Test a large variety of food substances for starch and prepare lists. 



Bring out necessity of cooking starchy foods. 

 Primitive boiling and baking illustrated with hot stones. 

 Mirror the life of pioneer days and of frontier life to-day. 



Boil for a few minutes in similar vessels and the same amount of water 100 sound kernels of 

 corn and 100 cracked kernels. Filter the water from each and test for starch. 



Necessity for cracking, or grinding, starchy grains. 

 Selection of suitable stones by children for this purpose. 

 Let each child design and mould in clay a hand mill. 

 The evolution of milling by pictures and stories. 



Visit to the flouring mill. 



Bread making in school, at home and at the bakery. 

 The teeth as a mill; variety of shapes, uses and care. 



Hygiene of eating. 



The harm of stimulants and narcotics. 



Typhoid, consumption and diphtheria in water, milk or other food. 

 Condemn and abolish in the school-room the common drinking cup, pencils in common and 



the slate and sponge. 



Bring out clearly the especial need of sanitary precautions about a fixed home as 

 compared with a temporary one. 

 Sanitation of vegetable cellars. 



CENTRAL SPRING THOUGHT; Use of their Stored Food by Plants. 



Germination of corn, wheat, barley, buckwheat, etc., in late February, in moist sawdust or 



upon clean blotting paper. 



Have children discover the loss of starch in the seed. 

 Pinch off the kernel of corn and chew the stem. Conclusion ? 

 This sweet substance (sugar) could have come only from the starch. 

 Elicit the reason for this change, recalling previous experiments. 

 When the season is sufficiently advanced tap some hard maple trees, collect sap and 



boil down to syrup and sugar. 

 Split some maple twigs and test with iodine. 

 Elicit probable source of the sugar, the reason for the change and what the tree intends to do 



with sugar. 



From pictures and stories describe a "sugar bush." Visit one if practicable. 

 Soak a supply of barley and when starting to grow kill with a dry heat which is 



not sufficient to burn. This is malt. 



Have children chew a few grains before and after germination. 

 Get a supply of ground malt, soak in warm water, filter and evaporate. 



This is malt sugar, or "maltose." 

 Fill fruit jars even full of "culture fluid," cover with mosquito netting, on which place 



germinating corn or peas. 

 Prepare others similarly but use rain water. Account for results and develop uses of 



root to feed plant and hold it in position. 

 Study flowers of soft maple and later of the hard maple. 



Development of flowers into seeds. 



Love of bees for the soft maple, gathering and distribution of pollen. 

 Place in suitable vessels of water specimens of carrot, turnip, parsnip, beet and kohlrabi, 



preferably those raised by the children. 

 Their use of stored food leading to growth, flower and seed. 

 The purpose of the first year's growth and storage is now apparent. 

 Carefully take up early weeds as dandelion, mullein, thistle and burdock, note 



food in root and consider advantages. 



Sprouting of Irish potatoes which do not need to be placed in water. 

 Place sweet potatoes (not killed by heat) in bottles and secure a vine. 



Collect acorns, walnuts and hickory nuts that have wintered out doors and continue their 



germination in moist sawdust. 



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