For Observation Lesson on Weed Seeds, see page 171.

HOW ANIMALS PREPARE FOR WINTER

Introduction.—Discuss the preparations that people make for winter, such as the storing of food and the providing of warmer clothes and homes.

Method.—The teacher questions the pupils and encourages them to tell what they have learned through their own observation of animals. The knowledge of the pupils is supplemented by information given by the teacher, but the pupils are left to find out more facts by further observations. Thus:

Do you ever see ground-hogs out during winter?

What do they feed upon during the winter?

What is the condition of ground-hogs in late summer and in autumn?

What is the use of the great store of fat that they have in their bodies?

Examine the snow near the burrows of ground-hogs and find whether they ever come out in mid-winter.

To the teacher.—The hibernating animals prepare a home or nest and lay up a store of food in the form of fat within their bodies. To hibernate does not mean the same as to sleep. The hibernating animals have much less active organs than the sleeping animals. The heart-beat and the respiratory movements are very slow and feeble, consequently a very little nourishment suffices to sustain life.

SUMMARY OF LESSONS

(Two lessons of twenty minutes)

1. Some animals migrate:

Examples—many birds, butterflies, and some bats; the cariboo, and buffalo.

2. Some animals hibernate:

Examples—bear, ground-hog, raccoon, frogs, toads, snakes, and some bats.

NOTE.—Flies, mosquitoes, and some other insects crawl into crevices and remain at rest during winter, but their bodies are not stored with food.

3. Some animals build houses and store foods:

Examples—beaver, squirrel, chipmunk, honey-bee, deer-mouse.

4. Some animals build homes convenient to food:

Examples—musk-rat, field-mouse.

5. Some animals put on warmer clothing:

Examples—fox, mink, otter, rabbit, horse, cow, partridge, chickadee. The rabbit and weasel turn white, a colour protection.

6. Many insect larvae form cocoons or pupae cases:

Examples—emperor-moth, codling moth, tomato worm.

CORRELATIONS

With literature, reading, and language.

With geography: By a lesson on "The influence of climate upon animal and plant life."

CHICKENS

(Consult Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture by Robinson. Ginn & Co., $2.00.)

CONVERSATION LESSON

How many of you keep chickens at your homes?

Why do many kinds of people keep chickens?

What breeds of chickens do you keep?

How many other breeds do you know?

Describe the appearance of a few of the commoner breeds.

Why are there so many different breeds?

Name those that are good laying breeds.

Name breeds that are not usually considered good laying breeds.

To the teacher.—Chickens are kept by all classes of people. Many keep them for the profit in eggs and meat, others keep them as a fad, and others to gratify a craving for animal companionship. There are one hundred and seventy-five recognized breeds, varying in size from that of the Japanese bantam weighing ten ounces to that of the huge Brahma which weighs fourteen pounds. The shapes and colours present as great a variation as the sizes. The breeds that are usually regarded as good layers are White Leghorn, Barred Bock, and Rhode Island Red, while the Game breeds are usually regarded as poor layers. Careful tests prove, however, that there are good laying and poor laying strains in every breed, and care must be taken to select from good strains, since the breed is not a sufficient guide.

At the close of the first lesson, assign to the pupils the task of making a chicken census of the district as follows:

1. Request each pupil to count the number of hens under two years old at his home and also to count the hens that are more than two years old.

2. Request each pupil to find out, if possible, the number of eggs obtained at his home during the whole year.

ARITHMETIC LESSON BASED ON THE CHICKEN CENSUS

1. Using the data collected by the pupils, calculate the total number of chickens under two years old in the district.

Calculate the number over two years old. (The latter are classed as unprofitable.)

2. Using the data obtained by the pupils (provided sufficient data was obtained to make it reasonably reliable), calculate the average number of eggs laid a year by each hen.

3. If the data collected by the pupils as to the number of eggs is thought to be unreliable, make use of the following:

The average number of eggs laid each year by each hen in Ontario is seven dozen. Use this average number, and:

(1) Calculate the value of the eggs produced in this district in a year, the average price of eggs being twenty cents a dozen.

(2) If the average production of eggs were increased to ten dozen (a number that is easily possible under improved management), find the value of the eggs that would be produced in a year, and find the gain that would result from this better management.

4. If it costs ninety cents a year to feed a hen, find the net annual profit to this district from the egg production.

CARE OF CHICKENS

The method of developing conceptions of how to take proper care of chickens is based partly upon the pupils' experiences and partly upon a knowledge of the history of the original wild hens.

Information can be gathered from the pupils as to the date of hatching of the earliest chickens and the date at which the pullets begin to lay. Chickens that are hatched in April begin to lay in November or December and lay throughout the winter when eggs bring the highest price.

The original wild hens lived in the dry, grassy, and shrubby jungles of India. They were free to move about in the open air, and at night they perched in the trees, which sheltered them from rain. Hence may be inferred what kind of quarters should be provided for chickens.

CARE AND FOOD OF CHICKENS

Points developed

Chickens must have plenty of fresh air without draughts.

Heat is not necessary.

Their quarters must be dry, clean, and well lighted.

They require exercise.

Their food must have in it the materials that are needed to make the substance of the egg.

Breakfast: Wheat or corn scattered among straw—the scratching affords exercise.

Dinner: Meat scraps, slaughter-house refuse, vegetables, sour milk, and rolled oats.

Supper: As at breakfast.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE PHASE OF NATURE STUDY

The teacher is advised to read carefully the instructions and General Method of Experimental Science, Chapter I, before beginning the lessons in Physical Science.

SOLIDS, LIQUIDS, AND GASES

Arrange a collection of objects of various shapes, sizes, colours, and weights, as cork, glass, lead, iron, copper, stone, coal, chalk. Show that these are alike in one respect, namely, that they have a shape not easily changed, that is, they are solids. Compare these solids with such substances as water, alcohol, oil, molasses, mercury, milk, tar, honey, glycerine, gasolene. These latter will pour, and depend for their shape on the containing vessel. They are liquids. Compare air with solids and liquids. Such a material as air is called a gas. Other examples of illuminating gas, and dentists' "gas"; others will be studied in future lessons. Pupils may think all gases are invisible. To show that some are not, put a few pieces of copper in a test-tube or tumbler and add a little nitric acid. Watch the brown gas fall through the air; note how it spreads in all directions. Some gases fall because they are heavier than air; others rise because lighter. All gases spread out as soon as liberated and try to fill all the available space. Spill a little ammonia and note how soon the odour of the gas is smelled in all parts of the room.

CHANGE OF STATE

Heat some lead or solder in a spoon till liquid. Let it cool. Do the same with wax.

Heat some water in a flask till it becomes steam. Steam is a gas. Cool the steam and form water again. (See distillation.) Refer to lava (melted rock), moulding iron, melting ice and snow, softening of butter.

All solids may be changed to liquids and even to gases if sufficiently heated. Likewise all gases may be changed into liquids and then to solids.

EXPANSION OF SOLIDS

In winter pupils may find that the ink is frozen. The teacher directs attention to this and inquires why it has occurred. It may be that in a lesson on rocks the teacher will ask the pupils to account for all the little stones. The following experiments will aim at solving the foregoing problems:

1. A brass ball and ring are shown. Pupils handle these and note that both are cold and that the ball just passes through the ring. They are asked to compare the size of the ball with that of the ring.

2. The spirit-lamp is lighted and examined. Pupils hold their hands over the flame to note the heat.

3. The ball is heated in the flame for a short time by one of the pupils, and felt cautiously. An attempt is made to pass it through the ring. How has the ball changed in feeling? In size? How does one know it is larger? What has caused these changes?

4. Cool the ball. Feel it. Try to pass it through the ring now. How has it changed in feeling? In size? What caused these changes? How does heat affect the ball? How does cold affect it?

The teacher may now give the words expand and contract, writing them on the black-board and explaining their use. Pupils may then state their conclusions: A brass ball expands when heated and contracts when cooled.

A blacksmith can make the following very serviceable apparatus: A scrap of iron about eleven inches long, one inch wide, and one-eighth inch thick, has one inch bent up at each end. A rod one-eighth inch in diameter is made just long enough to pass between the upturned ends of the first piece when both are cold. The rod is heated and the experiment conducted as in the case of the ball. Two additional facts are learned: (1) Iron expands as well as brass; (2) solids expand in length as well as in volume. The pupils may now be told that other solids have been tried and expansion has invariably followed heating. The conclusion may then be made general.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

1. When your ink-bottle was placed on the stove, which end became warmer? Which expanded the more. Why then did it crack?

