308 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [ 2 : 9 _ DB c., 1906 



garden, although originally there had been only one plant; but by 

 means of underground stems the plant had made scores of new plants. 



It is not always possible, however, to go out into the garden, and a 

 room has been built and arranged so that experimental work can be 

 carried on in-doors throughout the year. It is the first of its kind, 

 and resembles a greenhouse in having a glass roof and in being kept 

 at a constant temperature during the winter months, but in other re- 

 spects it is more like a laboratory. On three sides of the room are 

 benches at which the girls draw from Nature, fit up experiments, etc. 

 The side of the room without benches is fitted with a sink, draining- 

 board, blackboard, and a tank. 



The tank is eight feet long, two feet wide, and one and a half feet 

 deep, and the side facing the room is made of glass. Arrangements 

 have been made so that rainwater can enter it, and when necessary the 

 tank can be emptied by means of a tap at the bottom. The tank was 

 made in the room in order that the girls while in school, might study 

 living water plants, and in the summer there are growing in it water- 

 lilies, water-milfoil, water-plantain, water-hawthorn, vallisneria, 

 frogbit, iris, rushes, and water- crowfoot. In the tank artificial mar- 

 shes, or bogs, have been made, and in these are grown plants which are 

 not accustomed to living in water, but which need more water than is 

 found in most soils. Two trays, four and a half inches deep, filled 

 with earth, and with perforated bottoms, are supported on four legs, 

 and screws are arranged so that the level of the trays can be adjusted 

 and the tray be either in or out of the water. 



Most of the plants in one bog-garden were sent from Killarney, 

 and thrive well in their new home. Butterworts, bog-bean, bogarum, 

 wood-sorrel, mare's tail, and forget-me-nots are flourishing. The 

 butterworts are especially interesting and are a great success. These 

 plants are insectivorous, or carnivorous — that is, are dependent for 

 part of their food on the insects they catch. As stated above it is 

 necessary, in order that plants may live, that they should obtain 

 nitrogen in some form or other, and most plants obtain it in the form 

 of compounds from the soil by means of the roots. 



Plants that have defective roots, or that live in poor soil, cannot 

 obtain nitrogen in the usual way, arid some are specially adapted for 

 attracting and entrapping insects, and afterwards digesting the sub- 

 stance of their bodies. The British insectivorous plants are butter- 

 worts, sundews, and bladderworts, and in the laboratory bog-garden 

 the butterworts catch insects in a way that would be condemned by 



