{Individual Exercises for the Summer Term 
Five studies follow, that, like those for the fall and spring 
terms (pages 126 and 228 ef seq.), are intended to be made 
by the student working alone and at his own convenience. 
Four of them call for weekly observations extending over 
the entire term; but these are such observations as can be 
made on walks for health and pleasure with no great 
expenditure of time. 
Optional Study 11. A Grass Calendar 
The great grass family is one with which we ought to be 
acquainted, considering the importance of the role it plays. 
It furnishes a principal part of the food supply of man and 
beast. Of the thousands of species of grasses in the world, 
we know a few as cereals (wheat, corn, oats, barley, etc.), a 
few as pasture grasses, a few as noxious weeds, and a few 
as ornamental grasses. 
There are other grasses, relatives of those we cultivate, 
growing wild in every locality. There are grasses for every 
situation, wet or dry, in sun or in shade; and they are of 
great diversity of form and habit, and of great beauty and 
interest. ‘ 
The object of this study is to get on speaking terms with 
a dozen or more of the local grasses, wild or cultivated, and 
to observe their behavior through the summer season, 
Growing patches of several kinds should be located near at 
hand, where they may be visited at least once a week ‘with- 
out too great expenditure of time, and where they are most 
likely to remain uncut. The list should include one or two 
of the thin straggling grasses that grow in the thickets, and 
one or two of the annual species that grow as weeds in fields 
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