33 8 NATURE-STUDY 



Use pictures and black-board diagrams to illustrate the 

 structure. In the upper grades a magnifying glass should be 

 employed, and occasionally the compound microscope may be 

 used to good advantage. There should be plenty of material 

 for illustration. The whole plant, root and all, should be 

 brought in. In case the plant is rather rare and is one of 

 our choice wild flowers, it would not be right to gather too 

 many specimens or to destroy the root. 



There has been a good deal of harm done in the name 

 of science. In the more densely settled regions of our country, 

 in the neighborhood of cities, our native wild flowers are suf- 

 fering great destruction. Much of this is due, no doubt, to 

 the collecting of plants for school study and for herbaria. 

 In a course of nature-study it is not necessary to press plants, 

 unless it be for a school herbarium. The wild flowers should 

 not be ruthlessly destroyed. 



In studying "flowers" do not limit yourself to the con- 

 spicuously colored and showy kinds, but include others 

 equally wonderful and instructive, such as trees, grasses, and 

 weeds. Many people make a distinction between these and 

 "flowers." But all of them are flowering plants. 



Again, do not forget to study the late summer and autumn 

 flowers, mainly composed of the composites. 



Movements oj Plants 



Plants are so much regarded as passive things that it is 

 well to show that they are fairly active and can actually move. 

 The larger and higher types, of course, cannot move from 

 place to place, but that is precisely what many microscopic 

 plants can do. In the higher grades a drop of water con- 

 taining some diatoms, found in the sediment of brooks and 



