Chapter XXXVIII: Part III: Plant Life (8)

6. What other parts of this flower are red, which in other flowers are green? How does this make the budding portions of the flower stem look? Why does this make the salvia a more beautiful plant for our gardens?

7. Compare the mechanism of the stamens of the scarlet sage with the mechanism of the stamens of the common garden sage.

PETUNIAS

_Teacher’s Story_

Drawn by Anna C. Stryke.]

These red-purple and white flowers, which, massed in borders and beds, make gay our gardens and grounds in late summer and early autumn, have an interesting history. Professor L. H. Bailey uses it as an illustration in his thought-inspiring book, “The Survival of the Unlike;” he says that our modern petunias are a strange compound of two original species; the first one was found on the shores of the La Plata in South America and was introduced into Europe in 1823. “It is a plant of upright habit, thick sticky leaves and sticky stems, and very long-tubed white flowers which exhale a strong perfume at nightfall.” The second species of petunia came from seeds sent from Argentina to the Glasgow Botanical Gardens in 1831. “This is a more compact plant than the other, with a decumbent base, narrower leaves and small, red-purple flowers which have a very broad or ventricose tube, scarcely twice longer than the slender calyx lobes.” This plant was called _Petunia violacea_ and it was easily hybridized with the white species; it is now, strangely enough, lost to cultivation, although the white species is found in some old gardens. The hybrids of these two species are the ancestors of our garden petunias, which show the purple-red and white of their progenitors. The petunias are of the Nightshade family and are kin to the potato, tomato, egg-plant, tobacco and Jimson-weed, and, like the latter, the flowers are especially adapted to give nectar to the long-tongued sphinx or hummingbird moths.

The petunia corolla is tubular, and the five lobes open out in salver-shape; each lobe is slightly notched at its middle, from which point a marked midrib extends to the base of the tube. In some varieties the edges of the lobes are ruffled. Within the throat of the tube may be seen a network of darker veins, and in some varieties this network spreads out over the corolla-lobes. Although many colors have been developed in petunias, the red-purple and white still predominate; when the two colors combine in one flower, the pattern may be symmetrical, but is often broken and blotchy.

When a flower-bud is nearly ready to open the long, bristly tube of the corolla lies with its narrow base set in the calyx, the long, fuzzy lobes of which flare out in bell-shape; the tube is marked by lengthwise lines made by the five midribs; the lobes of the corolla are folded along the outer portions of these midribs, and these folded tips are twisted together much as if some one had given them a half turn with the thumb and finger. It is a pleasing experience to watch one of these flowers unfold. When a flower first opens, there lies near the bottom of the throat of the tube the green stigma, with two anthers snuggled up in front of it and two behind it, the latter being not quite so advanced in age as the former. As the filaments of the front pair of anthers are longer than those of the rear pair, the little group lies at a low angle offering a dusty doormat for entering insects. If we open a flower at this stage, we find another anther, as yet unopened, and which is on the shortest stamen of the five. This seems to be a little pollen-reserve, perhaps for its own use later in the season. There is an interesting mechanism connected with these stamens; each is attached to the corolla-tube at the base for about half its length, and at the point of attachment curves suddenly inward so as to “cuddle up” to the pistil, the base of which is set in the nectar-well at the bottom of the flower. If we introduce a slender pencil or a toothpick into the flower tube along the path which the moth’s tongue must follow to reach the nectar, we can see that the stamens, pressing against it at the point where they curve inward, cause the anthers to move about so as to discharge their pollen upon it; and as the toothpick is withdrawn they close upon it cogently so that it carries off all the pollen with which it is brought in contact.

If we look at the stigma at the center of its anther-guard, it has a certain close-fisted appearance, although its outer edges may be dusted with the pollen; as the flower grows older, the stigma stands above the empty anthers at the throat of the flower tube and opens out into two distinct lobes. Even though it may have accepted some of its own pollen, it apparently opens up a new stigmatic surface for the pollen brought from other flowers by visiting insects.

_A petunia blossom cut open on the upper side, showing the
pistil surrounded by the incurved stamens and the partially
opened stigma surrounded by the anthers. Note the short stamen
below the pistil._
]

Dr. James G. Needham says that at Lake Forest he has been attracted to the petunia beds in the twilight by the whirring of the wings of countless numbers of sphinx, or hummingbird moths which were visiting these flowers. We also may find these moths hovering over petunia beds in almost any region if we visit them on the warmer evenings. And it is a safe guess that the remote white ancestor of our petunias had some special species of sphinx moth which it depended upon for carrying its pollen; and the strong perfume it exhaled at nightfall was an odor signal to its moth friends to come and feast.

But even though the petunia flowers are especially adapted to the delectation of hummingbird moths, our bees which--like man--have claimed all the earth, will work industriously in the petunias, scrambling into the blossoms, with much remonstrating, high-pitched buzzing because of the tight fit, and thus rifle the nectar-wells that were meant for insects of quite different build.

