508 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



temperatures. The germination of various seeds is watched, and successive stages 

 in the seedlings drawn to scale. 



6. Classification. 



Before the girls study classification they have become familiar with the characters 

 of many of the British plants growing in the lane, the wood, the heath, the ponds, 

 and the marshes of the Botany Gardens. When the girls are studying natural orders 

 they have charge of the order beds in the garden. 



Division III. 



Age of girls, fourteen to sixteen years approximately. 



A. Chemistry. Two years' course. Time per week, two hours forty minutes 

 for girls who choose to take this subject in addition to botany. 



B. Botany. Two years' course. Time per week, two hours forty minutes. 



B. Simple experiments are made by the girls to see in what parts of the root and 

 stem growth is most rapid, to find if roots absorb solids, to trace the path of water in 

 the plant, to determine the influence of light, gravity and moisture on the direction 

 of growth of roots, and the influence of light and gravity on the direction of growth 

 of stems. 



Experiments are also made to see what gas is taken in and what gas is given oS 

 in respiration, and to determine if there is a rise in temperature when respiration takes 

 place. Other experiments show under what conditions starch is formed in a plant, 

 whether a plant gives off water and the weight and volume of water given off by a 

 plant in a certain time 



The percentage of ash is found in plants, and tlie composition of the ash is taken. 



Girls can then find out by means of growing plants in food solutions which elements 

 are necessary to the life of plants. Many perennials are grown in normal food solutions, 

 and generations of plants that have never been in the soil have been reared. 



Climbing Plants. 



The girls compare the rates of revolution of the twining stems of various plants, 

 note the behaviour of tendrils when rubbed, and make manyother experiments. 



Soil Experiments. 



Experiments are made on soils from different parts of the Botany Gardens. Some 

 of the experiments are comparison of the rates at which water passes down through 

 various soils ; comparison of the rates at which water passes up through various soils ; 

 comparison of the rates at which air passes through various soils. 



Ecology. 



(1) Water Plants. 



(2) Fresh-water marsh plants. 



/ Pebble beach. 



(3) Sea-shore plants - Sand dune. 



( Salt marsh. 



(4) Heath and moorland plants. 



(5) Plants of an oak wood. 



(6) Plants of a corn field. 



(7) Meadow plants. 



The Botany Gardens include two ponds, fresh water marshes, a pebble beach, 

 two sand dunes, several salt marshes, a heath, a bog, a cornfield, a miniature meadow, 

 and an oak wood, and in these gardens the above plants are studied, and elsewhere 

 when possible. In addition to the study of the structure of characteristic plants in 

 these ecological gardens, many interesting problems arise and original investigations 

 can be made. For example, experiments are being made in the oak-wood to investigate 

 the gradual changes in the character of the soil, in the total evaporating power of the 

 atmosphere, and in the light intensity, as the trees develop more leaves, and observa- 

 tions are being made of the effects of these changes on the ground vegetation. 



Note. — Sometimes in the interval between the General School Examination and 

 the end of term some of the girls of Form Upper V, by their special request, study the 

 assemblage of plants and animals floating in the water of the ponds — the freshwater 

 plankton. 



