THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
for tljc J)otttt0. 
BOTANY THOUGHTS. 
m 
. WOULD like to call the atten- 
tion of those Cousins who have 
_ never studied botany to a few 
H tfj interesting facts about plants— 
1$ some things that I had never 
/Jr thought of before I studied it. 
There is much more surface 
exposed to the light and air on 
a tree in the Summer, when the 
v leaves are all on, tbau in the 
Winter when the leaves have fallen; much 
less surface is exposed on plants in the hot 
and dry regions than where we have more 
rains; as witness the difference between cac¬ 
ti aud palm trees, natives of hot, dry, coun¬ 
tries, and our bushes, shrubs and trees. One 
tree, the Washington Elm at Cambridge, has 
been estimated to produce a crop of seven 
million leaves, or about five acres of foliage. 
When digging sweet Hag it is not the root 
we prize, hut a stalk growing under ground, 
and we cut off the true roots. Mint, berga¬ 
mot and Quack Grass do not spread by the 
root, but by stalks growiug underground. 
Potatoes are not roots, but thickened por¬ 
tions of underground stalks. I find it inter¬ 
esting to compare different leaves and observe 
the similarities and differences in the shapes 
and in the veining, and to note the arrange¬ 
ment of the leaves on the stalks. I always 
look at the stamens aud pistils of blossoms 
now; but before I studied botany 1 thought 
the corolla, or colored part, all there was to a 
flowei*. One day my brother brought in a 
clover blossom for me to analyze. He would 
hardly believe, until he looked through the 
glass, that each separate tube was a little 
flower. 
I would recommend to those Cousins who 
have not had and do not expect to have the 
advantage of studying botany at school, to 
buy Gray’s "Lessons in Botany," and study it 
this Winter; then in the Bpring buy the 
"Field, Forest and Garden Botany,’’ by the 
same author. Do not say you cannot do it, 
and do not be discouraged by repeated fail¬ 
ures. 1 felt well repaid wheu I had analyzed 
and found the name of one flower that I had 
often picked, but the name of which I had 
never before known. glennie. 
CHRISTMAS. 
Christmas is a joyful day all over the 
world; in every civilized country it is ob¬ 
served as a holiday. Ail look ahead to it, 
and thiuk of the good time they will have 
and the presents they will receive and the 
general jollification. I suppose that you 
have all seen Christmas trees laden with 
oranges, candy, nuts, toys aud hundreds of 
other things too numerous to mention. We 
have lots of fun at our house on Christmas 
eve filling the stockings, and then in the 
morning, oh, isn’t it fun to jump out of bed, 
run down stairs and see what is in the stock¬ 
ings! and all day what fun we do have pop¬ 
ping corn, iuakiug candy, playing games and 
lots of other things; and we end up the day 
by going to the Christmas tree given by the 
Sunday School. Oh, Uncle Mark! I wish 
you could he with us on Christmas day, but 
as you can’t I will wish you and all of the 
Cousins a Merry Christmas. 
Your nephew, karl l. brown. 
Butler Co., Ohio. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark: —I have been an inter¬ 
ested reader of your columns for a long time, 
and at last I have concluded to talk a little 
with the cousins. It is Thanksgiving day, 
and while the big turkey is roasting I’ll tell 
you of a stone hunting excursion I had not 
long ago. With a friend I started, a warm, 
November morning, and drove IS miles from 
home iuto the neighboring State of Iudiana. 
After rest and refreshment we drove about a 
mile to a beautiful little creek, where we 
speedily found a blue limestone bank so full 
of fossils that all we had to do was to pick 
them up or dig them out as fast as we could. 
I am not geologist enough to tell you their 
names, but we got a great many perfect, 
double shells, some coral and a great quantity 
of a kind 1 called "nutmegs.” We unwill¬ 
ingly tore ourselves away from the enchant¬ 
ing place with our buckets full of fossils, our 
dresses covered with Spanish needles from 
the woods aud blue clay from the bank. We 
drove back to the home of our hostess and 
spent the evening washing aud sorting our 
specimens. 
The next morning, bright aud early, we 
started for the Whitewater, where we in¬ 
tended to add to our collection. We had a 
grand ride, and as we neared the river, the 
hills rose so high and were so lovely with the ’ 
autumn mist over them, that I could not look 
enough. Each hill seemed lovelier than every 
$(mplcmcnt.$ amt Pachimy. 
other. 
We put up our horse at a hospitable friend’s 
and went down to the river. The first thing 
we saw at the foot of a high bank was some 
very pretty coral. The bank was almost per¬ 
pendicular, but we scrambled up almost at 
the risk of our necks. The specimens of pet¬ 
rified coral we found, paid us well. We im¬ 
mediately named the bank Coral Hill. After 
getting all the coral we could carry and some 
small pieces of the big conglomerate boulders 
lying thickly around, we started for home, 
well pleased with the result of our trip. I 
wish that some of the stone-loving cousins 
would tell us about their stones. 
I hope, Uncle Mark, that you are not tired 
out by my letter. 
Yours truly, olive n. 
Preble Co., Ohio. 
[Some of the little folk may not know what 
these fossils are that Olive found so plentiful 
in the lime-stone. Plants, shells aud other 
relics of living things that are found in rocks, 
are called fossils, and these fossils are all that 
is left of living things that existed hundreds 
of years ago. Would you not enjoy studying 
some book this Winter telling about these 
wonderful fossils? "The Geologic Story 
Briefly Told by Dana” would not be too hard 
for a beginner. Get it if you can and study 
it. UNCLE MARK.] 
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Dear Uncle Mark:— Most of the Garden 
Treasures I planted, of which about one-half 
came up. I do not know the names of very 
many of them: there is one, a very pretty 
plant, which has red and white flowers. I 
should have had a great many more, if it had 
not been for the chickens and a pet lamb; 
they spoiled most of them. I am trying to 
save the seed, so as to have a great many next 
Summer. I also have a garden nearly full of 
beets. I raised enough turnip seed for our 
own use. Next year I am goiug to try to raise 
some to sell. I tried to raise some water¬ 
melons, but the chickens scratched them all 
up three times. I planted them four times; 
the last time they came up, but it was late, 
aud they did not amount to much. They are 
small, but they are good. 
How many of the Cousins have ever watched 
the sky for about a half au hour. I think that 
it is grand to watch one cloud and color chase 
another. 
The Blush Potatoes are dug and are very 
large; we cannot help but admire them, and 
think how kind you are to send us such useful 
and pretty things. 
I want to tell you about the chickens that I 
have; ma aud pa said that I might have 
half the chickens. As this is the first time I 
ever tried to raise chickens, I did not raise so 
very many. I bad to make my own coops: a 
dry goods box did very well, by nailing on 
little pieces of wood. I had, in all, about fit), 
but I have lost a few: some of the oldest ones 
will weigh eight pounds, and they are not 
full-grown, I have not sold any yet, but f 
think I can get §5 anyhow, if not more, for 
all of them I will now close, sending my love 
to Uncle Mark and the Cousins. 
Portage Co., Ohio. annie a davis. 
[You surely deserved a nice crop of melons 
afier planting so many times. The chickens 
that were so troublesome seem likely to pay 
you. Perhaps next year you can keep them 
out of your garden. The colors in the sky are 
often very beautiful, and the boys ami girls 
in the country have every chance to see them. 
UNCLE MARK.] 
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