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CORNELL 
UNIVERSITY 
LIBRARY 


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LABORATORY 
OF ORNITHOLOGY 
LIBRARY 


Gift of 
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Laboratory of Ornithology 
159 Sapsucker Woods Road 
Cornell University 


Ithaca, New York 14880 


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Laboratory of Ornithology 
459 Sapsucker Woods Ro2d 
Cornell University 

Whata, New York 14880 


Cornell University 


Library 


The original of this book is in 
the Cornell University Library. 


There are no known copyright restrictions in 
the United States on the use of the text. 


http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022556447 


aVaLSANOH AGNVIONYA MAN GIO NY 


NATURE STUDY AND 
LIFE 


BY 


CLIFTON F. HODGE, Pu.D. 


Assistant Professor in Clark University. Member of: The American Physiologica 
Society, Society of American Naturalists, Massachusetts Forestry Association, 
American Forestry Association, Board of Directors of the Massa- 
chusetts Audubon Society, American Ornithologists’ Union 


Life is respanse to the order of ature 
W. K. Brooxs 


GINN AND COMPANY 


BOSTON + NEW YORK + CHICAGO +» LONDON 
ATLANTA + DALLAS + COLUMBUS + SAN FRANCISCO 


he Lf E 9 


ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL 


CopyRIGHT, 1902 


By CLIFTON F. HODGE 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


322.12 


The Athenzum Press 


GINN AND COMPANY: PRO- 
PRIETORS + BOSTON: U.S.A, 


TO 


NELSON WELLINGTON HODGE 


MY FATHER, 

WHO GAVE ME MY FIRST 
ANIMALS AND PETS, MY FIRST GARDEN 
PLOT AND LITTLE FARM, WHO LEFT THE 
BIG OAK UNCUT 
FOR ITS BEAUTY 
AND THE WILD PRAIRIE UNPLOWED 
FOR ITS WILD FLOWERS, WHO SET 
THE ELM TREE BY THE 
PORCH AND THE 
RED MOSS 
ROSE 
IN THE OLD HOME 
GARDEN 


PREFACE 


THE field which this book essays to enter has ever 
spread out before me like an enchanted country. The 
possibilities and resources of life, dissolving in changes 
forever fresh and new, the infinite variety of mechanism, 
device, and story, the display of beauty on every side that 
baffles expression by pen or brush, have always seemed to 
me the natural matrix for the highest development of the 
child’s mind and soul. Weare beginning to use fruitfully 
in our education the legends and myths of the past, but the 
fundamental conceptions of these lie in the life and nature 
about us. All this is the work of the Infinite Enchanter 
of the Universe, and forms a realm of real magic, of which 
human myth and fairy tale are after all but the passing 
shadow. This was the world of keenest interests, delights, 
and sufferings of my boyhood, the common ground out of 
which my interests in special problems of science have 
grown, the world to which I instinctively turn from the 
fatigue and technicality of special work for rejuvenation 
and refreshment and find that its delights do not grow old, 

The more I study the problem, the more it seems to me 
that this side of nature is the sheet anchor of elementary 
education, all the more necessary as modern life tends to 
drift away from nature into artificialities of every sort. 
Recent developments of the sciences have completely daz- 


zled our modern education with their bewildering array 
vii 


viii PREFACE 


of newly discovered facts, and the temptation has proved 
irresistible to introduce their technicalities into the ele- 
mentary curriculum. But the childhood of the race was 
very long, and we should not wish to force its period, brief 
at best, in the life of the individual. The weathering of 
rock and the formation of soil afford interesting lessons 
in modern geology; but men dug and planted, and estab- 
lished fruitful relations with Mother Earth thousands of 
years before geology was even dreamed of: So with com- 
bustion and the various forms of water: why not let chil- 
dren wonder about them for a few years, and then come 
with interest keen and fresh to their study in the chem- 
istry and physics of the high school or the college? By 
leaving out everything else, however, I do not wish to 
insinuate that the study of living things is all of nature 
study. But other sides of nature are so fully represented 
in plans for nature-study courses now before the public, 
—I am tempted to say so much too fully represented — 
that my conscience is perfectly clear in leaving them to 
shift for themselves. 

Many recent books presenting courses of nature study 
have divided the lessons according to the seasons and 
terms of the school year. This form is doubtless of serv- 
ice to some teachers. I have not been able to adopt 
it, however, for two reasons: Nature’s changes were not 
arranged according to our school courses, and the pre- 
dominant importance of subject-matter precludes such 
cramped and formal treatment ; my purpose is to bring 
nature into relation to child life rather than to school life, 
to make it a continuous source of delight, profit, and 
highest education rather than a formal school task. I 


PREFACE - ix 


have sought to obviate this difficulty in arrangement by 
a somewhat detailed grade plan in which topics are sug- 
gested for the grade best adapted for their pursuit. A 
full cross-reference index will also assist in a similar way. 

The illustrations have been selected to express the 
relation of man, especially the relation of the child, to 
nature; and since spontaneous activity is fundamental 
to my plan of nature study, the majority of them are 
intended to suggest ways and means of doing something. 
To those who have contributed pictures, notably Charles 
Irving Rice, J. Chauncey Lyford, Myron W. Stickney, 
Charles L. Goodrich, The National Cash Register Com- 
pany, Henry Lincoln Clapp, M. V. Slingerland, Miss 
Katherine E. Dolbear, and Miss Jessie G. Whiting, I wish 
to express my sincere thanks. Acknowledgment usually 
accompanies the illustration, but the picture of a deer in 
the velvet (p. 15) should be accredited to Mr. Rice. The 
photograph of the mosquitoes (p. 89) and the portrait of 
a young wood thrush (p. 345) are by Mr. Stickney. 
Figs. 121, 123, 125, 131, and 135, together with most 
of the data from which the bird-food chart (p. 323) 
was constructed, are contributed by Miss Helen A. Ball. 
The other line drawings, with exception of 20 d, 22, 25, 
35 4, 71, 160, 161, 178, 193, 194, 195, were made under 
my direction by Mrs. Helen Davis Burgess. The photo- 
graphs not otherwise accredited are by the author. 

This book could never have been written, in anything 
like its present form at least, until its various suggestions 
had been given the test of actual school work. Miss 
Mary C. Henry, principal of the Upsala Street School of 
Worcester, Mass., has not only done this, but in addition 


x : PREFACE 


has contributed many and valuable suggestions, notably 
with reference to the grade plan, to the school garden, and 
to the problem of cleanliness of the schoolroom. Thus to 
Miss Henry and the teachers in the Upsala Street School 
the book owes much of its definite character. To Pro- 
fessor Brooks, of the Johns Hopkins University, I am 
also under obligations for counsel as to the general plan 
of the work. For help in final revision of the text and 
proofs and preparation of the illustrations I am under 
great obligations to Mr. Lyford, and for assistance with 
the proof I wish to express my indebtedness to Miss 
Henry, Miss Dolbear, and Mr. Stickney. 

Finally, I acknowledge my debt to Clark University for 
opportunity, and to Dr. G. Stanley Hall for suggestions 
which called my attention to nature study. The further 
I went, the more it seemed to me that the sources from 
which must flow the future development of science in 
this country all lie in the quality of the work done-in the 
public schools. In freshness, in lively interest, in origi- 
nality, nothing equals a child; and it has long been con- 
ceded that at no time is progress in learning so rapid as 
during the first three or four years of life. The secret 
of this, it has seemed to me, lies in the fact that touch 
with nature at first hand, original research, if you please, 
is the very breath of mental life. How may this splendid 
growth process of infancy be prolonged through life? The 
best answer to the question that I am at present able 
to offer is the book itself. 

Cc. F. HODGE. 


CLARK UNIVERSITY, WORCESTER, MAss., 
January 21, 1902 


CONTENTS 


: Pace 

INTRODUCTION BY Dr. G. STANLEY HALL A F : xiii 
CHAPTER 

I], THe PoInt oF VIEW ‘ F 5 ‘ ‘ I 

II]. VaLues OF NATURE STUDY : . . F 17 

III. CHiLpREN’s ANIMALS AND PETS : . ‘ 33 

IV. PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY . - F . ; 45 

V. INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD . ‘ ‘ - 62 

VI. LeEssons wiTH PLANTS ‘ : : e 2 gI 

VII. ELEMENTARY BOTANY ‘ i “ . ‘ 102 


VIII. GarpDEN STUDIES, — HOME AND SCHOOL GARDENS 121 


IX. NatTurRE-STUDY PROPERTY OF CHILDREN F 139 
X. NaATuRE-STUDY PROPERTY (Continued), — Gar- 
DEN FRUITS ‘ : , ; ; : . 147 
XI. PROPAGATION OF PLANTS : gee Oss : 155 
XII. INSECTS OF THE GARDEN  . : : i . 181 
XIII. Garpen INSEcTs (Continued) . 4 ‘ 202 
XIV. BENEFICIAL INSECTS, THE HONEYBEE. . 228 
XV. INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL. , 246 
XVI. INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS,—THE COMMON TOAD. 274 
XVII. Common FrRoGs AND SALAMANDERS a Ec 295 
XVIII. Our Common Birps_ . 3 : ie AS 305 
XIX. THE Birp CENSUS AND FooD CHART . » 319 


XX. PraAcTICAL DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD 


BIRDS : : : 4 : : ‘ : 327 
xi 


xli 


CHAPTER 


XXII. 
XXII. 
XXITI. 
XXIV. 


XXV. 
XXVI. 
XXVII. 


XXVIII. 


INDEX 


‘CONTENTS 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 

ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 

ELEMENTARY FORESTRY (Continued ) 

AQUARIA,—THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND MAn- 
AGEMENT. 

MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 

FLOWERLESS PLANTS. = A j 

FLOWERLESS PLANTS (Continued), — MOULDS, 
MILDEWS, YEAST, BACTERIA 

THE GRADE PLAN 


Pace 
347 
365 
379 


393 
405 
435 


457 
478 


497 


INTRODUCTION 


_ For this book I have no hesitation in predicting a most 
wholesome, widespread, and immediate influence upon 
primary and grammar school grades of education in this 
country. Noone has gone so far toward solving the burn- 
ing question of nature teaching, and to every instructor 
in these subjects this volume will be not only instructive 
but inspiring. 

Unlike the authors of most of the many nature-study 
manuals now current, Professor Hodge has been for some 
years the head of a University Department, is a specialist 
in two or more of the fields of biology, and has made original 
contributions of value to the sum of human knowledge. 
His mind thus moves with independence, authority, and 
unusual command of the resources in the field here treated. 

New as his method essentially is, it is now made public 
only after years of careful trial in the public school grades 
in Worcester, until its success and effective working in 
detail is well assured. Thus it has passed the stage of 
experiment and is so matured and approved that, with 

“slight local adjustments, it can be applied almost any- 
where for children of from six or seven to thirteen or 
fourteen years of age. 

I have also observed the growing appreciation with 
which this matter and method have been received by the 


representative teachers from nearly every state in the 
xiii 


xiv INTRODUCTION 


Union in the successive sessions of our Summer School, 
in which approval has grown to deep interest and hearty 
enthusiasm. 

Although the author has striven to secure the best 
results sought by other nature books, this differs not only 
in all respects from some, but in some respects from all, 
and chiefly as follows : 

It contains a richer and more varied subject-matter. 
Instead of elaborate methods applied to a few species, it 
presents the essential and salient points about many and 
thus avoids the current fault of over-elaborate and over- 
methodic treatment, prolonged till interest turns to ennui. 

Another principle solidly established and here utilized, 
is that interest in life forms precedes that in inanimate 
nature for children of the age here in view. Rock forms, 
crystals, stars, weather, and seasons are all interesting, 
but have their nascent period later, and at this stage pale 
before the deep, instinctive love of pets and the fauna 
and flora of the immediate environment. 

Again, the principle of utility is here often invoked in 
a new field, and in a way calculated to advance one of the 
chief objects of modern pedagogic endeavor — an increas- 
ing unity and solidarity between the school and the home. 
The new use of this motive is distinctly national and sure 
to appeal to the practical spirit of this country. 

The author is a born naturalist, and his love of nature 
and children, which is infectious, is not less but more 
because he does not forget nature’s uses to man. _Believ- 
ing profoundly, as I do, in the poetic, sentimental, and 
religious appeal which nature makes to the soul, it is 
plain that for some years preceding adolescence the 


INTRODUCTION Xv 


normal child can be appealed to on the practical, unsenti- 
mental, and utilitarian side of his nature. 

Once more, this work is opportune because it stimu- 
lates spontaneous, out-of-door interests. It is with abun- 
dant reason that we find now on every hand a growing 
‘fear of the effects of excessive confinement, sedentary 
attitudes, and institutionalizing influences in the school. 
Such work as is here described must tend to salutary 
progress in the direction of health. 

Lastly, many modern nature books suffer from what 
might be called effeminization. This is a book written 
by a man and appeals to boys and girls equally. 

The time has now happily passed when it is necessary 
to urge the importance of the love and study of nature, 
or to show how from it have sprung love of art, science, 
and religion, or how in the ideal school it will have a cen- 
tral place, slowly subordinating most other branches of 
study as formal and accessory, while it remains substan- - 
tial. To know. nature and man is the sum of earthly 
knowledge. 

; G. STANLEY HALL. 
WorcEsTeER, MAss., Dec. 3, Igot. 


I shall try to show that life is response to the order of nature... . 
Our interest in all branches of science is vital interest. It is only as living 
things that we care to know, Life is that which, when joined to mind, 
is knowledge, — knowledge in use; and we may be sure that all living 
things with minds like ours are conscious of some part of the order 
of nature, for the response in which life consists is response to this order. 
—W. K. Brooks. 


To learn what is true in order to do what is right is the summing up 
of the whole duty of man, for all who are not able to satisfy their mental 
hunger with the east wind of authority— T. H. Hux ey. 


Nature study is learning those things in nature that are best worth 
knowing, to the end of doing those things that make life most worth the 
living. 


xvi 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


CHAPTER I 


THE POINT OF VIEW 


And God blessed them, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, 
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of 
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that 
moveth upon the earth. 

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, 
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the 
fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat. 


And the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden 
to dress it and to keep it. ; 


Aims and Purposes of a Nature-Study Course. — The heart of 
education, as of life itself, is purpose. Through the maze 
of infinite variety in form and structure and action that 
nature presents to the student on every side, the only 
thing that can hold him to definite lines with patience, 
persistence, and continuity enough to make his work 
amount to something is purpose... Hence, in order to 
select intelligently the materials for a successful course, 
we need at every step to have the purpose of nature study 
clearly before us. 

This may be expressed in a brief formula, as: Learning 
those things in nature that are best worth knowing, to the 


end of doing those things that make life most worth living. 
I 


2 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


What things are dest worth knowing is indicated in a 
fundamental way by the relations toward nature that the 
human race has found necessary and valuable to develop ; 
and nowhere in literature are these relations expressed 
with such force, beauty, and high authority as in the 
words at the heading of this chapter. The fundamental 
relations to nature of the race, the individual, and the 
child have been more fully discussed elsewhere,} and it is 
necessary only to summarize them here briefly as follows : 

Of first importance is the fact that man’s primitive 
relations to nature are mainly biological—relations to 
animal and plant life. 

Subjugation of Animals. — Development of these rela- 
tions followed the order of logical necessity. Subjection 
must come first if man is to live in safety. on the 
earth. This great process of subjugation, this hand- 
to-hand fight against nature, must have constituted the 
main lines of human nature study for thousands, prob- 
ably for tens of thousands of years before language 
took form and written history began, and it has formed 
a large part of the work ever since.’ And how far have 
vermin, weeds, insects, and microbes been brought under 
subjection even now? To what extent this phase 
of struggle and warfare should enter into a course of 
nature study must remain largely a matter for individual 
parents and teachers to decide, but that it has played an 
important and fundamental réle in development of civili- 
zation and formation of human character there can be 
no doubt. And it remains as true as ever that character 


1“ Foundations of Nature Study,” The Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vi, 
No. 4, pp. 536-5533; and vol. vii, No. 1, pp. 95-110, No. 2, pp. 208-228. 


THE POINT OF VIEW 3 


can only be developed by struggle, by active, intelli- 
gent, patient overcoming of difficulties, the elements 
that achieved success throughout the ancient travail of 
the race. It is still ““To him that overcometh”; and 
nothing can take the place of the hard task in education. 
But there need be no reversion to barbarism. In fact, the 


Tic. 1. PRimiTIVE GERMAN HOME AND ITS OCCUPATIONS 


(From a painting by Joh. Gehrts) 


work should all be planned to exert the strongest possible 
uplift toward civilization instead. 

Dominion over Animals.— The step from abject savagery, 
by which a new relation between mankind and nature was 
opened up, was domestication of animals. Hitherto life 
had been a struggle against all nature, against friends and 
foes alike. At this point man first developed intelligence 


4 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


enough to distinguish between friends and enemies and 
to discover companions and helpers among the animals 
about him. The first animal tamed was the dog, which is 
still the idol of the child’s heart. Although taming of the 
dog antedates all historic records, it is quite probable that 
this great advance was made by the plastic fancy of a child, 
—that the first animal domesticated was the playfellow of 
some savage boy or girl. 

' Then follows, also before the dawn of authentic history, 
domestication of the horse, sheep, goat, horned cattle, 
and most of our domesticated birds, and it is self-evident 
that the family or tribe first to develop the patience and 
intelligence to tame and thus utilize animal helpers must 
have rapidly outstripped all rivals in the race for life. 

Human races, in fact, may be divided into those that 
have and those that have not tamed the horse. In long 
struggles small margins of strength are often decisive, but 
one “horse power” equals that of five men, from which 
we see what an enormous advantage accrued from domes- 
tication of this one animal. Who first tamed and rode a 
colt no one will ever know, but it must have been some 
boy, lithe, strong, and daring. Certainly the twelve-year- 
old Alexander succeeded better with Bucephalus than the 
royal grooms of his father Philip. 

The important interest for nature study is the process 
of domestication, the gaining of “dominion” expressed 
in the command, the establishment of helpful relations, 
rather than anything connected with the animal itself. 
Thus we miss the substance for the shadow when we 
attempt to give this kind of education by pictures of ani- 
mals; and we also lose the humanizing and educational 


THE POINT OF VIEW 5 


essence of the process when we substitute the demon- 
strational method of the “school animal” or the zodlogical 
garden for the primitive, normal, natural relation of com- 
panionship between the living animal and the child. The 
pet animal is thus for the child, as it was for the race. 
the key to the door into knowledge and dominion over 
all animal life. Domestication of animals in its widest 


. Lith spin bilo 


- 


Fic. 2, HERD oF ELK, BLUE MouNTAIN FOREST 


(Photograph by Charles Irving Rice) 


sense (and possibly we should add certain phases of 
hunting and fishing) is elementary zoology. Its funda- 
mental character and value for education are evinced in 
the passion of children for pets; and as in the race, so 
in the life of the child, it should be made the most of as 
a step toward civilization. This subject will be more 
completely developed in a chapter by itself, and will also 
form the key to the animal nature study advocated 


6 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


throughout the book. But two general considerations 
belong in this connection. 

At this point introduce an easy codrdination with lan- 
guage and writing by asking the children to make a list 
of all the animals, wild and tame, that they know. Let 
them write “tame” and “wild” in separate columns and 
number each as they go along, thus: 


NAME OF CHILD 00.0.0... AGB icsaucn: DATE |... 


Animals whose Names I know 


TAME ANIMALS 


1. Dog. 6. Rabbit. 10. Duck. 

2. Cat. Birds. 11, Canary. 

3. Horse. 7. Hen. Insects. 

4. Cow. 8. Turkey. 12, Honeybee, etc. 

5. Sheep. 9. Goose. 13. Silkworm 

WILD ANIMALS 

1. Bison. 12. Wren. ; Insects. 

2. Moose. 13. Chickadee. 21. Milkweed Butterfly. 

3. Deer. 14. Eagle, etc. 22. Potato Beetle. 

4. Red Squirrel. Snakes. 23. Meal Worm, etc. 

5. Gray Squirrel. 15. Garter Snake. Worms. 

6. Rat. 16. Green Snake, etc. 24. Earthworm. 

7. Mouse, etc. Amphibia. 25. Leech, etc. 
Birds. 17. Bullfrog. Mollusks. 

8. Quail. 18. Wood Frog. 3 26. Oyster. 

g. Partridge. 19. Common Toad, etc. 27. Clam. 

Io. Robin. Fishes. 28. Snail, etc.) 

11. Bluebird. 20. Trout, etc. 


1 Ask the children to underline the names of animals about which they know any facts 
or a good story. These may be used for oral language lessons, and the teacher can find out 
the extent of the children’s knowledge and will thus be able to correct what is false and add 
to what is insufficient. 


THE POINT OF VIEW 7 


A little wholesome rivalry may be permitted as to who 
can give the longest list. Copying names is waste of time, 
so that this exercise should be given to the class in a way 
that shall not allow recourse to books. I have indicated 
elementary lines of classification that may be utilized or 
wholly disregarded, according to advancement of the class 
or preferences of the teacher. They are of some interest 
as showing in general that it was found worth while to 
domesticate certain kinds of animals, as mammals and 
birds, and but few others. 

After the class have reached their limit ascertain how 
many animals, wild and tame, the longest lists contain, 
and then have one of the children copy on the blackboard 
the following list. 


NuMBERS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF ANIMALS KNOWN 


LivinG Fossti 
SPECIES SPECIES TOTa 
Backboned Animals en a Be le 24,700 2,400 27,100 
Sea-squirts (Zumicates) . . qa, 45 300 300 
Clams, Snails, etc. (AZollusks) . . . . 21,320 20,895 42,215 
Mollusk-like Animals (A/ol/uscoidea). . 820 45340 5,160 
Insects, Crabs, etc. (Arthropods) . . . | 209,405 31570 | 212,975 
Worms (Vermes).. 2 6 2 ww ee 5,500 200 5,700 
Starfishes, etc. (Rekinaderses) ie hy Sa 2,370 3,840 6,210 
Jellyfishes, Polyps (Calenterates) . . . 31545 2,680 6,225 
One-celled Animals (Protozoa). . . . 4,130 2,000 6,130 
Total of all kinds of animals known. | 272,090 39,925 | 312,015 


Professor Riley’s estimate of insect species on the earth is 10,000,000.1 


1 Any teacher is expected to use only so much of this table as is reasonably intelligible 
to the class. Still the object of using it is distinctly to teach how much we do not know, 
The scientific names are inserted to aid the teacher. It is not intended that they be taught 
to the class. 


8 : NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


These figures may serve to suggest what a little way 
human dominion as yet extends over the animal life of the 
world and how much remains to be done! 

Somewhat of sadness attaches to the column “fossil 
species.” We shall never see any of these alive upon the 
earth again. Among their number were the largest and 
most powerful animals that the world has ever produced 
or will ever see again, the animal kings of creation for 
their epochs: the mammoth, a third taller and more than 
twice the weight of our elephant ; the mastodon, larger 
still; the Irish elk, the gigantic, Cervus giganteus, and its 
American cousin, C. Americanus ; the largest members 
of the deer family, animals that used to square accounts 
with antlers that measured eleven feet from tip to tip; an 
American lion, Felis atvox, as large as the Asiatic species ; 
at least two bisons of enormous size, one with horns that 
measured fully ten feet across, —all are past and gone. 
Probably man has been responsible for the extermination 
of most of the larger species within recent geologic time, 
and in the process of subjugation it would seem that he has 
been needlessly severe. Men had little use for menageries 
then, but now what would we not give to see some of 
those wonders of the world in life again! 

What is more to the point, extermination of animal 
species is now going on, and at a rate never before 
equaled. With modern rifles, shotguns, and dynamite 
bombs, coupled with modern steamships and railroads, by 
which the remotest corners of the earth become readily 


1 Shaler speaks of ‘near a hundred animals” that man has domesti- 
cated. Domesticated Animals. Their Relation to Man and to his Advance. 
ment in Civilization, p. 219. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1895. 


THE POINT OF VIEW 9 


accessible, any species of any size or value, either in the 
oceans or on the land, stands small chance against exter- 
mination, unless directly preserved by man. Within the 
past forty years the largest mammal native to our conti- 
nent, the bison, has been practically, and doubtless would 
have been absolutely, exterminated had it not been for 


Fic. 3. BuFFALO HERD ON A STAMPEDE, BLUE MOUNTAIN Forest 


(Photograph by Charles Irving Rice) 


the wise action of the government and of a few public- 
spirited men. Prominent among these was the late Austin 
Corbin of New York, who established the Blue Mountain 
Park as a preserve for large game. In this area of 26,000 
acres, containing a mountain range, we are permitted to 
see wild life, not in menagerie cages and pens, but in its 
magnificence, in the setting Nature designed for it. Surely 
the Corbin Preserve is an institution of national interest. 


10 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Cultivation of Plants. Important as domestication of 
animals is, the greatest advance of the race in its relations 
toward nature is found in the cu/tivation of plants. This 
has constituted the largest factor in the transition of 
human tribes from wandering nomads to stable, populous, 
civilized communities. In the stability of landhold we 
have the beginning of home, as distinguished from the 
casual camping ground; and in the footsteps of Ceres 
and Pomona has followed Flora, to make home beautiful. 
With home is founded commerce, and arts, literatures, 
philosophies, and sciences as well. 

Cultivation of plants indicated and developed elements 
of character fundamental to civilized life. Willingness to 
work for daily bread, intelligent provision for the future, 
courage to fight for home, love of country, are a few 
among the virtues attained. When we consider its uni- 
versal and fundamental character in relation to civilization 
and human advancement, the omission of soz/ lore from 
a system of education of the young is suggestive of 
relapse to barbarism. To allow a child to grow up with- 
out planting a seed or rearing a plant is a crime against 
civilized society, and our armies of tramps and hordes of 
hoodlums are among the first fruits of an educational 
system that slights this important matter. 

Elementary botany is chiefly cultivation of plants. We 
shall see in its proper place, as we have already noted 
with animals, that there are certain plants that man has 
found worth while to domesticate. Certain other plants 
are of great human value, though not domesticated, and 
others, weeds and poisonous species, have been recognized . 
as enemies of the race. The nature study of plants in 


THE POINT OF VIEW II 


Fic. 4. A HomME 


elementary public schools should consist in just this fun- 
damental knowledge that has grouped itself most closely 
about human life. Modern botany is a special interest of 
adult minds. Compared with this ancient body of plant 
lore it is recent, technical, superficial, and special, and as 
such it is a profound mistake to attempt to introduce it 
into a general plan of elementary education. 


12 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Humanity, like the giant Antzeus, renews its strength 
when it touches Mother Earth. Sociological studies sug- 
gest that city life wears itself out or goes to decay after 
three or four generations, unless rejuvenated by fresh 
blood from the country. Thus these deeper relations to 
nature are not only ancient and fundamental but are also 
immanent and persistent. While I should not advocate 
teaching trades in the public school, although we are wont 
to say that every boy should learn one, this study is 
so much deeper down in the warp and woof of life, so 
immediately supports the whole structure of civilized 
social organization, and is so closely associated in the 
creation and maintenance of the home, as distinguished 
from the camp on the one side and the tenement-house 
barrack on the other, that it stands on quite a different 
footing. I should like to see the nature-study course give 
to all boys and girls the knowledge and the power to sur- 
round their homes with the most useful and beautiful 
plants available, and actually to produce their living by 
rearing plants or animals, or both, if occasion ever require. 
Many will say that this instruction belongs to the home. 
This is true in a measure; much of it should and must 
be done by the home, and one of the chief aims of this 
- book is to unite home and school in the work. Often a 
home from which this fundamental “nature study’ has 
lapsed can be reached and rejuvenated by the children 
through the school. This is not only the easiest and 
most natural way, but in many cases the only hope. 

But, the teacher says, the parents make all sorts of 
objections to nature study, call it a “fad,” “nonsense,” 
complain of “ waste of time on new-fangled notions,” say 


THE POINT OF VIEW 13 


that “they never had to learn such stuff.” These objec- 
tions of the home are for the most part right as to what 


eas 


AREAREADEGLNNY 


Fic. 5. A TENEMENT House 


often goes by the name of nature study, and nothing 
could be more helpful for development of ideal courses 


14 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


adapted to local conditions than to invite their freest 
possible expression. If we cannot find a nature study 
worth while, a nature study so full of human good that it 
will meet and overcome all such objections, then we should 
devote the time to other subjects. But from several years’ 
experience the writer is confident that all reasonable objec- 
tions can be met, and that we can find a nature study so 
good that this attitude of parents can be completely 
reversed and their interest and enthusiasm so thoroughly 
aroused that they will say: ‘‘ We had no chance to learn 
these things, but we wish our children might be given the 
opportunity and teach us.” 

When this is accomplished, we shall have a nature 
study that shall bind home and school together as noth- 
ing in the curriculum does at present. Instead of giving 
over our entire school system to passive book learning, we 
shall have at least one subject that shall keep alive in the 
child the spirit of research, under the impetus of which 
the makes such astounding progress in learning the great 
unknown of nature around him during the first three or four 
years of life. This matter of original research in hand-to- 
hand contact with nature ought to be made the breath of 
life in an educational system. It will form perhaps the 
most essential feature in every lesson in this book, and will 
be treated more fully under a special heading. By its means 
we may reinstate childhood in the function for which it was 
designed and created. John Fiske has pointed out that 
infancy was developed as a prolonged period of plasticity, 
by which “the door for progressiveness was set ajar.’’? 


1 John Fiske. The Meaning of Infancy. Excursions of an Evolutionist, 
Pp. 314. 


THE POINT OF VIEW 15 


If life is response to the order of nature, the higher 
and more complete the response, the higher and richer 
must be the life. Since response presupposes knowledge, 
nature study must take its place in public education as 
one of the chief means by which the race may push 
forward toward the more perfect response to the order 
of nature, which shall be its more perfect life. “I am 
come that they might have life, and that they might have 
it more abundantly.” 


(aon Surary sepreyg Aq yder3oxoyq) 


UMIHSdNVH MAN ‘SAUTSAUG ANVD NIANOD AH], ‘ISHAOY NIVINNOW ANT "9 ‘SIV 


CHAPTER II 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 


Economic, A*sTHETIC, EDUCATIONAL, ETHICAL, 
RELIGIOUS 


Consummation of happiness is the natural outcome of the perfecting 
of character, but that perfecting can be achieved only through struggle, 
through discipline, through resistance. It is for him that overcometh that 
a crown of life is reserved. The consummate product of a world of evolu- 
tion is the character that creates happiness, that is replete with dynamic 
possibilities of fresh life and activity in directions forever new. Such a 
character is the reflected image of God, and in it are contained the prom- 
ise and the potency of life everlasting. Fiskr, 7hrough Nature to God, 


p. 114. 

And sure good is first in feeding people, then in dressing people, then 
in lodging people, and lastly in rightly pleasing people, with arts, or sciences, 
or any other subject of thought. RusKIN, Sesame and Lilies, p. 236. 


Economic. — In basing a plan of nature study upon its 
human values it may be necessary to explain what is meant 
by the worth of a study in the curriculum. Throughout 
all the details of the various kinds of values we shall 
discuss, the paramount value to be aimed at is character, 
will to do good, power to create happiness. No lesson that 
does not contribute toward this end can claim the right 
to a place in the course. 

Different plans of nature study are more or less strong 
in presenting a certain class of values, generally the 
zesthetic or scientific. My own plan has often been 

17 


18 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


criticised on the ground that it emphasizes unduly the 
economic side, some even going so far as to insinuate 
that economic values are the only ones_ recognized. 
Nothing can be farther from my thought, as I hope this 
chapter will conclusively prove; but I would include all 
human values in about the relations that they bear to life, 
especially to child life in its different phases and interests. 
I have made economic values prominent because all other 
plans of nature study ignore them almost completely. 
I have used them because money is the common, univer- 
sal expression of value that every one understands and 
respects ; and while we may realize that there are many 
things that money cannot buy, no other measure of value 
is so fundamental to the ordinary affairs of life. Money 
value is, moreover, the trunk that supports many of the 
higher values. Some measure of assured material wealth 
must be attained before art, literature, and science can 
develop, and what holds true in the race, among different 
peoples, holds, in the main, with individuals. Further, the 
entire organization of society, social ethics, laws, and cus- 
toms group themselves about this as the common measure 
of value for the life and work of man. 

More and more, as society becomes organized, the com- 
mon goods of nature come to form a great public prop- 
erty, — pure air, pure water, forests and roadside trees 
and flowers, game and fishes, birds, and other beneficent 
animals; and the laws founded on these nature values are 
yearly widening their circles of influence as knowledge of 
nature advances. On the other hand, the evils in nature, 
— insect pests, noxious weeds, fungous or bacterial dis- 
eases, injurious animals, — constitute a continual menace 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 19 


to the public good. No man has the right (and ignorance 
cannot be pleaded as adequate excuse) to allow things to 
breed upon his premises that may cause damage to his 
neighbor. This fight for the good and against the bad in 
nature is primordial and fundamental; it has existed as 
long as the human race; it cannot and should not be set 
aside by any considerations of a sentimental character, 
but it should be made in our plan of public education 
what it is and always has been in the education of the 
race, the dominant idea in nature study. We cannot 
expect intelligent observance of laws until the facts of 
nature upon which they are based become common 
property of the community. To lay this foundation for 
right living is certainly one of the functions of a public- 
school system. As it is now, few people know even the 
names of the things that are doing the greatest harm 
or the most good in their own gardens. Insect pests, 
weed seeds, and the spores of destructive fungi are no 
respecters of fences, and we must look toa rational nature 
study to render universal the needed information. 
Finally, with many the financial motive is the strongest 
one we can bring to bear to induce them to study or 
allow their children to study nature. After a beginning 
has been made, other, and so-called higher, motives may 
develop. There is the greater need of enlarging upon the 
economic motive because it has never been adequately 
brought before the public. Our biological science has been 
too largely a dead museum affair with little relation to the 
life of the community. When we study nature alive 
and at work, we begin to realize the incalculable worth 
of knowledge, the human value of science. A single 


20 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


insect species, inconspicuous and uninteresting in itself, 
like the San José scale or the codling moth, has the power 
to destroy or cripple the fruit industry of the entire coun- 
try. Another, like the gipsy moth, can possibly strip the 
continent, periodically at least, of its forests, and others, 
for example the Hessian fly or chinch bug, hold in their 
power the wheat crops of large sections of the country. 
Practical knowledge in this field stimulates interest in birds 
and other insectivorous animals, and we have a foundation 
from which to study their work in the economy of nature. 
Fungous and microbic diseases of plants, animals, and 
man are other important topics of recent development 
which must be handled with discretion, but about which 
the public should have intelligent information. It is need- 
less to multiply illustrations. My point is that nature 
study, or elementary science, for the public school ought 
to be all for sure human good. We must winnow our 
science of chaff and by careful selection fill the limited 
time with the best knowledge the experience of the race 
and modern science has to offer. 

ZAisthetic. — After the necessities of life are secured, man 
has instinctively turned toward the beautiful to complete 
his satisfaction in nature. Flower culture is an ancient 
line of human interest. Possibly nothing in modern times 
equals the hanging gardens of Babylon. Here we must 
turn for real education on the esthetic side to the creation 
of the beautiful in nature and not content ourselves with 
talking about it or with passive enjoyment. Nature study 
should thus fill and surround our homes and schoolhouses 
with the most beautiful things attainable and instill the 
spirit of creating and preserving the natural beauties of 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 21 


roadside and field and forest rather than that of ruth- 
less destruction. This side is provided for in chapters 
on cultivation of flowers, school and home gardens, and 
elementary forestry. 

_ Unless the active and creative side is emphasized, a con- 
stant danger is that the study will fall to the level of fancy- 
work, which may interest the teacher but fail to appeal to 
a large part of the class, especially the boys. While beauty 
should be given its due share of attention, a still greater 
danger is that it usurp the whole field. We then have a 
condition so well described by Huxley : 


In these times the educational tree seems to me to have its 
roots in the air, its leaves and flowers in the ground; and, I confess, 
I should very much like to turn it upside down, so that its roots 
might be solidly embedded among the facts of nature, and draw 
thence a sound nutriment for the foliage and fruit of literature and 
of art. No educational system can have any claim to permanence, 
unless it recognizes the truth that education has two great ends to 
which everything else must be subordinated. The one of these is 
to increase knowledge; the other is to develop the love of right 
and the hatred of wrong. 

With wisdom and uprightness a nation can make its way 
worthily, and beauty will follow in the footsteps of the two, even if 
she be not specially invited; while there is perhaps no sight in the 
whole world more saddening and revolting than is offered by men 
sunk in ignorance of everything but what other men have written; 
seemingly devoid of moral belief or guidance; but with the sense 
of beauty so keen, and the power of expression so cultivated, that 
their sensual caterwauling may be almost mistaken for the music 
of the spheres. Sczence and Education Essays, p. 130. 


Finally, beauty should be permitted to bring its own 
message, to speak for itself. Explaining it and talking 


22 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


about it more often detracts from its best appreciation 
and enjoyment. 


You send for me to talk to you of art; and I have obeyed you 
in coming. But the main thing I have to tell you is, — that art must 
not be talked about.... Does a bird need to theorize about building 
its nest, or boast of it when built? Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, 


p. 216. 


Educational. — On the side of educational values in build- 
ing up sound brain tissue and mental power, the school 
should yield to Nature, “the Old. Nurse,” so far as pos- 
sible, the position she has held in the education of the 
race. Clearly, this relation is that of active response in 
direct, first-hand contact with nature. Doing something 
with nature has ever formed a large factor in education, of 
which nothing can take the place. This alone, as Froebel 
says, can prevent education from becoming hollow and 
empty, artificial, and a wholly secondhand affair. 


We do not feel the meaning of what we say, for our speech 
is made up of memorized ideas, based neither on perception nor 
on productive effort. Therefore, it does not lead to perception, 
production, life; it has not proceeded, it does not proceed from 
life. FROEBEL, Education of Man, p. 88. 


With a distrust in “book larnin” that has become 
proverbial, it is strange that it has been allowed to domi- 
nate the school curriculum so completely. This danger is 
now so widely recognized that it is unnecessary to dwell 
upon it, and, while some of our best plans of elemen- 
tary science teaching aim to bring nature and the child 
into direct contact, much remains to be done by way 
of deciding what to bring to the child and what sort of 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 23 


contact, relation, or association it is best to form. Upon 
these two things depend largely the quality of knowledge 
and texture of mind that education yields to the child. 
Space does not permit a full statement of the argument, 
which I have given at length elsewhere,! but its two 
important conclusions must be clearly borne in mind. 
These are, first, that quality of knowledge depends upon 
the ideas with which it is associated in the mind; and, 
second, that the strongest associations are related to the 
spontaneous activities of the individual. That is, for 
elementary study we must select those things that stand 
in fundamental associations with life and about which the 
children can find something worth while to do. In line 
with Herbart’s doctrine of apperception and Froebel’s of 
self-activity, it is the active as distinguished from the pas- 
sive method of instruction, of which Professor Burnham 
says: , 

The great maxim of modern reform in education is the activity 
of the pupil instead of the didactics of the teacher. There are but 
two methods of instruction: as regards the pupil, the active and the 
passive; as regards the teacher, the method of demonstration and 
the method of suggestion. Zhe active method of the kindergarten 


and the university should be adopted in all the grades. [Italics 
mine. ] 


In connection with it we must lay special stress upon the 
fact that the highest type of spontaneous, whole-souled 
activity cannot be developed about trifling or worthless 
things. ‘Give children large interests and give them 
young.” This motto of Alice Freeman Palmer may 
well be used in deciding whether a topic should be 


1 Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vii, No. 2, p. 208. 


24 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


admitted to the nature-study course. Will it form or 
help to form an important, lifelong interest, —an interest 
not technical or superficial, touching life only on the sur- 
face, here and there and at long intervals, but one that 
lies close to the heart, to the home, and to all that makes 
life worth living? The value of such an interest is inesti- 
mable. It may add a sparkle to the eye, elasticity to the 
step, and a glow to every heart beat, and be the most 
efficient safeguard against idleness and waste of time, 
evil, and temptation of every sort. The love of some- 
thing worthy and ennobling is a passport the world over, 
for « All the world loves a lover.” To find such an inter- 
est in some worthy nature-love is to discover the fountain 
of youth. 

Nature is the great mother of such interests, and in pro- 
portion as education becomes thus alive and active, nature 
study must form a prominent factor in the curriculum. 
What is there for the whole child — hands, feet, eyes, 
ears and brain, mind and soul—to work with actively, 
except phenomena of nature, responses to which have 
constituted the chief education of living forms through 
all time? Language has grown up out of and around 
the things of nature to such an extent that even our 
common-school reading and writing is little more than a 
hollow mockery without the fundamental nature study to 
give it life and content; and much of our best literature 
must fail to be appreciated if its allusions to nature are 
not properly sensed. 

When we consider that the Engis skull is a “well-shaped 
average human skull,” indicating an average European 
brain of the present, and when we think that Nature 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 25 


has thus built up the human brain to the level at which 
civilization was possible, we begin to see the true impor- 
tance of her tuition and to realize that a plan of education 
that leaves “the Old Nurse” in the background is quite 
likely to fail in laying the solid foundations of intelligent 
human character. It is in danger of posing as a system 
of elementary education with really elementary education 
left out. 

Before discussing its value from the point of view of 
the child’s development, I may say a single word for the 
teacher and for the tone and spirit of the school in general, 
as it appears largely in the relation of teacher to child. 
The impossible idea that a teacher must know everything 
is at present the shackles of our school system. Here is 
a subject that shatters these fetters by its very presence. 
In this field any child may ask a question that all the 
wise men cannot answer. The field is so boundless that 
to expect an elementary teacher to know all or much about 
a small part of it is preposterous. The most advanced 
specialists really know only a little about a very few ani- 
mals or plants, and this little relates chiefly to technical 
details that have no place in a nature-study course. On 
the active side of growth and movement children, teachers, 
and specialists are all learners together. 


Thus, father and son, teacher and pupil, parent and child, walk 
together in one great living universe. Let not teacher or parent 
object that he himself is as yet ignorant of this. Not the communi- 
cation of knowledge already in their possession is the task, but the 
calling forth of new knowledge. Let them observe, lead their pupils 
to observe, and render themselves and their pupils conscious of their 
observations. . 


26 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Even the knowledge of a previously given name is unimportant ; 
only the clear and distinct apprehension and the correct naming of 
the general and particular attributes are important... . 

Let not the teacher of a country school object that he knows 
nothing about natural objects, not even their names. Even if he has 
had the scantiest education, by a diligent observation of nature he 
may gain a deeper and more thorough, more living, intrinsic, and 
extrinsic knowledge of natural objects in their diversity and individu- 
ality, than he can acquire from ordinary available books. 

Besides, that so-called higher knowledge rests, ordinarily, on 
phenomena and observations within the reach of the plainest man, 
observations which frequently — if he know how to use his eyes — 
come to him with little or no expense, in greater beauty than the 
costliest experiment could yield them. But to this he must bring 
himself by continued observation; to this he must let himself be 
brought by the boys and youths around him. 

Parents should not be timid, should not object that they know 
nothing themselves and do not know how to teach their children. If 
they desire to know something, their ignorance is not the greatest 
evil. Let them imitate the child’s example; let them become chil- 
dren with the child, learners with the learner ; let them go to father 
and mother, and with the child be taught by Mother Nature and by 
the fatherly spirit of God in nature. The spirit of God and nature 
will guide them. FROEBEL, Education of Man, pp. 200 ff. 


From how much impossible cram, mental pretense, obliq- 
uity, and distress such a natural relation would relieve the 
teacher. It would bring us up to natural, ideal relations 
of teacher to pupil, relations of mutual helpfulness, that 
would sweeten and leaven the whole lump of our educa- 
tional system and make it instinct with interest and life. 
“Tf I could only tell teachers how easy it makes the whole 
school go I would be satisfied,” remarked a teacher who 
had given this kind of nature study a trial. Instead 
of being afraid or ashamed to say “I don’t know,” the 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 27 


teacher who sincerely desires to learn will be glad to say 
it, glad to have something brought in that affords him an 
opportunity to learn, and not only that, but at the same 
time the best possible opportunity to teach. Such teach- 
ing and learning will transform education from a deadly 
mechanical grind to a-living process. 

But after all, childhood, —active, fresh, spontaneous 
childhood, —and its need of the normal environment for 
growth and vigor, supplies the imperative demand for a 
natural and active nature study. Truly “trailing clouds 
of glory do we come”; and when we discover the right 
way, there shall be no ‘shades of the prison-house”’ to 
“close upon the growing boy.” In rare cases now we 
find the charm of childlikeness, the open interest and 
rapid growth, extending on through boyhood and to the 
end of old age. When we learn how to educate normally, 
this may become the rule rather than the exception. 

The term is being much abused at present, but I hope 
’ I may be rightly understood when I say that the key to 
the solution of this problem is original research. The 
mind seeks for truth as the body for food. Search is a 
primordial element in all life, in all education. Cut this 
out and you have parasitism and degeneration of the 
higher functions. Everything that lives, from the amoeba 
seeking for food to the artist or the scientist in search of 
beauty and truth, spends the best effort of life in just this 
thing,— search. Witness the way the infant learns during 
the first years of life, the incessant activity and infinite 
delight and wonderful rapidity with which it reaches out 
into the unknown of nature around it. Let us study how 
we may continue this splendid process of growth through 


28 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


all the years of school life. To do this we shall need 
nature at every turn, and the result will be a living, 
active, creating mind instead of a helpless parasite. 


Again: I am incessantly told that we, who advocate the introduc- 
tion of science in schools, make no allowance for the stupidity of the 
average boy or girl; but, in my belief, that stupidity, in nine cases 
out of ten, 77, zon nascitur, and is developed by a long process of 
parental and pedagogic repression of the natural intellectual appetites, 
accompanied by a persistent attempt to create artificial ones for food 
which is not only tasteless, but essentially indigestible. HuxLEy, 
Science and Education Essays, p. 128. 


Ethical and Social. — As to the ethical values of nature 
study, an active, vigorous mind will find something to do, 
some way of expressing itself. Whether such a person 
does good or evil must depend largely on “the love of right 
and the hatred of wrong.” Much evil is done through 
pure ignorance. A boy has little idea how much harm he 
may be doing when he kills birds or destroys their nests, 
because he has never been taught how much good they ' 
are capable of doing; and further, he has no basis of 
knowledge to tell him how much pain and distress he 
may be causing; and finally, he has no realization of 
the greater pleasure that he himself would derive from 
an intelligent study of the same birds. No one can esti- 
mate the damage that the introduction of certain insects to 
new continents has wrought and may cause, but we must 
know these things in order to take proper precautions in 
the future. To do our duty by our neighbors we need 
a large body of knowledge of the common things that 
surround the home. No one, if he knew what he were 
doing, would breed about his premises noxious insects 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 29 


or weeds or the fungi of plant or human diseases that 
might cause his neighbors annoyance or loss. These 
things must be made matters of common knowledge in 
order to form the basis of right living, and how can this 
be done so universally and well as in our nature-study 
courses? In order to safeguard public interests and 
prevent a person from causing damage to his neighbors 
in these respects, laws are being rapidly passed in the 
different states. We cannot hope for a general observ- 
ance of them until the facts upon which they are based 
become the common property of the community. Under 
the several subjects collect the nature laws of your state 
or city and town ordinances and make them a part of the 
nature-study course, — the laws and board of health regu- 
lations touching birds, insects, weeds, street trees, forest 
fires, destructive fungi, and bacterial diseases. These 
laws express the highest level of intelligent public knowl- 
edge and opinion, and their influence and scope should be 
largely increased for the public good. How can this be 
done so well as by studying the laws in connection with 
the facts of nature upon which they are based ? 

Everywhere in our theories of education the negative 
is giving place to the positive. We must have positive 
effort for good at every point and then there will be little. 
need of the dull machinery of repression. Just in the 
period of early childhood, with its passion for activity and 
its capacity for interests, we need this ethical training more 
than at any other time. To turn the stream into benefi- 
cent channels is far better than to let it run to waste or 
to dam it up. If the boys of a neighborhood make the 
raising of peaches and grapes impossible, a better remedy 


30 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


than the jail would be to start them raising peaches and 
grapes of their own. Effort for the production of property 
is ethical, and the moment the child engages in it he places 
himself upon the side of law and order in the community. 
To rear a flower is an ideally ethical thing and may ele- 
vate the moral and esthetic tone of a household. We 
need this ethical training, not in the way of moralizing, 
but in unconscious positive doing, as the warp of our edu- 
cation, and nature study offers boundless opportunities for 
its daily inculcation and practice. 

Religious. — Finally, no one can love nature and not 
love its Author, and if we can find a nature study that 
shall insure a sincere love, we shall be laying the surest 
possible foundation for religious character. 

A good deal has been written of late about the child 
repeating the history of the race, and it seems to have 
been taken for granted that the nature worships of primi- 
tive peoples form the normal stepping-stones for the child 
to higher conceptions of religious truth. The reasons 
that seem to render such suppositions unnecessary or 
possibly untenable are stated more fully in the paper just 
referred to.1 It is sufficient to say here that all the nature 
worships of which we now have any knowledge are rela- 
tively modern phenomena, terminal twigs on the evolu- 
tionary tree, rather than fundamental elements in the 
main trunk of human progress. They would thus have 
no relation to the normal development of the child. 

Creative effort for good; this is the fundamental con- 
ception of religious progress, aside from all matters 
of race, creed, or sect,— ‘The character that creates 


1 Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vii, p. 208. 


VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 31 


happiness, that is replete with dynamic possibilities 
of fresh life and activity in directions forever new.” 
Nature is given as the great matrix with which we are 
to create, and to go through life with no attempt to gain 
a knowledge of it, with no effort to learn its possibilities, 
is dull, dead atheism. The child that puts forth creative 
effort to make the world better, the child that plants a 
seed or cares for the life of an animal, is working hand in 
hand with nature and the Creator, and what higher reli- 
gious development can we desire than that he become 
the “reflected image of God”? 


Fig. 7. ALEXANDER TAMING BUCEPHALUS 


(A. Castaigne) 
32 


CHAPTER III 


CHILDREN’S ANIMALS AND PETS 


The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the’ leopard shall lie 
down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling 
together; and a little child shall lead them. 


They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the 
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover 
the sea. Jsatah, xi. 


He comes to the teacher with his eyes filled with a thousand pictures, 
but these are ignored, and he is robbed of them one by one, until the 
beauty of this world fades from his sight, and it is changed to a vale of 
tears. JACKMAN. : 

Thanking the true Pan 
Who by low creatures leads to heights of love. 
Mrs. BROWNING, Flush or Faunus. 


Pets are the child’s natural introduction to animal life. 
By their means the knowledge gained of the animal as a 
whole, its habits, life, individual character, intelligence, 
disposition, affection for its master, its health and well- 
being, is infinitely more living and real than that imparted 
by any other method of instruction. By its associations 
with the child’s spontaneous activities in caring for his 
pet this knowledge becomes a part of his life and will 
thus enter into the formation of his character to exert 
its civilizing influence as long as he lives. Of how little 
value, compared with this, is learning of names, schemes 
of classification, or anatomical structures. 

33 


34 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


In the development of the child’s emotional and moral 
life this relation to his living pet is of even greater impor- 
tance. Nothing is better fitted to develop patience and 
conscientious carefulness than the daily attention to its 
needs. Unselfishness is fostered by this care and by 
the generous sharing of his good things with his humble 
friend. 

Play is coming to be recognized more and more as an 
important factor in life and education. Nothing as fully 
brings into healthful activity every function and power, 
so that Froebel truly says: ‘‘A man is a whole man only 
when he plays.” Plays of the young are generally pre- 
paratory to activities of adult life, and pet-plays prepare, 
as nothing else can, for the most important of all func- 
tions, the care of the young. The care of the pet involves 
the same reasoning, the same thinking and feeling and 
willing and doing, as the care of the child. Finally, love. 
of nature is a thing of slow growth. It begins when 
the love of a child flows out toward some one specific 
thing; it gathers force when something else is loved, 
and so on until he loves so many things and has come 
to look so deeply into nature’s heart that he feels the 
love of all nature. This is a result worth years of patient 
education. 

