616 NATURE STUDY. 



Will not such work (supplemented in later grades by a 

 study of fertilization in the flower and of the development 

 and life history of some animals) lay the foundation for 

 a better understanding of the mystery of beginnings ? 

 Through the flower, that emblem of all that is pure, can- 

 not our boys and girls absorb a purer, holier conception 

 of reproduction, of the origin of life ? 



For the little folks in the first grade it may be sufficient 

 to merely watch the growth of the flower and the formation 

 of the pod. There is no good reason why the children of 

 the second and third grade should not know the names of 

 the parts which they can easily see, calyx, corolla, stam- 

 ens, pistil, seed-box or ovary and understand fairly well 

 the plan of the flower. 



It vnll be well to supplement these by studying the 

 flowers of one or two other parts. The buttercup is excel- 

 lent. The strawberry is good. 



With the final work of the plant, the fruit or seed ves- 

 sel, before the children try to gather up, as the last step 

 in the work of the school year, the life and work of the 

 plant during the year; the formation and protection and 

 scattering of the seeds last summer or autumn ; the long 

 winter rest, and the ways the seeds were covered and pre- 

 served; the spring awakening, and the work of sun and 

 rain and soil and of man ; the development and work of 

 root and stem and l^af and flower, and the beauty they 

 added to the world, and the enjoyment they brought to us ; 

 the formation, protection, and ripening of the seed, and its 

 importance to the plant, and to man, as a food. 



How much all nature and man have done to help the seed ! 

 Why ? How carefully the plant mother protected and fed 

 it ! Why ? How little the plant could do at first ! How 

 much it has done in making the world brighter and hap- 

 pier, in adding pleasure to our life and in helping to feed 



