AGRICULTURAL NATURE STUDY OUTLINES 
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Plant communities .—Character of a plant. How it grows. Parts 
of the plant. Work performed by each part. Factors necessary for 
plant growth. The environment of a plant. Tendency of plants to 
form communities. What is a plant society? What determines a 
plant society ? Children investigate and report on plant communities 
in the garden; the orchard; the lawn; the barnyard; the public road; 
the woods; the various crop fields, as wheat, barley, alfalfa, corn, etc* 
Plant communities may include weeds, wild flowers, useful plants, etc. 
Reports on all plants found growing together as if to make a com¬ 
munity. Notice insect life found in connection with the plants. To 
what extent can man control a plant community ? In this connection 
review all that has been studied about weeds, the characteristics as 
to successful plants. Give as much time as possible in this connection 
to review the important things about the various garden, field, 
orchard, ornamental, and wild plants studied the previous years. 
Additional plant studies, oats .—Characteristics of stem, leaves, and 
roots. Meaning of the “oat panicle.” Review’ outlines on wheat 
plant. Compare various points in the w’heat plant with the oat plant. 
Value of oats for food. Why is oats considered a balanced ration 
for work horses? Uses of oat straw and wheat straw. Why is it 
ragarded bad husbandry to burn straw after grain is threshed out? 
What is a better way? Diseases of the oat plant. What is smut? 
Its damage to the oat crop. Treatment for smut. 
Barley .—In like manner make a study of the barley plant. 
Seeds.—Study of characteristics and identification of grass seeds 
as timothy, Kentucky blue grass, orchard grass, Australian rye grass. 
The legume grasses as alfalfa, clovers (red, alsike, sweet, Burr). 
