I3I2 



Rural School Leaflet 



In this State, wheat is usually planted in the fall. In the Northwestern 

 States, however, it may be sown in the spring. Not all the seeds that 

 are planted mature grain, but those that do mature generally produce 

 from one to six stalks, each of which bears a head of from fifteen to thirty 

 kernels. 



Wheat, barley, and rye look very much alike when matured. Barley 

 grains do not shell out of the huU when threshed as do wheat and rye. 

 Moreover, there are either one or three kernels of barley in each little 

 group that forms a part of the head. The rye head is made up of groups 

 of two kernels, while wheat may have from two to five kernels in a group. 



GENERAL PLANT STUDY 

 The Editors 

 [T IvS important for the rural teacher to take every opportu- 

 nity to give boys and girls an intelligent interest in plant 

 life. This subject carries with it a means to mental devel- 

 ■ opment and opens the way to a permanent resource, which, 

 through all time, plant lovers have enjoyed. 



Intimacy with a single plant will make a good beginning in 

 plant study. The plant may be growing out of doors, or it 

 may be a house plant. The observations of the children 

 should be so directed that they will become interested in the 

 changes in the leaves, the blossom, and the seed, that take 

 place from day to day. 

 The school time should never be so filled that there is no opportunity 

 to discuss the coming of the spring flowers, or to talk over the seed time 

 in autumn. Those who are acquainted with the late siunmer and autiimn 

 woods and waysides, where the fruits of jack-in-the-pulpit, Solomon's 

 seal, and blue cohosh, red rose hips, and witch-hazel blossoms give rare 

 and rich color, will find abundant material for encouraging out-of-door 

 observation, and when springtime comes, each day bringing some new 

 blossom on wood or roadside plant, the teacher can do no better work 

 than to open the eyes of the boys and girls to the richness of interest in 

 their out-of-door surroundings. 



Each year in the New York State syllabus special plants are given for 

 study. This does not mean that other plants may not be studied, but 

 it gives a suggestive list, which teachers may find interesting for class 

 lessons. This list should be placed on the blackboard or the bulletin 

 board, so that the children may know what to look for during the year 

 in order to complete the work before the last day of school. Some of 

 these plants will furnish material for an interesting quest, which is always 

 valuable in out-of-door study. Who will find the first clavtonia. or 



