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Home Nature-Study Course. 



LESSON CXLI. 



THE STRUCTURE OF THE DANDELION PLANT. 



Purpose. — To call attention to the peculiar leaves and the hollow 

 stem of the flower of the dandelion. 



The hollow stem of the blossom head has been a joy to children 



from time immemo- 

 rial. It is a trombone 

 which will give to the 

 enterprising teacher a 

 fine opportunity for a 

 lesson in the physics 

 of sound, since by 

 varying the length 

 the pitch is varied. 

 There is also a lesson 

 in mechanics afforded 

 by this stem, which 

 the boys are more 

 likely to teach to the 

 teacher than the re- 

 verse ; this is the 

 superior strength of 

 the hollow column, a 

 fact utilized in the 

 construction of iron 

 frame work for build- 

 ings or the iron frame of a bicycle. The dandelion curls, which the 

 small girls enjoy making, offer another lesson in physics in surface ten- 

 sion, much too hard for them to understand. 



Have the children carefully draw a single dandelion leaf, showing 

 the peculiar notched edges. Explain that these notches were supposed 

 to look like lion's teeth in profile, and so the plant was called in French, 

 " dents-de-lion," teeth of lion, and thus we have changed the name to 

 dandelion. 



References. — " First Studies of Plant Life," Atkinson, pp. 85, 86, 

 178, 182; "Nature-Study and the Child," Scott, Chapter I, and pp. 

 381-384; " Field, Forest and Wayside Flowers," Going; "To the Dande- 

 liop," J. R. Lowell. 



THE VIOLET. 



Preliminary IVork.—het the pupils bring in bouquets of any of the wild violets 

 that happen to be common and in blossom. Try to make them interested in finding 



Photo, by Verne Morton. 



Ready to send off exploring seeds for future conquest. 



