"No, Davy, that is one place where our eyes must look sharp. Can you find a buttercup?"
"Oh, plenty," said Prue, and ran to bring them.
Then the Chief Gardener took a buttercup and an apple-bloom, and held them side by side. There was a difference, but not very great. Then he took his knife, and divided the blossoms in half.
"Now look again," he said, and he took a small magnifying-glass from his pocket and held it so that they could see. "The petals and the sepals (that make the corolla and the calyx, you know) are a good deal the same," he said, "but, you see, there are many more stamens in the buttercup, and then the seed pod or pods, which we call the pistils, are not at all alike. The buttercup has a lot of tiny pods or pistils inside the flower, while the apple-bloom has one round pod below the flower, and this forms the fruit. The buttercup does not make fruit. It belongs to the Crowfoot family, and is a cousin of the hepatica and of the larkspur, which you would not think from the shape of the larkspur's bloom. The Crowfoot family is not so beautiful nor so useful as the Rose family, which is, perhaps, the most useful family next to the Grass family, and certainly one of the most beautiful families in the world."
"I think the Rose family is nicer than the Grass family," said Prue.
"Oh, no," said Davy. "We couldn't do without wheat and corn, and we could do without fruit and flowers—that is, of course, if we had to," he added with a sigh.
"I couldn't," said little Prue. "I like flowers best, and jelly and jam to eat on my biscuits, and you like all those things, too, Davy, and shortcake, and berry pie."
"Of course! but how would you have biscuits and shortcake without wheat to make the flour of?"
The Chief Gardener smiled.