With these educational values in view, parents would 
naturally provide for their children pet animals suited to 
their ages and inclinations so far as possible, and they 
can steady and assist the child in faithful care and proper 
treatment. : 

For the school, the main point of interest being the rela- 
tion between the child and pet, we must begin by finding 


CHILDREN’S ANIMALS AND PETS 35 


out what animals the children have. This may be done 
by simply asking them to write a language lesson about 
their pets, in which each tells what animals he has, how 
he cares for them, and what he does with them or how he 
plays with them. The teacher may then preserve these 
for future reference, and during the nature-study hour 
have the children recite about them in order, describing 
their interests in the pet, its character, intelligence, and 
disposition, the care it receives, its health, and cleanliness. 
One after the other the children might be invited to 
bring certain kinds of pets to show and to use as models 
for drawing lessons. 

Another way of securing a statement of the resources 
at command of the class is to have blanks printed with 
names of a number of different animals and ask the chil- 
dren to fill them out as indicated. A form is here given 
that may, of course, be modified in any way to adapt it 
to local conditions. 


ANIMALS AND PETS OWNED BY: 


NGME veceeccecvecvcecee 0 tes SCHOOL 2) Be pine Grade wooo. AE oie. 


The pupil will please draw a line under the names of animals that he 
owns and indicate the number of each. 


Dog Rabbit ' Other animals — Chicken Frog 

Horse Squirrel Pigeon Other birds Fish 

Cat Rat Canary Toad Turtle 
Lizard Butterfly Anything else 


Nore. — Please write a short description of your animal, giving breed 
or species, if known, age, size, etc., and state who takes care of it and 
what care it receives daily. Add anything that you wish to tell about it, 
using the back of this sheet, if necessary. 


36 . NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


With the papers in hand the teacher sees exactly what 
the resources of the class are for this series of lessons in 
the zodlogy work. A plan may then be made that shall 
bring out the best knowledge the children have about 
their animals, their habits, likes and dislikes, foods, care, 
uses, etc. If the class is well supplied with pets, the 
children may study and observe them, thus learning their 
lessons from the living realities rather than from books; 
and, as just intimated, such pets as are not likely to 
cause annoyance and disturb the school may be brought 
in during some of the lessons. But, in general, school- 
rooms are not adapted for keeping animals, and even a 
pigeon or a rabbit may be a nuisance when thus out of 
place. 

It is not intended to give the natural history of each 
animal pet in the series, and great care must be taken 
not to allow the lessons to grow dull with commonplaces 
that everybody knows, or run off into details of technical 
and superficial interest that it makes no difference whether 
any one knows or not. People may live long and die happy 
without ever having lumbered their minds up with such 
ideas as ‘‘a chicken has three eyelids,” “a dog is covered 
with hair,” “‘a cat has five toes on the front feet and four 
toes on the hind feet,” and so on ad nauseam. There are 
plenty of common-sense, valuable, and interesting things 
to be learned about animals to occupy the time, and we 
may leave all details of comparative anatomy to special 
courses in colleges or medical schools. The following is 
intended as merely suggestive upon the more important 
of these matters, to illustrate the point of view rather 
than to give a complete list. The resources of the 


CHILDREN’S ANIMALS AND PETS 37 


children and the common sense of the parent or teacher 
must supply the rest. 

The Dog.1— This was the first animal domesticated by 
man and the only animal that the North American Indians 
had tamed before settlement of the country by Europeans. 
The reasons for this are to be sought in the character of 
the dog and in his value to man. Let the children 
illustrate from their own pet dogs so far as possible, and 
from observations that they have been able to make for 
themselves, each of the following points: fidelity and 
love for master, unselfish devotion, courage, strength and 
endurance, intelligence and docility, ability and willing- 
ness to learn. Study the dog’s work in the hunt, his 
keen scent and ability to track game, his speed and 
endurance, his passionate love of hunting and retriev- 
ing game; the shepherd dog, his work with flocks 
and herds; the watch dog. The following topics will 
appeal to the children more strongly: the dog as a 
companion and playfellow; the games and tricks of 
dogs, — fetching sticks or balls when thrown, retrieving 
from water, drawing sleds and carts, sitting up, begging, 
speaking, etc. 

Among the many who keep dogs but few know how to 
take proper care of them. Most people overfeed, thus 
allowing the dog to grow fat, lazy, and stupid. For an 
adult dog one meal a day, given in the evening, is gener- 
ally better than two or three. It should consist of dog 


1 Read to the class the best story you know about a dog, eg., Castle 
Blair, Shaw; Helvellyn, Scott; Rab and his Friends, Dr. John Brown; 
Don, J. T. Fields; Zo Flush, my Dog, Mrs. Browning; “ How William of 
Orange was saved by his Dog,” Motley’s Rise of the Dutch Republic. 


38 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


biscuit or the coarser table scraps, bread crusts, brown 
bread, oatmeal, bones with not too much meat, and vegeta- 
bles. In severe weather or with much exercise in the open 
air a dog needs to be fed oftener and to have more food. 
The best indication as to whether the feeding is proper 
is the condition of the animal. He should be neither 
lean nor fat, but s/eek. One should be able to take up a 
handful of soft, loose skin anywhere on the dog’s body. 
A gnawing-bone is the dog’s toothbrush, and he should 
be kept well supplied at all times, both for business and 
amusement. Too much meat and lack of cleanliness is 
apt to give rise to offensive odors, the “doggy” smell of 
animals not properly cared for. Fleas are the great bur- 
den of a dog’s life (see page 81, under insects). To kill 
every flea on a dog it is necessary only to lather him 
completely with some mild, clean soap, castile or ivory, 
let it stay on ‘for two or three minutes, then rinse in 
clean water or let the dog take a swim. A dog is thus 
the best possible flea trap. He will pick up every flea 
in the house or neighborhood, and they may then be 
easily killed. If every one did this, which is no less 
than he should wish to do for the health, cleanliness, and 
comfort of his pets, a neighborhood might soon be rid 
of these pests. For other matters as to the dog’s health 
and care, their owners should be referred to standard 
authorities. 

The Horse. — Domesticated before the dawn of history, 
probably by a branch of the Aryan race in the north of 
Asia, no animal has exerted a more powerful influence 
in human progress, either in war, in sports, or in the arts 
of peace. To learn to control and ride a spirited horse is 


CHILDREN’S ANIMALS AND PETS 39 


an education in itself for a boy, closely associated with 
one of the greatest lessons in the nature study of the 
race. 

Many of the children are likely to have more or less to 
do with horses in connection with either their pleasure or 
their work, and the 
aim of these lessons 


may well be to estab- 
lish a fellow-feeling 
with them and high 
ideals as to their 
care and humane 
treatment. We may 


see daily instances 
of misuse, if not of 
actual abuse, which 
a few reasonable 
lessons might have 
prevented ; and the 
object at which such 
education should 
aim is the develop- 
ment of general 
public sentiment. 
To this end lead the 
children to observe the treatment of horses in the neigh- 
borhood and then group language lessons about such 


Fic. 8. A NoBLe ANIMAL 


(Photograph by Charles Irving Rice) 


topics as naturally suggest themselves. Among these 
will be: care and feeding, blanketing in bad weather, over- 
driving and overworking. Teach the law of your state 
with reference to cruelty to animals. Have the children 


40 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


read Black Beauty. How much time is devoted to these 
topics must depend largely on local conditions and on the 
interests and resources of the ciass. 

The intelligent and humane taming of so powerful an 
animal is perhaps the point of chief interest. We often 
hear of “breaking” a horse instead of ‘‘taming”’ it, and 
a poor spiritless thing is apt to result. The best story in 
this connection is the following, a very old one; but it 
may still serve as an inspiration to every child as long as 
horses exist. 


Philonicus of Thessaly had offered to sell Philip his horse 
Bucephalus for thirteen talents. So they all went down into the 
plain to try the animal. He proved, however, to be balky and 
utterly useless. He would let no one mount him, and none of the 
attendants of Philip could make him hear to him, but he violently 
resisted them all. Philip, in his disgust, ordered the horse led away 
as being utterly wild and untrained. Whereat, Alexander, who was 
present, said: “ That is too good a horse for those men to spoil that 
way, simply because they have n’t the skill or the grit to handle him 
right.” At first Philip paid no attention to him, but as he kept 
insisting on being heard and seemed greatly disturbed about the 
matter, his father said to him: “What do you mean by criticizing 
your elders, as if you were wiser than they, or knew so much more 
about handling a horse than they do?” “ Well, this horse, anyway, 
I would handle better than any one else, if they would give me a 
chance.” “In case you don’t succeed,” rejoined his father, “what 
penalty are you willing to pay for your freshness?” ‘Ill pay, by 
Jove, the price of the horse!” Laughter greeted this answer, but 
after some bantering with his father about the money arrangements, 
he went straight to the horse, took him by the bridle, and turned 
him around toward the sun. This he did on the theory that the 
horse’s fright was due to seeing his own shadow dance up and down 
on the ground before him. He then ran along by his side awhile, 
patting and coaxing him, until, after a while, seeing he was full of 


CHILDREN’S ANIMALS AND PETS 4I 


fire and spirit and impatient to go, he quietly threw off his coat, and 
swinging himself up, sat securely astride the horse. Then he guided 
him about for a while with the reins, without striking him or jerking 
at the bit. When now he saw that the horse was getting over his 
nervousness and was eager to gallop ahead, he let him go, driving 
him on with a sterner voice and with kicks of his foot. In the group 
of onlookers about Philip there prevailed, from the first, the silence 
of intensely anxious concern. But when the boy turned the horse 
and came galloping up to them with pride and joy in his face, they 
all burst out into a cheer. His father, they say, shed tears for very 
joy, and, as he dismounted, kissed him on the head, and said: “ My 
son, seek thee a kingdom suited to thy powers; Macedonia is too 
strait for thee.” 

Bucephalus became from this time the property and the insepa- 
rable companion of Alexander. He accompanied him on his cam- 
paigns, ‘sharing many toils and dangers with him,” and was generally 
the horse ridden by him in battle. No one else was ever allowed 
to mount him, as Arrian says, “ because he deemed all other riders 
unworthy.” He is reported to have been a magnificent black charger 
of extraordinary size, and to have been marked with a white spot on 
the forehead. BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER, L2fe of Alexander the 
Great. 


The Cat. — This, according to Shaler, ‘is the only ani- 
mal that has been tolerated, esteemed, and, at times, 
worshipped, without having a single distinctly valuable 
quality.” “It is,” he goes on to say, “in a small way, 
serviceable in keeping down the excessive development of 
small rodents, which from the beginning have been the 
self-invited guests of man. Ass it is in a certain indiffer- 
ent way sympathetic, and by its caresses appears to indi- 
cate affection, it has awakened a measure of sympathy 
which it hardly deserves. I have been unable to find 
any authentic instances which go to show the existence 
in cats of any real love for their masters.” 


42 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Unlike dogs, cats readily return to a wild, or semi-wild, 
life, and thus become a menace to much of the valuable 
and interesting nature life of the country, game birds and 
animals, and even to poultry. They breed in great num- 
bers in cities, where their lives are, for the most part, a 
prolonged misery both to themselves and the community. 
Their cries at night are the most disagreeable sounds we 
have in nature. The various smells that mark the places 
they infest are utterly nauseating and intolerable. 

Cats are the worst enemies of our common birds. Mr. 
Forbush estimates that on the average a cat kills fifty 
song birds a year, and he has known of a single cat 
destroying six bird’s-nests in a day. In most states the 
legislature has deemed it wise to pass laws imposing fines! 
upon those who kill birds. It is obviously absurd to fine 
a man for killing one bird and at the same time allow him 
to keep a cat that kills fifty. In some cities in Europe, 
where every effort is being made to protect the birds, 
cats are considered public nuisances if allowed to run 
at large. People who wish to have cats must confine 
them within their own premises, both by day and night, 
because numerous cat traps are continually set for strays. 
While not inaugurating a crusade against cats as pets, 
the lessons in nature study may exert -some influence 
toward inducing children to observe what cats do and 
possibly to keep other pets so far as possible. Special 
attention should be directed toward preventing cats from 
killing birds ; abundant feeding, keeping in at night during 
nesting time, and possibly training, may prove effective in 


1 Maine, $1 to $10; Massachusetts, $10; Indiana, $10 to $50; Cali- 
fornia, $20 to $500. 


CHILDREN’S ANIMALS AND PETS 43 


some cases. Bells worn about the neck, as sometimes 
advocated, may save now and then an old bird, but not 
the newly hatched nestlings or young birds that are not 
yet wary or strong enough to fly. 


Fic. 9. TAMING THE PIGEONS 


(Photograph by J. Chauncey Lyford) 


Care of the other common pets, — rabbits, guinea pigs, 
white mice, canaries, pigeons, chickens, and the like, — 
may be taken up in series, according to the resources of the 
class. Different breeds of the various animals, — rabbits, 
pigeons, chickens, — with such knowledge as the children 


44 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


may possess of their comparative merits, will furnish 
material for valuable lessons. Homing pigeons are espe- 
cially interesting. 

Pets out of the common run will prove instructive. A 
wild bird tamed by some member of the class, a tame 
toad, frog, newt, turtle, snake, fish, or even butterfly, is not 
only interesting because of its rarity, but widens human 
relations toward nature. In the great process of animal 
domestication, in which we have made so little advance 
in the last four thousand years, such work may be made 
to constitute the crest of the wave of human effort, in 
itself the most interesting thing in the world. 


CHAPTER IV 
PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 


Metuops; MaTeriaLs; INSECT COLLECTIONS 


TEacHERS ordinarily feel quite at a loss where to 
begin or what to do with insects, but in no other sub- 
ject should they feel more at their ease. The trouble 
has been that the field is so boundless and the books 
so technical that it has seemed impossible to bring it 
into any fruitful relation to elementary teaching. But 
leaving all the anatomy, the minutiz of structure and 
classification for the specialists, and taking the com- 
mon forms alive and at their work, no study furnishes 
more fascinating or valuable lessons. We shall have 
daily to say “I don’t know,” but so do the profes- 
sors of entomology who have done nothing but study 
insects all their lives; or, since some teachers have not 
yet learned the value of saying “I don’t know,” let them 
play ball with the questions. 

In an elementary course the aim should be to learn 
what every one ought to know about a few of the most 
important insects, and, for this purpose, we may study 
them in the following groups: 

1. Insects of the household. 3. Insects of field and forest. 

2. Insects of the garden. 4. Beneficial insects. 


5. Insects beautiful and interesting. 
45 


46 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


On the side of injury and damage to man, it has been 
calculated that insects about equally divide the produce 
of the soil with the farmer. Professor Riley estimated 
that insects destroy annually from $300,000,000 to $400,- 
000,000 worth of produce in this country alone. These 


Fic. 10. PROMETHEA JUST EMERGED 


figures were given twenty years ago and are low, as we 
shall see, when we study the ravages of single insect 
species. 

The beneficent work of insects consists in practically 
creating by cross-pollination our beautiful and fragrant 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 47 


flowers and most valuable varieties of fruits. So important 
is this great work that the question continually arises: 
Might we not be doing harm if we reduce the numbers 


of insects too much? 


practical answer must be 
sought in a study of each 
species of insect, but it is 
safe to say that as most 
of the injurious kinds 
do little or no good, 
destruction of them is 
the only problem. It is 


Eacs or ANTIOPA BUTTERFLY 


also a wonderful coincidence that the most useful and 
benign of all insects, the honeybee, is practically sufficient 


Fic. 12. LARVA OF CECROPIA REARED FROM 
THE EGG 


(Length, 33 inches) 


inadequate to the task. 


for the work of cross- 
pollination of fruits 
and flowers. 
Methods of insect 
destruction have run 
of late years toward 
the use of poisons and 
spray pumps. These 
are expensive and 
laborious, and a ride 
through the country 
in any direction will 
convince the unpreju- 
diced observer that 
these methods are 


One man may rid his garden of 


insect pests only to have it restocked from his neighbors’ 


48 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


across the way, and soon he gives up the fight. We need 
rather to study how to make the most of the far more 
powerful and universal agencies of living nature, the 
natural enemies of various insect species; and with an 
intelligent public educated about these problems and all 
working together, many of the worst insect ravages may 
be easily and_ speedily 
abated. 

First, as to a few 
simple terms: By the fe 
history, or the life story, 
of an animal, we mean 


all the changes it goes 
through and all that it 
does from the time it 
hatches from the egg, or 
is born, until it dies of 
old age. Most insect 
eggs hatch out into some- 
Fic. 13. CHRYSALIS OF CECROPIA IN thing quite unlike the 
Cocaon parent. This is called a 

eee e) “larva.” The larve of 

flies are often called “ maggots,” those of beetles, “grubs,” 
and those of moths and butterflies, “caterpillars.” After 
feeding actively and shedding its skin from five to twenty 
times as it grows, the larva passes into its third stage, the 
“pupa.” To outward appearances this is a quiescent stage, 
the insect being incased in a hard shell, but inwardly active 
changes of form are going on. The pupa of a butterfly is 
often called a “chrysalis.” After the internal rearrange- 
ments have been made and the proper time has arrived, the 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 49 


pupa case is split open on the back, and the adult insect 
emerges; the fourth and last stage begins. The adult 
female lays the eggs, and the life story from egg around 
to egg again is completed. This change of form in insects 
is called “ metamorphosis.” 

A few insects hatch out from the egg more nearly like 
their parents in 
form. Children 
will notice this 
in the case of 
their grasshop- 
per or water-bug 
eggs. Insects 
that do not 
thus completely 
change their 
form are said 
to present an 
incomplete 
metamorphosis, 
and the young 
in all stages are called “nymphs” instead of larva. 

With our insect enemies it is important to learn the 
whole life story in order to find the weakest point, at which 
we may most easily attack and destroy them. We shall 
endeavor always to point this out for the insects described, 
but it will be possible to give only a few which happen to 
be of greatest importance at present in order to illustrate 
a method for insect nature study. The best rule to follow 
is to study the insects that happen to be of most impor- 
tance or of greatest interest for any locality or season. 


Fic. 14. ADULT CECROPIA ON COCOON 


(4 natural size) 


50 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Until we have the country much fuller of birds and other 
insectivorous animals than it is, we may expect to have 
storms of different kinds of insects. It may be grass- 
hoppers or crickets or army worms or plant lice or June 
beetles or caterpillars of a hundred kinds. We never 
can tell what will come next, so, while the following are 
described as probably of greatest importance at present 
and for some time to come, we must not be too much 
influenced by a formal list, but keep our minds open to 
study nature as it flows by and be ever ready to do the 
thing that is most worth our while. 

Apparatus and Methods. The first thing to provide is 
something to catch insects with, the insect net. This 
may be easily made by taking a piece of No. 12 spring 
brass wire four or five feet long. Bend it into a round 
loop about a foot in diameter, crossing the wire six inches 
from the ends and giving it one firm twist. Next, 
clamping it tightly against a small iron rod or round 
stick in a vise, wind the ends closely around the rod into 
a spiral. You now have a convenient frame into which 
any stick can be screwed for a handle. The net may be 
made from three-quarters of a yard of cotton tulle or light 
cheese cloth sewed into a bag rounded at the bottom and 
just as large as the frame at the top. It lasts longer if 
a narrow border of sheeting to cover the wire is stitched 
around the top. The bag should be a little more than 
twice as deep as the frame is wide, so as to lap over and 
close well when an insect is caught. It is lively work catch- 
ing insects, and no one piece of nature-study apparatus will 
give a child more exercise in the fresh air and better train- 
ing of eye and hand than an insect net. Nothing will 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 51 


secure for him such an inexhaustible supply of material for 
study, and every boy and girl should have one of his own. 

To preserve your insect, you must first kill it without 
injury, and this is best done with a cyanide bottle. Geta 
wide-mouthed bottle and a good cork to fit it tightly. In 
the bottom put an ounce of potassium cyanide broken into 


Fic. 15. MAKING THE INsECT NET 


lumps not larger than a filbert; add sawdust a little more 
than enough to cover the largest lumps and pour in plaster 
of Paris, mixed to the consistency of thick cream, to form 
a layer a quarter of an inch thick. The plaster will 
harden in a few minutes, and an insect dropped in and 
corked up will die almost instantly and without injury or 
apparent suffering. What kills the insect is the fumes 


52 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


of the cyanide coming through the plaster and saturating 
the air within the bottle; hence avoid breathing any of 
these fumes yourself and keep the bottle tightly corked at 
all times. The cyanide is a deadly poison, and the fact 
that it is a harmless-looking white substance, not unlike 
lump sugar or rock salt and many other things, renders 
it one of the most dangerous poisons to keep about the 
house. Label the bottle as in 
Fig. 16. Sucha bottle will remain 
good for a season. If moisture 
collects in it, wipe dry with blot- 
ting paper or a soft cloth. 
Insects may also be killed with 
chloroform. If this is preferred, 
get an ounce of it in a flat vial; 


POISON 


Cyanine or Potassun. 
FOR Insects. 
Kecp TICHTLY CORKED. 
lsoNnous to BREATHE 


stick the handle of a small camel’s- 
hair brush into the bottom of the 
cork, and, holding the insect in a 
fold of the net, apply a drop to 
each side (for insects breathe 
through a row of minute holes 
along the sides), and it dies 
instantly. 


On a collecting trip you will 
also need strips of newspaper, 
in which the insects may be 
neatly folded without breaking the wings or legs. 

Insects are mounted in a number of ways. The com- 
mon method is to pin them in a large tray provided 
with a sheet-cork bottom and glass top; but these trays 
or cases are expensive and cannot be recommended for 


Fic. 16. CyANIDE BOTTLE 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 53 


school collections. Another way, after the insect has 
been properly “stretched,” or “spread,” is to mount per- 
manently in the depression of a block of plaster of Paris, 
a plate of glass just fitting the plaster block being 
fastened with gummed paper, as a cover. Most moths 
and butterflies in our large museums are now mounted in 


Fic. 17. WALKING STICKS 


Male, female, and eggs. (To show method of mounting) 


this way for exhibition. This method has the disadvan- 
tage of allowing only one side to be seen. 

The method here advocated, which, I think, will super- 
sede all others when its advantages come to be prop- 
erly understood, consists in simply inclosing the insect 
between two plates of glass! Since our method of spread- 
ing insects depends upon properly exhibiting them in this 
way, I will describe it in this connection. 

1 I am indebted for this method of mounting insects for school collec- 


tions to Miss Martha F. Goddard, who found it in use in the Swiss schools 
and kindly described it to me. 


54 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Take two rectangular plates of glass of the same size, 
large enough for your specimen, or specimens, for this 
method is admirably adapted for life-story collections. 
Cut a strip of thin wood as wide as the thickness of your 
largest specimen, — berry-box or cigar-box wood is good, 
—brush over one side with ink to blacken it, and, with 
glue or shellac, stick the wood around the edges of one of 
the glass plates. You now have a box with glass bottom 
and wooden sides as deep as your thickest specimen.1 
Arrange your specimens in order: egg cluster; single 
egg; larvee of increasing sizes; moulted skins, if you have 
them; pupz, male and female; cocoons; pupze cases, from 
which the insects have emerged; leaves eaten by the 
larve; male and female adult insect. Fasten in place 
with minute drops of glue where the specimen touches 
the glass,? and, if desired, glue a neat label under each 
specimen, giving perhaps the date of the different proc- 
esses represented. Put the other glass on for a cover and 
glue a strip of black paper or passe-partout around the edge 
of the whole just wide enough to hide the wooden frame... 
You now have a series of.specimens that tell the story of 
an insect’s life from beginning to end in its reality. 
You can see both sides of your insects, —head, mouth 
parts, legs, feet, wings, —all equally well. 

1“Tnsect mounting strips,” made in one piece, to fold together, like a 
honey section, for cases 2 x 5, 4.x 5, and 5 x7 inches, and of different widths, 
are now obtainable from the A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio, at about $1.25 
per thousand. 

2 Glue sometimes dries so hard that it scales off the glass. To prevent 
this I add to an ounce bottle about twenty drops of glycerine. . 

8 Insects are often marked and colored differently above and below, 


so that this is no small matter in deciding on a method of preparation for 
imparting clear and complete conceptions to children. 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY ge 


As scrap glass, broken glass of all sizes, and old photo- 
graphic negatives! can be utilized in this way, the cost, 
either to the children or the school, for mounting a good 
working collection of insects need be practically nothing, 
not even the price of insect pins. 

Spreading. — As we have now a clear idea of what we wish 
to do with our insects, the matter of spreading — arrang- 
ing wings and legs so that they will show what we wish 


Fic. 18. NEW METHOD OF SPREADING INSECTS 


to see — becomes one of ordinary common sense. While 
the specimen is flexible, simply arrange the parts and have 
them held as you wish until they dry. We will study 
natural positions of the various insects and set the parts 
accordingly. 

Since we do not mount insects in the old way, we do not 
need the minute and technical apparatus and materials 
usually described for this work. All that is required is 

1 Waste negatives are the best glass obtainable, thin, clear, and free 


from bubbles. The films may be easily removed by hot water in which a 
little sal soda or other alkali has been dissolved. 


56 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


some thin boards or cards, cigar-box wood or grape-basket 
covers, and a few pins, or better, fine needles mounted 
in match sticks} 

To spread a butterfly or moth lay it on its back on 
the board and stick a pair of pins, one each side of the 
body, between the thorax and abdomen. If necessary, 
insert a second pair at the neck or in front of the wings. 
Bring the wings down flat on the board, move the fore 
wings to their natural position, and lay on bits of glass, 
one on each side to hold them, and to press them smooth 
and flat while they dry. To arrange the legs have a 
little piece of berry box, cut as in the figure, or two nar- 
row strips, mounted on a pin; bring it down over the 
insect, just the right height to suit the length of its 
legs, and with a mounted needle arrange the feet upon 
it in their natural positions. See that the feelers are in 
good position, setting a pin against them to hold them 
until they dry. Possibly you will wish to uncoil the 
tongue and pin that out. Dragon flies, hellgrammites, 
bumblebees, and other large winged insects may be spread 
on their backs in the same way. To mount butterflies 
with wings closed over the back you will, of course, place 
them feet down, but it will be well to let them rest with the 
body on the board, as the legs will be too fragile to support 
the weight when they become dry. 

Beetles, bugs, grasshoppers and crickets, ants, flies, 
spiders, etc., are easily spread, feet down, in natural posi- 
tions (Fig. 14). Some of the smaller and stouter ones 


1 While we do not use pins to stick through the insects, insect pins are 
good to use for holding the parts in place while they dry. A package of 
one hundred, assorted sizes, costs but fifteen cents. 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 57 


may be able to stand on their dried legs, but it will gen- 
erally be safer to mount them, with the aid of a drop 
of glue, so that the thorax will touch the glass. If it be 
desired to have them stand higher, glue a little post of 
the right length, —a bit of broom, splint, or cork, — to the 
thorax, or thrust a point of a toothpick (dipped in ink) 
into the thorax from below and cut it off as high as you 
wish the insect to stand, and glue this to the glass of 
the permanent case. With beetles and grasshoppers it is 
well to raise one wing cover so that the wing below may 
be seen. 

Caterpillars and grubs and larve of various sorts may 
be mounted in several ways. First, to prepare dried 
skins lay the dead caterpillar on a blotter, and using a 
lead pencil for a roller, begin at the head and gently roll 
the viscera out. The flattened skin may then either be 
pressed as we would a flower, until it is dry, or inflated 
with a blowpipe and dried over a lamp.’ If the larva 
is green, it will turn yellow in drying, and the color may 
be imitated by shaking into it a little green chalk or Paris 
green. Mosquito wrigglers and similar larvae may be 
allowed simply to dry on the glass of the mounting case in 


1The blowpipe for this purpose is made from a small glass tube drawn 
to a moderately fine point, three or four inches long. Slip over the open 
end a piece of small rubber tubing about a foot long, for a mouthpiece. 
By cutting off the intestine about a quarter of an inch behind the body 
and blowing sharply at the cut, it will open up, and the whole caterpillar 
will be inflated; keep blowing and slip the intestine over the end of the 
blowpipe; it will soon stick fast to the glass, and by holding it over 
a lamp, high enough not to scorch, and keeping it inflated, the skin will dry 
in a few minutes. If the blowing is too tiresome, the blowpipe may be 
attached to a “dying pig” or a toy rubber balloon, the inflation of which 
will keep up a constant pressure until the skin is dry. 


58 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the place where it is desired to have them. White, soft 
larvee, grubs, apple worms, or maggots may be preserved 
whole in 75 per cent alcohol (alcohol to which one- 
fourth water has been added), or better, if obtainable, 
5 per cent formalin, in small vials with the corks sealed 
with wax.! 

If the specimens become stiff or too dry, they require 
relaxing before they can be spread. This is done by 
leaving them in a tight box—TI use a small aquarium, 
but a tin pail or box will do as well— with about two 
inches of moist sand in the bottom. Lay a paper over 
the sand to prevent injury to delicate specimens, and if 
mould appears, light two or three sulphur matches and 
let them burn in the closed box, or pour in a few drops 
of strong formalin or carbolic acid. It will take from an 
hour to a day, or even more, to relax an insect, according 
to its size and dryness. The softening may be hastened 
by moderate warming and is retarded by cold. If a leg 
or antenna is broken, it may be mended with a touch of 
white shellac. 

Very small insects, — gnats, fleas, lice, newly hatched 
larve, etc., can be mounted by simply gluing them to 
the glass, with no attempt to spread? 

The dried specimens should be placed in their perma- 
nent positions in the glass mounting cases and sealed up 
as speedily as practicable to insure them against attacks 


1Instead, these specimens may be easily sealed in glass tubes, making 
neat and permanent mounts. 

2Many of these minute insects may be mounted beautifully on an 
ordinary microscopic slide, and the whole life story be brought under a 
single cover slip. 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 59 


of museum pests. The one especially to be feared is a 
minute beetle, Anthrenus, that feeds, both in the larval 
and adult state, upon such dry animal substances as 
museum specimens. This is the insect pest that reduces 
practically every uncared-for specimen to a heap of brown 
dust. Heretofore it has made the gathering of biological 
school collections almost impossible. A class leaves a 
fine collection in the cabinet at the end of the spring 
term, only to find it dust in the fall, and the teacher and 
school are naturally discouraged. Specimens promptly 
sealed up in the way just described have already stood the 
test of several years, but we cannot tell when Anthrenus 
may have laid its eggs on a specimen, and we must watch 
for the first indications of its presence, — fine brown dust 
on and underneath the insect. If this be seen, drill a 
small hole through the wooden frame of the mounting 
case, and with a pipette, with the point drawn out to a 
fine tube, insert a drop of carbon bisulphide. Plug the 
hole immediately, and its contents will be safe forever 
after.! 

With the above suggestions any class in nature study 
may easily begin a permanent collection of insect life 
stories that will be an invaluable aid in instruction and 
grow in excellence and completeness fcr the important 
insects of the neighborhood from year to year. The col- 
lection should be kepi in the dark, except when in use, 
to prevent fading of specimens, and it may be packed 
in small space in a drawer or box. The mounting cases 
should be labeled on one end with the name of the insect 


1T have never been obliged to do this, but give it as a suggestion to 
those who may be troubled by museum pests. 


60 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


contained in it, and also with that of the child or class 
that contributes it to the school collection. 

It is not intended, however, to allow the use of these 
collections to degenerate to the museum method of study- 
ing insects. Each life-story collection should be made 
merely the starting point, —a means of imparting clear 
ideas as to just what insect to look for in beginning 


Fic. 19. BEGINNING OF A NATURE-STUDY INSECT COLLECTION 


the study of the active life and work of the species in 
the infinite museum of nature always present about our 
homes. 


In case it is undesirable to make insect collections, drawings, 
preferably colored, may be made illustrating each step. 

For the study of insects alive in the schoolroom, vivaria or aquaria 
described in Chapter XXIV may be used. If these are not at hand, 
a good substitute for this purpose may be made by replacing the 
cover of a cigar box (a chalk box or even one of pasteboard will do) 
with a pane of glass. These latter have proved most serviceable. 
Each child should have one on his desk, where he can feed his 


PLAN FOR INSECT STUDY 61 


insects and watch them grow and pass through their various moults 
and transformations. 

In the fall the different cabbage worms will prove instructive 
material for study, as they pass rapidly through their various trans- 
formations. Many of the specimens collected at this time will have 
been parasitized, and the emergence of the parasites from their host 
will afford a valuable lesson on the work of beneficial insects. 


Many cocoons are likely to be brought in during the 
fall and winter. A good disposition of these is to have 
each pupil fasten his collection on a card and arrange the 
cards as a frieze over the blackboards around the room. 
When a moth is seen emerging, the card may be taken 
down and the whole process watched. 


GENERAL BOOKS OF REFERENCE 


Comstock, A Manual for the Study of Insects, 701 pp.; 797 
illustrations. 1895. — The best general book of reference ; rather 
advanced for grade school work. 

BELLE S. CRAGIN, Our Insect Friends and Foes, 377 pp.3 255 
figures. 

Weep, Life Histories of American Insects, 272 pp.; 94 figures. 


CHAPTER V 
INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 


Flies. — These are the commonest and often the most 
annoying insects we have. We are obliged to screen our 
windows and doors to keep them out. They flyspeck 
everything they can get at, crawl over our food, fall into 
our milk and cream, lay their eggs, flyblow our meats 
and fruits and other foods. There are hundreds of dif- 
ferent kinds of flies. Little flies and gnats, so small we 
can hardly see them, never grow to be big flies. They 
are all different kinds. 

The question is, How can we get rid of the three or 
four troublesome kinds that infest our houses? In order 
to answer this question, we must learn their life histories. 
The picture below gives the four stages in the life of 
every fly: the egg, larva or maggot, the pupa, and fly. 

The common house fly, W/wsca domestica, lays its eggs 
in horse manure and dooryard filth. How many eggs one 
fly may lay is not known, nor how long a fly may live. 
A fly has been known to deposit as many as forty-five 
eggs in a single night, and she probably lays hundreds or 
possibly a thousand during her lifetime. The eggs, as we 
know from Dr. Packard’s studies, hatch in about one day, 
the larvee grow for five to seven days, and the pupal 
stage is also from five to seven days. Thus in ten to 


fourteen days a generation of flies may be produced, and 
62 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 63 


we see why it is that from a very few individuals in early 
spring we may have swarms of flies by midsummer. 

The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, is commonly mis- 
taken for the house fly, which it closely resembles, but 
differs from it in having its mouth parts formec for 
piercing the skin. Its bite is painful, and while it is not 
poisonous, it may carry disease from animal to animal or 
even to man. We often see horses, cattle, and dogs sur- 
rounded by swarms of these 
flies, and, aside from the 
actual suffering and annoy- 
ance they cause, they must 
occasion the loss of pounds 

B, 


Fic. 20. House Fiy 


a, egg; J, larva or maggot; c, pupa case, or puparium; @, adult male, (All enlarged) 


of flesh and gallons of blood and milk during a season. 
These flies probably lay their eggs on manure, and with 
this covering our fields and pastures, we shall not be able 
to prevent them from breeding in the country. In cities 
stable pits may often be made fly proof with but little 
additional expense. 

The bluebottle fly, Calliphora crythrocephala, is a third 
species that children can readily learn. It breeds in 
decaying animal matter. If a fish head or a piece of 


64 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


fresh meat be exposed for an hour in warm weather, it 
will generally be found to have masses of whitish-yellow 
eggs on it of the bluebottle, or blow, fly. 

It is not intended that children shall make breeding 
experiments with flies. Such disagreeable work may be 
left, in general, for specialists, but the two lessons that 
every child should learn are that filth of various sorts 
breeds flies and that in spite of the best we can do in 
keeping our premises clean, we need the help of insectiv- 
orous animals. Ask children to study what the swallows 
are doing when circling about a herd of cattle, what the 
phoebe and kingbird do when they dart from their perch 
and you hear their bills snap. What other birds eat 
flies? Let some child who has a tame bat see how many 
flies it will eat. The writer had one that ate 243 ata 
meal, but it died soon after. Let the children watch the 
toads about the back doorstep to see how many flies one 
of them may eat in a day. One little girl the writer 
knows counted while a toad snapped up 128 flies within 
a half hour. A tree frog is a most interesting pet and a 
wonderful flytrap. 

Mosquitoes. — These insects furnish a great field for out- 
door study, careful observation, and experiment. There 
are thirty different species described for North America 
(for the more complete study of which refer to Bulletin 
No. 25, United States Department of Agriculture). It is, 
however, only necessary to know the life story of any one 
kind to do efficient and valuable work. The eggs may be 
found at any time in warm weather on the surface of stag- 
nant water; they hatch generally in the afternoon of the 
same day they are laid and pass their larval and pupal 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 65 


stages, known as “wrigglers,” in the water, and in from 
seven to fourteen days, according to weather, emerge as 
adult mosquitoes. A female may lay from 200 to 400 
eggs. A good example in arithmetic is the following: 

Suppose a mosquito lays 200 eggs, one-half of which 
hatch females, and these each lay 200 eggs, and so on, 
calling the time for a generation ten days; how many 
mosquitoes would there be after 180 days, ze. in the 
eighteenth generation? ;~ 
The answer is 2,000,000,- 
000,000,000,000,000,000,- 
000,000,000,000,000, one- 
half of which may be 
males. This is, accord- | 
ing to Dr. Howard, about . 
the minimal period in | . : 
which a generation can al 
mature. What would the Fic. 21. FemaLe ANOPHELES Mosquito 
result be if the period were (From Photograph by the Author) 
twenty days? thirty days? Eggs might be collected and 
reared and the actual time ascertained by the class. 

In one month a single female mosquito may thus give 
rise to from 1,010,100 to 2,020,000 female mosquitoes, 
— quite enough to stock a good-sized city. 

Lessons on mosquitoes may be undertaken at any sea- 
son of the year, but are especially valuable after warm 
weather begins in spring, — April or May for most parts 
of this country. A lesson or two in winter will prove 
instructive in discovering how mosquitoes pass this sea- 
son. The children should then be asked to seek for 
specimens in stable and house cellars. 


66 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


After the snow and ice disappear in spring, let each 
child keep careful watch for eggs and wrigglers, in any 
stagnant pools, water pails, tubs, or barrels standing 
outdoors about his own home, and note the date and 
bring in specimens in a bottle 
filled with the water in which 
they are found. 

Fic. 22. EGG RAFT LAID BY A As soon as the wrigglers 

See avin appear in numbers, arrange 
an aquarium with a single little fish, preferably a native in 
the locality, — sunfish, perch, pickerel, pout, bass, shiner, 
dace, — but a goldfish will do. You will not have fed the 
fish the day before this lesson. Gather the class about 
the aquarium, and as you pour in a tumblerful of wrigglers 
ask each to count how many the fish takes for a meal. 

In another aquarium keep a large 
quantity of wrigglers. Have the top 
securely covered with gauze, so that 
none may escape into the room, and 
observe from time to time to see them 
moult their skins, until a number have 
passed through the larval stages and 
emerged as adult mosquitoes. 
Then, at the beginning of the 
nature-study lesson, put a few 
drops of kerosene oil on the water 
and let the children observe the 
result. Within a few minutes all the wrigglers will have 
been killed, and as the mosquitoes touch the oily surface 
they sink down and drown. A mosquito can walk on 
water, as the children should already have observed in 


Fic. 23. Mosquito Pupa 
(After Howard) 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 67 


the aquarium, but it cannot stand on oil. Since all the 
mosquitoes of a neighborhood must come to the water to 
lay their eggs, and since all the eggs and wrigglers are 
killed, this is one of the easiest ways to rid the place of 
mosquitoes. It has been tried on a large scale and under 
all sorts of conditions with remarkable success, so that 
any inland community, not surrounded by interminable 
marshes which cannot be drained, may easily rid itself of 
the mosquito pest. The amount of oil required is an 
ounce for fifteen square feet of water surface, and it will 
not require renewing for from one to two months, unless 
washed off by heavy rains. As soon as live wrigglers can 
be found, the oil should be applied again. 

The children have now learned two ways of exterminat- 
ing mosquitoes. Discuss and compare them, drawing out 
what the class thinks is the easiest, cheapest, and most 
effective method. Bring out the fact that one is man’s, 
the other is nature’s, method. 

As the hunt for mosquitoes and wrigglers progresses 
in the spring, have each child make a map of some part 
of the district, preferably his own lot, block, or farm, 
marking plainly all the pools and streams in which mos- 
quitoes are and are not found. Have the children then 
go over the ground very carefully again, to see if they 
can discover why mosquitoes are abundant in some places 
and not in others; they may take their maps with them 
and do this on an excursion. Do the fishes make the 
difference? Do frog and toad tadpoles! keep the water 


1 The writer has seen toad tadpoles eat mosquito larve in an aquarium 
and has observed that in two water-lily tubs standing side by side the one 
without tadpoles swarmed with wrigglers, while the cne stocked with tad- 
poles contained none or very few. 


68 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


clear of wrigglers? Can they discover anything else that 
eats mosquito wrigglers in the water? 

Step by step, as a point is learned, encourage each 
child to make what practical applications he can. If this 
has been done, the children will have collected minnows 
from ponds and streams where they are abundant in order 
to stock such pools as are suitable but do not contain 
fish. Mud puddles and all pools too filthy or temporary 
for fish to live in should be drained, and where this is not 
immediately possible, they may be 
covered with kerosene at the rate 
of an ounce to fifteen square feet 
of surface. 

Mosquitoes and Malaria. — Annoy- 
ance and suffering caused by 
mosquitoes should be sufficient to 
supply motives for this work. Still 
another series of lessons for pupils 
of sufficient advancement will serve 


Fic. 24. Ecos or Marartat to increase interest in the subject, 


oe especially in districts afflicted with 


As they appear resting natu- : 
rally on the surface of the malaria. 


water. (Enlarged. After Begin by asking the pupils how 
Howard) ; Daas 

many have had malaria within a 
year. How did they enjoy it? Next they may be asked 
to tell how many cases they have known in the neighbor- 
hood. Let them describe how the different cases are 
distributed with reference to swamps and stagnant water. 
It might be well to ask them to tell how they suppose 
people get malaria and leave them to think over this 
question until the next lesson. 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 69 


At the beginning of the lesson restate the question and 
allow only a few minutes for them to advance their own 
theories. Follow up the answers that take the right direc- 
tion and see if the cases of malaria cannot be accounted 
for readily by 
means of trans- 
mission of the dis- 
ease by mosquito 


bites. Then read 
the following: Fic. 25a. HALF-Grown LARVA OF ANOPHELES 


In feeding position, just beneath surface film. 
“The latest an- (Enlarged. After Howard) 
nounced results of 
the most advanced investigators 
seem to show that mosquitoes 
form the principal if not the sole 


means of transmission of malaria, 
and workers in all parts of the 
world, including many parts of 
the United States, are investigat- 
ing the subject, more especially 7k 
in relation to local conditions.” i iiss 
Circular No. go, Second Series, 
United States Department of 
Agriculture, Division of Ento- 


Fic. 25 4. HALF-Grown LARVA OF 
CULEX 


In breathing position. (Enlarged. 


mology, entitled “« How to distin- After Howard) 
guish the Different Mosquitoes 
of North America.” [It is now held that yellow fever is also trans- 


mitted by mosquitoes. ] 


The children will see that they are doing something 
worth while and of present interest. It now becomes 
necessary to distinguish among the different species of 
mosquitoes the ones that carry malaria. These have all 
been found to belong to the genus Anopheles. The 


7O NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


distinguishing characteristic of the genus is that the palpi 
are at least almost as long as the proboscis in both sexes. 
An easier way to distinguish Anopheles from all other 
mosquitoes is from the position of the wrigglers in the 
water and of the adults when resting on a surface (Fig. 3 
of above Czrcular and others in Bulletin No. 25). 

If Anopheles is found and malaria abounds in the 
district, the investigation of. the class should be carefully 
prepared for publication in the local papers and every effort 


seal 


Fic. 26. RESTING PosITIONs OF ANOPHELES (AT LEFT) AND CULEX 
(AT RIGHT) 
a, antenne; 4, proboscis; /, palpi. (Enlarged. After Howard) 


be made to effect complete extermination of the pests. 
Even if this be impossible, if the study succeed in influ- 
encing the children against wantonly exterminating the 
fishes and frogs and newts of our surface waters, it will 
not have been in vain. 

Throughout these lessons special attention should also 
be directed toward observing and studying the enemies of 
mosquitoes in the air. Young toads and tree frogs may 
be experimented with to see how many they will eat at a 
meal, Swallows are known to destroy enormous numbers, 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 71 


and nothing is more fascinating than to watch the dragon 
flies, appropriately called “mosquito hawks,” catching 
mosquitoes on the wing. 

We shall not be able to devote so much time to many 
other insects, equally important, but this study of the 
mosquito should be used as the type, showing the point of 
view and the methods to be employed with other species. 

Clothes Moths. — Comstock calls them “the dread of every 
housekeeper.” A coat is no better than its smallest hole. 
Since earliest historic times 
these little insects have 
been the devourers of 
man’s woolens and furs, 
and they are still as active 
as ever. No estimate can 
be made of the amount of 
trouble, annoyance, work, Fic. 27. Common CLoTHES MoTH 
and damage they cause a, adult; 4, larva; c, larva in case. 

(Enlarged. After Riley) 
year by year. It must go 
a long way into the millions in spite of the best efforts 
of careful housekeepers. How many intelligent house- 
keepers know the life story of this troublesome insect? 
How much easier might it make the battle if they did ! 

Lessons may begin by asking the children to collect 
statistics of amount of damage caused by clothes moths 
in their own homes during the previous year. Include 
with the actual loss, if any, the value of time, labor, and 
materials used in prevention. There are sixteen million 
homes in this country and, if desirable, simple calcula- 
tion will yield an interesting estimate of the tax that one 
small family of insects imposes and collects each year. 


72 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Next let the members of the class provide themselves 
with wide-mouthed bottles and hunt over every closet, 
attic or storeroom, stable, poultry house, or woodshed 
where scraps of hair, feathers, fur, or woolen cloth may have 
gathered. Let them collect all the specimens both of larve 
and moths they can find and bring them to class in their 
bottles. The lesson may then be devoted to distribution 

4 of clothes moths about the home. 
Put a scrap of black woolen cloth 
in each of the bottles containing 
moths, cover the tops securely 
with fine cotton gauze, and ask 
the children to study their speci- 
mens to see if they are all alike. 
Fic. 28. SOUTHERN CLOTHES There are three clothes moths, 
ine ice eset sil Cate distinguished as follows : 

pupa skin. (Enlarged. After Tinea pellionella, common 

teiley) clothes moth, brown, with a few 


dark spots on fore wings; larva constructs a case to live in. 
Tineola biselliella, southern clothes moth, pale straw 
color without spots; larva spins silken webs, eats hair, 
feathers, furs, museum specimens, and cobwebs. 
Trichophaga tapetzella, tapestry moth, basal half of fore 
wings black, the rest white; larva constructs burrows or 
galleries in which it spins a silken lining. It generally 
feeds on coarser fabrics, tapestries, carpets, skins, felt, 
carriage upholsteries, etc. 
Continue study of specimens ; examine black cloths with 
. the aid of a hand lens for eggs, tiny white specks scarcely 
visible to the naked eye; select as many different stages 
as possible and mount them permanently, as described in 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 73 


Chapter IV; make drawings and group language lessons 
for the time being about the life story and work of the 
clothes moths. 

The construction of its case is an interesting process 
with the common clothes moth. It is made very small at 
first to fit the tiny larva. As it becomes too short for its 
growing occupant, new material is added at both ends, 
and when it gets too tight the larva slits it down the side, 
first at one end and then at the other, and inserts trian- 
gular gores. If, after they have begun to grow, the black 
cloth is removed and a piece of red 
woolen, or any other color, sub- 
stituted, then later some white, 
and so on, a coat of many colors 


will result which will show how 
each addition has been made. The Fic. 29. Taprstry Motu 
moth has but a single brood in the Adult moth. (Enlarged. After 
northern United States, the adult ae 
moths appearing and laying their eggs from June to August, 
so that this latter experiment must be chiefly vacation 
work for the pupils; but it will take only a few moments’ 
attention from time to time, and the specimens may be 
preserved and brought in at the opening of school in 
the fall. The pupa is formed within the case, and the 
pupal stage lasts ordinarily three weeks. The moth eats 
nothing, its mouth parts being rudimentary, and causes no 
damage, except as it lays its eggs upon exposed materials 
that may furnish food for its destructive larve. 

The final lesson should be focused upon developing 
clear ideas about methods of dealing with clothes moths. 
Draw out and arrange in an orderly fashion, so far as 


74 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


possible, every method the children can think out for them- 
selves and all they may have learned from their homes. 
The first and most effective of these will be scrupulous 
care against allowing to be neglected anywhere about 
the premises any materials that may furnish food for the 
larvee. Second, all woolens and furs must be packed 
away so that moths cannot lay their eggs on them, and 
it should be remembered that they may lay their eggs 
about cracks in trunks or chests and that the larve 
may find their way in when they are almost too small to 
be seen. We can prevent this by tying the materials in 
tight cotton-cloth bags or by packing them away in paste- 
board boxes with a strip of paper pasted over the crack 
around the cover. If there have been any moths about, 
there is danger that eggs may have been lodged about 
the garments, which airing and brushing may not have 
removed. To insure against possible damage from this 
source we may pack the garments in a very tight box, 
wash boiler, or trunk, placing on top a saucer containing 
from a tablespoonful to half a teacup (according to size 
of receptacle) of carbon bisulphide. Close quickly and 
as tightly as possible and leave closed for a day. This 
should be done by daylight and out of doors. The fumes 
of the carbon bisulphide are heavy and will have descended 
and penetrated through every stitch, seam, and pore, kill- 
ing eggs and larve in all stages. The garments may then 
be aired and packed away. 

Great care should be taken not to breathe any of the 
carbon bisulphide, for it is poisonous ; hence if kept about 
the house or premises at all, it must be in securely stop- 
pered cans or bottles. No flame or fire should be allowed 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 75 


anywhere near carbon bisulphide, because it is volatile and 
its fumes are highly inflammable and explosive. 

In leaving the subject, as with all similar topics, make 
perfectly clear its social and ethical bearings. In the 
preliminary search for specimens the children will doubt- 
less have discovered that some cast-off garment, piece 
of carpet, fragment of horse blanket, or other rubbish 
in some corner of attic or outhouse is breeding moths 
enough to supply the neighborhood.. It is quite as impor- 
tant that boys should undertake this study as girls, 
because often most of the moth supply is bred in stables 
and outhouses. Is it right that some one should be igno- 
rant and careless and thereby cause his neighbors labor, 
annoyance, and loss? 

The Carpet Beetle, or Buffalo Moth, Anchrenus scrophularie.— 
Since its food is similar, this insect may be hunted for at 
the same time with the clothes moths and should be treated 
in somewhat the same way. It was imported into Boston 
and New York from Europe about 1874, and it is inter- 
esting, as showing how fast such pests may travel, to 
note that it has become a household pest throughout all 
the New England states, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. It is not 
commonly known as a carpet pest in Europe, because 
tacked-down carpets are little used. 

The larvz, which, as in the case of the clothes moths, 
do all the damage, are lively little fellows, about a quarter 
of an inch in length, bristling all over with stiff brown 
hairs. They frequent cracks in the floor about borders 
and unused portions of rooms and, feeding from below, 
cut long slits in the carpets. Besides poking them out 


76 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


of cracks a good way to trap them is to spread woolen 
cloths on closet floors, taking them up daily and shaking 
them over papers. The larve, if kept in bottles and fed 
on woolen cloth, may be observed to change into pupze 
within their last larval skins. The pupa case finally is 
split open on the back, and a little black beetle emerges. 
It is about one-seventh of an inch in length and is cov- 
ered with black, white, and brick-red scales, giving it a 
mottled appearance. An amusing thing about the larve 
is that, if kept in a dry place without any. food, they will 


Fic. 30. CARPET BEETLE 


a, larva, dorsal view ; 4, pupa within larval skin; c, pupa, ventral view; d, adult. 
(Allenlarged. After Riley) 


live for an almost indefinite time, feeding on their cast- 
off skins, z.e.,, when one gets hungry he sheds his skin 
and eats it. Great care should be taken to teach the 
distinction between carpet beetles and our little lady-bird 
beetles. These latter often come into our houses to pass 
the winter and are killed by mistake. They are among 
our best insect friends and may be worth a quarter apiece 
for destroying plant lice, as we shall see when we come 
to study insects of the garden. 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD vis 


The times and seasons in the story of the carpet 
beetle’s life are not definitely stated in the books, which 
means that there is all the more for pupils to find out. 
There are probably two broods a year. Adults of the 
second brood begin to emerge in the fall and continue 
coming out through the winter, so that by spring, in an 
infested house, the rooms will be full of them. They are 
day fliers, are attracted to the light, and hence, on sunny 
days in early spring, they gather in numbers on the win- 
dows. They feed on the pollen of flowers — especially of 
the Scrophulariacez (mullein and snapdragon) and certain 
of the Composite (milfoil). They are also fond of the spi- 
reeas, and may be found on willow, currant, and cherry blos- 
soms. It is stated in the books that “they have probably” 
deposited their eggs about the carpets before they seek 
the flowers in the spring, but it would be safe to brush 
them from the window panes into a saucer of kerosene 
oil. 