2. What other examples like this have you noticed? (Lamp chimneys, fruit jars, stove plates)

3. The earth was once very hot and is now cooling. How is the size of the earth changing? Does it ever crack? What causes earthquakes?

4. Find out by observation how a blacksmith sets tires.

5. Invent a way to loosen a glass stopper stuck in the neck of a bottle.

6. What does your mother do if the metal rim refuses to come off the fruit jar?

7. Next time you cross a railway, notice whether the ends of the rails touch. Explain.

8. What allowance is made for contraction in a wire fence? A railway bridge? Why?

9. Why do the stove-pipes crack when the fire is first started?

10. Why does the house go "thump" on a very cold night?

11. Draw the ball, ring, and spirit-lamp in position.

12. Describe in writing the experiments we have made.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION

You have seen that iron and brass both expand. Do they expand equally? Let pupils have a few days to invent a way of answering the question. The experiment may then be tried with the compound bar. See The Ontario High School Physics, pages 217-218, also First Course in Physics, Milliken and Gale, page 144.

If the equipment of the school is limited, it may be necessary to dispense with the ball and ring and generalize from one experiment.

Another easily made apparatus consists of two iron rings with handles. One ring will just pass through the other when both are cold. The stove may take the place of the spirit-lamp.

A still simpler plan consists in driving two nails into a block at such a distance apart that an iron rod (six-inch nail, poker, bolt, etc.) will just pass between. On heating the rod the increase in length becomes evident.

EXPANSION OF LIQUIDS

Fill a common bottle with coloured water; insert a rubber stopper through which passes a glass tube about sixteen inches long. Set the bottle in a pan of water and gradually warm the water. The rise of the liquid in the tube will indicate expansion. On setting the bottle in cold water the fall of the column of coloured water shows contraction. See The Ontario High School Physics, page 218, also Science of Common Life, page 48. Macmillan Co., 60 cents.

Set the flask or bottle in a mixture of ice and salt and note that the extreme cold causes contraction for a while, then expansion. Note that when expansion begins, the water has not begun to freeze, but that it does so soon after.

The night before this experiment the children should set out in the cold air, tightly corked bottles of water. In the morning they will be found burst by the expansion.

APPLICATIONS

1. Why did some of the ink-bottles burst in the cold room?

2. Find large stones split up into two or more fragments. Explain.

3. Why is fall-ploughed land so mellow in spring?

4. Why does ice float? Think what would happen if it did not.

5. Explain the heaving of oats, clover, wheat.

6. Do all liquids expand on freezing? Try melted paraffin.

THE THERMOMETER

Besides the ordinary thermometer the school should possess a chemical thermometer graduated from 0 deg. Fahrenheit to 212 deg.

1. Our sensations vary so much under different circumstances and in different individuals that they cannot be depended on. Find examples of this and show the need of a measuring instrument.

2. The pupils can learn, by examination of the common wall instrument, the parts of the thermometer—tube, bulb, liquid (alcohol or mercury), and scale.

3. Repeat the experiment for expansion of liquids, showing wherein the apparatus resembles the thermometer, warm the thermometer bulb and watch the column rise; cool it and note the fall.

4. Set the bulb of the chemical thermometer in boiling water. The mercury comes to rest near 212 deg. Bury the bulb in melting snow and notice that the column falls to 32 deg. Give names for these points. Explain that a degree is one of the 180 equal parts which lie between boiling point and freezing-point. Show that 32 deg. below freezing must be 0 deg., or zero.

5. The uses of thermometers for indoors and outdoors; for dairy, sick room, incubator, and soils; maximum and minimum. Dairy thermometers registering 212 deg. Fahrenheit may be obtained; they are cheaper than chemical thermometers.

EXPANSION OF AIR

Half fill a flask with water and invert it uncorked over water in a plate. Apply a cloth soaked in boiling water to the part that contains air. Why does the water leave the flask? Apply cold water. Why does the water return? Any ordinary bottle may be used in place of the flask, but it is more liable to crack.

Make an air thermometer. See The Ontario High School Physics, page 223, also Science of Common Life, page 41. Try to graduate it from the mercurial thermometer. Have the boys make a stand for it.

Inferences.—Heated gases rise because they expand. Hot-air balloons, winds, and heating with hot-air furnaces, all depend on this principle.

SOURCES OF HEAT AND LIGHT

NOTES FOR A SERIES OF LESSONS

1. THE SUN.—Our dependence on it. Valuable results of its heat. Simple notions as to its size, distance, and nature. Our earth catches a very small fraction of the sun's heat; our sun is but one of millions—the fixed stars. Show the burning effect of a lens.

2. FUELS.—Wood, oil, coal, alcohol, gas, peat, straw: where obtained; special uses of each under varying conditions; need of economy. (This is closely related to geography.)

3. ELECTRICITY.—In urban schools use the electric light or some heating device for illustration. In rural schools a battery of two or three cells (see "Apparatus") will melt a fine strand drawn from a picture wire.

Applications: ironing, toasting, cooking; advantages or disadvantages compared with gas or wood.

4. FRICTION.—Pupils rub hands together; rub a button on a cloth; saw a string across the edge of a board or across the hand; bore a hole through a hardwood plank, then feel the auger-bit.

Applications: restoring circulation; "hot-boxes" in machinery; lubricants and their uses; lighting matches.

5. POUNDING.—Hammer a nail flat on an anvil or stone; feel it. Bullets fired against an iron or stone surface may be picked up very hot. Note sparks that can be struck from a stone; percussion caps, flint-lock muskets.

6. PRESSURE.—After using a bicycle pump for some time, feel the bottom, also the top. If possible, examine an air-compressor and find out the means used for cooling the air.

7. SOURCES OF LIGHT.—Sun, moon, oil, tallow, gas, electricity, wax, acetylene; advantages of each; relative cost.

PRIMITIVE METHODS OF OBTAINING FIRE: Most savages obtain fire by friction; rubbing two pieces of wood together till hot enough to set fire to some dry, light material. The natives of Australia placed a flat piece of wood on the ground and pressed against this the end of a round piece, which they twirled rapidly with their hands till fire was produced. The North American Indians did the twirling with their bow strings; the Eskimo's plan is somewhat similar. It is impossible to say when flint and steel were first used, but we know they continued to be the chief means of producing fire till about 1834, when matches were invented. Let pupils try to produce fire by these means.

The earliest lamps consisted of shells, skulls of animals, and cup-shaped stones filled with fat or fish oils which burned on a wick of cloth or the pith of rushes. The Tibetans burn butter, the Eskimos whale- or seal-oil, the Arabians palm- or olive-oil. For outdoor lighting, torches carried in the hand were used till gas came into general use about 1792.

CONDUCTION

Give to four boys strips of copper, aluminium, wood, and glass, respectively. They hold these by one end and heat the other end till one or more are forced to drop the piece on account of the heat. The boys with the metals will soon find them hot throughout, but the other two will be able to hold on indefinitely. The teacher gives the terms "good conductor" and "poor conductor".

PROBLEMS

1. Are metals generally good conductors? Try with strips of zinc, lead, iron, a silver spoon.

2. Are all good conductors equally good? Devise a means of ascertaining. See Science of Common Life, Chapter VI; also The Ontario High School Physics, page 274.

3. Is water a good conductor?

Lists of good and poor conductors may then be made, the teacher adding to the list. Good: metals; poor: wood, horn, bone, cloth, leather, air, water, hair, asbestos, ashes, rock, earth.

PROBLEMS

1. If the interior of the earth is very hot, why do we not feel it?

2. How can the cold snow keep the earth warm?

3. Why does your hand freeze to metals but not to wood?

4. Let the children try to find other instances: wools or furs for clothing, fur coats on northern animals, feathers on birds, down quilts, tea cosies, sawdust for packing ice, double windows, wooden handles for hot irons, asbestos coating for steam pipes.

THE MINERS' SAFETY-LAMP: This is a most important application of conduction. Get from the tinsmith a piece of brass gauze six inches square. Raise the wick of the spirit-lamp causing it to give a high flame and bring the gauze down upon the flame till it touches the wick. Note that the flame does not rise above the gauze. Hold a piece of paper above the gauze near the flame and note that it does not take fire. Note also that the gauze soon becomes hot. The brass wires conduct the heat of the flame rapidly away so that there is not heat enough above the gauze to cause combustion. Now roll the gauze into a hollow cylinder, pin the edges together, insert a cork at each end, and have a short candle fastened to the lower one. Try to light the candle with the lamp through the gauze. It is not easily done.

