Teachers' Leaflet. 607 



LESSON CLXXVL 

 the cold-loving and warm-loving plants. 



Purpose. — To teach the pupils to discriminate between those plants 

 which can endure the cold weather of early spring or late fall, and those 

 which thrive best when planted in warm weather. 



To the children I make two divisions, or classifications of plants, 

 viz : the polar bear class and the monkey class. At the time when the 

 vertical rays of the sun are giving the equatorial boy a hot time, we in 

 New York may sow the seeds of the polar bear class ; at least as soon 

 after that date as the frost is out of the ground, and the soil is dry 

 enough to work. That time may not come until the middle of April, 

 and even later in the northern counties of the state of New York. See 

 Nature-Study Leaflet, 1906, No. i, p. 35. 



Another reason for sowing the seeds of the polar bear class as 

 early as the condition of the ground permits, is that such plants may 

 do their season's work before they suffer too much from the severe 

 heat of midsummer. Sweet peas and green peas, lettuce, radishes, and 

 the like, each belong to the cold-loving class, and if they are sown as 

 late as the last of May, their season will be unsatisfactorily brief. We 

 often read in seed catalogues and garden books " sow at intervals 

 for a succession." Writers when speaking of the cold-loving plants 

 have no excuse for giving such misleading directions. During the straw 

 hat and shirt sleeve days of late July and the month of August, peas 

 are liable to mildew, lettuce and peppergrass will go to seed, radishes 

 will also prematurely go to seed, be hot and tough to the taste, and 

 probably become wormy. If a succession is desired, the sowing should 

 be deferred until the arrival of the cooler and shortening days of late 

 August or early September. 



LESSON CLXXVIL 

 the salad garden. 



Purpose. — To teach the pupils how and when to plant some of the 

 seeds which can endure the cold, and which should, therefore, be put 

 in the ground early. 



For this early garden, — the first step of the apprentice — I shall 

 recommend only the cold-loving class of plants, placing my preference 

 in the order that I mention them; viz., peppergrass, and onion sets. 

 Devote at least half of each child's plot to these two. Next in prefer- 

 ence come lettuce and radish. The latter may have leaves the size of 

 a cat's ear by Decoration Day, which the young gardeners may observe 



