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Page 79
* * * * *
LESSON XLI.
veg e ta'tion, _every thing that grows out of the ground_.
meth'od, _way; manner_.
ta'per ing, _growing smaller toward the end_.
men'tioned, _spoken of_.
struct'ure, _arrangement of parts; a building of any kind_.
marsh'y, _wet_.
swamp, _low ground filled with water_.
sprung, _started; begun_.
* * * * *
SOMETHING ABOUT PLANTS.
The name plant belongs in a general way to all vegetation, from the
tiniest spear of grass or creeping flower one sees on the rocks by the
brook-side, to the largest and tallest of forest trees.
Plants are divided into numerous groups of families, and the study of
the many species belonging to each family, is very interesting.
There are thousands of kinds of grasses, shrubs, and trees, scattered
over the different parts of the earth, and the larger portion of them
are in some way useful to mankind.
In speaking of grasses, we are apt to think only of the grass in the
meadows, which is the food for our horses and cattle; but there are
other kinds of grasses which are just as important to man as the grass
of the meadow is to the beast. These are oats, rye, barley, wheat, corn,
and others, all of which belong to the grass family.
Perhaps it appears strange to you to hear wheat and corn called grass,
and you ask how can that be.
In the first place, all plants that have the same general form and
method of growth, belong to the same family.
Now, if you will pull up a stalk of grass and a stalk of wheat or rye
and compare them, you will find that they are alike in all important
respects.
The roots of each look like a little bundle of strings or fibers, and
are therefore called fibrous; the stalks you will find jointed and
hollow; and the leaves are long and narrow, tapering to a point at their
ends.
Then, if you examine the seeds, you will see that they are placed near
together and form what we call an ear or head, as in an ear of corn, or
a head of wheat.
This same general form or structure applies to every one of the plants
belonging to the grass family; and in this family are included all the
different kinds of canes and reeds that grow in swamps and marshy
places, as well as the bamboo of the tropics.
Shrubs are those plants which have woody stems and branches. They are
generally of small size, rarely reaching over twenty feet in height.
Small shrubs are usually called bushes.
In this class of plants, the branches generally start close to the
ground, and in some cases, a little below the surface of the ground,
rising and spreading out in all directions.
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