370 NATURE STUDY. 



OCTOBER. 



Work Indicated for the Month. Preparation of the 

 plants for winter. The dissemination of seeds. The fall- 

 ing and coloring of leaves. 



THE DISSEMINATION OF SEEDS. 



Aim. The general aim remains the same, to inspire 

 and develop an interest in the plant and love for it, as 

 something living, growing, and working, and to lead the 

 children to see how well Mother Nature cares for her chil- 

 dren. The special aim has changed. We have been try- 

 ing to discover how the plant lives, and how it makes its * 

 seeds ; now we are to see how the plant prepares for winter, 

 and particularly how it protects and scatters its seeds. 

 Everything must be centred about the seed-vessels and 

 the seeds; all else is subordinate and incidental. 



Material. The milkweed furnishes one of the most ex- 

 quisite illustrations of the way in which the plant-mother 

 protects and provides for the scattering of her seed babies. 

 The milkweed, thistle, and dandelion are the most common, 

 and in many respects the best, examples of seeds with hairy 

 wings. The burdocks, stick-seeds (" stick-tights " the chil- 

 dren usually call them), and beggar-ticks (sometimes called 

 by the children " pitchforks "), are the best examples of 

 seeds provided with hook or barbs, by which they can 

 cling to passing animals, and thus " steal a ride." The 

 maple, ash, and linden trees., give their seed babies a wing 

 by which they may fly quite a distance from their elevated 

 home. 



These should always be studied so as to bring out their 

 relation to the plant-mother. Whenever it is possible, the 

 children should see, not merely be told, that the seeds are 



