\ Teachers' Leaflet. 465 



called the wings ; the two lower ones are grown together in the semblance 

 of a little boat, and is called the keel. Folded within the keel are ten, 

 silvery-white threads tipped with orange-colored knobs ; these are the 

 stamens ; nine of these stamens are nnited to form a tube, while one 

 lies .free along the top. The single pistil is boat-shaped, and later 

 develops into the seed pod. It is tipped with an upcurving style. 



Take a sweet pea blossom in the hand and with finger tips press 

 apart the wings and downward on the keel and up flies the stiff, curved 

 style, carrying with it the anthers or pollen boxes, which will leave the 

 finger dusted with the yellow pollen. This is the process by which the 

 bee gets loaded with pollen. It alights on the flower and in reaching 

 after the nectar which lies at the base of the petal, it presses down upon 

 the keel and the pollen is dusted on the under side of its body. 



LESSON xxvn. 



the leaves of the sweet pea. 



Purpose. — To learn that the sweet pea leaf is not simple, but made 

 up of several leaflets, and that some of these leaflets have been changed 

 to tendrils by which the plant pulls itself up. 



Material. — Leaves of the sweet pea and if possible specimens of the 

 leaves of the garden pea and of the locust tree. 



Observations. — The pea leaf is compound, that is, it has one leaf 

 made up of more than one leaflet. Note the ear-like stipules at the 

 base of the leaf; stipules when present are always a part of the leaf and 

 a sign that right where they are is where the leaf begins. Compare the 

 pea leaf with that of the locust, and note that there are only one or two 

 pairs of leaflets near the base, while the two or three pairs near the tips 

 have been changed into curly tendrils, which reach out and w^ap them- 

 selves around any support that is near at hand. The child will readily 

 understand how much more beautiful is the sweet pea vine which has 

 something to climb upon than one which is obliged to grow along the 

 ground. Get the children to notice whether the tendrils all curi in one 

 direction. 



References. — "Botany," L. H. Bailey, pp. iio-iii; "First Studies 

 of Plant Life," Atkinson, pp. 152-189. 



LESSON XXVIII. 



stem of the sweet pea. 



Purpose. — To make the pupils notice the peculiarities of stems and 

 how they are fitted for their work. 



Material. — Branches of sweet pea. 



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