ECOLOGY 



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book are really different phases of this subject. It con- 

 siders tlie habits, habitats, and modes of life of living 

 things— the places in which they grow, how they migrate 

 or are disseminated, means of collecting food, their times 

 and seasons of flowering, producing young, and the like. 



Review. — What is a plant society? Wliy do plants grow in so- 

 cieties ? Name societies that are determined chiefly by molstnre. 

 What societies are most aluiiidant where you live? Name those de- 

 termined by latitude and altitude. Name some small or local socie- 

 ties. What are colonies ? Where are they most marked ? Why do 

 they tend finally to break up? How are societies made up when colo- 

 nies are not present? How do forests arise on cleared areas? What 

 effect have pasturing and mowing? How do plants associate? What 

 is undergrowth and overgrowth? Explain how societies may differ at 

 different times of the year. What are zonal or belt societies? Discuss 

 autumn colors. What is ecology? 



Note. — One of the best of all subjects for school instruction in 

 botany is the study of plant societies. It adds deflniteness and zest 

 to excursions. Let one excursion be confined to one or two societies. 

 Visit one day a swamp, another day a forest, another a pasture or 

 meadow, another a roadside, another a weedy field, another a cliff or 

 ravine, etc. Visit shores whenever possible. Each pupil should be 

 assigned a bit of ground — say 10 or 20 ft. square — for special study. 

 He should make a list showing (1) how many kinds of plants it con- 

 tains, (2) the relative abundance of each. The lists secured in differ- 

 ent regions should be compared. It does not matter if the pupil does 

 not know all the plants. He may count the kinds without knowing the 

 names. It is a good plan for tiie pupil to make a dried specimen of 

 each kind for reference. The pupil should endeavor to discover why 

 the plants grow as they do. Challenge every plaid society. 





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Everj'oue should learn to grow plauts. 



