5IO Home Nature-Study Course. 



mainly for a forage plant, as is the cowpea, which is really a bean. For the com- 

 mon planted varieties, let the pupils study any of the standard seed catalogues. It 

 would be well for the teacher to give a geography lesson on the native lands of 

 these various varieties. 



THE PEA. 



For this lesson use as a model Lesson XXVI on the sweet pea for the leaves, 

 blossom and fruit. There are not so many species of the pea as of the bean. 

 Besides the sweet pea, there is a perennial or everlasting pea, which is even more 

 beautiful as it bears its blossoms in large clusters, but they are without fragrance. 

 Of the garden peas, one kind, the sugar pea, is eaten pod and all, like string beans. 

 Of the shelling kinds there are two general classes, those with smooth seeds and 

 those with wrinkled seeds, the latter are considered the richer. For varieties let 

 the pupils study any standard seed catalogue. 



LESSON LXXHI. 



GERMINATION OF THE PEA. 



Purpose. — To call to the notice of the pupils the differences in germi- 

 nation of the pea and bean. 



Plant a pea in sawdust at the same time the beans are planted. Note 

 this peculiarity : the root grows down from the planted pea and the plant 

 stem grows up. The pea remains in the ground and is not pulled out as is 

 the bean. 



LESSON LXXIV. 



THE PEA WEEVIL. 



Purpose. — To make the children notice the peas containing the 

 weevil, so that they will be able to select better seed. 



Other creatures beside people and stock have discovered that peas 

 and beans are good for food ; the inost important of these is the pea weevil. 

 The mother weevil is a small brown beetle spotted with white, about 

 one-fifth of an inch long, which has a head prolonged into a broad beak ; 

 she lays her eggs upon the pod while the peas are quite small. As soon as 

 the little grub hatches from the e^g, it bores through the pod into the 

 young peas. Here it lives its larval life in its little, round, sweet, meaty 

 world. Before it changes to a pupa it eats a tiny hole in the side of the 

 seed, leaving' only a thin scale to push away when it cotnes out as a, 

 beetle. Sometimes these beetles leave the peas during autumn, but as 

 a rule they remain in the seed until spring. In green peas the presence 

 of the weevil may be tletected by a little, dark spot on the side of the 

 pea. Seed peas should be placed in water and those that float should 

 be destroyed, for they contain the beetles. Tt would be a good exercise 

 for the children to plant in pots or in their gardens, some peas which 



