2 AGRICULTURE 



things about the very places where we live, and so find 

 the same interest and pleasure that a trip affords us? 

 Some persons have learned to do this. They make dis- 

 coveries on any day that they spend in the woods or fields. 

 They find flowers that they have not noticed before; 

 they learn which wild plants and weeds are kin to useful 

 plants that they know ; they observe how plants provide 

 for their seed to be carried by wind, or water, or birds, or 

 by large animals to other parts of the field or pasture. 

 They learn new facts about animals and brooks and the 

 whole out-of-doors. If we try to observe the plants that 

 grow in our woods, or field, or garden, or orchard, we shall 

 always be making interesting discoveries and gaining new 

 plant friends. 



There is not only delight in collecting the wild flowers 

 and in observing the trees, but there is also pleasure and 

 profit in learning the nature and habits of our cultivated 

 plants. We will know better how to prune a peach 

 tree, an apple tree, or a grape-vine if we observe whether 

 the fruit is borne on new branches or on those one or 

 two years old. Notice this and tell the teacher what you 

 observe. We shall be able to select better seed corn if we 

 learn which shape of ear or of kernel is found in the most 

 productive varieties. Agriculture deals with such ques- 

 tions as these. 



A study of agriculture should enable pupils to under- 

 stand better the common plants and animals of the farm 

 and cause them to take more interest in them. A book like 

 this can give only a few of the most important principles 

 of plant and animal growth. A knowledge of these 



