164 NATURE STUDY LESSONS FOR PRIMARY GRADES 



How long a time the seeds grow before ripening 

 can be learned by the children by recording the 

 time of the falling of the petals on a few marked 

 roses. 



As the seeds grow the little cup which holds 

 them grows. At last, when they are ripened, the 

 cup proclaims it to the world by its changed 

 color, now a bright red. But this is a covered 

 cup. How are the seeds to get out into the 

 world? Has the plant been working so hard for 

 nothing? "That red cup looks very attractive," says 

 birdie, and down it pounces upon it, breaking the 

 cup and scattering some of the seeds, while it eats 

 greedily from the broken cup. So the rose feeds 

 the birds and the birds free the seeds. Nature's 

 children are everywhere helping one another. 



VI 



TREE BUDS 

 (A SPRING STUDY) 



There are wonderful discoveries to be made by 

 watching the development of the tree buds in the 

 spring. 



Sometimes twigs are put into glasses in the school- 

 room early in the season, before the buds begin to 



