Rock Island Argus., 1915-07-09
CoMPANIONsHIP WITH FLOWERS

'FIeur- -de-Iis' The iris, or blue flag,
is really meant when one speaks of the
lily of France. The iris is a plant
that insures its life. In its large root
stock it lays up endowment insurance
in the days Of plenty, SO that when the
earth is chill, cold and inhOspitable
its savings will provide against need.
The great bindweed, q first cousin
to the morning glory. is a hobo among
flowers 1t has travelled up and down
the lanes Of world trade for centur-
les, until it has come to claim most
Of the northern hemisphere for its
abiding place. It loves wayside hedges
and thickets, where 1t climbs over
everything in its fight for the survival
of the ftCest; but it knows no JOY
greater than getting into cOrnfeld,
where it can use the stalks as a nature
built trellis for its wanderings. It
flowers from June until September. 1t
keeps solid hours, getting up with the
rising sun and going TO bed when the
sun goes down, except on moonlight
nights, when it keeps open house for
the benefit OF certain moths that are
! its especial friends.
The wild pink, of CatchHy, dwelier
on dry gravelIy or sandy soil. giving
color to many lonesome places from
April to June with its delicate pink
+ petals, is among those flowers who be
lieve in taking no chances when it
comes to the question Of fertilization
The wild pinks have developed two
sets of stamens, one above the other,
so that If one misses the transfer Of its
pollen, the other is likely to supply
the resulting deficiency. The wild
pink finds its cupboard Of sweets a
/ fair mark for many tiny insects that
are large enough to drain its cup Of
nectar and yet too small to bear away
the flowers pollen to some distant
mate. So it has provided an effective
lock and keey TO its pantry This lock
and key is q gummy, viscid fluid that
| the pink secrets and spreads round the
sticky stem below the flower. No fly
that ever alighted upon q piece OF
/ man-made fly paper was more Ger
tainly and surely brought to an uu-
timely end than the ant that essays
| to sip the nectar of the wild pink
Thus we can see that the fly paper idea
is not mans invention at all, but an
| idea borrowed from a flower.
Fighting her way across the Ameri-
| can continent, black-eyed Susan has
proven the master of the allied forces
of man and nature. IN the competition
Of life she has been able TO make a
home wherever she sets her foot, and
neither the rivalries Of the field nor
the laws and labors of man have been
able to hold her in check. Black-eyed
Susan loves dry fields and open, sun
ny places. It's Towering season Is
long, from May until September It
| is one Of the few vagrants that has
Travelled from the west to the east. In
years gone by much clover seed was
shipped out of the west, and black
eyed Susan hoboed her way along with
| it. Most Of the weeds of the field have
followed the star Of empire. from the
east to the west, but black-eyed Susan
has reversed the progress. and she has
now secured a foothold in and is fight
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Europe.
Among the truly wild flowers, two
! that ask man Only to be let alone in
their native Businesses, are the May
flower, or trailing arbutus. and the
twin berry, OF partridge berry, the
last named q member of the madder
family, and q distant relative of the
coffee tree. The Mayflower is widest
and shyest Of all. No more is the
| eagle at home in the farmyard or
the cardinal IN the cage than the May
| flower in the garden. As the impris-
oned cardinal pines away and dies
when the gilded bars of a bird cage
| separate it from its liberty, so the
/ Mayfower sickens and withers away
/ in the garden.
! The moth mullen for many a year
has been a rural moth ball. It is a
member Of the figwort family Among
its relatives are the great mulEein, the
t blue toad-fiax. the small snap dragon,
/ the turtle head. the beard tongue,
/ the monkey flower, the lousewort and
/ the COW wheat. The country dwelling
house wife uses its leaves in packing
away woolen garments Of winter to
keep out the tiny cloth moths Of sum-