The miner carries a lamp made like this, so that if he should be in the presence of the explosive gas, "fire damp", it would not explode because of the wire gauze shield.

CONVECTION

Water is not a conductor, how then is it heated?

Drop a few pieces of solid colouring matter, (analine blue, blueing, or potassium permanganate) into a beaker of cold water. Place the beaker over a heater and observe the coloured portion rise.

Wet sawdust will make a good substitute for the colouring matter. A sealing jar or even a tin cup will do instead of the beaker. The stove or a dish of hot water will take the place of the lamp.

PROBLEMS

1. Using a thermometer, see whether the water at the bottom is warmer than that at the top while the beaker is being heated.

2. Heat some oil and pour it over the surface of some cold water. Lower a thermometer into this. Does the water at the bottom soon become warm?

3. If your kitchen is provided with a hot-water tank, find out what part of the tank first becomes warm after the fire is lighted.

4. In bathing, where do you find the coldest water of a pond or still river? See Science of Common Life, Chapter VI; also The Ontario High School Physics, page 280.

CONVECTION IN GASES

A good apparatus may be made by cutting two holes one inch in diameter in one side of a chalk box, replace the lid with a piece of glass, place a lamp chimney over each hole and a lighted candle under one of the chimneys. Hold a piece of smoking touch-paper at each chimney in turn and note direction of air current.

APPLICATIONS

1. Winds are caused by the rising of air over heated areas, allowing cooler currents to take its place. (Geography)

2. Rooms are ventilated by heating some of the air more than the rest, thus producing a current. (Hygiene) Winds are nature's means of ventilating the earth.

RADIATION OF HEAT

This should be taken up as an introduction to dew, frost, winds, climate, etc.

1. Make an iron ball hot (the end of a poker will answer). Hold the hand a few inches below the iron. Does the heat reach the hand by convection? By conduction? By means of suitable questions, lead the pupil to see that it is not by convection, for the hand is below the hot object while heated air rises; it is not by conduction, for air is one of the very poorest conductors; moreover, the heat is felt instantly from the poker, but it takes an appreciable time for it to come by conduction and convection. We say this heat is radiated from the iron. The velocity of radiated heat is about 186,000 miles a second.

2. The above experiment may be varied by bringing the hot iron gradually toward the bulb of the air thermometer and noting the greatest distance at which it will affect the thermometer.

It is by radiation that the sun's heat and light reach us. We get much of the heat of stoves, fire-places, and radiators by the same means.

Why does the earth cool off at night? Why does dew form? Why can no dew form on a cloudy night? Why is a mountain top or a desert so cold, especially at night?

3. Take two tin cans (baking powder boxes will answer) and make holes in the lids large enough to admit a thermometer. Blacken one box in the flame of an oil lamp. Fill both with boiling water and put in a cool place. Test with a thermometer from time to time. Which cools most rapidly?

4. Fill the tin cans with cold water, find the temperature, and then place them near a hot stove. Which warms faster? Usually dark or rough surfaces radiate heat and absorb heat faster than bright or smooth ones. An excellent way of testing this is to lay a black cloth and a white one side by side on the snow where the sun is shining brightly. The snow will melt more rapidly under the black cloth. Painted shingles may be substituted for the cloths. Try different colours. The day chosen should not be extremely cold.

PROBLEMS

1. Why should we have the outside of a tea-kettle, teapot, or hot-air shaft of a bright colour? Why should we have stoves and stove-pipes dull black?

2. Why does a coat of snow keep the earth warm?

3. Which is the warmest colour to wear in winter? Does this account for the colour of Arctic animals?

4. Which is the coolest colour to wear in the hot sun?

5. Gardeners sometimes strew the ground with coal-dust to help ripen their melons. Show the value of this.

6. Suggest a method of protecting a wall from the heat of a stove.



CHAPTER XI

FORM III

SPRING

WINDOW BOXES

Many garden plants should be started in a box of earth in a warm, sunny window. In some schools this can be done with a little care in heating on cold nights. Small boxes or grape baskets full of rich sandy loam with an inch of gravel in the bottom for drainage may be used. Sow the seeds in rows or broadcast. To prevent the soil from drying out too quickly, cover the box with a pane of glass. When the plants are up, give them plenty of light and not too much warmth. On very mild days set them in a warm, sheltered place out-of-doors and bring them in again early in the evening. This tends to make them hardy. When about three inches high, pick the young plants out and set them in other boxes a few inches apart. This moving causes the formation of numerous fibrous roots and makes stronger plants.

WINDOW GARDENS

Window boxes may be used for a whole season on the inside of the building in cold weather, and on the outside in warm weather. There is almost no limit to the kinds of plants that can be grown in them, but they are most suitable for flowers.

Good boxes may be made of dressed lumber so as to fit on the window-sill. They should be six inches deep, ten inches wide, and the required length. They should have a few small holes in the bottom to allow excess water to drain off and should be painted dark green or some quiet colour. There should be an inch of gravel in the bottom, some rotted sods covering this, and then the box filled with rich sandy loam.

SUITABLE PLANTS

Some flowers suitable for growing in window boxes outside in summer are those of drooping habit: lobelia, Kenilworth ivy, verbena, tropeolum, petunia, and sweet-alyssum toward the front, and behind, more erect plants, such as geranium, heliotrope, begonia, phlox, and nasturtium. The box must not be too much crowded.

For inside and in shady situations the following are suitable: tradescantia, parlour ivy, moneywort, vinca smilax, climbing fern, asparagus fern, dracaena, coleus, centaurea, sword fern, and Boston fern. For indoor boxes in winter, the following may be used: abutilon, calceolaria, cyclamen, violets, primroses, petunias, geraniums, freesia, and such foliage plants as dracaena, cannas, dusty miller, and coleus. The following climbing plants may be trained up the window cases: asparagus plumosus fern, cobea scandens, smilax, maurandia, and English ivy. If drooping or trailing plants are desired, the following may be used: oxalis, sweet-alyssum, lobelia, ivy, geranium, Kenilworth ivy, and Wandering Jew.

FERTILIZER

As the amount of soil is limited and the number of plants that it has to support is great, the soil should be made quite rich and should be further fertilized from time to time with a little liquid manure. This can be best obtained by taking a strong barrel or large keg and filling it about half full of water. Then fill an ordinary coarse potato sack with cow-stable manure and set the sack in the barrel for a few days. A tap in the bottom of the barrel is most convenient for drawing off the liquid manure. A little of this will also be found valuable for watering dahlias, roses, and other garden plants during the summer.

SOIL STUDIES

The classes of soil should be reviewed. Pupils should gather examples from many places. The samples may be kept in bottles of uniform size and should include not only the four types but varieties of each, also various kinds of loam.

EXERCISES AND EXPERIMENTS

SOIL CONSTITUENTS

1. With a sharp spade, cut a piece about twelve inches deep from (1) the forest floor, (2) an old pasture field. Note character and order of the layers of soil in (1) leaves, humus, loam, sand, or clay; in (2) grass, dead grass, humus, loam, sand, or clay. Observe soils shown in railway cuttings, freshly dug wells, post holes.

2. Note the effect produced on the soil of a field by (1) leaving it a few years in pasture, (2) ploughing in heavy crops, (3) applying barn-yard manure. In all these cases vegetable matter is mixed with the soil.

3. Dry some good leaf-mould. Throw a handful on the surface of some water. The mineral matter sinks, while the vegetable portion remains suspended for some time. Try this experiment with gravel, sand, and clay. Note that the gravel sinks rapidly, the sand less rapidly, and that the clay takes a long time to settle. If the water be kept in rapid motion, the finer soils will all remain suspended till motion becomes slower. Apply this in geography. The bed of a stream will consist of stones if it be swift, of sand if less swift, and of clay if very slow. How are alluvial plains formed?

4. Place half an ounce of dry humus on an iron plate or fire-shovel and heat strongly in a stove. Note that it begins to smoke and a large part smoulders away to ashes; the mineral portion remains. Weigh the part left and find what fraction of the humus consisted of vegetable material.

Try to find the proportion of vegetable matter in each of the following: loams from various sources, sand, clay, gravel. The last three will show scarcely any change. This experiment will give rise to some good arithmetical problems in fractions.

WATER IN SOILS

5. Compare a handful of fresh garden soil with the same soil dried. Note the glistening of the fresh soil, also its weight and darker colour. The fresh soil admits of packing though no water can be squeezed from it. In its best condition, the water of the soil adheres as a film of moisture about every particle. Free water is to be avoided since it excludes the air from the soil.

