320 NATURE-STUDY 



grade of the intermediate the children will appreciate much 

 of their meaning. In the primary grades also a Httle can 

 be done to show the children the necessity of leaves to the 

 plant, and the need of sunshine to make it grow. Cut off 

 the leaves as they appear on a plant and note the effect on 

 the growth. Place a plant in the dark for several weeks, 

 and note then its sickly, spindling condition. Plants need 

 sunshine as much as little children. 



Primary children may also collect leaves of different 

 forms, study their shapes and venation, and make draw- 

 ings of them. In the autumn let them gather colored leaves 

 and paint them. 



The relation of plants to hght is seen also in their attempt 

 to arrange their branches and leaves so as to give all an equal 

 chance at the light. Go out on the school lawn and note 

 the beautiful arrangement of the leaves of a dandelion or 

 common plantain. They are arranged in rosettes. Examine 

 the twigs of maple, horse-chestnut, and other trees, and 

 you will see that in general they grow so that they do not 

 shade each other. Go into the forest or a thick grove and 

 note how on account of the lack of light the lower branches 

 of the trees are weak and dying. Note that plants which have 

 plenty of light do not grow so tall and slender as those that 

 grow in the shade. In the shade, plants grow tall in trying 

 to reach up to the light. This is also seen in trees. Com- 

 pare a maple or pine that has grown in the open with one 

 grown in a dense forest where it was shaded by its neighbors. 



Modified Leaves: Sometimes the leaves of plants are 

 modified for secondary functions. For example, the pitcher 

 plants have curious hollow leaves that generally contain 

 some water into which insects fall and drown. The plant 



