Teacher's Le/.flet. ^^g 



Facts for the Teacher. — The beech nut which has lain on damp earth or beneath 

 the snow all winter has become so soft that it readily splits along one of its sharp 

 edges and a tiny root protrudes and points downward ; at the same time and place 

 the leaf-shoot appears and starts in the opposite direction. The cotyledons or 

 seed-leaves are short, broad and thick and totally unlike the true leaves which come 

 later. Sometimes the shell is quickly thrown off and again it clings to the little 

 tree for several days till the growing 'leaves force it apart. 



The scales of the leaf-buds lengthen as they unfold and drop away, each leaving 

 a tiny scar at the base of the shoot like the thread on a little screw. Within, each 

 leaf has a pair of scales to protect it and these do not fall away till the leaf is grown 

 but cling to the stem like brown needles. The new leaves are softly fuzzy on the 

 ribs and under surface and seem to have a fine fringe of hairs at the edge, but as 

 they attain full size they become smooth and fine, like silk. 



The blossoms of the beech appear in late April and Ma\', the staminate ones 

 growing below^ the leaves at the base of the new shoots and hanging in little balls 

 of bloom on long slender stems. The pistillate flowers are on stiff, little stems 

 near the ends of the twigs in the axils of the uppermost leaves. These are always 

 in twos with triple parted, outstretched stigmas waiting to catch the pollen blown 

 from the soft fuzzy dangling balls below. When the pollen is shed the staminate 

 blossoms fall off, but the twin pistillate flowers grow into twin nuts protected by 

 a spiny sheath and are little and brown, three-cornered and sweet and very " good 

 to eat." 



STAR STUDY. 



" Why did not somebody teach me the constellations and make me at 

 home in the starry heavens, zvhich are always overhead, and zvhich I don't 

 half knozv to this dayf" Thomas Carlyle. 



For many reasons aside from the mere knowledge acquired, children 

 should be taught to know something of the stars.' It is an investment for 

 future years ; the stars are a constant reminder to us of the thousands of 

 worlds outside our own and looking at them intelligently lifts us out of 

 ourselves in wonder and admiration for the infinity of the universe, and 

 serves to make our own cares and trials seem trivial. The editor has 

 not a wide knowledge of the stars ; the dozen constellations which she 

 knows were taught to her as a little child by her mother who loved the 

 sky as well as the earth ; but perhaps nothing she has ever learned has 

 been to her such a constant source of satisfaction and pleasure as this 

 ability to call a few stars by the names they have borne since the men of 

 ancient times first mapped the heavens. It has given her a sense of 

 friendliness with the night sky that can only be understood by those who 

 have had similar experience. 



If the interest aroused in these lessons is sufficient so that the teacher 

 wishes to go on with the subject she will find the following works most 



