46 



the oxygen come from ? From air in the soil. Can this oxidation 

 go on in the seed if there is no air in the soil? Certainly not. 

 Then air must be present in the soil in order that seeds may ger- 

 minate just as much as moisture must be present. This brings 

 up the whole matter of soil ventilation — the whole matter of 

 thorough preparation of the seed bed and the pupil begins to 

 understand that tillage is just as necessary to give air to the seed 

 as to keep the weeds down. 



"By such experiments as this the pupil learns many valuable 

 facts, but more than this his mind should be developed so that 

 he can apply the same form of reasoning to experiments outside 

 the school room and answer for himself questions which may 

 arise in the mind of any normal boy or girl. 



" But we do not stop even here. After hitting a point from as 

 many sides as possible, we go out into the garden and try to 

 apply our knowledge. If the knowledge learned in the labo- 

 ratory cannot be applied in the field, then it is useless. We 

 plant our seeds, we give them air and moisture, and after they 

 begin to grow, we till the soil to give air to the roots and to 

 retain moisture." 



Professor Otis W. Caldwell has called attention to the fact that 

 the high school unit in botany mentioned in the December 

 ToRREYA was the preliminary recommendation of the committee 

 appointed by the North Central Association, and the final form 

 of the recommendation is still in the hands of a sub-committee. 



France from her state forests (i8 per cent, of the entire country) 

 derives an annual income of nearly two dollars an acre. But a 

 better idea of the value of the works may be gained from France's 

 success in establishing protective forests in regions subject to de- 

 structive floods — lands originally sand dunes and marshes. 

 Immense forests of pines, with their dependent industries con- 

 nected with the production of charcoal, turpentine, rosin, vine- 

 gar, etc., have wrought beneficial climatic and economic changes 

 in the regions under government care. 



