Nature-Study with Plants 75 



they? Let a bit of lawn grow as it will for a 

 month and see what there is in it. A swale, a 

 dry hillside, a forest of maple, a forest of oak, 

 a forest of hemlock or pine, a weedy yard, a 

 tangled fence-row, a brook-side, a deep quiet 

 swamp, a lake shore, a railroad, a river bank, 

 a meadow, a pasture, a dusty roadway — each 

 has its characteristic plants. Even in the win- 

 ter one may find these societies — the tall plants 

 still asserting themselves, others of less aspiring 

 stature, and others snuggling just under the 

 snow. 



Later, special attributes or forms of plants 

 may be considered — forms of stems, bark, ways 

 of branching, root forms, leaf forms, position 

 and size of leaves with reference to light, 

 flower forms, falling of the leaves, germination, 

 seed dispersal, pollination (for older pupils), 

 injuries of various kinds (as by snow, ice, wind, 

 sun-scalding, drought, insects, fungi, browsing 

 by cattle), simple physiological experiments of 

 many kinds (such as are now described in our 

 best text-books). In winter, studies may be 

 made of the forms of trees and bushes and of 



