P35 (7812) Spring- Jack in the Pulpit

7812 Spring-Jack in the Pulpit How straight Jack-in-the-pulpit stands. All about him are the dead leaves that fell from the trres last fall. By that we know that Jack likes a shady place. He likes to to grow where the ground is wet. But sometimes we can find him growing on a dry hillside that is shaded by trees. Jack has a striped hood to cover his head. This hood is not the real flower. The hood hides the flowers. These grow around Jack's one leg like berries. We cannot see them unless we open the hood. Jack's leaves are large. Each leaf has three parts. The first year the plant has only one leaf and no flower. SOmetimes it takes three years before a plant has a flower. Some of the flowers are green inside. Others are purple. It is in May that we can find Jack as he is this picture. After a while his hood will fall away. Then we can see a bunch of green shining berries. These berries were made by the flowers Jack had inside his hood. In August these berries turn bright red. Jack-in-the-pulpit has another name. It is Indian turnip. The Indians dug up the root of this plant. They cooked it and ate it. It tasts like pepper before it is cooked. Look for Jack in the woods. Perhaps you can dig him up and plant him in a shady spot. Then you can watch what happens to him. Copyright The Keystone View Co.

P36 (7830) Fall-Bursting Milkweed Pods and Thistles / Seeds Carried by the Wind

7830 Seeds Carried by the Wind What is that floating in the air? Is it a fairy balloon? It has white, silky threads fastened to a little brown seed. It is not a fairy balloon at all, but a seed balloon flying about. Teh same wind that does so much for us carries these seeds. After a time they drop to the ground. If the soil is right and they are eaten by some squirrel, or mouse, or bird, perhaps in the spring they will sprout and make new plants. Milkweed and thisle seeds have silky down so that the wind can lift them and carry them along. You blow off the seeds of a dandelion to see if your mother wants you. They, too, have wings and the wind catches themand takes them to a new home. It cannot carry seeds far unless they have some kind of wings. Maple and pine seeds have wings, but not silky ones. Some birds use the silky down of the milkweed and thistle for the linning of their nests. Other plants have seeds that grow in pods. One is the snapdragon. These seeds have no wings. When the pod opens it pops so hard the seeds are shoot some feet away from the plant where they grew. So you see they, too, go on a journey even if the wind cannot carry them. Copyright The Keystone View Co.

P37 (11428) Fall-Making Hallowe'en Jack-o'-Lanterns / Getting Ready for Halloween

11428 Getting Ready for Halloween All over our country farmers plant corn. Much of this is used to fatten cattle or pigs. Much is ground and made into meal for people to eat. Often, among the rows of corn, farmers plant pumpkins. When these pumpkin are ripe many are fed to the stock. Many are used for pumpkin pies. Boys and girls like these. But they like better to use pumpkins for something else. Can you guess what? Why, Jack-o'-lanterns, of course. Do Jack-o'-lanterns make you think of halloween? This comes every year on the last day of October. The pumpkins are always yellow by that time. These children asked a farmer if they might go to his field and pick some pumpkins. He said "yes," for he knew all about Halloweena nd Jack-o'-lanterns and children. Besides, he had plenty of pumpkins. They will cut a piece from the top of each for a cover. They will scrape out the seeds and soft insides. Then they will cut funny faces in the shells of the pumpkin and stick a candle in each. The Jack-o'-lanterns will be done. On Halloween night the children will light them and carry them from house to house to let people look at them. Copyright The Keystone View Co.

P38 (16327) Market Day in a Snowstorm, Quebec, Canada

 

16327 Market Day in a Snowstorm, Quebec, Canada About four hundred years ago, a Frenchman named Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River. He was hunting for a western passage from France to China and India. An Indian village was in the place where Quebec now stands. Nearly seventy-five years later another Franchman,amed Champlain, sailed up the St. Lawrence. He, too, saw the place where the Indian village had been. He thought it a fine place to build a town. At the foot of some cliffs his men cut down the trees. They built three houses and made a garden. This was the beginning of Quebec. Where Champlain made his log buildings is now the great Champlain market. Here the country people bring their goods to sell - flowers vegetables, fruits, berries, butter, cheese, eggs, pigs, calves, lambs and fowls. In the summer they come in carts, wagons, and boats; in winter in all sorts of sleighs. For in winter in Quebec the snow is many feet deep for months. It is very cold, too. They do not bring fresh vegetables any more. On some of the sleighs you will see rabbits or pieces of venison frozen solid, or maybe a load of frozen calves or pigs, or milk in frozen white cakes to be cut up in pieces and sold by the pound. Copyright The Keystone View Co.

P39 (13733) Deep Snow Drifts in New England

13733 Deep Snow Drifts in New England Play that you live in the country on a farm. Where you live there is much snow in the winter. One morning early the flakes began to fall. It snowed all day and part of the night. A foot and a half of snow fell. You thought it fun. You went out to the barn with your father to feed the stock and waded through the snow to get there. You went to the henhouse and fed the hens for your mother. You waded through the snow to get there. Late in the afternoon you filled the woodboxes heaping full of wood for the stoves.-fine split wood for the kitchen stove and chunks for the others. Father had said,"It is growing cold and the wind is coming up. It will stop snowing soon and the wind will make the snow drift." He was right. Next morning it was clear and cold. The wind had stopped blowing. But the road by the stone wall was covered deep with snow. No horses could travel on it. You could not get to school until the road was dug out. Your father has started digging. You are going to help him. All the neighbors are digging too. They will shovel out the deepest drifts and break out the rest of the road with oxen. Maybe tomorrow you can get to school. Copyright The Keystone View Co.