Teachers' Leaflet. 507 



has been trying to breed them out, because he does not like them in his 

 fruit. The CaHfornia navel orange is seedless. Note that this orange 

 has another little orange in its blossom end. See " The New Agricul- 

 ture," Collins. 



Plant a few seeds of orange and lemon, labelling them carefully, for 

 the young plants are much alike ; these seeds are quite slow of germination 

 and need to be kept steadily warm and moist. A study of the plants, 

 when they come up, will convince the pupils of the near relationship 

 between these species. 



BEANS. 



Preliminary Work. — If the pupils have gardens and have harvested them, the 

 beans for study should be the product of their labors, for that in itself will make 

 them objects of interest. Otherwise the study may beg-in by asking the pupils 

 to bring to the school as many kinds of beans as possible, the keynote of interest 

 being a collection of all the kinds of beans. After this let the pupils each have a 

 specimen or two for the study of the bean as a seed. It would be well to soak 

 the beans in water for a day before studying them. 



LESSON LXIX. 



THE BEAN SEED. 



Purpose. — To give the pupils an understanding of the nourishment 

 in the seed for the young plant. 



Carefully remove the tough skin from the bean and we find the color 

 is only skin deep, that the thick meat of all the varieties is whitish and 

 firm. Separate the bean into halves just at one side of the " eye " which 

 attaches it to the pod. If the bean is carefully split there will be seen 

 at one end a tiny sprout, or in some instances two tiny, folded leaves. 

 This can be seen with the naked eye, but if looked at with a lens, the 

 folded leaves of this little plant may be easily seen. The use of this 

 lesson should be to get the pupils interested in what happens to all the 

 parts of the seed when it is planted. 



In boxes of damp sawdust plant a bean of each kind, labelling each 

 by sticking a toothpick in close to it bearing a tag inscribed with its 

 name. Note that some varieties will appear above the ground far more 

 quickly than others ; note the plant first appears as a loop and then pulls 

 its leaves out ; note the different colors of the two seed leaves : note that 

 as the true leaves develop the seed leaves shrink, and let the pupils under- 

 stand that these seed leaves are giving up their meat to nourish the 

 young plant. Note that some of the varieties planted in sawdust or sand 

 will turn yellow and die soon, while others will grow for some time. 

 This shows that there is far more nourishment in the seed leaves of some 



