116 THE OPEN BOOK OF NATURE 
parents. The seeds are sent away to form new 
Coltsfoot colonies. 
These are just a few questions and suggested 
answers. They do not cover all the facts about 
the Coltsfoot, but they will give you an idea of the 
problems connected with plant-life, and how you 
may attempt to unravel them. 
Do not have too many plant-pets at once. ‘T'wo 
or three will give you plenty of work in a season ; 
next season you can have two or three different ones, 
and in the course of a few seasons you will have 
gathered a great mass of interesting notes, and have 
found a lot of useful explanations. 
You see, I want you to study a few plants in a 
very thorough way ; that is better than studying a 
great many in an indifferent fashion. Learn to 
observe carefully and accurately. Don’t jump to 
hasty conclusions. Have several specimens of the 
same kind of plant under observation, and see if the 
habit of one is the habit of all. Because you saw 
one man smoking, you would not say that all men 
smoked, and if you see one plant doing a certain 
thing, don’t say that it is a common habit of its 
kind until you have seen other similar plants 
behaving in the same way. 
Your notes will be of greater interest and value 
if they are illustrated by sketches. A series of 
photographs illustrating the life-history of a 
plant will be found of the highest value. It 
is also good to write short essays based upon 
your notes, and illustrated by your photographs 
and sketches. Your friends will surely read 
these with interest, and perhaps your essays may 
