[Illustration: FIG. 142] These leaves of the quince (Fig. 140), the maple (Fig. 141), and the basswood (Fig. 142) are all net-veined. Net-veined leaves are borne by plants which brought into the world more than one seed leaf; and with the net-veined leaf we can expect to find that stem which comes with more than one seed leaf,—a stem where the skin or bark, the woody rings, and the soft central pith, are clearly separated one from another. [Illustration: FIG. 143] [Illustration: FIG. 144] But a leaf such as that in Fig. 143 or that in Fig. 144, where the veins do not branch off in a network, but run in unbroken lines side by side,—such leaves as these tell you that they are borne by plants which started life with only one seed leaf, and which have such a stem as the cornstalk, where you see no woody rings or central pith. These leaves are called “parallel-veined.” I fear that you find all this a little difficult to understand and to remember; but if you read it patiently, when you study the botany for older children, I think it will come back to you and make your lessons easier. [Illustration: Decoration] LEAF SHAPES As I told you before, we should notice always the shape of a leaf. [Illustration: Leaves] It is much easier to describe some new plant we have met on our walks if we remember the shape of its leaves. Next summer I hope you will make a collection of leaves, pressing and keeping them. I think you will be amazed at their great variety in shape. [Illustration: FIG. 145] [Illustration: FIG. 146] Some you find long and narrow, others almost round. Some are arrow-shaped, others star-shaped, others needle-shaped (Fig. 145). Some are three-pointed like the maple leaf (Fig. 146); others deeply-parted, like the oak leaf (Fig. 147). Sometimes a large leaf is cut up into several little leaves. These little leaves are called “leaflets.” [Illustration: FIG. 147] [Illustration: FIG. 148] The clover leaf (Fig. 148) has three leaflets. [Illustration: FIG. 149] The locust leaf (Fig. 149) is cut into a great many leaflets. The edge of one leaf (Fig. 150) is smooth, while that of another is cut into little teeth (Fig. 151) like the teeth of a saw. [Illustration: FIG. 150] [Illustration: FIG. 151] I should like to know how many of you children, without looking even at a picture save such as you carry in that little gallery in your head, could describe correctly the shapes of some of our common leaves. I should like to ask you to draw on the blackboard the rough outlines of any leaves that you remember. If you think you could not do this, will you not try, when next you see a leaf, to carry off in your mind such a picture of it as to enable you to outline it on the blackboard when you go back to the school room? Really it does not take any more time to see a thing correctly than to see it incorrectly. It takes a little more sense, that is all.