6. Equal weights of soils of different kinds and degrees of fineness are placed in funnels or in inverted bottles with bottoms removed. Water is then slowly added to each until it begins to drop from the lower end. From this is seen (1) the great value of humus as a water holder, (2) the advantage of fine soil over coarse. For retention of water by absorption, consult Nature Study and Life, Hodge, page 382.

7. Take two wooden boxes (chalk boxes will do), fill one box with moist sand and the other with moist leaf-mould. Weigh the boxes separately and leave them for three or four days in a warm room. Weigh again and note decrease from evaporation. The sand dries out much faster than the humus. Test with clay, gravel, and loam, also with mixtures of these and leaf-mould.

8. Take three paint cans; punch holes in the bottoms. Fill each with good soil well shaken down. Stand the cans in water till the tops are moist, then place them in a warm, dry place. Loosen the soil on the top of No. 1 to a depth of one inch; on No. 2 to a depth of two inches; leave No. 3 untouched. Find out after a few days which is drying out fastest. How may soil be treated so as to lessen evaporation of water?

DRAINAGE

9. Gravel and sand allow water to run away rapidly, but where the soil is fine or closely packed as in clay soils, under-drains are necessary (1) to carry off the surplus water, (2) to allow air to enter the soil, (3) to warm the soil (wet soil is colder than dry).

Take two equal-sized tin cans, make several holes in the bottom of one, place therein a layer of broken pottery or stones, and fill with good soil. Fill the other with similar soil but make no holes for drainage. Plant in each can a healthy plant of the same size and kind. Water both till the soil is saturated and continue watering every two or three days for six weeks. Note (1) the progress of the plants, (2) the temperature of the soils, (3) which plant has the largest and deepest roots. (See Bulletin 174, Ontario Department of Agriculture.)

10. Take five equal-sized boxes, provide for drainage, and fill No. 1 with wood, earth, or humus, No. 2 with clay, No. 3 with sand, No. 4 with a mixture of clay and humus, No. 5 with a mixture of sand and humus. Plant corn in each box, set in a warm room, and keep watered for two or three weeks. Note in which case growth is most rapid. Set boxes in a dry place and cease watering. Which suffers most from the drought? Which bakes hardest in the sun? Test the temperature of each after watering and standing in the sun for an hour. Sand is warmer than clay, also the presence of humus raises the temperature. This item is important, since most seeds decay instead of sprouting if the temperature is below 45 deg. Fahrenheit.

11. Enumerate the services rendered to the soil by humus.

12. In Experiment 10, let the corn grow for some time and determine whether the very rich humus is the best in the end. Sand and clay are almost altogether mineral; leaf-mould almost entirely organic; neither alone is good, but a mixture gives the best results.

GARDEN WORK

The boys of this Form should attend to the fertilizing and spading of the plots belonging to the girls of their Form. The girls themselves can do all the rest of the work, and they should try to keep the plots level, uniform in size, and in a straight line. If the corner posts are kept in line and the plots made up the exact size, the appearance of the garden will be greatly improved.

The pupils are now old enough to make their own choice of flowers and vegetables. Very tall growing plants, such as corn and sunflowers, are not desirable in individual plots as they shade other plants near them. Corn is best grown in a large plot about twenty feet square. The same may be said of vines, such as cucumbers, melons, squash, etc. If the plots are small, it is better to plant but a single variety, but in large plots from two to four varieties may be arranged to advantage. Usually rows of vegetables, such as carrots and beets, may be placed a foot apart, cabbage about twice that distance, and tomatoes a little farther apart than cabbage.

Generally speaking, plants should be placed so that when full grown they will just touch, cover the ground completely, and thus prevent the growth of weeds.

As soon as the young plants appear above the ground, light cultivation with rakes and claw-hand weeders should be started, so as to keep weeds from growing and at the same time to provide a loose surface or earth mulch for conserving the moisture and aerating the soil. Thinning should also be begun when the plants are quite small, but it should not all be done at once. As the plants increase in size, the best ones should be left and the poor ones taken out. In some cases plants thus removed may be re-set to fill vacant places.

TREE SEEDS

Tree seeds that have been stored over winter should now be planted in rows in a small plot. The rows should be a foot apart and the seeds quite close together in the row. A cheese-cloth or slat shade should be used on this plot, as the hot sun is too strong for tree seedlings when they first come up. They should have cultivation every week and watering in dry weather. Always water in the evening after school, or even later when possible.

TRANSPLANTING

Pupils in this Form should have practice in transplanting, as well as in sowing seed. For this purpose seeds should be started about the first of April in hotbeds or window boxes, seedlings transplanted into cold frames when two or three inches high, and then set out in the garden in the latter part of May when danger of frost is past.

TRANSPLANTING FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES

Choose, if possible, a cool cloudy day. Water the plants thoroughly in the hotbed or cold frame a few hours before lifting them. Lift them with a trowel or small spade, and keep as much earth on their roots as possible. With a transplanting trowel, make holes deep enough so that the plant will be a little deeper in the soil than before transplanting. Unless the soil is moist, a little water put in the hole with the plant is beneficial. The evening is considered best for transplanting if the weather is clear. If the sun is very hot, the plants should be shaded for a few days until the roots become established and begin their work. Shingles slanting over the plants from the south side and driven into the ground to hold them in position are best. Papers held by means of two stones also give good results. The practice of covering them with inverted cans is not a good one, as the light is almost completely cut off. A few holes in the can would help considerably. Care must be taken to pack the earth firmly about the roots. Watering again twenty-four hours after transplanting is often necessary. If the plant has a leafy top, it is best to take off some of the leaves, as they tend to give off water more rapidly than the roots can at first take it in.

TRANSPLANTING TREE SEEDLINGS

Nuts and other tree seeds collected the previous autumn should now be planted in the forestry plots in rows a foot apart. As the seeds may not all grow, they may be planted close together in the row and thinned out the following spring if necessary. They need some shelter from the sun the first summer. In large plots this is provided by means of a slat covering, but in a small plot cheese-cloth tacked on strips and fastened on corner posts is satisfactory. When a shower comes, this cheese-cloth screen should be removed so that the rain may moisten the plot evenly. Seedlings may be transplanted from the woods or from the forestry rows before the leaves open out.

BUDDING

In budding, a slit like the letter T is made in the side of the young seedling close to the ground. The bark is raised a little at the point where the vertical slit meets the horizontal one, and a bud of desired variety with a shield-shaped bit of bark (and perhaps a little wood) attached to it is shoved in and the sides of the slit bound down upon it. After the bud, or scion, has started to grow, the stock is cut off an inch above the point where the bud was inserted. The bud then makes rapid growth, and in two years the resulting tree is large enough to set in its permanent place in the orchard.

CUTTINGS

Pupils in this Form should try to grow such woody plants as roses and grapes from cuttings. Roses are frequently propagated by budding, as in the case of apples and peaches. They may also be grown upon their own roots or from stem cuttings. Such cuttings should be from well-matured wood of the present year taken in the autumn and packed in moist sand over the winter. Make the cuttings about three inches in length. The top end should be cut off immediately above a bud and the bottom end just below a bud, as roots seem to start more readily from a node, or bud. Such a cutting may have three or four buds of which only the upper two need be left. If both of these grow, the poorer one may afterwards be removed.

These rose cuttings should then be inserted in a box of clean, moist sand to a depth of two inches, kept in a warm room, and shaded with a sheet of newspaper when the sun is very bright. Keep the sand moist but not wet, and when possible have gentle bottom heat. When roots have made some growth, transplant carefully into small flower-pots, using fairly rich, clay loam. In a few weeks they will be ready to plant out in the garden.

Grape cuttings should be taken late in the fall when the vines are well matured. Such a cutting includes only two joints, the upper one being the growing end and the lower the rooting end. They must be stored over winter in cold, moist sand, but should not be permitted to freeze. As soon as the ground can be prepared in the spring, set them out. They should be placed on a slant of about forty-five degrees and covered all but the top bud.

