MOTHER EARTH 13 
times are an utter abomination. Clothing suited to the 
weather will have very much to do with your enjoyment of it 
and with the efficiency of your work. 
3. As to tools: A pocket lens and a pocket knife you 
should own, and have always with you. A rule for linear 
measurements is printed herewith (fig. 1). Farm tools, fur- 
nished for common use, will supply all other needs. 
4. As to the use of the 
blanks provided: Blanks, 
such as appear in the studies 
outlined on subsequent pages, 
are provided for use in this 
course. Take rough copies of 
them with you for use in the 
field, where writing and sketch- 
ing in a notebook held in one’s 
hand is difficult; then make 
permanent copies at home. 
When out in the rain, write 
with soft pencil and not with 
ink. 
5. As to poison ivy (fig. 2): 
Unless you are immune, look 
out for it: avine climbing by 
aerial rootson trees and fences, 
or creeping over the ground. 
Its compound leaves resemble Fic. 2. Poison Ivy. 
those of the woodbine, but 
there are five leaflets in the woodbine, and but three in 
poisonivy. Lead acetate (sugar of lead) isa specific antidote 
for the poison; a saturated solution in 50% alcohol should 
be kept available in the laboratory. It is rubbed on the 
affected parts—not taken internally, for it also is a poison. 
If used assoon as infection is discoverable, little injury 
results to the skin of even those most sensitive to ivy poison. 
After lesions of the skin have occurred, through neglect to 
use it promptly, it is an unsafe and ineffective remedy; a 
physician should then be consulted. 
6. As to pockets: Some people don’t have any. But 
«containers of some sort for the lesser things, such as twigs and 