Remedies. — From what we have already learned of their 
life story, we see that when a house is once infested it 
is a desperate undertaking to get rid of the pests, living 
as they do in all sorts of cracks and crevices. Carpets 
must be taken out and thoroughly sprayed with naphtha 
or benzine, floors must be scalded, the cracks cleaned out 
and kerosene or benzine poured into them. Even then 
the best way to deal with the carpet beetle is to revolu- 
tionize ideas of housekeeping and substitute hard-wood or 
stained or painted floors with rugs for tacked-down carpets. 
Further, since dust and stuffiness are the most unhealth- 
ful features of American homes, this change is likely to 
prove highly conducive to health; and if the carpet beetle 


78 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


can aid in bringing this about, it should be looked upon as 
a missionary rather than a pest, a blessing in disguise. 

Fleas, Lice, Bedbugs. — These insects subsist upon the 
blood of man and all kinds of animals, generally a dif- 
ferent variety for the different species of animals. No 
estimate of the time, labor, expense, and distress caused 
by this class of insect pests can be made. They flourish 
in the homes of the untidy and careless and spread through- 
out the community by means of appropriate channels of 
intercourse, — public schools, churches, libraries, public 
conveyances, and the shifting of servants. 

A superhuman amount of tact and 
good nature on the part of the teacher 
would be needed to carry 


Fic. 31. BLACK CARPET BEETLE 
Larva and adult. (Allenlarged. After Howard and Marlatt) 


on the study of these insects along the lines indicated for 
mosquitoes and the other household pests, but it is not 
intended to attempt it. A quite distinct method of pro- 
cedure should be adopted, and this must be varied accord- 
ing to all sorts of circumstances. But since the school is 
perhaps the most frequent means of their dissemination, 
it is no more than right that they should form a serious 
part of the nature-study course whenever this becomes 
necessary. Respectable people who are made the fre- 
quent victims of these mortifying scourges, and especially 
teachers, should be the first to insist upon this. 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 79 


It is not proposed to import any specimens for study 
or even to ask pupils to search their homes for them, 
since those who are successful in their search cannot be 
expected to own up to the fact. If sometime during 
the year specimens cannot be found in the school, the 
study may be confined to prepared specimens collected 
from former years, by way of prevention, or it may be 
omitted altogether. 

Whenever specimens are found, the opportunity should 
be utilized to give a series of lessons that can never be 
forgotten. The child upon whose person or belongings 
any of the above-mentioned insects, with possible excep- 
tion of fleas, are found should be sent home and not 
allowed to return to school until assurance is given that 
the pest has been thoroughly dealt with. Due care should 
be exercised, of course, not to be too severe in case of 
an accidental specimen for which neither the home nor 
child is responsible. The ethical side is very clear in all 
such cases, and it should be made plain to each child that 
his carelessness may cause a whole school and neighbor- 
hood useless labor and distress. 

For purposes of reference (and information is needed 
by a large portion of the public) a brief outline of the 
life story is added for each species, together with one or 
two of the most approved remedies. 

Fleas. — The most common flea in this country is the 
dog and cat flea, Pulex serraticeps, which attacks man as 
well and often infests houses where these pets are kept. 
When numerous it may cause as much annoyance as 
the human flea, P. zvrztans. In fact, the two species are 
so nearly alike both in appearance and in life story that 


80 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


no attempt need be made to distinguish them. Rabbits, 
squirrels, rats and mice, moles, hens, and many other 
animals have each their peculiar flea, but for elementary 
study they may all be treated alike. 

From a lady’s dress, on which a kitten had been 
fondled for a short time, fully a teaspoonful of fleas’ eggs 
was collected. Few people ever think of this part of the 
life story, but here it naturally begins. The eggs are 
white, oval, and may be distinguished readily from particles 
of dust by the unaided eye that knowsthem. They are laid 


Fic. 32. Doc AND Cat FLEA 


Egg, larva, and adult. (Allenlarged. After Howard) 


generally in the hair of the infested animal, or wherever 
else the fleas happen to be, and are easily shaken off to 
the ground or floor, where the eggs hatch and the larvee 
develop. The larvz are slender, white, footless, active, 
wormlike little creatures. They feed upon the particles 
of dust in carpets or cracks of floors or out of doors 
upon decaying vegetation in the soil. The pupal stage is 
also passed in the dust, where the larve feed. The egg 
hatches in about fifty hours; the larva completes its 
growth in seven days; and, after eight days spent in the 
cocoon, the adult emerges. Thus about seventeen days 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 81 


are required for the three stages, — egg, larva, and pupa, 
—and how long the adult lives or how many eggs one 
may lay nobody knows. The adult readily leaps upon a 
passing animal,— dog or cat,—and the life circle is 
repeated, generation after generation, the year round, in 
artificially heated houses or wherever there is sufficient 
warmth for development to go on. 

Remedial measures must depend somewhat upon degree 
of infestation. If a house is badly infested, the thorough 
dusting of everything — floors, carpets, rugs, sofas, and 
all upholstered furniture—with fresh pyrethrum powder, 
left from two days to a week before sweeping up, may 
afford relief. When this is not effective, the pyrethrum 
is probably not fresh, but it is sometimes said to be neces- 
sary to spray the furniture and carpets heavily with ben- 
zine or naphtha and scrub and soak the floors with hot 
soapsuds. 

By far the easiest and best way is prevention, and the 
humane care of household pets demands nothing short of 
this. As previously stated for dogs, it is necessary only 
to keep a sharp lookout, and as soon as any fleas are 
found thoroughly lather the animal before his bath. A 
dog thus becomes the best automatic flea trap imaginable. 
Cats may be held on a newspaper and pyrethrum powder 
thoroughly dusted into the fur. Rabbits, white rats, and 
squirrels may be treated similarly. Nest boxes, kennels, 
sleeping rugs, and baskets should also be thoroughly 
treated with pyrethrum from time to time. 

Lice. — The head louse, Pediculus capitis, lives in the 
hair of the head. The eggs are known as “nits”’ and are 
securely glued to the hairs a little distance from the scalp, 


82 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


generally back of the ears. They are laid in great numbers. 
Remedies are, first of all, cleanliness and constant vigilance 
where infection is possible. One thorough application of 
oil of cajeput to the hair should prove fatal to both lice 
and nits. Some care should be used not to flood the scalp 
with the oil, as on tender skins it causes slight inflam- 
mation and for delicate 
skins of young children 
the oil, mixed with an equal 
amount of vaseline, will 
prove as effective, with less 
danger of causing irritation. 
Larkspur and strong alco- 
hol are other remedies. 
The body louse, Pedicu- 
lus vestimenti, lives and 


Fic. 33. Cimex LrcTuLarius deposits its eggs in the 
a, adult female gorged with blood; 4, egg. 
(After Marlatt) 


folds and seams of human 
clothing. A female may 
lay as many as 2500 eggs a month, and in warm weather 
many more than this, which accounts for the sudden- 
ness with which an outbreak may appear. The remedy is 
thorough boiling of all infested clothing, preferably in salt 
water. Treatment with carbon bisulphide, as described 
for clothes moths, is also effective. 

Bedbugs, Cimex lectulartus.— These are insects the long 
association of which with man, extending as far back as his- 
‘toric records, has resulted in development of a consider- 
able degree of cunning. They bite during the sleep of 
their victim and under cover of darkness, hiding during 
daylight in cracks of old-fashioned wooden bedsteads, 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 83 


under loose places in the wall paper, in crevices behind 
picture mouldings, in picture frames, or about door or 
window casings or mopboards. They are inclined to be 
gregarious, which aids in their destruction in case their 
hiding places can be discovered, and their characteristic 
‘spotting ” is of assistance in this. Bedbugs are known 
to migrate from one house to another, especially when a 
house is vacated, and they can live for a year or more with- 
out food. That they are cunning enough to steal rides 
from place to place is indicated to some extent by the 
frequency with which they get into trunks and satchels of 
travelers and are found on the clothing of school children 
from infested homes; but this 
may be due to accident or over- 
crowding. 

A common remedy consists in 
flooding with benzine all crev- 
ices that may harbor the pest. 
Filling these cracks with PYT€- Fig. 34. Broop-SuckinG CoNnE 
thrum powder is not so effective Nosk 
as with most other insects, but 
for immediate relief a thorough 
dusting of the powder between the sheets will protect the 
weary traveler from the most voracious of the species, 
and all tourists, especially in Eurcpe, should include a 
supply in their kits. 

The “big bedbug,”’ or blood-sucking cone nose, Cono- 
rhinus sanguisuga, is distributed throughout the Southern 
States. During its larval stages it probably subsists 
upon other insects, but the adults are provided with wings 
and live on the blood of mammals. They not infrequently 


a, adult bug; 4, first pupal stage. 
(All enlarged to same) 


84 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


fly into houses and attack men. Their bite is extremely 
painful and quite venomous. Closely related to these 
is the “kissing bug,” Reduvius personatus. Its natural 
food, so far as known, is the bedbug, hence it is common 
in filthy cities ; but it sometimes bites man with somewhat 
serious results. In its larval stages its body is covered 
with a sticky substance. This collects dust and lint 
which effectually con- 
ceal the insect and give 
it one of its common 
names, “the masked 
bedbug hunter.” The 
insect may not uncom- 
monly be found about 
dusty corners of attics 
or barn lofts, and the 
adults are sometimes 
found in beds, where 
they are probably seek- 
ing their natural food. 

Cockroaches. — Roaches 
eat practically every- 


a 


Fic. 35. THE AMERICAN ROACH 


a, egg capsule; J,adult. (Natural size. After 


anenns thing they can gain 


access to, often doing 
serious damage even to book bindings in libraries. They 
are nocturnal and live in damp, dark places, generally 
about sinks, water pipes, and set tubs. They have a 
nauseating odor and, as they are wont to congregate 
about garbage, the thought of eating the food they have 
touched is intolerable. They may also be carriers of 
disease germs. 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 85 


There are four kinds of roaches common in this coun- 
try : the small brown German roach, the Croton or water 
bug, Ectobia Germanica, generally troublesome about hotels 
and dwelling houses; the large black roach, Periplaneta 
Americana, more common about mills, bakeries, wharves, 
and ships; the Australian roach, P. Australasig, com- 
mon in Florida and the South; and the oriental roach, 
P. ortentalis, which 
is quite cosmopolitan. 

To be rid of these 
pests is easier to talk 
about than to accom- 
plish. Their long 
association with man 
has made them so 
cunning that traps 


and poisons are of 
only partial and tem- Fic. 36. THe GerMAn Roacu 


porary avail. Clean, 6, second stage; @, fourth stage; 7, adult female 
with egg case; e, egg case. (Enlarged. All 
natural size, except g. After Riley) 


open plumbing, with 
no cracks for them to 
hide in, is the first consideration. If this be impossible, 
scalding soapsuds or benzine syringed or poured into their 
hiding places will aid in keeping their numbers in check. 
The writer has discovered that bats are very fond of 
roaches, and it is said that a common toad or a tree frog 
left in an infested room will soon exterminate them. 
Experiments, as opportunity may offer, with any of these 
natural methods may prove instructive and interesting. 
The eggs of cockroaches are inclosed in large bean- 
shaped packets within the abdomen of the female and are 


86 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


carried about until the young emerge. They are thus 
easy to find and may be hatched and the different stages 
studied if this seem desirable. For insects they are of 
slow growth, requiring five or six months (German roach) 
or a year (American roach) to attain adult size. 
Ants. — This is a fascinating group of insects to study. 
Their social life and work, care of queens, eggs and young, 


Fic. 37. THE Littte BLack ANT 


a, female; 4, male; c, worker: egg, larva, and pupa. 
(Allenlarged. After Marlatt) 


their soldiers, their armies and battles, their cows, the 
plant lice, and the slaves that some species capture and 
bring home to do the menial work of their nests place 
them above all other insects. We shall study some of 
these in the proper place, but among household insects 
we must consider those kinds that are often troublesome 
about our homes. 

The little red ant, Monomorium pharaonis, is one of the 
smallest and often most annoying of household pests. 
It lives upon all sorts of human provisions, especially 
sweets and fatty foods, and seldom is a cover tight enough 
to exclude its seemingly innumerable hordes. <A small 
black ant, JZ. mznutum, and a somewhat larger species, 
Letramorium cespitum, are troublesome much in the same 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 87 


way, but their nests being in the ground outside the house 
they are generally easier to find and destroy. 

In order to deal successfully with ants we must know 
that their communities consist of : (1) workers, or neuters, 
which are wingless and very numerous, so that these are 
the ones we commonly see about; these are females not 
fully developed ; (2) queens, or females, which are single 
or but few in a nest and which we never see outside the 
nest, except in mating time. The queen is much larger 
than the workers, her abdomen especially being much 
distended with eggs, of which she may lay thousands a 
day. The queens have wings at first, but after they have 
flown out and been fertilized, they either tear their own 
wings off or the workers do this for them, and they settle 
down in the nest to lay eggs for the rest of their lives. 
Males, generally 
much smaller than the 
queens, have wings 
but are short-lived 
and are not com- 
monly seen about the 
nest, except in mating 
time. This occurs for 


most of our species 


Fic. 38. THE RED ANT 


in the late summer 
or early fall, when, 
for a few sunny days, the air may be swarming with 
flying ants. These are the males and queens on their 
wedding journeys. A number of species have in addition 
to these three kinds “soldiers,” which may be recognized 
by their large size and huge jaws. 


a, female; J, worker. (Enlarged. After Riley) 


88 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


To rid a house of ants effectually it is only necessary to 
find the nest — often easier said than done— and treat it 
with boiling soapsuds, kerosene or benzine, carbon bisul- 
phide or gunpowder, according to individual preference 
and the location of the nest. 

It is a fine piece of investigation to set a boy at, this 
finding of a troublesome ants’ nest. It can always be 
done, with sufficient patience and persistence, by follow- 
ing the streams of workers going to and from it. The 
little red ant generally nests in crevices about the sills or 
timbers, sometimes between the flooring, and often holes 
will have to be bored or baseboards or portions of the 
floors be torn up to get at them. Naturally in such places 
scalding suds or benzine will be used to deluge the nest. 
The other two species commonly nest outside, in the 
ground under stones or pavements, and may be thoroughly 
dealt with by running a stick or crowbar into the nest and 
pouring down any of the liquids mentioned. An interesting 
way, which will appeal to boys, is to load the hole with about 
an ounce of gunpowder, connect with a fuse, close well with 
earth, and touch it off, and ants will disappear as by magic. 
A pack of firecrackers may be used for the purpose. 

Among the many insects that invade the house the 
above have been chosen as typical of different modes of 
life and as most important. Any others may be studied in 
similar ways, and they may also be dealt with by methods 
like those above described. On any topic relating to 
insects the most reliable information may now be obtained 
from either the United States Department of Agriculture 
or the Experiment Stations of the different states. To 
obtain the bulletins issued in Washington apply for the 


INSECTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 89 


monthly list of publications, the facsimile heading of which 
is as follows : 


This circular will be sent regularly to all who apply for it 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 


Division of Publications 


Wasuincton, D.C., Nov. 30, 1901 


MONTHLY LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 
[Vovember, rgor.] 

Nore.— To obtain those publications to which a Price zs affixed, application must be 
made to the Superintendent of Documents, Union Building, Washington, D.C., to whom 
all remittances must be directed. 

The Department of Agriculture does not distribute or control the distribution of publica- 


tions of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations. Application for them should be made 
to the several stations in the different States. 


These monthly lists will serve to keep us posted on what 
is being done and open the way to securing the latest and 
most reliable information about domestic animals, birds, trees, 
insects, fungi, and many other nature subjects. The following 
may be referred to in connection with this chapter. 

L. O. Howarp and C. L. Marzuatr. “The Principal Household 
Insects of the United States,” Bulletin No. 4, Division of Entomology, 
Washington, 1896, 130 pp.; 64 illustrations. Price, ten cents. 

HERBERT Osporn. “ Insects affecting Domestic Animals,” Bulletin 
No. 5, Division of Entomology, Washington, 1896, 302 pp.; 170 illustra- 
tions. Price, twenty cents. 


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CHAPTER VI 


LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither 
do they spin: and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory 
was not arrayed like one of these. 


No blooming of roses endureth forever, 
The glories of sunset not alway remain, 
Yet liveth their grace in the spirit, tho’ never, 
The senses perceive the same beauty again. 
S. M. NEwMan. 

THE love of a flower in the heart of a child is the high- 
est thing that nature study can hope to develop. No 
amount of knowledge about flowers can take its place nor 
compare with it in life value. This, with some knowledge 
of horticulture, acquaintance with poisonous plants, wild 
flowers, trees, and some of the lower forms, is the botany 
that should be required below the high school. 

Too often, especially in our efforts at education, when 
we strive hardest to develop love of a subject we succeed 
in awakening quite the reverse emotion. This is a deli- 
cate matter, and it must be no half-hearted love that 
attempts to teach! Books on psychology and child study 

1 Since we love, what need to think? 
Happiness stands on a brink 
Whence too easy ’tis to fall 
Whither ’s no retum at all; 


Have a care, half hearted lover, 
Thought would only push her over! 


LowELL, Love and Thought. 
gi 


92 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


help us all too little in these fundamental matters. The 
best we can do is each to ask himself: What flowers do 
Ilike best? How did I come to like them? How old was 
I when the feeling began, 
and what associations have 
I formed with them? How 
and when were these 
formed ? 

When we analyze these 
emotions in ourselves and 
observe their expressions in 
others, we find different 
kinds of love: the love of 
the fresh-cut flowers of the 
shop windows, a commercial 
affatre de ceur, as fleeting, 
superficial, and rootless as 
they ; the botanist’s passion 
to analyze and know the 
names of more flowers than 
any one else, a refined love 
of himself; the so-called 
love of the rare, the new, 
the strange, and curious; 
and finally, the love of the 
gardener for the flowers he 
has planted and reared, like 
the love of parent for child. 
Through all these different kinds we note that the par- 
ticular feeling is mainly a matter of association. If flowers 
are good only to enhance the pleasure of a ball, when the 


FIG. 40 


LESSONS WITH PLANTS 93 


party is over they are valueless. Flowers greet us with a 
burst of color and fragrance on a perfect morning in June, 
awakening feelings of delight, and we associate the pleas- 
ing emotions with them. On the other hand, the same 
flowers, sensed in some striking way at a funeral, become 
unendurable because of the associations they arouse. 

When Queen Louise was fleeing from Napoleon with 
her family, the carriage broke down; and while they 
were waiting, to soothe little William’s crying, the queen 
made him a crown of the blue corn flowers by the road- 
side. Ever afterward they reminded him of his mother’s 
eyes and became his best-loved flower, Centaurea Emperor 
William. 

The problem of developing love of flowers thus becomes 
one of forming pleasing associations with them, and it 
should be remembered that the strongest and most per- 
sistent association is that related to the w2// of the indi- 
vidual. Under normal conditions a person will love those 
things about which his work centers, to which the effort 
and energy of his life is devoted. This is the only real 
“treasure” of life, and “where your treasure is, there 
will your heart be also.’’ Parents, even, do not love their 
children, nor children their parents, unless they work and 
sacrifice themselves in each other’s behalf. In fact, love 
is often defined as the desire to do good to the object 
loved, so fundamental is this aspect of its development. 
In a word, we may say that the affections form and grow 
about our habitual doing, if this be pleasurable. 

With these preliminaries clear, we may begin by asking 
the children: What flowers do you like best? Why do 
you like these better than any others ? 


94 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Let this be a writing lesson, giving it to the class with- 
out warning and encouraging each one to write honestly 
just as he may feel. If any do not like flowers, encourage 
them to state the fact and give the reasons, as far as they 
can, for their feelings. 

Next make a composition lesson on what the children 
know about cultivating flowers. Ask them to write about 
their own doings in this line. What flowers have they 
raised? How did they succeed? Let them describe the 
seeds, and tell how they planted and cared for them. 
Those who have done nothing of the kind may have to 
be provided with a routine writing lesson for this period. 
But from these lessons you may gather the lines of interest 
that the children have already begun to develop. 

Have a package of seeds, if possible of the flower that 
most of the children like best, and ask how many would 
like to take some seeds and see who can raise the best 
plant. Distribute an equal number of seeds to as many 
as wish to undertake the work, and give a simple lesson 
and demonstration on the preparation of soil and best way 
to plant. This should be done some time in March, so 
that the plants may be well grown and in fine bloom for 
the flower show at the end of the spring term. The seeds 
should be planted and reared at home, each child promis- 
ing to do all the work himself, to take the sole care of 
his plant, and to bring in his result, whatever that may be, 
at the end of the term. 

It will be better for many reasons, for the independence 
and ingenuity of the children and to preserve the impar- 
tiality of the teacher, if the children be given to under- 
stand that each must find out for himself, from books or 


LESSONS WITH PLANTS 95 


parents or anybody who knows, the best way to rear his 
plant. A number of seeds, five to a hundred, according to 
the variety, must of course be given to each, and it may 
be clearly pointed out that, if a child be careful, he may 
have a number of plants. The question being, Who can 
raise the best single plant? a child may try different 
methods with different plants, and so learn for himself 
which way is best. Thus we cultivate thoughtfulness 
and power to reason, and initiate unconsciously into scien- 
tific experiment, directed toward tangible and _ practical 
ends. 

We may begin in the first grade with some plant of easy 
culture and continue with more difficult plants, making 
this a regular feature of the spring botany work through- 
out the grammar grades. In neighborhoods where none 
of the children have ever planted a seed or tried to rear a 
plant of any sort, it may be necessary to begin with easy 
plants for all grades. 

For the best success of these lessons we neea to select 
plants as beautiful, attractive, and interesting as possible, 
that will bloom well between time of planting and end of 
spring term. They should also be adapted to pot culture. 
The table on the following page may be suggestive as to 
varieties best adapted on account of short period between 
planting and bloom. 

This work has been tried as an experiment for the past 
four years with increasing evidence of its value! The 


1 The first year the children were purposely not told what seeds they 
were given, and in consequence they had little else but beautifully grown 
weeds to show at the end of the term. Petunias were planted sometimes 
three inches deep. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


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LESSONS WITH PLANTS 97 


distribution of plants to the different grades last year was 
as follows: 


Grades I and II. Dwarf nasturtium, Tom Thumb, 7vopq@o- 
Zum minor. This has never failed to 
bloom profusely and greatly delight the 
children. 


Grade II. Cadlliopsis coronata, very successful. 


Grade III. Sensitive plant, A/¢mosa pudica. The 
best plant to teach that plants are a/zve. 


Grade IV. Bachelor’s button, Centaurea. Always 
succeeds and is a great favorite in the 
school. 


Grade V. Balsam, /izpatiens. This has done only 
fairly well, and the number of failures 
indicate that it needs good care. 


Grade VI. Petunia.t Interesting on account of dust- 
like seeds. 


Grades VII and VIII. Ten-weeks stock. Has done fairly well. 


To rear a plant dest is the lesson. A man is a whole 
man only when he plays. This competitive element thus 
enlists the whole child, brings into action every scrap of 
power to think, reason, investigate, experiment, to will 
and to do, of which a child is capable. And do we think 
how large a lesson we have given? No man yet knows 
how to rear any single plant dest or has ever been able 
to do it. It is the lesson, in epitome, of the human 
race in learning the best cultural conditions for different 

1 Petunias had been tried by grades VII and VIII and failed two years 
in succession. They were accordingly given up for a year. The next year 
grade VI begged to be allowed to try petunias, just because the others had 


failed, and scored a brilliant success. This was due to simple instruction 
upon preparation of soil and planting the seeds given as a class lesson. 


98 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


plants, the making of two blades of grass grow where 
one grew before, the lesson of improvement by culture, 
applicable not only to plants but to everything else that 
has life and grows. It represents the momentous step of 
the race from barbarism to civilization. In this simple,’ 
easy, and natural way we permit the child to throw him- 
self into the great current of human effort, that has done 


Fic. 41. PR1zE PLANTS 


Grades IV-VII, Upsala Street School. June,1g00. (Photograph by the author) 


more than anything else to uplift human life, and let him 
play and learn to swim in it; and we may be sure that 
no child who has once thrown his whole heart and soul 
into this effort can ever develop into quite the ruffian 
or savage he might otherwise have become. Unless we 
do introduce this element, the work may fall td’ the level 
of meaningless drudgery. With it the lesson epitomizes 


LESSONS WITH PLANTS 99 


in a tangible, practical way the universal struggle for 
existence, the effort to do things well, which is the first 
condition of all success in life. It has seemed from the 
sustained interest and enthusiasm of the children that 
they feel this truth instinctively. Here is no mere book 
and word lesson the relation of which to success in life few 
children can adequately appreciate. Jt zs a mastery of the 
veal forces of nature. They must use the sun’s heat and 
light, the air, water, and earth, and it is a natural step from 
such a lesson to think, “If I can do this we//, I can suc- 
ceed in life itself.” 


Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, 
nothing seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed 
in the black earth and the result thereof. Take a poppy seed, for 
instance: it lies in your palm, the merest atom of matter, hardly 
visible, a speck, a pin’s point in bulk, but within it is imprisoned a 
spirit of beauty ineffable, which will break its bonds and emerge from 
the dark ground and blossom in a splendor so dazzling as to baffle 
all powers of description. The Genie in the Arabian tale is not half 
so astonishing, CELIA THAXTER, Ax [sland Garden, p. 3. 


On the mental side, in training the powers of observa- 
tion, the child sees the wonderful life story of his plant 
‘—from seed through root, stem, leaf, and flower to seed 
again — unfold under the closest daily scrutiny of which 
he is capable. Not all the books nor all the plants in the 
world could teach him so much as just this one plant so 
closely associated with his own thinking, feeling, willing, 
and doing. Ability to think for himself, reason, and experi- 
ment will be cultivated with every step. All the power 
gained stands naturally related to everything he may do 
in life. To throw about his plant those conditions that 


100 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


will make it grow best, as we have already seen with the 
care of the pet animal, calls into play the same logic as 
is required in taking the best care of himself or of any 
human life that may be intrusted to him. 

For ages before writing was invented literatures were 
passed from one generation to another by living word of 
mouth. In like manner no skilled gardener can even 
tell, much less write down, a hundredth part of what he 
knows about raising plants. While we cannot neglect 
means of expression in language and drawing, nature is 
too infinitely complicated and life too deep for our shal- 
low formulas, and the more fully we take these facts into 
account the better. It was thought at first that the chil- 
dren might be induced to keep diaries or records of their 
plants, giving just what they did and just how fast the 
plants grew; but it was found that their writings were of 
little value, and were even thought to act as a chill to 
the spontaneous interests of some of the children. This 
method must be used with great reserve. Some children 
have a passton to write, while in others the very thought of 
writing seems to benumb every impulse. Oral lessons, on 
the other hand, were eminently successful, the only diffi- 
culty being, as one teacher expressed it, to “get the 
children to stop talking about their plants.” 

After throwing his plant “over the banister” because 
it did not grow fast enough to suit him, one little boy 
wrote: “The best thing one learns from this lesson is 
patience. I should like to try it again next year, to see 
if I can have more patience than I had this year.’ The 
ethical value of such a lesson is too patent to require 
comment. Patience, carefulness, faithfulness in little 


LESSONS WITH PLANTS IOI 


things, continuity of purpose are all instilled uncon- 
sciously without preaching, and, best of all, the pupils 
come to love their flowers as parents love their children. 


Only a little shrivelled seed, 

It might be flower, or grass, or weed; 
Only a box of earth on the edge 

Of a narrow, dusty window-ledge ; 
Only a few scant summer showers ; 
Only a few clear shining hours; 

That was all. Yet God could make 
Out of these, for a sick child’s sake, 
A blossom-wonder, as fair and sweet 
As ever broke at an angel’s feet. 


VAN Dyke, The Builders, p. 41. 


CHAPTER VII 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY, FLOWER CALENDARS, WAYSIDE 
FLOWERS, POISONOUS PLANTS, WEEDS 


Die Blume, die dein Auge heute sieht, 
Hat vor Aeonen schon in Gottes Geist gebliiht. 
(The flower thine eye beholdest to-day, 
Hath in God’s spirit bloomed eternally.) 
ANGELUS SILESIUS, 1650. 


Flowers are thoughts of the Spirit of God, 
Their love is love of his grace, 

Their fragrance is breath of divinity, 
Their beauty, the light of his face. 


Let us begin by giving a few simple 
language lessons to find out what the 
children know and think about the com- 
mon plants. We may ask them first to 
describe and name the chief forms of 
plants that they know. They will prob- 
ably group them somewhat as indicated 
for the higher plants, in the table on the following page. 
To some of the lower groups their attention will have to 
be called by common specimens and descriptions. Next 
we may ask them to write the names of all the plants they 
know. After the lists are handed in, one of the pupils 
may be asked to write the following table on the black- 
board and all the children to copy it into their note 
books. 


Fic. 42. BLOODROOT 


102 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY 


103 


List or ALL Known Ptrants!? 


NuMBER 7 
er we CHARACTERISTICS 
FLOWERING PLANTS 121,961 | REPRODUCE BY SEED. 

Trees in United States (495) Woody, single stem, trunk at least 
20 feet tall. 

Shrubs —— Woody, diffuse stems, bushes. 

Vines — Woody, slender climbing stems. 

Herbs . — Non-woody stems, dying to the 
ground yearly. 

FLOWERLESS PLANTS 74,586 | REPRODUCE BY SPORES. 

Ferns a es he 354.52 

Mosses and Liverworts 6,750 

Lichens 5,600 

Algze 15,554 | Mostly aquatic, seaweeds, green 
pond slimes. 

aie ek 5 (48,574)? | Mushrooms, lichens, mildews, smuts, 

l 2,860 moulds, yeasts. 

Bacteria 970 Plants smaller than the finest dust 
that we can see. 

Other kinds . 5,000 

Total 196,547 


How many plants were there in the longest list ? 


As we found with animals, so with plants we can hope 
to learn even the names of only a small number, and we 
must select these, as we do our friends, with great care. 


There are some that we meet every day, so common that 


we ought to know them. 


Others are so beautiful or fra- 


grant that we would go far to visit them. 


1] am indebted for these estimates to Prof. George E. Stone, Amherst, 


Mass. 
2 Saccardo’s estimate. 


104 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


I know of no better device for introducing children of 
all grades to the wild flowers than one quite commonly 
used by local teachers but not described in manuals of 
nature study. I refer to the Flower Calendar. Clear a 
space on the blackboard and write at the top: 


FLOWER CALENDAR. I9QOI 


Date Name OF FLOWER PuPIL WHO FIRST FINDS IT IN BLooM 
April 3 Hepatica, 2 . #4 a» x 2 sAlice Smith 
April 9 Bloodroot . . . . . . . James Cary 


and so on, and at the end of the week, or when the board 
is full, have the school copy the list into their nature note- 
books. It will form an interesting record, may be referred 
to often, may bring back pleasant school memories, and 
be a treasure for life. Here again we have the spice of 
rivalry, the spirit of play, and while some may insist that 
“work must be work,” we never can hire or whip a child 
to work half as hard as he works when he plays. It will 
send the children out of doors to learn their lessons from 
the fields and woods, keep their eyes bright and wide open 
on their way to school, and give them lifelong interests, 
acquaintances, friends. 


Hast thou named all the birds without a gun? 
Loved the wood-rose and left it on its stalk ? 


O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine. 


EMERSON, Forbearance. 


Except with the most common plants, encourage the 
children to bring in descriptions, or only so much as will 
make the identification possible. It is a distinct loss to 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY 105 


have our rarest and most beautiful flowers so completely 
exterminated near our towns and cities that few ever see 
them blooming. A strong feature of this work may well 
be the beautifying of roadsides with as great a variety of 
wild flowers as possible, and a good rule will be, zot to 
pluck any roadside flowers. Leave them for passers-by 
to enjoy, and gather only from private fields where permis- 
sion is granted and only such flowers as are superabundant. 
This will leave no reason for complaints, often raised, that 
interesting thoughtless children in the study of flowers 
results in their wanton extermination. 


Wayside songs and meadow blossoms ; nothing perfect, nothing rare; 
Every poet’s ordered garden yields a hundred flowers more fair ; 
Master-singers know a music richer far beyond compare. 


Yet the reaper in the harvest, ’mid the burden and the heat, 
Hums a half remembered ballad, finds the easy cadence sweet, — 
Sees the very blue of heaven in the corn-bloom at his feet. 


Van Dyke, The Builders, p. 42. 


While the flower calendar may be repeated from year 
to year, and even increase in interest by repetition, it 
will not consume the time nor supply all the work 
desirable with our flora. Some flowers must be studied 
more thoroughly than others, and to avoid confusion and 
repetition from year to year in this work, we need to 
have a concerted plan understood and agreed upon by 
the teachers of a town or city, with plants assigned to 
each grade. Such an assignment is made in the year 
and grade plan at the end of this book and need not 
be repeated here. It is designed especially to include 
the flowers that every child in New England ought to 


106 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


know, and for other sections the teachers, at some of their 
local meetings, should appoint a committee to arrange a 


Fic. 43. FRINGED GENTIANS 


(Photographed, but not plucked, by 
the author) 


suitable list. 

It has been thought by teach- 
ers of long experience that, be- 
side the casual acquaintance of 
a good many more, it will not 
be too much to learn a little 
more fully twelve plants a year, 
grouping, drawing, and writing 
lessons about them. The chil- 
dren should be directed to fol- 
low their growth, learn their 
habitats, make collections of 
their seeds, and be able to tell 
the plant by a leaf, flower, or 
seed. If this be done during 
the eight grades, the children 
should have formed a practical 
acquaintance with about one 
hundred of our common plants. 

A number of poisonous plants 
occur, either widely distributed 
or locally, in the United States.1 
Fourteen of these are included 
in the above lists, and they may 
be briefly described below. The 

1V.K. Chesnut. “Thirty Poisonous 


Plants of the United States,” Farmer's 
Bulletin, No. 86, United States Depart- 


ment of Agriculture. 32 pp., 24 figures. This can be obtained gratis on 
application to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY 107 


others should be carefully studied by teachers where they 
abound and introduced into their nature courses. Every 
parent and child ought to know the dangers connected 
with these plants, and the general study of them, as indi- 
cated, would result in the saving of considerable suffering, 
sickness, and death year by year. 

Poison Ivy, Rhus radicans.— [Poison oak, three-leaved 
ivy, mercury, black mercury, markweed, pikry (Me.).] 
This is a common climbing, sometimes bushy, shrub 
about roadsides and orchards. The stem has aérial roots 
by which it clings. The leaves are compound with three 
leaflets irregularly toothed and notched. They are bright 
red when they appear in the spring, turn red again in the 
fall, and are frequently gathered in children’s bouquets. 
The greenish flowers appear in May and June, and the 
white waxy fruit remains through the winter. Through 
ignorance it is sometimes even planted about houses. The 
Bulletin says: “It is highly desirable that legal measures 
be adopted compelling the destruction of these plants 
where they abound in cities and in places of popular 
resort.” 

The poison is a heavy, gummy oil contained in all 
parts of the plant and exuded from leaves, bark, and 
fruit. This is very non-volatile and retains its virulence 
unimpaired in old dry stems and leaves, which, therefore, 
should always be promptly burned in destroying the 
plants, and care taken not to inhale the smoke, Imper- 
ceptible amounts, coming in contact with the skin, cause 
the characteristic painful blisters. Such minute quantities 
are effective that specially susceptible persons are some- 
times affected by merely walking near the plants, when 


108 NATURE STUDY. AND LIFE 


it would seem that either pollen or particles of dust that 
had absorbed the oil from the leaves must be carriers for 
the poison. Ordinary washing, even with soap, merely 


Fic. 44. Porson Ivy 


spreads the oil and serves to rub it in. If poisoning has 
occurred, or if there has been serious exposure in hand- 
ling or destroying the plants, affected or exposed parts 
should be bathed in a strong solution of lead acetate in 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY 109 


dilute alcohol (alcohol one-fourth to one-half water, with 
as much sugar of lead as will dissolve cold). This will 
quickly neutralize the poison and prevent further injury. 
Clothes, towels, even the handles of tools that have been 
used by those engaged in destroying poison ivy, must be 
thoroughly washed in strong 
hot soapsuds, or in the lead 
acetate solution, before 
being allowed to come in 
contact with any one else. 
The sugar of lead solution 
is itself poisonous, if taken 
internally. 

We cannot, of course, ask 
children to bring in speci- 
mens of such a plant, and 
none of it should be allowed 
exposed about the school- 
room. It may generally be 
pointed out in the first excur- 
sion with the children, or 
the teacher may take proper 
precautions and press speci- 
mens of leaves, stems, 
flowers, and fruit and mount them between two plates of 
glass, as described for insects. This also applies to the 
other plants that are poisonous to the touch. 


Fic. 45. Poison SUMAC WITH FRUIT 


Poison Sumac, Rhus vernix.— [Swamp sumac, dogwood 
(Mass.), poison elder (Ala.), poison ash (Vt.), thunderwood 
(Ga., Va.).] This is a treelike shrub six to thirty feet tall, 
with slender pinnate leaves of seven to thirteen leaflets, 


IIo NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


without marginal teeth. Its very prominent leaf scars are 
sufficient to distinguish it from other shrubs in winter. 
It grows in swamps and damp woods from Florida to 
Canada and westward to Louisiana. 

It is poisonous to the skin in the same way as poison 
ivy and requires the same precautions in handling and 
the same treatment. 

Poison Oak, Rhus diverstloba.— (Poison ivy, yeara, Cali- 
fornia poison sumac.) This is a western plant of the 
same class with the two preceding and should be treated 
in the same way.) 

Poison Hemlock, Conzum maculatum.— (Hemlock, wild 
hemlock, spotted parsley, stinkweed, poison root, poison 
snakeweed, cashes, wode-whistle.) 
Poison hemlock is a hollow-stemmed 
biennial, two to seven feet tall, stems 
, smooth and purple spotted, widely 
" distributed about roadsides and waste 
lands. The flowers are white, appear- 
ing in July and August. The leaves 
have an extremely nauseating taste 
and when bruised emit a characteristic 
“mousy” odor. Poisoning occurs by 
eating the seeds or roots or even by 
blowing whistles made from the hol- 
low stems. It probably furnished 
Fic. 46. Porson Hemtocx the poison administered to Socrates. 


1 The nomenclature for all these poisonous plants is here given according 
to Bulletin No. 86, and so much confusion exists that it would be a great 
desideratum if the names could be fixed and made reasonably uniform for 
the whole country by means of nature-study lessons in the public schools. 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY If! 


Many domestic animals are killed by eating the plant in 
hay. It should be exterminated by hand pulling before 
the seeds mature. 

Water Hemlock, Cicuta maculata.— (Spotted parsley, 
snakeweed, beaver poison, musquash root, muskrat weed, 
cowbane, spotted cowbane, children’s bane, death of man.) 
This is a smooth, erect perennial, three to six feet tall, stiff 
hollow stem, streaked with purple, twice to thrice decom- 
pound leaves with leaflets finely serrated, the veins run- 
ning mostly to the notches instead of, as usual, to the 
points of the teeth. The plant is easily recognized by 
the root, which consists of a clump of thick fleshy tubers, 
each from one to three inches long. It is quite common 
in swamps and wet pastures throughout the United States 
and Canada, but less common in the arid regions west of 
the Mississippi. The flowers are white, in umbels two to 
three inches across, and appear in August. 

The root is especially dangerous, because of its whole- 
some appearance and aromatic taste, which often tempts 
children to eat it. No estimate of the annual damage to 
stock can be made. Cattle are sometimes poisoned by 
eating the roots and even by drinking the water of pools 
into which these have been trampled. 

For nature study, children in every school, city and 
country, should be given a clear idea of this plant, — root, 
stem, leaf, flower, and seed, —and in rural districts they 
should make careful surveys to discover its abundance 
and distribution and adopt practicable measures for its 
extermination. 

Pokeweed, Phytolacca decandra.— This is not very poi- 
sonous, and its succulent shoots are widely esteemed for 


112 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


a 
eee Ne 


=f 
Ws 


es 
— 


Fic. 47. WATER HEMLOCK 


greens in the spring, and may be so used if care be taken 
not to include any of the root, which is bitter and poisonous. 
Cases of poisoning sometimes occur from eating the berries, 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY 113 


probably on account of poison contained in the seeds. 
It is a valuable bird-food plant and is highly ornamental 
in its clean, robust growth and masses of purple-black 
berries, and may be grown with impunity and even advan- 
tage if the above simple precautions are understood. 

Corn Cockle, Agrvostemma githago.— This is a well-known, 
pretty, purple-red flower of the grain fields. Poisoning 
occurs among poultry and all sorts 
of domestic animals from eating the 
seeds in screenings or ground feed. 
People are sometimes poisoned by 
low-grade flour made from wheat 
containing the seeds. This can 
generally be distinguished by black 
particles from the seed coats and 
by a peculiar odor when the flour is 
moistened. This plant should be 
more generally understood, and 
great care should be taken not to sow 
grain containing its seeds. 

Black Cherry, Prius serotina, — 
(Wild cherry, rum cherry.) This is 
a valuable forest and cabinet-wood Fic. 48. Corn Cockte 
tree, and its loads of black cherries 
make it one of our most important bird-food trees. The 
fruit may be eaten with impunity if the seeds be discarded, 
but it should be commonly understood that the kernels 
and leaves may contain prussic acid in amounts sufficient 


to cause serious poisoning. Children should be cautioned 
ayainst eating the kernels, and freshly cut branches should 
not be thrown where stock may eat them. 


114 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Red Buckeye and Common Horse-Chestnut, .2sculus pavia 
and Aippocastanum.— Both contain active poisons in their 
seeds and fresh leaves and twigs. Fish may be stupefied 
by stirring the crushed nuts and twigs into small pools. 
Poisoning may occur from eating these parts, but the 
bitter taste serves, in general, as a sufficient safeguard. 

Broad-Leaf Laurel, Ka/mza /atifolia. — (Laurel, north of 
Maryland, ivy, south of Maryland, mountain laurel, sheep 
laurel, poison laurel, wood laurel, small laurel, high laurel, 


Fic. 49. DATURA 


Beautiful but dangerous. (Photograph by Charles Irving Rice) 


American laurel, poison ivy, ivy bush, ivy wood, big ivy, 
calico bush, spoonwood, kalmia, wicky.) Laurel is too well 
known to need description. It is our most beautiful native 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY IT5 


shrub by reason of its polished evergreen leaves and pro- 
fusion of exquisite flowers. In very rare cases sensitive 
people are said to experience discomfort if too large quan- 
tities of the flowers are kept in their rooms, but it can safely 


Fig. 50. CAPER SPURGE Fic. 51. SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN 


be handled and enjoyed all the usual ways with perfect 
impunity. The only precautions necessary are to prevent 
animals not accustomed to it from eating the leaves. 
Even goats have been known to die from this cause. 

Narrow-Leaf Laurel, Kalmia angustifolia. — (Sheep laurel, 
lambkill, sheep poison, lamb laurel, small laurel, low laurel, 
dwarf laurel, wicky.) This shrub is dangerous in the same 
way as its larger cousin. 

Jimson Weed, Datura stramonium and D. tatula (the taller 
and purple-flowered species). — [Jamestown weed, common 
stramonium, thorn apple, apple of Peru, devil’s apple, 


116 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


stinkwort, stinkweed, Jamestown lily, white man’s plant 
_ (by the Indians).] This is a rank ill-smelling weed, 
common in vacant lots, rubbish heaps, roadsides, and 
waste places. It is a stout, bushy annual with coarse, 
smooth stems, two to five feet high, and large flaccid 
leaves. The flowers are white (or purplish), shaped some- 
what like a morning-glory, “heavy scented,” from two to 
four inches long, and appear from May to September (the 
a ripening from August to November), according to 
latitude. The fruit is a large, con- 
spicuous, prickly, four-valved pod 
containing great numbers of dark 
roughened seeds. 

Cases of poisoning arise from 
the use of the plant as a stimulant 
or medicine, from children eating 
the seeds or playing with the 
flowers (holding them in their 
mouths), and with cattle from eat- 
ing the plants in hay. The jimson 
weed should be much better known, 
and no child should permit one to 
ripen its innumerable seeds. 

Caper Spurge, Euphorbia lathyris. 
—(Garden spurge, mole plant, 
gopher plant, wolf’s milk, springwort.) This spurge is a 
garden, roadside, and pasture perennial, common over 
most of the United States and Canada. The milky juice 
is extremely acrid, and the fruit is poisonous. Women 
and children are often poisoned by handling the plant or 
by getting the juice on the hands or face. 


Fic. 52. Dwarr LARKSPUR 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY 117 


Snow on the Mountain, Euphorbia marginata. — This is 
an erect annual, two to four feet high, conspicuous for 
the white margins of its leaves. It is often listed in seed 
catalogues and planted for ornament. Poisoning com- 
monly occurs through honey gathered from its flowers, 
large quantities of autumn honey being yearly rendered 
unsalable by the presence of this plant. Like the preced- 
ing spurge its acrid juice on delicate skins not infrequently 
causes blisters and inflammation similar to that produced 
by poison ivy. 

Other poisonous plants are: 

Death-Cup Mushrooms, of the genus Amanita, described under 
fungi. 

American False Hellebore, Veratrum viride (white hellebore, 
swamp hellebore, Indian poke, poke root, Indian uncus, crow poison, 
devil’s bite, duckretter, itch weed, bugbane, wolfsbane, bear corn). 

Dwarf Larkspur, Delphinium tricorne, Stagger Weed (O.), and 
Purple Larkspur, D. menzzesiz. 

Woolly Loco Weed, Astragalus mollissimus and Stemless Loco 
Weed, A. Lambertit. 

Rattlebox, Crotalaria sagittalis. 

Oregon Water Hemlock, C7zcuw~a vagans. 

Great Laurel, Rhododendron maximum. 

Staggerbush, Pzerzs marzana. 

Branch Ivy, Leucothoé catesbat. 

Black Nightshade, Solanum nigrum. 

Bittersweet, Solanum dulcamara. 

Sneezeweed, Helenium autumnatle. 

It is certainly no more than common sense should dic- 
tate to provide adequate instruction about these plants 
wherever they abound. The school, by codperation of 
teachers, intelligent parents, and pupils, should provide 
a neatly labeled collection. The specimens should be 


118 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


mounted so that they may be handled and studied with- 
out danger, and kept in a drawer or suitable box by itself 


and labeled : 
POISONOUS PLANTS 


OF THIS LOCALITY.1 


Weeds. — A weed is a plant that persists in growing 
where it is not wanted. This insistent impudence, the 
vigor and tenacious hold on life, the great number of 
seeds produced, and the numerous devices weeds employ 
to secure their distribution, the brigandish crowding 
aside and killing down of all other plants within reach, 
all tend to constitute the weeds a most interesting group 
of plants to study. 

We may first ask the class to write the names of all 
the weeds they know. For another lesson let the pupils 
write descriptions of the more important and interesting 
plants on their lists, giving their life stories, telling when 
they blossom, and especially when they begin to ripen 
their seeds. After these lessons we may make an excur- 
sion around the school yard and count the different kinds 
of weeds found growing in the area. 

A lesson that never fails to interest the children may 
be arranged by having them fill a number of flowerpots 
with earth from different sources, —from their gardens, 
from different levels in some freshly dug cellar, from the 
bottom of the pond, etc. Keep them in a warm place 
and watch the different plants as they come up. Many 
interesting questions will arise as to how the weed seeds 
got into the soil and how long they may remain dormant. 


1In making this collection such plants as are poisonous to the touch 
may be handled by means of pieces of newspaper. 


ELEMENTARY BOTANY 11g 


Study the seeds of ten of the most troublesome weeds 
in the neighborhood. Select large vigorous plants, and 
estimate the number of seeds produced. A Russian 
thistle has been found to produce about 20,000 seeds, 
and a single plant of purslane about 1,250,000 seeds. We 
may next investigate the methods of seed dissemination 
and arrange an instructive school collection that will show 
the various devices adopted by different weeds. As a 
concluding lesson we may take samples of different grains, 
-— wheat, oats, barley, rye, clover, and the different grass 
seeds, — and each pupil may examine a small quantity 
and report the number of weed seeds discovered. 

Weeds have been called by some the “ farmer’s 
friends.” How can this be so? They necessitate good 
cultivation of the soil, and this is of great benefit to 
the growing crops. They compel the farmer or gardener 
to keep the ground well occupied with vigorous useful 
plants. Certainly not all weeds are friends, and after 
proper methods of cultivation have been attained, they 
only make the work more difficult. Weeds like the 
thistle, dandelion, or milkweed, the seeds of which may 
be carried long distances by the winds, or which are 
likely to be carried by other means, may be a cause of 
serious damage to neighboring fields. This brings us 
to the final topic for study, viz., the weed laws of the 
state. Obtain a copy of these laws and discuss them 
with the class. 


1 Lyster H. Dewey. “Two Hundred Weeds: How to know them and 
how to kill them,” 1895, and “Legislation against Weeds.” Sulletin 
No. 17, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1896. 
This gives all the laws of the different states regarding weeds. 


(oD raystJaYy Yyseg [euoWeN oy} Jo Asaz1n02 Ag) 
OIHO ‘NOLAV( ‘1aauLS Y NO ANHOS ‘“€S ‘OIW 


120 


CHAPTER VIII 
GARDEN STUDIES 


HomE AND SCHOOL GARDENS 


Spacious and fair is the world; yet oh! how I thank the kind heavens 
That I a garden possess, small though it be, yet mine own. 
One which enticeth me homewards; why should a gardener wander ? 
Honor and pleasure he finds, when to his garden he looks. 

GOETHE. 


Eacu of the children of the German emperor has a 
garden of his own in which he works and sees plants 
grow from his own sowing, and learns innumerable things 
that books and the best of instructors could never teach. 

When we consider the fundamental relations of the race 
to the soil and its culture and products, and when we 
remember that the establishment of these relations con- 
stituted the greatest uplift of the race toward civilization, 
we realize that to leave soil lore out of a plan of public 
education is likely to prove reversion toward barbarism. 
The vandalism, juvenile and even adult, that renders 
pursuit of horticulture in a New England city or town 
well-nigh impossible must be accounted a first fruit of 
this unwise neglect.!. It would also seem that failure 


1 Recent studies (Flynt) have shown that our tramps are the natural 
product of our school system, not foreign born, as we are commonly 
tempted to suppose. Their manner of life demonstrates with remarkable 
force a reversion to nomadic ways. 

121 


122 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


of usual methods of control — repression, preaching, 
policing, and punishment — had amply demonstrated their 
futility, and naturally, because in a child that has never 
reared anything of his own there is little or no foundation 
upon which to build regard for the rights of others in 
these respects. 

Since Froebel wrote, this subject has been long in gain- 
ing due recognition, but it is now making rapid headway 
under the influence of educational leaders both abroad and 
in this country. But, while a few things are sprouted in 
sawdust, chiefly for technical lessons in “botany,” the 
practical absence of the subject from text-books on nature — 
study now issuing from the press is reason for profound 
regret. 

A garden is a part, and we might with truth say a 
necessary part, of the home. It is thus to the home 
garden, the relation of children to it, its possibilities and 
its educational values that I shall direct chief attention ; 
and upon the presence or absence of home gardens must 
depend largely what we attempt to do in school gardens. 

