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The tadpoles will live for some time in clear water with apparently 

 nothing to eat. This is because the mother toad put into each egg 

 some food, just as a hen puts a large supply of food within the egg 

 shell to give the chicken a good start in life. But when the food that 

 the mother supplied is used up the little tadpoles would die if they 

 could not find some food for themselves. 'J'hey must grow a great 

 deal before they can turn into toads, and just like children and other 

 young animals, to grow they must have plenty of food. 



Feedi?ig the tadpoles. — To feed the tadpoles it is necessary to imitate 

 nature as closely as possible. To do this a visit to the pond where 

 the eggs were found will give the clue. Many plants are present, and 

 the bottom will be seen to slope gradually from the shore. The food 

 of the tadpole is the minute plant life on the stones, the surface of the 

 mud, or on the outside of the larger plants. Make an artificial pond 

 in a small milk pan or a large basin or earthenware dish. Put some 

 of the mud and stones and small plants in the dish, arranging all to 

 imitate the pond, that is, so it will be shallow on one side and deeper 

 on the other. Take a small pail of clear water from the pond to the 

 schoolhouse and pour it into the dish to complete the artificial pond. 

 The next morning when all the mud has settled and the water is clear, 

 put 30 or 40 of the little tadpoles which hatched from the egg string, 

 into the artificial pond. Keep this in the hght, but not very long at 

 any one time in the sun. The children may think this is not imitating 

 nature, because the natural pond is in the full sunlight all day. The 

 teacher can easily make them remember that the natural pond is on 

 the cool earth where it cannot get very hot; but the small artificial 

 pond might readily get very warm if left long in the hot sun. 



One must not attempt to raise too many tadpoles in the artificial 

 pond or there will not be enough food, and all will be half starved. 

 While there may be thousands of tadpoles in the natural pond, it will 

 be readily seen that, compared with the amount of water present^ 

 there are really rather few. 



Probably many more were hatched out in the schoolhouse than can 

 be raised in the artificial pond. Return the ones not put in the 

 artificial pond to the natural pond. It would be too bad to throw 

 them out on the ground to die. 



Comparing the growth of the tadpoles. — Even when one does his best 

 it is hard to make an artificial pond so good for the tadpoles as the 