The leaves of the petunia are so broadly ovate as to be almost lozenge-shape, especially the lower ones; they are soft, and have prominent veins on the lower side; they are without stipules, and have short flat petioles. The stems are soft and fuzzy and are usually decumbent at the base, except the central stems of a stool or clump which, though surrounded by kneeling sisters, seem to prefer to stand up straight.

The flower stems come off at the axils of the leaves, the lower flowers open first. The blossoms remain open about two days; at the first sign of fading, the lobes of the corolla droop dejectedly like a frill that has lost its starch, and finally the corolla--tube and all--drops off, leaving a little conical seed-capsule nestled snugly in the heart of the bell-shaped calyx. At this time, if this peaked cap of the seed-capsule be removed, the many seeds look like tiny white pearls set upon the fleshy, conical placenta. As the capsule ripens, it grows brown and glossy like glazed manila paper and it is nearly as thin; then it cracks precisely down its middle, and the seeds are spilled out at any stirring of the stems. The ripe seeds are dark brown, almost as fine as dust, and yet, when examined with a lens, they are seen to be exquisitely netted and pitted.

_References_--The Survival of the Unlike, L. H. Bailey; The Encyclopedia of Horticulture, Bailey; Our Garden Flowers, Harriet Keeler.

LESSON CLXIII

THE PETUNIA

_Leading thought_--The petunias have an interesting history being native to South America. Their flowers are fitted by form and mechanism to entice the hummingbird moths as visitors, and to use them for carrying pollen.

_Method_--The petunias are such determined bloomers that they give us flowers up to the time of killing frosts, and they are therefore good material for nature lessons. Each pupil should have a flower in hand to observe during the lesson, and should also have access to a petunia bed for observations on the habits of the plant.

_Observations_--1. What colors do you find in the petunia flowers? If striped or otherwise marked, what are the colors? Are the markings symmetrical and regular?

2. Sketch or describe a flower, looking into it. What is the shape of the corolla-lobes? How many lobes are there? How are they veined? What peculiar markings are at the throat of the flower?

3. What are the color and position of the stigma? How are the stamens arranged? How many anthers do you see? What is the color of the anthers? Of the pollen?

4. Sketch or describe the flower from the side. What is the shape of the corolla-tube? Is it smooth or fuzzy? How is it marked? What are the number and shape of the sepals, or lobes, of the calyx?

5. Study a freshly opened flower, and describe the position and appearance of the anthers and stigma. Do they remain in these relative positions after the flower is old?

6. Cut open a flower, slitting it along the upper side. Describe the stamens and how they are attached. Is the pistil attached in the same manner? Where is the nectar? Thrust a slender pencil or a toothpick into the tube of a fresh flower. Does this spread the anthers apart and move them around? When it is withdrawn, is there pollen on it? Can you see in your open flower the mechanism by which the pollen is dusted on the object thrust into the flower?

7. What insects have tongues sufficiently long to reach the nectar-well at the bottom of the petunia flower? At what time do these insects fly? At what time of day do most of the petunia flowers open? Visit the petunia beds in the twilight, and note whether there are any insects visiting them. What insects do you find visiting these flowers during the day?

8. Sketch or describe the leaves of the petunia. How do the leaves feel? Look at a leaf with a lens and note the fringe of hair along its edges. Describe the veining of the leaf.

9. Describe the petunia stems. Are they stout or slender? How do they feel? With what are they covered? Where do the flower stems come off the main stalk?

10. Describe or sketch a flower-bud just ready to open. How are the tips of the lobes folded? How long does the flower remain in bloom? What is the first sign of its fading?

11. Describe the seed-capsule. Where does it open? Are the seeds many or few, large or small? What is their color when ripe? When examined with a lens, have they any pits or markings?

THE HORSESHOE GERANIUM

_Teacher’s Story_

The geraniums perhaps do more to brighten the world than almost any other cultivated flowers. They will grow for every one, whether for the gardener in the conservatory of the rich, or in a tin can on the windowsill of the crowded tenement of the poor. And it is interesting to know that this common plant has a cultivated ancestry of two hundred years’ standing. These geraniums, which are really not geraniums botanically but are _pelargoniums_, originally came from southern Africa, and the two ancestors of our common bedding geraniums were introduced into England in 1710 and 1714.

The geranium is of special value to the teacher, since it is available for study at any season of the year, and has a most interesting blossom. The single-flowered varieties should be used for this lesson, since the blossoms that are double have lost their original form. Moreover, the geranium’s blossom is so simple that it is of special value as a subject for a beginning lesson in teaching the parts of a flower; and its leaves and stems may likewise be used for the first lessons in plant structure.

The stem is thick and fleshy, and is downy on the new growth; there is much food stored in these stems, which accounts for the readiness with which cuttings from them will grow. Wherever a leaf comes off the stem, it is guarded by two stipules at the base; these stipules often remain after the leaves have fallen, thus giving the stem an unkempt look. The leaves are of various shapes, although of one general pattern; they are circular and beautifully scalloped and lobed, with veins for every lobe radiating from the petiole; they are velvety above and of quite different texture beneath, and many show the dark horseshoe which gives the name to this variety. The petiole is usually long and stiff and the leaves are set alternately upon the stem.

