. I must, not 
forget the little Cassia ; both the foliage and 
flower are really beautiful, and they get their 
due amouut of praise as well as the rest. I 
have now about filled my space, and still there 
are a number left—the morning glories, with 
their muuy colors, mignonette, sweetalyssum, 
verbenas, beautiful dwarf nasturtiums, ama- 
rantluts and coxcombs iu variety, etc.; all are 
worthy of mention. You cannot come to see 
them. but. you can do still bettor: continue to 
subscribe for the Rural: and as Uncle Mark 
is uncommonly considerate of hi* relatives, 
he will, no doubt, contrive it so that you may 
have nearly, if not all, of the same beautiful 
kinds in your own gardens next Summer. 
Ycur friend, mart waley. 
Dear Uncle Mark and Rural Cousins:— 
It has been some time since f have written to 
the good old Rural but. we have been busy 
talcing care of turkeys, chickens, flowers and 
garden: our garden consists of about % of nu 
acre of ground aud slopes to the fc'onfch, so we 
have early vegetables. Tt. is separated into 
three parts; one for flowers, one for vegeta¬ 
bles, and one for early sweet corn and early 
potatoes. We have almost every flower im¬ 
aginable. I have, one of the lovliust fuchias 
that ever blossomed; the sepals and tube are 
pure white and the corolla dark pink; another 
plant has large red and purple flowers. One 
that has never blossomed seems to to a vine. 
It is already about three feet high, the leaves 
are spotted dark and light green; the foliage 
Is very pretty, but can you toll me Uncle why 
it does not blossom? Please tell me something 
about it. Our potatoes are mostly White 
Elephants; we have a few Blush and Early 
Rose; we haven’t seen any potatoes yet that 
will equal the Elephant- We hud 30 little 
turkeys, and they began to look ragged and 
droop their wings and would soon die, they 
were nearly all dead, when, one day mamma 
was gone, so I thought I would cure some of 
them, so I put some turpentine on one of them 
and it wasn’t more than two minutes until it 
was “dead as a door uuil.” Mamma calls me 
her turkey doctor. Well! there is just one of 
those turkeys left out of the 30, hut don’t think 
for a moment 1 doctored all of them, I 
thought one enough for me to kill, so I didn't 
try my experiment on auy more of them. We 
have plenty of fruit of all kinds. 1 intended 
to try to raise peanuts this year but could not 
get seed, will try next. year. I should like to 
correspond with some of the Cousins, will do 
all in ray power to make the correspondence a 
pleasant and interesting one. Your niece and 
COllsill, ETTA SHAFFNKR. 
Wash Co , Iowa. 
[I cannot toll what your vine is from the 
leaf sent. You did not succeed very well as 
a turkey doctor; will you have the one turkey 
left for Thanksgiving dinner ? Read all that 
is said in the Rural about turkeys, and you 
may learn how to keep them from getting 
sick. Any of the cousins who would like to 
correspond with Etta will send their addresses 
to me and I will forward them. 
UNCLE mark,] 
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