370 Home Nature-Study Course. 



Questions on the Chipmunk. 



1. What are its colors above and below? 



2. How many stripes has it and what are the colors of the stripes, 

 and how far do they extend on the back? 



3. Compare the tail of the chipmunk with that of the red squirrel, 

 and state, if you can, the reason for this difference, for there is a good 

 reason which has its basis in the different habits of the two animals. 



4. How does the chipmunk carry food, and how does it differ 

 from the red squirrel in this respect? 



5. Does it store food for winter use? 



6. What is its food? Describe how it prepares it. 



7. Does it come out of its nest during the winter? 



8. How does it differ in this respect from the red squirrel? 



9. Does it live in the same home m the winter as in the summer? 



10. How far from the ground on the tree have you seen a chipmunk? 

 Does it pass from one tree to another by jumpmg from bough to 

 bough? 



11. Where is its home and how is it made? 



12. Why is it not easily found? 



13. What are its enemies? 



14. Does it do any damage to crops? 



15. At what time of the year do the young chipmunks appear? 



16. What seeds do the chipmunks distribute? 



17. Tell any personal experience you may have had with chip- 

 munks. 



LESSON IV.— ALFALFA OR LUCERNE. 



The alfalfa plant is just now coming into great prominence in New 

 York State. Every teacher, particularly in the rural schools, will 

 need to know the plant and to have some information about it. 



What alfalfa is. — It is a clover-like plant. It is perennial. It has 

 violet-purple flowers. It sends up many stiff stems, 2 to 3 feet high. 

 The roots go straight down to great depths. We studied alfalfa and 

 clovers in our lesson of last June. 



Why it is important. — It is an excellent cattle food, and cattle raising 

 for dairy purposes is the leading special agricultural industry in New 

 York State. In fact, New York leads all the states in the value of 

 its dairy products. Any plant that is more nutritious and more 

 productive of pasture and hay than the familiar clovers and grasses 

 will add immensely to the dairy industry, and therefore to the wealth 

 of the State. Alfalfa is such a plant. It gives three cuttings of hay 

 year after year in New York State, thereby yielding twice as much 



