Interesting Growth of a Vegetable.
Vegetables from the garden make fine studies to draw and to paint. Almost any fruit or vegetable is more interesting if studied as it grows. We do not often choose to paint or draw a single flower without its stem, leaves, buds, and all of the parts that are included when we speak of its growth. It is the presence of all of these shapes that gives variety to a drawing. Do you not think the sketch of the tomato is much more interesting because it shows the growth of the plant? The leaves, stems, stalks, and the large and small tomatoes make an attractive arrangement of shapes. They were first drawn just as they appeared, and then the finder was moved about upon the sketch, to find its most beautiful part.
Beans, peas, beets, turnips, radishes, and many other vegetables may be brought from the school garden or from the garden at home, to use in a drawing lesson. A growth of cucumber vine would be an interesting study. Make a brush or charcoal drawing from something of this kind, and then use your finder to select the most interesting part. Cut out your "finder" picture and mount it neatly.
The Growth of the Orange Tree.
A Familiar Fruit. When you see the bright pyramids of oranges on fruit-stands or in store windows, do you wonder where the fruit comes from, or upon what kind of a tree it grows? In certain parts of our country there are a great many orange trees, and the children of Florida and Southern California know them as well as the children of the north know apple or cherry trees.
The Orange Tree. Look at the picture of the tree, on [page 29]. It is not a tree that one would choose to put in a landscape, because it is not what is called picturesque—it is too trim, even, and regular. Its chief beauty is in its coloring. Its "spheres of golden sunshine" hang in the midst of glossy, dark green leaves, and sometimes the fruit stays on the tree until the buds and blossoms of a new crop appear. It is no uncommon sight to see an orange tree bearing leaves, buds, blossoms, and fruit, all at the same time. One of the sketches shows you a spray of orange blossoms. They are white and waxy, with a strong, sweet fragrance.
Gathering the Fruit. Sometimes, the trees are so heavily laden with fruit that props are put under the branches to keep them from breaking off before the crop is ready to be gathered. The fruit is not allowed to fall from the tree, but when it is ripe an army of pickers, each one provided with a cutter and a canvas bag, comes to the grove. The pickers do not climb the tree and shake the boughs, as you would do if you were gathering nuts, but they mount ladders, carefully cut each orange from its twig, and put it in the bag. The bags, when filled, are emptied into boxes, which are carried to the packing house. There the oranges are sorted into lots, according to size, wrapped in tissue-paper—each orange by itself—and packed in boxes for shipment. You have seen them in their tissue wrapping, after they have reached their journey's end.
Designs from the Orange. One of the sketches on [page 29] shows the growth of some oranges with their leaves and twigs. Below is a design made by repeating the shapes of the orange, its leaves and stem. Any shape or group of shapes that is repeated in a design is called a unit. Do you know what suggested the unit shown in one of the small sketches above the tree?