Handbook of Nature-Study 



The object of planting any seed should be to rear a plant which shall 

 fulfill its whole duty and produce other seed. The following observa- 

 tions regarding the germination of seeds should be made while the 

 children are eagerly watching the coming of the plants in their gardens or 

 window-boxes : 



1. Which comes out of the seed first, the root or the leaf? Which 

 way does the root always grow, up or down? Which way do the leaves 

 always grow, no matter which side up the seed is planted ? 



2. How do the seed-leaves try to get out of the seed-coat, or shell? 

 How do the seed-leaves differ in form from the leaves which come later? 

 What becomes of the seed-leaves after the plant begins to grow ? 



References First Lessons with Plants, L. H. Bailey; First Lessons in 

 Plant Life, Atkinson; Plants and their Children, Dana; Plants, Coulter; 

 How Plants Grow, Gray; How Plants Behave, Gray. 



I. WILD-FLOWER STUDY 



THE HEPATICA 



Teacher's Story 



"The wise men say the hepatica flower has r.o petals but has pink, white or purple 

 sepals instead: and they say, too, that the three leaflets of the cup which holds the flower 

 are not sepals but are bracts; and they offer as proof the fact that they do not grow close 

 to the blossom, but are placed a little way down the stem. But the hepatica does not care 

 what names the wise men give to the parts of its blossom: it says as plainly as if it 

 could talk: 'The bees do not care whether they are sepals or petals since they are pretty 

 in color, and show where the pollen is to I e found. I will teach the world that bracts are 

 just as good to wrap around flower -buds as are sepals, and that sepals may be just as 

 beautiful as petals. Since my petticoat is pretty enough for a dress why should not 1 

 wear it thus? ' "THE CHILD'S OWN BOOK OF WILD FLOWERS." 



We seek the hepatica in its own haunts, because there is a longing for 

 spring in our hearts that awakens with the first warm sunshine. As we 

 thread our way into sodden woods, avoiding the streams and puddles 

 which are little glacial rivers and lakes, having their sources in the snow- 

 drifts still neaped on the north side of things, we look eagerly for signs of 

 returning life. Our eyes slowly distinguish among the various shades of 

 brown in the floor of the forest, a bit of pale-blue or pink-purple that at 

 first seems like an optical delusion; but as we look again to make sure, 

 Lo! it is the hepatica, lifting its delicate blossoms above its mass of 

 purple-brown leaves. These leaves, moreover, are always beautiful in 

 shape and color and suggest patterns for sculpture like the acanthus, or 

 for rich tapestries like the palm -leaf in the Orient. It warms the heart to 

 see these brave little flowers stand with their faces to the sun and their 

 backs to the snow-drifts, looking out on a gray-brown world, nodding to 

 it and calling it good. 



The hepatica is forehanded in several ways. After the leaves have 

 fallen from the trees in the autumn and let in the sunshine, it puts up new 

 leaves which make food that is stored in the crown bud; the little flower 

 buds are then started, and wrapped cozily, are cuddled down at the very 



