I? METHODS IN TEACHING 



be necessary to impress upon his mind the great importance 

 of the seed in the perpetuation of the plant species. The 

 collection of seeds should follow. In this work the teacher 

 may indicate a certain class of seeds to be collected by each 

 grade. Thus, grade one, cereals; grade two, vegetables 

 and flowers; grade three, fruits; grade four, forest trees; 

 grade five, common weeds. 



Discuss with classes the advantage of such appendages 

 as make seeds easily carried by the wind. Examples: 

 dandelion, thistle, milkweed, salsify, maple, ash, and linden. 

 In some cases the whole plant breaks off at the surface of 

 the ground and is rolled by the wind for long distances, 

 scattering seeds as it goes. Examples : tumble-weed of the 

 western states and the specially troublesome Russian thistle. 

 Other seeds have hooked or barbed spines for taking hold 

 of the hair or fur of animals or the clothing of man. Ex- 

 amples: cockle-bur, burdock, hound's tongue, beggar-lice, 

 Spanish-needle, and the barbed beards of grain. Still 

 others have spiral " clocks," very sensitive to moisture. 

 These, by their motion, help the seed to bore into the soil, 

 thus insuring its growth. Some plants, as the fruits and 

 the nuts, depend upon birds and animals to scatter and plant 

 the seeds. Thus the jays, woodpeckers, squirrels, become 

 tree-planters and conservers of forests. Each plant must in 

 some way solve the problem of effectually scattering and 

 planting its seeds. These are interesting problems, and 

 perhaps nothing in nature tends more to develop the habit 

 of close observation than such work as here indicated, and 

 much more that will suggest itself to the teacher. 



Another phase of the subject and one better suited to the 

 needs of higher grades is seed production and rate of in- 