The relation of. the child to the home garden is a 
proverbially painful one. This is mainly due to his lack 
of ownership, responsibility and, consequently, spontane- 
ous and creative interest in it. He is used in the garden 
as a mere slave or tool to do the drudgery and disagreeable 
work and naturally comes to loathe it accordingly. Even 
this drudgery may be better for the child than no garden 
training at all, but it is apt to leave so many disagreeable 
associations in his mind that he will hate gardens for 
the rest of his life and permit this important part of his 
children’s education to lapse. 


GARDEN STUDIES 123 


Another reason for the decline of the home garden is 
found in the increase of weeds, noxious insects, caused by 
wanton destruction or neglect of our insectivorous animals, 
and fungous diseases, mildews, rusts, blights, and moulds. 
All these things conspire to render gardening unnaturally 
and unnecessarily difficult. For one individual to fight 
against these things in a small city lot is a hopeless task. 
It is the old story of the broom against the ocean. These 
great forces of living nature enforce the brotherhood of 
man. Each must do his part, and all must codperate for 
the common good, and if properly understood and _util- 
ized, the good forces in nature can largely be balanced 
against the evil and thus gardening be relieved of many 
of its most discouraging features. But at present people 
do not even know the names of the insects and fungi 
that are doing the most harm in their own back yards, 
and scarcely one in a hundred has any conception of the 
things that are doing the most good. How can we lay 
the necessary foundation of common knowledge of these 
forces in nature except through our system of universal 
education? And, further, these important common proc- 
esses going on about us form the most normal basis for 
lifelong interest and intimacy with nature. When a begin- 
ning is made, some of our greatest difficulties become 
most fascinating studies. For example, as soon as we 
realize that codling moths have ruined all the apples on our 
trees, and during the winter are hiding under the scales 
of bark on their trunks, it is with a thrill of delight that 
we see a downy woodpecker industriously pecking into 
one scale after the other and extracting the larve. Or 
when our cherry trees have been black masses of aphids, 


124 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


if we see a chickadee in winter going through his trapeze 
performances as he picks out the little black eggs from 
behind the buds, we feel like encouraging his presence 
in every way we can. He becomes thenceforth an inter- 
esting friend of ours for life. And so it is with a thousand 
other things. Knowledge lives and grows, if we have this 
common ground, these fundamental interests, about which 
to group our otherwise unrelated observations. Lacking 
this, everything falls apart, and the whole becomes a 
chaotic, unorganized affair. Adults may be able to form 
more abstract, idealized relations with nature, but even 
this is rare, and we cannot hope to establish them whole- 
sale with children. 

The garden thus becomes not only a vital part of a 
child’s education in itself, but the great center, the heart 
of vitalizing influences and interests that radiate into 
nature in every direction. 

The status of children demands a thorough revival of this 
work. In the first place, children of native New England 
parentage are becoming very few. Our vital statistics are 
complicated by foreign immigration; but it is probably 
safe to say that in our strictly native New England popu- 
lation there are more deaths than births. We often 
hear France alluded to in this connection, but official 
statistics for New Hampshire (1892) show that to every 
1000 inhabitants there are 19.1 births and 20.1 deaths. 
In France the ratio is 22.1 births to 22.6 deaths. As 
a whole, New England stands third lowest, 24.9 birth 
rate per 1000 population ; France, 22.1; Ireland, 22.4; 
Germany, 35.7; Hungary, 40.3; and, despite her lower 
death rate, she stands also third lowest in increase of 


GARDEN STUDIES 125 


population from this vital source. From strong families 
of six to ten children we have dropped in a single genera- 
tion to families of one, two, or none, so that writers abroad 
are pointing to New England as the most glaring example 
of sudden racial degeneration on record. And with our 
few children, why is it that we see so many advertisements 
“House to let to family of adults”? Simply because 
children are not properly trained, are idle and consequently 
mischievous and destructive. Give them interests and 
work to do in upbuilding the home, and they will not tear 
it down. Formerly children were helpful members of the 
household, and while sometimes they were forced to work 
too hard, even that was better for them than idleness. 

In cities one of the hardest of family problems is how to 
keep the children interested and healthfully employed at 
home. Where even a little land is available this problem 
may be solved in such wise that these advertisements will 
be changed to read: “House to rent to family with two 
or more children ; no family without children need apply.” 

How this may be accomplished with only wholesome 
exercise, without drudgery, is a problem which must be 
worked out largely for each individual child, and upon 
which the best thought and effort of both teachers and 
parents should be focused. Only a few more general 
elements of its solution can be here suggested. 

The element of prime importance is individual owner- 
ship by the child. 

Probably the best way to teach selfishness is to try to 
teach unselfishness too early. The passion for ownership 
is coextensive with life. It is an expression of “The Will 
to Live.” It is as universal as hunger. It begins in the 


Fic. 54. PLANTER AND OWNER OF PEACH TREES 
Old Mixon, fifth year from seed 


GARDEN STUDIES 127 


living series when an amceba swallows a particle of food. 
By the effort put forth in the act of swallowing, the par- 
ticle becomes the amceba’s property for the sustenance of 
its life. With man it is the foundation of government 
and social organization, as well as the chief incentive to 
labor, invention, and discovery. ‘From the oid stone age 
upward so far as we can trace the history of man,” says 
Dr. Brinton, “the one efficient motive to his progress 
has been the acquisition and the preservation of his prop- 
erty. This has been the immediate aim of all his arts 
and institutions, and the chief incentive to individual 
exertion.” L. H. Morgan says that “ monogamy resulted 
from increase and variety of property through the estab- 
lishment of inheritance in the children of its owner ; the 
influence of property in the civilization of mankind it is 
impossible to overestimate. It was the real power that 
brought the Aryan and Semitic nations out of barbarism 
into civilization.” 4 

Far from being antagonistic to unselfishness and altru- 
ism, the desire for ownership is their necessary forerunner, 
their normai preparatory and embryonic phase, for no 
man can give until he possesses something worth giving. 
The more he possesses, the greater his power for good. 
Mental power and acquisition of knowledge and skill in 
this regard are like material property. Abuses of this 
power naturally occur, and we find exceptional cases of 
arrest in this normal process of development. But the 
miser has stood scarecrow too long. 


1 Linus W. Kline and C. J. France. ‘The Psychology of Ownership,” 
Pedagogical Seminary, vol. vi, pp. 421-470. 


128 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Kline and France in their study of the Psychology of 
Ownership have shown that extreme selfishness, the desire 
to own and to keep, is normal to childhood. Through its 
natural exercise and development the child learns in the 
only real way possible to appreciate the property rights 
of others. With adolescence he blossoms into altruism, 
which, unless blighted, ripens into valuable life work. 

Another point, attested by common experience, is that 
unless effort is put forth toward attainment of an object, 
its value is not appreciated. The most worthless things 
for which a child has hunted or into which he has thrown 
his work become the treasures of his life. The most 
costly things, no matter how beautiful or interesting, 
lavished upon him without this inner relation to his will, 
remain but so much rubbish, “pearls before swine.” 
What can be better calculated to call forth a child’s best 
activities and, after due patience, to crown his efforts 
with possessions of solid value than cultivation of fruits 
or flowers? And what other occupations stand in such 
fundamental relation to life and civilization? Other “his- 
toric occupations ”’ are special and technical, besides being 
dead and antiquated, in comparison with this; while this 
must remain perennially in vital relations to life. 

The way in which parents approach this problem will 
naturally vary with differences of opinion. But those 
who appreciate the point of view suggested will begin by 
apportioning to each child, at three, four, or five years of 
age, some little plot of ground that he can call his own. 
They will furnish him, or allow him to earn, tools of his 
own, — a trowel, rake, seed box, — give him a place to keep 
them and instruct him in the proper care of them. They 


GARDEN STUDIES 129 


will hunt over garden catalogues with him and encourage 
him to form his own plans, select the things he wishes to 
raise, and give him necessary information. Then if the 
child chooses to raise something of real value to the 
household, they may pay him the market price for it and 
encourage him to start a savings-bank account of his own. 
Year by year, as the children grow in ability, the parents 
will gradually increase the size of their gardens, give to 
this one an apple tree, to another a grapevine, to another 
the crimson rambler by the porch, and so on, thus appor- 
tioning the nature property of the home where it will 
yield the greatest amount of education to their children. 
They will thus gradually and naturally increase respon- 
sibilities and opportunities for creative and productive 
work. 

This work will, of course, take every possible direction 
according to the circumstances and needs of the home. 
A well-kept garden can easily supply half the living of a 
family, and the fresh vegetables and fruits, which are 
beyond all comparison superior to the stale products of 
the markets, may have a wonderful influence upon the 
health of the household. But, if these things are not 
considered desirable, the land at disposal may be devoted 
to ornamental plants and the home be made a paradise of 
flowers and trees. 


If the boy cannot have the care of a little garden of his own, he 
should have at least a few plants in boxes or flower pots, filled not 
with rare and delicate or double plants, but with such as are com- 
mon, rich in leaves and blossoms, and thrive easily. The child, or 
boy, who has nursed and cared for another living thing, although it 
be of a much lower order, will be led more easily to guard and foster 


130 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


his own life. At the same time the care of plants will satisfy his 
longing to observe other living things, such as beetles, butterflies, 
and birds, for these seek the vicinity of plants. Translated from 
FROEBEL’S Menschen-Erzichung, p. 69. 


Finally, we must begin young. ‘Give a child large 
interests, and give them young.’’} Early impressions are 
proverbially deep. By eight or nine the child’s brain has 
practically attained its adult size. While refinement of 
structure may go on even into mature age, the funda- 
mental lines are laid down, and the basal habits and phi- 
losophy of life are pretty solidly established. If habits of 
indolence, carelessness, or possibly vice have been formed, 
and vitiated tastes and appetites have been allowed to 
develop, the reformation will be so much harder and the 
results fragmentary and unsatisfactory. And this work is 
so fundamental, simple, and primitive that young children, 
excepting only the abnormal and spoiled, will enter into 
it with delight and by this act enter into civilization. 

To lead children early to think, this I hold as the first and most 
important object of child-training. 

To train the children early to work and industry seemed to him, 
the ideal father, so natural, and matter of course as to need no state- 
ment. Besides the child that has been led to think is it not led, at 
the same time, to industry and diligence — to all virtues of home and 
country ? 

Those words are a seed from which develops a shady evergreen 
tree of life, full of fragrant blossoms and sound, ripe fruit. Let us 
hear and heed this who allow our children to grow up thoughtless 
and idle, and therefore dead. 

But — it is hard, yet true, as will appear if, in our intercourse and 
daily life with our children, we cast a searching glance upon the con- 
dition of our minds and hearts — we are dead, our surroundings are 


"1 Alice Freeman Palmer. 


GARDEN STUDIES 131 


dead to us. With all our knowledge, we are empty for our children. 
Almost all we say is hollow and empty, without content and without 
life. Only in the few rare cases, when our speech rests on inter- 
course with life and nature, do we rejoice in her life. 

Let us hasten, then! Let us impart life to ourselves, to our 
children; let us through them give meaning to our speech and life to 
the things about us! Let us live with them, and let them live with 
us ; thus shall we obtain through them what we all need. 


Our surroundings, the objects we see are lifeless; they are dead 
matter. They crush, instead of uplift us, for they lack the quicken- 
ing word that gives them significance and meaning. 


Our speech is like the book out of which we have learned it, at 
third or fourth hand. 


Fathers, parents, let us be up and doing! what we lack let us 
provide for our children. What we no longer possess — the all-quick- 
ening, creative power of child-life— let it be again transfused from 
their life into ours. Translated from FROEBEL’s Menschen-Erzie- 


hung, p. 55. 


In adult science we have been studying dead things so 
long, dissecting and analyzing type-forms, that we have 
well-nigh gone blind to the living, active side of nature; 
but this has furnished the primitive and fundamental, and 
must furnish the larger future, interests of mankind in 
nature. So completely does this side monopolize our 
college and even university courses in biology that our 
teachers know nothing else to teach. However much 
value this may have for adult thought, when we attempt 
to teach little children we must moult it all, heed every 
suggestion of the great teacher, and become as little 
children ourselves. 


132 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


In the general movement toward active education 
manual training, cooking, and sewing have made rapid 
progress toward assured positions in the curriculum, 
while the most wholesome and educative work of all, 
work in the fresh air and sunshine, with the soil and 
growing things, practical gardening, has lagged behind. 
In Europe, according to Mr. Clapp, there are eighty-one 
thousand school gardens from Sweden to Switzerland. 
As long ago as 1887 a decree was passed in France by 
which no plan of a school building could be accepted 
unless a school garden was attached. ‘The absence of 
the school garden is the most radical defect in our éle- 
mentary education.” ! 

The form a school garden should take, the things 
planted in it, and the sphere of its influence in the educa- 
tion of a neighborhood must, of course, vary with local 
needs and conditions. Where home gardens are lacking 
or neglected, nothing can so awaken the children to the 
resources and possibilities of life and nature. In one 
case over 80 per cent of the children started gardens 
of their own at home, and many of the parents, mostly 
_ foreigners, sought information through the teachers as 
to where seeds and garden supplies could be obtained. 

Even where home gardens are all that could be wished 
or desired, the school garden can furnish opportunities for 
such class lessons in soils, soil preparation, and fertilization, 
methods of planting seeds, methods of propagating fruit 
and forest trees by seeds, cuttings, buds, grafts, and layers, 
as will be described under those topics, — pruning, thinning 
fruit, insects, and fungous diseases. A wild-flower garden 


1 Henry Lincoln Clapp, in Education, May, 19ot. 


GARDEN STUDIES 133 


along one fence with a fernery in a shady corner will 
afford instruction as to the whole life story of these 
plants and supply nature study and drawing material, 
always fresh and near at hand, without the necessity of 
trespassing on private grounds or robbing waysides. 


Fic. 55. SCHOOL GARDEN 


George Putnam School, Roxbury, Mass. (Photograph by Henry Lincoln Clapp) 


I do not wish to be understood as advocating any 
serious encroachment by the school garden on the play- 
grounds. Trees are not only ornaments but additions to 
playgrounds and might well be selected with some regard 
to instructive and pleasing variety and especially to attract- 
ing birds. A list that might meet these requirements 
will differ greatly with soil, locality, and available space. 


134 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The list that I would select, conditions being favorable, 
might be the following, in order; that is, if room was 
sufficient for but one, take the first, if sufficient for 
three, the first three, and so on. 


1. Mulberry. 9. Butternut. 
2. Asiatic Wild Apple, Pyzus to. An Oak. 
baccata, with the Euro- 11. White Pine. 
pean Wild Apple, P. 12. Native Wild Crab Apple. 


malus, planted beside it 13. Sassafras. 
or grafted to one of the 14. Tulip Tree. 
main branches. 15. Sycamore. 
3. Hackberry. 16. Soft Maple. 
4. Red Cedar. 17. Hemlock. 
5. Black Cherry. 18. Larch. 
6. One of the improved chest- 19. A Spruce. 


nuts, Paragon, Numbo, or zo. A group of White Birches. 


Parry’s Giant. 21. Purple Beech. 
7. Hickory Nut. 22. A Locust. 
8. Black Walnut. 23. Linden. 
24. An Ash. 


There is apt to be so much monotony in street and pub- 
lic park planting that the school garden may well contain 
trees that are less commonly seen. 

For the fruit garden we should have one, or several, 
if there is room, of each of the standard fruits—peach, 
pear, plum, apple, quince, grape, cherry—the best for the 
locality ; or several varieties may be grafted into one tree, 
for experiments in cross-pollination, A number of the 
bush fruits—raspberries, blackberries, currants, goose- 
berries, and strawberries — might furnish instructive 
materials, but it should be remembered that they ripen 
during the summer vacation and hence belong more prop- 
erly in the home gardens, 


GARDEN STUDIES 135 


The school grounds often afford opportunities for 
landscape gardening. Flowers may be arranged in har- 
monious and pleasing combinations of color and against 
suitable backgrounds of shrubbery. The trees may be 
grouped naturally to form artistic pictures. The build- 
ing, if practicable, can be covered with woodbine and 


Fic. 56. PORTION OF SEVENTH GRADE GARDEN 


Upsala Street School, Worcester, Mass. 


ampelopsis, with wistarias and bignonias, actinidias and 
honeysuckles interspersed, and with climbing roses trained 
about the lower windows. Thus the school may be 
made an attractive place, supply material for practical 
instruction, and at the same time elevate the taste of 
a community. 


136 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The A, B, C of Landscape Gardening. —When we study 
the way Nature plants her trees and vines, the principles 
of good arrangement become simple matters. A. Leave 
open glades for sunshine and air. ZB. Plant in masses, in 
natural groups, so as to form pleasing pictures for differ- 
ent seasons ; and, combining this principle with A, leave 
open vistas toward beautiful views and cover unsightly 
features of the landscape. Flower beds are much more 
effective when framed in a suitable background of foliage 
than when planted in open spaces. C. Avoid straight 
rows wherever possible; Nature never plants that way ; 
it is stiff, monotonous, and tiresome. 

Study and discuss with the class specimens of good 
planting in the neighborhood. Little trees may look 
lonesome at fifty feet apart; but measure the spread of 
large trees of different kinds. We need to acquire the 
power to look ahead twenty, fifty, a hundred years when 
we plant trees. Failing to do this, people often plant too 
close to the house, and the trees grow up and bury it 
in shade so dense as to invite dampness and decay. In 
consequence they are obliged to cut them down in their 
prime. Leave open vistas toward the sunrise and sun- 
set ; plant a heavy mass of deciduous trees to shield the 
house from the noonday and afternoon sun; arrange the 
evergreens on the north, where they may break the force 
of storms but not cut off the winter sunshine. In groups 
the trees should stand good hammock-distances apart. 

The school garden can also supply ethical culture where 
it is most needed. A small fraction of the community, 
with uncultivated tastes and with little regard for the 
rights of others, may practically render impossible its best 


GARDEN STUDIES 137 


horticultural development. It may seem to some like 
flying in the face of Providence to plant fruits in the 
school garden, but this is just the thing to do. It is the 
only rational way of ‘taking the bull by the horns.” One 
school, within my knowledge, in which this theory was 
given a trial raised peaches, and the children sold them 
to buy books for the school library. Not a peach was 
stolen. In another school in which a similar experiment 
is being tried the juvenile vandalism that made pursuit 
of horticulture almost impossible disappeared completely 
after the first year. 

Wherever possible, besides the general features de- 
scribed, each child should be given a plot, where he can 
plant whatever he pleases. This will serve to develop 
individuality, and the condition of the plot will be the 
natural index of what a child knows and is able to do 
by himself. 

By being content to begin in a moderate, sensible way, 
by planting those things adapted to local conditions and 
needs, and varieties that will flower or fruit either before 
the middle of June or after the first of September, a school 
garden is reasonably sure to grow in favor. And “the 
may be 


” 


most radical defect in our elementary education 
soon supplied. 


Fic. 57. EXAMPLE OF TASTEFUL PLANTING 
(By courtesy of the National Cash Register Co., Dayton, Ohio) 


CHAPTER IX 
NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY OF CHILDREN 


FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES 


At Noey’s house when they arrived with him — 
How snug seemed everything, and neat and trim: 


With little paint-keg, vases and teapots 
Of wee moss-blossoms and forgetmenots: 
And in the windows, either side the door, 
Were ranged as many little boxes more 
Of like old-fashioned larkspur, pinks and moss 
And fern and phlox ; while up and down across 
Them rioted the morning-glory-vines 
On taut-set cotton-strings. 
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEy, A Child World. 


In order to develop the educational values connected 
with the plants children are trying to rear at home we 
must first know what they are. For a simple language 
lesson, ask each pupil to write a list of what plants he 
owns. This will, of course, result ina mass of unclassified 
data that the teacher must arrange and tabulate before it 
becomes usable. This entails an unnecessary amount 
of labor, and a better method is to have blanks with the 
names of the commoner sorts printed in order on sheets 
of school writing paper. The data will thus be uniformly 
arranged by the children themselves, and the teacher can 
keep them on file as a basis for assignment of lessons on 

139 


140 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


any plants that it may be desirable to study. Each group 
of teachers, of course, will have to decide on the exact 
list of plants best suited to the locality. Three of these 
blanks will probably be found useful, one for flowers and 
ornamental plants, one for the vegetable garden, and one 
for fruits; but by including fewer varieties these may be 
all printed on a single blank. However, in the present _ 
low condition of our horticultural life, the printing of as 
many names of plants as possible may serve as a most 
valuable means of calling the attention of the children to 
desirable varieties to plant. 

In graded schools these blanks might be passed along 
to the teacher in the next higher grade as the children are 
promoted. (See next page.) 

The object of the lessons should be simply the culture 
of flowers with reference to the highest enjoyment of them. 
With blanks properly filled out the teacher has in hand 
the resources of the class for future lessons. Plan with 
reference to seasons of blooming and planting, begin with 
such as the greatest. number of children have, invite them 
to bring in of each kind enough, if practicable, to supply 
the class and teacher with specimens, including buds, 
open blossoms, and seeds. Some of these may be kept 
in the school collection. Then let the children recite on 
methods of culture, compare notes as to best methods, 
appealing to quality of the specimens in hand, discuss form 
and colors, enjoy together the fragrance, and call out any- 
thing that the children have noted as to the insects or hum- 
ming birds that visit the flower. Finally, question the class 
about the insect enemies that make culture of the plant 
difficult, and the fungi, blights, and mildews that attack it. 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY I4I 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY — FLOWERS 


Norg. — Without rewriting the names, each pupil will indicate the number and variety 
of each, if known, and if unknown indicate this by a (?). 


FLOWER 


How oBTAINED 


By WHOM CARED FOR 


Roses 

Lilies 

Violets 
Nasturtiums 
Sweet Peas. 
Mignonette. 
Crocus 

BYiG <a 4 
Hollyhocks. 
Honeysuckles . 
Clematis 
Moonflowers 
Cypress Vine . 


Morning-Glories . 


Mimosas 
Forget-me-nots 
Sunflowers . 
Chrysanthemums 
Geraniums . 
Petunias 
Verbenas 
Pinks 
Primroses 
Pansies 
Poppies . 


Passion Flowers . 


Mallows . 
Peonies . 
Hawthorns . 
Lilacs 
Phlox 
Portulacas . 
Marigolds 
Dablias . 
Asters 
Cannas 
Zinnias . . 
Other kinds 


142 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The best text-book for this work is any first-rate floral 
catalogue, and the best book for reference, which should 
be supplied as a desk book to the teacher, is the book on 
horticulture and landscape gardening that best applies to 
the region as to climate and local conditions. 

Must the teachers, then, learn all this and tell it to 
the children? Far from it. They need only the sincere 
love of flowers and the first rudiments of their culture; 
and then to have judgment enough not to try to tell 
the children even half they know. The very breath of 
life for a healthy, vigorous child is original investigation ; 
and to stuff the memory faster than the power to think 
and the will to do are developed, is the quickest road to 
mental indolence. ‘Yes, but they will ask all sorts of 
questions,” says the timid teacher who is afraid to say 
“I don’t know.” Well, then, questions are the best 
things in the world to play ball with. They are too good | 
to break by answering. Toss them back to the class. 

“Alice asks how deep to plant her tulip bulbs. How many 
know?” A dozen hands go up. “John, will you tell us how deep 
to plant tulips?” John. ‘* About a foot deep.” More hands go up. 
“No! no! no!” the children are saying to themselves, and John gets 
red in the face. ‘‘ How do you know tulips should be planted a foot 
deep, John? Did you ever plant any?” No, ma’am.” “Well, 
then, you don’t know but only guessed about it, John; is that true?” 
“Yes, ma’am.” “Well, perhaps we had better not waste any more 
time guessing. How many raised tulips last year?” Hands again 
goup. “Mary, will you please tell us how deep you planted yours ?” 
“I planted my tulips six inches deep.” “Did they grow well?” 
“Yes, they all came up the next spring, and every one blossomed.” 
“ How many agree that six inches deep is about right to plant tulips? 
Well, every one seems to think you are right. Mary, how did you 
find out?” «I saw Mrs. Johnson planting some one day and watched 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY 143 


her do it, and she said that they must be planted six inches decp. 
Her tultps always grew so well I thought she must know. Then I 
read it again in a flower catalogue, and I have tried it myself.” 


So every question is a prize, a living, bursting bud; 
be careful of it. Make the most and best of it. If the 
children are really doing something, there will be no end 
of questions with real purpose in them, and the nature- 
study period will be the liveliest, most quick-witted and 
mutually helpful, and the happiest lesson of the day. If 
they are not actively doing something with nature at first 
hand, as Froebel says, all will be dull, empty, lazy, dead, 
and no teacher can lift the load. 


Do not harshly repel him; show no impatience about his ever- 
recurring questions. Every harshly repelling word crushes a bud or 
shoot of his tree of life. Do not, however, tell him in words much 
more than he could find out himself without your words. For it is, 
of course, easier to hear the answer from another, perhaps to only 
half hear and understand it, than it is to seek and discover it himself. 
To have found out one fourth of the answer by his own effort is of 
more value and importance to the child than it is to half hear and 
half understand it in the words of another; for this causes mental 
indolence. Do not, therefore, always answer your children’s ques- 
tions at once and directly ; but as soon as they have gathered sufficient 
strength and experience, furnish them with the means to find the 
answers in the sphere of their own knowledge. FROEBEL, Education 
of Man, p. 86. 


But suppose, as often will occur, the question is one 
that no one knows anything about. If reasonably within 
their “sphere of knowledge,” call for volunteers. Who 
will try to find this out and tell us about it? The thing 
we need to develop most in our public education is indi- 
vidual initiative, power to think and do—~vesource. If 


144 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the question is too hard to answer in a day or a week or 
a year, so much the better. If it be one worth while 
to work at for a lifetime, so much the better. You may 
have given a life work, the highest prize a teacher can 
ever give a pupil. It may make the difference between 
a life worth living and not worth living. 

A blank for the vegetable garden similar to that for 
flowers may be prepared about as on the opposite page. 


1 Blessed is he who has found his work ; let him ask no other blessed- 
ness. He has a work, a life-purpose; he has found it, and will follow it! 
How, as a free-flowing channel, dug and torn by noble force through the 
sour mud-swamp of one’s existence, like an ever deepening river there, 
it runs and flows ;— draining off the sour festering water, gradually from 
the remotest root of the remotest grass-blade ; making, instead of a pesti- 
lential swamp, a green fruitful meadow with its clear-flowing stream. How 
blessed for the meadow itself, let the stream and z¢s value be great or small ! 
Labour is Life. From the inmost heart of the Worker rises his God-given 
Force, the sacred celestial Life-essence breathed into him by Almighty 
God; from his inmost heart awakens him to all nobleness —to all knowl- 
edge, “self-knowledge” and much else, so soon as Work fitly begins. 
Knowledge? The knowledge that will hold good in working, cleave thou 
to that. Properly thou hast no other knowledge but what thou has got by 
working : the rest is yet all a hypothesis of knowledge: a thing to be argued 
in schools, a thing floating in the clouds, in endless logic-vortices, till we 
try it and fix it. “ Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by actions alone.” 


Work is of a religious nature:— work is of a brave... nature; which 
is the aim of all religion to be. All work of man is as the swimmer’s; a 
waste of ocean threatens to devour him; if he front it not bravely it will 
keep its word. By incessant wise defiance of it, lusty rebuke and buffet of 
it, behold how it loyally supports him, bears him as a conqueror along. 
“It is so,” says Goethe, “with all things that man undertakes in this 
world.” CARLYLE, Past and Present, Pp. 190. 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY 145 


NaTURE-STUDY PROPERTY — VEGETABLE GARDEN 


Flome rented Or OWNED. .ccccccccccccccecescevesceveeceecees 


Note. — Without rewriting the names, the pupil will please indicate 
the quantity, amount and variety, if known, of each.! 


How 1s SEED oR 


Name oF PLantT 
STOCK OBTAINED? 


By wHOM CARED FOR? 


Artichokes . 
Asparagus 
Chives 
Cabbage . 
Cauliflower . 
Celery 
Cress . 
Cucumbers . 
Eggplant 
Lettuce 
Mushrooms 
Melons 
Onions 
Parsley 
Radishes 
Squashes 
Tomatoes 
Sage 

Anise . 
Rhubarb 
Other Plants 


1Jt may be objected that I have left a number of the commoner sorts out, notably 
beans. Of course, in preparation of these blanks for use, each group of teachers must again 
decide for themselves, according to local interests and conditions. The greatest danger 
in the lessons will be the cut-and-dried, “systematic” inclusion of things too commonly 
known to be anything but dull and unprofitable. And where garden work isall that it should 
be in a neighborhood, where the children are carrying it along with success and enthusiasm, 
most of it may safely be left in charge of the children and the home. : 

New and choice varieties of common vegetables may be brought to attention of the 
school, and knowledge about them thus be disseminated through the neighborhood. Insect 
enemies and fungous diseases of even the commonest things will also furnish many valuable 
lessons. 


A PARADISE FOR CHILDREN 


Fic. 58. 


146 


CHAPTER X 
NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY (Continued) 
GarRDEN Fruits 


WE must have recourse to our blanks again in order to 
find out what the children have for this most fascinating 
field of study and work. The fruit-blank may be arranged 
somewhat as indicated on the following page. 

With either the rich or the poor, every fact learned 
about fruits, their qualities and culture, may be of life- 
long value. To know how to grow any fruit to highest 
perfection opens up a noble and useful life work. Improve- 
ment of varieties by judicious cross-pollination is a bound- 
less field for intelligent experiment and patient work; and 
a gain of even a small margin in quality, color, flavor, and 
size of any standard fruit is a service to mankind that 
cannot be calculated in money. This work represents 
one of the most ancient and noble struggles of man to 
regain paradise, and it will go on as long as human life 
exists upon the earth. No sooner has a “best” variety 
been produced than by judicious breeding a better may 
be obtained. Until recently this progress has depended 
mainly upon accidental seeds. A seed gains a foothold 
and some wise, thoughtful man notices that it produces 
fruit better than its kind. He cares for it, and within 
a few years every garden in the land or zone may be 


reaping the benefit of his work. 
147 


148 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY — FRUITS 


SCNOOP Gs si) socstuae centre Grade... LIANG nea 
DN OTE SiN Ae ees Dl ces es ASO aaa 


Home rented Or OWNCM  .ooccccccccccccccecesccecceseeseeeneee 


Nore. — State after each the number you own and variety, if known. 


Fruits By WHOM PLANTED | CARE GIVEN YEARLY Crop PRODUCED 


Apples 
Apricots . 
Blackberries . 
Cherries 
Currants . 
Gooseberries 
Grapes 
Mulberries 
Nectarines 
Peaches 
Pears 

Plums . 
Quinces 
Raspberries . 
Strawberries . 


Fruit culture, furthermore, forms the natural center 
for interests in many other things. Innumerable insect 
friends and foes await acquaintance, whose common names 
refer to the trees about which they may be found: the 


1Jn these different blanks I have placed the question “ Home rented 
or owned” for several reasons. To some this, at first sight, seems need- 
lessly prying into home matters. But no general publicity need be given 
to the answers, and the data secured will be of great sociological value 
and will assist the teacher in advising the child with reference to what 
to plant. It may, of course, be omitted if desired. 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY 149 


apple worm, apple maggot, apple and plum curculios, 
apple-, peach-, and cherry-tree borers, grape sphinx moth, 
grape berry moth, and so on through a long list. If the 
children have trees and vines, there will be no lack of 
interest and materials for insect studies. From this they 
will also gain a practical insight into the work of birds 
and other insectivorous animals, and appreciate the need 
of protecting them and attracting them to their homes; 
and they will be glad to study the work of bees in carry- 
ing pollen from flower to flower. Finally, they will at 
least be awakened to see the value of knowledge about 
the blights and mildews and other fungi that now make 
fruit culture so difficult. 

Wherever I go I find common knowledge of the best 
varieties of fruits falling out of the public mind. It is 
certainly little enough to ask of nature study that it keep 
alive this ancient and beneficent tree of knowledge, root, 
trunk, and branch. 

To begin with, set a series of composition lessons upon 
each of the more important of the fruits commonly raised 
in the vicinity, asking the pupils to name all the varieties 
they know. Let them describe each as to vigor of growth, 
color, size, shape, flavor, fragrance, quality, origin, uses. 
This will open the eyes of both teachers and pupils to how 
little is commonly known of such matters. 

In proper season the liveliest lessons may be arranged 
by asking the class to bring in specimens of all the 
varieties of a certain fruit they have. Let the children 
smell, taste, and handle them, and discuss which is the 
best kind for different purposes. Make a practical fruit 
show of it, a game of “bests,” to learn not only the best 


150 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


variety, but also who can raise the best specimens of 
a variety. How did he succeed in doing it? 

In connection with these exhibitions and lessons the 
teacher should have on his desk the latest revised Cata- 
logue of Fruits.1 He should not allow the pupils to see 
it until they have guessed which is the best fruit of the 
kind they have before them — apple, pear, peach, plum, 
grape, etc. — known in the world. 


This Catalogue of Fruits represents the combined efforts and 
the best judgment of the members of the American Pomological 
Society, the men, living in every part of the country, who are best 
skilled and most deeply interested in advancement of American fruit 
culture. It is arranged so that he who runs may read. It con- 
tains a map with all the various fruit belts or districts clearly indi- 
cated and numbered, and then follow tables that give more modern 
information on American fruits than could be found in all the 
horticultural libraries. 


From these tables we are able to read at a glance a 
description of each fruit, under its accepted name, giving 
its size, form, color, flavor, quality (marked on a scale of 
10 for best), season, use, origin, and the region where it 
grows to greatest perfection. It is an interesting exer- 
cise simply to read the names of these fruits over to a 
class in order to realize how few we know practically and 
how little people in general know about them. It is not 
to be expected that every one will agree with all the esti- 
mates given by the American Pomological Society, but 


1 Revised Catalogue of Fruits recommended for Cultivation in the Vari- 
ous Sections of the United States and the British Provinces, United States 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1899. Every teacher should 
be furnished this or should get it by ordering it, with five cents inclosed, 
from Superintendent of Documents, Union Building, Washington, D.C. 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY I51 


differences of opinion are valuable to set people to inves- 
tigating and exercising their judicial powers. 

I will give for some of the standard fruits only those 
that are scaled 10 for quality, z¢., the very best known 
and of such preéminent excellence as to deserve the mark, 
with a few others for comparison. (See next page.) 

While it may not seem worth while to a child to try to 
rear a peach tree, grapevine, or other fruit, knowing as 
little as he does about them, give him the idea that this is 
the best thing of its kind in the world, and await the result. 

In case the children have no fruit trees of their own, 
which, I regret to say, will generally be the case, it may 
take two or three years to get this work well under way.! 
But the school may be a great means of inducing children 
io get things of their own, of helping them to secure the 
varieties they wish, and it may furnish the natural chan- 
nels through which scions, cuttings, buds, seeds, and 
plants may be distributed and exchanged throughout the 
neighborhood. Horticultural exhibits and fairs may be 
utilized for studying varieties to excellent advantage. 

Next to study of varieties of fruits comes naturally 
the knowledge of best soil, treatment, care, food supply, 


1Every home garden is, of course, a garden of “bests” in accordance 
with its owner’s knowledge and tastes. Too often, however, it is filled 
with such comparatively worthless things as to awaken no interest on the 
part of children and to give the impression that they are not worth taking 
care of. But in every neighborhood some one may be found who knows 
something about these things and has the best garden and orchard of the 
vicinity in at least certain features. Get his permission to take the class, 
giving all assurance that nothing shall be stepped on or injured, to his 
garden when various fruits are in their prime, or when instructive work is 
going on,—pruning, fertilizing, grafting, budding, etc. I can see you 
smile at this, but try it. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


152 


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‘spury £€€1 Suowre o1 ATuo 9y,T, 


‘spury 211 ut or ATuo ay, 


“3S] 94} Ur seysTH 
‘oI pafeos oq 0} adv18 o1nj[nd-uowmod fTUo sy, 


‘spuly gh Suoure O1 payeos OM} OUT, 


‘sorjotrea 662 
Suowle uinipaut suo pue ysaysiy peyeos OM} oUL 


“Ayypenb ysaq jnq ‘ezIs F[eEH 
‘umouy o[dde qvio ysaq pue ysazie] oy, 


sor tt 6h tt tt tt ayeunsg: 


:SHIWAAAMVALS 

* oI “© l-9 Pe ee aBey jeveduy 
:SWOTd 

(or pareos st ead ON) 

‘or «6 * oS tt tt tt + a81085) yehoy 
:SaHOVad 

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: SHNINVLOGN 

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sor ott Eee ttt tt tt aremepaq. 
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Sy I (7-20 7722 2) 
PGE ee gg Fe RS (suasvgsuv4[) 90D 
‘SaIYAaHO 


(or Jo Yeu B UaATS OIE SeTIIEqyIeTq JO sjooude on) 


Sor Sh tt tt ts pekoy uapiey 
a ee  : + + + sraeq veg 
- or ttt gg ttt ener sndosq 
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. OL . . . OL . . . . . . . . oquin{ 
iSHlddy avap 
Ayiiend 921g syn 


NATURE-STUDY PROPERTY 153 


and methods of culture for each. Many points of interest 
in all these connections will come up during the fruit shows, 
and while the specimens are being compared it is just the 
time to ask: How did youdo it? Did you thin the fruit ? 
How did you prune the tree? How did you keep the 
insects off? What do you feed your trees? and so on. 
Of course most of these topics are matters for lifelong 
study, and though it may not be possible to do as much 
with them as you wish, are they not better on this 
account ? 


AGU] WAIg MNVaUNg Vv ‘sIWOssSOTg HO ATOVUIW V 


6S ‘DIT 


154 


CHAPTER XI 
PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 


SEEDS, Layers, CUTTINGS, GRAFTING, AND BuDDING; 
‘TRANSPLANTING 


The Seeds. — First have each member of the class make 
a neat collection of the seeds of all the fruits —crab 
apple, apple, pear, peach, plum, strawberry, etc. —— given 
in the preceding list, or of as many as possible. A lesson 
or two may be devoted to mounting these neatly in vials 
or on cards. Label them in such wise that they may be 
used for tests to see whether the children can distinguish 
the different seeds at sight. 

We may next ask each of the children to bring in a 
number of fruit seeds for observations and experiments in 
germination. Certain seeds are naturally better adapted 
to these studies than others. Still, any which have local 
importance may be used; and so few children have ever 
seen the germination of some of the smaller seeds — straw- 
berry, raspberry, grape, etc.—that these may prove the 
most instructive of all, especially in sections where their 
culture is a prominent industry. If time allows the use of 
not more than one seed for these studies, the peach will 
probably be the best in all sections where its culture is 
possible; but with just this seed the greatest care must 
be taken to be sure that it is from vigorous stock and not 

155 


156 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


contaminated by the disease “peach yellows,” that has 
desolated the orchards in so many sections of this country. 
So serious is this danger said to be, since peaches are 
shipped from diseased orchards to all parts of the country, 
and “yellows” peaches are not infrequently seen even in 
horticultural fairs, that it will be much safer to purchase 
the peach seeds from reliable nurserymen or from the 
State Experiment Station. The peach is placed first on 
account of its large seed, its beautiful and rapid growth, 
the short time before it comes into bearing, and the 
need of stimulating and popularizing culture of this 
valuable fruit. 

The object of this work in germination is to raise plants 
that may be used for lessons in budding and grafting and 
for distribution throughout the neighborhood, and its needs 
and possibilities must naturally determine the number of 
seeds planted. ‘A secondary purpose is to give each child 
a chance'to see one of these plants start out in life, and, 
even if the district be fully stocked, to have a single pot 
of fruit-tree seedlings in a schoolroom will serve to keep 
this lore alive in the hearts of the children and prove a 
most suggestive bit of nature-study equipment. 

The first general topic is naturally methods of saving and 
germinating the different seeds. This may be most con- 
veniently stated in the form of a table. (See next page.) 

The chief lesson to be learned from seed propagation is 
that new varieties of fruits are secured in this way. The 
seed of a Baldwin apple, for example, will not produce a 
Baldwin. It may be a better apple, but the chances are 
thousands to one that it will not be as good. The original 
apple, Pyvus malus, from which our cultivated varieties are 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 157 


derived, is a little fruit less than an inch in diameter, now 
growing wild over southern and central Europe, mixed 
with cultivated apples. Its earliest home was probably 
the region south of the Caucasus along the Black and 
Caspian seas. Small forests of these trees still occur in 
that country. These apples were known and used and 
probably cultivated long before authentic history began. 
They were dried for winter by the Swiss lake-dwellers, 


METHOD AND SEASON OF 


VARIETY METHOD OF SAVING SEED § : 
PLANTING 
Remove from fruit Without allowing to 
: and, if necessary to kee dr lant from one to 
Apple, Apricot, a oe E a FP ; 
‘ over winter, mix with dry | two inches deep in 
Cherry, Nectarine, 


Peach, Pear, Plum, 
Quince. 


Blackberries,Grapes, 
Currants, Gooseber- 
ries, Mulberries,< 
Raspberries, Straw- 


berries. 


sand and store in a cool 
cellar. Or put under a 
flat stone out of doors 


and leave over winter. 


Wash clean from pulp, 
partially dry, and, if de- 
sired, store in a cool 
place until the following 


spring. 


deeply spaded seed bed, 
well drained so that water 
will not stand over it 
during the fall or winter. 


Plant when ripe, or 
the following spring, in 
fine loam from one- 
fourth to one-half inch 
deep. 


and it has been shown that they knew two varieties of 
apple back in the stone age, before they had discovered 
any metals. Fig. 60 shows in outline one of the latest 
achievements, the Bismarck apple, originated in New Zea- 
land, and the little wild apples of thousands of years ago. 

This gain has all been made by planting apple seeds 
and taking good care of the trees. And of those who have 
the patience and perseverance to plant the necessary thou- 
sands of seeds, —for they tend so strongly to fall back to the 
little wild apple from which they sprang, —and to care for 


158 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


them until they bear fruit, the one who finally discovers an 
apple better in some respect than all the rest, has become 
a benefactor of mankind; for from the billions on billions 
of apple seeds that have been ripening for thousands of 
years we have only 299 kinds, some poor, some fair, some 
good —a few very good — only two best. We cannot see 
deep enough into the 
heart of nature to 
know just what benign 
influences joined hands 
to produce these 
“bests.” But two 
apple blossoms on 
two different trees 
must have set out to 
make the best seeds 
in all the world; the 
rains and the dews 
Fic. 60, BISMARCK APPLE and the winds were 
a, the wild Asiatic crab apple, Pyrus baccata ; just right that year, 
ee i paumiag | She ROH “was. good, 
a bee carried pollen 
from one blossom to the other, and a bird guarded the 
fruit from devouring insects, and finally some child, — 
who knows ?— ate the apple and planted the seed in good 
soil. 

Taking the hint from nature’s ways, men have at last 
begun to make careful experiments in ‘plant breeding.”’ 
Read or tell to the children the stories of John Chapman, 
better known as ‘Johnny Appleseed,” who supplied the 
early settlers in Indiana and Ohio with apple seeds and 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 159 


apple trees ; of Ephraim Bull, of Concord, who originated 
the Concord grape; and of Luther Burbank, “the wizard 
of plants,” who has given to every garden in the land 
some of its choicest varieties of fruit. 

The theory and method of procedure are comparatively 
simple. Select the two plants, trees or flowers, that you 
wish to breed. Be sure they are healthy, vigorous, and 
grown to the highest perfection possible. In general, it 
is best to have the female of a kind preéminent for robust 
growth, while the male possesses the color, fragrance, or 
flavor that you wish to perfect. Next choose a well-placed 
bud, or cluster of buds, about equally advanced on both 
plants. Before they open, carefully tie a paper bag over 
the buds from which you interid to take the pollen. 
From the female flowers, also before they open, remove 
all the stamens, and in like manner cover them with a 
paper bag. When the anthers of the male flower open, 
indicating that their pollen is ripe, remove the pollen 
with a clean soft brush and dust it thoroughly over the 
stigma of the other flower. Replace the paper bag over 
the female flower. Let it remain covered until the seeds 
begin to grow, when the bag should be taken off. Then 
make a careful note of exactly what you have done, giv- 
ing the varieties used, which one was taken for pollen and 
which for stigma, and the date and methods of culture given 


3¥or “Johnny Appleseed,” see Ohio Archeological and Historical 
Quarterly, January, 1901, p. 303. 

For references to Mr. Bull, see AZassachusetts Agricultural Reports, 
1850-1860; also article on “Progress of Plant Breeding in the United 
States,” Yearbook, Department of Agriculture, 1899. 

For a recent note on Luther Burbank and his work, see American 
Gardening, vol. xxi, p. 35, 1900. 


160 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


to the plants. The best of memories are apt to play all 
sorts of pranks, and this is only a safe and easy precau- 
tion. Label the flower, so that there can be no possibility 
of mistake. When the seeds are ripe, plant them care- 
fully in soil that has been thoroughly baked, or that you 
are sure does not centain a single seed of the kind you 
are to plant in it. With such seeds the chances are 
greater that you may rear a flower 


or fruit that combines the qualities 
of both parents and is possibly the 
finest of its kind in 
the world. 


Layers, Run- 
ners, Cuttings, 
Grafts, and Buds.— I have 
just stopped writing to go 
down into the garden to count the 
buds on this year’s shoot of my 
‘ little Esopus tree. There are 57, 
and this whole shoot was a single 
bud last spring. On a similar shoot 
Fic. 61. Cuerry Twics of Burbank plum there were 173, on 
A growth shoot and fruit spurs. a Royal George peach, 240, on a 
ee pent ; phate Niagara grape, 91. A bud, except 

/,2, lateral or leaf buds. A a fruit bud, is in possibility a tree 
Pointed leaf bud may be of its kind. The buds on a tree 
seen in the center of each 
cluster of fruit buds produce shoots or trees that vary 
little if at all from one another ; so, 

in order to multiply a desirable variety, we have only to 


place its buds where they may grow. 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 161 


If a bud produce fifty buds a year, and each of these produce fifty 
buds, and so on, how many buds will there be at the end of the fifth 
year? Ams. 312,500,000. 

Last spring I was glad to pay a dollar for a young Campbell’s 
Early grapevine. Now the vine has thirty-eight buds on it and has 
produced a second vine from a layer that I bent down and covered 
with earth early in the summer. The grape is said to be as much 
better than the Concord as the Concord is better than the wild grape. 
If this be true, its originator is welcome to the dollar, and I hope he 
may be a multi-millionaire by this time, as he deserves to be. 


Let the children each bring in branches of some kind 
of tree, preferably a fruit tree, and help them to study 
the annual growths that it may show. Study with them 
the two kinds of twigs (growth twigs and fruit spurs) 
and the different kinds of buds (leaf buds and fruit buds). 
We shall need to have clear ideas of these when we study 
how to bud and graft, make cuttings and layers, and 
prune and feed our trees. 

Yearly growths are distinguished by roughened lines 
around the branch at the position of each successive ter- 
minal bud. Beginning with the present year’s growth, 
these may be counted back for four, five, and sometimes 
many more years. In seasons where a wet, warm autumn 
follows a drought in summer there are sometimes two 
distinct periods of growth with all the appearance of the 
annual markings between them. 

With the buds distinguish the large terminal bud, which 
is to continue the growth of the shoot ; the side, or lateral, 
buds, that are destined to make leafy side branches; and 
the fruit buds, that are to produce the fruit of the ensuing 
year. The chief purpose of this study is to enable the 
pupils to tell a fruit bud from a leaf bud, and a fruit spur 


162 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


from a growth shoot; for if they set a fruit bud or graft 
a fruit spur instead of a tree they will at best get but a 
single fruit. 

Any time after the leaves fall this study of buds may 
be begun, but it should preferably be put off until late 
winter, — February or March. If branches bearing both 
kinds of buds — of apple, cherry, pear, peach, and plum 


Fic. 62. CHERRY TWIGS 

The story as told by the buds themselves 
— be then set in a vase in a window in the schoolroom, 
they will soon begin to swell. Fruit buds are plump and 
short, while leaf buds are slender and pointed. For the 
lower grades select a twig of the five kinds named above 
and have the children guess which buds will produce leaves 
and which blossoms. Tie a red string at the flower and a 
white string at the leaf buds, and two or three weeks will 
tell who is right. 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 163 


For the higher grades it will be possible to work out 
two or three trees more carefully. Suppose we have 
apple or pear, branches, and each child is provided with 
one about two feet long (Fig. 63); let them, after review- 
ing the yearly growths, make out the general arrange- 
ment of buds, the leaf scars underneath each bud, and 
the large fruit scars, which show where the branch has 
borne apples. The position of these will serve to illus- 
trate the characteristic appearance of the fruit spurs, and 
from the condition of their buds we can tell whether the 
tree is to blossom the coming spring. With the point of 


| 
{ ie 
WO 
G 


y 


Showing rings of yearly growth and enlargements where fruits have been borne 


Fic. 63. FRuit SPURS OF PEAR 


a sharp knife—a needle or pin will do —lift off one 
by one the scales that cover the bud. If in the center 
a little clump of knobs is found, we may know that a 
cluster of blossoms would have come forth in the spring. 
If, instead, we find a group of slender points, folded leaf 
embryos, we know that the bud would have produced such 
a cluster of leaves as we see on the fruit spurs of an apple 
tree in the off years. The function of these leaves is to 
gather food and strength to form a fruit bud for the year 
to follow. 

After thus dissecting a few buds of each fruit, the 
pupils should be able to tell a fruit bud at a glance; and 


164 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


at the end of their work in this subject they should have 
learned that the apple, pear, plum, and cherry bear fruit 
upon short scarred spurs or branches of several years’ 
growth, z.e., on the “old wood,” 
while peaches, apricots, and nec- 
tarines produce all their fruits 
upon wood of the previous sea- 
son’s growth, ze, upon “new 
wood.” It will be noted further 
that peach buds often occur in 
threes, —two large plump buds 
(fruit buds), with a slender leaf 
bud between. Higher up the 
branch we shall generally find 
large single buds, slender and 
pointed, and these we shall select 
for budding. 
With the above points clear, 
Fic. 64. Peach Twic and by the aid of the table at the 
Showing fruit buds, f and leaf end of this chapter, we shall be 
buds, Z. a, trimmed to use for es 
pudding able to propagate any fruit in the 
way best adapted to its culture. 
It will thus accomplish two objects at once if I illustrate 
the various methods by describing the practical rearing 
of three typical fruits, —the grape, apple, and peach. 
How to raise a Grapevine; Cuttings. — Ascertain who in the 
neighborhood has a vine of the desired variety. As soon 
as the leaves fall in October, if he knows how to take 
care of it, he will prune off almost all the new season’s 
growth. Ask him to contribute some of the largest and 
ripest of these waste canes, cut them into lengths with 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 165 


two buds each (Fig. 65), tie in a bunch, and bury six 
inches deep, butt ends up, in a well-drained spot in the 
school garden. 

As soon as the ground can be worked in the spring, 
set your cuttings slantingly, about six inches apart, in a 
row in the propagating bed (see Chapter XXII). They 
should be pushed down into the soft, fine earth, so that 
the top bud is flush with the surface, and then covered 
with an inch of sifted loam, leaf mould, peat, or street 
sweepings. The buds will readily push 
through this, and it will retain mois- 
ture. If given good care, they will be 
strong enough to transplant to the 
place where you wish to have them 
grow permanently the next spring. 

Layers.— You may save from one to 
two years in the growth of your grape- 
vine by obtaining permission to make 
a layer of one of the canes still attached 
to the vine. A layer is formed by 
bending down a vigorous young shoot, 


pinning it securely in a little furrow 
in the ground, and covering it with 
three or four inches of soil. Roots 
will start along the covered part of 
the stem and leaves and branches from 
the tip, and with the help of the parent 
vine for the first season you may have 
a strong young vine equal to a two- or even three-year-old 
cutting. If it be impossible to bend the branch down to 
the ground, you may put the tip through the hole of a 


Fic.65. GRAPE CUTTINGS 


166 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


good-sized flower pot, fasten the pot securely, and fill it 
with fine, rich soil. This will have to be watered carefully 
every day in dry weather. By either of these methods you 
can have a strong vine, which you should sever from the 
parent and plant where you wish it to grow as soon as the 
leaves fall off in autumn. 

