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INTRODUCTION Vil 
reproduce, and, after experiencing these things, must die. 
Each plant that is grown in the window box of a school- 
room should reveal to the child the secrets and the story 
of a whole life. He realizes that the young plant must be 
fed; it must grow; it is no longer a matter of common- 
place; it is replete with interest, because it is the struggle 
of anindividual to live. How does it get its food? How 
does it grow? It is of little moment whether its leaves are 
lanceolate or palmate; it is a question of what the leaves do 
for the plant; it is a matter of life or death. : 
When the child has once become acquainted with the con- 
ditions and necessities of plant life, how different will the 
world seem to him! Every glance at forest or field will tell 
him a new story. Every square foot of sod will be revealed 
to him.as a battlefield in which he himself may count the 
victories in the struggle for existence, and he will walk 
henceforward in a world of miracle and of beauty, — the 
miracle of adjustment to ‘circumstances, and the beauty of 
obedience to law. 
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK 
BurREAU or NATURE STUDY 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
