Mr. Rooper's Address 237 



follows: The site and aspect of the garden; the soil 

 and its improvement by spade-work, draining, and 

 manuring; the build of a plant; what a plant is made 

 of; how plants are nourished, and their organs of 

 nourishment; sap and its movements; conditions of 

 healthy growth ; germination, growth, flowering, fruit- 

 ing, and seeding of plants; annuals, biennials, and 

 perennials ; evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs ; 

 the dependence of plants upon insects. 



All these matters of simple experience in the gar- 

 den can be simply treated and explained in the 

 school-room. 



Much useful work may be done in the way of simple 

 experiment by contrasting the effect of choosing for 

 seed larger or the smaller samples. For instance, 

 small potatoes, large potatoes, and the largest of all 

 may be selected for setting in the ground and the re- 

 sults witnessed and recorded. The value of examples 

 of defective cultivation should not be overlooked. 



The effect of early and late springs on vegetation, 

 the date of first sprouting and first flowering of certain 

 plants, may be observed and recorded. If the records 

 are kept for a number of years the comparison be- 

 tween the weather chart and the date of first flower- 

 ing chart becomes interesting and suggestive. The 

 changes that can be noted in it by carefully watching 

 the soil, whether in winter, spring, or autumn, will be 

 connected with the seasonal changes in plant and 

 animal life. Children will observe and want to know 

 why the surface of the petals of the rose and of the 

 leaves of a cabbage do not become wet with rain any 

 more than a duck's feathers; why there is such fra- 

 grance from the flowers when the air is moist; why 