Photo by Sheldon.

Note the positions of the opened flowers and the buds. Note
the shape of the two upper petals with their guide-lines,
showing the position of the nectar-gland. The flower at the
left, seen in profile, shows that these upper petals project
farther forward than those below. Note the cluster of young
buds set in a circlet of bracts just below this flower.
]

The flower has five petals, and at first glance they seem of much the same shape and position; but if we look at them carefully, we see that the upper two are much narrower at the base and project farther forward than do the lower three. Moreover, there are certain lines on these upper petals all pointing toward the center of the flower; these are the nectar guide-lines, and if we follow them we find a deep nectar-well just at the base of these upper petals and situated above the ovary of the flower. No other flower shows a prettier plan for guiding insects to the hidden sweets, and in none is there a more obvious and easily seen well of nectar. It extends almost the whole length of the flower stem, the nectar gland forming a hump near the base of the stem. If we thrust a needle down the whole length of this nectar tube we can see that this bright flower developed its nectar especially for some long-tongued insect, probably a butterfly. It is interesting to note that in the double geranium where the stamens have been all changed to petals and where, therefore, no seeds are formed, this nectar-well has been lost.

S, sepals; P, petals; A, anther; F, filament; m, pistil; St., stigma; N, opening to nectar tube.]

There are five sepals, the lower one being the largest. But the geranium is careless about the number of its stamens; most flowers are very good mathematicians, and if they have five sepals and five petals they are likely to have five or ten stamens. The geranium often shows seven anthers, but if we look carefully we may find ten stamens, three of them without anthers. But this is not always true; there are sometimes five anthers and two or three filaments without anthers. The color of the anthers differs with the variety of the flower. The stamens broaden below, and their bases are joined making a cup around the lower part of the ovary. The pistil is at the center of the flower and has no style, but at the summit divides into five long, curving stigmas; but again the geranium cannot be trusted to count, for sometimes there are seven or eight stigmas. Although many of our common varieties of geraniums have been bred so long that they have almost lost the habit of producing seed, yet we may often find in these single blossoms the ovary changed into the peculiar, long, beaklike pod, which shows the relationship of this plant to the cranesbill or wild geranium.

When the buds of the geranium first appear, all of them are nestled in a nest of protecting bracts, each bud being enclosed in its own protecting sepals. But soon each flower stem grows longer and droops and often the bracts at its base fall off; from this mass of drooping buds, the ones at the center of the cluster lift up and open their blossoms first. Often, when the outside flowers are in bloom, those at the center have withered petals but are hidden by their fresher sisters.

It would be well to say something to the pupils about those plants which have depended upon man so long for their planting that they do not develop any more seed for themselves. In connection with the geraniums, there should be a lesson on how to make cuttings and start their growth. The small side branches or the tips of the main stems may be used as cuttings. With a sharp knife make a cut straight across. Fill shallow boxes with sand, place them in a cool room and keep them constantly moist; plant the cuttings in these boxes, putting the stems for one-third of their length in the sand. After about a month the plants may be repotted in fertile soil. The fall is the best time to make cuttings.

LESSON CLXIV

THE HORSESHOE GERANIUM

_Leading thought_--The geraniums are very much prized as flowers for ornamental beds. Let us see why they are so valued.

_Method_--A variety of geranium with single flowers should be chosen for this purpose, and it may be studied in the schoolhouse window or in the garden. As the parts of this flower are of a very general type, it is an excellent one with which to teach the names and purposes of the flower parts. Each child can make a little drawing of the sepals, petals, stamens and pistil, and label them with the proper names.

_Observations_--1. What sort of a stem has the geranium? Is it smooth or downy? What makes the geranium stem look so rough and untidy?

2. Study the leaf. Show by description or drawing its shape, its wings, its veins. What are its colors and texture above? Beneath? Is the petiole long or short? What grows at the base of the petiole where it joins the stem? What marking is there on the leaf, which makes us call this a “horseshoe geranium?” Are there other geraniums with leaves of similar shape that have no horseshoe mark?

3. Study the flower. Are the petals all the same size and shape? How many of them are broad? How many narrow? Do the narrow ones project in front of the others? Do these have guide-lines upon them? Where do these lines point? Find the nectar-well, how deep is it? Does it extend almost the entire length of the flower stem? For what insects must it have been developed? Are there nectar-tubes in the stems of the geraniums with double flowers? Why?

4. How many sepals are there? Are they all the same size? Where is the largest?

5. How many stamens can you see? What is the color of the filaments and of the anthers? How are the stamens joined at their bases? Can you find any stamens without anthers?

6. Where is the pistil situated? Can you see the ovary, or seed-box? How many stigmas? Describe their color and shape.

7. In what part of the flower will the seeds be developed? How does the geranium fruit look? Sketch the pod. Do the geraniums develop many seeds? Why not? Do you know the seed-pod of the wild geranium? If so, compare it with the pod of this plant.

