562 NATURE STUDY. 



brown, and woody, the next somewhat greener, the next 

 green, and with the upper end slightly cut into divisions, 

 resembling the ringers, and the next bearing quite long, 

 fingerlike divisions resembling the leaflets. 



THE BUDS OF PUSSY WILLOW, POPLAR, AND MAPLE. 



The early stages of the " pussy willow " have been ob- 

 served in many primary rooms. But few teachers have 

 carried the observation beyond the first stages ; they have 

 been satisfied with the study of their beauty, their softness, 

 and the way they are protected, without helping the chil- 

 dren to see why they are so warmly clothed. 



Gather twigs from several willow shrubs, as thus we are 

 more likely to get some buds containing stamens and oth- 

 ers containing pistils, the two kinds growing on different 

 plants. Keep them in a cool place, occasionally trimming 

 off the lower ends of the twigs. In two or three weeks 

 some of the buds will probably develop into pistillate cat- 

 kins and others into staminate catkins. 



Centre the attention on the green pistillate catkins until 

 the children can clearly see the bottle-shaped pistils, or 

 seed-boxes, and the seeds which they contain. Then they 

 will better understand why Mother Willow so carefully 

 protects these buds. When the yellow staminate catkins 

 are ripe, a shake will discharge the " willow gold-dust." 

 Tell the little folks that this yellow powder, or pollen, 

 helps to make the seeds, that the seeds cannot be made 

 without it. How it helps, it is scarcely possible to make 

 them understand at this early stage. The process of fer- 

 tilization will mean more, and be better understood in 

 higher grades, when the children have studied flowers more. 



Willow twigs kept in water usually form fibrous rootlets, 

 growing from the joints, or nodes, of the branches. The 

 observation of the way in which these first appear, and of 