LEAF CUTTINGS

Some plants with large and vigorous leaves, such as many of the begonias, may be propagated by means of leaf cuttings. Buds readily develop from cuts made in the large veins. Take a full-grown healthy leaf and remove the stem all but about half an inch. Make a few cuts across the larger veins on the under side of the leaves at points where main veins branch. Press the leaf firmly down on the top of a box of moist sand with the under side next the sand. Keep the leaf in this position, using small stones or little pegs pushed through the leaf into the sand. Put the box in a warm room and do not let the sand become dry. When roots strike into the sand and buds develop from the points where the veins were wounded, take a sharp knife and cut out the new plant from the old leaf and transplant it into a small flower-pot in good soil. Sink the pot in a box of moist sand to prevent its drying out.

ROOT CUTTINGS

Such plants as "sprout from the roots" may be propagated by root cuttings. Sections of underground stems may also come under this heading, as in the case of horseradish cuttings. But real roots may be used for cuttings, as in the case of the blackberry and raspberry. The roots should be cut in pieces three or four inches long, planted in a horizontal position, and entirely covered with two or three inches of soil.

LAYERING

Bush fruits, such as currants and gooseberries, are frequently propagated by stem cuttings, as in the case of roses. Another method, which is known as layering, consists in bending one or more of the lowest branches down against the ground, fastening it there by means of a forked stick, and then covering it with two or three inches of earth. The part in contact with the moist earth will send out roots, while one or more shoots will come up. When roots and shoots have developed, the branch is severed from the parent bush and the new plant set in its permanent place. Strawberries exhibit a sort of natural layering.

PLANTING AND CARE OF HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS

Perennials grown from seed the previous summer should now be set in clumps two or three feet apart in the perennial border or here and there beside the fences or walks. The soil should be made fine and fertilized with well-rotted manure from the compost heap before setting out the young perennials. Dahlias and gladioli which were taken in in the autumn should now be set out. The dahlias should be divided and only the best roots used. Other perennials that have grown into large clumps should be dug up, divided, and re-set in well-fertilized soil.

GARDEN STUDIES

Pupils in this Form have now had enough experience in the growing of vegetables and flowers to allow them to make intelligent variety tests. They should grow some of the less familiar varieties and report on the merits of each variety tested. This, however, should not be carried on to the exclusion of the well-known standard varieties. Let the pupils consult the best seed catalogues available and choose for themselves some varieties not already known to them. They should keep a systematic record of all varieties grown and the methods used in cultivating, fertilizing, etc. The knowledge thus gained will be of value in after years, and the homes will also benefit by it.

BIENNIALS

The pupils should observe the second year's growth of biennials. A special plot in the school garden should be set apart for this purpose. Have them plant in it a turnip, a carrot, a beet, a cabbage, or any other garden biennial saved over winter for the purpose. If desired, the pupils might grow their own seed of these varieties. Notice (1) what part of the plant has become enlarged with stored up food and how big it is when planted, (2) how this part changes in size and texture as the flowers and seeds develop, (3) in what way this extra food seems to have been used.

WILD FLOWERS

STUDY OF THE TRILLIUM

The pupils bring the plants for the lesson. There should be a few purple trilliums among the white, and some of the plants should have the underground parts intact.

Discuss with the collectors their observations on where the trilliums grow, the kind of soil, the depth of the root-stocks below the surface, the uses of the root-stocks, insect visitors.

CLASS-ROOM LESSON

The pupils are directed to examine the plant and flowers and find out all the means for attracting insects.

Find out why the purple trillium attracts flies and beetles, while the white trillium attracts bees and butterflies.

Look into the top of the flower; what figure do the tips of the six flower leaves form?

Using the names calyx and corolla, describe the circle of flower leaves as to number, colour, and relative position.

Find the stamens and describe as to number and position; find out how the stamens are fitted to ensure that the pollen will get upon the visiting insects.

Find the pistil and describe its shape. How is the stigma fitted for receiving the pollen that is carried by the insect visitors.

To the teacher.—The trilliums attract insects by their large white and purple flowers, which are held up by their long stalks high above the three broad leaves. The strong carrion-like odour of the purple trillium is attractive to flies and beetles, while bees and butterflies find the fragrance of the white trillium more to their liking.

The root-stock serves as a buried store of food to tide the plant over the drought of late summer and the severe cold of winter. The well-stocked cellar also explains the flourishing condition of the plant in early spring. The six stamens stand on close guard around the pistil, and insects forcing their way to the nectaries are well peppered with pollen.

Continue the observation work by means of field exercises such as the following:

What change takes place in the colour of the white trillium as it grows old?

Find the ripened seed pods of the trillium, open them, count the number of chambers, and examine the seeds.

Do trilliums grow from the same root-stock year after year?

As correlations, represent the trillium in colour and design an embroidery pattern based on it.

Lessons similar to that on the trillium may be based on adder's tongue, Indian turnip, Dutchman's breeches, violet, and clover.

ADAPTATIONS OF ANIMALS

It is not considered necessary to go outside the list of ordinary animals to find sufficient illustrations of adaptations, and it is recommended that attention be given to these during the study of animals prescribed for the regular Course. This may be supplemented by an occasional review of adaptive features for the purpose of emphasizing the general fitness of animals for their varied habits and surroundings. Care must be taken lest the attempt to explain structures by adaptation be carried to an extreme, for it is impossible to account for all the variations in animal forms.

The following list contains a few of the many examples of adaptations to be met with in the Course prescribed for Forms II and III.

The horse walks and runs on the tips of its toes; this gives greater speed.

Wild animals of the cow and deer kind can swallow their food hastily so that they may retire to a safe retreat; there they regurgitate the food and chew it. The domesticated animal retains this habit, though there is no longer a need for it.

The wood-hare's fur is brown in summer, hence its enemies cannot see it against the brown grass and moss; in winter its colour is white, which, against the snow, is a protective colour.

The porcupine is very slow, but its colour and shape make it almost impossible to distinguish from a knot on a log. Its quills form an effective protection when it is discovered.

The feet of the squirrel are adapted for climbing and its teeth for gnawing wood and for opening nuts. The tail serves as a balancing pole for leaping from tree to tree and in winter it acts as a protection from cold.

The earthworm's shape and movements are suited to its habits of burrowing through the soil. Its habits of swallowing the soil fit it for burrowing and for obtaining its food at the same time.

Many insect larvae, as the tomato worm and the cabbage-worm, are of the same colour as the plants on which they feed, and this enables them to escape detection by birds.

The larvae of dragon-flies and May-flies breathe in water by means of gills very much as fishes do, but the adult forms are suited for breathing in air.

Female birds are usually dull gray or mottled, so that their colours blend with their surroundings while they are nesting, and hence they do not attract the notice of their enemies.

Birds that swim have webbed feet, which act as oars for pushing them through the water. Their feathers are compact and soft for warmth, and these properties, together with oil on their surfaces, make them waterproof.

The tongue of the woodpecker is long, spear-shaped, and sticky; hence it is adapted for catching insects in the holes pecked into the wood.

The tongue of the toad is fastened at the front end, so that a flap can be shot out for more than an inch in front of the animal, thus enabling it to catch insects on its sticky surface.

The toes of the frog are webbed to make them more serviceable in swimming.

The tail of the musk-rat is strong and broad like the blade of an oar and serves the same purpose as an oar.

The tail of the fish is more serviceable for swimming than legs would be.

BIRD TYPES

WOODPECKERS

Woodpeckers are easily distinguished from other birds by their habit of perching in a vertical position on the trunks of trees with the tips of their tails pressed against the bark. While in this position, they tap upon the tree with their sharp, pointed beaks.

THE DOWNY WOODPECKER

Learn to recognize the smallest of our woodpeckers, the Downy. Winter or summer it may be found among the apple trees and shade trees, a tiny black and white bird little bigger than a wren.

OBSERVATIONS

I

Why is "checkerboard" a good name for this bird?

Are there any distinct lines of white?

Are there any patches of red?

Do its movements reveal energy or listlessness?

How does it move up a tree trunk?

How does it move down a tree trunk?

Find out how it can hold so firmly to the trunk.

Does it use its sharp beak as a drill or as a pick?

To the teacher.—The downy is spotted black and white, with barred wings and a white line down the centre of the back. A bright scarlet crown is the colour distinction of the male. This little bird is the embodiment of energy and perseverance. It hops nimbly up the trunk, tapping here and there with its beak, and then listening for the movements of the disturbed wood-borers. If it wishes to descend, it wastes no time in turning around, but hops backward down the trunk, or jumps off and flies down.

II

Examine an apple tree upon which a downy has been at work and find out what it was doing there.

Do you find the birds in pairs during winter? During summer? Distinguish the male from the female.

Tie a beef bone with scraps of meat adhering to it to a tree. What birds come to it?

Find the nest of the downy and describe the nest and the eggs.