8. Take a flower cluster when the flowers are all in the bud, and note the following: When the buds first appear, what protects them? What becomes of these bracts later? How do the sepals protect the bud? Are the bud stems upright and stiff or drooping? How many buds are there in a cluster?

9. Take notes on successive days as follows: What happens to the stem as the bud gets ready to bloom? Is it a central or an outside blossom that opens first? How many new blossoms are there each day? How long is it from the time that the first bud opens until the last bud of the cluster blossoms? What has this to do with making the geranium a valuable ornamental plant?

10. Make some geranium cuttings, and note how they develop into new plants. Place one of the cuttings in a bottle of water and describe how its roots appear and grow.

* * * * *

“_God made the flowers to beautify
The earth, and cheer man’s careful mood;
And he is happiest who hath power
To gather wisdom from a flower,
And wake his heart in every hour
To pleasant gratitude._”
--WORDSWORTH.

“_Here are sweet peas on tip for a flight,
With wings of delicate flush o’er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things,
To bind them all about with tiny rings._”
--KEATS.
]

THE SWEET PEA

_Teacher’s Story_

Among the most attractive of the seeds which make up the treasure of the children’s seed packets, the sweet peas are of the prettiest. They are smooth, little white or brown globules, marked with a scar on the side, showing where they were attached to the pod. One of these peas divides readily into two sections; and after it has been soaked in water for twenty-four hours, the germ of the future plant may, with the aid of a lens, be seen within it. After planting, the sprout pushes through the seed-coat at a point very near the scar, and leaf shoots emerge from the same place; but the two act very differently. The leaf lifts upward toward the light, and the root plunges down into the soil. As the plant grows, it absorbs the food stored in the seed; but the seed remains below ground and does not lift itself into the air, as happens with the bean. The root forms many slender branches, near the tips of which may be seen the fringe of feeding roots, which take up the food and water from the soil. The first leaves of the pea seedling put forth no tendrils, but otherwise look like the later ones. The leaves grow alternately on the stalk, and they are compound, each having from three to seven leaflets. The petiole is winged, as is also the stem of the plant. There is a pair of large, clasping stipules at the base of each leaf. If we compare one of these leaves with a spray of tendrils, we can see that they resemble each other in the following points: The basal leaflets of the petiole are similar and the stipules are present in each case; but the leaflets nearest the tip are marvelously changed to little, stiff stems with a quirl at the tip of each ready to reach out and hook upon any object that offers surface to cling to. Sometimes we find a leaflet paired with a tendril. The sweet pea could not thrive without a support outside of itself.

Of course, the great upper petal of the sweet pea blossom is called the banner! It stands aloft and proclaims the sweet pea as open; but before this occurs, it tenderly enfolds all the inner part of the flower in the unopened bud, and when the flower fades it again performs this duty. The wings are also well named; for these two petals which hang like a peaked roof above the keel, seem like wings just ready to open in flight. The two lower petals are sewed together in one of Nature’s invisible seams, making a long, curved treasure chest resembling the keel of a boat, and it has thus been called. Within the keel are hidden the pistil and stamens. The ovary is long, pod-shaped and downy; from its tip the style projects, as strong as a wire, curving upwards, and covered with a brush of fine, white hairs; at the very tip of the style, and often projecting slightly from the keel, is the stigma. Around the sides and below the ovary and style, are nine stamens, their filaments broadening and uniting to make a white, silken tube about the ovary, or young pod. From the tip of this stamen-tube, each of the nine filaments disengages itself, and lying close to the style thrusts its anther up into the point of the keel, below the stigma. But strange to say, one lone, lorn stamen “flocks by itself” above the pistil, curving its anther up stigma-ward. If we touch the point of the keel with the finger, up fly--like a jack-in-the-box--the anthers splashing the finger with pollen; and if a bee, in her search for nectar, alights on the wings at the very base of the petals, up flies the pollen brush and daubs her with the yellow dust, which she may deposit on the stigma of another flower. The interesting part of this mechanism is the brush near the tip of the style below the stigma--a veritable broom, with splints all directed upward. As the pollen is discharged around it, the brush lifts it up when the keel is pressed down, and the stiff petals forming the keel, in springing back to place, scrape off the pollen and plaster it upon the visitor. But for all this elaborate mechanism, sweet peas, of all flowers, are the most difficult to cross-pollenate, since they are so likely to receive some of their own pollen during this process.

The sweet-pea bud droops, a tubular calyx with its five-pointed lobes forming a bell to protect it. Within the bud the banner petal clasps all in its protecting embrace.

After the petals fall, the young pod stands out from the calyx, the five lobes of which are recurved and remain until the pod is well grown. As the sweet pea ripens, all the moisture is lost and the pod becomes dry and hard; through the dampness of dews at night and the sun’s heat which warps it by day, finally each side of the pod suddenly coils into a spiral, flinging the seed many feet distant in different directions.

