106 State Horticultural Society. 



Man as an animal, ruling all the others and yet dependent upon 

 other animals and plants, is next to be studied. The description of the 

 body, and the functions of^ nutrition and respiration should claim atten- 

 tion. 



In early spring the attention of the children may be directed to the 

 phenomena of germination and the starting of the stem, the growth of 

 the root and root hairs. Later, flowers should be examined and the 

 names of each of the four whorls learned. A few of the families of 

 plants in the neighborhood may be observed, and their names and charac- 

 teristics studied. 



After these elementary steps have been taken, pupils -dre able to 

 make simple experiments with soils. 



The object up to this point has been to train them to observe and to 

 f ami] arize them with the technical terms that are in common use. 



They will be prepared to learn by intelligent experiment the value 

 of the four great essentials of soil — humus, nitrogen, phosporic acid 

 and potash. Limestone may be converted into quicklime in the stove. 

 The action of water on quicklime, properties of slacklime, lime water, 

 the reconstruction of limestone from limewater and the carbon dioxide 

 exhaled from the lungs— all these give him ideas of chemical changes. 



The mechanical separation of soil into humus, sand, and clay show- 

 the physical constitution of soil in a manner easily remembered. 



The examinations of different soils in the field and by the road-side, 

 learning that plants, like animals, require nourishment and testing tin 

 value of manures when applied to plants growing in poor soils, are next 

 in order. 



A knowledge of insects injurious to vegetation together with the 

 best methods of destroying them may be obtained partly by observation 

 and partly from books. Birds that are friends to farmer, gardener, or 

 horticulturist, and that aid him in his warfare 'against injurious insects, 

 the wisdom of taking legal means to prevent the wanton destruction of 

 his feathered friends, are subjects about which every citizen should be 

 informed. 



As long as that beautiful, sweet songster^ — the insect-eating meadow 

 lark is legally one of the game birds of Missouri, we must acknowledgq 

 our inability to distinguish our enemies from our friends. 