Do the holes made by the downy injure the trees?

Why should the downy be welcomed in our orchards?

Describe the sounds made by the birds.

To the teacher.—Discuss the pupils' answers to the above problems in the class lesson, using a picture of a woodpecker to illustrate the features of the bird that adapt it for its habits. Examples: the straight, sharp beak suited for drilling; the two backward, projecting toes for perching; the spines on the tips of the tail feathers to act as a prop.

The downy woodpecker is very useful in the orchard, because it destroys great numbers of larvae of the tussock-moth and other insects. The holes made in the bark have never been found to injure the trees. The nest is made in a hollow tree, the entrance to it being almost perfectly round and about one and one-quarter inches in diameter.

The downy woodpecker has a very unmusical voice, but fortunately he is aware of this deficiency, and his only attempt at music is drumming with his beak upon a hollow limb or tree.

The hairy woodpecker, redheaded woodpecker, flicker, and yellow-bellied woodpecker (sapsucker) are other varieties which visit the orchards and are suitable for lessons similar to these on the downy woodpecker. They are all beneficial birds.

FLYCATCHERS

Members common to this class are: king-bird; house-phoebe, wood-phoebe, or pewee; whip-poor-will; least fly-catcher; giant fly-catcher.

Direct the observations of the pupils to the following type features:

Brownish or grayish colours; fringe of long bristles around the mouth (explain their use); whistling notes, varying with the different members of the family; habit of jumping from the perch, catching an insect while on the wing, and returning to the spot from which the flight began; nests, chiefly of mud built in a protected place, as under a bridge, ledge of rock, or projecting log.

WRENS

The house wren may be studied as a type. Observe its brownish colour, faintly mottled; its small size and energetic movements, its tail turned nearly vertically upward. Observe and report on other wrens, noting any differences.

CABBAGE-BUTTERFLY

Have a plant of wild mustard or a cabbage growing in a pot. In June, have the pupils, by means of the insect net, catch a number of the white butterflies, the adults of the cabbage-worm.

Place the butterflies in jars or bottles and observe them. Make drawings of them.

Direct the attention of the pupils to the difference between the wings of the male and those of the female. The former has only one dark spot on the front wing, while the female has two spots on this wing.

Release the males and put the females in a vivarium with the potted plant. (A pasteboard box, with a large piece cut out and the opening covered with gauze, makes a good substitute for a vivarium in this case.)

Observe the laying of the eggs. How many are placed at one spot? How are the eggs protected? The eggs may be gathered from the cabbage plants in the garden.

Observe and record the hatching of the tiny worm, its feeding, growth, forming of chrysalis, development into adult.

Frequently little yellow silken cocoons are found in vivaria where cabbage-worms are kept; these are cocoons of a parasite (braconid) that infests the worm.

Because of the ease with which the cabbage-butterfly may be obtained and the rapidity of its development in the various stages, it is very suitable as a type for the study of metamorphosis.

The sulphur, or puddler (called by the latter name because of its habit of settling in groups around the edges of the water holes), is also a suitable type. The larvae in this case must be fed on clover.

THE TUSSOCK-MOTH

Begin the study of this insect in June and July by observing the larvae feeding on the foliage of the horse-chestnut and other shade trees, and direct attention to their destructiveness.

In observing the larvae, note the size, movements, legs, colour, coral red head, tufts of hair on the back, and the three long plumes.

Watch the birds among the trees to discover whether they eat the larvae.

Of what use are the tufts of hair? Do the larvae feed by biting or by sucking? Describe the damage done by the larvae.

Collect a number of these larvae and place them in the vivarium with some twigs of horse-chestnut. Observe the spinning of the cocoon and, about two weeks later, look for the emergence of the adult moths.

Observe the two kinds of insects. Describe each. Are there any differences in the cocoons from which they emerge?

Which form of insect places the egg mass and is therefore the female? Note the number and shape of the eggs and how they are protected.

The female moths have no wings and do not move far from the cocoons from which they emerge, while the males have the power of flight.

As outdoor work, look for the egg masses on trees and fences and devise means of combating the tussock-moth.

Gathering and destroying the egg masses during the winter is found to be fairly effective in checking these insects. Since the cocoons frequently contain parasites that prey upon the larvae, it is advisable that only the cocoons that have egg masses attached to them should be destroyed; the others are harmless and may contain the useful parasites.

The egg masses may be kept over winter in a box in a cool place, and the hatching of the tiny larvae and their subsequent rapid growth observed.

POTATO BEETLE

The eggs of this beetle may be found in early summer in clusters on the under surfaces of the leaves of potato plants.

EGG.—Observe the size, colour, shape, position, and number in a cluster; appearance of head from outer end after a week.

LARVA.—Observe the colour, shape, head, legs, voracious appetite, movements, rapid growth, destructiveness.

PUPA.—Observe the larvae disappear from the plants; a search underground reveals the resting stage, or pupae. After ten days, the adult beetles emerge.

ADULT.—Observe the colour, the hard shell covering the head; the hard outer wings and membraneous inner wings; the hard shell on the under surface of the body; the feelers, and legs.

Why will spraying with a poison, such as paris-green, kill these insects?

REFERENCES

Dearness: How to Teach the Nature Study Course Stories in Agriculture, Bulletin No. 124.

FISH

The Nature Study lessons must be based upon observations of the living fish, preferably in May or June, September or October. The best place for this is on the bank of a clear stream from which it is possible to observe the fish in their natural environment. Here their life activities, their struggles, their conquests, and silent tragedies are enacted before the eyes of the observer. Many observations may be made in this way which will create a life-long interest in these reticent, yet active creatures. Since this method of study is practicable in but few cases, the study of the living fish in the aquarium is the best available substitute.

The teacher or the boys of the class can catch a few fish of three or four inches in length and carry them in a jar of water to the aquarium. Minnows, chub, perch, catfish, or other common forms will do.

OBSERVATIONS

I

The general shape, and the suitability of the shape for swimming.

The surface of the body and the protection it affords. Note the scales and the slime, the latter a protection against the growth of fungi, etc.

The gills—two openings behind the flaps at the rear of the head. The colours, and their value in concealing the fish. The dark upper surface makes it inconspicuous from above; the light under surface blends with the shadow and dims it.

The divisions of the body—head, trunk, and tail.

Movements of the fish and the part that the various fins play in these movements.

Note that the broad tail fin is the most useful fin for locomotion, the others act as balancers or as brakes, or for causing currents of water near the gills. Observe the movements of the pair of fins nearest the gills, the movements of the mouth, and the currents of water entering the mouth and passing through the gill slits. When a fish is kept in a very small quantity of water, observe the effect produced on the movements of the mouth and gill flaps. What are the uses of these movements? The pupils will thus discover the nature of the respiration of the fish. Why do fish die if many are kept in a jar of water?

II

By supplying various foods learn what kinds are preferred. Find in the actions or habits of the living fish evidences of a sense of smell, of sight, of hearing, and of taste.

Nearly all the following points of detailed study can be observed from the living fish: shape; size; tongue; teeth; gill slits leading from the mouth to the gills; nostrils, number and position; eyes, absence of eyelids; fins, size, build; the arrangement of the scales.

PROBLEMS

Why does the fish require a large mouth?

How are the eyes protected? Compare the shape of the eye with the shape of the eye of a land animal.

Why are there no openings from the surface directly into the ears? Show the suitability of the fins as organs of locomotion in water.

REFERENCES

Silcox and Stevenson: Modern Nature Study

Nash: Fishes of Ontario (from Department of Education, free)

Kellogg: Elementary Zoology



CHAPTER XII

FORM IV

AUTUMN

GARDEN WORK

The regular work of cultivation of garden and experimental plots should be carefully attended to. Pupils in this Form should be able to do all kinds of garden work with a good deal of proficiency. The work of selecting the best flowers for seed production should be continued. These should be used for planting in the school garden and in home gardens as well. This part of the work might be left to the girls. The boys should be encouraged to take up the systematic selection of seed grain. To get good seed to start with, two methods may be used:

1. Decide upon the kind of grain to be selected and choose from one of the best fields a hundred of the best heads—those that are vigorous, clean, free from rust or smut, and standing up straight. When the heads are dried a little, shell the grain off them and preserve it in a jar in a cold, dry place until spring.

