PLANT STUDY. 77 



ward from the center of inception. At the same time this fungus has 

 liberated nitrogenous and other compounds that are particularly suited 

 to the grass, and it shows its appreciation of the fact by a more vig- 

 orous growth and deeper green color. 



PLANT STUDY. 

 By E. L. Morris. 



HOW should plants be studied ? A chapter, perhaps, will suffice 

 to show the relation of one lesson to the others, by which the 

 pupil, in graded school or high school, will get the greater 

 mental development. To interest the pupil, have him plant 

 various seeds in sand, and earth, and sawdust. Ask him what are the 

 results of planting the seeds, some in wet sand, others in dry earth, 

 etc. If the young plants be pulled from the pots, the roots will be 

 large in proportion to the plants. What are they for ? Would not 

 one large root do in place of so many little ones ? You say the roots 

 drink in the water or moisture from the ground. Yes, but how does 

 the root take the water ? Not by fingers, surely. Make an interest- 

 ing experiment by putting an ^'gg^ a part of whose shell is removed 

 without breaking the delicate skin beneath, in the top of a tumbler of 

 water; make a small hole at the opposite (upper) end with a needle. 

 After a time notice the o-gg coming out of the shell. The water must 

 have gone through the skin where the shell was broken, for the &g% 

 has leaked out at the upper end and the water in the tumbler has 

 gone down. So does the water in the soil get through the surface of 

 the roots to supply the upper part of the plants, because attracted by 

 the substance of the root. 



Different roots will do the same thing in differing quantities, or 

 in differing circumstances. Stems of various kinds will present like 

 problems. Leaves, too, and flowers. 



The pupil will have more interest and think more fully on any 

 topic if he is taught to see or understand what happens, where it hap- 

 pens, when only it happens, and so far as possible why it happens. 



What blessings in schooling and the development of thoughful- 

 ness the young pupil has to-day, compared with those of the old way 

 followed by the older students. 



Western High School, Washington, D. C. 



TJie Garden for December 24 has a long article on the hardy Su- 

 macs as grown in England. A figure of our Stag-horn Sumac grown 

 in the Royal Gardens at Kew shows it to be one of the most orna- 

 mental of the genus. 



