SPRING NATURE STUDY. 593 



MAY PLANT STUDY. 

 THE PLANT AT WORK. 



FOR two months we have been studying beginnings, the 

 branch developing from the bud, the root and stem and leaf 

 starting from the seed. 



For two months our boys and girls have been discovering 

 how much has been done for the plant, how the seeds and 

 buds have been protected through the winter, how carefully 

 provision was made long beforehand for their spring awak- 

 ening and growth, how leaves and soil, snow and rain, sun- 

 shine and cloud, have all helped. 



This side of plant life appeals to the child because it is 

 like his own life, his own experience as a child. 



But he has seen the protecting scales separate, and gradu- 

 ally fall off, and the warm woolly covering disappear. Un- 

 covered, unprotected, the tiny delicate leaves unfold, grow 

 thicker and stronger, separate, spread out to sun and sky 

 and rain. What for ? The stem strengthens and lengthens 

 upward. What for ? The delicate leaves one after another 

 push out from the protection of their fellows, enlarge, un- 

 fold, spread their faces to the light. What for ? 



Why, they have all made a discovery. Pulsating and 

 throbbing through the plant, from every root and stem, from 

 every branch and leaf, comes the message : " We have a 

 work to do. All these months Mother Nature has been 

 getting us ready to do this work. She has cared for us and 

 protected us. She has given us everything, done every- 

 thing for us. Now she tells us we must work for our- 

 selves." 



During May and June our boys and girls will study the 

 other side of the plant's life, what it does, its work. 



The Root at Work. Review observations on early growth 



