286 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [10:7— Oct., 1914 



V. Weeds: 



(a) Have a bed in which the common weed seeds are sown in 

 rows properly labelled. This gives opportunity for identifying the 

 weed at any stage of its growth. It also leads to experiments on 

 eradicating. 



(6) Twitch-grass is common and very troublesome. Get the 

 children to dig up the long root-stocks and cut them into small 

 sections planting the nodes in a box of earth and the intemodes in 

 another box. This will teach a good lesson on how to control the 

 pest. 



{c) Nearly all my students from the country are firmly con- 

 vinced that chess is a degenerate form of wheat and that chess seed 

 will not grow. Try it. 



{d) A good winter exercise consists in collecting samples of 

 snow from drifts in the country, melting it, filtering the water and 

 examining the residue for weed seeds. 



VI. Storage of food : 



When turnips are being harvested in the fall, two questions 

 shoiild arise: (i) Since these turnips have no flowers whence the 

 seeds that were planted in the spring? (ii) Why do the plants 

 form such big roots ? Both questions may be answered by planting 

 a root next spring. Try this also with carrot, parsnip, salsify, beet, 

 mangel, cabbage, kohl rabi, etc. Have a plot on purpose and grow 

 your own vegetable seeds. 



VII. Demonstration plots: 



(a) A large number of valuable farm and garden plants are 

 entirely unknown in many localities. If the teacher can introduce 

 a new food for man or beast into her section she will have done the 

 people a real service. The writer has this year planted teosinte, 

 sorghum, crimson clover, soy bean, cow pea, vetch, Russian millet, 

 also chives, Swiss chard, kohl rabi and okra just to see what they 

 are like. 



(6) In looking through a seed catalogue one finds the names of 

 many annual flowers all said to be very beautiful. Plant short 

 rows of these flowers in a special plot in order to find out which are 

 really desirable. In this way new flowering plants may be brought 

 into the section. Subject for debate: Resolved that a new flower 

 is of greater value to a section than a new fodder. 



{c) The family bed is always interesting. It consists of a plot 

 containing numerous representatives of a botanical order. In the 