Transplanting. — Prepare 

a large hole, make it three 
or four feet wide, so that 
the slender roots can be 
spread out naturally in it, 
mellow the soil deep (if 
the ground is poor, dig it 
out and put in a wheel- 
barrow load of rich loam), 
and scatter into the bot- 
tom of the hole a peck of 
bones that you have saved. 
Now dig up your plant 
carefully, to save the fine 
roots, and without expos- 
Fic. 66. Laver or Wincwett Grare ing them to the air any 
Showing one year’s growth of roots. Ayard- More minutes than neces- 
secre romper JI" sary (fithas tobe carried 
far, wrap the roots in wet 

paper or burlap), spread them naturally in the hole, filling in 
with fine earth as you arrange the roots of different levels, 
and tramp the earth firmly about the plant. Finally, 
put two or three stakes around it for protection. If 
the ground be dry, soak it thoroughly, and after it has 
dried so that it works mellow without puddling, rake the 


are sesh all 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 167 


surface fine and smooth. Before digging your vine you 
must cut it off to within two buds of the ground. Yes, 
you must. Boys and girls always demur at this, but the 
reason for it is plain. We want one large, strong cane to 
grow. There are from thirty to forty buds on your vine. 
If all are retained they will all try to grow, and those that 
succeed will make only weak branches. By doing as I 
say you will have one strong stem instead of ten weak 
ones, and your vine will be ten times as good. When the 
two buds you have left begin to grow and have made two 
or three leaves, pinch off the tip of the weaker one and 
give the other a support to climb. If you wish to have it 
grow tall as fast as possible, so that it may cover an arbor 
or reach a second- or third-story porch or window, pinch 
the tips of all its side shoots in the same way. By this 
means a growth of from ten to thirty feet may be secured 
in a season. 

Pruning. — Practically every bud or young vine or tree 
must be looked upon as a little blind creature, wild with 
ambition to overgrow the world. Your grapevine now has 
forty or fifty buds. Only two of them can be allowed to 
grow. If you wish to train to a trellis, cut your vine back 
again to within four or five buds of the ground, and the 
following spring allow only the two strongest branches to 
grow, pinching the others as soon as they have made a 
leaf or two. If you wish your vine to grow taller, you 
may cut it off as high up as the wood is fully ripe, and 
before it begins to grow smaller toward the tip pinch all 
the side buds below the two topmost ones and allow only 
one or two of the highest buds to continue the growth. 
Care and patience should be exercised not to allow the 


168 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


young vine to overbear; for if it does, it may not regain 
vigor for four or five years. The first year, if from a 
strong layer, or the third, if from a cutting, it will prob- 
ably show a cluster or two of blossoms. Nip them off and 
wait, and the next year do not allow it to bear more than 
three to six clusters, according to its strength. 

If you study your vine, you will learn that the fruit is 
always borne on shoots of the season’s growth, which 
spring from buds on the wood of the preceding year; 
and your rule for all subsequent pruning should be to 
leave not more than twenty to thirty buds on the vine. 
Cut off all weak canes close to the stem and, supposing 
there are five or six vigorous young canes, cut them 
all back to within four or five buds. Mr. Saunders, late 
Superintendent of Gardens and Grounds, United States 
Department of Agriculture, advocates doing this soon 
after the leaves fall in autumn; and he gives as his rea- 
son the fact that the roots continue somewhat active and 
distribute food materials to all the buds through the fall 
and early spring. If this material be concentrated on 
the few buds left after pruning, the fruit will be larger 
and ripen earlier than if most of it were wasted in the 
portions of the vine afterwards cut away. Since this is 
true, wood intended for cuttings should be more vigorous 
if taken in February or March. It should always be cut 
before the least signs of growth appear in the spring; 
and all pruning must be done by March in most northern 
states ; otherwise great loss of sap will occur from bleeding 
in the spring. 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 169 


How To RAISE AN APPLE TREE 


By the time a child is one year old he may plant an 
apple seed in the earth. He may not know what he has 
done for several years afterwards, but this is apt to be 
the case with all great works of man, no matter how old 
he may be. 

Ask each one of the class to save a few apple seeds, 
and without allowing them to become dry, have the chil- 
dren plant them in a drill across the propagation bed. 
Drive a stick labeled “Seeds of ———— Apples”’ at one 
end of the row. When the seedlings come up in the 
spring, thin to two or three inches apart and keep the 
ground mellow and free from weeds. See how tall you 
can make them grow. Before the ground freezes in the 
fall dig them up, saving all the roots, tie them in a labeled 
bundle, and keep in moist, not wet, sand in a cool cellar. 
We must now learn how to graft before we can go on.! 

Grafting. — You have learned that a bud is in embryo a 
plant of its kind. When set in the ground, certain kinds 
that are strong enough will form roots of theirown. Other 
buds that do not form roots so readily we plant in some 
closely related tree, and they may grow up to form its 
trunk, or, if inserted in a limb, one of its branches. 


1] regret to differ with a number of recent writers on nature study who 
advise children to get nursery-grown trees to start with. We should do 
this, of course, if fruit and quick returns are the objects; but where culti- 
vation of patience, resource, and education are the ends in view, this is 
just the thing that ought not to be done. This work will require only a 
few minutes’ attention each year, and to have started at the seed, the natu- 
ral beginning, may develop in the child a relation to his tree deeper than 
the purely commercial. 


170 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Apples of all kinds are nearly enough related to inter- 
graft, so that we might have as many different kinds of 
apples on one tree as the tree has branches; and this 
makes not only an interesting tree, but a most serviceable 


“Fic. 67. VARIOUS METHODS OF WHIP 
GRAFTING 
_@, plain whip graft; 4, whip-tongue graft; 
¢ and d, modifications which give large 
contact surfaces, suggested to the author 
by Jackson Dawson 


one where a child has no 
room for more. 

For grafting we need 
a very sharp knife, cloth 
bands or raffia to tie with, 
and grafting wax.1 The 
stock is the stem, into 
which we set the graft. 
This we already have in 
the little yearling apple 
tree. The scion is the 
shoot, from which we wish 
to prepare our graft. The 
graft is a scion or part of 
a scion,a little stem carry- 
ing a bud or two, that 
we wish to propagate. 
Fig. 67 shows all these 
in their proper relations. 

Scions are prepared, 
somewhat like grape cut- 
tings, by removing vigor- 


ous shoots of the previous season’s growth at any time 
before they begin to start in the spring and storing in a 


1Grafting wax may be prepared by melting together four parts resin, two 
parts beeswax, and one part tallow. It should be used to cover every part 
of the cut surface around a graft to keep out the air and prevent drying. 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 171 


cold cellar in moist sand or moss, Cut your scions from 
the ends of strong bearing limbs fully exposed to sunlight 
and air, since these have been found to do much better 
than the large tempting “ water shoots” that often spring 
up in the center of the tree. 

There are about fifty methods of grafting described 
in the books, but they are all different ways of doing one 


augue ule 
Y BAA 


Fic. 68. CLEFT GRAFTING 


thing, viz., matching the line between the bark and wood 
of the scion to that of the stock and fastening them 
together until growth unites them into one. You will 
see the need of matching these lines together when you 
think that this soft substance between the bark and wood 
is the only living and growing part of atree. You must, 
therefore, make close contact between the “ving part of 
scion and stock if any growth is to occur, and growth of 


172 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the scion will be good or bad according as this contact is 
more or less perfect. 

Of the many methods of grafting I will figure two, 
one of which we shall use with our apple tree, the whip- 
tongue graft; the other, common cleft grafting, we may 
need to know if we wish to add new varieties to an old 
tree. Let us suppose that we have secured the scions of 
the kinds we wish and buried them 
in the sand with the little trees in 
the cellar. 

Along in March or April we will 
take them both up and, selecting the 
largest stock cut it off at the junction 
of root and stem with one smooth, 
slanting cut about an inch in length. 
Selecting a scion that is the same size, 
we will cut off its lower end in the 
same way, and, splitting the stock 
and scion a little, near the middle, as 

Fic. 69. GRartinG A shown in Fig. 69, slide them carefully 
pcre gree ate together. Wrap them tightly around 
with fine cotton thread that has been dipped in melted 
grafting wax and cover the whole wound with grafting 


wax and replace it in the moist sand until spring. It 
will be best to plant it back in the propagation bed and 
let it grow there for two years. As the buds of your 
graft start, allow only the strongest of them to grow to 
form the trunk of the future apple tree; and after two 
years you should have an apple tree from four to six 
feet tall, ready to transplant, as described for the grape- 
vine. At the time of transplanting we shall cut the 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 173 


tree back pretty well and begin to shape its permanent 
head. In doing this we must again call to mind the fact 
that the little tree is blind and ambitious. Numbers of 
buds will start that, if permitted to grow, will only be in 
its way later on. It will greatly conserve the strength of 
the tree if we keep watch for a time and rub these buds 
off as soon as they start and allow only the four or five 
to grow that we wish to form the main branches of our 
tree. Another way is to let all the buds grow as they 
please and then prune off all but the four or five that we 
wish to keep the next spring. But this is wasteful, and 
by the easier method first given, as Mr. Saunders! says, 
we can have a tree as large three years from transplant- 
ing as could be had in five years by the more wasteful 
and laborious procedure. 

In forming the head of a young tree we must be care- 
ful about two things: allowing two branches to start from 
the same place to make a crotch that will split the tree 
when it bears its load, and allowing branches to grow 
across the top, interfering with other limbs and making 
the crown too dense for air and sunlight to penetrate. 
This latter we can do by often looking over the tree 
through the growing season and rubbing off a shoot here 
and there that we see is taking a wrong direction, and 
thus keep the top open to sunlight and air without having 
to saw off large branches.” 


1 William Saunders. “Pruning of Trees and Other Plants,” Yearbook, 
1898, United States Department of Agriculture. 

2G. B. Brackett. ‘The Apple and how to grow it,” Farmer's Bulletin, 
No. 113, United States Department of Agriculture. Figs. 7 and 9 show 
type forms of trees that have objectionable crotches. 


174 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The condition of a tree is indicated by its annual growth. 
If this is too vigorous and the tree is going to bud and 
wood, the soil is too rich in nitrogenous materials. We 
may leave it unfertilized a year and possibly prune off a 
number of its roots. If the annual shoots over the out- 
side of the tree are less than a foot long, 
the tree probably needs feeding. For a 
tree, after it has begun to bear, to make 

a vigorous growth of about a foot on the 
\ tips of its exposed branches is considered 
an index of good condition. 


How TO RAISE A PEACH TREE 


-c First, as before stated, we must be sure 
, 
7 


that we are starting with seed of unim- 
: re paired health and vigor. This we shall 
aim 


get from our State Experiment Station 

= or from some reliable nurseryman in the 

Fic. 7. Peach neighborhood or save it from fruit of a 

oltre tree that we know is not tainted with yel- 

First year, bud set 1 

in September. Cut lows.1 As early as the ground can be 

off at ¢ the follow- worked in the spring we will plant our 
ing spring e 4 

seeds, about six inches. apart and two 

inches deep, in a row across our propagation bed. Cut- 

worms are fond of young peach trees, and if there are 

any of these pests around, we shall do well to melt the 


1 The cause of peach yellows has not been discovered; but it is certain 
that it is communicated by seeds and by buds or grafts of diseased trees. 
Write to the Agricultural Experiment Station of your state for latest 
information on the subject. ; 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 175, 


top and bottom out of a tin can and, forcing it halfway 
into the ground, plant the seed in it. Otherwise we may 
not have a single tree to show for a dozen seeds. 

Nothing in the whole garden is more graceful than 
a seedling peach, and it grows faster than almost any 
_ other tree. By the end of the season, with good treat- 
ment, it should be about four feet tall and nearly an inch 
in diameter at the ground. 

Budding. — Along in September, or earlier farther south, 
we shall need to bud our tree, z.¢., plant a bud of the desired 
variety ; let us say this is the Royal George. Budding 
is done by slipping a bud, with a little shield of its own 
bark, under the bark of the stock. To do this we cuta 


Fic. 71. BUDDING A PEACH TREE 


“TJ” in the bark, very carefully lift up the angles with 
the thumb nail, a wooden blade, or the ivory blade of a 
“budding knife,” cut off our bud as shown in Fig. 71, 
being careful not to include any wood in the slice except 


176 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


a mere point under the bud itself, slip it into place, and 
tie snugly with a bit of raffia or a strip of cloth. The 


Fig. 72. REARING 
A PEACH TREE 


Second year. A, heel; 


ch, cut-off heel in ° 


July 


time to bud is as early as possible in 
either fall or spring, when the bark 
“slips” easily. For the peach it is usu- 
ally done in the fall, because the bud — 
will have become a part of the tree and 
be ready to begin growth early in the 
spring. The bud should be set close to 
the ground on the north side of the tree, 
and we can test whether it is in proper 
condition by opening the bark higher up 
to see whether it slips easily. After a 
week or so we must loosen the band ‘to 
prevent girdling our tree, and we shall 
be surprised to see how 
much the little trunk 
has grown in diameter 
during this short time. 

The tree, of course, 
is not dug up to bud, 
and it stands in the 
propagation bed where 
it was planted until the 
following spring. Ex- Fig. 73. REARING A 


amine it at this time to make sure that PeacH TREE 


the bud is alive, 
begins to shoot cut the tree off a few 


If it is, as soon as it Spring of third year. 
Cut back to a “whip” 


inches above and rub off all other buds that attempt to 
dispute the field. Before any growth occurs you may 
transplant the tree to its permanent place or allow it to 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 177 


remain where it is for another season. You now have 
something to show what a single bud can do ina year, 
z.e., make a tree with a trunk and branches, with hundreds 


of buds, six or seven feet 
tall. Put a stick beside 
it and mark from noon 
to noon for a few days 
and you can never think 
of a tree as an inanimate 
thing again. Wecut off 
the old trunk three or 
four inches above the 
bud and tie the tender 
shoot to it so that it may 
not be broken off by the 
wind. This “heel,” as 
it is called, should be 
cut off smoothly, close 
to the bud, in July or 
August, so that it may 
heal over nicely before 
winter. 

We now need to know 
how to form the head of 
a peach tree and some- 
thing about its pruning 
and care. It is com- 


Fic. 74. REARING A PEACH TREE 


Autumn of third year from seed. The branches 
have grown from buds since spring. Planted 
by the boy when one year old. (Photograph 
by the author) 


monly recommended to prune the peach in February or 


March, as late as possible, but certainly before any signs 
of growth appear in the buds.! The following February, 


1In regions where severe ice storms prevail it is advised to prune back 


late in the fall. 


178 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


then, we must prune our ambitious little tree back to 
a “whip,” removing all the side branches and cutting 
off the top to within two or three feet of the ground 


Fic. 75. REARING A PEACH TREE 


Autumn of fourth year from seed. (Photograph by 
the author) 


(Fig. 73)... As the 
buds start again we 
will allow only three 
or four to grow, 
being careful that 
they «do not form 
crotches which may 
split the tree later 
on. There will be 
demurrings, but you 
have learned what a 
bud can do, and one 
strong branch is 
better than ten 
weak ones in this 
stage of the tree’s 
growth. By allowing 

1This matter of prun- 
ing back, especially at 
time of transplanting, is 
one of great practical 
importance. Numbers of 
young trees die yearly, or 
make little or no growth 
the first year after trans- 
planting, solely because 


this has been neglected. 
Nurserymen are obliged 


to deliver unpruned stock because their customers do not know the value 
of proper pruning. Later on, for lack of it, trees and vines overbear and 
break down or become worthiess by overgrowth of weak branches. 


PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 179 


only three or four to grow, each will be again five or six 
feet long by fall. The next February we must again cut 
back fully one-half of this new growth and permit two buds 
to grow from each of the three or four main branches. 
The tree will probably blossom this spring, but should not 
be allowed to bear more than three peaches. We have 
now a beautiful little tree with six or eight main branches. 
The following February we must cut these back half their 
new growth and remove all weak shoots that may have 
started. The next spring we shall again let each of the 
six form two branches, and we shall have a tree with about 
twelve limbs, stocky and able to support the burdens of 
coming autumns. This year, the fifth from seed, our tree 
may be allowed to bear a peck of peaches, and the next 
a bushel, and after that, from five to ten bushels. The 
future pruning will consist in removing entirely all weak 
and slender shoots and cutting off about half the new 
growth of the stronger branches. 

The universal complaint is that peach trees are no 
longer capable of living and bearing more than four or 
five years. This is thought to be due to retaining too 
much of the new bearing wood and thus allowing the 
tree to overbear too young. Nurserymen of long experi- 
ence have assured me that by the above method, and good 
yearly feeding and care, there is no reason why peach 
trees should not be kept in good bearing from twenty to 
thirty years. 


180 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


METHODS BY WHICH DIFFERENT FRUITS ARE PROPAGATED 


APPLES . 
CRAB APPLES . 


BLACKBERRIES . . 
RED RASPBERRIES 


DEWBERRIES . 
BLAcK RASPBERRIES 
WINEBERRY 


CHERRIES 


CURRANTS . 
GOOSEBERRIES 
GRAPES . 


MULBERRIES 


ORANGES 
LEMONS 
PEACHES 
NECTARINES 
APRICOTS 


PEARS 
PLuMs 


QUINCES 


{ From seeds of common apple, crab apple, or wild 
crab, seedlings grafted or budded after one 


season’s growth. 


From underground runners and root cuttings, z.c., 
pieces of roots three or four inches long will 
form new plants. 


K 

( From root cuttings or by layering tips of canes. 
In most varieties the layers form spontaneously; 
a few need to have the tips of the canes covered 
with earth. 

e 


From seeds of mazard cherry for large trees, 
and from seeds of mahaleb cherry for dwarf; 
grafted or budded after first year’s growth. In 
severe Climates morello, or the wild pin-cherry, 
seeds are used to furnish a hardy root system. 


i By cuttings of previous season’s growth, by layers, 
[ especially with the grape. 


{ From seeds, more often by cuttings of mature 


wood. (Downing.) 


{ From orange-or lemon seeds, seedlings grafted or 
budded. 


From seeds, seedlings budded in early fall of first 
season; from plum seeds in cold climates. 


From seeds of pear, grafted; or from quince or 
thorn-apple seeds for dwarf trees. 


cea SN * 


From seeds of plum or peach, budded. 


From cuttings; varieties difficult to root, grafted 
on cuttings of vigorous kinds. 


CHAPTER XII 
INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 


Success in gardening is quite as likely to depend on 
knowing something about insects as about the plants 
themselves ; and further, the child’s interest in the animal 
discussed in the chapters to follow will depend largely on 
his knowledge of what the insects are doing in his garden. 

I shall endeavor to choose a list of garden insects that 
will include some of the most important, simply as illus- 
trating methods of study; but the only rule for a teacher to 
follow is to take up those insects that possess the greatest 
interest and importance for the locality and season. And 
here, as with the programme for flower study, some special 
committee of teachers may well prepare the local lists. 

The Codling Moth, or Apple Worm, Carfocapsa pomonella. — 
This is possibly the most important and to children, when 
they begin its study, one of the most interesting of gar- 
den insects. The larva of this moth lives in apples, crab 
apples, pears, and quinces and sometimes attacks peaches, 
plums, apricots, and cherries. The damage it causes 
annually has been estimated for three states as follows: 
Illinois, $2,375,000; Nebraska, $2,000,000; and New York, 
$3,000,000. It was early imported from Europe and is 
now at home wherever fruit is cultivated in this country 
and Canada, causing a loss of from 25 to 75 per cent of 


the apple crop, as well as that of many other fruits. In 
181 


182 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the heavy bearing years the wormy apples fall off and are 
discarded, but the great number of apples serves to rear 
enormous numbers of the worms, and, according to my 


A 


{ 


Fic. 76. THE CopiinGc MoTH (A LIFE-STORY COLLECTION) 


a, egg; 0, larva; c, cocoons; d, pupa; e, 4, adults; f, work of downy woodpecker on 
apple bark; g, moth on apple bark, to show protective coloration. (@ and h 
after Slingerland) 


observations and experience, in the off years, when apples 
would be valuable, the worms take the whole crop. 

Let us first endeavor to gain a practical knowledge of 
just what the insect is doing in the neighborhood. The 
study should be undertaken early in the fall. Ask the 
pupils to examine 100 apples, from their home supply or 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 183 


as they are picked from the trees, and bring in the per- 
centage injured by the codling moth. Next they may 
take a more general survey of the pears and other fruits, 
and let each estimate from his own observations the pro- 
portion of fruit injured and the damage caused according 
to market price. Of course in starting the pupils the 
teacher will appoint one of the class to prepare before- 
hand a demonstration of wormy fruit, so that all will know 
exactly what to look for. 

The next step is to work out the life story as it is being 
lived about their fruit trees. Any time from October to 
May, by scraping the bark scales from the trunks of apple 
or pear trees, the pupils will be able to find the larve, the 
“worms,” so familiar in apples, snugly ensconced for the 
winter in their silken cocoons. They may also find them 
often by thousands in fruit barrels or in the cracks about 
places where fruit has been stored. Let them bring in 
as many as they can find in two hours’ diligent search 
and put them away in a vivarium in a cool place for further 
study the coming spring. No child who has gone thus 
far can ever again molest a downy woodpecker that he 
sees working over the trunk of his apple tree. 

Early in the following May, review these lessons briefly 
and bring the vivarium with the larve into the school- 
room. At this time a few of the moths may have 
emerged, but probably most of the cocoons will be found 
to contain pupe. A number of the larvae may have been 
prepared for the school collection, and now a supply of 
pupe should be saved for the same purpose. 

Renew the hunt about apple cellars and barrels and 
either kill or collect every larva or pupa found. If they 


184 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


are numerous about the cellar, keep the windows closed or 
screened, so that the moths cannot escape to the apples 
outside. Make an excursion to a neighboring orchard and 
search the trees over. Look especially for bark scales 
that have been pecked into by woodpeckers. You will 
find numbers of these if there are any of the birds about, 
and by lifting the scale you will find the empty cocoon. 
If all the cocoons are not thus empty, you do not have 
woodpeckers enough to take care of the trees. Have any 
of the children observed woodpeckers at work on the trees 
during the winter? Did they save the bark scales from 
which they saw them pecking the larvae? These bark 
scales tell a story as interesting as apples, birds, and 
insects all combined, and one or two should find a place 
in every school collection of the codling moth. 

Later in May and early in June the dark-gray moths 
will be emerging in numbers in the vivarium. Fig. 76 
shows them, natural size, and it will be noticed that they 
have a little horseshoe of bright copper-colored scales on 
the front wing. This will serve easily to distinguish the 
codling moth from the other innumerable little gray mil- 
lers of about the same size. Shortly after the moths 
begin to emerge in numbers in the locality look for the 
eggs, flat oval scales about one millimeter in diameter, 
laid commonly (in the spring) on the young apples a week 
to ten days after the petals have fallen. Most observers 
speak of beginning to find them about the time when the 
apples have grown to be an inch in diameter.! This is 


1 The eggs are commonly stated to be laid in the calyx of the apple, but 
all recent observations prove that those who started this story had not seen 
the egg, but reasoned from the fact that the larva eats its way into the 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 185 


an extremely important point, because the apple trees are 
sometimes sprayed with poison solutions in the hope of 
killing the newly hatched larva before it eats its way into 
the apple, and if this be done when the blossoms are on, 
practically all the honeybees in the neighborhood will be 
killed. Besides, the poisons will probably be washed off 
by rains at this season before the eggs are even laid, and 
it will be a week or more before they hatch.! 

As many as eighty-five eggs have been found in a vial, 
laid by a single codling moth. As the insect lays its eggs 
singly and flits actively about in the process, the eggs 
come to be pretty well distributed, generally one to an 
apple, though sometimes several are found on the same 
fruit. In the northernmost sections of the United States 
the codling moth has generally about one and one-half 
broods a year, z.¢., those that emerge early give rise to a 
second brood, while the late ones produce but one. In 
all the great middle fruit belt there are regularly two 
broods, and farther south there are three. 


An example in arithmetic might be made as follows: Suppose 
there are fifty apples in a peck; how many might a codling moth 
spoil if she lays fifty eggs on as many apples, and half of these eggs 
hatch female moths, and in the second brood, again, each lays fifty 
eggs on fifty apples? Avs. 26 pecks. 

If a downy woodpecker eats one codling-moth larva a day from 
November to April inclusive, 180 days, what might be the value 
of its work to an orchard if apples are fifty cents a bushel? 


Ans. $585. 


apple at this point. The eggs are laid anywhere on the surface of the 
apple and sometimes even on the leaves near it. 

1If spraying is resorted to, it should be done after the petals fall and 
before the calyx lobes close together. 


186 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Beginning with the caterpillars under the bark of the 
apple trees, the life story of the codling moth may be 
briefly told as follows : The larve change to pup in May, 
emerge as moths in late May or June, and lay their eggs for 


Fic. 77. Work OF A SINGLE BORER ON A 


YOUNG PEACH TREE 


Pp; pupa; g, gummy exudation. 
(Photograph by Slingerland) 


the first brood in June. 
The larve generally 
crawl into the calyx 
cup of the young 
apples and eat their 
way to the core, com- 
plete their growth in 
about three weeks, 
commonly eat their way 
out through the side 
of the apple, and either 
spin to the ground and 
crawl to the trunk of 
the tree or crawl down 
the branches and make 
their cocoons under 
the bark again. This 
occurs with the greater 
number early in July. 
In the warm weather 
of midsummer the 
larvee complete their 
transformations 


1 This habit affords one of the most vulnerable points of attack. To 
trap practically all the codling moths in an orchard it is only necessary to 
scrape all loose bark off from the trees and fasten around the trunks a band 
of burlap or heavy paper. Remove the bands and collect all larve once a 


week during July. 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 187 


quickly and emerge in two or three weeks, about the 
middle of July, and, greatly increased in numbers, lay 
the second brood of eggs, generally on the late apples. 
Many of this brood are barreled with the apples, and 
the rest escape from windfalls and discarded fruit and 
return to the tree trunks for the winter. 

The final topics for study are the habits of the moth in 
relation to its natural enemies. It will be found to be 
nocturnal. Its color, as it hides on the apple bark, ren- 
ders it almost invisible even to the sharp eye of a bird. 
Taking refuge thus in the darkness, it escapes the day birds, 
and we have no evidence that any of our insectivorous 
night birds feed upon it. But we have one misunderstood 
and wrongly despised little nocturnal animal, the bat, 
which Koebele, in California, has actually observed in 
the réle of “a most efficient destroyer of this insect.’”! 
Should children make similar observations, they would 
not kill every bat they find. Finally, what birds prey 
upon the codling moth? We shall discuss in a subse- 
quent chapter what we may do to increase the numbers 
of such birds about our homes.” 

The Peach-Tree Borer, Savninotdea exttiosa. —‘‘ We sup- 
pose that few of the peach trees which have been planted 


1 Koebele writes: “Every night during June as many as six of these 
bats were to be seen flying around an isolated apple tree upon which there 
were a large number of the moths, not only taking the codling moth on the 
wing, but very often darting at a leaf to get the resting moth.” 

2 Refer to Bulletin rg2, Cornell University Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Ithaca, N.Y., “ The Codling Moth,” by M. V. Slingerland, 1898, — 
the best source of information on the subject. The birds mentioned as 
eating the codling moth are downy woodpecker, nuthatch, bluebird, crow 
blackbird, kingbird, swallows, sparrows, wrens, chickadees, and jays. 


188 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


east of the Mississippi River during the last quarter of a 
century, have lived to produce a crop of fruit without suf- 
fering more or less from this dreaded borer.” ? 

I chanced recently to visit a young peach orchard set out by a 
man with the view of raising peaches for market. The trees were 


Fic. 78. PEACH-TREE BORERS, MALE AND FEMALE 


Female with broad yellow band across abdomen. 
(Photograph by Slingerland) 


only three or four years old and had begun to bear finely. As he was 
showing me about, I pointed to a mass of borer chips and gummy 
exudation at the base of one of his trees and asked him if he knew 
what that meant. He replied that he did not. I then dug out the 


1M. V. Slingerland. “The Peach-Tree Borer,” Buzdletin 176, Cornell 
University Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N.Y., 1899. 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 189 


borer and showed it to him, explain- 
ing how one such larva might kill a 
tree, and how, if it had lived to lay 
eggs, it might have cost him many 
more. 


Thanks to Slingerland’s pic- 
tures we have this arch-enemy 
of all good peach trees before 
us, egg, larva, pupa, moth, and 
evil doings, the latter written 
so plainly that no child can fail 
to read them. The children 
should be asked to keep a sharp 
lookout about their peach trees, 
and all the trees in the neigh- 
borhood in fact, because one old 
stub may grow borers enough to 
stock a large area, and gather 
specimens of the different stages 
for the school collection. 

To facilitate this work the life 
story may be told in a word, as 
follows: The moths, somewhat 
resembling steel-blue wasps, 
emerge from their cocoons on 
the peach trees from late June 
to early September (for latitude 
of New York; earlier in the south 
and later farther north) and dur- 
ing this time lay their eggs on 
the trunks of peach and plum 


Fic. 79. Ecos, Larva, Pupa, 
AND COCOONS OF PEACH- 
TREE BORER 


190 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


trees, generally within eighteen inches of the ground. 
The eggs are brown, and almost seven hundred have been 
counted in a single female. They are glued to the bark 
and hatch in about a week, and the little borer immediately 
crawls into a crack, bores down to the juicy inner bark and 

ees) §=there remains for 
about ten months, 
feeding during 
all but freezing 
weather. It then 
makes its brown 
cocoon, generally 
on the tree trunk 
close to the 
ground, and after 
three weeks 
cmerges to repeat 
the story. The 
moths are day 
fliers, are not at- 
tracted to lights, 


but visit flowers 
Fic. 80. BORER SIGNS AROUND BASE OF PEACH fo r nectar or 
TREE 


pollen. 

The best way 
to deal with the peach-tree borer is to watch the trees 
and as soon as the gummy exudation appears dig out the 
larva with a knife. Peach trees heal up wounds readily, 
and there need be no fear of injuring the tree as much 
with the knife as the borer would without it. All peach 
trees should be gone over very carefully in September, 


(Photograph by Slingerland) 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN I9gt 


again in May, and, finally, late in June. This latter is to 
make sure that none of the larvee escape and thus prevent 
any adults from emerging to lay their hundreds of eggs. 
Excepting a few parasitic insects, no natural enemies of 
this pest are mentioned by Professor Slingerland, but quite 
possibly some child may be able to discover a flycatcher or 
redstart or some other bird catching the moths as they flit 
among the trees, laying their eggs. It is needless to add 
that such an observation would be of great value. 

A number of other borers belong to the same family 
and resemble the peach-tree borer in appearance and life 
story. 

The Pear-Tree Borer, -Lgeria pyrt.— This is often quite 
destructive to pear trees, Its presence is revealed by chips, 
resembling fine sawdust on the bark of the tree. It should 
be dug out with knife and wire wherever found. 

The Grapevine Root Borer, Zigeria poltstiformis.—In the 
larval stage this insect bores into the roots of grapes. 
The adult, a large, brownish-black, wasplike moth, meas- 
uring from an inch to an inch and a half across the wings, 
appears in August. 

The Imported Currant Borer, 4veria tipuliformis.— This 
is widely distributed and renders the culture of this valu- 
able fruit difficult or, if neglected, impossible. All hollow 
canes should be cut out and burned in the fall or early 
spring. 

Other destructive borers are the larve, or grubs, of 
beetles. Several of these which should be more com- 
monly known are the following. 

The Roundheaded Apple-Tree Borer, Saperda candida. — This 
beetle is a very serious enemy of apple and quince trees. 


192 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The larva is supposed to require three years to complete its 
growth, during which time it feeds in the bark and trunk 
of the tree. The children should be directed to search 
over the trunks of their apple trees, especially after a rain, 
for the sawdust-like chips that mark its presence. The 
large borings often penetrate deep into the heart of the 
tree, but the grub can be reached and destroyed by means 
of a wire. The beetles are to be found in June and July, 
remaining concealed by day and becoming active about 
dusk. They are about three-fourths of an inch long, pale 
brown, with two broad creamy-white stripes running the 
whole length of the body, so plainly marked as to be 
easily recognized. 

The Flat-Headed Apple-Tree Borer, Chrysobothris femorata, — 
This is an even more formidable enemy to the apple trees 
than the last species and attacks also the pear, plum, and 
peach. Whether the larva requires one or two years to 
complete its growth is not determined. The beetle may 
be found from the latter part of May on through the 
summer. It is very active in the daytime, running about 
the trunks and branches of the trees in the hot sunshine 
and depositing its minute yellow eggs under the scales and 
in the cracks of the bark. It is generally about one-half 
inch in length, but varies a good deal. The color is shin- 
ing greenish black, with two transverse, depressed brassy 
spots above, under parts and legs appearing like burnished 
copper, with the feet shining green. This borer does not 
confine its attacks to the trunk, but may be found in the 
larger branches as well. 

The Broad-Necked Prionus, Prionws /aticollis, is of interest on 
account of its huge size, the larva often reaching a length 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 193 


of three inches. It attacks the roots of grapevines, and 
when a vine dies of no apparent cause its roots should be 
searched for this destructive pest. The adult is a brown- 
ish black beetle, with short, heavy jaws, commonly about 
an inch and a half in length. It begins to appear about 
the middle of July. A near relative of this beetle is the 
tile-horned Prionus, P. z#éricornis, which has a similar life 
story and attacks the grape in the same way. 

The Divaricated Buprestis, Buprestis divaricata. — The 
adult is a bronze or copper-colored beetle, a little less than 
an inch in length, the larva of which attacks the cherry 
and not infrequently the peach. The wing covers are 
elongated into blunt, divaricated tips, from which the 
name is derived. 

Two important borers attack the strawberry : the straw- 
berry root borer, Azarsza lineatella (which often destroys 
also the tender twigs of the peach), is a minute moth; 
and the strawberry crown borer is a beetle, 7yloderma 
fragarig, belonging to curculios. The remedy for these 
consists in digging up the plants as soon as they wilt and 
burning them root and all. 

The Grape-Cane Borer, Amphicerus bicaudatus, — If a young 
shoot on a grapevine suddenly wilts and dies, you will prob- 
ably find it hollowed out near its junction with the vine, 
and, within this hollow, a cylindrical brown beetle about 
one-half inch long. Sometimes all the new growth on a 
vine is killed in this way, and twigs of pear, apple, plum, 
peach, forest, shade, and ornamental trees may be found 
to contain the same pest. The beetle is single brooded, 
the eggs being laid from March to May, or June, accord- 
ing to latitude. The larve develop in dying or diseased 


194 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


wood, such as prunings of fruit and shade trees, never in 
thoroughly dry nor in vigorously growing wood, and the 
adult beetles, after passing the winter in such material, 
attack the growing shoots in the early spring. Thus the 
remedy consists in burning all prunings during the fall 
or winter. 

The Rose Chafer, ‘‘ Rose Bug,’’ or ‘‘ Rose Beetle,’? Macrodac- 
tylus subspinosus.— The adult insect is too commonly 
known to need description. But whence come the count- 
less hordes that suddenly appear in June on rose bushes, 
fruit trees, ornamental shrubbery, especially spirazeas and 
grapes of every variety, is not so well understood. They 
often come in such numbers that spraying with poisons 
is ineffectual in preventing the plants from being stripped 
of their leaves. The mystery of their sudden appearance 
is explained when we learn their life story. The eggs 
are laid in the ground in June and July, in grass land, 
generally sandy meadows, and the grubs, resembling the 
larvee of the June beetle, only smaller, feed upon the roots 
of grasses, attaining their growth by autumn of the same 
year. The following spring they transform into pupz 
in the ground and in two to four weeks, according to 
weather, emerge as adults. From this life story it is thus 
seen that, for a neighborhood seriously afflicted by this 
pest, the most effectual remedy consists in plowing up 
their breeding grounds and raising some other crop than 
grass. Little is known about the birds that feed upon 
this beetle, and the children should be encouraged to keep 
watch of all birds about their homes, for observations 
in this field may prove of value. A large percentage 
of the food of the bluebird, brown thrasher, catbird, house 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 195 


wren, downy and hairy woodpecker is known to consist 
of beetles, and it is possible that a sufficient number of 
these birds might be reared to deal effectually with this 
pest. The toad may devour enormous numbers of them, 
and, as we shall see when we study its life, they can often 
be gathered in such numbers as to afford instructive feed- 
ing tests. Spiraeas planted about the garden serve to pro- 
tect other plants and form convenient collectors, and if it 
is desired simply to destroy the beetles, they may easily 
be shaken into a pan containing a little kerosene oil. 

The Tent Caterpillars. — These are of two kinds, somewhat 
similar in appearance, but differing widely in habit of life. 
The apple-tree tent caterpillar, C/zszocampa Americana, is 
a pest so common and destructive and so easily dealt 
with that Saunders says of it : ‘Governments might well 
enforce under penalties the destruction of these cater- 
pillars, as their nests are so conspicuous that there can 
be no excuse for neglecting to destroy them, and it is 
unfair that a careful and vigilant fruit grower should be 
compelled to suffer from year to year from the neglect of 
a careless and indolent neighbor.’ The moths lay their 
eggs in easily recognized “belts” on the slender twigs of 
trees, chiefly apple and wild cherry, in July. The minute 
black caterpillars complete their development during the 
summer and fall and may be seen curled up within the 
eggshell any time during the winter. Early in the spring, 
generally before the buds burst open, they eat their way 
out and feed first on the cement with which the egg cluster 
is protected. As soon as they appear they begin feeding 
on the tender leaves and commence building their tent in 
a convenient crotch. There are about three hundred eggs 


196 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


in a belt, and so voraciously do the young caterpillars feed 
that it has been estimated the occupants of a single tent 
may cost a tree from 10,000 to 12,000 of its leaves, each 
caterpillar eating two a day as it approaches maturity. 
Early in June the caterpillars scatter from the trees in 
all directions, seek out protected crannies about fences 
and buildings, and spin their cocoons. Within these they 
change to pup, and after two to three weeks emerge as 
moths, to repeat the life story. 

No insect is better adapted for rearing in the school- 
room. Simply place the branch with its belt of eggs in a 
bottle of water, feed as required with fresh leaves, and 
thus let the children read the story in nature. 

The forest tent caterpillar, C. aisstria, differs from the 
above in having, instead of a white line, a row of light 
dots down the middle of the back. The egg belt is cut 
off squarely at the ends, the moths are light brown with 
dark lines on the fore wings, and they do not build a 
conspicuous tent. 

Cankerworms. — There are also two species: the fall 
cankerworm, Anzsopteryx pometaria, and the spring can- 
kerworm, Paleacrita, or A. vernata. The larve are the 
commonly known “ measuring” or ‘inch’? worms of shade 
trees and orchards, but the moths and other characters 
in the life story are not so generally understood. After 


1A school in which this has been done for the past three years reports 
that tent caterpillars have been practically exterminated from the district. 
The eggs are collected and burned, each child being given credit for the 
number he brings in, and any tents found in the spring are destroyed. The 
caterpillars troop out of the tent to feed twice a day, mid-moming and 
afternoon; hence, in order to find them all at home the tents should be 
destroyed in the early morning or evening. 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 197 


spinning down from the trees in summer the larve burrow 
into the ground three or four inches and there transform 
into pupz. With great show of wisdom the fall species 
wait until after the first hard frosts, when our summer 
birds have flown, and then, during the first warm spell, 
emerge to lay their eggs. They may also come forth 
during any warm days in winter. The spring form, a 
few of which may come out in the fall, wait until the 
first warm weather in spring, also before many of the 
birds are back. The male is a frail silken-winged moth, 
while the female is wingless and must, therefore, crawl 
up the trunk where she lays her eggs, often a hundred 
in a plate, on the bark or on the twigs of the food 
tree. The eggs hatch with the bursting of the buds, and 
the year story is again begun. Our winter birds, espe- 
cially the chickadee, eat great quantities of the eggs and 
female moths. Professor Forbush has demonstrated that 
an orchard can be practically rid of them by protecting 
these birds and attracting them with winter food. The 
wingless condition of the females makes this one of the 
easiest insects to deal with. Bands of coal tar, mixed 
with oil or printer’s ink, are for this purpose fastened 
around the trees. They often fail because those who do 
the work are ignorant of the insect’s life story and do not 
put on the bands until large numbers have ascended the 
trees and laid their eggs, or they allow the bands to get 
dry during warm spells in the winter or early spring. 
While the English sparrow was imported largely to destroy 
cankerworms, they have greatly increased where the spar- 
row has become most numerous and where our native 
birds have, in consequence, been driven away. 


198 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The White-Marked Tussock Moth, Orgyia leucostigma.—The 
larvee are among our most beautiful caterpillars, but they 
may become so numerous as to strip a city’s shade and 
fruit trees of their foliage. They feed upon almost all of 
our deciduous trees and even on fir and larch and spruce - 
as well. As in case of the cankerworm, the females are 
wingless, but unlike it there are two broods a year, and 
instead of going into the ground, they make their cocoons 
in the trees, pupate there, and the females crawl out of 
the cocoons and lay the eggs in a white frothy mass upon 
them. The white egg masses are conspicuous objects on 
the trees in winter, and since the insect is two brooded 
and may at any time become too numerous to control, 
they should be gathered and destroyed. This is another 
instructive insect to rear in the school vivarium. 

The Fall Webworm, Hyphantria textor.—In July, after 
the tent caterpillars have run their course, the trees are 
again disfigured by large irregular masses of webs, sc 
conspicuous that their destruction ought to be a simple 
matter of common sense. This insect is single brooded ; 
both male and female moths are provided with wings and 
hence spread more rapidly and are not so easily con- 
trolled as the two moths just described. The caterpillars 
burrow in the ground to pupate and do not emerge until 
the following July. 

Cutworms.— These are caterpillars of the various species 
of the owlet moths, genus Agrostis. Their plan of work 
is to cut off every tender plant in the garden even with 
the earth. Both caterpillar and moth are nocturnal, the 
moth laying her eggs on plants near the ground during 
the latter part of summer, At first the larva feed upon 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 199 


the tender roots of grasses and other plants, but by spring 
have attained to nearly or quite an inch in length and are 
ready to begin their most wasteful and destructive careers. 


Fic. 81. Dincy CuTworm 


Male and female. (After Slingerland) 


Whenever we see a plant in the morning wilted and pros- 
trate, the only thing to do is carefully to scrape the loose 
earth away from around its roots, find the culprit, and 
either keep him in a vivarium to develop into the moth or 
put him in the school collection ; for both cutworms and 


Fic. 82. CuTworMs 


a, variegated; 4, white. (After Slingerland) 


their moths, especially, should be known much better than 


they are. 
If other vegetation be lacking, almost any of the nu- 
merous species of cutworms assumes the climbing habit, 


200 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


ascending trees, grapevines, rose and berry bushes and 
eating out the fruit and leaf buds. Newly set orchards 
have thus been killed, and for a long time no one could 
find out what did the damage, supposing that it must be 
some winged insect. A man, happening to go through 
his vineyard at night, heard the gnawing of innumerable 
jaws and by striking a match solved the mystery.} 

Plants may be generally protected from cutworms by 
folding a piece of stiff paper around the stem so that it 
goes into the earth an inch and reaches two or three 
inches above the surface. Young trees may be treated in 
a similar way, or tin cans, from which the solder has been 
melted, may be placed around them; but if cutworms 
are numerous and their food is scarce, they will climb 
over paper or tin. Their climbing may be prevented by 
tying a band of cotton batting so as to form an inverted 
funnel around the trunk of the tree; but when this is 
done the worms often girdle the tree below the band. 

The Indians used to practice hand picking of cutworms 
in their primitive cornfields, and this has been the most 
satisfactory method of dealing with the pest ever since. 
But toads and robins should have delegated to them all the 
“picking.” I shall refer to their work more at length in 
succeeding chapters. Poison baits and sprays have proved 
only partially effective. 

Grasshoppers, or Locusts, of any species are well adapted 
for elementary lessons on account of their large eggs. 
These are laid during late summer or early fall and may 
readily be found in flask-shaped packets, an inch or more 


1M. V. Slingerland. “Climbing Cutworms,” Buw/letin zrog, Cornell 
University Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N.Y., 1895. 


INSECTS OF THE GARDEN 201 


in length, just beneath the surface of the ground. If 
grasshoppers are numerous, the children may find them 
laying in September. Experiment by feeding a few, in 
order to determine how much grass they destroy. Grass- 
hoppers are, further, of special interest in relation to bird 
foods. It will be noticed in the food chart, Chapter XIX, 
that all our common birds feed upon grasshoppers, the only 
insect, in fact, of which this is true.! 

Crickets are similar to grasshoppers in life story, eggs, 
and feeding habits, and are even more interesting from 
the way they “chirp.” This may readily be observed if 
a few are kept for a time in a vivarium, and the phenome- 
non never fails to fascinate a child. Crickets may be fed 
on grass, apple cores, or bits of raw carrot. 


Goop Books ON GARDEN INSECTS 


WILLIAM SAUNDERS. Jusects Injurious to Fruits, 436 pp.; 440 
illustrations. J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1892. 

Mary TreAtT. Jajurtous Insects of the Farm and Garden, 
296 pp.; 171 illustrations. Orange Judd Co., New York, 1892. 


1 Food for soft-billed birds, robins, orioles, mocking birds, etc., is expen- 
sive, ‘ants’ eggs ” costing about one dollar per pound. Some states are 
paying bounties of one dollar per bushel for grasshoppers destroyed, and it 
is quite certain that a very inexpensive and perfect bird food might be made 
by a suitable preparation of these insects. Possibly they could be scalded 
or steamed and thoroughly dried, then moistened again, as we treat “ ants’ 
eggs” for feeding. If the grasshoppers are caught, as they always should 
be, before egg laying has begun, no bird food could be more nutritious. 


CHAPTER XIII 
GARDEN INSECTS (Continued) 


The Apple Maggot, 77ypeta pomonella. — This, commonly 
known as the “railroad worm,” has become an enemy to 
apples and apple culture, ranking almost as destructive 
as the codling moth. Thousands of barrels of fruit are 
stored or marketed, apparently sound, only to be opened 
and thrown away. 

Beginning this study with the opening of school in 
September, ask the pupils each to examine 100 apples, 
preferably all of the same variety, and report the result 
at a subsequent lesson. If the pest be abundant, the 
teacher will find little difficulty in securing a few “rail- 
roaded apples’? with which to show the class what to 
look for. 

The injury to the fruit is done by the larva, or maggot, 
boring channels back and forth through the pulp as it 
"feeds. One such larva is sufficient to spoil an apple, and 
since the fly has been found to contain from 300 to 400 
eggs, there is almost no limit to the damage that this one 
insect may cause. 

By keeping a number of infested apples in a box the 
pupz may be secured for the school collection, and a few of 
these should be put away in a cool place until June or July, 
in order to get the adult flies. These should also be sought 


for in the fall about apple trees. Fig. 83 sufficiently 
202 


GARDEN INSECTS 203 


indicates their appearance. They are a trifle smaller 
than an ordinary house fly and may be recognized by a 
dark figure on the wing, shaped somewhat like a turkey, 
and also by the white lines across the back of the abdo- 
men, three in the male and four in the female. No insect 
is better adapted to demonstrate to the children the work 
that so insignificant a creature is able to accomplish. The 
fly has been seen to puncture the skin of the growing 
apple, generally on the shaded side, and deposit a single 


Fic. 83. AprLe MAGGoT 


a, egg; 0, larva; c, pupa; d, adult female, (All enlarged.) 
(After Harvey and Comstock) 


egg directly in the pulp. Thus a single female may ruin 
one or two bushels of fruit. They may be found in the 
apple trees from June or July, according to latitude, until 
hard frosts occur in the fall, and they attack practically 
all varieties of apple. Nothing is known regarding the 
natural enemies of the apple maggot, and its life story 
renders it one of the most difficult of all insects to con- 
trol. Possibly a pair of phoebes, or other flycatchers, or 
a few tree frogs in an orchard might save hundreds of 


204 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


bushels of fruit in a season. What boy will watch some 
of these, so as to be able to tell us what they do?! 

The Curculios, or Snout Beetles.—The apple curculio, Axzho- 
nomus quadrigtbbus, does considerable damage to cultivated 
apples in some of the Southern States, but is not generally 
numerous. There are also quince and grape curculios, 
Conotrachelus crategi and Craponius inequalis, which may 
be studied in neighborhoods where they are destruc- 
tive. Other members of this family infest nuts and 
acorns and some 
other garden 
fruits. The 
insect for special 
, study in this 
group is the 
plum curculio, 
Conotrachelus 
nenuphar. If 
neglected, this 
pest may take a 
large part, or the 
whole, of the peach, apricot, plum, and cherry crop. 


Fic. 84. PLum CurcuLio 


Larva, adult, and mark on the fruit. (Enlarged) 


The statistical method may be adopted again by asking 
each member of the class to examine 100 plums, peaches, 
or cherries, to discover what proportion of the fruit is 
affected. Ask the pupils to observe the laying of eggs, 
which may readily be seen shortly after the fruit has 
begun to grow in the spring, when peaches are about the 


1¥For full account of Trypeta, by F. L. Harvey, see Annual Report of 
the Maine State College Agricultural Experiment Station, 1889, pp. 190-237, 
Plates I-III. 


GARDEN INSECTS 205 


size of hazelnuts. The whole operation takes about five 
minutes. The beetle first digs an oblique hole in the 
fruit with her snout, enlarging it at the bottom. She 
then lays an egg in the mouth of the hole, pushing it to 
the bottom with her snout. Finally she cuts a crescent- 
shaped flap around the egg. Her purpose in doing this 
seems to be to make a dead spot, so that the growing 
of the fruit at this point will not 
crush the egg. This crescent is 
the mark by which to distinguish 
the curculio’s work, and it is ren- 
dered even more conspicuous by 
a copious exudation of clear 
gummy substance from the 
growing fruit. The larva feeds 
in the pulp, generally about the 
stone, ancl the fruit, except in 
case of the cherry, falls prema- 
turely. When the larval growth 
is attained, in three to five 
weeks, it burrows out of the 

: Fic. 85. YOUNG SHOOTS OF 
fallen fruit and into the ground Gaaee 


to a depth of four to six inches. a, attacked by plume moth; 4, for 
comparison, 


Here it pupates and emerges the 
same season as the little, rough, brownish beetle shown in 
Fig. 84. It may be recognized by the elongated hump of 
what appears to be black sealing wax on each wing cover. 
The winter is passed in cracks about buildings and in the 
bark of trees, whence the beetles come forth with the 
peach and plum blossoms, ready to begin their work of 
destruction. There is a single brood a year. 


206 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The Apple-Leaf Crumpler, Physzs indigenella,— Among a 
number of moths whose larve attack the leaves of fruit 
trees this one is chosen because of the ease with which it 
may be found. Any time during the winter little masses 
of crumpled and withered leaves may be seen attached 
by silken threads to the twigs. Within the mass will be 
discovered a little twisted, horn-shaped case containing _ 
the half-grown larva of the leaf crumpler. In the spring 
it fastens the 
young leaves into 
little bunches by 
means of silken 
threads and con- 
tinues feeding 
upon them until 
its growth is at- 
tained, about the 
middle of June. 


Fic. 86. GRAPE-LEAF FOLDER It then changes 


Larva, adult female moth, and folded leaf intoa dark-brown 
(After Marlatt) 


chrysalis within 
its case and in July emerges to lay its eggs and thus begin 
its life story anew. 

The Gartered Plume Moth of the Grape, Oxyftilus periselt- 
dactylus. — This is one of our prettiest little moths, but 
its work should be known to every child who has a grape- 
vine. After the leaves have fairly started in the spring 
they will often be drawn together into round balls, and 
within may be found an active, wriggling, bristling larva 
of a greenish-yellow color, nearly half an inch in length 
when fully grown. These are the larve of the plume 


GARDEN INSECTS 207 


moth and, if neglected, they may destroy the entire crop 
of a vine while the blossom buds are opening. The vines 
should be daily examined at this season and, after securing 
specimens for the school collection, every larva should be 
destroyed. The insect being single brooded, thorough 
attention at the proper time will do away with the pest. 

The Grape-Leaf Folder, Desmzta maculalis. — This is another 
common enemy of the grape and should be treated, like 
the plume moth, by hand picking while in the early larval 
stages; the conspicuously folded leaves make this easy 
and effectual. 

The Grape-Berry Moth, Ludemis botrana.— This insect 
often destroys nearly the whole crop of grapes in a garden. 
The larve pass 
the winter in co- 
coons attached to 
the leaves, and if 
these are burned 
in the fall, the 
pest may be 
greatly abated. 

