i8o NATURE STUDY ^BY GRADES 



Describe artificial methods of supplying cultivated plants 

 with water. Describe how our mountain streams are di- 

 verted into canals and conveyed in ditches to our gardens 

 and farms. Compare this labor and expense with farms irri- 

 gated wholly by rains. 



Do rains fall sufficiently regularly to insure the growth 

 and development of crops? Discuss results of too much 

 rain and of too little rain. Is there a recompense for the 

 extra expense and labor of irrigating ? 



LESSON LIV 

 INFLORESCENCE 



Place some apple, pear, or cherry twigs bearing flower 

 buds in a jar of water, and have the pupils watch them while 

 the buds develop. Note the calyx and the office that it per- 

 forms for the tender bud. When its labor is over* its mem- 

 bers, the sepals, curl back and become inconspicuous. 



Note the development of the corolla; the unfolding of the 

 petals. Of what use are they ? Why are they so brilliant ? 



Have you ever noticed bees and other insects flitting from 

 fiVvver to flower? Note the odor, also, and the honey or 

 nectar which the bees like so well. Encourage the children 

 to watch carefully for a week or ten days the changes in a 

 chosen cluster of blossoms on some convenient tree. 



Call attention to the stamens and the pollen box at the 

 end, and show how this pollen is scattered by insects. Study 

 the pistil and the ovary and the development of the latter 

 into fruit. This work should be mostly observation work 

 and the pupils should be required to discover the uses of the 

 four principal parts of a flower, and what becomes of each 

 as soon as its work is done. 



