es rise straight thick stems nearly a foot high. The
stems are thickly covered with erect leaves which grow smaller towards
the top of the stem.

At the top of the stem is a cluster of very handsome rosy-red flowers.
Each blossom is star-shaped when fully open, and generally has twelve
petals.

[Illustration: HOUSE LEEK.]

If we could see the roots we should find them very thread-like or
fibrous, like those of other flowers we have been looking at to-day. I
do not think I can very well show you the roots, however; we should have
to pull up a plant, and that would not please Ben, the cowman, at all.
There is a belief in country places that it is bad luck to disturb the
Houseleek--that someone in the house on which it grows is sure to die
soon afterwards. Certainly the plant is not growing on a house
here--only on the calves' cot. Still, if any misfortune should happen to
the calves we might be blamed by Ben. Besides, it would be a pity to
disturb so handsome a plant, would it not?

We have spent some time in looking at these flowers on the walls and
roof because we think them very wonderful. We see how little soil they
can have in which to grow, and how, in dry weather, they can have very
little moisture either. Yet the leaves of several of them are thick and
fleshy, and the flowers of some are large and beautiful. What could be
more handsome than the blossoms of the Wallflower, the Red Valerian, and
the Houseleek?

CHAPTER IV

THREE HANDSOME WEEDS

At the end of the drive, near the front door, another white gate leads
to the "nag" stables, where Mr. Hammond keeps the two horses which he
rides and drives. Billy, the old brown pony, has a little stable of his
own close by, and further on are the granary and the poultry yard.

Perhaps you have heard the saying, "Ill weeds grow apace." It is
certainly a true one, for most of the plants which we call weeds grow
quickly and well wherever they are allowed to remain. We shall not have
far to look for the three weeds which I want to show you this morning.
The first of them is the Stinging Nettle. It grows round the wood-pile
in the middle of the poultry-yard, and there are great clumps of it
beside the hedge which divides the poultry-yard from the kitchen garden.

It is really a very handsome plant, though you may not have thought so
before. Look how tall and straight the stems are, and how evenly and
regularly the dark green pointed leaves grow from it. They