123 



Flowering Plants. 



In former lessons the dispersal of seeds of flowering plants 

 and also their germination and growth were taken up. When 

 the seeds that were planted have become of considerable size 

 many matters of interest demand attention. Among the ques- 

 tions which may-be studied are: What are the foods of the plants 

 and how do they obtain them? What are the uses of the various 

 parts of the plant? What is the meaning of the different forms 

 of stems? What of the arrangement of the leaves? How are 

 the seeds formed? 



The study of these questions with the plants themselves will 

 suggest many other questions pertaining to the contrivances by 

 which each kind of plant, thru leaf, stem, branch and root, and 

 the various parts of each, is adapted to its particular kind of life. 

 Studying a plant from these points of view will not require learn- 

 ing the names of the parts of the plant except where there is 

 occasion to use the name, nor the learning of the technical 

 names of the forms of leaf, stem and root, which are used very 

 rarely except in technical descriptions in systematic botany. 

 Altho these have in the past formed a prominent part in the con- 

 ventional courses in botany, they should have little or no part in 

 Nature Study by children. 



The Plant's Food. 



The food of plants consists mainly of (i) carbonic acicZ, obta : ned 

 from the air, and (2) water ^obtained from the ground; also (3) a 3r/iall 

 amount of various substances dissolved from the soil by tb^ water. 



To show that plants take up water by means of roots and 

 root-hairs, dig up a plant and carefully wash the dirt from the 

 roots, harming the root arid root-hairs as little as possible. Place 

 the root in a bottle or flask, allowing the stem to pass thru a cork. 

 The cork is slit and placed around the stem. Thru the cork also 

 extends one end of a glass tube bent in such a way as to form a 



