!N"ature Study. 169 



a pumpkin plantlet from a burdock or a radish plantlet from a 

 rag weed. You think you can do so now? Well, perhaps; try 

 it this spring. A young lady was given some very small verbena 

 plants in their second leaf which she carefully planted, tenderly 

 watched over and watered, anticipating great pleasure in her 

 verbena blossoms, imagine her disgust when she found all her 

 care had been bestowed upon catnip plants. Now suppose we 

 study the little plants this summer so we may be able to detect 

 the difference in the several varieties of seeds and plants and not 

 raise a crop of something we do not want. 



I recently heard of a bicycle party on a country run who were 

 very much attracted by a beautiful plant they saw growing in a 

 garden. This plant had tall stalks of dull green over topped 

 with silvery bloom. Every one halted to admire the beautiful 

 plant with exclamations of delight. Finally one of the party 

 asked the " man with the hoe " who was at work near by what 

 those beautiful flowers were. He looked around in surprise, then 

 asked her what she meant. Why! those lovely plants along the 

 fence. I never saw anything like them before. He smiled a 

 pitying smile as he replied: " Them! Why them's onions gone to 

 seed." 



Children are enthusiastic admirers of trees, tell them their 

 names, habits of growth, what makes them grow, length of life, 

 when the buds and blossoms appear, when and why the leaves 

 fall. Tell them of its countless enemies which destroy fruit and 

 leaf. Teach them how to recognize these insects, their nests, 

 eggs, etc., so as to destroy them. (Those are the nests the small 

 boy would more profitable destroy than the helpful birds' nests.) 

 The practical results of this method is demonstrated in Cali- 

 fornia's rich fruit belt, where entomology is required in the 

 schools and the children are actively engaged in destroying the 

 pests. If such a method were adopted in New York the tent 

 caterpillar nests would not be found in nearly every tree and 

 orchard along our highways, a blot upon the landscape and a 

 menace of what we may expect from the same quarter next sea- 

 eon. Our forests also suffer from the depredations of insects. 



