Rural School Leaflet. 1049 



CORN 



HE following lessons on corn will give ma- 

 terial for a nature-study lesson and also for 

 some practical lessons that will interest the 

 teachers who care to give more agricultural 

 instruction in their schools. 



The first lesson on corn should, if possible, 

 be given afield. There the right spirit wdll 

 be present and both teacher and children 

 will get enjoyment and interest that could 

 not be found in the schoolroom. The 

 _^ _ pupils should be asked to take back a few 



^-^d^'^J^Sf com plants for further study. As these 

 corn plants are gathered the teacher should 

 '^"^ — j^g^^g ^j^g children note the root system, 



which is fundamental to the kind of cultivation given to com. 



In addition to the subject matter in the following lessons, many 

 teachers will be able to give other work that will be both pleasant and 

 profitable. Drawing and painting lessons will be valuable, also an 

 interesting language lesson, for which the lines from Hiawatha relating 

 to corn might be used. All children enjoy the spirit of Mondamin. 

 The Editor would urge teachers to encourage boys and girls to commit 

 to memory the following stanzas: 



" Day by day did Hiawatha 

 Go to wait and watch beside it; 

 Kept the dark mould soft above it ; 

 Kept it clean from weeds and insects. 

 Drove away with scofTs and shoutings, 

 Kahgahgee, the king of ravens. 



** Till at length a small green feather 

 From the earth shot slowly upward, 

 Then another and another. 

 And before the summer ended 

 Stood the maize in all its beauty. 

 With its shining robes about it, 

 And its long, soft, yellow tresses; 

 And in rapture Hiawatha 

 Cried aloufl ' It is Mondamin! 

 Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin 1 ' 



