922 



Rural School Leaflet. 



NATURE-STUDY SYLLABUS 



THE PEA 



Ada E. Georgia 



ESSONS which may be worked out in observa- 

 tions on the growth of a plant " from seed to 

 seed " are never more interesting than when 

 they are about something with which we think 

 ourselves already well acquainted. Nearly all 

 country children have seen pea-vines growing 

 and bearing, but the number of interesting new 

 things which they may discover during a study 

 of them will probably be very many. 



Lesson L — Germination 



Purpose. — To lead the children to see that knowledge of soil and 

 condition suited to a plant, and the care to make the seedlings com- 

 fortable and give them a vigorous start, is necessary to obtain a good 

 crop. 



Material. — A quantity of seed-peas of several varieties, the smooth, 

 the wrinkled and also the sweet pea. Seeds of each may be subjected 

 to the same and varying conditions and their results noted. Some 

 may be soaked before planting, others not; some be put in the light, 

 others kept in the shade; some be kept where there is warmth, others 

 where it is cool, and others subjected to changes of temperature; some 

 may be planted in soil which is fertile and well pulverized; others in 

 coarse and lumpy earth, others in sand or sawdust; some may be laid 

 between sheets of moist blotting paper which may be lifted to watch 

 the growth of the roots and the feeding hair-roots. A tumbler of water 

 over which a bit of coarse-meshed cloth has been tied so as to hold the 

 seeds on its surface in contact with the water also gives a good oppor- 

 tunity to watch root action. 



Facts for the teacher's use. — Of the garden peas, one kind, the sugar 

 pea, is eaten pod and all like string-beans; of the shelling kinds, there 

 are two general classes, those with wrinkled seeds and those with smooth 

 seeds, of which the former are sweeter and richer in flavor but are not 

 adapted to early planting, as the seed decays in soil which is cold and 

 damp. The little scar called a hilum on the side of the seed shows 



