Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-07-02
HOW TO STUDY BOTANY.

The First Thing TO DO Is to learn tho
Names of Common wild Flowers.
Most young people find botany duh
study. So it is, as taught from the text
books in the schools, but study it your
self in the fields and woods and you
will find II a source of perennial de
light. Find your flower and then name
it by the aid of the botany. There is
so much in a name. To find out what
a thing is called is a great help. 1t is
the beginning of knowledge; it is the
first step.
When we see a new person who in
terests us we wish to know his or her
name. A bird, flower a place-the
first thing we wish to know about it is
its name. It's name helps us to classify
it; it gives us a handle to grasp it by;
it sheds ray of light where all before
was dark. AS soon as we know the
name of thing we seem to have es-
tablished some sort of relation with it,
The other day, while the train was
delayed by an accident, wandered a
few yards away from it along the river
margin seeking wild flowers. Should
find any whose name did not knowl
While thus lettering a young English
girl also left the train and came in my
direction. plucking the flowers right
and left as she came But they were
all unknown to her. She did not know
the name of one of them, and she
wished to send them home to her fa-
ther too. With what satisfaction she
heard the nalnes The words seemed
to be full of meaning to her, though
she had never heard them before in her
life 1t was what she wanted. 1t was
an introduction to the flowers, and her
interest in them increased at once.
That orange colored flower whish
you just plucked from the edge of the
water, that is our jewel weed, said.
1T looks like jewel, she replied
you have nothing like it in Eng
land, or did not have till lately; but l
hear it is now appearing along certain
English streams, having been brought
from this country"
And what is thisG" she inquired,
holding up a blue flower with very
bristly leaf and stalk.
THAT is vipers bugloss or blueweed,
plant from your side of the water,
one that is making itself thoroughly at
home along the Hudson and in the val
leys of some of it's tributaries among
the Catskills. 1t is rough, hardy
weed, but it's flower, with its long, con-
spicuous purple stamens and blue
corolla, as you see, is very pretty.
Here is another emigrant from across
the Atlantic" said, holding up clus-
ter of small white flowers each mounted
upon a little inflated brown bag or bal
loon-the bladder canpion. ut also |
runs riot in some of our fields as l ann
sure you will not see it at home She
went on filling her hands with flowers,
and | gave her the names of each
sweet clover or melilotus, probably a
native plant, vervain Goreign), purple
loosestrife foreign), toad flax foreign),
chelone, or turtle head, a native, and
the purple mimulus or monkey flower,
also a native. 1t was a likely place for
the cardinal flower, but l could not
find any. wanted this hearty English
girl to see one of our native wild how-
ers, so intense in color that it would
fairly make her eyes water to gaze
upon it.
Just then the whistle of the engine
summoned us all aboard, and in a mo-
ment we were off.-John Burroughs in
st. Nicholas.