THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN ELEMENTARY 



SCHOOLS 



Vol. 7 October, 1911 No. 7 



WEED STUDY IN GRAMMAR GRADES 



FANNIE RAGLAND, Wm. McGuffey School, Ohio State Normal 



College, Miami University 



The study of weeds as outlined here represents a part of 

 the Elementary Science work done by the Seventh and Eighth 

 Grades of the William McGuffey School, of the Ohio State Nor- 

 mal College. A preliminary discussion showed the pupils to be 

 in possession of two very important facts : first, that the weed 

 is undesirable; second, that it is, to all appearances, a very suc- 

 cessful plant. The weed was considered undesirable for many 

 reasons. The pupils had noticed fields in which the corn was 

 burning up, while the weed at its side looked thrifty. From this 

 it was decided that the weed robs the corn of its moisture. Up- 

 on investigating poorly cultivated fields it was found that the 

 weeds were robbing other plants of their light and food to the 

 extent of crowding them out entirely. The pupils were also 

 aware that mosquitoes and other insects like damp weedy places. 

 The country boys contributed the further information that weeds 

 sometimes make the milk of cows that feed upon them, very 

 offensive. The class concluded that any plant, robbing our eco- 

 nomic plants of their moisture, taking the food from the soil, 

 harboring insects, rendering milk unmarketable, is not wanted. 



For proof of the weed's success, the members of the class had 

 only to look at the roadside, or at the garden that had not been 

 cultivated during the month of September, to see that the weed 

 grows after the other plants die from lack of care or are killed 

 by the drought or frost. With this know 1 edge organized, a big 

 problem presented itself, namely, How is the spread of these un- 

 desirable yet successful plants to be checked? Since it is im- 

 possible to fight an enemy not recognized on sight, and certainly 

 much easier to fight one whose place of habitation and habits of 

 life are known, these questions were considered first, but only 

 as a means to the end. Four problems were therefore taken in 

 the following order: (1) Identification, (2) Reproductive Po- 

 tentiality, (3) Seed Dispersal, (4) Means of checking the rapid 

 distribution of seeds. 