The Sphinxes, or 
Hawk Moths, might 


be treated among method of making its cocoon for winter 
our most beauti- (Enlarged. After Marlatt) 


Fic. 87. GrRAPE-BERRY MOTH 


Larva, pupa, adult, and portion of grape leaf, showing 


ful and interest- 

ing insects were it not for the fact that the larve of at 
least ten species feed upon the leaves of the grape, and 
their enormous size makes it possible for a single larva 
to strip and kill a young grapevine in two or three days. 
The sphinxes are the large, narrow-winged moths, often 


208 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


mistaken for humming birds, that visit the flower beds at 
dusk. The Pandorus sphinx, Philampelus pandorus, is one 
of the largest and most beautiful of the group and from 
tip to tip of expanded wings often measures more than 
four inches. It is single brooded. The moths appear in 
July and lay their eggs underneath the leaves of the grape 
and Virginia creeper. 

One of the most common of our garden species is 
the green grapevine sphinx, Darapsa myron. It is two 
brooded, the moths of the first brood appearing during 
the latter half of May, those of the second during the 
latter part of July. The egg is laid on the under surface” 
of grape leaves and hatches into a yellowish-green larva 


Fic. 88. GREEN GRAPEVINE SPHINX, FROM WHICH PARASITES HAVE 


EMERGED 


with a long black horn near the posterior end. After 
successive moults, with attendant changes in color mark- 
ings, it appears as in Fig. 88. It is then about two inches 
long, green, with yellow dots, white lateral stripes from the 


GARDEN INSECTS 209 


head back to the horn, and a row of yellow spots, with 
pink to lilac centers, along the back. 

The Achemon Sphinx, Phz/lampelos achemon. — Another 
of our most common species is found on the grape and 


Fic. 89. ALDER APHIDS, WITH HARVESTER CATERPILLAR FEEDING 
UPON THEM 


(Natural size. Photograph by Miss Katherine Dolbear) 


Virginia creeper. The eggs are laid in July, under the 
leaves, and the larva matures about the first of September. 
It then burrows into the ground, transforms into a pupa, 
and passes the winter in this state. Just before going into 
the earth it assumes a pink or crimson color. 

The Five-Spotted Sphinx, Phlegethontius celeus. — This is 
the moth of the common tomato worm. Its larva also 
transforms in the ground. 

However terrible any of the sphinx larvae may appear, 
they are all harmless and may be handled with impunity. 
They are easily reared by feeding with the leaves upon 
which they are found. It is always safe to provide them 


210 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


with moist earth, into which they may burrow when they 
wish to transform, since they either burrow or make their 
cocoons on the surface of the ground. The larve are 
especially interesting from the number of ichneumon flies 
parasitic upon them, and by keeping some in the viva- 
rium, a school is almost certain to be afforded the spec- 
tacle of a swarm of minute larve suddenly boring their 
way out and spinning their little cocoons all over the back 
of their host. Do not say much about it beforehand, but 
when the first signs appear, gather the class around and 
let them wonder about it. They will learn a lesson never 
to be forgotten. 

Plant Lice, or Aphids. — These are among the commonest 
and most annoying insects we have. They infest almost 
every plant of the conservatory, garden, field, and forest 
and often become extremely destructive. Their mode of 
life consists in puncturing the plant and sucking its sap. 
They may attack the roots, as does the corn plant louse, 
Aphis maidis, or they may live on both the roots and 
leaves, as does the grape phylloxera, Phylloxera vastatrix, 
or they may occur on roots and bark, as does the woolly 
apple louse, Schizoneura lanigera. The greater number 
of species confine their injuries to the tender, growing 
parts, — leaves, buds, and young fruit, — as, for example, 
the green apple-tree aphid, A. maz, the peach-tree aphid, 
Mysus persice, and the common aphids of the rose, elm, 
carnation, and many other trees, shrubs, and plants. 

Many kinds of plant lice have a pair of minute tubes 
on the back, through which a sweet fluid, honeydew, is 
excreted. This often covers the leaves and even the pave- 
ment under the trees. Injury to the trees is increased by 


GARDEN INSECTS 211 


the various mildews which the honeydew invites, and the 
beauty of the foliage is destroyed as well. Ants attend 
the aphids for this excretion, and some species of ants 
also preserve the eggs in their nests over winter and 
carry the newly hatched plant lice to their food plants in 
the spring. Bees sometimes make honey from honeydew, 
generally of a rank, inferior quality, but pay no attention 
to the aphids themselves. 

From the bodies of many species of aphids are also pro- 
duced white, powdery, downy, or flocculent growths that 
may serve to conceal the insect or render it unpalatable 
to birds. The woolly aphids of the alder, beech, and apple 
are good examples of this. 

A number of aphids have the strange instinct of migrat- 
ing from one kind of plant to another. The green apple- 
tree aphid thus migrates to the grasses to spend the 
summer and in the fall comes back to the apple to feed 
for a time and deposit its eggs. In a similar way the hop 
aphid, Phorodon humuli, feeds upon the plum in the 
spring, migrates to the hop to spend the summer, and 
returns to the plum in the fall. 

With such small insects we cannot hope to do much by 
way of description or classification beyond naming them 
roughly from the plants upon which they are found, but 
their powers of multiplication and their relations to lady 
beetles and other natural enemies are valuable lines of 
study. We may take them up in connection with the life 
story of one common and important species, the cherry 
aphid, AZysus cerast. 

In October ask the children to hunt over cherry trees 
in the neighborhood and bring twigs infested with the 


212 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


black-cherry aphid. If these are kept fresh, the plant 
lice will desert the leaves and gather about the buds on 
the twigs. If they are carefully watched, preferably with 
a hand lens, they may be seen to lay their eggs, generally, 
in the angle between the bud and twig. The eggs are 
visible to the unaided eye and appear at first as oval, 
yellowish-green 
bodies, which turn 
in a short time to 
shining black. 
The egg laying is 
an interesting 
process, a sight of 


which will repay 
much patient 
observation. The 
mystery to me 
always is how so 
infinitesimal a 
brain can know 


how to lay eggs 
at all, much less 
learn where to 
put them so that the young may find their natural food 
on hatching in the spring. 

If this is not possible, the children will certainly be 
able any time during the winter to bring in cherry twigs 
that will have the eggs behind the buds. If these be 
taken into the schoolroom about the time the buds burst 
in the spring, the eggs will soon hatch into tiny black 
aphids. These have no wings and are all females, and 


Fic. 90. CHERRY TWIGS COVERED WITH APHIDS 


GARDEN INSECTS 213 


after growing for about two weeks they will begin to give 
birth to living young —very small, but perfectly formed 
aphids —at the rate of possibly two or threea day. These 
also are females and, attaining their growth in a few days, 
in turn produce living young at this astonishing rate. 
Meanwhile, if we keep watch of the cherry trees, we may 
observe the increase of the aphids from a single one here 
and there to millions, covering the leaves, growing shoots, 
and even fruit, with disgusting black masses of the insects. 
When we think that the trees are about to be killed, a 
winged generation appears which leaves the cherry trees 
for some other plant. It is possible that this migration 
has been developed to save both trees and insects. It 
occurs generally about the time the cherries ripen, but to 
what plant they go has not been determined. In the fall 
winged females find their way back to the cherry trees, 
the eggs are laid behind the buds, and the year’s cycle is 
completed. 

Most of our common species of aphids present a similar 
life story. So far as is known, some do not migrate 
from one plant to another. <A few, like the woolly aphid 
of the alder, have not been discovered to lay eggs, but pass 
the winter in the adult form in protected crevices about 
the bark and roots of their food trees, covered by their 
woolly coats. 

Living the easy life of a parasite, sucking the nutritious 
juices of plants, aphids multiply at a most astonishing rate. 
Possibly for a month or so in the spring the class may 
arrange to have a single aphid on some convenient food 
plant and may be able to count from week to week the 
numbers produced. This will furnish the data for an 


214 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


interesting calculation as to the number that might arise 
from a single parent for a season or a year, and it will 
open the eyes of the pupils to the necessity of prompt 
action if they hope to prevent injury to their plants. 
The mathematician Réaumur estimated that in five gen- 
erations, which might not require more than ten weeks, 
a single aphid could become the mother of 6,000,000,- 
000,000. For the corn-root aphid Professor Forbes has 
calculated that a “stem mother,” as the fertile females are 
called, might produce in a season 9,§00,000,000,000 young. 
Placed end to end these would form a procession 7,850,000 
miles in length, a distance equal to 314 times the earth’s 
circumference ; or, standing shoulder to shoulder, they 
would make an army 10 feet wide and 230 miles long. 
Nothing in nature shows more clearly what an infinite 
power for harm a little thing may be. 

Local conditions and interests should largely determine 
the species of aphids to be studied. 

The grape phylloxera, P. vastatrix, is the insect which 
has devastated the vineyards of Europe, but it is not 
so destructive among the native grapes of this country. 
It exists in two forms, one infesting the leaves, the other 
the roots. In both locations the aphids cause knotty, 
wartlike galls, often conspicuous on the underside of 
grape leaves and also found on the finer rootlets. By 
cutting these galls open we may find the insects them- 
selves. Plucking and burning the leaves as soon as the 
galls appear is the simplest remedy suggested, and any 
young vine with lumpy nodules on its roots had better be 
burned than planted. A little ““sharp-eye”’ study of the 
grapevines about their homes will soon determine whether 


GARDEN INSECTS 215 


the children shall spend the time on the phylloxera or on 
some other form, 

The apple-root plant louse, or woolly aphid, of the apple, 
Schizoneura lanigera, is another important species. Like 
the phylloxera it occurs in two forms. The one infesting 
the bark may be found in pits and crannies about the 
trunks and branches of apple trees ; it is a blue-black aphid, 
the larger specimens covered with a bluish-white woolly 
growth. The underground form causes warty swellings 
on the roots. If an 
apple tree becomes 
sickly from no visible 
cause, borers or the 
like, its roots should 
be carefully exam- 
ined, and if the root 


galls are found, it is 


generally best to dig Fic. 91. Woorty APHIDS OF APPLE 

it up and plant some _ Showing characteristic swellings and cracks in the 
7 bark which they cause. (Natural size) 
other kind of tree, 
never an apple, in its place. Nursery stock that shows 
these root galls should be rejected, or if this is not prac- 
ticable, the roots should be soaked for half an hour in 
water heated not above 150° Fahrenheit. 

Other species, too numerous to name, may be found on 
the rose, apple, plum, peach, elm, maple, chestnut, oak, 
and on many herbaceous plants. 

The Scale Insects, — Mealy Bugs, Scale Bugs, Bark Lice, — 
resemble plant lice somewhat in their manner of life. As 
their common names imply, they appear as scales on the 
bark, leaves, and fruit of plants and, like the plant lice, 


216 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


subsist on the juices of their host by means of piercing 
and sucking mouth parts. 

In the Lecaniums, or naked scale insects, the scale is 
the insect itself. In the majority of species, however, the 
scale is an armor composed of powdery, waxy, or even cal. 
careous substance, together with moulted skins, excreted 
by the insect and beneath which it lives. Several species 


Fic. 92. BRANCH OF WILLOW TREE KILLED BY OvSTER-SHELL 
SCALE INSECTS 


(About natural size) 


furnish valuable commercial products, notably the cochi- 
neal insect, Coccus cacti, from which cochineal and carmine 
are derived, and Carterta lacca, living on the branches of 
several tropical trees, from which we get shellac; but 
our common species are among the most troublesome and 
destructive of insect pests. Like the plant lice they mul- 
tiply with great rapidity, and their scaly coverings tend to 
protect them from the oily or soapy washes and sprays 
commonly used to kill insects by contact. 


GARDEN INSECTS 217 


Have the class hunt over the trees, shrubs, and vines 
in their gardens and bring in specimens of the scale 
insects that they find. 

The oyster-shell bark louse, A/yédlaspis pomorum, is a 
common and easily distinguished scale, found often on 
the apple, pear, currant, and sometimes on the plum. The 
scale covering the female insect is about one-sixth of an 
inch in length, of characteristic oyster-shell form, some- 
times completely incrusting the bark (Fig. 92). The males, 
which are not often seen, are smaller than the females 
and occur generally upon the leaves. The adult male is 
a minute two-winged fly whose relationship to its mate 
or parent could scarcely be suspected. By turning over 
one of the female scales any time during the fall, winter, 
or early spring, the eggs may be seen with the aid of 
a magnifying glass, sometimes as many as a hundred 
under a single scale. If an infested twig be placed in a 
bottle of water in the schoolroom, preferably one on each 
pupil’s desk, in late May or early June, the eggs will soon 
hatch, and the young scales, appearing to the unaided 
eye as minute, crawling specks, may be seen swarming 
over the twig. In this stage they are without scaly cov- 
ering, but after distributing themselves and finding suit- 
able places, they settle down, insert their piercing beaks, 
begin to secrete a scale, and the females never again 
change their locations. Later in the season they are fer- 
tilized by the winged males, and by August the body of 
the female insect is little more than a bag of eggs. In 
the early autumn the eggs are extruded underneath the 
scale, and the body of the female shrivels to a scarcely 
recognizable speck at the small end of the scale. Thus, 


218 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


for nearly nine months in the year, the oyster-shell bark 
louse exists in the egg state, and there is but one gener- 
ation in a season. Hence the scales will never be found 
on the later growths of the preceding year ; and while 
trees are frequently killed by this insect and young trees 
should not be planted until completely cleansed of them, 
it is a very slow process, and many trees are weakened 
rather than killed outright. 

Many other scales will doubtless be found: Kermes on 
the oaks, interesting from their resemblance to gall-like 
knots on the twigs; Lecaniums, of a variety of shapes, on 
all kinds of plants. One of the Lecaniums, a large oval 
scale nearly a quarter of an inch in length, has become 
quite destructive to plum orchards in recent years. An 
instructive story attaches to the cottony cushion scale, 
Icerya purchast, which some years ago threatened to 
destroy the orange groves of southern California. It had 
been introduced from Australia and before the danger was 
realized, as is too often the case, had become widely scat- 
tered. It was finally discovered that in its native home 
this scale is not particularly destructive, and a reason for 
this was sought and found in the fact that its numbers are 
there held in check by several predaceous lady beetles. 
One of these, Vedalia, a small red and black species, was 
successfully imported and soon relieved the orange groves 
of their unnatural burden and returned to them their loads 
of fruit. 

In general, the smaller an insect enemy, the more dan- 
gerous it is, and its powers of destruction naturally 
increase with the number of plant species upon which it 
is able to feed. We might pass the scale insects by were 


GARDEN INSECTS 219 


it not for one pernicious kind, also a foreign importa- 
tion, that now menaces the best horticultural interests 
of almost the whole country. Every child who has a 
garden should learn to know the San José, or pernicious, 
scale, Aspidiotus pernictosus. 

The San José scale takes its name from the place of its 
introduction into this country, the San José valley, which 
took place through the medium of trees imported from 
Chili. Its original home 
may be Australia, but in 
spite of diligent search 
this has not been fully 
settled. It may have 
come from China or 
Japan. Three years after 
its introduction this scale 
was recognized as a dan- 
gerous insect enemy, but 
it had been widely distrib- 
uted on cuttings, scions, 


nursery stock, and fruits 


Fic. 93. THE SAN Josi SCALE 


shipped to all parts of (Natural size and magnified) 
the country. 

The insect is minute and covers itself with a circular 
scale from one to two millimeters in diameter, of an ashy 
gray color, and with a minute prominence near the center. 
If unchecked, its power for evil is almost beyond estimate. 
The young are brought forth alive, and there are four or 
five generations a year, so that it has been calculated that 
a single female scale may be the progenitor of 3,216,080,- 
400 during a season. This gives the plant no chance for 


220 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


growth and little for life. As with the oyster-shell bark 
louse, the young crawl actively about for a short time. 
after birth, and, since there are many generations, they 
flow up over the new growth, leaves, and fruit of the 
infested plant. The tree assumes the appearance of 
being dusted over with ashes, and each speck represents 
a tiny pump sucking its life sap. 

The danger from the San José scale is further enhanced 
by the great number of its food plants. It seems to thrive 
about equally well on the apple, apricot, cherry, currant, 
gooseberry, cotoneaster, hawthorn, peach, plum, pear, 
quince, rose, raspberry, spirzea, flowering quince, almond, 
euonymus, linden, flowering currant, acacia, persimmon, 
elm, osage orange, English walnut, pecan, alder, weeping 
willow, and laurel-leaved willow, and even this list is prob- 
ably far from complete. Infested trees, if left to them- 
selves, commonly die within a few years. Young peach 
trees may survive two or three years; older and hardier 
‘varieties, somewhat longer. Aside from injury by loss of 
sap the San José scale appears to poison the plant, and 
while there are two small, comparatively harmless, circular 
scales, which cannot be distinguished from it by the unaided 
eye, the sickly condition of the affected plant is generally 
a sign that we have to do with the pernicious scale. 

If the San José scale is found, be careful to mount 
some permanently for the school collection and send a 
few twigs bearing specimens to the Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station of your state, with an exact statement of 
where they were found. Be sure that none of the speci- 
mens are alive. They should be held in boiling water for 
five minutes or left in a cyanide bottle over night before 


GARDEN INSECTS 221 


sending. If no pernicious scales can be found in the 
neighborhood, it might be well to send to your Agricul- 
tural Station for prepared specimens to be permanently 
kept in the school collection. From this source you can 
obtain any needed information about methods of dealing 
with the pest. 

Enemies of the pernicious scale are chiefly minute para- 
sitic flies and several species of lady beetle. There is 
some evidence that it is attacked by a fungus, but by 
which one has not been discovered, if, in fact, it prove to’ 
be a fungus. These are topics somewhat minute to be 
studied by other than specialists. 

A matter of great importance concerns the manner in 
which the insect is disseminated. The females have no 
wings, and, therefore, during the free-moving stage dis- 
tribution by crawling is slow and can generally take place 
from tree to tree only when they stand close together or 
have interlacing branches. It has been discovered, how- 
ever, that the young often crawl upon other insects, ants, 
and lady beetles, and probably also upon the feet of birds, 
and may be carried long distances. Any infested tree 
may thus be a menace to an entire neighborhood. The 
first method of its wide dissemination, before the danger 
was recognized, was on infested nursery stock, young trees, 
scions, cuttings, fruit, etc., but this is now controlled by 


1“ There is perhaps no insect capable of causing greater damage to 
fruit in the United States, or perhaps the world, than the San José, or 
pernicious, scale.” “The San José Scale: First Occurrences in the United 
States, with a Full Account of its Life History and the Remedies to be 
used against it,” Budletin Ne. 3, New Series, United States Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, 1896. See also “ How to control the San José 
Scale,” Circular No. 42, Second Series, Oct. 22, 1900. Same address. 


222 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the nurserymen. The young trees and all other stock, if 
there is the least suspicion that the scale may be present, 
are put in a tight box and treated with the fumes of 
hydrocyanic acid, somewhat as we learned to kill insects 
in the cyanide bottle; so that, if such stock is accompanied 
by a certificate that it has been so treated, we need have 
no fear in planting trees, even if there are a few dead 
scales on them. 

The following insects are so well known and found 
so easily that I shall do little more than mention their 
names. On account of their importance they should be 
included in a nature-study course. 

The Colorado Potato Beetle should be studied in the spring. 
It is a good form to use in lower grades, in connection 
with their garden work, to show feeding, eggs, and larvee. 
Professor Fernald has made a careful estimate that this 
insect collects a tax from the people of Massachusetts of 
not less than $75,000 a year. If every one in a neighbor- 
hood would sprinkle his potato vines with a mixture of one 
part of Paris green to twenty of flour or plaster, as required, 
for the first week or two after they come up, there would 
be no more potato beetles that season. They pass the 
winter as adults in the ground, and since a female may lay 
from 500 to 1000 eggs, and since there are from two to 
four broods a season, this is the time to do thorough work. 

The Asparagus Beetle, Crzoceris asparagi, has a life story 
similar to that of the potato beetle. 

The Striped Cucumber Beetle, Dzabrotica vittata. — The 
eggs are laid about the roots of cucumber, squash, melon, 
and other plants of the same family, and the larve feed 
upon the roots. 


GARDEN INSECTS 223 


The Grapevine Flea-Beetle, or Hal/tica chalybea. 

The Imported Elm-Leaf Beetle. — Where numerous, this is 
a good insect with which to study bird foods. This may 
be done by making feeding tests, and by observing the 
birds that feed upon it, as the children go to and from 
school. They have increased especially in cities and 
towns where the native birds have 
been driven away by English 
sparrows. 

The Imported Currant Worm, Vevza- 
tus ventricosus. — This and the 
native currant worm, Pristiphora 


grossulari@, are both sawflies 
about the size of the house fly, but . 
more slender and with black areas 
on the front border of the fore- 
wings. The males and females 
may be found about the time cur- 
rant leaves open in the spring, and 


a few days after, the white eggs are 
placed end to end along the veins 
on the underside of the leaves. [ §16.94. AsParacus BrETLEs 
have been informed that a pair of dees haan 


black and white creeping warblers 


(Photograph by the author) 


kept one row of currant bushes so clean that the box 
of white hellebore, provided against them, remained 
unopened. 

The Rose Slug, Monostegia rose. — This familiar pest 
feeds upon the upper surface of the rose leaf, chiefly at 
night, remaining hidden beneath the leaf during the day. 
The rose bushes appear as if scorched and are greatly 


224 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


damaged. The parent is a small black sawfly with smoky 
wings. Numbers may be caught about the rose bushes on 
sunny mornings in May or early June. When full-grown 
the larve burrow into the ground and there pass the winter. 
Several authorities — Harris, Comstock, Cragin — state 
that there are two broods of rose slugs a year. Miss Murt- 
feldt’s experiments, with which the writer’s observations 
agree, prove that there is but a single brood. 

The Pear-Tree Slug, Evtocampa cerast, is the larva of a 
sawfly about the size of the above, shining black with 
iridescent wings, the front 
pair smoky in the center. 
It feeds, like the rose slug, 
on pear or cherry leaves and 
winters in the ground. 

The Red-Humped Apple-Tree 
Caterpillar, (demasia con- 


ciuna. — This species and 
the yellow-necked apple-tree 
caterpillar, Datana ministra, 
are apt to attract attention 
in the late summer or early 


Fic. 95. Rep-Humpep Arpre-TreEE fall. Their caterpillars are 

ssiueunieas striped yellow and white on 
a dark ground, the one with 
the head and fourth segment coral red, the other with the 
head shining black and first segment orange. They feed 
and rest in close ranks and strip the branches perfectly 
clean as they descend. When disturbed they secrete an 
acrid-smelling fluid, which evidently protects them from 
birds. They are the larvee of moths which spend the 


a, larve parasitized by ichneumons 


GARDEN INSECTS 225 


winter in the ground as pupz and emerge in July to lay 
their eggs on the leaves. 

The Cabbage Butterfly, Pzer7s rape, is our commonest 
white butterfly. The females have two black spots on the 
fore wing, while the males have but one. This is one of 
the best forms for the pupils to rear. The writer has 
counted 465 ovules in a single specimen, which shows 
what a power for damage one little butterfly may be. But 
this is possibly the only one of our common butterflies 
that should be destroyed wherever seen. 

The Cabbage Plusia, Plusta brassice.-—The larva is a 
green, striped, measuring or looping caterpillar. The 
moth is dark smoky gray and flies and lays its eggs at 
night. 

The Corn Worm, or Bollworm, /Telzothis armigera.— This 
insect attacks the two great staples, corn and cotton, 
and is also a common pest on tomatoes, peas, and beans. 
When numerous enough to demand study, the larve, vary- 
ing from grass green to dark brown, with a yellow stripe 
along each side, may be found in the tips of the ears of 
corn. When fully grown—they are about one and one- 
half inches long—they bury themselves in the ground. 
Here they transform into brown chrysalids and emerge, 
after three or four weeks, as clay-yellow moths. 

The Army Worm, Leucania unipuncta. 

The Squash Bug, Avasa tristts.— This is a good example 
of a true bug, but a serious garden pest for all plants of 
the cucumber family. The eggs are yellowish brown or 
bronze in color, large and conspicuous, and neatly spaced 
in groups of twenty to forty on the leaves or stems of the 
food plant. 


226 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The Chinch Bug, Blissus leucopterus, should be studied 
in sections where it is important. It will be particularly 
interesting to experiment with the white fungous disease 
(see Chapter X XVII) which has been used in recent years 
to combat the pest. : 


The average annual loss which this insect causes to the United 
States cannot be less than $20,000,000. HOWARD. 


The Hessian Fly, Ceczdomyzia destructor. — The adult insect 
is a minute two-winged fly, the larvze of which live between 
the sheathing bases of the leaves and in the stalks of 
wheat near the root. It derives its name from having 
been introduced, probably, with the bedding straw of the 
Hessian soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and has 
become, according to Comstock, ‘‘perhaps the most serious 
pest infesting wheat in this country.” The larva and 
pupe, “flaxseed stage,” may be found by opening the 
leaf sheaths. 

Methods of controlling Insects. — In connection with the dif- 
ferent insects already described I have laid all the empha- 
sis on nature’s methods. This, it has seemed to me, 
is the field for nature study. As an intelligent people 
we can no longer put off the agreeable task of learning 
the resources of life and nature to the end that we may 
make the most of the good forces of nature to suppress 
the evil. The chapters on birds and other insectivorous 
animals are written, in part, from this point of view. 
The swallows and swifts, night hawks and flycatchers, 
with the bats for night police, might sweep the air of © 
insects. The warblers, vireos, cuckoos, wrens, orioles, 
chickadees, woodpeckers, cedar birds, and others protect 


GARDEN INSECTS 227 


the trees from their tops to their trunks. The robins and 
bluebirds, meadow larks and blackbirds, many of the spar- 
rows, toads, frogs, and salamanders, and several of our 
harmless snakes (probably) feed largely on the insects of 
the ground. We need to know and cherish them all; and 
when we attain to this larger response to nature the insect 
problem will be for the most part a thing of the past. What 
insects now destroy we may have for education, art, and sci- 
ence. But until that time arrives we shall need to know 
some other methods of dealing with insects, and many of 
them are much in vogue at present. 


Insects that chew — potato beetle, currant worm, rose slug, canker- 
worm, tent caterpillar, cabbage worm, codling moth, as it gnaws its 
way into the fruit, and a host of others—may be combated by 
means of poisons dusted or sprayed upon their food plant. A Spray- 
Calendar, which any one can obtain from the Agricultural Experiment 
Station of his state, will give the formulas for all the different sprays 
and the times when each should be applied. 

Insects that suck — plant lice, scale insects, squash bugs, and bugs 
generally —require substances that will kill by contact, or soapy or 
oily mixtures that will get into their breathing pores and smother 
them. Your Sfvay-Calendar will give all of these preparations with 
directions for their use. 

Insects that bore can be detected by the sawdust-like chips or the 
exudations of sap or gum from burrows. Those that work in or just 
under the bark may be cut out with a knife. Such as work deeper 
can often be destroyed with a piece of piano wire. Another way ta 
reach the villains is to inject a little carbon bisulphide into the burrow 
and quickly plug it up tight. 


CHAPTER XIV 
BENEFICIAL INSECTS 
THe HONEYBEE 


WE may begin by asking the class some bright morning 
in May: What did you see the bees doing, on your way 
to school? What flowers were they on? Did you see 
their hip pockets full of pollen? What do you suppose 
they do with that? Where do they find the honey? 
These with a hundred others are just the questions with 
which to begin the study of the honeybee’s life and work. 

Have in different vials a house fly, bluebottle, wasp, 
hornet, ant, bumblebee, a honeybee, if possible with pollen 
on its thighs, and any other insects that may look some- 
what like a honeybee. Pass them around and find out 
how many can tell a honeybee from every other insect. 
Do not let anybody tell until all have had a good chance to 
see. Ask each child to borrow somebody’s watch between 
this lesson and the next and to follow a bee for five 
minutes, and be prepared to tell exactly what it did. 
How many blossoms did it visit? What kind were they? 
Were they all the same kind, or did it go from one kind 
to another? From their observations, what can they say 
as to the flowers the bees like best? Could they see 
how a bee fills its pollen baskets? For lower grades and 


the kindergarten, a pound section of honey may furnish 
228 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 229 


material for an instructive demonstration. In higher 
grades, something of the same kind may be done by 
way of testing different specimens, to see if the pupils 
can distinguish the aroma of the flower from which the 


honey is made, comparing 
pure honey with a sample of 
some adulterated honey that 
may have found its way into 
the neighboring stores. 

The next series of lessons 
may well be directed to dis- 
covering the influence of bees 
on the pollination of flowers 
and fruits. Select, or raise 
in the school garden, two 
similar clumps of white or 
alsike clover. To study the 
work of bumblebees red 
clover may be used. Cover 
one clump with netting be- 
fore any of the blossoms open, 
leaving the other uncovered. 
Have some one appointed to 
save and count all the heads 
that mature in each clump; 
carefully thresh out the seeds 


Fic. 96. HONEYBEES 


a, worker; 4, queen; c, drone. 


and put up in two vials, properly labeled.t 
Any other flowers that are of interest in the locality 
may be treated in the same way; at least, a number of 


1 If crimson clover is used, the whole experiment may be completed in 


the spring term. 


230 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


our common garden fruits should be experimented with. 
Cover a clump of strawberries before the buds open, and 
count the blossoms; leave a similar clump uncovered, 
and compare the fruit. In the same way cover a small 
branch of plum, peach, quince, pear, cherry, and apple. 
This has been done for some of our fruits, with the 
result that not only are more fruits generally found to 
“set”? on the exposed branches, but the fruit is often 
larger, plumper, and richer in quality, and the seeds are 
large and well developed, while those in self-pollinated 
fruits on the same tree are small and often abortive, z.¢., 
without kernels. When these experiments are made, the 
fruits may be saved, preserved in formalin, or may be care- 
fully drawn to exact size for the school collection. The 
seeds may also be preserved to show that, in times past, 
a honeybee possibly assisted in the production of those 
seeds that have given origin to many of our improved 
varieties of fruit.1 

The study will naturally irradiate into the more general 
subject of the value of insects in cross-pollination. What 
other insects are seen about the fruit blossoms? Are 
other insects numerous at this season? With all of our 
native bees — bumblebees, hornets, wasps —the queens 
alone survive the winter. Comparatively few of the other 
blossom-seeking insects live through the winter, and many 
of these do not come out of their winter quarters in time 
for fruit bloom. Here we have the one efficient insect 
which carries over the winter an army of workers, ready to 


1“ The Pollination of Pear Flowers,” Merton B. White, United States 
Department of Agriculture, 1894. See also “ Pollination in Orchards,” 
Bulletin 181, Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1900. 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 231 


pour forth into the orchards and do the work that the trees 
require at this season. How manyfruit blossoms does a bee 
visit ina minute? I have counted a number of times, and 
the average is about twenty per minute. How many men 
or boys would it take to do as much of this work as a single 
bee? as a hive of twenty thousand? Attempts have been 
made to raise fruit on a large scale with no bees in the local- 
ity, but year after year no fruit has been produced. Bees 
were introduced, and abundant crops followed. Seasons 
in which the weather is too cold or stormy for bees to fly 
during fruit bloom are well known to be poor fruit years. 

Is the neighborhood well stocked with bees? This is 
the next question. Mr. Benton has estimated that there 
are about one-tenth as many bees as the flowers of the 
land will support, at the average profit per hive. Some 
approximation to an answer to our question may be 
attained by asking the pupils to collect statistics as to 
the yield of honey per colony in the neighborhood. An 
average yield of honey for large apiaries is from about 50 
to 100 pounds per colony. Of course the management of 
the bees makes a great difference in the yield, as does also 
the season! A single swarm has been known to make 
1000 pounds in a season. Bees are supposed to fly and 
do most of their collecting within a radius of about two 
miles, and within this circle, four miles in diameter, it is 
commonly estimated that 200 swarms may be maintained.? 

1A hive has been known to gain thirty-two pounds in weight in a single 
day during an abundant flow of linden nectar. Of course this is nectar, 
which must be evaporated down by the bees before it is honey. 

2 Bees have been kept on an island and have been proved to fly as far 


as seven miles to find the flowers. How well they thrived under these 
conditions, however, is not stated. 


232 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The next topic is the management of a hive of bees. 
How many of the class know anything about it? How 
many have bees of their own? Do any of their parents 
keep bees? If none of the children or their parents have 
bees, the study may have to be concluded at this point. 
If, however, the locality be favorable, there is one more 
question to be asked. Who will volunteer to get some 
bees and begin to study them? 

A swarm of bees in a glass hive in an upper story or 
attic window of the school building may prove a most 
instructive part of the nature-study equipment, where con- 
ditions in the school and district permit. Under these 
conditions, I include a number of things. The spirit of 
the school comes first. If bees are common and every- 
body knows and sees enough of them, it may not be 
valuable. If nobody knows anything about the manage- 
ment of them, wait until somebody learns before attempt- 
ing it. Bees are sometimes kept with profit on the roofs 
of houses in large cities, but, in general, where there are 
no flowers within two or three miles, a school hive is 
out of the question. 

One thing is clear at the outset. If it is deemed advis- 
able to have a school hive, none of the care of it should 
be allowed to devolve upon the teacher. True, if one thor- 
oughly understands the subject, there need be but little 
work about managing a single swarm of bees; still this 
little must be done at the proper times, and a teacher 
already has too many things to look after. If some one, 
or better, if a group of the older children, wish to volunteer 
to put the hive in the school or in one of their homes, 
where it will be available for study, then the experiment 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 233 


may be tried and will probably prove successful. Its suc- 
cess will be doubly assured if some parent who under- 
stands bee keeping and is interested in the school will 
direct and assist the children in their work. The follow- 
ing suggestions are offered to help such a group of children. 
They embody the results of four years of experimenting 
as to the simplest methods of demonstrating the life of 
the hive.} 

First a “nucleus hive,” z.¢., a little hive, may be made 
with an ordinary one-pound section and a glass case to fit 
over it. To arrange this select a partially filled section of 
honey and drive small 
brads into the corners, 
letting the heads stick 
out one-half of an inch 


’ 


below for it to stand on 
and a quarter of an inch 
at the sides to insure 
room for the bees to 
pass between the section and the glass case that is to 
cover it. Next cut pieces of glass the right size to 
make a glass case to slip over the section. The front 
glass must be cut one-quarter of an inch short to allow a 
space for the bees to go in and out at the bottom in front. 
Fasten this together with half-inch strips of black cotton 
cloth and glue, laying the strips over the corners. After 


Fic. 97. NucrLeus HIvE 


1I£ local libraries or the neighborhood are not supplied with books on 
bees, the class should get Budletin Mo. 1, United States Department of 
Agriculture, “The Honey Bee,” by Frank Benton. It may be obtained 
from the Superintendent of Documents, Union Building, Washington, D.C., 
for 25 cents. 


234 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the glue is dry flow a little melted beeswax, with a hot 
case knife, all around the corners on the inside. This is 
to prevent moisture of the bees from softening the glue. 
The bottom should be made of a board, about six inches 


Fic. 98. SINGLE-FRAME OBSERVATION HIVE IN POSITION 
(Photograph by the author) 


wide and long enough to extend ten inches in front of the 
hive. Bees need to be kept warm, and they commonly 
insist upon having their hive totally dark. To secure 
both of these conditions, make a rather thick quilt that 
can be pinned snugly over the glass case. 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 23% 


It remains to mount the hive in some upstairs window, 
preferably in the attic, or in some room that is not used. 


Fic. 99. OBSERVATION HIVE IN POSITION 


The large box is known as the “brood chamber,” or “hive body.” In it the queen 
lives and lays eggs, and the bees nurse the young, or “brood.” The two cases 
above are the “supers,” in which the bees store their surplus honey. Toward 
the window is seen the wire screen passageway, through which the workers go 
and come 


Fasten a narrow board under the sash, and, setting the 
hive in place, mark where the bottom board comes and cut 
a hole one inch wide by one-half of an inch deep, through 


236 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


which the bees may go out. Finally, make a screen-wire 
tunnel, an inch high and as wide as the hive, to fit perfectly 
between the hive and the board under the window sash. 
This is to prevent the bees from escaping into the room. 

The best time to fill the hive is in the spring, when 
some local bee keeper is ‘cutting out” his first queen 
cells. Take the little hive to him and get him to insert 
a capped queen cell with about a teacupful of bees from 
the same hive, closing it up so that no bees can escape. 
It may then be screwed to the window sill where it is to 
stand. The bees should be confined for three or four 
days, if possible, until the young queen emerges, and it 
is well to feed them a little syrup or honey daily to 
make them feel at home, otherwise they may all decamp 
to their hive! Fig. 97 shows this hive in position. 

An observation hive that is more certain to give satis- 
faction is shown in Fig. 98. The glass case for this may 
be made like the other except that the front glass is 
replaced by a strong wooden post, with entrance hole 
below, very securely screwed to the bottom board. The 
size must be governed by the size of the frames in the 
hive from which the bees are to come. Take this toa 
bee keeper and have him set in one of his frames, well 
filled with brood and covered with bees. He will be sure 


1 JT have had two of these little hives made from one-pound sections, and 
nothing more interesting could be desired. In one of them that stood in 
my window an entire season I was able to study every activity of bees, even 
better than in a larger hive. The third one I tried in exactly the same way 
worked well for a few weeks, when the queen concluded that it was too 
small for her ambitions, and she forthwith decamped, taking all the bees 
with her. They next went into one of my bird houses in a tree, but soon left 
that. It would probably be difficult to keep so small a hive alive over winter. 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 237 


that there are eggs in it from which the bees may rear a 
queen, and this interesting process may then be observed 
by the school from day to day, and it will be a red-letter 
day when her royal highness comes out. 

A third form of school hive is a full-sized swarm in a 
glass box. This can be. made of one-inch pine for the 
frame, with glass set in for ends and sides. The top 
should be made of a similar, glazed frame just large 
enough to cover a honey super. If this be narrower than 
the top of the hive, it may be supplemented by narrow 
strips of board. The whole stands, without fastening, 
on a solid bottom board, which may be screwed to the 
window sill in front and supported by a post at the back. 
Otherwise its mounting, covering, and manipulation is in 
every way like that of the smaller hives described above.1 

Each form of hive has some special feature to its 
advantage. The small one requires little room and still 
demonstrates the whole life of the hive. The single large 
frame does this more perfectly, but may cost something. 
The single-frame hives both possess the advantage that the 
queen can always be found, and in the larger one young 
bees may generally be seen gnawing their way out of their 
cells, —two most interesting things to watch. Marked 
bees may also be followed when they come in, and may be 
seen distributing their load of nectar to the other bees or 
kicking off their pollen balls into the cells. On the other 


1 Bees are greatly disturbed by any jarring of their hive, about as much 
as human communities are by earthquakes. This is obviated by the qui:t 
coverings. For the large hive it is well to make these in square sections, 
each large enough to cover a side or end, and with one longer strip which 
can cover one side, and the top with three supers in place. ; 


238 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


hand, these little swarms can make no surplus honey, 
the chief reason for which bees are kept, and they will 
not be likely to “swarm,” which is an interesting thing, 
an advantage or disadvantage according to taste. In the 
large hive the queen will be busy laying eggs in the inner 
frames and may not be seen from one year to another, 
honey being stored usually in the combs next to the 
glass. This is a disadvantage; still it is only in sucha 


Entrance 


Fic. 100. SECTIONAL PLAN OF OBSERVATION HIVE 


The size depends on size of brood frame. The bee space should be 3 in. below, 
3 in. at ends, and } in. above 


large hive that we can see the life of a bee-city in its full- 
ness, — the thousands of workers, the continuous streams 
of out-going and in-coming bees, —and thus gain some 
conception of the great work they perform. 


The honeybee is not native to this continent. It was imported 
from Europe, when or by whom is not known, and has since spread 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Since about 1860 the United States 
Department of Agriculture has been engaged in searching over the 
greater part of the globe to find and introduce the best races of bees 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 239 


that could be discovered, so that we now have four varieties, each 
excelling in certain points. 

The common black or brown or German bees have become better 
acclimated than any of the others, and during their 200 years of 
residence have become the common wild bees of the whole country. 
Their faults are: bad temper, which makes them hard to handle; 
their tendency to desert their combs and to “ ball up” so that it is 
difficult to find the queen; and their failure to resist the attacks of 
the bee moth. This is a most serious defect. A colony of black bees 
left a season without being looked over and the moths removed from 
time to time is likely to be found empty of bees and a mass of ugly 
caterpillars, moths, webs, and cocoons. The bees themselves are 
fair honey gatherers, make white comb honey, and winter well. They 
are medium-sized and dark brown, sometimes almost black, in color. 

The Italian bees, imported to this country in 1860, have found 
greater favor with bee keepers than any other race. They are large, 
beautiful bees, with the first three bands of the abdomen yellow or 
leather colored. They are gentle, can be handled easily, stick to 
their combs so well that the frames may be lifted from the hive and 
stood up about the yard, while the bees go on with their work as if 
nothing had happened. On this account, the queen may easily be 
found at anytime. I have sometimes seen an Italian queen continue 
laying eggs while the frame she was on was taken from the hive. 
Italian bees are better honey gatherers than the blacks, cap their 
honey fairly white, and resist attacks of the bee moth, so that for this 
reason alone, where this pest is present, it would pay to keep only 
Italian bees ; but they do not winter quite so well in the colder sections 
of this country. 

Carniolans are large ashy gray bees with silvery white hairs, the 
gentlest and most beautiful of all races. They were imported from 
the Alpine province of Carniola, Austria, in 1884. They are fair 
honey gatherers and cap their honey exceedingly white. How they 
cope with the bee moth is not stated in the books. The Carniolans 
winter better than any other strain and are prolific, but they have the 
reputation of swarming excessively. This is their greatest disad- 
vantage, and Frank Benton is inclined to think that it is due to the 


240 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


warmth of our summers, and that consequently the hives should be 
well protected by shade. 

Cyprians, Holy Lands, or Syrians have scored the highest honey 
record of any bees ever tested in this country, 1000 pounds from a 
hive in a single season. They were brought from Cyprus. They 
are a small bee, slender and active, with the first three bands of the 
abdomen orange above and all the segments underneath yellow, often 
to the tip. The white appearance of honey is chiefly due to a little 
harmless deception on the part of the bees that make it. Instead of 
filling the .cells full they leave a little bubble of air under the cap, 
and this looks white by reflected light. The Cyprian bees are too 
honest for this and fill the cells full of honey. Their pains, however, 
gives the honey a dead, “watery” look, which injures its selling 
quality. It is said that they never molest one that may pass their 
hives or be working among them, unless a hive itself be directly inter- 
fered with. Then they are the fiercest and most persistent of fighters. 
They thus protect their hives better than any other race from robber 
bees, bee moths, and all other intruders, but this character has ren- 
dered the handling of them so disagreeable that their culture has not 
made much progress in this country. 

As may be inferred from the above, the effort is to obtain the best 
variety of bee in the world. When this is discovered, the stock may 
be still further improved by selection and breeding, as in the case 
of other domestic animals and plants. Just now the attempt is being 
made to find a bee whose tongue is long enough to reach the nectar 
in the red clover. If any child can find a honeybee that is working 
on red-clover blossoms and can discover the hive to which it belongs, 
he may help along this work and possibly make a name and a fortune 
for himself. Both the farmer and the bee keeper would be benefited. 
It would doubtless make possible the more complete cross-fertilization 
of the clover and give the farmer more and better seed than he now 
gets by the help of bumblebees. The bee keeper could then save 
the barrels of nectar that now go to waste in the red-clover blossoms. 

“Lining” bees is a topic that may well be studied during an 
excursion, or even in the school yard, if bees can be found. Take 
a little honey, and after allowing a bee to fill her honey sac take the 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 241 


direction of her flight. She will make a bee line toward the hive, 
or bee tree, from which she came. A little flour dusted over the bee 
will make it easier to follow her flight. In this way bee hunters 
locate bee trees in the woods. A bee line is obtained at one 
position; the hunter then moves to a new position some distance 
to the right or left of his first stand and gets another bee line. 
The bee tree will be found where the two lines intersect. In tracing 
bees from red clover, if they can find any such there, let some of the 
class dust flour on the bees in the field and others watch at the 
apiary toward which they fly and find the hive to which the floured 
bees belong. Follow the matter up by finding out how much honey 
this hive makes (it may be one or two hundred pounds more than any 
other colony in the neighborhood), and then see if any one can be 
found who has a microscope and cam measure the tongues of the red- 
clover bees, comparing them with the tongues of bees that do not 
work on red clover. Finally, have a member, or committee, of the 
class write up the story and get it printed in the local paper and in 
some bee journal. Possibly, if all the boys and girls in the United 
States keep a sharp lookout all next summer, not more than a dozen 
will find honeybees working on red clover. But even if these few 
were discovered, by modern methods of queen rearing we might have 
within ten or fifteen years, the long-tongued bees as common as 
ordinary bees are now. 


COMPARATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT RACES OF BEES 


(Marked on a scale of ten. Estimates of FRANK BENTON) 


Honey | REsist- LENGTH 
GENTLE- a WinTer- | ProviFic-| SwaRM- 
Race GATHER- | ANCE TO OF 
NESS ING NESS ING 

ING Motu ToncuE 
Black. . 5 5 4 8 5 6 6 
Italian. . 8 Vy} 8 6 7 8 8 
Carniolan 10 8 7 Io 9 10 8 
Cyprian . 7 Io 10 7 10 8 10 
Dorsata. 7 8 fe) 


242 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Besides the honeybee there are about five thousand 
different kinds of bees, bumblebees of many different 
kinds, carpenter bees, digger or burrowing bees, potter 
bees, and cuckoo bees, all having most interesting habits 
and instincts, and many exceedingly beautiful. With all 
our native bees the life story of the individuals is similar 
to that of the honeybee, except in regard to the food of 
the larve, which may be leaves or insects; but the story 
of the colony is altogether different. Most of them are 
“solitary,” and those that have social habits have not 
developed the stability and perfection of organization 
found in the hive bee and among the ants. 

In the spring, for example, there are no colonies of 
bumblebees, and the few we see about early spring 
flowers are solitary queens that have hibernated in some 
protected shelter during the winter. They collect honey 
and pollen and select suitable places for their homes 
(commonly deserted mice nests), build cells and lay eggs 
in them, feed the young, and thus continue until the 
larve begin to emerge. The first bees are small workers, 
and they soon relieve their mother of the labors of both 
field and nest. Subsequent broods during the summer 
are large workers, and these rapidly increase the stores of 
the nest. In August a generation of queens and drones 
emerge, and these soon scatter over the fields and leave 
the nest deserted. The workers and drones die, and the 
queens alone survive the winter. 


Coville succeeded in moving bumblebee nests to glass-covered 
boxes in his window arranged essentially like the beehives above 
described. He did this by chloroforming the bees lightly in the 
evening, when they were all athome. After being confined for a day 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 243 


they learned their new location and accepted it without difficulty. 
One other observer has told me of catching a queen bumblebee early 
in the spring, taming her by feeding with honey, and inducing her to 
accept a nest he had provided in a large bottle. He was thus able 
to watch the colony from beginning to end. 


Bumblebees are valuable insects, aside from the interest 
attaching to the study of them, from the work they per- . 
form in the fertilization of flowers, especially red clover. 
Greenhouse men, who raise melons, cucumbers, and toma- 
toes under glass, are obliged to keep swarms of honeybees 
to carry the pollen from flower to flower. But honeybees 
do not live long under such confinement and hence must 
be replaced by fresh hives perhaps once or twice a year. 
It has been suggested that bumblebees might do this 
work fully as well at little or no expense. To try the 
experiment it would only be necessary to catch a few 
queens as late in the fall as possible and confine them 
in the greenhouse, supplying them with field-mice nests. 
What boy will try this plan and report results ? 

Other near relatives of the honeybees are the wasps and 
hornets, and here again we have hundreds of different spe. 
cies, some social, like the bumblebees, and many solitary. 
Most of these make burrows in the ground, like the digger 
bees, but they provide as food for their young, instead of 
pollen and honey, insects, spiders, etc., stung with such 
care and precision that they are paralyzed but not killed. 
The common mud wasp, or mud dauber, is very easily 
studied and will serve, if time permits, to initiate the 
children into the mysteries of this fascinating group.t 


1 George W. and Elizabeth G. Peckham, “ On the Instincts and Habits 
of the Solitary Wasps,” Bulletin No. 2, Wisconsin Geological and Natural 


244 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Among the social wasps the white-faced hornet is the 
one to study. It may seem strange to classify this arch- 
enemy of our boyhood, whose huge paper nests have been 
the legitimate targets for stones and later for rifle and 
shotgun, among the beneficial insects. But Mrs. Treat 
says of them: 


Are orchardists and gardeners aware of the untold numbers -of 
noxious insects that a colony of White-faced hornets will destroy in 
aseason? ... I would rather have a colony in my orchard when 
infested with the slug, Se/andria cerast, than ever so many barrels 
of London-purple. In the summer of 1886 I found these hornets 
were busy from morning until night in the orchard, taking slugs from 
the leaves, and carrying them to their young, where their nest was 
suspended in one of the trees. Jujurious Insects of the Farm and 
Garden, p. 288. (On the other side it should be stated that where 
grapes or peaches are raised the hornets are known to gnaw holes in 
the fruit, and this opens the way for honeybees and may lead to great 
injury to the crop. It thus sometimes becomes necessary to destroy 
all the hornets in the neighborhood before the fruit begins to ripen, 
and this is a simple matter, since the nests are so easily found.) 


The life story of the white-faced hornet resembles that 
of the bumblebee. The queen alone lives over winter 
and in the spring makes her own paper and begins to 
build the nest alone. As cells are made she lays the eggs 
in them and feeds the larvee on finely chewed insects. To 
see the tiny maggot-like larve stretch themselves almost 
out of their cells when the queen mother comes with food 
puts one in mind of nestling birds, only it seems more 
History Survey. Of this Howard says (/zsect Book, p. 18): “No more 
readable book on a natural history topic was ever prepared, not even 


excepting the famous Natural History of Selbourne or the general volume 
of Kirby and Spence’s Introduction.” 


BENEFICIAL INSECTS 245 


wonderful. The first brood consists of small-sized workers, 
and, as these take up the labors of nest-building and 
food-bringing, larger workers are produced. Finally, 
in the early autumn a generation of males and females is 
produced, and the queens hibernate, to repeat the story 
the following year. The queens often crawl into attics to 
spend the winter, and a few are sometimes found in the 
old nests. A queen might be taken in the fall or early in 
the spring, and if provided with paper pulp, honey, and 
abundance of insect food, she would quite probably build a 
nest and afford a most instructive demonstration of insect 
life. The white-faced hornet is especially interesting 
from the fact that the suggestion for making paper from 
wood pulp, which is now such an extensive industry, was 
probably obtained directly from its wonderful nest. 

The specimen figured below, from which one side has 
been cut to show internal arrangement, was built by the 
queen before any of her brood had come to her aid. 


