Chapter 25

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_