270 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8:7— Oct.. 1912 



pots. Getting good root development before the top starts is es- 

 sential to success. This is the object of keeping them in a cool 

 moist place before "forcing"' begins. This will take from eight 

 to sixteen weeks. 



For early bloom, before Christmas use early bulbs as white 

 Roman hyacinths. It is better to pot these in September and 

 bring them into the school room just after Thanksgiving. If a 

 moist cellar is used it may not be necessary to cover the pots 

 with soil. However, bulbs covered two inches with moist soil 

 require no watering and usually mature better roots as the mois- 

 ture and temperature is more uniform. In the dry air of the 

 school room the rapidly unfolding flowers will require much 

 water and should never be allowed to dry up; on the other hand, 

 the soil will become "sour" if kept saturated in standing water. 

 No fertilizer will be required ; a light, porous, well mixed, spongy 

 soil is all that is needed. The most satisfactory bulbs for the 

 school room, considering the dry atmosphere, low temperature 

 nights and week ends, and unavoidable draughts, are hyacinths, 

 narcissus, jonquils and crocus. 



The earliest bulbs are white Roman hyacinths. These are 

 followed by pink and blue Roman, white Italian and Dutch 

 hyacinths. The yellow crocuses are earliest. Common trumpet 

 narcissus and jonquils come about the same as Dutch hyacinths. 

 They should be kept cool about three months. Freesias, if 

 grown, should be started in the school room from the first. Alany 

 other bulbs are grow^n. but are less likelv to succeed. 



Nature Study and Hygiene 



F. M. Crkc.g. 



II. A Study of Teeth and Their Care. 



Recent examination of the school children of New York 

 City, ten years of age and under, disclosed (iO per cent of them 

 having defective teeth. Similar studies in Boston gave 64 per 

 cent of tooth-afifected children, while in Brooklyn the percentage 

 rose to 77. If the reader is not fully informed as to the un- 

 desirable results that attend defective teeth he should read some 

 such account of the matter as is found in Allen's "Civics and 

 Health." The matter is of such grave importance for children 

 that the subject may well be taken up in fourth and fifth grades, 

 not only because of what the schools may be able to do directly 



