'And we eat the leaves. It is a useful plant.'

[Illustration: Lettuce.]

5. After tea, mother took some cress-seed and mustard-seed out of two
little packets. Then she cut up one or two corks, put them into a deep
plate, filled it with water, and sprinkled seed on the cork.

6. 'This is for you, Harry,' she said. 'You will soon have a little crop
of mustard and cress. And here is one for Dora!'

In Dora's plate she laid a bit of flannel, poured water on it, and sowed
seed. The children carried off their plates to a safe place, and thought
it would be fine fun to see roots and leaves come out of the tiny seeds.

7. Then mother called them into the garden to see her parsley. She told
them that hares and rabbits would come a long way to feed on a
parsley-bed if they could get at it.

8. Close by grew mint, sage, and thyme. 'All these are herbs,' she said.
'They are not like trees, are they?'

'No; they have no bark, no hard wood, and they are so small.'

[Illustration: Leaves of Mint, Parsley, Thyme, and Sage.]

9. Dora picked a mint-leaf, a parsley-leaf, a thyme-leaf, and a
sage-leaf, and laid them side by side. She wanted to see if they were
like each other. But when she looked at them she found that they were