CHAPTER XV 
INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 


Ichneumon Flies. — The insect photographed in Fig. 101 
is drilling into hard maple wood for the purpose of laying 
an egg in the burrow 
of a wood-boring larva. 
How long she had been 
there before I found 
her it is impossible to 
state, but for more 
than two hours she 
worked, inserting and 
partially withdrawing 


her drill repeatedly, 
until it had penetrated 
nearly two inches into 
the hard wood. At 
last she withdrew the 
drill, apparently satis- 
fied, and flew away, 
to save more maple 
Fic. 101. ICHNEUMON FLY BORING trees from borers, I 
twas Suara ae hope, for, after seeing 

her good works I had 

not the heart to put her in the cyanide bottle. It was 


wonderful to see another, that came to the same tree while 
246 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 247 


I was watching, hunt over the surface inch by inch for 
a likely place to drill; but, after about an hour’s search, 
she flew away. Certainly nothing I have ever observed 
has so impressed upon my mind the marvelous perfection 
of Nature’s mechanisms and the completeness with which 
every darkest nook and corner of her domain is guarded. 
A horntail, Tremex, bores deep into the tree and deposits 
her egg. Who would think that any harm could reach it 
there? But the ichneumon fly is armed and equipped for 


Fic. 102. BLack THALESSA 


d, drill; ov, ovipositor. (% natural size) 


her task. Her egg hatches in the burrow of the Tremex, 
the young ichneumon finds the wood-boring larva, lives as 
a parasite upon it, and, finally, after completing its trans- 
formations, emerges as the ichneumon fly in the picture. 
There are more than a thousand genera of ichneumon 
flies, with, of course, a great many more species, and if 
the Tremex larva is not safe in the heart of a maple tree, 
what must be the fate of the thousands of larve that feed 


248 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


unprotected on the leaves of plants? The truth is that 
nearly all of them have one or more species of ichneumon 
fly ever seeking a victim in which to deposit her eggs. 
So we shall find with nearly every species of larva we 
attempt to rear that one of these parasitic flies has come 
before us, and instead of the moth or butterfly we expected, 
we get the brood of parasites. If we are intent on secur- 
ing butterflies and moths, this is sometimes annoying; 
but if we are studying insect life in the large, we are 
thus often rewarded with a glimpse of one of its most 
interesting and important phases. 
Simply ichneumons or, if that is not sufficient, ichneu- 
mon wasps would be a better term by which to designate 
this group, since they resemble wasps much more than 
they do flies; but they are described in all the books as 
‘‘ichneumon flies,” and to change the name will take a 
long time. Ichneumons are generally large or good-sized 
parasitic insects, but some are minute. They have four 
wings, like the bees and wasps, long, incessantly vibrating. 
antenne, and their prevailing color is dull yellow, though 
many are black, marked with yellow. Our largest species 
is the beautiful Thalessa atrata, which from the tip of 
the antennze to the end of the ovipositor measures 
nearly ten inches. It is parasitic on the larva of the 
pigeon horntail, Zvemex columba, a common borer in elms, 
oaks, buttonwoods, and maples. Pimpla inguisitor, one 
of the commonest and most widely distributed, ranging 
from Massachusetts to California, is parasitic on a number 
of caterpillars. The body is about half an inch long, shin- 
ing black. The pupils are pretty certain to find it in 
connection with their studies on the tent caterpillars and 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 249 


the white-marked tussock moth. A favorite time for the 
Pimpla to sting her victim is while the caterpillar is spin- 
ning its cocoon; and if a number in this stage are placed 
in an open window in the schoolroom, it is quite possible 
that a Pimpla may come and show how she does her work. 
The eggs of the Pimpla hatch into whitish larvee, which 
feed actively and attain their growth in about four days. 


Fic. 103. TomMATO SPHINX LARVA 


With parasites emerging; 268 are out or in sight. (Natural size) 


They then spin slender yellowish-brown cocoons, transform 
into pupee, and emerge in about ten days as adult ichneu- 
mons ; so that the whole life story from egg around to egg 
may not require more than fifteen days to be completed. 

Until recently all the four-winged parasitic insects were 
called ichneumon flies. Now the group has been much 
subdivided ; but since the distinctions upon which these 
divisions have been made are mostly minute and technical, 
we may leave them to specialists. It will be sufficient, 
for elementary work, if we gain some clear ideas of the 
réle that parasitic insects play in nature. 


250 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The smaller ichneumons (of course there are distinc. 
tions other than size) are now called “‘braconids,” and the 
smallest, many of them not more than one one-hundredth 
of an inch in length, have been set apart by themselves as 
the Chalcis flies. 

The Braconids. — One of the commonest braconids is 
parasitic on the tomato sphinx. Others are found on the 
grape sphinx and the cabbage worms. Little bunches of 
white or yellow cocoons, often found attached to grasses 
and weeds, if preserved in a bottle covered with gauze, 
will be found to contain insects of this family. 

One of the most 
interesting of these 


Poa | little parasites for 
: 2 the children to study 


belongs to the genus 


Fic. pei ae PLANT LICE Aphidius, so named 

cea aaa from its work with 
the plant lice. If colonies of aphids are examined late 
in the season, from July to October, many will be found 
lighter colored than the rest and much swollen. Often 
an artichoke leaf or a spray of yellow dock will have a 
dozen or more such specimens. Keep a number ina glass 
covered with gauze, and within a few days you will find 
neat little trapdoors cut in the backs of the aphids and 
the minute parasites flying about in the glass. Let them 
have golden-rod or asters and a fresh supply of plant lice 
in a window or large gauze cage and see who can observe 
them laying their eggs. Another similar parasite of the 
aphids emerges from the plant louse when it reaches 
maturity and spins a flat cocoon, using the shell of its 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 251 


late victim as a roof. Some of these will probably be 
found during the search for plant lice. 

The Chalcis Flies. — These are the smallest of the parasitic 
Hymenoptera. They are generally black with metallic 
luster, but a few are yeilow. Slingerland writes of one 
of them: 


It would seem that the codling-moth’s egg, not quite so large as 
a common pin’s head, would escape the eye of the enemy, but many 
of them do not. In June, 1896, we were surprised to find that quite 
a number of the eggs we saw had a peculiar black appearance. 
These were placed in cages, and a few days later the mystery was 
explained. For instead of little apple-worms hatching from them, 
there appeared fully developed adult insects, the surprising number 
of four coming from a single tiny egg in some cases. It is wonder- 
ful to think of four perfect animals having been born in, and having 
obtained sufficient sustenance to develop into perfect insects from 
the contents of such a tiny thing as the egg of a codling-moth. In 
figure 138 is shown a greatly enlarged picture of this pretty little 
parasite, which is of course an exceeding small creature, yet it is 
easily visible to the naked eye.? 


Many of the Chalcis flies are parasitic on the scales 
and on the eggs of other insects. To keep watch for 
them will add interest to many of our lessons. 

The Syrphus and Tachina Flies. — Though related to the 
ichneumons only by their parasitic habits, these may be 
considered in this connection. Both belong to the fly 
family proper, since they have but a single pair of wings. 

The syrphus flies are the ones we all have wondered 
about from our infancy. They are far excellence the 
flies of bright sunshine and flowers, where they disport 


1M. V. Slingerland. “The Codling-Moth,” Bulletin 142, Comell 
University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1898, p. 37. 


252 ‘ NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


their gorgeous colors. Some appear to be always on the 
wing, while others may be seen resting lightly on flowers, 
especially of Helianthus, golden-rod, and asters in the early 
autumn. The fact that renders 
a study of this family important 
is that the maggots, or larve, 
of many of them feed upon plant 
lice and other small, soft-bodied 
insects. In collecting plant lice, 
especially such as cause great 
deformity of the leaves, as in 
case of the currant, elm, and 
snowball, keep a sharp lookout for slender maggots within 
the gall-like cavities, and do not mistake them for the 


Fic. 105. A SyRPHUS FLY 
(Enlarged about one-half) 


insects that do the harm. Preserve them in the vivarium, 
supply with aphids, and watch them as they transform, 
first into hardened pupa cases, and finally into adult 
syrphus flies. 

The syrphus flies whose larvee are not predaceous feed 
on wet, decaying wood, manure, and 
mud, or live in filthy water. Their é LUCY 
larvee are the curious ‘“rat-tailed a \ 
maggots” that the children are sure 
to bring in with the question: What Fic. 106. Rat-TamLep 
is that? Keep the larva with appro- seine 
priate food and surroundings, and they (After Riley) 
will soon answer the question them- 
selves. More than three hundred different species of 
syrphus flies have been described in the books. Many 
of them mimic other insects, especially bees, wasps, and 
bumblebees. 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 253 


The tachina flies are another numerous family of 
extremely beneficial insects. They are large to medium- 
sized flies and resemble the house fly in form and general 
appearance. They are the stout, bristly flies that we see 
so often on sunny days about rank vegetation. Their 
larvee are all parasitic on other insects, chiefly on the 
injurious leaf-eating caterpillars. While an ichneumon 
commonly attacks only a single species or its near rela- 
tions, the tachina flies present the advantage of working 
upon almost any in- 
sect that may be 
numerous. Thus a 
tachina fly will lay 
her eggs on a cater- 
pillar, if she can find 
one. If not, she 
may lay them on 
grasshoppers, bugs, Eggs on a caterpillar, larva, adult, and pupa; size 
beetles, sawflies, or a little larger than a house fly 
even bumblebees. 

The white, oval eggs are glued to the body of an insect as 
though they were a part of its own skin. The little maggots 
on hatching burrow into their victim and feed upon its tis- 
sues and juices. Growth is rapid and after its attainment the 
little plunderers are said to murder their host by destroying 
a vital organ, after which they work their way out. Unlike 
the ichneumons the tachina larvze spin no cocoons, but 
instead the outer skin hardens into an oval case, the pupa 
case, or puparium ; within this the larve change into pupe, 
and in about ten days we may expect to see them emerge 
as adult flies. There may be several generations a year. 


Fic. 107. TACHINA FLY 


254 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


By far the favorite hosts of these flies are the leaf-eating cater- 
pillars and the numbers destroyed in a single season by these para- 
sites is quite beyond computation. I have seen vast armies of the 
army-worm, comprising unquestionably millions of individuals, and 
have been unable to find a single specimen which did not bear the 
characteristic eggs of a tachina fly. These flies were present in such 
numbers that their buzzing, as they flew over the army of caterpillars, 
could be heard at some distance and the farmers were unnecessarily 
alarmed since they conceived the idea that the flies were the parents 
of the caterpillars and were flying everywhere and laying their eggs 
in the grass and wheat. As a 
matter of fact, one great outbreak 


of the army-worm in northern “o> ees 
we Ne 
y e 


Alabama, in the early summer of 
1881, was completely frustrated 
by the tachina flies, aided by a 4 


few other parasites and predatory = : 
. IG. . 
insects. L. O. Howarp, The is pe 

y 


Lapy BEE 
Insect Book, p. 58. Fetes 


Larva, pup, and “ 
adults of several 3 
Valuable shade trees are aes 
sometimes cut because they La 
are infested with caterpillars for two or 


three years in succession. Of course 
trees may be killed by being stripped of their leaves 
repeatedly ; but frequently the year after the pests seem 
to have become unendurable there may be scarcely one 
in the whole neighborhood, all but a few having been 
killed by increase of their natural enemies. 

Lady Beetles, Ladybirds, or Ladybugs. — These insects are 
too familiar to require description. We may bring one to 
class in a vial and let the children learn their next day’s 
nature-study lesson by observing what the lady beetles 
are doing. A branch of apple or cherry covered with 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 255 


aphids in June will be likely to show lady beetles in all 
stages; the yellow eggs in clusters, often in the midst of 
a swarm of aphids; the alligator-shaped larve, black with 
red or yellow spots and covered with warts or spines; the 
angular pupee suspended from the leaves or twigs by their 
tails ; and the adult beetles. Both larve and adults spend 
a large part of the time devouring plant lice, scales, and 
the eggs and young larvee of other insects. 

Lady beetles often come into houses to pass the winter, 
and their presence may well be encouraged, as it would 
seem that they might be the best protectors of the win- 
dow garden against plant lice and scale insects. I have 
not been able to find any account, however, in which it 
is stated that they have been successfully kept alive 
and feeding during the entire winter, -but this might 
prove a valuable line of experiment.t 

Lion Beetles. — Among the beetles there are a number 
of other carnivorous species that are of great service in 
our gardens. If any of these or their larvee can be found, 
instructive feeding tests may be made. 

The lion beetle, Calosoma scrutator, is our most beauti- 
ful species. It is somewhat over one inch in length, the 
wing covers are bright golden green, and the body is 
marked with blue, gold, green, and copper. This beetle 


1 Professor Weed has described finding “balls” of hibernating lady 
beetles containing as much as a quart. He stated that they occurred 
about the borders of woods under piles of leaves and brush. One 
other observer has reported to me a similar find in a hollow stump. We 
ought to learn more of this, and if such a ball could be captured and 
the beetles be distributed among the cherry, peach, and plum trees of a 
neighborhood, they might nip many a serious outbreak of plant lice in 
the bud. 


256 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


hunts over trees in search of caterpillars. It has also 
been described as climbing cornstalks, stopping appar- 
ently to listen at the tip of the ear, and if a corn worm 
is within, it speedily drags it out and devours it. 

Calosoma calidum is another lion beetle, a little smaller 
than the above, shining black, with three rows of copper- 
colored pits down each wing cover. This is chiefly noc- 
turnal and is said to feed largely on cutworms. The larve 
of both the Calosomas are flat, fish-shaped creatures, some- 
times two inches long, with somewhat the appearance of 
having pincers at both ends. They are fierce hunters after 
caterpillars, climbing trees and often burrowing in the 
ground after cutworms. They may be found in the daytime 
generally under boards, stones, or heaps of leaves and rubbish. 

The Tiger Beetles, Czczudelid@.— These are described 
both in appearance and in character by their common 
name. They are the lively beetles that we have all seen 
in dusty roads, which fly up as we approach and always 
alight with head toward us. Their color is usually green 
or bronze, spotted and banded with yellow, but some are 
sand colored. Their larve are ugly but very interesting 
creatures. They live in vertical burrows, often a foot 
deep. The flattened dirt-colored head with its jaws wide 
open fills and conceals the opening, and unsuspecting 
insects, as they walk over, are seized, dragged down to the 
bottom, and there devoured. 

The Bombardier Beetles. — There is certainly nothing 
more startling and comical than one of these insects — 
‘a regular sharp-shooter, blue uniform and all.’’! They 


1 Gibson, Sharp Eyes, p. 73, gives an amusing account of a bombardier 
beetle. 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 257 


are ground beetles and may be found by turning up flat 
stones in pastures. The head and legs are reddish yellow, 
and the wing covers are commonly blue, sometimes black. 
If any of the children succeed in finding one, it should be 
made at home under a stone in a vivarium, well fed with 
insects, and experimented with as occasion offers. It 
would be interesting to know how a toad might fare with 
a bombardier. 

There are many other common carabids, or ground 
beetles, whose strong jaws mark them as carnivorous spe- 
cies. It will be well not to try to keep any such beetle 
with other insects that we may wish to rear or preserve. 

Dragon Flies. — These may be classed among beneficial 
insects as long as there are mosquitoes, gnats, and flies to 
be destroyed. They are the swallows among insects, cap- 
turing and eating a great variety, especially of the smaller 
insects, on the wing. But long after flies and mosquitoes 
cease from troubling we shall need dragon flies, that we 
may enjoy their beauty and that each year we may watch a 
few crawl out of the water and change to fairies. The eggs 
are laid in or on the water, often on the stems of water 
plants. Sometimes the female crawls down a stem and 
under the surface to lay her eggs. The larvez are active, 
predaceous creatures, feeding on aquatic insects, young 
fishes, and tadpoles, from the time of hatching until they 
leave the water to transform. In the last stage, before 
emerging from the water, they are known as “nymphs” ; 
and this takes the place of the quiescent pupa, or chrysalis 
stage, of other insects. 

Damsel Flies. In habits and appearance damsel flies 
resemble dragon flies, but they are smaller, and the wings, 


258 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


instead of remaining spread out, are folded over the back 
while at rest. They are the delicate, shimmering, scintil- 
lating insects that we so often see flitting and darting 
_ about the borders of ponds and streams. The larve are 
aquatic, and the life story in general is like that of the 
dragon flies. The French call them demozselles. 

Caddis Flies. — “Will you please tell us what these things 
are? Teacher doesn’t know nor any one else in our 
school. They are alive.’ The speaker was one of a half- 
dozen boys; he had a tin can in one hand and held out 
some small objects in the other. ‘Those are caddis fly 
worms,” I answered. ‘What do they eat?” was his next 
question. I told him that they fed upon water plants, 
and said that if they would keep them in an aquarium with 
plenty of plants, they might see one pop out of the water 
and change like a flash into a four-winged fly. 

More than 150 different kinds of caddis flies have 
been described for North America. Most of them are 
vegetable feeders and build cases of tough silk, with 
all sorts of materials, — grains of sand, small stones, bits 
of wood, pine needles, snail shells, etc., — woven into their 
walls; so that their occupants are pretty well protected 
from predaceous insects and even from fishes. Generally 
the case is free, and the larva drags it about as it seeks its 
food. In swiftly flowing streams, however, the cases are 
often fastened to the rocks. In one family of caddis flies 
the larve are carnivorous, and these construct funnel- 
shaped silken nets attached to stones, the small end of the 


11 learned that the boys had “fixed up” one of the chicken coops in 
the neighborhood into what they called their “laboratory” and were spend- 
ing their summer vacation “studying insects and all kinds of things.” 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 259 


funnel tapering down to the opening of the case. Howard 
speaks of finding 166 of these nets on a rock about 
eighteen inches in diameter. 

The larvee of dragon flies, damsel, and caddis flies may 
best be collected in May or June by raking out the 


Fic. 109, MALE CECROPIA AND Cocoon. LOWLAND FoRM 


natural size. From photograph by the author) 


leaves and bunches of grass from the bottom of pools and 
streams. They may then be kept in the school aquaria, and 
the feeding and final transformations be easily observed. 
An excursion to some pond in June, when the dragon and 


260 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


damsel flies are emerging, — when we can let the nymphs 
crawl up on our hands and see them transfigured in the 
bright sunshine, — will give us glimpses of nature that 
cannot be forgotten, and will make nature lovers of 
us all. 

Butterflies and Moths. —In advocating the possession of 
insect nets by the children I have had in mind chiefly the 
collection of injurious insects, not the extermination of our 
butterflies. As with roadside flowers, our nature-study les- 
sons with butterflies may 
well be protective rather 
than destructive. Even in 
connection with the col- 
lection of cocoons and 
chrysalids, I prefer to 
store them in a cold out- 
building and bring them 
into the schoolroom only 
after furnace fires are ex- 

Fic. 110. CECROPIA LARVA ASLEEP tinguished in the spring, 

(Length 3 inches. Photograph from life) So that they may emerge 
in their normal season; 

and then, after we have seen them emerge and, perhaps, 
fed them a few times with honey, let them go, to keep the 
world as full of butterflies as possible. Mrs. Brightwen1? 
in this way tamed the butterflies about her home so that 
they would follow her about and alight upon her hands to 
be fed. Is not this a better ideal, especially for young 
children, than the collection of dead specimens? And, 
furthermore, if we follow it, we shall be able to study 


1 Wild Nature won by Kindness. 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 261 


their lives, habits, and instincts in a way that the older 
methods cannot approach. I shall never forget with what 
a growing sense of wonder I first watched a parsnip but- 
terfly as she laid her eggs. It was before I had read 
Gibson’s description of butterflies as botanists. There 
were long, straight rows of vegetables the length of the 
garden, — one of carrots and, several rows removed, one 
of parsnips. The plants had just put forth the third leaf, 
and it was about all I could do to distinguish them from 
the numerous weeds; but that little creature, for nearly 
an hour, unerringly laid her eggs either on the carrots or 
the parsnips. I have often thought that I never learned 
so much from all the collections of insects, including my 
own, as I did from that living butterfly. It was a reve- 
lation to me. 

Still there is much to be said on the other side. Col- 
lections of butterflies are different from collections of 
birds. A mounted butterfly may retain its natural beauty 
to a greater degree. Butterflies are not intrinsically so 
valuable as birds for the work they do in nature. Most 
of them at best are but creatures of a few days, and we 
may thus prolong their beauty by preserving them. On 
the whole, if it is done with care, and if the specimens 
are used as a means by which to stimulate study of the 
life and work of the species rather than as an end in 
themselves, I should encourage butterfly collections both 
in the school cabinet and on the part of the children 
who wish to make them. In doing the collecting, how- 
ever, it is a good rule to examine all specimens before kill- 
ing them and to let all the imperfect ones go. There are 
so few perfect specimens that the species will suffer but 


262 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


little, and the children will have the more exercise in 
the fresh air. 

Few species of butterflies do enough harm to require 
attention on that account. The mourning cloak, Ezvanessa 
antiopa, occasionally does some damage to shade trees, 
elms, willows, and poplars; and this is about the only 
species that lays its eggs in clusters and the caterpillars 
of which feed close together so that their depredations are 
conspicuous. Of the entire group the cabbage butterflies, 
— Pieris napi, protodice and, especially, rap@,—are the 
only serious pests. These are our commonest species, 
unfortunately. The larvae are the slender green caterpil- 
lars so numerous on cabbage, cauliflower, other Cruciferee, 
and also on nasturtiums. Where any of these plants 
occur we are sure to find, on any warm day between May 
and October, one or more of these white butterflies laying 
her eggs.t * 

Space does not permit more than the mention of the 
names of some of our commonest and more conspicuous 

1 The story of the accidental introduction and spread of what is now 
the common cabbage butterfly (7. vaf@) is of interest as showing the 
importance of such apparently trifling things. It was brought from Eng- 
land to Quebec about 1860, probably in ship’s supplies or in imported 
cabbages. In three years it had spread over an area about sixty miles in 
diameter; by 1871 it covered eastern Canada and the New England states; 
ten years later it was common over. the eastern half of the continent from 
Hudson Bay to Texas; and for some years now it has had possession of every 
cabbage patch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In this rapid conquest of 
the continent our native species of the same genus, which feed on the 
same plants, have been almost exterminated in many regions where they 
were once numerous. The writer has counted over five hundred ovules in 
the ovaries of a newly emerged cabbage butterfly. There are three broods 


a year in the North and more in the South; hence a new insect without 
natural enemies practically owns the earth. 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 263 


species ; and, while tables have certain disadvantages, it 
is hoped that the following table will answer more of the 
questions that arise as butterflies and their caterpillars 
are brought into the schoolroom, than could be disposed 
of in any other way. These tables are the more interest- 
ing because they represent the work, ingenuity, and obser- 
vation of a schoolboy aged fifteen, Master W. T. M. Forbes. 
The species given have been collected, and in many cases 
their larvee reared, by this enthusiastic young naturalist. 


264 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


BUTTERFLIES 
Wing 
Name Prominent Colors and Markings | Expanse 
in Inches 
Giant Fritillary, Argynzis | Orange brown, black checkered, 3-4 
cybele silver below 
Aphrodite, Argynnis aphro- | Orange brown, black checkered, 23-335 
dite silver below 
Little Silverspot, Brenthis | Orange brown, black checkered, | mz. 13, f. 13 
myrina silver below 
Marsh Fritillary, Brenthis del- | Orange brown, no silver 1? 
lona 
Baltimore, Afelit@a phaéton | Orange, black, and yellow, no 1f-23 
silver 
Harris’ Checkerspot, AZe/i- | Orange brown, black mottled | m.13, f. 13 
tea harrisi 
Pearl Crescent, Phyciodes | Orange brown, black mottled | m.14,f.18 
tharos 
Silver Crescent, Phyciodes | Orange brown, black mottled Ip2 
nycteis 


Harvester, Feniseca targui- 
nius 

Ismeria, Phyciodes ismeria 

Semicolon, Grafta interroga- 
tionis 

Green Comma, Grafta comma 


Gray Comma, Grafta progne 


Brown Comma, Grafta fau- 
WUuUs 

Large Tortoise-Shell Butter- 
fly, Vanessa j-album 

5mall Tortoise-Shell Butter- 
fly, Vanessa milberti 

Milkweed Butterfly, Axosia 
plexippus 

False Milkweed Butterfly, 
Basilarchia disippus 

Common Copper, Cirysopha- 
nus hypophleas 

Large Copper, Chrysophanus 
thoé 


Orange brown, black borderand 
spots 
Orange brown, black mottled 


Orange brown, black dotted, 
wings angled 

Orange brown, black dotted, 
wings angled 

Orange brown, black dotted, 
wings angled 

Orange brown, black dotted, 
wings angled 

Orange brown, black dotted, 
wings angled 

Black, orange band, wings 
angled 


Orange brown, black veined 
Orange brown, black veined 
Orange, hind wing black 


Orange brown, hind wing black 
(m. washed out) 


m. 15, f. 13 


INSECTS 


BENEFICIAL 


BUTTERFLIES 


AND BEAUTIFUL 


265 


Food of Caterpillar 


Broods per Season 


Number 


Violets, pansy 
Violets, pansy 
Violets, pansy 


Violets, pansy 


I 


I (or 2) 


Ww 


[es) 


Turtlehead (while young), I 


Aster (when older) 


Aster (only Diflopappus I 


umbellatus) 
Aster and daisy 


Aster 


Plant lice, mealy bugs 1 


Elm, hop, nettle 
Elm, hop, nettle 
Elm, currants 
Willow 

Willow 

Nettle 

Milkweed, dogbane 
Willow, poplar 
Sorrel, dock, oxalis 


Sorrel 


iy 


iS 


(es) 


2 or more 


is 


is 


Month 


July, Aug. si 
July (and Sept.) 
June, Aug., Sept. 
June, Aug., Sept. 
June, July 
June 
July, Sept. 
July 


June, July, Sept. 


July, Aug., May 

May, June, Aug. 

July, Sept., May 
All summer 
Feb.-Oct. 

May, June, Aug., Sept. 

May-Oct. 
June, Aug. 


May, June, Sept. 


July, Aug. 


Haunts 
Meadows, on fireweed 
Meadows, on fireweed 
Meadows and hillsides 
Meadows and hillsides 
Swampy places 
Roadsides, on clover 
Roadsides 


Roadsides 


Edge of water 


Roads near trees 

Roads near trees and 
waste land 

Roads near trees and 
gardens 

Roads near trees and 
gardens 

Edge of water 

Roadsides 

Everywhere 

Roadsides 


Everywhere 


Moist land 


266 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Wing 


F ¥ Fre- 
Name Prominent Colors and Markings expanse quency 
Dark Fritillary, Avgynnis | Orange brown, hind wing black, 23-4 G 
tdalia silver spots 
Thistle Butterfly, Pyrameis | Pink or red, black and white 2-2} C. 
cardui mottled 
Painted Beauty, Pyrameis| Pink or red, black and white 2 (e 
huntera mottled 
Snout Butterfly, Zdythea | Black, orange and white banded VR: 
bachmanni and dotted 
Variegated Fritillary, z- | Orange brown, black checkered, 1f-23 V.R. 
toieta claudia no silver 
Orange Sulphur, Colias eury- | Yellow orange, or white, black 2 VaR. 
theme border 
Little Orange Sulphur, Tevias | Yellow, orange, or white, black 1}-2 ViR 
nicippe border 
Common Sulphur, Colias phi- | Yellow or white, black border 1}-2} V.C 
lodice 
Little Sulphur, Terias lisa Yellow or white, black border 1j-15 R. 
Cloudless Sulphur, Catopsilia | Yellow or white, no black border 24 R. 
eubule 
Tiger Swallowtail, Pagilio | Yellow, black bands 355 R.C 
tuynus 
Mustard White, Pieris napi | White, or white with black dots 2 R.R. 
Cabbage Butterfly, Pieris rafe| White with black dots 2 V. G. 
Checkered Cabbage Butterfly, | White with black dots (f gray 2 R. 
Pieris protodice brown checkered) 
Orange Tip, Zuchloé genutia | White with black dots (2. or- 1h V.R. 
ange tipped) 
Light Blue, Lycena pseudar- | Light violet (f. dark bordered) I oo 
giolus 
Tailed Blue, Lycena comyn-| Purple (f often brown) I Cc. 
tas 
Brown Emperor, Chloriffe | Dark brown (f. with eye-spots) | m. 2,7 25| V.R. 
clyton 
Pearly Eye, Debis portlandia | Dark brown, 20 eye-spots 12-2 R.R. 
Many-eyed Satyr, Satyrodes | Dark brown, 20 eye-spots (semi- i? R.'C 
canthus transparent) 
Common Wood-nymph, Weo- | Dark brown, 6 eye-spots ia Re 
nympha eurytus 
Blue-Eyed Satyr, Satyrus | Dark brown, some eye-spots in 2 Cc. 
alope a yellow-spot 
Dull-Eyed Satyr, S a. nephele | Dark brown, 6 eye-spots 1 R. 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 267 
Broods per Season 
Food of Caterpillar Haunts 
Number Month 
Violets, pansy, and aster I July, Aug. ‘Low land 
Thistle, other Composite 2 Aug., Sept., May High pastures 
Thistle, burdock, everlast- 2 July, Sept., May High pastures, on 
ing thistles 
Hackberry 
(Not native) Passion flower 3 August Low fields 
Clover 3 May, July, Sept., Open fields 
April 2d 
Pea family 2 (?) June, Aug., March | Open fields 
Clover and pea family 3 May, June, Sept. About cultivated fields, 
everywhere 
Clover, cassia 2 July, Aug., April 
Pea family, cassia 2 August 
Tulip tree, wild cherry, etc. 2 June, Aug. Open woods 
Mustard, etc. (rarely cab- 3 May, July, Aug. Waste land 
bage) 
Cabbage, mustard, etc. 3 May, July, Aug. Gardens 
Mustard family 3 May, July, Sept. Gardens 
Mustard family (eats flow- I May Open woods 
ers and seed pods) 
Pea family, and almost 2 May, July Roadsides 
everything 
Pea family 3 May, Aug., Sept. Roadsides 
Hackberry, elm, etc. I June, July 
Grasses I July Open woods 
Grasses I July Meadows, in grass, or 
open woods 
Grasses I June Hillsides 
Grasses I July Hillsides 
Grasses I August Hillsides 


208 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 
N. Prominent Col aMarkings| expanse | Fre- 
ame rominent Colors and Markings | Berane quency 
Red Admirai, Pyvameis ata- | Dark brown, oval orange band 2 Cy 
lanta 
Mourning Cloak or Yellow- | Dark brown, yellow edge 3 C: 
Edge, Vanessa antiopa 
Blue Emperor, Basilarchia | Blackish, blue shadings 4 RG 
astyvanax 
White Admiral, Basilarchia | Blackish, a white band 2h V.R. 
arthemis 
Black Swallowtail, Pafi/io | Blackish, blue shading and yel- | m. 3, f. 4 c: 
asterias low dots 
Blue Swallowtail, Pafélio| Blackish, blue shading and 38-42 R.C. 
troilus greenish dots (7. blue green) 
Green Swallowtail, Pafélio| Blackish and iridescent blue 3f-4t VER 
philenor green 
Giant Swallowtail, Pafilio | Blackish, yellow dots 4-54 VeRs 
cresphontes 
Peacock, Junonia cenia Blackish, three large peacock 2-2} VE 
eyes 
Hop Hairstreak, Thecla meli- | Blackish, gray below 13 R.C. 
UUS 
Banded Hairstreak, Thecla | Blackish, light brown below 1k RR 
calanus 
Acadian Hairstreak, Thecla | Blackish, light brown below ii Ra 
acadica 
Edward’s Hairstreak, T/hecla | Blackish, light brown below 1} RG. 
edwardsi 
Striped Hairstreak, Thecla | Blackish, light brown below 1} R.R. 
liparops 
Olive Hairstreak, Thec/a | Blackish, orange brown, green- it R.R. 
damon ish below 
Brown Elfin, Thecla augustus | Blackish, brown below g R. 
Hoary Elfin, Thecla irus Blackish, brown below 1h R. 
Henry’s Hairstreak, ZThecla | Blackish and red brown, brown I ¥.R, 
henrici below 
Banded Elfin, Thecla niphon | Dark reddish brown, brown 1k R.R. 
mottled below 
Early Hairstreak, Theclaleta | Blackish, light gray below 3 V.R. 
Coral Hairstreak, Theclatitus | Blackish, blackish and red band 1} R.R. 
below 
Least Copper, Chrysophanus | Blackish, darker dots (. pur- 1 RAR: 


epixanthe 


plish) 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 


269 


Food of Caterpillar 


Nettle, elm 

Willow, poplar, elm 

Wild cherry, etc. 

Wildcherry, hawthorn, etc. 

Parsley family 

Sassafras, spicebush 

Dutchman’s pipe 

(Orange tree) rue family 

Plantain 

Hop vine, bean pods, etc. 

Oak 

Willow 

Oak 

Oak, willow, apple family, 
etc. 

Cedar 


Unknown (perhaps like 
next) 
Bores in young plums 


Bores in young plums 
Pine 


Unknown 
Wild cherry, etc. 


Unknown (probably sorrel) 


Broods per Season 


Number Month 
re 2 “Tily; Sept, May _ 

. July, Sept., April 

Ior2 July (Sept.) 

I (or 2) July (Sept.) 
2 June, Aug. 
2 June, Sept. 
2 July, Sept., May 
2 June, Aug. 
2 May, July 
I July, Aug. 
I July, Aug. 
I July, Aug. 
I July 

1or2 May, June, Aug 
I May 
I May 
I May 
I Last of July 
I July 


Haunts 
Waste land 
Edge of water 
Roads near trees 
Open woods 
Fields and gardens 
Open woods and brush 
Near houses 
Meadows 
Open fields 
About shrubbery 
About shrubbery 
Edge of water 
About shrubbery 
About shrubbery 
Near cedars 
Rough land 


Roadsides and bushes 


Roads near pine trees 


Open places near 
brush 


Meadows 


270 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 
Prominent Colors and Marki Ernauee | 21 
Name rominent Colors and Markings = pene quency 

Silver-spotted Skipper, Zfar- | Brown, silver spot below rp2 er 
gyreus tityrus 

Northern Dusky-Wing, Thory-| Blackish, few faint light spots 1 G 
bes pylades 

Hoary-Edge, Achalarus lyci- | Blackish, orange spot 13 R. 
dus 

Checkered Skipper, Hesferia | Blackish, white dots 1} V.R 
centauree 

Sooty-Wing, Pholisora catul-| Black I R.R 
lus 

Sleepy Dusky-Wing, Thanaos | Gray, mottled ik R.C 
brizo 

Dreamy Dusky-Wing, Tha- | Gray, mottled 1-1} R.C 
naos icelus 

Lucilius’ Dusky-Wing, Z/a- | Gray, mottled, white dots boa R.R. 
naos lucilius 

Persius’ Dusky-Wing, Zha-| Gray, mottled, white dots it R.C 
naos persius 

Martial’s Dusky-Wing, Z/ha-| Gray, mottled, white dots 1} R.R. 
naos martialis ; 

Juvenal’s Dusky-Wing, Z/a-| Gray, mottled, white dots 18, 18 R. 
naos Juveralis 

Horace’s Dusky-Wing, Tha-| Gray, mottled, white dots 18 R. 
naos horatius 

Roadside Skipper, -A7d/ys- | Blackish, white dots I R.C 
crites vialis 

Pepper and Salt Skipper, | Blackish, white dots I R.. 
Amblyscrites samoset 

Bordered Skipper, Azcyloxy- | Orange brown, black border gi Seb 
pha numitor 

Indian Skipper, Erynnis sas-| Light orange brown, black 1} RC 
sacus border and marks 

CobwebSkipper,Z7ynismetea| Gray brown, white bands i} R. 

Leonard’s Skipper, Zrynnis | m. black and orange, f. black, | w.}, 7.14] R.R 
leonardus yellow band 

Attalus’ Skipper, £ry2zis | Gray brown, yellow dots m. 14, f.12| V.R. 
attalus 

Whirlabout, Thymelicus bret-| m. orange, black dots, f. black- | w.13,f.1}| V.R 
tus ish, yellow dots 

Volcanic Skipper, Thymelicus | Blackish, white dots m.1,f.1f| R. 
@ina 

Long-Dash, Thymelicusmystic| Blackish, yellowish blotches m2. 04, 7.12) Rs 


INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 


4 


a 


Food of Caterpillar 


Broods per Season 


Number Month 
Locust tree, wistaria, etc. 1 “July _ 
Locust tree, clover, etc. 2 June, Aug. 
Tick trefoil 
Unknown, probably mal- 

lows 

Pigweed (lamb’s-quarters) 2 May, Aug. 
Oak, milkwort, etc. I June 
Oak, poplar I June 
Columbine 2,0r 3 May (July, Aug.) 
Willows I (or 2) May (July) 
Pigweed (lamb’s-quarters) | 1 or 2 
Oaks and pea family I or 2 May (July-Aug.) 
Pea family 
Grass 
Grass (?) 
Grass 3 June, Aug., Sept. 
Grass I June 
Unknown (probably grass) 
Grass I Sept. 
Unknown (probably grass) 
Grass 
Grass, etc. 
Grass | 2 June, Aug. 


Haunts 


Bushy pastures 


Dry fields 


Fields and gardens 
Meadows 

Damp woods 
Rough country 


Shady roadsides 


Open oak woods 


Meadows 


Meadows 


Meadows 


Meadows 


272 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 
jors and Markings | Expance | ¥T@- 
Name Prominent Colors and Markings ao anse. | quency 
Peck’s Skipper, Polites peckius | Blackish, rows of orange dots |m.1, f.13| C. 
Tawny-Eyed Skipper, Limzo- | Blackish, orange dots (w.orange | m.1, f.14] C. 
chores taumas blotch) 
Cross-Line Skipper, Zémo-| Blackish, white dots 13 R.R 
chores manataaqgua 
Pontiac Skipper, Limochores | Blackish, light brownish orange | 7.14, f1}| R. 
pontiac mottlings 
Little Glass-Wing, Ef/yes | Blackish, white bars m. 4, f. 18} RR. 
Verna 
Dun Skipper, Zuphyes meta- | Blackish m. 14, f.1%| RB. 
comet 
Mulberry-Wing, Poanes mas- | Blackish (orange dots in f) fe Ba 
Sasoit 
Hobomok Skipper, Atrytone | Light brownish orange, black |.14,f14|  C. 
zabulon border and marks 
Delaware Skipper, Atrytone | Light brownish orange, black | 13-1} R.R. 
delaware border and marks 
Accius’ Skipper, Levema ac-| Deep brown ty V.R 
cius 4 
Dusted Skipper, Lerema hi-| Olive brown m.th, ff]. R. 
anna 
MOTHS 
Regal Moth, Citheroniaregalis | Olive, spotted with yellow, 4-7 VR, 
veins red 
Imperial Moth, Zacles im-| Yellow, spotted and banded 4-53 R. Bs 
perialis with purplish brown 
Io Moth, Hyferchiria io m. yellow, f. purplish red m. 2%, f.3k| R.C 
Promethea, Callosamia pro-| f. reddish brown, light wavy 3h-43 c. 
methea bands, #. darker, markings 
indistinct 
Polyphemus, American Silk- | Yellowish brown, dusky band, 5-6 R.C 
worm, Telea polyphemus four transparent eye-spots 4 
with pink outer margin 
Cecropia, Emperor Moth,| Red brown, wavy dull red 5-7 R.C 
Platysamia cecropia bands 
Luna Moth, Actias luna Light green, tailed, front border 4-55. R. 


purple brown 


Kary: R., Rare 


m., male 


C., Common 
J, female 


R. C., Rather Common 


INSECTS 


BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 


273 


Broods per Season 
Food of Caterpillar Haunts 
Number Month 
Grass 2 June, Aug. Meadows 
Grass 2 June, Aug. Meadows 
Grass 
Unknown (probably grass) 
Grass 
Unknown (probably grass) 1 (?) July Meadows 
Unknown (probably grass) 
Grass I May, June Meadows 
Grass I (?) July Meadows 
Grass 
Unknown (probably grass) 
MOTHS 
Hickory, walnut, pine I June Borders of woods 
Maple, buttonwood, pine I June Borders of woods 
Clover, corn, hops, cotton, I June Fields and roadsides 
elm, cherry, and other 
trees, spines venomous 
Wild cherry, tulip, ash, I June, July Open woods 
and other trees 
Oak, elm, hickory, bass- I June, July Open woods 
wood, maple, and other 
trees 
Apple, cherry, plum, and I June, Jaly Open woods 
many other trees 
Walnut, hickory, birch I June Borders of woods 
R. R., Rather Rare V.R., Very Rare V.C., Very Common 


1 The only native carnivorous butterfly-caterpillar. 


CHAPTER XVI 
INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 


Tue Common Toap: ITs LirE Story AND Work; 
THE BioLoGicaAL TYPE 


Life runs its rounds of living, climbing up 

From moat, and gnat, and worm, reptile, and fish, 

Bird and shagged beast, man, demon, deva, God, 

To clod and moat again; so are we kin 

To all that is; and thus, if one might save 

Man from his curse, the whole wide world should share 
The lightened horror of this ignorance 

Whose shadow is chill fear, and cruelty 

Its bitter pastime. 


Sir EpwWIn ARNOLD, Light of Asia. 

Ir the children are interested in their gardens, vines, 
and fruit trees, and if they have begun to study intelli- 
gently the insects about their homes, they will be ready 
to commence with zest the work with our insectivorous 
animals. 

Possibly some child in the class has a pet toad. If so, 
have it brought to school and make it at home in an 
aquarium or glass box of some sort with about two inches 
of moist earth in the bottom. It will probably bury itself 
with only its back and eyes above the surface. Then 
ask the children to bring in all sorts of insects — flies, 
caterpillars, hornets, wasps, rose beetles, spiders, ants, 
moths, roaches, squash bugs, anything they can find — 

274 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 275 


especially such as may be destructive and annoying in 
the neighborhood. During the nature-study hour turn 
these in with the toad and let the class gather around and 
count the number it requires for a dinner. They will be 
able to observe the manner in which the toad catches 
an insect, —a flash of pink, almost too quick for the eye 
to follow, and the insect is gone. From the numbers 


Fic. 111. A PAIR OF TOADS 


Female and male. (Photograph by the author) 


obtained, they may be led to reason what a power for 
good one such little animal may exert in their gardens. 
They will also notice that a toad never snaps at anything 
until it moves, so that all its food must consist of moving 
living things. 

For the next lesson the children may be asked to study 
the toads about their own homes. First, how many have 


1 For suitable vivaria or aquaria, see Chapter XXIII. If insects are 
not obtainable, bits of fresh meat may be dangled on the end of a thread, 
dragged slowly in front of the toad, etc., thus demonstrating its manner of 
feeding almost equally well. 


276 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


they? This question may be answered by searching over 
the lot about sundown or after a shower. Do they have 
enough to keep the ground free from insects? How 
large are their toads? 
Let us see who can bring 
in the biggest toad, and 
the smallest. What kinds 
of places do toads select 
to spend the day in? 
This is an important 
point. It will be found 
that they choose moist, 


shady places, under 
stones, leaves, or, more 


ee often, under boards. Are 


there enough such shel- 
ters well distributed about their gardens? 


Before I knew what to do to save my garden from the slugs, 
I have stood at evening rejoicing over rows of fresh emerald leaves 
just springing in rich lines along the beds, and woke in the morning 
to find the whole space stripped of 


Sa 
any sign of green, as blank as a 


board over which a carpenter’s plane 
has passed. 

In the thickest of my fight with 
the slugs some one said to me, |}———~ 
“ I’very living thing has its enemy; ts 
the enemy of the slug is the toad. : 
Why don’t you import toads?” 

I snatched at the hope held 
out to me, and immediately wrote 
to a friend on the continent, “In the name of the Prophet, Toads!” 
At once a force of only too willing boys was set about the work 


Fic. 113. Just AFTER 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 277. 


of catching every toad within reach, and one day in June a boat 
brought a box to me from the far-off express office. A piece of wire 
netting was nailed across the top, and upon the earth with which 
it was half filled, reposing upon some dry and dusty green leaves, 
sat three dry and dusty toads, wearily gazing at nothing. Is this 
all, I thought, only three! Hardly worth sending so far. Poor 
creatures! they looked so arid and wilted, I took up the hose and 
turned upon them a gentle shower of fresh cool water, flooding the 
box. I was not prepared for the result! The dry, baked earth 
heaved tumultuously : up came dusky heads and shoulders and bright 
eyes by the dozen. A sudden concert of liquid sweet notes was 
poured out on the air from the whole rejoicing company. It was 
really beautiful to hear that musical ripple of delight. I surveyed 
them with eager interest as they sat singing and blinking together. 
“You are not handsome,” I said, as I took a hammer and wrenched 
off the wire cover that shut them in, “but you will be lovely in my 
sight if you wil help me to destroy mine enemy”; and with that I 
turned the box on its side and out they skipped into a perfect para- 
dise of food and shade. All summer I came upon them in different 
parts of the garden, waxing fatter and fatter till they were as round 
as apples. In the autumn baby toads no larger than my thumb nail 
were found hopping merrily over the whole island. There were 
sixty in that first importation; next summer I received ninety more. 
CELIA THAXTER, An Jsland Garden, pp.9, 10. (See also Letters 
of Celia Thaxter, p. 179.) 


We may next take up the life story. Who can bring 
in the first eggs? Where shall we look for toads’ eggs? 
At what season are they laid? Who ever heard of toads’ 
eggs, anyway? What do they look like? What child in 
the class can tell us ? 

This part of the subject should be taken up in the 
spring, about the time the frost comes out of the ground. 
On some of the first warm evenings after this, a rustling 
of dry leaves and grass may be heard in every direction, 


278 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


where toads are plenty. It will often be mingled with 
low musical trills of the male toad. This is the signal by 
which you may know that all the adult toads are migrat- 
ing to the nearest pond to lay their eggs. That same 
night, or as you awake in the morning, you will hear 
the country ringing with the music Gibson has so well 
described as the “ sweetest sound in nature.” As spring 
draws slowly on, my ears grow impatient to hear it, and 
as the years go by I enjoy it more and more. True, 


Be. 


Tic. 114. Lire Story 


Showing egg, tadpole, young toad just emerged from water, one year old, and 
adult. (4, ¢, d, e, photographs by the author) 


some may think it monotonous. It may come but once 
a year, and then only for a few days, and to me it is one 
of the cheeriest wedding bells of the season. 


But the early musicians are now forgotten. A new singer has 
come upon the scene, and his mellow nocturne in the twilight marshes 
brings a message unknown to his predecessors. This is no shrill 
peep that stirs your blood and sets your ears a-tingle, no bubbling 
rattle or vibrant croak that cries “qui vive” to your eager senses, 
but a drowsy drool that brings your feet to loitering in the deepening 
dusk, and whose distant music from the swampy lowlands lulls you 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 279 


on your pillow. It is to me the sweetest sound in nature, the faithful 
chosen voice of the twilight, one of the most characteristic attributes 
of late spring, and yet, like the sprightly welcome of the hylodes 
which ushers in the vernal season, it still remains unsung by our 
poets, or if occasionally acknowledged the true singer never gets the 
credit. 

Who will immortalize in verse the pensive witchery, ‘most 
musical, most melancholy,” of this tremorous song of the toad, for 
it is in truth the uncouth and ill-favored toad that now swells his 
bagpipe in the marshes and fills the night with music? It is one of 
the beneficences of nature that the twilight glamour throws a veil of 
obscurity over the performer while it emphasizes and consecrates its 
music. HAMILTON GIBsoNn, Sharp Eyes, p. 54. 


If we go down to the pond next morning, we may see 
them by scores, hundreds, possibly thousands, paddling 
about in the water, the males, many of them, trilling at 
the top of their voices. Many, possibly, are still arriving, 
hopping along, all toward the pond. The males do all 
the piping, and it will be noticed that the throat is 
swelled into a bagpipe while the sound is emitted. Males 
and females are otherwise distinguished by the larger 
size of the female, the body being also greatly distended 
with eggs.t 

The mass of eggs laid by a toad is remarkable. It 
may be demonstrated by placing a pair, before they begin 
to lay, in an aquarium or bucket half full of water. If 
the water and receptacle are clean, z.¢., if there is no sand 
or plants to become mixed with the eggs, a clear, bright 
mass of eggs may be obtained. A stone should be placed 


1 Children, when they begin studying toads in the spring, often think 
that the male is “eating” or “sucking the blood” of the female. They 
should be told that he is helping the female lay her eggs. 


280 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


in the water, rising to the surface, for the toads to rest 
on. Some boy or girl may volunteer to secure the entire 
laying of a pair of toads to show the school, and it might 
be interesting to count or estimate the number. Toad 
spawn is distinguished from that of frogs and salaman- 
ders by the fact that it is laid in strings or “ropes,” the 
eggs lying in single rows inclosed in a transparent jelly. 
They are about the size of a small pin head at first, black 
above and light below; 
as they float they look 
like strings of black 
beads. It may stagger 
the class to believe that 
a toad can lay a mass of 
eggs eight or ten times 
as large as its whole 
body, — as though a hen 
were to lay an egg the 
Fic. 115. EGGS LAID BY A TOAD size of a bushel basket. 

The glass dish is nine inches in diameter. This m ystery is ex- 
Number of eggs, 9500 (estimated) plained by the swelling 

of the jelly on contact with the water. But the number 
of eggs is almost incredible. Layings of four toads con- 
tained, respectively, 7587 and 11,545 (counted), and 8000 
and 9500 (estimated). This number is laid in a few hours, 
generally at night ; and then, quitting the water, the parents 
probably return to the same gardens whence they came. 
Beginning with the egg, the most interesting part of the 
toad’s life story may be read in its reality by occasional 
observations in the ponds and by taking a few eggs home 
or to the schoolroom to watch their development from 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 281 


day to day. No aquatic egg is better adapted for such 
use. It is large enough to be seen with the unaided eye, 


Fic. 116. AQUARIUM 


Arranged to collect eggs of a toad 


develops under all sorts of conditions, and the progress 
is so rapid that interest is sustained to the end. First 
the egg elongates, then the tiny flat tadpoles hatch and, 


282 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


-feeding first on the gelatinous matter of their envelope, 
they soon begin to eat the slimes in the aquarium and 
grow with great rapidity; hind legs appear, fore legs 
come, the tail is absorbed, and the little toads emerge from 
the water, —all within little more than a month from the 
time the eggs are laid. 

To do this in the schoolroom, have some of the chil- 
dren arrange two or three aquaria (glass, earthenware, 
wood, or iron may be used, but tin, lead, zinc, galvanized 
iron, copper, and other metals should be avoided, since 
they may poison the water and kill the tadpoles) as nearly 
as possible like the pond from which the eggs are taken. 
Have the water not more than two to four inches deep in 
the deepest part, and let the bottom slope up gradually 
to the surface at one end. This will enable the tadpoles 
to find any depth of water they wish and afford a place 
for them to come out gradually into the air at the proper 
time. In fact, the bottom of the aquarium may be made 
of sand, gravel, and moss-covered stones from a fairly 
clean pond. It is necessary also to have plenty of green 
algee and water plants, duck’s-meat, stonewort, bladder- 
wort, milfoil, water cress, or the like, to oxygenate the 
water properly, furnish food, and take up the excretions of 
the growing tadpoles. If the aquarium is large enough, 
a water hyacinth is an excellent plant to have growing 
in it for this latter purpose. If the tadpoles do not keep 
the water perfectly clear, a fresh-water mussel or two 
will accomplish this. Give them a window with sunlight 
a good part of the day; as they grow, let the children 
carry any surplus back to the pond, and avoid over- 
crowding by allowing about an inch of water surface to 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 283 


a tadpole. If they tend to eat the aquarium bare, add 
fresh supplies of slime and plants from the pond and, in 
a word, keep them healthy, vigorous, and growing. 

Encourage as many children as possible to provide little 
pools in their gardens, stock them well with water lilies, 
pickerel weed, cat-tails, iris, and other of our interesting 
aquatic plants, and put in as many toads’ eggs or tadpoles 
as the pool will support. For this purpose a water-tight 
box or tub may be set in the ground, or a more natural 
pool may be made by arranging large flat stones around a 
hole in the ground and ‘plastering up the cracks between 
them with water-lime cement. The top of any such recep- 
tacle should be two or three inches below the surface, and 
the earth well packed around the edges to prevent rains 
from splashing out its occupants. If natural food be not 
abundant, its place may be supplied by bits of dog biscuit, 
fresh meat, fish, or even bread, but care should be taken 
to put in no more than is eaten clean or to remove 
uneaten pieces before they foul the water. In this way, 
without appreciable expense, any child can raise toads by 
thousands, until many of our most injurious insect pests 
become curiosities. The danger of ever getting too many 
toads we will discuss in a moment. 

Emphasize throughout these lessons the work the tad- 
poles are doing in the water. They are known as the 
“best scavengers” of aquaria, and it is difficult to keep an 
aquarium clean without them. Their little horny jaws 
are continually scraping the slimy growths from every- 
thing in the water. Their food at this time is commonly 
stated to be vegetable, but if one examines these slimes 
with a microscope, he will always find a considerable 


284 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


proportion of animal life as well. Toad tadpoles are espe- 
cially good for this work and will generally keep the water 
in the aquarium as clear as crystal. An instructive experi- . 
ment may be arranged by setting up two small aquaria just 
alike. Put in plants and everything else, but leave all 
the tadpoles out of one and observe differences in cleanli- 
ness of the water. Unite with this study observations as 
to feeding habits of tadpoles in the ponds, They may be 
seen swarming around dead fishes, frogs, or other matter 
that would otherwise pollute the water. Apply the 
knowledge gained to the problem of keeping the ponds 
and park waters in the neighborhood clear and sweet.1 

Natural enemies of the toad form the next series of 
topics for study. Why is it that, laying from five to ten 
thousand eggs a year, toads do not become more numer- 
ous? No one knows the natural length of a toad’s life. 
It is claimed that one lived for thirty-six years in a garden 
in England and was then killed by a tame raven. They 
probably mature and begin to lay eggs when about four 
years old. Suppose the females continue laying for ten 
years, the fact that the species does not increase in num- 
bers means that of the possible 100,000 eggs only two 
survive to take the place of their parents. How are all 
the rest killed off ? 