LESSON CLXV

THE SWEET PEA

_Leading thought_--The sweet pea has its leaflets changed to tendrils, which hold it to the trellis. Its flower is like that of the clover, the upper petal forming the banner, the two side petals the wings, and the two united lower petals the keel which protects the stamens and pistil.

_Method_--This should be a garden lesson. A study should be made of the peas before they are planted, and their germination carefully watched. Later, the method of climbing, the flower and the fruit should each be the subject of a lesson.

_Observations on germination_--1. Soak some sweet peas over night; split them the next morning. Can you see the little plant within?

2. Plant some of the soaked peas in cotton batting, which may be kept moist. At what point does the sprout break through the seed covering? Do the root and leaf-shoot emerge at the same place, or at different points? Which is the first to appear?

3. Plant some of the soaked peas in the garden. How do the young plants look when they first appear? Does the fleshy part of the seed remain a part of the plant and appear above the ground, as is the case with the bean? What becomes of the meat of the seed after growth has started?

4. Do the first leaves which unfold from the seed pea look like the later ones? Are the leaves simple or compound? Do they grow opposite each other or alternately?

5. Take a leaf and also a spray of the tendrils. How many leaflets are there in a compound leaf? Describe the petiole and the basal leaves. How far apart are the leaflets on the mid-stem? Compare the stem on which the tendrils grow with this leaf. Are the basal leaflets like those of the leaf? Is the petiole like that of the leaf? Do you think that the leaflets toward the tip of the stem often change to tendrils? Why do you think so? Why must the sweet pea have tendrils? Do you see the earlike stipules at the base of the leaf? Are there similar stipules at the base of the tendril stem?

_Observations on the flower and fruit_--1. Take the sweet pea in blossom. Why is the large upper petal called the banner? How does it compare in size with the other petals? What is its purpose when the flower is open? Why do you think the side petals are called wings? What is their position when the flower is open?

2. Describe that part of the flower below the wings. Do you think that it is made of two petals grown together? Why is it called the keel of the flower? Press down with your finger on the tip of the keel. What happens? Is your finger splashed with pollen? Where is the nectar in the sweet pea? Would an insect getting the nectar press down upon the keel and receive a splash of pollen?

3. Open the keel. How many stamens do you find within it? How many have their filaments joined together? Is there one separate from the others? Against what are the anthers pressed by the keel?

4. Remove the stamens and describe the pistil. Which part of this will make the pod in which the new peas will develop? Describe how the style is curved. How is the style covered near its tip? What is this brush for? Can you find the stigma with the help of the lens? When the bee is seeking for nectar and pushes down on the keel, does the stigma push out at the same point as the pollen? Does this enable the stigma sometimes to receive pollen which the bees bring from other flowers?

5. Describe an unopened flower bud. What is its position? How many lobes to the calyx? What is their shape, and how do they protect the bud? Which petal is folded over all the others? How does the position of the open flower differ from that of the bud?

6. How does the young pod look when the petals fall? How does it look when ripe? How does it open to scatter little, ripe sweet peas? Do the lobes of the sepals still remain with the pod?

THE CLOVERS

_Teacher’s Story_

“_Sweet by the roadside, sweet by the rills,
Sweet in the meadows, sweet on the hills,
Sweet in its wine, sweet in its red,
Oh, half of its sweetness cannot be said;
Sweet in its every living breath,
Sweetest, perhaps, at last, in death._”
--“A Song of Clover”, HELEN HUNT JACKSON.

Clover has for centuries been a most valuable forage crop; and for eons it has been the special partner of the bees, giving them honey for their service in carrying its pollen; and in recent years it has been discovered that it has also formed a mysterious and undoubtedly an ancient partnership with bacteria below ground, which, moreover, brings fertility to the soil. The making of a collection of the clovers of a region is a sure way of enlisting the pupils’ interest in these valuable plants. The species have some similarities and differences, which give opportunity for much observation in comparing them. There may be found in most localities the white and yellow sweet clovers, the black and spotted medics and their relative the alfalfa; while of the true clovers there are the red, the zigzag, the buffalo, the rabbit’s foot, the white, the alsike, the crimson, and two yellow or hop clovers.

Photo by G. F. Morgan.]

In all the clovers, those blossoms which are lowest, or on the outside of the head, blossom first, and all of them have upon their roots the little swellings, or nodules, which are the houses in which the beneficent bacteria grow.

If we pull up or dig out the roots of alfalfa, or of the true clovers or vetches, we find upon the rootlets little swellings which are called nodules, or root-tubercles. Although these tubercles look so uninteresting, no fairy story was ever more wonderful than is theirs. They are, in fact, the home of the clover brownies, which help the plants to do their work. Each nodule is a nestful of living beings, so small that it would take twenty-five thousand of them end to end to reach an inch; therefore, even a little swelling can hold many of these minute organisms, which are called bacteria. For many years people thought that these swellings were injurious to the roots of the clover, but now we know that the bacteria which live in them are simply underground partners of these plants. The clover roots give the bacteria homes and place to grow, and in return these are able to extract a very valuable chemical fertilizer from the air, and to change its form so that the clovers can absorb it. The name of this substance is nitrogen, and it makes up more than three-fourths of the air we breathe. Other plants are unable to take the nitrogen from the air and use it for food, but these little bacteria extract it from the air which fills every little space between every two grains of soil and then change it to a form which the clovers can use. After the clover crop is harvested, the roots remain in the ground, their little storehouses filled with this precious substance, and the soil falls heir to it.