2. Take a quart of oats and pick it carefully, keeping only the largest and most plump kernels. Keep this for spring planting. At the same time, a sample of the poorer grains should be kept for comparison. A regular system of selection should be followed from year to year, taking enough of the largest, brightest, and most compact heads from the plot each autumn to sow a plot of equal size the next spring. After the selection of heads has been made, the remainder of the crop may be harvested, and the grain from this known as general crop from hand-selected seed of the first, second, third year, etc. If the value per acre is required, the plots should be made of a certain size easy to compute, such as one rod square or one rod by two rods. (10-1/2 ft. by 21 ft. is about 1/200 acre.) Samples of each crop should be kept in uniform bottles and labelled; for example—"From selected heads of 1911". The yield per acre in the plot from which the selected heads came should also be noted. These will be interesting for purposes of comparison and for testing duration of vitality later. If the same amount of grain is used in planting a plot each time, the change in bushels per acre may be ascertained and also in pounds per bushel. Some of the boys in this Form may wish to continue this work of improvement by selection and, if so, they should communicate with the Secretary of the Canadian Seed Growers' Association, Canadian Building, Ottawa, and receive full instructions to enable them to carry on their work practically as well as scientifically.

HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS FROM SEED

The teacher should encourage the growing of herbaceous perennials for the purpose of beautifying the school grounds. Many plants may be started from seed at the school and given to the pupils for home planting. These plants require but little attention and provide excellent bloom in gardens and home grounds from early in spring before annuals are in bloom, on into the autumn. A list of the best varieties will be found in Circular 13, on Elementary Agriculture and Horticulture, a copy of which should be in every school. The seed plot should be fertilized and prepared in the usual way, and the seeds planted before the first of September. They may be started in June also, in which case they make more growth before winter. The plot should be well fertilized with thoroughly rotted manure and, if the soil is very dry, the plot should be well watered the day before the seeds are planted. The seeds are usually quite small and should be covered very lightly. The plot should be protected from the hot sun by means of cheese-cloth tacked on a frame. The plants should be watered twice a week in dry weather. In the late autumn, when the ground freezes, the plot should be covered with leaves or straw and some boards, which should be removed when the frost comes out in the spring.

DECIDUOUS TREES

Before the pupils of this Form leave school they should be able to recognize, by name as well as by sight, all of the species of trees found in their vicinity. To this end the teacher should help them to prepare an inventory of species of trees, shrubs, and vines of the vicinity. They should learn to distinguish the different species of maples, elms, birches, etc. A named collection of leaves helps materially in doing this. The influence of environment upon the growth and shape of trees and how trees adapt themselves to the conditions in which they live is a most interesting and profitable study, demanding careful observation, reflection, and judgment.

REFERENCES

Muldrew: Sylvan Ontario. Briggs.

Keeler: Our Native Trees. Scribners' Sons. $2.00.

TREES IN RELATION TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT

Consider the influences at work and their effect under the following heads:

1. CHARACTER OF THE SOIL AND SUBSOIL.—It may be gravelly, pure sand, sandy loam, clay or clay loam, muck or humus, shallow or rocky, and the subsoil may be sand, clay or hard clay with stones (hard-pan). Notice what species are most common in each kind of soil.

2. WATER SUPPLY.—What species are found naturally in moist ravines or along the margins of rivers and lakes, in bogs or swamps, on dry, sandy plains, or rocky hillsides. Consider also the rainfall.

3. EXPOSURE TO SUNLIGHT.—Account for the lack of symmetry in the shapes of trees. Branches grow only where their leaves can get the light. Account for the pith in many tree stems not being in the geometric centre. Account for the rapid growth in height made by young trees in the woods. Their light supply is chiefly from above, and they stretch up toward it as rapidly as possible. Dim light causes rapid growth at the expense, however, of strength of tissue, but as these young trees are protected in the woods from the strain of wind storms, their slimness and lack of toughness is a benefit rather than a hindrance to them. Also, the limbs near the ground die off while the trees are still young and small, giving us the clear timber tree, free from large knots, tall and straight. Make further application of this principle of light in relation to the planting of trees for shade and for wood or lumber. Account for the large size of the leaves of young trees in the dimly lighted woods as compared with the leaves of older trees. The principle of rapid growth in dim light is seen here also. It will be noticed that the large leaves of the young trees are more thin, soft, and flexible.

4. WIND.—Observe the tops of tall trees that have always been exposed to a strong prevailing wind as, for instance, those growing on the tops of hills or the eastern shore of a lake which has a prevailing west wind. The tops lean in the direction in which the prevailing wind blows. Does strong wind help or hinder the growth of a tree? Examples of stunted trees on wind swept hills or shores readily show this. It will be seen also that the higher branches are poorest on the side most exposed to the wind.

5. SUITABILITY OF THE SPECIES TO THE CLIMATE.—Observe that some trees retain their leaves much later in the autumn than do others. The beech, hickory, red oak, and chestnut are good examples. These are on the northern extreme of their territory of growth. The tree best suited to a rigorous climate is the one that finishes its work early in the autumn and has all its tissues well matured before cold weather sets in. Examples: maple, elm, birch, and willow.

FRUITS

EXCURSION TO A WELL-KEPT ORCHARD

If the teacher can arrange to take the pupils to see a well-kept orchard about the time of the apple harvest, it will help to arouse interest in the study of fruits. The trees, as well as the fruit, frequently show distinguishing marks whereby they may be identified. Have the pupils notice the following points: general shape of tree, colour of bark, shape of leaf, method of cultivation, fertilizing, pruning and grafting, spraying and its need, orchard pests, method of picking and packing apples in barrels and boxes for market.

SMALL FRUITS

Study the method of propagating strawberries and such bush fruits as currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Reports issued from the Fruit Division of the Experimental Farm at Ottawa give information regarding the best varieties suitable for different parts of Ontario and Quebec. Have the pupils try propagating strawberries by taking the stolons or runners; currants and gooseberries, by means of layers or stem cuttings; and raspberries or blackberries, by root cuttings or the detaching of root shoots or suckers. Stem and root cuttings, when taken in the autumn, may be planted at once or may be stored in damp moss or sand in a cold cellar over winter. Stem cuttings should be about the size and length of a lead-pencil and root cuttings about half that size.

AUTUMN WILD FLOWERS

Observations made with garden flowers should be supplemented by observation lessons on a few selected wild flowers of the woods, fields, and roadsides. Although the spring months afford a much greater variety of wild flowers than do the autumn months, they do not afford quite as good an opportunity for finding and studying them. The woods and fields are drier and more easily reached in the autumn and the fall flowers last much longer. Some of the species seen blooming in spring and early summer are now in fruit and scattering their seed, so that the pupils have a chance to follow out the whole life history of a few chosen species. The pupils in this Form might select for special study the milkweed, worm-seed mustard, wild aster, and goldenrod. These should be observed out-of-doors, preferably, but suitable class-room lessons may be taught by using similar matter.

MILKWEED

Taking the milkweed as a type, the following points are to be considered:

The kind of soil, where found, and whether in sun or shade.

Try to pull up a small-sized plant. Dig one up and notice the underground part.

Note the size of the largest plant seen, also the size of the leaves, and how they are arranged to prevent overshadowing.

Break off a leaf and note the white sticky juice, whence the name "milkweed". Discuss this milk as a protection to the plant.

Note time of first and last flowering of the plant and the colour and odour of the flowers. Watch insects gathering honey on a bright day. Note the little sacks of pollen that cling to their feet. They sometimes get their feet caught in little slits in the flower and perish.

After the flowers disappear, note the forming of the little boat-shaped pods in pairs. Select one that is ripe and notice that it bursts along one side which is most protected. Open a pod carefully and notice how beautifully the flat, brown seeds are arranged in overlapping rows and how each seed has a large tuft of silky down that serves to carry it far away in the wind. This silk-like down is sometimes used to stuff cushions, and because of it the plant is sometimes called silk weed.

One species of butterfly in particular feeds upon this plant—the monarch, or milkweed, butterfly. This is one of the few butterflies that birds do not eat. It is protected by a distasteful fluid. Look on the under side of the leaves of several plants until you find a pretty, pale green cocoon with golden dots, hanging by a thread-like attachment. Early in the season the larvae may be found feeding on the leaves.

This plant is troublesome in some fields and gardens and so is classed as a weed. When the stems come up in the spring, they are soft and tender and are sometimes used as pot herbs.

CORRELATIONS

Draw a leaf, a flower, a pair of pods, and a seed with its tuft.

Write an account of a visit to the woods to study wild flowers.

