232 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



der proper guidance and conduct of class plots the pupils may be stimu- 

 lated to repeat the experiments at home, as is frequently done, where 

 conditions a little different produce different results, and comparisons of 

 such results may be made extremely valuable. So even if land be limited 

 much may be accomplished by observation plots. 



One line of work that ought to be carried out is the cultivation of many 

 of our most common commercial products \\hich are considered in geog- 

 raphy but which are only names to the majority of the pupils. Some of 

 the grains — wheat, com, rj'e, oats, buckwheat, barley, etc. — can be 

 easily grown. Hemp and flax together with some of the less common 

 products which the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture is introducing could well be 

 obser\-ed. 



In one of our schools flax grown by the children was soaked, and by the 

 janitor, who had done the work in Ireland, worked or treated until the 

 fibre was ready for spinning. A valuable lesson or series of lessons. 



Another phase is the gathering and growing of many of our formerly 

 common wild flowers which are fast disappearing from the neighborhood 

 of cities, and are seldom seen by the children. Many valuable lessons can 

 l)e learned by watching the plant through its year of life; how it breaks 

 through the soil; how parts are protected, each part fitted for its duties; 

 the blooming, with interesting peculiarities, formation, protection, and 

 dissemination of seeds; preparation for ^^•inter, etc. So the child becomes 

 acquainted with the plant as he almost never does in its home -nithout. 



The reproduction of plants can best be studied in the yard where the 

 class can be taken at any time; sowing the seeds, the best manner for 

 indi^'idual kinds; layering; budding; grafting; and with the latter the 

 study of where the sap comes; rings of growth; where new wood comes; 

 real meaning of a bud, whether flower or branch bud; need of keeping out 

 fungi; etc.; incidentally how and when to trim a tree; to treat wounds, 

 etc. With the coming of the flowers, the \-isits of insects, cross-pollination, 

 self-pollination or no pollination, hybridization, crossing squash and melon, 

 etc., can be observed. As the cutworms or other insects come, the sugges- 

 tion of studying their life histories becomes a vital question that the best 

 means may be discovered of combating these enemies in the most vul- 

 nerable stage of their existence. Caterpillars which are injurious may 

 in their butterflyhood do some good and so help balance accounts. Ich- 

 neimion flies which parasite pests may be recognized as helpers. And of 

 course our friend, the toad, should be watched, both indoors where more 

 accurate observations can be made of amount of food, etc., and outside 

 where one should be established in the garden if possible and treated as 

 a friend. The garden may give opportunity to recognize birds among our 

 friends. 



The study of soils receives new meaning when the effect of different 

 kinds upon the growth of plants is observed. In this connection the study 

 of capillary attraction receives reinforcement in observing the work of a 