_Yellow or hop clover. Buffalo clover. Rabbit-foot or pussy
clover._]

Nitrogen in the form of commercial fertilizer is the most expensive which the farmer has to buy. So when he plants clover or alfalfa on his land, he is bringing to the soil this expensive element of plant growth, and it costs him nothing. This is why a good farmer practices the rotation of crops and puts clover upon his land every three or four years.

Alfalfa is so dependent on its little underground partners, that it cannot grow without them; and so the farmer plants, with the alfalfa seed, some of the soil from an old alfalfa field, which is rich in these bacteria. On a farm I know, the bacterial soil gave out before all of the seed was planted; and when the crop was ready to cut it was easy to see just where the seed without the inoculated soil had been planted, for the plants that grew there were small and poor, while the remainder of the field showed a luxurious growth.

It is because of the great quantity of nitrogen absorbed from the air through the bacteria on its roots that the alfalfa is such a valuable fodder; for it contains the nitrogen which otherwise would have to be furnished to cattle in expensive grain or cotton-seed meal. The farmer who gives his stock alfalfa does not need to pay such large bills for grain. Other plants belonging to the same family as the clovers--like the vetches and cow-peas--also have bacteria on their roots. But each species of legume has its own species of bacteria; although in some cases soil inoculated with bacteria from one species of legume will grow it on roots of another species. Thus, the bacteria on the roots of sweet clover will grow on the roots of alfalfa and many farmers use the soil inoculated by sweet clover to start their alfalfa crops.

In addition to the enriching of the soil, clover roots, which penetrate very deeply, protect land from being washed away by freshets and heavy rains; and since clover foliage makes a thick carpet over the surface of the soil, it prevents evaporation and thus keeps the soil moist. Crimson clover is used extensively as a cover crop; it is sowed in the fall, especially where clean culture is practiced in orchards, and spreads its leaves above and its roots within the soil, keeping out weeds and protecting the land. In the spring it may be plowed under, and thus add again to the fertility. This is also an aesthetic crop, for a field of crimson clover in bloom is one of the most beautiful sights in our rural landscape.

Red clover has such deep florets that, of all our bees; only the bumblebees have sufficiently long tongues to reach the nectar. It is, therefore, dependent upon this bee for developing its seed, and the enlightened farmer of to-day looks upon the bumblebees as his best friends. The export of clover seed from the United States has sometimes reached the value of two million dollars per year, and this great industry can only be carried on with the aid of the bumblebee. There are sections of New York State where the growing of clover seed was once a most profitable business, but where now, owing to the dearth of bumblebees, no clover seed whatever is produced.

LESSON CLXVI

THE CLOVERS

_Leading thought_--The clovers enrich with nitrogen the soil in which they are planted. They are very valuable as food for stock; and their flowers are pollenated by bees.

_Method_--Each pupil should dig up a root of red clover or alfalfa to use for the lesson on the nodules. The flowers should be studied in the field, and also in detail in the schoolroom.

_Observations_--1. How many kinds of clover do you know? How many of the medics?

2. In all clovers, which flowers of the head blossom first, those on the lower or outside, or those on the upper or inside?

3. Take up a root of red clover or alfalfa, noting how deep it grows. Wash the root free from soil, and find the little swellings on it. Write the story of what these swellings do for the clover, and incidentally for the soil.

4. How must the soil be prepared so that alfalfa may grow successfully? What does the farmer gain by feeding alfalfa, and why?

5. How do clover roots protect the land from being washed by heavy rains?

6. How do clovers keep the soil moist? How does this aid the farmer?

7. What is a cover crop, and what are its uses?

8. Upon what insects does the red clover depend for carrying pollen? Can it produce seed without the aid of these valuable bees? Why not?

SWEET CLOVER

_Teacher’s Story_

In passing along the country roads, especially those which have suffered upheaval from the road machines, suddenly we are conscious of a perfume so sweet, so suggestive of honey and other delicate things, that we involuntarily stop to find its source. Close at hand we find this perfume laboratory in the blossoms of the sweet clover. It may be the species with white blossoms, or the one with yellow flowers, but the fragrance is the same. There stands the plant, lifting its beautiful blue-green foliage and its spikes of flowers for the enjoyment of the passer-by, while its roots are feeling their way down deep in the poor, hard soil, taking air and drainage with them and building, with the aid of their underground partners, nitrogen factories which will enrich the poverty-stricken earth, so that other plants may find nourishment in it.

Never was there such another beneficent weed as the sweet clover--beneficent alike to man, bee and soil. Usually we see it growing on soil so poor that it can only attain a height of from two to four feet; but if it once gets foothold on a generous soil, it rises majestically ten feet tall.

