Confidences | Page 2

every wind. The roots also must draw the
water and nourishment from the ground. You know when the rain
comes, it soaks into the ground and then when the plant needs water the
little roots suck it out of the ground just as you could draw lemonade
through a straw, for every root is supplied with many hair tubes that
serve as straws. These hair tubes often are so small we could not see
them without a microscope, but it is through these tiny tubes the plant
receives nearly all the water it uses.
Other members of the family, the leaves, are kept busy, for they must
do the breathing for the plant, as well as digest the food. You know
water is never quite free from mineral matter, so when the roots draw
up the water from the ground, they also draw up some mineral food for
the plant which is dissolved in the water. Before the plant can make use
of this food, it must be digested by the leaves, much the same as your
stomach must digest the food you eat. That is, it must change it into
another form. But in order that the leaves may do this, they must have
plenty of chlorophyll, which is the green coloring matter of the leaves.
This chlorophyll will grow in the leaves if they have plenty of sunlight,
and if it does not grow the leaves will not be able to digest the food and
the plant will starve. So you see how necessary it is for plants to have
plenty of sunshine, and why they lose their green color and then die if
they are kept away from the light. They really are starved to death.

* * * * *
Flowers are words Which even a babe may understand.
Bishop Coxe.
* * * * *
CHAPTER II

THE FLOWER BABIES
The flower itself has many parts, just as there are many parts to your
body. When the flower is a little bud, or baby, rocked by the breezes, it
is closely wrapped in a little green cloak. We call this cloak the calyx,
because when it opens it looks like a cup, and the word calyx means
cup. After the bud is grown, it opens its cloak and throws it back. Then
we see the pretty dress underneath. We call this dress the corolla.
Sometimes it is all in one piece, but often it is divided into several
leaf-like parts which we call petals.
If we look within the dress or corolla, we find the real body of the
flower, which is called the pistil. Its shape varies greatly in different
plants, but it always consists of two or three distinct parts. One of these
is the cradle for the seeds, and is called the ovary. At one end of the
ovary is usually a little tube leading down into it. This tube is called the
style, and the opening at the other end is called the stigma. Each ovary
or cradle contains one or more ovules which by and by will grow into
seeds. Just outside the pistil of a flower you usually will find a row of
slender, thread-like stalks, each bearing a soft, oblong body at the top,
falling out of which you will see a fine yellow powder called pollen. It
is a peculiar fact that these seeds never can grow into new plants unless
they are fertilized, that is, unless they receive some pollen. It is another
peculiar fact that although nearly every flower has this pollen growing
right near the little ovules, yet they cannot be fertilized with this pollen,
but must receive some from the flower of another plant family.
This pollen is carried from one plant to another by the wind or by the
bees and butterflies that come visiting in search of honey. In fact, the
flower coaxes the bees and butterflies to come so they may bring her
the pollen. Soon after the seed is fertilized it is ripe; that is, it is ready
to leave its cradle, the ovary. It is now ready to grow into a new plant.
But before it can grow it must be put into a little nest in the ground. But
the poor plant is so helpless that she is unable to prepare this nest
herself, so all she can do is to scatter her seed babies out on the ground
and hope some one will take pity on them and make a nice nest for
them. Sometimes the wind helps her by blowing some dirt and dead

leaves over them, for you know the seeds cannot grow unless they are
covered nice and warm. Sometimes the children and grown people help
her by preparing a nice flower-bed.
For a