MOTHER EARTH 



13 



times are an utter abomination. Clothing suited to the 

 weather will have very much to do with your enjoyment of it 

 and with the eriiciency of your work. 



3. As to tools: A pocket lens and a pocket knife you 

 should own, and have always with you. A rule for linear 

 measurements is printed herewith (fig. i). Farm tools, fur- 

 nished for common use, will supply all other needs. 



4. As to the use of the 

 blanks provided : Blanks, 

 such as a])pear in the studies 

 outlined on subsequent pages, 

 are provided for use in this 

 course. Take rough copies of 

 them with you for use in the 

 field, where writing and sketch- 

 ing in a notebook held in one's 

 hand is difficult; then make 

 permanent copies at home. 

 When out in the rain, write 

 with soft pencil and not with 

 inlv. 



5. As to poison ivy (fig. 2) : 

 Unless you are immune, look 

 out for it : a vine climbing by 

 aerial roots on trees and fences, 

 or creeping over the ground. 

 Its compound leaves resemble fig. 2. Poison ivy. 

 those of the woodbine, but 



there are five leaflets in the woodbine, and but three in 

 poison ivy. Lead acetate (sugar of lead) is a specific antidote 

 for the poison; a saturated solution in 50% alcohol should 

 be kept available in the laboratory. It is rubbed on the 

 affected parts — not taken internally, for it also is a poison. 

 If used as soon as infection is discoverable, little injury 

 results to the skin of even those most sensitive to ivy poison. 

 After lesions of the skin have occurred, through neglect to 

 use it promptly, it is an unsafe and ineffective remedy ; a 

 physician shoiild then be consulted. 



6. As to pockets: Some people don't have any. But 

 containers of some sort for the lesser things, such as twigs and 



