are so annoying to captains of river steamboats, are formed in this 

 Vv^aj. They disappear, however, as soon as the stream is strong 

 enough to remove them. The older Jnnior Naturalists have prob- 

 ably read and studied about flood plains and deltas. If you care 

 to know how they are formed, any sti'eam near your home will show 

 you. When the water is high in the spring, flood plains are being 

 ijuilt and when it recedes new soil will be found on either side. 



Do you know how the soil came to be deposited there ? If you 

 place a toy village close to a stream in winter, what will happen to 

 it in spring ''i How could you protect it ? A very tiny brook will 

 show you why levees are built along the Mississippi river. Let us 

 know all that you can And out about a stream : whether it flows 

 in a straii>;ht line Or whether it meanders from side to side ; what 

 materials it carries ; the tools it uses in carving out its valley. If 

 your father is a farmer or fruit-grower, ask him what he does to 



prevent soil from being washed away. 



* * * 



There are some of our boys and girls in large cities who never 

 have an opportunity to walk in the woods or to ask for the story 

 which a meadow brook can tell. I wonder if, for their dues, these 

 children will try egg-shell farming? Secure an egg-shell, nearly till 

 it with soil, and plant radish seeds. I am sure you will enjoy watch- 

 ing the little plants when they come up. They will have many 

 ])retty ways. The one which interests me most is its habit of turn- 

 ing toward the sun. If you make two farms and let one grow in 

 the light and the other in the dark, you will learn why they do this. 

 Tell us two decided differences which you can see in the appearance 



of your little farms. ALICE G. McCLOSKEY. 



610 



