96 STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 



From now on is a good time to gather alder, maple, cherry, 

 apple and willow buds and have the children watch them open. 

 Don't mind if the sticks do look rather homely and clutter the 

 house. Plan to have apple blossoms for Easter. Bear in mind, 

 when forcing fruit buds, to procure branches at least ten inches 

 long and break off the leaf buds and the smaller blossom buds, 

 only leaving a few of the strongest buds on the terminal end. 

 The whole plant will concentrate its strength upon those few 

 buds. Pears, cherries and crab apples can be forced in from two 

 to three weeks. Another good plan is to transplant in the fall 

 several plants of the early spring flowers into a box and keep it 

 in some cold place till the latter part of winter and then bring 

 them into the house for forcing. 



In studying flowers with children, a very valuable book is Mrs, 

 Wm. Starr Dana's "How to Know the Wild Flowers." This 

 is full of good illustrations of many of our wild flowers, so 

 arranged that any child who can read, can easily find the picture 

 and description. 



In studying seed formation and plant germination a mother 

 has the most beautiful object lessons by which she can teach 

 children sex and reproduction in both the plant and animal king- 

 dom, in such a way that they will see God's laws working the 

 same through all nature, and the things which seem a vulgar 

 mystery to the ignorant child, will be to them a simple, pure, and 

 natural law. 



I believe a child can gain a broader education while playing 

 about a little country brook, than from any one educational book 

 ever published. The six inch brook trout will look larger to the 

 boy of ten, than the six pound Rangeley lake trout to the man 

 of forty. The rushes, mosses, and ferns that line the banks of 

 the brook will look richer and more luxuriant than any tropical 

 growth of Porto Rico or the Philippines which he may visit in 

 after life. 



The gentle ripple and splash of the water over a stony bed in 

 summer, or the rush and roar of the swollen stream in spring, 

 will recall fond memories as long as life may last. But with all 

 these things, his enjoyment will be keener, purer, and more last- 

 ing, if there is a guiding mind or teacher to answer his questions. 



