Introduction. 3 



buckeyes the largest seeds of any plant in our country. 

 A baby buckeye-tree backing out of its leathery coat is an 

 interesting object. Morever, the fact that it holds on to its 

 coat, which is also a dinner-basket, until all the starch is 

 eaten out is worth your attention. Acorns, walnuts, and 

 laurel stones grow in a similar way. 



Along with this out-of-door work, or preceding it by a few 

 weeks, your most profitable work indoors will be the study of 

 seeds, beginning with their condition before germination.* 

 The exercises beginning on the fifth page will assist you. 



* Pupils should be encouraged and urged to make as many observations as 

 possible upon the behavior of plants under natural conditions. This work is neces- 

 sary to counteract the errors which arise when we attempt to interpret experiments 

 in which some of the conditions are abnormal. For example: seeds growing 

 while pinned to a stick in the moist air of a closed jar do not develop just as they 

 would in moist earth. Nor can we say without some experience what difference 

 the abnormal conditions will make in the result. 



