There are trees much larger than any we find growing here.  I am sure you must have heard of the great trees of California.  Some of them are one hundred feet around, and nearly four hundred feet high,—­twice as high as a very tall steeple.  In one of these trees, if hollowed out, a large family might live.

[Illustration:  GREAT TREES OF CALIFORNIA.]

In your rambles in the woods, notice and examine the trees which you see.  Learn to know the trees so that you can call them by their proper names.

Draw and paint some of the objects noticed; as grains, vegetables, trees, etc.  You will enjoy this very much, and it will help you to see these things better.

LESSON XXXIV.

FLOWERS

[Illustration:  FLOWERS]

A flower is a weak and tiny thing; but there are many flowers, and by helping together they cover the earth with beauty and fill the air with sweetness.  They seem to have been made to give us pleasure.

It will be easy and useful to learn something about the flowers that grow where you live.  How many flowers can you mention by name?  Which do you know at sight?  Where would you go to find them?

Would you find them all growing in the same place?  Which can live only in wet places?  Which thrive best where there is but little moisture?

If we take a walk in the fields in the early spring, which flowers shall we be likely to see?  Which later?  What color are they?  Which are fragrant?  Which most beautiful?  Which would you like for your flower vase?  Which would you like to plant and care for in a box of earth or a garden-bed?

Can you find and name the parts of a plant—­root, stem, leaves, bud, flower?  Learn the uses of each part.

Here are some pretty verses on “Spring and the Flowers.”  Perhaps you will commit them to memory.

  In the snowing and the blowing,
    In the cruel sleet,
  Little flowers begin their growing
    Far beneath our feet.

  Softly taps the Spring and cheerly: 
    “Darlings, are you there?”
  Till they answer, “We are nearly,
    Nearly ready, dear.

  “Where is Winter with his snowing? 
    Tell us, Spring,” they say. 
  Then she answers, “He is going,
    Going on his way.

  “Poor old Winter does not love you,
    But his time is past;
  Soon my birds shall sing above you—­
    Set you free at last.”

LESSON XXXV.

WHAT IS NECESSARY TO MAKE PLANTS GROW.

Plants do not grow in winter.  Can you tell why?  Plants do not grow in hot places called deserts.  Can yon think of any reason for this?

What two things are necessary to make plants grow?  At what time of the year can they get these?

If a country has a great deal of heat and rain; what can we be sure of about its trees and grass and flowers?