366 - Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



the tip with some paste or the white of an egg. The pin at the top of the 

 scale is a place on which the pointer can rest until the paste has dried and 

 fastened the tip of the plant to the machine. This pin should be a little 

 above the zero mark so that when the paste is dry you can remove the 

 pin carefully and the pointer will stand exactly at zero. The machine 

 with the plant attached should be set in a warm place where it will not 

 be moved or interfered with. It is best to do this before the plant is 

 attached and certainly before the pin is removed that releases the pointer. 



This machine is better than the other for at least one reason. Can 

 you tell what the reason is? Does the pointer show exactly how much 

 the plant grows? If not, how will you find the true growth in length? 



The machine should be kept attached to one plant at least twenty- 

 four hours. It should not be moved during this time. Try it on the 

 different plants. Be sure to keep the machine for we shall want to use 

 it next month. See how many of the questions you ask about plant growth 

 can be answered by the machine. 



A SUGGESTION FOR CHRISTAIAS TDIE • 



Every young person should have a library all his own and he should 

 learn to take care of his books. I should like our boys and girls to begin 

 now to make a collection of good reading material and to have it in your 

 own room or in some attractive corner of the living room. If you do 

 not own a bookcase, perhaps it will be well to consult St. Nicholas in 

 regard to the matter. In the stores, one can purchase small bookcases 

 such as you see illustrated in Fig. 5, for one dollar and twenty-five cents 

 each, and I doubt not that there are many to be found in the workshop 

 where Christmas gifts are made. 



Then, when you have your bookcase, I hope you will get some good 

 Nature-Study books for it. The real naturalist must study out-of-door 

 things, not books, but it will always interest him to learn what other 

 naturalists have found out, and the experience of older naturalists will be 

 helpful always to young students. From time to time, therefore, we shall 

 suggest some good Nature-Study books for the library of Junior Natural- 

 ists. Following are three that I have in mind for this issue of the 

 Leaflet : 



Bird Life, by Chapman. 



Insect life, by J. H. Comstock. 



Familiar Trees and Their Leaves, by S. I\Iathews. 



Note. — IVc shall occasioiially suggest books that zviU he useful on the 

 teacher's desk. Nature-Study and Life, by C. F. Hodge, of Clark Univer- 

 sity, contains many useful suggestions for Nature-Study in the public 

 schools. 



