found. The brown dust of ferns consists of the spores which in these lower plants serve the purposes of seeds. 1. Oh, the little flax flower! And be the breeze awake or 'sleep It never standeth still; It groweth, and it groweth fast; And then a little grassy blade Scarce better than a weed; But then out comes the flax flower, And "'Tis a dainty little thing," 2. Ah! 'tis a goodly little thing; He thinketh how those slender stems Are rich for him in web and woof, He thinketh how those slender flowers And sees in thought his next year's crop 3. Oh, the little flax flower! The mother then says she, "Go, pull the thyme, the heath, the fern, There are flowers enough upon the hill, But leave the flax alone! 4. Oh, the goodly flax flower! And be the breeze awake or 'sleep It seemeth all astir with life As if it loved to thrive, Within its stem alive. Then fair befall the flax field, And may the kindly showers 1. The same food would not suit all nations, because different degrees of heat and cold have such an influence on the human body, as to make different kinds of food necessary in different parts of the earth. 2. In most countries in temperate climes the staple food is wheaten bread. A wheat field when the young plant is first springing up looks much like a field of grass. Wheat has a fibrous root and blade-like leaves, but the hollow knotted stem grows much taller than that of ordinary grass. On the top of each stem is an ear, which at first is a green flower, and afterwards the full fruit or grain. 3. The hard dry grains are threshed to get away the husks or chaff surrounding them; the grain RICE. & then being ground in a mill, the inner white portion yields flour, and the outer coat bran. The stems are useful as straw. 4. In some far Eastern countries the "staff of life' is not wheaten bread, but rice. The rice plant is a species of grass, whose grains grow in clusters very much like our graceful dancing oats. As the plant grows best in very moist soils, lowlying lands subject to floods are preferred for its cultivation. Rice fields are called paddy fields. The rice is generally rubbed between flat stones instead of being threshed to remove its yellow husks. Rice forms the staple food of the people of India, China and Japan. It contains little fat, and is easily digested, but the people have to eat large quantities of it. 5. When the Pilgrims came to America the Indians taught them how to cultivate Indian corn or maize. They found it a most strengthening AN EAR OF MAIZE, A CROSS- SIZE. MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN. food. There are many varieties of corn: fodder corn grows the largest; sweet corn is cultivated |