w in pairs, and the small bare stalks which carry a flower
at their ends spring from the stem beside the leaves. The leaves are
sessile on the stem. Turning a leaf over we find that on its under side
are black or dark purple spots.

[Illustration: PIMPERNEL.]

The blossoms of the Pimpernel close up when rain is near, and it is
often called the Poor Man's Weatherglass. Sometimes, but very rarely, a
plant is found which has pink, or even pure white blossoms. There is
also a blue Pimpernel. Another Pimpernel is the Bog Pimpernel; but we
shall not find it in this dry field of corn, as you may guess by the
name.

One more flower we will look at, and then it will be time to leave our
corn-field and to search elsewhere. Growing on the hedgebank at the side
of the field is a pretty lilac-blue flower on a long bare stalk. It is
the Field Scabious.

The blossoms are in shape like a round ball very much flattened--like a
round pincushion. There are no large petals here, as with the Poppy, but
a great number of small florets. Those on the outer edge of the blossom
are larger than those inside. Each floret is a tiny tube or pipe.

The leaves are on separate stalks from those which bear the flowers, and
they grow in pairs. They are divided into several pairs of lobes, with a
single lobe at the end of each leaf. Some leaves grow from that part of
the stem which is underground, and these are larger than the others, and
are sometimes of a different shape. Both the leaves and the stem are
hairy.

CHAPTER XI

ON THE CHASE

We have now seen a good many Flowers of the Farm; we have found them in
the coppice, on the garden wall, and in the fields. To-day we will go a
little further off, three miles away.

You say, "Surely that is a long way off for the farmer to have a field."
It is not exactly a field. The Chase is a great open common or moor,
which belongs to the village or parish where Willow Farm is. Nearly all
the people of the village have certain rights of pasturage on it; they
may let their horses and cattle and sheep graze there. Every now and
then Mr. Hammond sends some of his sheep to the Chase to feed there for
a few weeks. It is very high dry ground, and that is good for sheep.

The road runs through the middle of the great common without any hedge
or fence on either side. There are horses and sheep and cattle here on
this May morning; donkeys too. All the sheep are marked, and we soon see
some which belong