| notice | passages | fingers | peach |
| veined | dandelion | currant | pipes |
Did you ever take a feather in your hand and look at it? Did you notice how the quill keeps the feather in shape and makes it strong?
Now find the leaf of an apple tree. Hold it before your eyes and let the light shine through it.
Do you see the large rib running along the middle of the leaf? Do you see the fine ribs on each side of the large rib? Does not the large rib make you think of the quill of a feather?
The ribs of a leaf have fine passages or pipes in them through which the sap flows. These passages are called veins, and the large rib is called a midvein. When a leaf has one strong midvein like the quill of a feather, it is said to be feather-veined.
Let us go out of doors and find leaves that are shaped like feathers.
There is a peach tree. Pick a leaf and look at it. Yes, the peach leaf is feather-veined. Now go to the pear tree. "These leaves look like the apple leaves," you say.