32 Lessons in Nature Study. 



We will take this clean sharp sand and sift it to get out 

 all the pebbles. Now we will put it in this pot and make it 

 damp. Let us push this pencil down into the soft damp 

 sand and so make a hole. Now put in your geranium slip 

 and crowd the sand up around it. Where shall we put it? 

 Why put it in a north window? Why not let it have sun- 

 light from the first ? When it has been planted for a week, 

 carefully remove it by tipping the pot upside down and ex- 

 amine the geranium stem for a callus. Signs of healing 

 over will probablybe observed, and a roughish ridge will be 

 seen on the edge where bark and wood join. This is a cal- 

 lus. If the stem has begun to rot, it is because the sand 

 has been kept too wet. The sand should be damp, not wet. 

 If no callus has appeared yet, carefully bury again and 

 wait another week. The callus and the roots are bound 

 soon to appear, and they may be examined as with nastur- 

 tium, ivy, and oleander. 



III. Procure a plant of periwinkle (myrtle) having rather 

 long branches. Plant it in a pot, and fix another pot full 

 of good earth, but having no plant in it. Place the pot of 

 earth beside the one containing the periwinkle and lay one 

 of the long branches across the pot of earth. Place a stone 

 upon the branch, and water the pot of earth whenever you 

 water the periwinkle vine. Now and then gently lift the 

 stone and observe the vine. After a time roots will appear 

 and a new plant will thus be formed. The branch may be 

 severed after a while and the new plant will then carry on a 

 separate existence. In the above experiment have pupils 

 make careful note of when the stone is first placed and how 

 long it takes to root the branch. 



IV. Make the foregoing experiment with another branch, 

 only before placing the stone cut off a small slice of the 

 bark from the periwinkle vine on the upper side only. Do 

 not take off the bark all around; that would cause the 

 death of the branch. It will be found that roots will start 

 much sooner around the wound than they will on a stem 

 which has not been so treated. These experiments will 