Like the true clover, its leaf has three leaflets, the middle one being longer and larger than the other two and separated from them by a naked midrib; the leaflets are long, oval in shape, with narrow, toothed edges, and they are dull, velvety green; the two stipules at the base of the leaf are little and pointed.

The blossoming of the sweet clover is a pretty story. The blossom stem, which comes from the axil of the leaf, is at first an inch or so long, packed closely with little, green buds having pointed tips. But as soon as the blossoming begins, the stem elongates, bringing the flowers farther apart--just as if the buds had been fastened to a rubber cord which had been stretched. The buds lower down open first; each day some of the flowers bloom, while those of the day before linger, and thus the blossom tide rises, little by little up the stalk. But the growing tip develops more and more buds, and thus the blossom story continues until long after the frosts have killed most other plants; finally the tip is white with blossoms, while the seeds developed from the first flowers on the plant have been perfected and scattered.

The blossom is very much like a diminutive sweet pea; the calyx is like a cup with five points to its rim, and is attached to the stalk by a short stem. The banner petal is larger than the wings and the keel. A lens shows the stamens united into two groups, with a threadlike pistil pushing out between; both stamens and pistil are covered by the keel, as in the pea blossom.

The flowers are beloved by bees and many other insects, which are attracted to them by their fragrance as well as by the white radiance of their blossoms. The ripened pod is well encased in the calyx at its base. The foliage of the sweet clover is fragrant, especially so when drying; it has been used for fodder. The sweet clovers came to us from Europe and are, in a measure, compensation for some of the other emigrant weeds which we wish had remained at home.

LESSON CLXVII

SWEET CLOVER

_Leading thought_--This beneficent plant grows in soil too poor for other plants to thrive in. It brings nitrogen and air into the soil, and thus makes it fertile so that other plants soon find in its vicinity nourishment for growth.

_Method_--Plants of the sweet clover with their roots may be brought to the schoolroom for study. The children should observe sweet clover in the field; its method of inflorescence, and the insects which visit it, should be noted.

_Observations_--1. What first makes you aware that you are near sweet clover? On what kinds of soil, and in what localities, does sweet clover abound?

2. Do you know how sweet clover growing in poor soils and waste places acts as a pioneer for other plants?

3. Dig up a sweet clover plant, and see how far its stems go into the soil.

4. How high does the plant grow? What is the color of its foliage?

5. Compare one of the leaves with the leaf of a red clover, and describe the likeness and the difference. Note especially the edges of the upper and the lower leaves, and also the stipules.

6. Describe the way the sweet clover blossoms. Do the lower or upper flowers open first? How does the flower stem look before it begins to blossom? What happens to it after the blossoming begins? How long will it continue to blossom?

7. Take a blossom and compare it with that of a sweet pea. Can you see the banner? The wings? The keel? Can you see if the stamens are united into two sets? Can you see the pistil? Note the shape of the calyx.

8. How many flowers are in blossom at a time? Does it make a mass of white to attract insects? In what other way does it attract insects? What insects do you find visiting it?

9. How do the ripened pods look?

* * * * *

“_The blooming wilds His gardens are; some cheering
Earth’s ugliest waste has felt that flowers bequeath,
And all the winds o’er summer hills careering
Sound softer for the sweetness that they breathe._”
--THERON BROWN.

THE WHITE CLOVER

_Teacher’s Story_

The sweet clover should be studied first, for after making this study it is easier to understand the blossoming of the white and the red clover. In the sweet clovers, the flowers are strung along the stalk but in the red, the white, and many others, it is as if the blossom stalk were telescoped, so that the flowers are all in one bunch, the tip of the stalk making the center of the clover head. We use the white clover in our lawns because of a peculiarity of its stem, which, instead of standing erect, lies flat on the ground, sending leaves and blossoms upward and thus making a thick carpet over the ground. The leaves are very pretty; and although they grow upon the stems alternately, they always manage to twist around so as to lift their three leaflets upward to the light. The three leaflets are nearly equal in size, with fine, even veins and toothed edges; and each has upon it, near the middle a pale, angular spot. The white clover, in common with other clovers, has the pretty habit of going to sleep at night. Botanists may object to this human term, but the great Linnæus first called it sleep, and we may be permitted to follow his example. Certainly the way the clover leaves fold at the middle, the three drawing near each other, looks like going to sleep, and is one of the things which even the little child will enjoy observing.

The clover head is made up of many little flowers; each one has a tubular calyx with five delicate points and a little stem to hold it up into the world. In shape, the corolla is much like that of the sweet pea, and each secretes nectar at its base. The outside blossoms open first; and as soon as open, the honey bees, which eagerly visit white clover wherever it is growing, begin at once their work of gathering nectar and carrying pollen; as soon as the florets are pollenated they wither and droop below the flower-head.

“Where I made One, turn down an empty Glass.”

