The Wall Flower

 A perfect posy in your mien,
A perfect in your acts;
When you attract by golden preen,
You always keep your pacts.

        If you wish to study a flower that looks like a party and smells like a party, just take a wild Wall Flower. Mrs. Bee and all the Bug Brothers know it tastes like a party.

       The one I am looking at is a rich golden color. Some come a paler gold; some come as light as the canary; some come as dark as an orange. They all make this wonderful honey.

       The flower has such a strong fragrance that you can smell it far away from the flower bed. Yet the fragrance is so fresh and clean-smelling that you can stand right among the Wall Flowers and draw in deep breaths of their sweetness and not grow faint.

       If we can smell the honey far away, you may be sure Mrs. Bee can smell it still farther. We do not have to get our food by smelling for it. So our nose is not well trained.

       But Mrs. Bee has no grocery store to buy food from. She has to collect food to put in her store, the hive. She has to go to the wilds of Nature to seek food to carry home to the hive. So her nose is well trained.

       Imagine her some sunny morning when she got up too late and felt a little cross. Nothing suited her. She started on her day's work all grumpy. Oh, children, it is a good thing for you that you

did not meet Mrs. Bee that morning. I tremble to think of what might have happened if you had got in her way.

       The sunshine warmed her wings. She began to feel a little more spry. She moved a tiny bit faster. She circled a hill.

       "What!" She held herself still in midair.

       "What is that sweet, sweet smell coming around the hill. I must speed to it."

       Grumpish no longer. Forgotten is her crossness. Off she speeds. If she were an automobile on our streets, the Traffic Officer would arrest her. But, luckily for Mrs. Bee there are no streets laid out yet in the air.

       She does not look down at the Buttercup nor at the Baby-Blue-Eyes. They can set out dishes of good honey. But no party of theirs ever smelled so sweet as this feast that is ahead of her.

       Over the wild Wall Flower bed she pauses. It seems too good to be true. A wonderful color with a wonderful smell. Down she slides on a sunbeam and slips into the nearest blossom.

       Just listen to her joy. The taste is wonderful, too, and there is lots of it to taste.

       Look at the Wall Flower and see how beautiful it is. The golden corolla is made up of four petals. They are set to make a cross. They are not satiny like the four petals of Poppy. They look like soft velvet. See the little honey paths leading down to their party dishes. Pull out a petal. See how it narrows into a claw to fit into the calyx. Is the claw as velvety as is the blade that spreads out above? Are the honey bowls on the petals?

       Why, where are they? Look. They are as easy for you to find as for Mrs. Bee.

       Look at the calyx. It has four sepals. See that all four of them are not the same shape. Two of them swell out at the bottom. That makes a good cup to hold the flower in. Do the sepals fall off as early as do those of Poppy and Cream-Cup?

       Now count the stamens. Have any of the other flowers you have studied had six stamens? There is something odd about the stamens of wild Wall Flower and all the members of her family. They all have six stamens. All the stamens are not the same length. Most flowers have all their stamens the same length. Wall Flower has four long stamens and two short ones. All her family has.

       Her family name is no harder for you than automobile. You do not think that a hard word do you? Because her family arranged their four petals in the shape of a cross, they are called Cruciferae. That means "cross bearing."

       A good reason for knowing this name is so manyof this family live right around you. You learn the family names of your boy and girl playmates, do you not? You learn it whether it is as easy as Smith or as long as Shaughnessy. No boy or girl's name is too hard for you to learn. So, let's learn the family name Cruciferae and see which members of the family live near us.

       We can tell them by their cross. Some have a white cross. The lovely Spring Blossom is one. It comes out very early after the rains. First it hides under the bushes, as if it were afraid. Then, it comes right out on the open hillside and grows stronger. The Water Cress is white, and the Shepherd's Purse and the Pepper Grass. The Mustard is yellow. The Radish is pink.

       Those two good vegetables that help make you strong, the Cabbage and the Cauliflower, belong to the family. Just look around on your way home from school. If you live in the country, you will find many different ones. If you are in the city, some are sure to have a setting in the edge of the sidewalks.

       Some grow tall; some will be small. You will know them by the cross of their corolla. All will have the six stamens, four long and two short. In each, you will find dishes of honey. None will have quite so much honey as wild Wall Flower, but all will have enough to get the insects to help them make good seeds.

       When it comes to their seed-cases, now there is joy for the child. There are so many shapes. Wall Flower has a four sided pod. The Radish has her pod swelled out every now and then so that it looks like a string of beads. The Shepherd's Purse has heart-shaped cases, like the purses the Shepherds used to carry a long time ago. All the seed-cases are good to eat. They are a little peppery, but they will not make you sick.

       A Cruciferae , the Black Mustard, takes a part in the story of California. When the first Spaniards came, there were no roads in the State. There were not even trails. They built the first Mission at San Diego. Then, they came north to build one at Monterey. They did not wish to lose their way in going from one Mission to another. They scattered the seeds of the Black Mustard as they walked.

       As soon as the rain came, these seeds grew. They grew into tall plants. After that, the Spaniards could find their way by the line of the Mustard plant. It grew so tall that the larks used to love to sit in its branches. They sang lovely songs as they swung among the yellow flowers.

       It grew so tall that the first American settlers used its branches to build their first sheds and chicken houses. It served all right, while they took time to make adobe or to cut trees into lumber to make more lasting buildings. Is there any near you tall enough to make a play house?

       Whether there is any Black Mustard near you or not, there must be a wild Wall Flower. It grows all through the State. It is just as fragrant at the ocean's shore as it is near the tops of the Sierras. It just glows with delight in giving sweetness to the world, and we delight in its sweetness as much as do our friends, the Bees.

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