180 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



22. Closing Remarks on " Life in the Woods." 

 We must now leave the squirrels, the birds, the trees 

 and shrubs, and turn our attention to the fields. You have 

 learned only a little about the woods and the life there. 

 Many things which are not found in books you can learn 

 by patient observation, for which most of you have much 

 time and opportunity in your long summer vacation. Our 

 plant and animal life is just as wonderful and just as inter- 

 esting as that of countries far away in the tropics. Before 

 we take up the life in the fields, I wish to ask you a few 

 questions, the complete answer to which we shall find when 

 we again study the work in the fall. 



You have observed that the snow lingered much longer 

 in groves, copses, and woods than on open fields. What 

 effect may this retarded snow-melting have upon the water 

 supply of our brooks and rivers ? Do you know anything 

 about the destructive floods that occur almost annually in 

 the Ohio and its tributaries ? We have observed that 

 twigs, branches, and even whole trees fall into streams 

 and more or less retard the current. What effect must 

 this have upon the water in the streams and the lakes 

 which they drain ? Where will the water after a shower 

 drain off quicker, from a bare field or from the woods ? 

 Where will the ground soonest become dry and parched ? 

 You can answer these questions from your own observa- 

 tions. Do trees grow in countries where little or no rain 

 falls ? Which of our states are prairie .states ? Have you 

 ever thought about what caused the prairies ? 



Read : Shaler, The Forests of North America in Aspects of the 

 Earth ; Wilson Flagg, A Year with the Trees ; and Chittenden, or some 

 other author on the Yellowstone Park. The above books are suited 

 to teachers and older pupils. 



