ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 367 



Encourage them to notice when each species blossoms 

 and ripens its seed. A calendar, like that suggested for 

 the flowers, may be put on the blackboard as a stimulus 

 and reward for diligent observation. Many trees have 

 such inconspicuous flowers that the children may need 

 some help, especially in the lower grades ; and often the 

 stamens and pistils are borne on separate flowers and 

 sometimes on different trees. ^ 



The next topic is methods of germinating tree seeds. 

 When we relegate the discussions of "cotyledons," "plu- 

 mules," and " radicals " to high-school or college botany 

 we may utilize some of the wealth of tree seeds that fall 

 on our streets and forests every year for truly elementary 

 studies in germination, instead of confining the work to 

 beans, peas, squashes, and corn. The first suggestions as 

 to methods of planting may well be taken from the trees 

 themselves. Encourage each child to observe and reason 

 for himself and then write, or tell in the lower grades, 

 how the tree plants its own seeds. This is a fine study. 

 Each kind has a method of its own, but they all may be 

 grouped for convenience as follows. 



I . Trees that ripen their seeds in the spring. — Among these 

 are the elms, soft maples, poplars, cottonwoods, and wil- 

 lows. They all scatter their seeds to the winds. The 

 seeds are light, and when they reach the ground they are 

 floated by the rains to low, moist places, — the banks of 



1 My attention has been called to the fact that single nut trees, espe- 

 cially the chestnut, where they are not indigenous, fail to mature nuts. 

 This is probably due to the necessity of cross-pollination. Thus, instead 

 of planting a single tree, or single trees far apart, better results might be 

 obtained by planting in groups. 