Sings old Omar, and I always think of it when I see the turned-down florets of the white-clover blossom. But in this case the glass is not empty, but holds the maturing seed. This habit of the white clover flowers saves the bees much time, since only those which need pollenating are lifted upward to receive their visits. The length of time the little clover head requires for the maturing of its blossoms depends much upon the weather and upon the insect visitors.

White clover honey is in the opinion of many the most delicious honey made from any flowers except, perhaps, from orange blossoms. So valuable is the white clover as a honey plant, that apiarists often grow acres of it for their bees.

LESSON CLXVIII

THE WHITE CLOVER

_Leading thought_--The white clover has creeping stems. Its flowers depend upon the bees for their pollination, and the bees depend upon the white clover blossoms for honey.

_Method_--The plant may be brought into the schoolroom while in blossom, and its form be studied there. Observations as to the fertilization of the flowers should be made out-of-doors.

_Observations_--1. Where does the white clover grow? Why is it so valuable in lawns?

2. Note carefully the clover leaf, the shape of the three leaflets, stems, and edges. Is part of the leaflet lighter colored than the rest? If so, describe the shape. Are the leaflets unequal or equal in size? Does each leaf come directly from the root? Are they alternately arranged? Why do they seem to come from the upper side of the stem?

3. Note the behavior of the clover leaves at night. How do the two side leaflets act? The central leaflet? Do you think that this is because the plant is sleepy?

4. Take a white clover head, and note that it is made up of many little flowers. How many? Study one of the little flowers with a lens. Can you see its calyx? Its petals? Its stem? In what way is it similar to the blossom of the sweet pea?

5. Take a head of white clover which has not yet blossomed. Tie a string about its stem so that you may be sure you are observing the same flower and make the following observations during several days: Which blossoms begin to open first--those outside or inside? How many buds open each day? What happens to the blossoms as they fade? Of what use is this to the plant? How many days pass from the time the flowers begin to blossom until the last flower at the center opens?

6. What insects do you see working on the white clover blossoms? How does the bee act when collecting nectar? Can you see where she thrusts her tongue? What does the bee do for the clover blossom? What sort of honey does the white clover give to the bee?

7. Tie little bags of cheesecloth over two or three heads of white clover and see if they produce any seed.

* * * * *

“_Little flower; but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is._”
--TENNYSON.

* * * * *

“_To me the meanest flower that blows, can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears._”
--WORDSWORTH.

* * * * *

“_I know a place where the sun is like gold,
And the cherry blooms burst with snow,
And down underneath is the loveliest nook
Where the four leaf clovers grow._”
--ELLA HIGGINSON.

Photo by Arthur C. Parker. From Bulletin 144 of New York State Museum, “Iroquois uses of Maize and other Food Plants” by Arthur C. Parker.]

THE MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN

_Teacher’s Story_

“_Hail! Ha-wen-ni-yu! Listen with open ears to the words of
thy people. Continue to listen. We thank our mother earth
which sustains us. We thank the winds which have banished
disease. We thank He-no for rain. We thank the moon and stars
which give us light when the sun has gone to rest. We thank
the sun for warmth and light by day. Keep us from evil ways
that the sun may never hide his face from us for shame and
leave us in darkness. We thank thee that thou hast made our
corn to grow. Thou art our creator and our good ruler, thou
canst do no evil. Everything thou doest is for our happiness._”

Thus prayed the Iroquois Indians when the corn had ripened on the hills and valleys of New York State long before it was a state, and even before Columbus had turned his ambitious prows westward in quest of the Indies. Had he found the Indies with their wealth of fabrics and spices, he would have found there nothing so valuable to the world as has proved this golden treasure of ripened corn.

The origin of Indian corn, or maize, is shrouded in mystery. There is a plant which grows on the table-lands of Mexico, which is possibly the original species; but so long had maize been cultivated by the American Indians that it was thoroughly domesticated when America was first discovered. In those early days of American colonization, it is doubtful, says Professor John Fiske, if our forefathers could have remained here had it not been for Indian corn. No plowing, nor even clearing, was necessary for the successful raising of this grain. The trees were girdled, thus killing their tops to let in the sunlight; the rich earth was scratched a little with a primitive tool, and the seed put in and covered; and the plants that grew therefrom took care of themselves. If the pioneers had been obliged to depend alone upon the wheat and rye of Europe, which only grows under good tillage, they might have starved before they gained a foothold on our forest-covered shores.

THE CORN PLANT

In studying the maize it is well to keep in mind that a heavy wind is its worst enemy; such a wind will lay it low, and from such an injury it is difficult for the corn to recover and perfect its seed. Thus, the mechanism of the corn-stalk and leaf is adapted for prevention of this disaster. The corn-stalk is, practically, a strong cylinder with a pithy center, the fibres of the stalks are very strong, and at short intervals the stalk is strengthened by hard nodes, or joints, if the whole stalk were as hard as the nodes, it would be inelastic and break instead of bend; as it is, the stalk is very elastic and will bend far over before it breaks. The nodes are nearer each other at the bottom, thus giving strength to the base; they are farther apart at the top, where the wind strikes, and where the bending and bowing of the stalk is necessary.