BOYS' GARDEN 



carrots and turnips assiijiilate their food and 

 store the product in the thickened root, to be 

 utilized for sending up the flower-stalk and 

 maturing seed. It is stored in stems and leaves 

 of celery and cabbage and in the thickened un- 

 derground stems of the potato. The annuals, 

 as corn, beans, peas, direct their energies the 

 first year to the maturing of seed. As soon as 

 the seeds are matured and the little spark of 

 life is protected and surrounded by assimilated 

 food which will be available when conditions 

 shall make it necessary, the life and energy 

 pass on, the stem and leaves have done their 

 work, they disintegrate, the elements are un- 

 locked and return to the earth and air which 

 gave them. 



The boys soon found that there were other 

 things to contend with besides weeds and witch- 

 grass. There seemed, to be an insect for every 

 green thing that appeared above the ground. 

 One day one of the boys came with a squash- 

 bug. The sucking mouth-parts were examined, 

 and another boy was sent for a potato-beetle, 

 to illustrate insects with biting mouth-parts. 

 Opportunity was afforded to distinguish be- 

 tween them, and directions were given for com- 

 bating them. During the summer the boys 

 learned to recognize over fifty insects and to 

 ' distinguish between the harmful and the bene- 



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