is large at the bottom and pointed at the top.

Clover Leaves. 1. White; 2. Crimson; 3. Red.

There are other differences. Immediately below the flower of the Red Clover is a pair of leaves; the blossom is said to be "sessile" or seated on these leaves. Other leaves, and also other blossoms, grow on the same stem. Now look at the White Clover. The blossom grows on a stalk without any leaves or other blossoms on it--only the single blossom at the top of the stalk. The blossom of the Crimson Clover has leaves below it.

To-day we easily distinguish one clover from the others by the flowers. Supposing, however, that we looked at them some day before the flowers were out; what then? Are there any differences in the leaves? All three have leaves formed of three leaflets--they are trefoils--but the leaves are otherwise different.

Those of the Red Clover grow on stems branching from the flower stem, and sometimes on the flower stem itself. Both leaves and stems are hairy, and on the leaves there is generally a white mark, something the shape of a horseshoe.

The leaves of the White Clover grow, like the flower, at the top of the stem--a single leaf on each stem. The under sides of the leaves are smooth and glossy. The leaves of the Crimson Clover grow on the flower stems like those of the Red Clover; but the leaflets are broader and rounder than the Red Clover leaflets. The Crimson Clover is an annual, while the others are perennials.

All these clovers are good food for the farmer's animals or stock. The Red Clover is, perhaps, the most useful. Bees, however, prefer the White Clover, for they can more easily get at its nectar.

Sheep are exceedingly fond of Clover, but Mr. Hammond is always careful not to turn them into a field of Clover when they are very hungry, or to let them stray in by accident. If they got in they would eat it ravenously, and many would very likely die. Too hearty a meal of Clover has the same effect on them as a great quantity of new bread would have on you or me.

We have spent so much time this morning looking at the clovers that we have only a minute or two to stand at the gate of a field of beans. The blossoms are pretty--white with dark spots--and they are very fragrant. A field of beans in flower gives us one of the most delightful of all country scents.

CHAPTER VI

IN "ASHMEAD"

There are many other flowers besides the Clover in Ashmead to-day, and this afternoon we will look at some that grow among the grass. One of these you may perhaps call a weed, yet it is one of the most beautiful wild flowers in England. I mean the golden Dandelion.

On a lawn or in a garden bed it would certainly be a weed, and a very troublesome one. Here among the grass we need only think of it as a very lovely flower. See what a rich golden yellow the little florets of the blossom are. Plants like the Dandelion, in which the blossom is composed of a number of florets, are called "composite" plants.

If we examine the plant closely we shall find that each stalk which bears a blossom, and each long deeply indented leaf, grows, like the flower-stem and leaf of the Primrose, from a very short underground stem. It is from the indented leaves that the Dandelion gets its name. The leaves have something the appearance of the teeth of a lion. Now the French name for lion's tooth is dent de lion, and we English have corrupted this into dandelion.

Each flower-stem is round and, when we pull one, we see that it is a hollow tube. We bite a piece of the stalk as we did with the Clover blossom. What a difference! The Clover was quite sweet, but the Dandelion is very bitter. You may not like the taste perhaps, but the white milky-looking juice is quite wholesome. Dandelion tea and Dandelion beer are often made by country people, and the leaves give a pleasant flavour to a salad.

Shall we pull up a plant and examine the root? I am afraid we cannot, unless you care to go back to the house for a fork or a trowel. The Dandelion has a very long strong root--tap-root--which goes deep into the ground; and there is no tall main stem of which we can take hold--the leaves and flower stalks only break off in our hands.

Here is a stalk from which the flower has fallen, leaving only the seed. Of what does it remind you? Of the Traveller's Joy in autumn? Yes; the Dandelion has what is called a "pappus" attached to its seed, rather similar to the feathery tail of the Traveller's Joy. This makes the Dandelion a troublesome weed; the seeds are easily carried by the wind and, if a patch of dandelions is allowed to go to seed, it will produce fresh plants quite far away. Before the seeds are scattered each head is like a round white fluffy ball.

Here are daisies, with their dainty white florets often tinged with pink. In the centre of each blossom is a yellow spot. Every night the white florets fold up over the yellow centre, and do not open until the morning. This fact explains to us the Daisy's name; it is the Day's Eye which opens at dawn and shuts at night.

The Daisy is a little flower which everyone knows and loves, yet in the wrong place it is a weed. It is a perennial and it spreads very fast. Of course both perennials and annuals spread by means of their seed, but perennials also spread in other ways as well. We will see how the Daisy does this.

There; with my pocket knife I have easily dug up a plant. The root is small and compact, not long like that of the Dandelion. But, when I try to lift the Daisy plant from the grass, I find that it is still held down by a stout tough thread branching from the root. This thread is connected with another Daisy plant; from that one there is another thread connected with a third plant. When we have at last got our plant clear away from the ground, three more are hanging to it by these threads.

That is how the Daisy spreads; it throws out these thread-like shoots from the root, and from these grow another root and plant. I knew only too well what we should find; there are far too many daisies in my lawn at home, and I found out long ago the way in which they spread so fast. If daisies are allowed to increase in this way they form large clumps which smother and kill the grass. We notice that each flower-stem and each leaf of the Daisy springs from a very short underground stem, as those of the Dandelion do.

Bulbous Crowsfoot

Daisies and dandelions are plentiful in Ashmead, and so are the yellow buttercups. There are, however, not quite so many buttercups as you might think at first. The real name of what we call the Buttercup is the Bulbous Crowfoot, and there is also a Meadow Crowfoot in the field. A third crowfoot is the Corn Crowfoot. To-day we will notice one or two differences between the two plants we see here.

The blossoms of both plants have five smooth shining yellow petals. We see, however, that those of the Bulbous Crowfoot or Buttercup form a real cup, while the petals of the Meadow Crowfoot spread out almost flat. The Meadow Crowfoot grows two or three feet high; the Buttercup is a shorter plant.

The flowers are pretty, but that, I am afraid, is all that we can say for either of these plants. They are both of them bitter and unwholesome, and