578 Home Nature-Study Course. 



yellow with a few black dots on the wings ; sometimes the hind wings are tinged 

 with orange red. On the middle of the back of the moth's body there is a row of 

 six black dots and on each side of the body a similar row. The legs are reddish 

 above tipped with black. Note that the antannae are small and inconspicuous. The 

 mother moth will fly away if allowed and lay her eggs on some plant on which the 

 little caterpillar will feed as soon as it is hatched. 



THE POTATO. 



Preliminary work. — Give some history of the plant. When the Spaniards 

 came as conquerers to South America they found the Indians cultivating the plant 

 in all the valleys of the Andes from Chili to New Granada. They carried it home 

 with them and passed it from Spain into Italy and the Netherlands before it was 

 known in England, where both Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh are 

 credited with its introduction. The latter certainly established it in Ireland at his 

 own estate near Cork. He called it Battata. The crop has strongly affected the 

 fortunes of the English speaking peoples. Its destruction by blight in 1846 was the 

 cause of the " Great Famine," which drove over " seas " so many thousands of 

 Ireland's best and sturdiest workers to help in l)uilding up the United States. 



LESSON XL. 

 THE PLANT. 



Purpose. — To awaken interest in the habit of growth of this inost 

 familiar food-plant. 



Material. — A spray of leaves from a potato plant for each ])npil, and 

 if obtainable the teacher may have some of its cultivated or weed rela- 

 tives such as tomato, egg-plant, ground-cherry and horse-nettle for 

 comparison. 



Observations by pupils. — 



1. Is the plant really a vine as it is often called? 



2. Is the stem round or angular, smooth or rough, hairy or prickly? 



3. Do the leaves grow opposite each other on the stem or alternately ? 



4. Are the leaves simple or compound ? 



5. Are the leaflets of about the same size or regular as to their 

 number ? 



6. Are the stems and leaves soft and juicy or woody and fibrous? 



7. Other members of the Solanttm family are infested by the Colo- 

 rado beetle and stalk-borer also. Do you know any of these potato 

 relatives by sight? 



Facts for teacher. — The potato is a weak-stemmed plant whose branches often 

 grow several feet long and trail on the ground, but it is not a vine, as it has no 

 power to cling or climb. The stem is round and smooth and the whole plant is 

 very juicy during its period of growth. The leaves grow alternately and are 

 compound ; a pair of very small leaflets growing between pairs of much larger size. 



It is well to know some of the relatives of the potato, especially the weedy 

 ones, as they may be harbors for its enemies. The stalk-borer may live through the 

 winter in ground-cherry or horse-nettle when all the ruined potato stalks have 

 been carefully burned, to hinder its appearance another season. The eggs of the 



