Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-04-21

open their lovely sepals, pale lavendar
pink or white. These give place to small
heads of fruit each in its three-leaved cup
and lastly the hairy new leaves will com,
into sight. There is something fascinat
ing in this cycle of life. One should no
throw away the plant but should set it GU
in damp and shady place where it vii
live and be pretty for many spring Il
come
If one cannot get Hepaticas, willow
branches will develop their pussies, pop
lars will wave their tassels and hazels will
soften their hard pendants which have
withstood the cold Of winter, and vii
shower their pollen on the minute scarle
plstils that come from remote BUDS to re-
ceive l.. 1t is luxury to watch the life
coming into the apparently dead twig:
under the genial warmth of the school
room, and the moisture from the glass OF
water into which the broken stems have
been placed.
When the buds begin to burst and the
flowers bloom outside, then the school
room should be as full of cheer as all
nature is. There is such a world to see
and so short time to see it in. Look and
admire, wonder and exclaim, speculate and
enquire, but don't teach, don't teach the
children a thing. When they ask,
answer by all means. if you can. If they
want names for the plants and you can't
give them, let the children invent appro-
pirate ones. But say again don't try to
teach single fact-let the facts alone,
they'll teach themselves Converse, show
relations, make comparison, describe
habitats and uses. But above all, attract
the children to the world of beauty in each
new flower by allowing it to tighten up
your own countenance and excite yourself
10 admiration. We must all be learners
ourselves, watching closely, seeing all we
can. The children will notice us examjn-
ing the plants as though we loved them
and then we have begun Our success, for
interest is contagious. Without speaking
a word, | have caused the toughest,
coarsest and least impressionable boy to
examine a flower attentlvely by simply
going repeatedly to it and looking at it
with interest myself.
Material is not lacking. If there is a
rocky hill with south or west slope, al
most as soon as the snow is gone, the
Pasque flower is seen wumly wrapped
in ms gray pea jacket which some bright
day he will open and disclose its delicate
lavender lining lying next his golden
heart Blossom first, leaves next then the
big head Of long tailed achenia for fruit
is the order of things here the saole
that we saw in the Hepatica? Damp
open woods will furnish both wood and
rue anemones or wind flowers The for
mer is not half appreciated because its
modest, blushing little doHncast face is
nearl y hidden in the big spreading in
volcure. The slender root-stock at right
angles to the stem Is worth seeing as are
the fascicled roots ofthe other plant. If
the woods are very damp they may pro-
duce false rue anemones Usopyrum)
which strongly resembles the rue anemone
but is far prettier and more graceful. Its
roots are long and matted and covered
with queer little nodules. These all be-
long to the great Crowfoot family that al
ways moves on the first of May.
The comparison of the different kinds
of violets would make an hour 60 pleasant
ly as in many localities it is possible to
get without difficulty half-dozen species.
Perhaps some one may be lucky and find
dogtooth violets which, of course, are not
violets at all but beautiful little lilies,
each single blossom hanging gracefully on
a stem that rises from between two broad,
glossy green leaves, sometimes blotched
with purple. The flower may be blush
white or yellow; in the former case the
leaves ought to be green, in the latter they
may be mottled. As a matter of fact,
both species disobey orders and frequently
have spotted leaves and the yellow adder s
tongue sports those Of immaculate green
1t is from deep bulb that this bit of roy
atty comes and it sadly objects to being
torn from its chosen home. Nothing re-
pays study better than the Dutchman' s
Brooches. Now we would rebel and call
that most pure and del cate thing the
squirrel cora if Mr.. Gray had not been so
unkind as to restrict the latter name to a
species we are not SO apt to find. But it
is interesting in its scaly bulbs, its many
divided leaves, its two minute sepals, its
peculiar petals-why, one can keep child
rem talking for days about its coarser and
more snowy relative, the bleeding. heart.
Is the soil dry and inclined to be sandy
Then buttercups Of several species, gay yell
low puccoons and the long purple spikes
of the wild lupine are available. Proba.
bly, the brilliant painted cup will make
whole fields scarlet or yellow, for to spite
the botanists this wild Indian warrior, as
we used to call it persists in some locali-
ties in being totally and irrevocably yell
low. This last pant is apt to favor
swampy places or low meadows though it
is not particular if it has plenty of sun.
With it, can usually be found one or more
verieties of the lady's slipper, too we'll
known to need praise One could with
out difficulty make list of fifty species Of
attractive Towering plants that are avail
able in almost any locality before the
middle of June. But there is little ad-
vantage in that. 1t is not SO much what
we use to bring about the thing we
wish as that we use something. We
ought to refuse nothing however insigni6-
cant; some of the most interesting of early
plants are the least attractive at first
glance. Moreover if the plant, weed
though it be, is brought by pupil it
shows that we are accomplishing the very
thing for which we strive, the lnculcation
of the habit of observation.
TO BE A BELLE. .aas
How the Pretty Curved Lines of a French