e for their loss to the world? Truly not.

In all the open places near cities, where flowers would delight the
greatest number of eyes and hearts, there are no flowers, and this
because those who went first had no respect for the flowers themselves
or for the rights of those who came after.

Not only should the child learn to exercise judgment in gathering
flowers, but he should also learn how to gather them properly. If the
arbutus had not been carelessly torn up by the roots and trampled on, it
would have yielded its whole tribute of blossoms year after year without
disappearing. If the arbutus-gatherers, knowing the nature of the
treasure they were gathering, had gone armed with scissors and had
clipped the blossoming ends without other injury to the plant, at the
same time taking care not to trample it, the banks would still have been
clad in beauty.

VII

THE FERTILIZATION OF THE FLOWER

As a preparation for this work, let the children notice the flower-dust
or pollen that shakes out of the flowers or is seen clinging to the
anthers.

[Illustration: BEE--SHOWING POLLEN-BASKET]

The child presently discovers where the pollen comes from. It is hidden
in the anthers. He can hunt in all the flowers to find these little
pollen-boxes, some of which, as in the goldenrods, are so small that he
will have hard work to find them, even though they shed such clouds of
pollen. He can notice the different kinds of stamens, see how some have
long stems or filaments, others short ones, others again none at all.
The filament is of no other use than to hold up the anther. The anther
with its pollen is the important thing; so there may be useful stamens
with no filaments, but never useful stamens with no anthers.

The amount of pollen in the flowers is always astonishing and
interesting. Why should there be so much?

That the bee gathers honey from the blossoms is one of the earliest
things the child learns. Just whereabouts in the flower-cup, and just
how the bee finds this honey, how it carries it home, where and how and
why it stores it in the hive, is one of the most fascinating of stories,
as good as a fairy tale. In connection with this comes very naturally
the story of the bees and the pollen. The child will be delighted to
learn that the bees collect pollen as well as honey; that the honey bees
and bumble-bees have baskets on their legs on purpose to carry it home;
that they knead it up with honey and make i