| Show Out of Doors in the West Sketches of Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau Edited by J. H. Professor of Nature Study in the University of Utah Utah's State Flower and other Lilies THE LITTLE SPARROW HAWK Among the beneficial species of none is more than the little sparrow the most widely distributed of It is' found in and about the towns and cities as well as on the deserts and in the Especially it is practically One day this near Olivet the writer repeatedly came quite close to a sparrow hawk that would alight on first oue street car and then and studied it at close range with the opera Any thoughtless fellow with a 22 rifle i Sparrow Hawk useful as a destroyer of crickets numerous other insect besides gophers and comes close around the being fearless and suffers death from the unjust bounty Any vandal who can carry a gun is able to slaughter this little so that in many districts could readily have caused this one to share the fate that under our has befallen so many thousands of its This handsome bird of a little larger than the has two black stripes on each a slaty bluish gray rufous fail and under parts white these colors often spotted or barred with Utah's state the-beautiful sego is now at its best for The bulb at the base of the two very fine bluish is the size a sparrow and just before flowering is sweet and But no one should eat the sego bulb for the- first time unless accompanied by some one who knows There is another the poison with a but larger and with numbers of deep out curving folded lengthwise with a deep and hence said to be equi-tant or Beware of the Poison The two sego plants are very but have been with serious and even fatal The writer for a time doubted the accuracy of the reported cases of poisoning from eating the bulbs of the poison and to test the matter sent som-j of the bulbs to a botanist in for The doctor had the bulb and found in one large specimen enough albu-menoid poison to kill a grown Only two years one of the plowmen at the observing the children of the training school picking up and eating the lily bulbs he had plowed ate some He must have eaten also a poison for he was taken violently ill with stomach trouble and a physician had to work hard to bring him Pronounce It is no as to the There is an edible sego the and a poisonous the Both are called segos the name being I from the and hence pronounced The latter pronunciation is the name of the South American food plant of from which sago pudding is To call the Utah state flower a instead of a 1 is a needless and erroneous confusion of plants entirely the name sounds being more apt and and if retained will preserve the Indian origin of the Kindness of Red The Indians had been treated with fairness by the the first settlers were destitute of common com-forts and short of as was the case for some years nearly every the red men told them of the sego and other plants that were used as food by and the white people were thus saved from conditions of actual It thus came about that in pioneer during early the people of Utah used to dig the bulbs of the as a choice article of Not more than twenty years sego digging in spring was still a favorite pastime of boys and The writer has often engaged in and in those days found the sego a sufficient substitute for The finding and digging of the bulbs gave zest to sego harvesting and whetted the appetite for these morsels till they seemed really The Toothsome For those who wish to taste the nutritious bulb of the which has earned its place in the history of this commonwealth as one of the preservers of the people from misery and we may repeat that the bulb of this Utah's state is now at its best as a toothsome and dainty The plant grows on every sagebrush It may be known from its grass-like stem and at this resembling a bluish about six inches and at first of only two It may finally grow to twelve but always bears only a usually linear which clasp the stem at the The lower leaves are but later there is an opposite From these arise two main bearing a Occasionally there are three or four or only The Silvery flowers usually appear about the beginning of fully they are bell in and are striped with mottled green and tinged with purple on the the color is pearly marked with purple above and yellow below a large bearded and spongy spot near the The flower measures about an inch and a half The three petals are heart sharp and finally spreading The the the arrow Cupid's paraphernalia all appear in its It grows in fertile being partial to sage brush Hitherto it has been honored but little by poetic Parts of the The bud from which the flower expands is also an interesting It is cone shaped and finally becoming nearly an inch Its or outer flower are somewhat the edges very slightly but the the inside flower are convolute or rolled about each other in the These six flower leaves form the or flower and opposite each segment is a stamen with a The pistil is narrowly and several to many It is a question whether or not the sego is reproduced from seeds or whether i arises always from the little bulbs that form at the roots after the flowering is Some of these small bulbs may have been formed from the seeds of previous but at are renewed from the old A Delicate On account of its rare and delicate its and the entire absence this choice species of any aspect of it seems a pity that it has never been It is literally all and has no weed-like remainder after The thread-like white and glistening beneath its papery underground goes into the soil about six inches or and there expands into a tender scaly which is mucilaginous and nutritious before the plant flowers but after flowering is dry and This bulb is usually about three-fourths of an long and less than half an inch The Poison The edible bulb of the sego need never be confused with the poisonous one of the so-called which is much and covered with several scaly is a much larger its bunch of numerous two-ranked or folding leaves rising like a fountain and spreading outward in sickle-like curves to the This dense deep green foliage of sickle curved eaves finally becomes a foot and need never be mistaken for the two or three slender leaves of the yet the two have often been