88 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



MATERIAL : Let each pupil, or as many as possible, be provided 

 with a shallow box or pan. Following the directions below, let each 

 child plant some cuttings and sow some seeds. If there is no danger of 

 freezing, keep as many of the receptacles in the schoolroom as is conven- 

 ient. Let the children take the others home. After four or five weeks 

 all the plants should be brought to school and the results compared. 

 If seeds cannot be had conveniently, a florist in any larger town will 

 probably send enough to provide a class for twenty-five or fifty cents. 



How to raise flowers from cuttings. All cuttings should 

 be rooted in clean sharp sand (such as plasterers use), the 

 object being to secure perfect drainage, warmth, and aera- 

 tion. In such soil the cuttings are much less liable to rot 

 and mould. 



How to cut. All plants having conspicuously jointed 

 stems should be cut just below a joint; all others just 

 below the point where the leafstalk joins the stem. It 

 is best to make all cuttings slantingly, because such cut 

 gives more surface for rootlets than a straight cut. Make 

 your cuttings about two inches long, remove all leaves near 

 the lower end, and if the upper leaves are large cut away 

 the upper half. 



Receptacles. A shallow box or pan is a most excellent 

 receptacle for the cuttings. Begonias, heliotropes, fever- 

 fews, lantanas, coleus, carnations, and kindred plants will 

 root best if covered with a large glass, a fruit dish, or a 

 glass tumbler ; because the conditions of heat and moisture 

 can thus be kept much more uniform. The sand should be 

 kept constantly moist, and the plants removed as soon as 

 they are rooted. Most cuttings will root in two weeks ; 

 with a little care they may be removed from the sand and 

 examined at any time without injury. 



liaising plants from seed. This lesson is important on 

 account of its instructive value to the children. In the 



Observations. Did the Indians north of Mexico have domesticated 

 animals when America was discovered? 



