S4 FIEST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



stable-manure ; and this also provides food for the 

 earth-germs. There are far more earth-germs m 

 garden soil than in unbroken land, because in the 

 garden the earth is kept loose and rich and well- 

 drained. 



Exercises and Out-door work. — 



(1) What kind of roots have radish, chick weed, daffodil, turnip, 

 corn, periwinkle, dock, violet? 



(2) Name any plants with (a) tap-root (h) fibrous roots (c) 

 fleshy roots. 



(3) Name any root-stores that we use as food. 



(4) Explain how buffalo-grass travels and why it travels. Cora- 

 pare the garden violet (or the native ivy-leaved violet) couch grass, 

 Danubian Reed ("bamboo)." 



(5) Clear and loosen the ground below a joint in buffalo or 

 couch grass, and note how long it takes to root. 



(6) Find out from the best farmers of your district examples of 

 the rotation of crops. 



(7) Are the following wild flowers annuals or perennials ;* and 

 what kind of roots have they ? The purple fringe lilies, the 

 Australian blue bell, the harbinger of spring, cape weed, the 

 Victorian crocus, the Bathurst burr, sundew ? 



(8) When a farmer talks of a field being " wlieat-sick,' what 

 does he mean ? 



Composition Exercise. — A carrot lives for two seasons : tell, 

 in two chapters, the story of a carrot's life. 



Drawing Exercises. — Draw (n) a strawberry plant that is 

 sending out runners to form new plants ; (b) a creeping stem 

 rooting at the joints. 



Note. — Indicate the roots by faint lines. 



* See Chap. XX^'H for iinnuals and ^erenniah 



