AMONG SCHOOL GARDENS 



rootlets pierce between and push aside the frac- 

 tured rock particles which they meet. Attention 

 may be called to the fact that even tiny moss or 

 lichen roots, as well as the larger ones, give off a 

 wee trail of acid that streaks the rocks and causes 

 decomposition to set in along the trail. In many 

 places, this is the first making of soil. The rock 

 weathers enough to furnish food for the clinging 

 plant, and, as the latter decomposes the hard 

 surface, tiny seeds, blown by the wind or 

 dropped by the birds, take root. Each plant 

 as it lives and dies helps to form new soil until 

 at last in the ledge of rock a tiny tree seedling 

 may start and shoot upward, finding a fissure or 

 crack^through which]to make its way; and thus by 

 the roots which it pushes down in search of water, 

 and the trunk which it urges upward in order that 

 its leaves may get air and light, forces the rock 

 apart. 



The story of the dropped seed suggests other 

 rainy day talks upon seed travelers, stories which 

 are told in many of the nature books that are now 

 before the public. Such suggestions are found 

 also in Cornell leaflets, and in Nos. 2, 4, and 10 

 of the Hampton Teachers' Leaflets procurable 

 at 5 cents each. The natural development of 

 many seeds comes so late in garden work that it 

 may be well to antedate their season with some 

 talks about them to fill in the days before the 

 first of the little farmers' harvests arrive. Later, 

 there may be reviews and special studies. Ex- 



186 



