Page:Scouting for girls, adapted from Girl guiding.djvu/122

108 The common trees which a Scout should know by sight are:

Chestnut Chestnut
 * Oak
 * Elm
 * Plane
 * Cedar
 * Fir
 * Poplar
 * Pine
 * Sycamore
 * Larch
 * Willow
 * Holly
 * Horse
 * Ash
 * Lime
 * Beech
 * Birch
 * Spanish
 * Walnut

Flowers.—Flowers, of course, interest girls as much as any kind of plant, because they are easily cultivated, and every Scout ought to know the names of most of the common flowers and to understand how they live and how they ought to be treated; when to plant them and when to expect them coming up; and how they produce their seed and how they send it about and re-plant themselves in different parts near them.

For instance, if you have a magnifying glass you can examine a dandelion seed with it. Few things are more beautiful. It is much the same as a thistle seed, tucked away cleverly till it is ripe, and it all opens into a delicate feathery kind of parachute each carrying a seed. This blows about with the wind many miles before it actually falls to the ground and there sows itself.

Most flowers seem to have the wish to scatter their seed far away from them. Even the modest little violet sows its seed out of a little boat-shaped pod with great force and a loud report to a distance of some three feet; and so does the iris, the pansy, the wall-flower, and many others. Many flowers and plants produce berries and fruits which are good to eat, others produce those that are poisonous; and a Scout should know which are which, since when you