VII 



LIFE ABOUT OUR HOMES IN FALL. 

 SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 



32. Introduction. One who has seen a board shanty 

 set down on the open prairie will at once admit that shade 

 trees are absolutely necessary to make any place look like 

 home. In the autumn our trees begin to show some yellow 

 leaves, the merry songsters of spring have mostly left them. 

 Noisy crowds of English sparrows frequent them in the day- 

 time, and in the evening we may hear the low chirps of 

 bats, which circle around them hunting for moths and other 

 nocturnal insects. On bushes, and in corners, we find the 

 webs and nets of different spiders which are waiting for 

 flies to become entangled in their nets. 



33. The Box Elder, or Ash-leaved Maple. 



MATERIAL : Twigs with leaves and fruit, flowers from your herba- 

 rium, seedlings of last spring ; piece of the wood cut slantingly, with 

 the rough bark on it, observed in spring ; the unfolding of the leaves 

 and the appearance of the flowers. 



The Box Elder is one of the trees most commonly planted 

 for shade and ornament. It is a rather small tree, reaching 

 an average height of about thirty feet. If you compare 

 the fruit of this tree with those of the maples growing in 

 your neighborhood, you will at once be struck by the close 

 resemblance they show to each other ; the Box Elder is, in- 

 deed, a kind of maple. The leaves consist of from three to 



Observations. Give special attention to your house plants. 

 70 