TREES

A study of the pines of the locality may be commenced in November, after the deciduous trees have lost their leaves and have entered their quiescent winter period. This is the time when the evergreens stand out prominently on the landscape, in sharp contrast with the other trees that have been stripped of their broad leaves and now look bare and lifeless. If no pines are to be found in the vicinity, cedar or hemlock may be substituted. The lessons should, as far as possible, be observational. The pupils should be encouraged to make observations for themselves out of school. At least one lesson should be conducted out-of-doors, a suitable pine tree having been selected beforehand for the purpose. The following method will serve as a guide in the outdoor study of any species of tree:

THE WHITE PINE

Have the pupils observe the shape and height of the tree from a distance and trace the outline with the finger. Compare the shape of this tree with others near by of the same species and then with members of other species. Have the pupils describe in what particulars the shapes differ in different trees. They will come to realize that the difference in shape results from differences in length, direction, and arrangement of branches. They may notice that other evergreens resemble the pine in that the stems are all straight and extend as a gradually tapering shaft from the bottom to the top, that all have a more or less conical shape, and that the branches grow straight out from the main stem and not slanting off as in the case of the maples and elms.

Coming close to the tree, the pupils may first examine the trunk. By using a string or tape-line, they may find out how big it is around and the length of the diameter. Tell them how big some evergreens are (the giant trees of the Pacific Coast are sometimes over forty feet around). Have them notice where the trunk is largest, and let them find out why a tree needs to be so strong at the ground. Heavy wind puts a great strain on it just at this point. Illustrate by driving a long slat or lath into the ground firmly: then catching it by the top, push it over, and it will break off just at the ground. If a little pine tree could be taken up, the pupils would be interested in seeing what long, strong, fibrous roots the pine has.

Let them examine the bark of the trunk and describe its colour and roughness. The fissures in the bark, which are caused by the enlarging of the tree through the formation of new wood under the bark, are deeper at the bottom of the tree than at the top—the tree being younger and the bark thinner, the nearer to the top we go. How old is the very top, down to the first whorl of branches? How old is the stem between the first and second whorls? Between the third and fourth? Let the pupils find out in this way the age of a little pine that is regular and unbroken. The whorls of branches near the ground are usually small and dead in young trees and in old trees have completely disappeared. Relate the size of the trunk to its age, and also relate the size and length of the branches to their age. Where are the youngest branches and how old are they? What branches are oldest? Notice how the branch is noticeably larger just where it joins the trunk, as this is the point of greatest strain. Are the branches the same length on all sides of the trunk? If not, find one where branches are shorter on one side than on the other and try to discover the cause. Usually, if other trees are near enough to shade a certain tree, the branches are shorter and smaller on the shaded side.

Let the pupils look up into the tree from beneath and then go a little distance away and look at it. They will notice how bare the branches are on the inside, and the teacher will probably have to explain why this is so. They will discover that the leaves are nearly all out toward the ends of the branches. The leaves get light there while the centre of the tree top is shaded, and the great question that every tree must try to solve is how to get most light for its leaves. The pupils will now see an additional reason why the lower limbs should be longer than the upper ones. The greater length of the lower limbs brings the leaves out into the sunlight.

Why this tree is called an evergreen may now be considered. Why it retains its leaves all winter is a problem for more advanced classes, but if the question is asked, the teacher may get over the difficulty by explaining to the class that the leaves are so small and yet so hardy that wind and frost and snow do not injure them.

The pupils may each bring a small branch of twig back to the school-room, if the white pine is growing commonly about, otherwise the teacher may provide himself with a branch upon which to base another observation lesson in the class-room.

If the tree has cones on it, an effort should be made to get a few, as they will also be considered in a subsequent class-room lesson. If the cones have not yet opened when they are picked, so much the better, as they will soon open in a warm room, and the pupils will be able to examine the seeds and notice how they whirl through the air in falling. If possible, let the pupils have an opportunity of seeing pine trees growing in the woods as well as in the open.

OUTLINE OF A CLASS-ROOM LESSON ON THE WHITE PINE

Inferences.—If possible, each pupil is supplied with a small branch of the white pine and the teacher with a larger branch which can easily be seen by all the pupils. Before proceeding to examine the specimens, give the pupils a chance to tell what they now know about the white pine, and thus review the lesson taken out-of-doors. Then ask a few questions bearing upon their own observations, such as: What was the soil like where you found the pine tree growing? (They are found most commonly on light, sandy soil.) Did you notice any difference between the shapes of the pines in the deep woods and the pines in the open fields? Did you notice any dead limbs on those in the woods? Why did they die? The pupils may conclude that branches whose leaves cannot get the sunlight must die. Show that this causes knots in the lumber and exhibit samples. This explains also why the trees of the forest have such tall stems without branches for a long distance up from the ground. They get the light only from above and seem to strive with the surrounding trees to reach it. If we want trees to grow tall, how should we plant them? (Close together) What would such trees be good for? (Making timber or lumber) If we want trees to grow low and have thick and bushy tops, how should we plant them? (Far apart) What would such trees be good for? (Their shade and their beauty) Good shade trees should be thirty to forty feet apart.

Ask the pupils if they have ever been near a pine tree when a gentle breeze was blowing, and have them tell the cause of the sound that they heard. They may decide that the shape and size of the leaves caused the sound when the wind was blowing through the tree top. Have them examine the branches in order to discover the following points:

LEAVES.—These are in bunches of five, two to three inches long, three-cornered, and with little teeth pointing toward the tip, light green near the tip of the bough (young leaves) and darker further down (older leaves); age of a leaf the same as the age of the wood it grows on, therefore some leaves are one year, some two, and a few three years old. No leaves on four-year-old wood, therefore the leaves fall off the white pine the third year. Ask pupils to try to find out by observation when the leaves fall off the pines. Note the fragrance of the leaves, and that they are sometimes put into "pine" cushions, also, how slippery they are to walk on.

BUDS.—These are found at the tips of the branches, one large one in the centre and several smaller ones grouped around it. Note their reddish-brown colour and that they are made up of scales overlapping and covered with gum which keeps out the rain, thus protecting the little growing tip inside. When buds grow, they become little twigs with leaves on. Find where the buds were a year ago. Notice the light colour of the twigs that grow during the present season and the darker colour of the twigs of the previous year. Where were the buds two years ago? What did the centre bud become? (A continuation of the stem) What did the other buds, called lateral buds, become? (New branches) Compare the growth made in different years.

Notice also how white the wood of the twigs is—the probable reason for calling it "white pine".

CONES.—Note the length and shape of the cones and how the seeds are placed in them inside the large scales. Get some of the seeds and note the wing-like attachment. Take the wing off a seed and drop it from a height at the same instant with one that has its wing attached. Note the whirling motion and infer what purpose the wing serves in scattering seed. Taste the kernel of a pine seed and discover why squirrels are fond of them. Burn a pine cone.

Find out what birds like to live in this tree. What has been noticed about them and their nests?

Have the pupils keep the seeds until the following spring by putting them in a box of dry sand and setting them in a cold place. They should then plant them in a corner where they can be partly shaded when the sun is bright. Plant them about half an inch deep and keep them watered if the weather is dry during the first summer.

NOTE.—The cones drop their seeds from high up in the tree so that the wind can carry the seeds long distances. The cones usually stay on the trees for a couple of years after they lose their seeds.

CORRELATIONS

Draw a pine tree, a bunch of pine needles, a pine cone, and a pine seed.

Write a description of a pine tree seen in the woods; also of one found in the open.

Write a list of things for which the white pine is useful.

To the teacher.—The winter months, besides affording an opportunity for seeing trees and plants in their dormant or quiescent condition, also afford an opportunity for reading and reflection, for recalling observations and experiences of the past season, and for making plans for work and study in the school garden, woods, and fields when spring returns. The knowledge gained by the pupils through first-hand observation of trees, flowers, and gardens can be greatly extended by pictures and stories descriptive of these, which the teacher may from time to time bring to the school-room. Their personal experiences will be the basis for interpretation of many new things which will come up in the reading lessons, in selections which the teacher reads from week to week, and in books and papers which they themselves read in their homes. Thus the interest that is aroused by the first-hand studies of plants in garden, orchard, or woodland will be carried over from autumn to spring, and the pupils, with the awakening of spring, will take up anew the study of plant life with a keener interest because of the time given to reading and reflection during the winter. Illustrated magazines dealing with gardening and with the study of trees and plants, and such magazines as have a children's department, will prove of great assistance to the teacher who makes any serious attempt to interest pupils in plant studies. Stories of life in the woods and of plant studies suitable to young pupils should be used.