646 Handbook of Nature-Study 



their growth. The small side branches or the tips of the main stems may 

 be used as cuttings. With a sharp knife make a cut straight across Fill 

 shallow boxes with sand, place them in a cool room and keep them con- 

 stantly moist ; plant the cuttings in these boxes, putting the stems for one- 

 third of their length in the sand. After about a month the plants may be 

 repotted in fertile soil. The fall is the best time to make cuttings. 



LESSON CLXIV 

 THE HORSESHOE GERANIUM 



Leading thought The geraniums are very much prized as flowers for 

 ornamental beds. Let us see why they are so valued. 



Method A variety of geranium with single flowers should be chosen 

 for this purpose, and it may be studied in the schoolhouse window or in 

 the garden. As the parts of this flower are of a very general type, it is an 

 excellent one with which to teach the names and purposes of the flower 

 parts. Each child can make a little drawing of the sepals, petals, stamens 

 and pistil, and label them with the proper names. 



Observations i . What sort of a stem has the geranium. Is it smooth 

 or downy ? What makes the geranium stem look so rough and untidy? 



2. Study the leaf. Show by description or drawing its shape, its 

 wings, its veins. What are its colors and texture above? Beneath? Is 

 the petiole long or short? What grows at the base of the petiole where it 

 joins the stem? What marking is there on the leaf, which makes us call 

 this a "horseshoe geranium?" Are there other geraniums with leaves of 

 similar shape that have no horseshoe mark? 



3. Study the flower. Are the petals all the same size and shape? 

 How many of them are broad? How many narrow? Do the narrow 