confounded when and cases of poisoning were reported in eary days from eating the bulbs of the These bulbs contain an poison that is exceedingly dangerous if It is but I do not know how far this has been that the leaves are poisonous and are sparingly eaten by which are sometimes poisoned in this The scaly bulb of the poison sego is black and when full grown is an inch and a half thick and two inches A dense fibrous root system springs from below the The flowers of the poison sego are individually small and form a mass aggregated into a spike cluster of greenish white the six yellow anT giving the flowers a yellowish Both the state flower and its poisonous relative belong to the family of but are of different They grow side by the sego lily often preferring the rich soil and shaggy shelter of the sage while prefers the They are like types of good and of beauty and of virtue and flourishing in the same To Study the The method for the beginner is precisely that best adapted to the A few years Senor Bern of referring to the difficulty he experienced when in the United States in our flowers from the works of Asa Gray and of a leading bo wrote to him as works are not for but r have already mastered J. ments of the science lK have among themselves views as to what is To the there is nothing better J in collecting serving little specimens thing whether wild 1 without any first year to getting After a large number late J one by more in a day than early puzzling books fori J The second tie J books' referred to are J to be just the I And this accords mill writer 's p J and gather a few of the floJ Then in the case of J somewhat as the and children did in the which is an a lesson given at the ruh school in the second and il grades on the common flow I or blue 1 1 The Blue I The children had two score of these blue flower de luce and the handed one to each many of you know the nail this flower V All hands wi I if and one student was color HI Some said and J I The Way of the L child said those garden were and mentioned that he that like low and brown The teacher asked whether fa the blossom has any children decided at once but differed as to odor is or is not a The teacher held up and asked what it is ik eral pupils were Ji that the leaves are like Then the discovery was r the 1 leaves have each vein being a linen The teacher class that the parD plants have flower tain number and p the problem of discovering First the number at that Las were told to count the X ring of flower hands went up at H L presently all had found that i are three outer flower said the teach-t are called who l WL how many flower leaves 1 are in the next inner 1 soon found the three t teacher remarked that there R something peculiar about the i that they wore answered that they wore a hairy that looks like a Kaid the called a and these petals are ma be But there are three hidden away which you if you and tell me KM they look A The Flower in children all found the three and said they The teacher told that these were called sta- f and asked any that had eyes to find still another and almost instantly all Bands went In the center the said were three more hower the teacher in- them are or tops of the do they look was the this my of represents that war-like for are like answered the the stamens are like in a center there are three Was the the are not for But pe something eke for you to I believe yon te another set of did find the three-sided and con-the innumerable teader across the Mf then every pupil dis- If the fru COntains many seeds in 1 jt had he intention of the teacher ii half of this les- X 6 enthusiasm of the maWn the discoveries Voidable the com- t fi of interest of second j m not abate in the though the lesson lasted thirty Plant Gladiolus There is another and still better method of flower and that is to plant and rear the specimen in the home Now is the time about the middle of May to set out one of the most nearly ideal of plants for amateur This is the a splendid plant of the lily that with very little attention will thrive in almost any An inexpensive the gladiolus Is yet unequaled in range and richness of It may be maroon or it runs through all the shades of these even of late affecting yellows and Nearly all the show one or more of these colors in combination Avith the ground color or the prevailing hue of the giving an almost endless variety of marbling flakes and throat in each The are intense yet without being How to The gladiolus is of easy A practical gardener says that the cornis should be planted about the middle of May at the The soil for them should be made mellow to the depth of eight or ten inches a liberal amount of well-rotted barnyard manure should be and thoroughly mixed with the The corms should be put about five inches below the A great mistake is made in shallow If this is the soil immediately about the root is likely to become dry in a hot and as a consequence the plant will be imperfectly For best results it is quite important to have plenty of moisture in the Each root throws up two flower sometimes but if two are produced we should be The plant blossoms in late July and and continues well into All the attention required during the summer is a frequent stirring of soil to keep down weeds and to prevent the surface of the soil from crusting when this the moisture already in the soil is and none of the moisture from dews and night showers can be absorbed by the because they are rarely sufficient in quantity to penetrate the But if the soil is kept open and advantage will be taken of all the moisture that because a porous soil acts on the principle of a This stirring of the soil forms a dry mulch of dust at the and this layer keeps the soil moisture from as it rises in dry weather from the lower layers of the The most satisfactory effects are secured by planting in groups or If a plant put here and another at some distance the color effect will not be strong enough to But have a dozen plants in a or a large number in and the color effect will be Gardeners advise massing the We have no better flower for cutting for church because of its long flower stalks and their stately effect when placed in tall a dozen or more stalks to a The flowers last for a week or |
