INTEREST IN PLANT FORMS 



63 



plant, the greater is our interest in it, because our curiosity 

 is awakened. Some unusual circumstance or condition has 

 produced the abnormal form. Such plants should be pre- 

 served whenever possible. Fig. 100. 



Review. — What do you mean by the statement that each kind of 

 plant has its own habit (36)? How do plants differ in habit? Name 

 some of the forms of tree-tops. How may plants differ in the furnish- 

 ing of the top? Is the trunk charaeteristie? Bark? Bring in and 

 describe the bark of three kinds of trees. What is the expression of 

 a tree? What are some of the expressions? Explain what you under- 

 stand by the shadows in the top. On what do the shadows chiefly 

 depend? What is there to see in plants in winter? Why are we 

 interested in plants of unusual form? Tell how any two trees differ 

 in "looks." 



Note.— One of the first things the pupil should learn about 

 plants is to see them as a whole. He should get the feeling of 

 mass. Then he should endeavor to determine why the mass is so 

 and so. Trees are best to begin on. No two trees are alike. How 

 do they differ? The pupil can observe as he comes and goes from 

 school. An orchard of different kinds of fruits shows strong con- 

 trasts. Even different varieties of the same fruit may be unlike in 

 habit. This is especially true in pears (Figs, 101, 102). 



W * 



A bouey locust tree. 



