FESTIVALS AND EXCURSION^ 255 



The "points" in the score-card represent the mark of 

 perfection: if the size of the carnation flower is normal for 

 the variety under examination, the particular specimen will 

 be marked 20; if it should receive a rating of only t 75 per 

 cent perfect, it receives 15 points. In any large bunch of 

 carnations, one plant may be taken to represent perfection 

 in one feature and another plant for another feature; or, 

 better, if an expert carnation-grower is available he may set 

 the ideal of perfection. The pupil may make up his own 

 ideal as to what the perfect plant or product should be. 



427. The Vegetation Environment. — The botany class 

 should take part in a harvest festival, in which the plant 

 products of the community are exhibited, together with the 

 wild plants in the form of leaves, flowers, nuts and other 

 interesting parts. Members of the class should explain 

 what the products and the plants mean. 



428. The class should also know the most important 

 vegetation of the vicinity, and should arrange excursions for 

 the school or classroom to close-by places in order to ex- 

 plain the vegetation setting of the school; and if possible a 

 crop excursion for the entire school should be undertaken. 



Review. — What is a crop? Name the six most important crops 

 of your neighborhood. How may crops be classified or grouped? Give 

 two examples in each group. What natural families contribute very 

 important crops in temperate regions? Outline a study blank for the 

 general study of the most important crop in the locality. Make a 

 similar outline for a study of the plant itself. What is a score-card 

 and how it is used? What may an exhibition teach? An excursion? 



Note. — Various texts and bulletins now set forth the standards 

 of perfection in many of the leading crop products, and give the student 

 definite statements of what is considered to be the product that should 

 score 100. 



