JANUARY 141 



germinate even under unfavorable circumstances, are 

 peas and wheat. Squash ranks third, but the others 

 before mentioned do better either in sand, sawdust, or 

 earth. 



For this reason I give the children soaked wheat and 

 peas for their tumblers, letting them have the others for 

 home growth. 



Fill a small, thin, glass bottle with dry peas. Cover 

 the mouth with stout muslin tightly tied with twine. 

 Invert the bottle in a pail, placing the whole apparatus 

 in full sight. 



The seeds will absorb the moisture so rapidly, gaining 

 so much in size, that the bottle will burst in from two 

 to four hours. 



It will not be necessary to question the children about 

 the experiment, or to ask them to give their attention. 

 Every move of yours will be watched. Instead of allow- 

 ing them to tell you what has happened, let them write 

 an account of what was done and its consequences. 



Instead of this, dry peas and peas soaked in water over 

 night may be distributed, one of each kind for every 

 child. 



Ask the following questions, not, however, allowing 

 oral answers, but giving sufficient time between the ques- 

 tions for good silent thought and work : Are these peas 

 of the same color ? size ? shape ? hardness ? With a 

 pin, take off a portion of the coat of each. Hold this 

 piece between the eye and the light. How many layers 

 do you see ? Are these layers of the same thickness ? 



Remove the entire coat of the soaked pea. What is 

 left ? Are these parts still connected ? 



Now give out paper, asking them to write all that they 