Practically every egg in a laying hatches, and I have 
not discovered that any fishes, newts, tadpoles, or aquatic 
insects eat the eggs. But the tadpoles from the time 


1 As filth is washed into the ponds by the freshets of early spring, no. 
small service may be rendered in cleaning surface waters at this season. I 
“have seen pools even among city dumpage perfectly clean while the tad- 
poles were in them during the spring. 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 285 


they hatch until they leave the water are preyed upon by 
water beetles, dragon-fly larvee, newts, and possibly fishes. 
The entire hatching of a pond may be thus destroyed. 
Probably ducks feed upon both eggs and tadpoles in great 
numbers. On leaving the water the little toads are at 
the mercy of ducks, hens, and many insectivorous birds. 
Crows and snakes, and many species of hawks and owls 
feed upon the adults. In addition to those destroyed by 
natural enemies many are killed by wheels of vehicles 
and lawn mowers, and many more are trodden under foot 
and burned in rubbish. 

The toad is known to possess something of a “homing 
instinct”’; so that if they are collected and put into a 
garden, they immediately leave it, unless confined, in their 
attempt to find their familiar haunts. It is also said that 
the adults generally return to the pond in which they were 
hatched, to lay their eggs. Both of these considerations, 
coupled with the fact that it is difficult or impossible to 
protect them from natural enemies in the ponds at large, 
emphasize the advisability of each garden or farm raising 
its supply in the easy manner suggested above. It is 
work that any child can do and be the better and wiser 
for doing, aside from any more material benefits that may 
accrue, and these are likely to be by no means small. 

The criticism naturally arises that such artificial cul- 
ture might result in a plague of toads. This is scarcely 

1In looking over burned brush lands and weedy vacant lots, where the 
leaves and rubbish have been burned in the spring, the writer has so often 
found the charred bodies of toads that general attention should be called 
to this matter. If this be done, common sense as well as humanity will 


dictate that such burning should be done, when possible, either after the 
ground freezes in the fall or before the frost comes out in the spring. 


286: NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


possible, for a number of reasons. First, the retiring and 
wholly inoffensive nature of the animal could not consti- 
tute it any such plague as we already have in many species 
of insects that it destroys. As it is nocturnal, even its 
proverbial ugliness is not conspicuous. Its powers of 
locomotion are so limited that it could be easily caught 
and destroyed, if that should ever become necessary. 
Finally, its natural food supply, consisting wholly of 
insects, worms, slugs, and the like, would inevitably set 
a natural limit to its increase! 

We have before us an example of the plasticity of one of 
nature’s mechanisms. A toad can live a year, or even 
two, in apparent comfort, without any food whatever, but 
no eggs will be produced. If food be abundant, it will eat 
voraciously and produce eggs in great numbers, possibly 
twice a year.2— Every such plastic living mechanism is a 
bow bent back, and wherever its force is beneficent we 
should be careful to keep it bent so that its spring will be 
able to do the greatest good possible at any opportune 
moment. 

“ However useful they may be,” one teacher remarked, 
“a toad is such an ugly, disgusting creature we never can 
use it in school.” This is tradition, against which it is 


1 Destruction of honeybees is about the only damage toads could do, 
should they become too numerous. But as bees are not nocturnal and 
are not much on the ground, this danger is imaginary. 

- 2In some seasons toads are found in considerable numbers laying eggs 
in July. These may be belated individuals, but I am inclined to think 
that they are laying a second time. Celia Thaxter’s experience supports 
this view, for her toads, brought to the Shoals in June, filled the island 
with little toads the same summer. They must have laid once before their 
importation. 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 287 


well worth while to contend! Children are rarely, if ever, 
troubled by such notions, unless they have been implanted 
by their elders; and while no compulsion is called for, 
their objections are often easily overcome. The toad is 
not a handsome animal, yet its eye, the fabled “jewel”’ 
in its head, is one of the most beautiful in nature. 
Ask the children why they think the toad was made so 
ugly, all but the eye. There are important lessons in the 
answer to this question. Keen-eyed birds of prey and 
snakes are continually seeking it for food. With no 
means of defense or escape from these swift pursuers, its 
only hope of life lies in being as inconspicuous as possible. 
This story is thousands of years old, and all this time the 
more brightly colored toads have been snapped up first 
and those that most resembled clods of earth have escaped. 
On the other hand, insects must come close enough for 
the toad to capture. They must practically walk into 
its mouth, and thus it depends for its food upon looking 
like the harmless earth over which they crawl. These 
are lessons applicable to every living thing we study, and 
when their significance is appreciated, they may do much 
toward reconciling the fastidious to the homeliness of the 
toad. Its life and its work in the world depend upon it. 


1 Farewell, farewell! but this I tell 
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest, — 
He prayeth well, who loveth well 
Both man and bird and beast. 


He prayeth best, who loveth best 
All things both great and small; 
For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all. 


COLERIDGE, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 


288 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


If roughly handled, a whitish liquid, which is somewhat poisonous, 
is secreted from the skin of a toad, especially from the large glands 
near the head. It will cause some swelling of a dog’s mouth, and 
care should be 
taken not to allow 
it to get into the 
eyes when hand- 
ling toads. The 
natural precau- 
tions, gentle hand- 
ling and washing 
the hands after- 
wards, are all-suffi- 
cient safeguards 
against any ven- 
omous_ properties, 
and these also 
apply to the hand- 
ling of many other 
animals!; but 
everything advo- 
cated in this chap- 
ter can be done 
without so much 
as touching a toad. 
We may catch it 
in a large leaf, a 
piece of paper or cloth or in a tumbler or jelly glass. The neatest 
way to demonstrate a toad to a class is to have it in a clean tumbler 
with a piece of gauze securely tied over the top. It may then be 


Fic. 117. PROTECTIVE COLORATION 


1A. Hz. Kirkland, “The Habits, Food, and Economic Value of the Ameri- 
can Toad” (Ludletin 46, Hatch Experiment Station, Amherst, Mass.), gives 
the fullest account extant of the toad from this standpoint. By his method, 
killing the animals and opening the stomach, he identified eighty-three dif- 
ferent species of insects, most of them injurious, as entering into its dietary. 
By the method advocated above, however, z.c., by making feeding tests in 
a vivarium with insects collected for the purpose, any school could add 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 289 


passed around and examined without danger of offending the most 
fastidious. The idea that warts are caused by handling toads is 
ancient myth without foundation in fact. 


The Biological Type. — Types of animal forms and struc- 
tures have long been used in college courses in biology 
and belong properly to this grade of advanced instruction. 
The many attempts to introduce these same “types” into 
more and more elementary work have seemed to me pre- 
mature and ill advised. Before such studies are undertaken 
the children need a foundation of living interests in the 
animal life about them, and I have advanced this study 
as a new kind of ¢yfe, adapted to elementary education. 
I have called it the biological type. In less technical 
words it may be called the life type, or life-story type, 
for the study of an animal species. We have come of 
late to appreciate the necessity of studying animals and 
plants with children ‘as wholes,” but this too often has 
been interpreted to include little more than their forms 
and structures, which to children are dead and without 
interest. By this life type I mean the activities, the work 
of a species in its wholeness, —the active relations of the 
animal to the life about it and especially to man. This is 
the side of fundamental, large, and universal interests in 
the life about us. 
hundreds of species to this list, if they knew the species. Still this, of 
course, would not show what might be termed the natural feeding habits 
of the toad. But the toad’s stomach is a straight sac extending from the 
mouth, where it is very wide, back almost to the end of the body. It is 
easily everted, and by gently inserting a wire loop (a hairpin does very 
well) the whole stomach contents may be drawn out without the least injury 
to the animal. I do not, however, give this as a method to be used, but 


merely as a suggestion, by which the animal’s life may be saved when it is 
desired to make such examinations. 


290 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


There can be no reasonable doubt that this aspect of 
movement and activity is the natural side of approach for - 
the child. It is akin to that animism of childhood which 
projects life and action even into inanimate things. It is 
this side of living nature which, from intrinsic fascinations 
and varied affinities with the passion for activity of child 
life itself, is best adapted to create enduring interests and 
‘love of nature. It is, moreover, with this side of nature 
that a child’s activities come into frequent clash, which 
results in all sorts of apparently brutal harms to nature. 
With but a minimum of proper instruction which may 
bring the child into sympathy with the life around it, and 
especially show its values and relations to human life and 
interests, all such activity may be easily guided into benefi- 
cent channels. Instead of being repressed, as is now so 
much the case, this activity may be greatly developed and 
encouraged ; and then child life will flow happily along with 
the life of nature. 

But why choose such an animal to illustrate the bio- 
logical type? There are many reasons, which I may briefly 
state, in relation to the fundamental values of nature study 
discussed in a former chapter. , 

First, on the zsthetic side, to find any beauty in a form 
proverbially the ugliest in nature carries the whole battle, — 
sweeps the field of ancient prejudice and unfaith in nature. 
To discover here the brightest jewel and the ‘sweetest 
sound in nature” awakens a child’s faith and impels him 

to seek and find beauty in everything about him. 

I pick up a toad a hundred times a season just to enjoy looking at 


its eye, —a living, sparkling, ever-changing jewel, — and his music 
in the springtime brings a pleasure that nothing else affords. 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 291 


On the side of public economy, the toad is one of the 
most important animals we have. Toads are practically 
at every child’s door; it need cost nothing for specimens, 
and their commonness makes it possible for children to 
observe and study them at odd times about their homes. 
Further than this, the school children might save in the 
course of their outdoor laboratory work and play from 
$100,000,000 to $200,000,000, — nearly half the expense 
of their entire public school education, — by learning and 
utilizing this one species as a beneficent force in nature!; 
and the effect will first be felt in their own gardens. 

As an introduction to zodlogy no animal has a develop- 
ment better adapted for study. The eggs are abundant, 
come at a convenient season, and pass so rapidly through 
the different transformations that even young children 
do not lose interest. Nothing could be better calculated 
to open the door of interest into comparative embryology 
and zodlogy. Then there is the sleight-of-hand magic 
of catching insects. Nothing in all the varied perform- 
ances of animals brings so quickly: How did he do it? 
What did he do it with? Such questions open the 
way to comparative anatomy. Next we have a question 
that will prove a puzzle. Ask the children if any of them 
ever saw a toad drink. How did it drink? Here we 
have comparative physiology. A toad drinks by absorbing 
water through the skin. 

Deprive a toad of water for a day and weigh the specimen care- 
fully. Next let it sit on a wet blotting paper, or pour a little water 


into its vivarium, and, after an hour, weigh the toad again. The 
gain will represent water absorbed. 


1 Riley’s estimate is that insects cause from $300,000,000 to $400,000,000 
damage annually. 


292 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Again, where do we find a better example of protective 
coloration, harmony with environment, and life work? 
This is a point of view that, when once appreciated, makes 
interesting a thousand other things we shall see in nature. 
Finally, the food of the toad shows the necessity of learn- 
ing about insects and their work. Entomology as ascience 
is far too little studied in this country. 

On the ethical side, no animal is more apt to be griev- 
ously abused by the children. Experience has shown that 
a little instruction of the right kind wholly does away with 
this and makes them its most sturdy protectors. What 
child could ever again harm a toad after watching it catch 
insects for an hour, or after raising a few from the egg ?} 
The study may thus yield the best kind of moral culture. 


Early in April, as I was vigorously hoeing in a corner, I 
unearthed a huge toad, to my perfect delight and satisfaction; he 


1 My attention to this subject, and, in fact, to nature study in general, 
was aroused by the wholesale killing of toads when they came to the ponds 
to lay their eggs. While walking once around a small pond I counted 200 
dead or mangled and struggling in the water, and learned next day that two 
boys had killed 300 more, carrying them off in an old milk can to empty 
on a man’s doorstep. This 500 does not represent probably one-tenth of 
the number killed by the children that spring (1897) around this one pond. 
A “civilization” in which such abuses of nature are possible ought to be 
eaten alive by insects, and something must be fundamentally wrong with a 
system of public education that does not render such a thing impossible. 
My first impulse was to get a law passed and appeal to the police, but the 
wiser counsel of a friend prevailed, and I was induced to try education of the 
children instead. Accordingly, a prize of $10 was offered to the Worcester 
school child who would make the best practical study of the “ Value of the 
Common Toad.” This was offered March 31, 1898, and there was no 
evidence that a single toad was harmed at the pond the following April 
and May. I would have been well satisfied had such a result been attained 
in five years. The fact that it came within thirty days reveals the possibility 
of nature study when united to human interest. 


INSECTIVOROUS ANIMALS 293 


had lived all winter, he had doubtless fed on slugs all the autumn. 
I could have kissed him on the spot! Very carefully I placed him 
in the middle of a large green clump of tender columbine. He really 
wasn’t more than half awake, after his long winter nap, but he was 
alive and well, and when later I went to look for him, lo! he had 
crept off, perhaps to snuggle into the earth once more for another 
nap, till the sun should have a little more power. 

To our great joy the frogs that we imported last year are also 
alive. We heard the soft rippling of their voices with the utmost 
pleasure ; it is a lovely liquid-sweet sound. They have not lived 
over winter here before. We feared that the vicinity of so much 
salt water might be injurious to them, but this year they have 
survived, and perhaps they may be established for good. CELIA 
THAXTER, Ax Jsland Garden, p. 56. 


For four hundred years we have not added a single 
animal to our list of domesticated species. The turkey 
was taken to Europe and domesticated soon after the dis- 
covery of America, and while ostrich farming is in its 
experimental stages, Professor Shaler seems inclined to 
consider this our last assured conquest over wild nature. 


From this point of view our domesticated creatures should be 
presented to our people, with the purpose in mind of bringing them 
to see that the process of domestication has a far-reaching aspect, 
a dignity, we may fairly say a grandeur, that few human actions 
possess. SHALER, Domesticated Animals, p. 8. 

In a large way the work of domestication represents one of the 
modes of action of that sympathetic motive which more than any 
other has been the basis of the highest development of mankind. 
Lbid., p. 221. 


Thus we see that to domesticate an animal species is no 
mean work with which to begin a century. 

The toad has come more than halfway, to man’s 
doorstep in fact, to escape its natural enemies and 


294 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


demonstrate its usefulness. Io complete the process of 
domestication it is only necessary to develop the intel- 
ligence and sympathy that shall afford it universal pro- 
tection. In addition, before considering a species a full 
member of the human household, it is generally neces- 
sary to discover means of breeding it in confinement or 
under human control. With this condition met, in the 
manner already described, there will remain no doubt that 
we have added a new and important species to the domes- 
ticated animals of this country. 


CHAPTER XVII 
COMMON FROGS AND SALAMANDERS 


How many different kinds of toads and frogs do we 
know? Encourage the children to bring in as many 
kinds as they can find, and study and compare them a 
little as to size, color and markings, habits and habitats. 
Learn their different notes, make feeding tests with each, 
study the season of spawning and the characteristic appear- 
ance of the eggs and, in a word, since they are all good 
friends, begin to make their acquaintance. 

And first, I wonder how many know the difference 
between a frog and a toad. Aside from mere outward 
appearances, form, warty skin, colors, etc., which are 
not very constant, one of the prime differences is that 
toads have no teeth on their upper jaws, while the frogs 
always do. Here is a little matter of the common use of 
the English language that might as well be set right in 
the beginning. It is as easy to say “tree frog’’ as it is 
to say “tree toad,” and since they are all frogs we may 
as well call them so. In case of doubt, gently open the 
mouth and pass a finger along the upper jaw, and if teeth 
are present, we will call it a frog, if not, a toad. 

Our froglike animals are further divided into two great 
classes: those in which the adults have tails, and those 
that have none. Here is another little matter of good 
English that we may learn rightly to begin with. 
Our long-tailed Batrachia (frogs and salamanders) are 

295 


206 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


commonly called lizards. But lizards are always covered 
with horny scales, somewhat like the skin of a snake. We 
have no common lizards in the northern states, although 
they are numerous farther south.. The little chameleon 
and the “horned toad,” often brought north as curiosities, 
are lizards. Possibly one of the children has a specimen 
and can bring it to school to make this difference clear. 
Lizards and salamanders are shaped much alike, but if the 
skin is smooth, like that of a frog, we will call the animal 
a salamander or newt, not a lizard. 

Taking our study of the toad as the life type, we may 
apply similar methods to investigating any frogs and sala- 
manders; and we will choose such as are most worthy of 
our study. This is a great field, almost wholly unknown. 
Any feeding test with one of these animals, by using a 
variety of insects, is likely to yield knowledge to the class 
that is valuable and that no one else in the world knows. 
It is safe to say that all these animals are harmless, z.¢., 
not venomous or likely to injure by biting; that, with one 
or two exceptions to be noted below, they are all valuable 
insect destroyers, each for its peculiar haunts; and that 
they should be generally protected and utilized as benefi- 

_cent forces in nature. It is with this point in view that 
the general study of them is advocated ; that as each fact 
—their harmlessness, their usefulness, their varied beau- 
ties, their interesting ways and lives — comes to be gener- 
ally known and appreciated they may be treated from 
motives of conscience and humanity rather than from 
those of ignorance and prejudice. 

In order to start the children intelligently on these 
interesting researches, I shall give, in scarcely more than 


COMMON FROGS AND SALAMANDERS 297 


tabulated form, descriptions and suggestions of a few of 
our commonest species. Naturally a species may be com- 
mon in one locality and not in others, but it is intended 
that the pupils should spend their time learning the life 
stories of what they have rather than in hunting for what 
they have not. The table thus aims to aid in naming 
forms that may be brought in rather than to suggest what 
to hunt for, and the scientific names are inserted in order 
to facilitate reference to special books, not to be learned 
by the children or teacher. 


Toaps, FRoGs, AND SALAMANDERS 
Batrachia 


TOADS, Bufo. Jaws toothless, skin generally warty. Genera three, 
species thirty ; found in all parts of the world except Australia. 
Common Toad, &. lentiginosus. Variety of northern form, amzerz- 
canus. Very variable; adults warty; young almost smooth. 
Note a prolonged trill, uttered by the males during the breeding 
season, April and May, sometimes also in July. Food: insects, 
spiders, millipeds, slugs, and worms. Feeding habit chiefly 
nocturnal. Does not eat young of its own species. 


FROGS, Rana. Skin smooth; toes and fingers fully webbed; maxil- 
lary and generally vomerine teeth ; chiefly aquatic. Genera four- 
teen, species about fifty. Eggs are laid in masses of gelatinous 
matter. 

Common Frog, Leopard Frog, R. virescens. Greenish, sometimes 
brassy, above, with light-edged dark spots arranged in two irregu- 
lar rows along the back; beneath, pearly white or yellowish. 


1 This is an interesting point to test. I have found that a toad will 
snap a little toad, as it will any moving thing; but my experience has been 
that they always immediately open the mouth and set the little one free 
uninjured. T have never seen an insect or any other living thing treated in 
this way. 


298 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


About three inches long. Our commonest and most beautiful 
frog. Note, a cluck much like that of a hen but more musical ; 
one of the first species heard in the spring. Eggs laid about as 
soon as the snow melts in the spring. Food: insects (?). 

Brown Frog, Pickerel Frog, R. palustris. Brown, spots squarish 
in four rows; beneath, yellowish white. Length, three inches. 
Note, a low, hoarse croak, like the sound made by tearing 
coarse cloth. Spawning season is early spring. Habitat, cold 
springs and streams. This frog has a somewhat disagreeable 
odor and is remarkable for the length of its leaps, being next 
to the most agile frog we have. Food: insects (?). 


Northern Frog, 7. septentrionalis. Color above, olive with large 
nearly circular blotches of brown; whitish beneath. Most vari- 
able of all our frogs. Body stout, about two inches in length. 
Possesses a strong odor of mink. Inhabits marshy waters, 
northern United States and Canada; quite aquatic. Feeds on 
insects and small fishes. Note and spawning season not given 
in the books. 

Green Frog, &. clamata. Color above, bright green, rarely brown- 
ish, with blackish spots ; white below. Note, a musical “ Chung” 
as it leaps into the water. Food: insects; otherwise practically 
unknown. Spawning season not given in the books. 

Bullfrog, . catesbtana. Our largest North American species. 
Color, greenish olive above, variously marked with dusky 
blotches; below, white, often bright yellow under the throat. 
The note is a deep bass “‘ Br’wum,” “ more rum ” or “ jug o’ rum,” 
heard so often in the early summer evenings. The spawning 
season, so far as I have been able to observe, is late June and 
July. The young remain in the water as tadpoles at least two 
years and attain a length of five to eight inches. This is our most 
valuable frog, but its work in nature is probably worth more than 
its market price. The services of the large tadpoles, too, in cleans- 
ing shallow ponds must be of considerable value. The number 
of eggs laid by a large frog is not known, but is probably not less 
than 20,000. Whatever the number, the frogs should be care- 
fully protected — along with trout and other fishes — until after 


COMMON FROGS AND SALAMANDERS 299 


spawning is well over. The open season should not be longer than 
August and September. The food of the bullfrog seems to be 
any living thing that it can even partially swallow. I have seen 
one swallow the head end of a live mud puppy fully twice the 
length of the frog’s body. Another observer has recorded a simi- 
lar instance of the fate of a young alligator. Mice, birds, feathers 
and all, fishes, crayfishes, insects, worms, tadpoles, and frogs of 
its own and other species are acceptable, and in this struggle size 
may not count for so much as first hold. In confinement they 
may be fed on earthworms, grasshoppers, and other insects, and 
it is not beneath the dignity of the biggest of them to sit all day 
long beside a bone and snap the flies as they come. 


Wood Frog, R. sylvatica. Color, greenish to reddish brown, chang- 
ing somewhat according to surroundings; a dark band on each 
side of head extending over the eye and ear to insertion of arm; 
legs obscurely barred, and sides speckled with black. A small 
frog found commonly in the woods, scarcely aquatic, can leap 
farther than any other of our frogs. Its note is a hoarse croak, 
heard in April, when it comes down to the ponds to spawn. 
Aside from the common notion that it feeds on insects nothing 
definite is known as to its food. 


SPADEFOOTS, Scaphiopus. Terrestrial frogs, heel provided with a 
spur for digging. Form toad-like. Genera two, species four. 


Spadefoot Frog, S. olbrookiz. Length, three inches; skin rough; 
color, earthy or ashy brown. From all accounts these frogs 
bury themselves in the earth during the day, coming out to feed 
at night, and, while widely distributed, are neither seen nor 
heard except during the spawning season, when they are said 
to be “noisy whistlers.” 


TREE FROGS, Hy/a. Small; arboreal; fingers and toes with tips 
expanded into clasping disks. Genera ten, species sixty. 


Common Tree Frog, H. versicolor. Color above, green, gray, or 
brown, with irregular dark spots; white or yellow below. A 
common inhabitant of orchards and waysides, but a good test 


300 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


of any child’s sharp eyes to find. Its note is the musical 
“ Tur-r-r-r-t’? so often heard on a summer evening. The eggs 
are laid in May or June in small masses attached to stems of 
weeds and grass in shallow pools. This is to me the most inter- 
esting of frogs. It is easily domesticated, so that it may be 
carried about on the finger from fly to fly. If kept in a viva- 
rium and well fed, it is said to make an interesting barometer, 
climbing to the top of its ladder in fair weather and descending 
into the water before a storm. The distribution of these frogs is 
one of the greatest puzzles I have encountered. I have repeatedly 
brought them to the trees about the house, where attractive pools 
are provided, but they never stay more than a day or two. Why 
they are not more numerous is another question for which I have 
found no satisfactory answer. 


Pickering’s Tree Frog, A. pickeringiz. Color above, yellowish 
brown, with a dark X on its back, by which it may always be 
recognized. These little “spring peepers” announce the very 
first day of spring with their shrill, clear whistles, “ Uh-e-e+t, 
wh-e-e-t, wh-e-e-t,” from the pools of ice water in the glades 
and meadows. One may hear them all the years of his life but 
never know whence the sound comes, unless he puts on his 
rubber boots, takes a lantern to the pool, and picks them up 
in the very act. 


Little Tree Frog, Chorophilus trisertatus. Color, ashy gray, brown, 
or fawn color, with three brown stripes down the back. Habitat, 
small pools in the densest thickets. Note resembles the low 
jingling of sleigh bells in the distance. Range is given as east- 
ern United States, south of central New Jersey, and westward. 


CRICKET FROGS, Acris. Small; not arboreal. Genus one, species 
one; with regional variations. 


Cricket Frog, 4. ¢vy//us. Color above, brown or gray, readily chang- 
ing, a dark triangle between the eyes, the apex pointing back- 
ward and continued down the middle line as a light stripe ; three 
large oblique blotches on the sides; a dark (or white) line from 
eye across the eardrum. Its note may be imitated by striking 


COMMON FROGS AND SALAMANDERS 301 


two marbles together twenty or thirty times, at first slowly, then 
rapidly. It inhabits the weeds, the tall grass, and bushes of 
muddy shores. No good account is given of its foods, breeding 
season, or habits. 


Both the time and place of spawning for most of our 
species of frogs and toads is best indicated by their music. 


SALAMANDERS, Uvodela. Smooth, elongated bodies; four limbs ; 
long tails; no external gills when adult. Sixteen genera and 
fifty-three American species. 


Newts, Diemyctylus viridescens. Color above, olive green, vari- 
able; a row of black-bordered vermilion spots on each side; 
below,- yellowish dotted with black. The tail is flattened and 
has finlike expansions of skin above and below. This descrip- 
tion applies to the adult form of our common newt during the 
breeding season or while it isin the water. Found under stones 
and under logs out of the water, this newt (formerly classed as a 
distinct species, D. mzuzatus) is vermilion red above, paler or 
yellowish below; spots arranged as in the breeding form; tail 
fins absent. As these newts have been kept in confinement by 
a number of different people and have been observed to change 
from one form to the other under varied conditions, there can be 
no further doubt that they are one and the same species, the 
different forms and colors depending possibly on condition of 
maturity or on seasonal changes. The red form should be kept 
in a damp, mossy vivarium with a pool or dish of water sunk 
level with the ground at one end. The green form may be kept 
in an ordinary aquarium, covered to prevent its escape, and pro- 
vided with floats of bark or cork, upon which it may rest. Both 
forms may be fed on worms or insects or small bits of raw meat. 
Valuable feeding tests may thus be made, since we know very 
little of the newt’s feeding habits. It is especially instructive to 
see them eat mosquitoes and mosquito wrigglers in the water. 
The egg-laying season extends from April to July, and the eggs 
are laid singly, securely glued to and hidden within little tufts 
of aquatic leaves which the female carefully draws together 


302 - NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


around the egg as it is deposited. The egg is brown, about the 
size of a toad’s egg. 


Red-Backed Salamander, Plethodon erythronotus. Body slender, 
about three inches long; lead colored, with a broad reddish 
dorsal band, which varies greatly in color or may be absent. 
This is our most common salamander; it is found under stones 
and logs or beneath the bark of decaying stumps, and, unlike the 
forms thus far noted, its eggs are laid in these places and not in 
the water, and are watched over by the parent. Who can tell 
us at what season the eggs are laid? The food is insects and 
their larvae. 


Red Triton, Spelerpes ruber. Length, five to six inches; color, 
vermilion to dark salmon red, spotted with brown. No account 
is given of its eggs or breeding season. This is the triton that 
John Burroughs describes (Pepfacton, Chapter V) as making 
‘‘more music in the woods in autumn than any bird.” The 
note is said to resemble that of Pickering’s Hyla, only not so 
loud. No other naturalist; so far as I can learn, has succeeded 
in hearing it. Its haunts are springs and rocky streams, where 
it may be found by turning over the stones. In rainy weather 
it makes excursions on land. 


Spotted Salamander, Amdlystoma punctatum. Length, six to seven 
inches; color, black above, with a series of yellow spots on each 
side of back. Eggs of the spotted salamander will often be 
brought in by the children. They are found in the icy pools. 
and ditches of early spring (March to April, according to season 
and latitude), large, oblong, cylindrical masses of rather tough 
jelly. They are transparent, and within the mass may be seen 
the clear, spherical oval, about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, 
each one containing a dark-brown yolk. This will prove a most 
instructive object to watch for the next three or four weeks. 


_ PROTEANS, Mud Puppies, Proteide. Medium- to large-sized ani- 
mals, shaped like salamanders but thoroughly aquatic and 
provided with external gills. One American genus with two 
species, 


COMMON FROGS AND SALAMANDERS 303 


Mud Puppy, or Water Dog, Wecturus maculatus. Length, ten 
inches to two feet; color, dusky brown, more or less mottled. 
Breeding season, early spring (?). Necturus has the reputation 
of following fishes to their spawning grounds in order to eat the 
eggs and young. 


We have noted but five of the fifty salamanders, but 
this will be sufficient for a beginning. In trying to keep 
them in confinement we must remember that some are 
aquatic, some terrestrial, and some both; and we must be 
careful to note the haunts of any common species we wish 
to study and render our vivarium as much like its normal 
environment as possible. I must repeat that the above 
forms are not described in order that they should be 
‘learned,’ but solely to help toward an acquaintance 
with these and similar forms, to the end that intelligent 
sympathy may take the place of ignorant fear. 


Fig. 118. AN INVITATION TO THE BIRDS 


304 


CHAPTER XVIII 
OUR COMMON BIRDS 
Tuer Lire, Work, aND NaTuraAL ENEMIES 


Beloved of children, bards and Spring, 
O birds, your perfect virtues bring, 
Your song, your forms, your rhythmic flight, 
Your manners for the heart’s delight, 
Nestle in hedge, or barn, or roof, 
Here weave your chamber weather-proof, 
Forgive our harms, and condescend 
To man, as to a lubber friend, 
And, generous, teach his awkward race 
Courage and probity and grace! 
Emerson, May-Day. 

Birp study is no trifling fad. Our bird life represents 
a public property, protected by laws that are beginning to 
be respected and enforced. We may begin again with 
a few oral or written language lessons to find out how 
many birds the children know and what they have already 
learned about them. 

There are so many books devoted to describing and 
identifying birds, and all the species which we wish to 
study are so common, that we may omit the descriptive 
side. In fact, I should relegate the whole subject of 
bird nature’ study to some one of the excellent books we 
already have were it not for the fact that, with all our 
books and all our birds, year by year boys and girls are 
passing through our schools who are not able to recognize 

395 


306 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


even our commonest species, and what is worse, do not 
care to learn or know anything about them. This means 
that, excellent as our bird books are, there is something 
lacking ; and it is in the hope of supplying two vital rela- 
tions between child life and bird life that the following 
pages are written. We must teach the children the 
human value and importance of birds. We must suggest 
things for them to do which shall help and increase the 
bird life about their homes. 

Up to within a few years the usual methods of studying 
birds consisted in mounting, preparing skins, and making 
collections of nests and eggs. More recently we have 
come to know that birds are too valuable to be used in 
this way, and the opera glass and camera have to some 
extent happily displaced the gun. But, in general, we 
are in the negative phase expressed by a sentence from 
one of the best outlines of the course of study for a city 
school: Jusist that no boy or girl destroy a bird or its 
nest. Negative effort is uninteresting and, at best, little 
more than a suggestion to do the thing prohibited. In 
the same time we can much more easily teach, on the 
positive side, work that the children will enjoy doing and 
that will make abuse of bird life impossible. 

The important question is: What do birds do in the 
world? About this point center all our laws for bird pro- 
tection. We must first gain, by observation and personal 
acquaintance with the living birds of each species, a 
knowledge of their ways, their foods, their beauties, and 
their songs. Then give, the imagination full play to 
picture what the whole species is doing in every farm 
and garden and about every home in the land. Think 


OUR COMMON BIRDS 


307 


of the millions of beautiful wings and building nests and 


eating bills and singing throats. 


Aside from their intel- 


lectual and esthetic values the paramount service of the 


birds lies in their power to 
destroy insects. For this 
work we have a vast mech- 
anism in nature, an army 
plastic almost as air, on 
wings, powerful and beauti- 
ful, able to carry their fly- 
ing squadrons hundreds and 
even thousands of miles 
whither food abounds and 
insects threaten destruction 
to vegetation. 

In studying living things 
we should bear in mind the 
truth, stated often in these 
words: As long as there is 


life there is hope. 
thing that lives there are infinite possibilities. 


Think, every morning when the sun peeps 
through 

The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove, 

How jubilant the happy birds renew 

Their old, melodious madrigals of love ! 

And when you think of this, remember too 

’T is always morning somewhere, and above 

The awakening continents, from shore to 
shore, 

Somewhere the birds are singing evermore. 


‘The summer came, and all the birds were 
dead ; 

The days were like hot coals; the very 
ground 

Was burned to ashes; in the orchards fed 

Myriads of caterpillars, and around 

The cultivated fields and garden beds 

Hosts of devouring insects crawled, and 
found 

No foe to check their march, till they had 
made 

The land a desert without leaf or shade. 


LonGFrELiow, Birds of Killingworth. 


In every- 
No seed or 


egg is so tiny but that it may hide the possibility of cover- 


ing the world with forms 
of its kind 
ibly short time. 


incred- 
A pair 
of bird’s eggs, with proper 


in an 


care by the children, could 


produce in ten years a pair 
of birds for every child in 
the land. 


A bird came down the walk : 
He didn’t know I saw; 

He bit an angleworm in halves 
And ate the fellow, raw. 


And then he drank a dew 

From a convenient grass, 

And then hopped sideways to the wall 
To let a beetle pass. 


Emity Dickinson, Poems, p. 140. 


Let us consider for a moment the possibilities 


that lie hidden within the blue shells of a pair of 


oy , 
robin’s eggs. 


Allowing that ten young may be produced 


308 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


by a pair each year, and that the life of a robin is ten 


years, we shall have: 


Ist year( 2+ 10). 12 robins. 
2d“ (12+ 60). 72. Est 
3d“ (72 + 360) . 432 eG 
Ath 8 ws, Gaye ee = ss 25502) [at 
sth“ 15,552“ 
6th # 93,312. 3 
7th «“ 559,872 
8th “ 3:359,232 
goth “ 20,155,392 “ 
TOthi 2 Sh gg Ge tee BS es son . 120,932,352 “ 
soth “ 1,616,400,000,000,000,000,000,C00,000,000,000,000,000 
Tooth ‘ —_ 1,320,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 


000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 robins. 


Fic. 119. YOuNG Rozins Two Days OLp 


If we do not have all 
the robins we want (and 
this applies to any living 
thing) it is because we 
do not know enough 
about rearing them or 
are not willing to act in 
accordance with our 
knowledge. 

In addition to this 
infinite power of multi- 
plication we must never 
lose sight of another 
law of biology, viz., that 
every living thing pos- 
sesses possibilities of 
development and _ im- 
provement. No one has 


OUR COMMON BIRDS 


309 


yet produced the best and most beautiful rose or peach 
or bird or man or anything else that the world is capable 


of yielding. 
only of such birds as we 
have now, but of birds with 
sweeter and sweeter song 


and more and more beautiful plumage. 


By proper care we can have a world full not 


The winds blow east, the winds blow west, 
The blue eggs in the robin’s nest 

Will soon have wings and beak and breast, 
And flutter and fly away. LonGFELLow. 


And in presence 


of these infinite possibilities for good or for ill we must 
above all things remember that every human action tends 


to make the world a garden 
or a desert, a paradise of 
joy and beauty or a vale 
of tears. 


To produce and multiply endlessly, with- 
out ever reaching the last possibility of 
excellence, and without committing herself 
to any end, is the law of Nature. 


Burroucus, Birds and Poets, p. 156. 


If our birds felt a sense of security in our presence, they 


might sing even more sweetly and more abundantly than 
they do now. Indeed, Burroughs remarks of English birds : 


«“ They sing with more con- 
fidence and copiousness, and 
as if they, too, had been 
touched by civilization.” 


day and more days in the year. 


birds were uniformly safe 
in man’s presence and un- 
disturbed, they would come 
much closer to us, as they 
did to Thoreau, and to Celia 
Thaxter in her garden. 
With proper care many of 
our best songsters and most 


Wood birds here are house and garden 
birds there [Eng.]. 
Burroucus, Fresh Fields, p. 136. 


They sing more hours in the 


Furthermore, if our 


Many haps fall in the field 

Seldom seen by wishful eyes; 

But all her shows did Nature yield, 

To please and win this pilgrim wise. 

He saw the partridge drum in the woods; 
He heard the woodcock’s evening hymn; 
He found the tawny thrushes’ broods ; 
And the shy hawk did wait for him ; 
What others did at distance hear, 

And guessed within the thicket’s gloom, 
Was shown to this philosopher, 

And at his bidding seemed to come. 


Emerson, Woodnotes, I, 2. 


useful birds that are now rare might become more common, 
filling our parks and the thickly planted portions of our 


310 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


towns, and even cities; and with more caution than pre- 
ceded the introduction of the English sparrow, we might 
bring about’ our homes the most beautiful songsters of 
other lands. But the safer and wiser course will be to 
begin by making the most of our native birds. These area 
heritage infinitely rich, developed through geological epochs 
to fit exactly all the conditions of life on this continent. 
It is no light matter to disturb this living harmony, as our 
experience with the English sparrow bears testimony. 
With this wonderful power of increase the questions 
naturally arise: Why do we not have many more birds 
than we find about us? Why have we not hundreds where 
we have but one? Has the natural limit been already 
reached, so that attempts to increase the numbers would 
be useless? All such questions open important fields for 
observation and study. Food supply for all seasons of 
the year is the main factor in-this series of problems. 
This will be considered in a section by itself. The next 
factors are natural enemies of bird life. In connection 
with each element in nature which tends to decrease our 
valuable bird life, we should endeavor to discover the 
means of preventing its operation. That this matter is 
now a national exigency, in the careful study of which 
every patriotic citizen and every school child should par- 
ticipate, may be duly appreciated by referring to William 
T. Hornaday’s recent paper! on the destruction of our 
birds and mammals. We learn from this that during the 


1 William T. Hornaday, Director of the New York Zodlogical Park. 
“The Destruction of our Birds and Mammals,” Second Annual Report, 
New York Zodlogical Society. New York, 1898. Office of the Society, 
69 Wall Street. 


OUR COMMON BIRDS 311 


past fifteen years our birds have decreased 46 per cent in 
thirty states and territories. For each of the states named 
this decrease has been as stated in the margin. Three 
states — North Carolina, Oregon, and California — show 
neither increase nor decrease; and only four states — 


Kansas, Wyoming, Wash- 


4 Maine ae 527% 
ington, and Utah ci>y have New Hanpshire . 32 
5 5 ‘ Vermont 30 
had an increase of bird life. j7r" ui. - 
It would be a worthy am- Rhode Is‘and . oe 
a : 3 Connecticut 75 
bition to infuse into our NewYork . 48 
2 New Jersey 37 
school system, reaching, as Pennsylvania . 51 
+ 4 Ohio . 38 
it does, the life and heart — fnaiana | én 
: inois . 8 
of every child, the purpose Hance 
to change this destructive Wisconsin . . 
owa . 
process to one of increase Missouri 36 
= Nebraska 10 
in every county, farm, and North Dakota. 58 
a District of Columbia 33 
city lot of the land. South Carolina o 
= » Georgia . 65 
Climatic influences are 2 
Florida . vip 
severe in this country. Mississippi . 37 
3 Louisiana 55 
Great numbers of birds are = Arkansas 50 
é 3 3 Texas hie fa 67 
killed in heavy rain and Indian Territory . 75 
a . Montana 75 
hailstorms. Whole species — Colorado 8 
: : Idaho 40 
are decimated in sleet and “Average | is 


snowstorms within the 

range of their southern migrations. Thus our bluebirds 
were killed off in 1895, and fearful havoc was wrought 
in a number of our most valuable species in the Southern 
States during the winter of 1898-1899. With these ele- 
ments it is difficult to contend. To what extent man is 
responsible by reason of clearing out natural shelter and 
destroying natural food supplies it is impossible to say. 


312 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Again, in times of great drought in regions where our 
‘common species breed, both food and water may become 
‘so scarce that numbers of nestlings famish or starve. The 
birds then are loath to desert their nests to go to regions 
of plenty. If birds were tamed sufficiently to come to 
man as their friend in times of great need, as they do in 
rare cases now, and as they learned to come to Mrs. 
Brightwen, a little food and shelter might tide them over 
the hard time, and their service afterwards would repay 
the outlay a thousandfold. About the house and barn 
and shade trees safe places of shelter might save great 
numbers of birds every year, due care being exercised to 
keep them clear of English sparrows and place them out 
of the reach of cats. 

Cats are generally recognized as the worst enemies of 
our native birds.1_ Professor Forbush has estimated that 
a cat is responsible on the average for the death of about 
fifty song birds a year; and one cat, to his knowledge, 
destroyed six bird’s-nests in a single day. In connection 
with their bird work the children should be encouraged to 
gather all the evidence they can for their district; they 
will then be more willing to choose other pets. All the 
wild, stray, or worthless cats of a neighborhood should be 
destroyed, as a mercy not only to the birds but to the 
cats themselves. People who have cats that they value, 
ought, for love of nature, to see to it that they are provided 
with other food than young robins, orioles, thrushes, and 
song sparrows. Much may be done by way of training 

- cats to let birds alone, and lastly, they should be kept in 


1“The foremost place among all song bird destroyers, as we have already 
said, must be assigned to the house cat.” LANGE. 


OUR COMMON BIRDS a13 


as much as possible at times when young birds in the 
neighborhood are learning to fly.! 

Next to the cat the English sparrow is responsible for 
great decrease among certain of our native birds, espe- 
cially of some of our most useful and desirable species 
about the cities and towns. This is the obstacle that 
blocks the way of younger children in doing effective 
work for our native birds. They put out food in winter 


and we ask: ‘‘ What birds came for it?”’ ‘* English spar- 
rows.” They arrange drinking fountains. ‘Do the birds 
come?’’ “Yes, English sparrows.” They build nest 
boxes. ‘What birds do they have inthem?”’ “English 


sparrows.” If other birds come, the sparrows will mob 
them. They will break up the nests and devour the eggs 
of our robins, bluebirds, wrens, tree swallows and mar- 
tins, song sparrows and vireos, and the children’s work 
results in increasing this ‘“ruffian in feathers,” “a bird 
too pestiferous to mention.” The sparrows begin nest- 
ing in February or March, thus preémpting available bird 
houses before the native birds arrive, and rearing, as they 
do, five or six broods a season, they increase with incred- 
ible rapidity. It has been estimated that a pair in ten 
years might produce 275,716,983,698 sparrows.2, What 

1 Ona farm from which the cats were banished increase of birds was 
so great the following year as to cause general remark among the neigh- 
bors. Rats and mice, for destruction of which cats are sometimes kept, 
can certainly be more effectively dealt with by intelligent use of poisons 
and traps. Since not one of these vermin should be allowed on the 
premises, this argument for the cat does not hold. 

2« The English Sparrow in North America,” Bulletin No. 7, United States 
Department of Agriculture, ought to be accessible for reference to every class 


in nature study. The summing up of all the evidence is in part as follows : 
“The English sparrow is a curse of such virulence that it ought to be 


. 


314 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


are we to do with this enemy of our valuable native birds? 
So many differences of opinion and so many delicate 
points of sentiment, morals, and pedagogy are involved in - 
answering this question that all a teacher can do is to 
lead the children to observe and study the facts as they 
occur about their homes, and then leave the solution of 


attacked and destroyed before it becomes necessary to deplete the public 
treasury for the purpose, as has been done in other countries. By concerted 
action, and by taking advantage of its gregarious habits, much good may 
be accomplished with little or no expenditure of money” (p. 164). Among 
the “ Recommendations for Legislation” I may also quote the following : 
“(r) The immediate repeal of all existing laws which afford protection to 
the English sparrow. (2) The enactment of laws legalizing the killing 
of the English sparrow at all seasons of the year, and the destruction of its 
nests, eggs and young. (3) The enactment of laws making it a misde- 
meanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both — (a) to intentionally 
give food or shelter to the English sparrow, except with a view to its ulti- 
mate destruction; (4) to introduce or aid in introducing it into new local- 
ities; (c) to interfere with persons, means, or appliances engaged in, or 
designed for, its destruction or the destruction of its nests, eggs or young” 
(p. 150). Methods of destroying sparrows that involve suffering, wound- 
ing, etc., should be avoided so far as possible. The same is true of methods 
which advocate destruction of “nests, eggs or young,” which I regret to 
find are favored by the Department of Agriculture. Among the many 
arguments against this method we may say that a nest is a sacred thing, 
except to collectors, and the deliberate destruction of it violates our finest 
sentiments of home and confidence. I have known people to advocate the 
merciful extermination of sparrows out of nesting time, but they will not 
allow a nest to be disturbed under their own roof. Recent opposition to 
attempts to rid Boston of the English sparrow by destruction of “eggs, 
nest and young” is history in point. I am also obliged, on biological 
grounds, to differ from the Bzd/etin on the point of protecting carnivo- 
rous birds, like the sparrow hawk, shrike, and screech owl, because, since 
English sparrows are so shy and cunning, these birds will be feeding largely 
on the more easily caught native birds which we wish to protect. And, 
further, if they did kill English sparrows in great numbers, in Proportion 
as these become scarce they would take more and more of our valuable 
song birds, until we should be obliged to make war on the hawks and 


OUR COMMON BIRDS 315 


the problem to the parents. The one preliminary to 
having our valuable native birds numerous in our cities 
and towns, and in many parts of the country as well, is 
practical extermination of the English sparrow. If at the 
time the pest was imported general attention had been 
aroused to the necessity of protecting our native birds 


shrikes. Directions for poisoning sparrows, given on page 174 of the 
Bulletin, are evidently not derived from adequate experimental data. 
For example, arsenic is recommended. I have given this a thorough trial 
during three winters, and while a few may be killed at first, their numbers 
cannot be effectively diminished by its use. Strychnine sulphate is, according 
to practical experience, the poison to use; and with regard to its preparation, 
the Bulletin is singularly inaccurate. It says: ‘Dissolve two grams of 
strychnine in a liter of kot water.” This is not possible, since this amount 
of the pure alkaloid is not soluble in less than five liters of boiling water. 
The directions further state: “Soak the grain in the poison solution at least 
forty-eight hours,” but they nowhere say how much grain to take. Strych- 
nine sulphate is evidently meant, and two grams of this are readily soluble in 
100 cubic centimeters of water. Lange (Our Mative Birds, p.76) falls into 
the same inaccuracy. I am also obliged, on experimental grounds, to dis- 
sent from the directions given by Lange, viz., “two small bottles of strych- 
nine” to “nearly if not quite a peck of wheat.” This is not strong enough, 
as I have repeatedly caught sparrows poisoned by grain prepared in this way, 
and they often recovered completely. 

My own formula is as follows: Dissolve one-eighth of an ounce of pow- 
dered strychnine sulphate in one-half pint of boiling water. Pour this, while 
hot, over two quarts of wheat (or cracked corn), stir well, and continue stir- 
ring from time to time, until all the liquid is absorbed. Dry thoroughly, 
without scorching, and put away in some safe receptacle, labeled 


POISONED GRAIN. STRYCHNINE. 


It requires but one kernel to kill a sparrow. A quart of wheat contains 
about 23,000 kemels, and as a sparrow seldom takes more than two or three, 
you have enough to rid the neighborhood of about 20,000 sparrows. Expose 
the grain where poultry and tame pigeons cannot get it, and by operating 
only during the winter there will be no danger of poisoning seed-eating wild 
birds, at least for all northern towns and cities. By taking advantage of 


316 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


and of giving them a chance to do the work of insect 
destruction for which our natural conditions had developed 
them, there would have been no serious insect outbreaks, 
such as are now so frequent. It is coming to be a well- 
recognized observation that insect scourges occur where 
the sparrows are most numerous. The gypsy moth in 


the sparrows’ gregarious habits, and the fact that they drive off other birds 
from localities where they are numerous, much might be done even in the 
South. : 

Sparrows are such suspicious and cunning birds that, if the strychnized 
grain be exposed at first, they will probably roll each kernel in their bills, 
taste it, reject it, and possibly refuse to touch it again that winter. The 
best way is to select a safe place, where the wind is not likely to scatter it, 
a walk, driveway, or porch roof with a smooth surface, so that the grain 
may be swept up after each trial. Accustom them to feeding there daily 
with grain exactly like that which is medicated (I often do this for a week 
or even a month, until all the sparrows in the neighborhood are wont to 
come regularly), study the times when they come for their meals, and then 
on a cold, dry morning after a heavy snowstorm, having swept up all the 
good grain the night before, wait until they have gathered, and then put 
down enough strychnized grain to feed the entire flock. You have about 
ten minutes before any begin to drop, and those that have not partaken of 
the grain by this time will probably be frightened off; but, by timing it prop- 
erly, I have repeatedly caught every sparrow in the flock. I have found 
morning the best time, as they all come then; and it is essential to success 
to select a dry day, since in wet weather they taste the strychnine too 
quickly; I have seen them actually throw it out of the crop. 

With this simple method at command, by concerted action a few friends 
of our native birds can rid any northern city of the sparrow pest in a single 
winter. This is no more than parents ought to be willing to do, if not for 
the sake of the native birds, at least to clear the way for the children to do 
effective work in their behalf. And if any continue to think English spar- 
rows worthy of protection, despite all the evidence in hand, they should 
protect them in cages on their own premises, and be placed under heavy 
bonds never to let them out. 

It is not intended that the children should do this work, but the 
necessary information has been given for the use of parents or teachers. 


OUR COMMON BIRDS 317 


Massachusetts would probably never have come to our 
notice had it not found free course in localities where 
the sparrows had driven off the native birds. The same 
is true of many other destructive caterpillars and of the 
elm beetle. Even with the few birds that we now have 
in rural districts, these pests do comparatively little 
damage and never become so numerous as in the cities 
that are swarming with sparrows. The sparrow has thus 
had many opportunities to distinguish himself and has 
failed in every case. Besides refusing to assist materially 
in the extermination of insects, the sparrow has attacked 
the gardens, orchards, vineyards, and grain fields in a most 
destructive manner. 


Fig. 120. IDEAL MARTIN HousE, WORCESTER, Mass. 


318 


CHAPTER XIX 
THE BIRD CENSUS AND FOOD CHART 


SCARCELY any one line of nature study possesses so 
many interesting features as that connected with keeping 
track of the number of birds in a neighborhood, with a 
view to increasing the more desir- 
able species. The best method 
of making a bird census is to 


count the nests in a certain dis- 


Tic.121. CEDAR BIRDAND NEST 


trict as soon as the leaves fall 
in autumn. People generally 
would find it interesting to do this for their city lots or 
dooryards ; and if they would send the results from year 
to year to their local bird club, to some bird magazine, 
or to the writer, valuable data might be gathered as to 
the hoped-for increase of our native birds in different 
parts of the country. It is helpful for schools, besides 
being good geography work, to make a chart or map of 
the district, with each house, tree, hedge, vine, bush, and 
thicket in its proper place. The separate counting of 
each kind of tree gives the children a good reason for 
learning the different species, and, if any bird shows 
preferences for particular trees, this fact will be brought 
out. Essays and language lessons may be devoted to 


11 take pleasure in acknowledging for this valuable suggestion my 
indebtedness to Frank M. Chapman. 


319 


320 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


discussions and descriptions as to the kind of places the 
different birds choose to nest in. Drawing should be 
combined with this, and each schoolroom might contain, 


Pon auodg 


18 


Chart and census of a city block, Worcester, Mass., for 1898 and r901. Stars signify 
nests in 1808, viz., two robins, one oriole, one chipping sparrow, and one downy woodpecker. 
Tnitial letters stand for nests in 1901. Note the gain, 300 per cent, in three years. Houses, 
trees, and shrubbery are appropriately indicated; »., robin; 0., oriole; 3.4., bluebird; 
w.p., wood pewee; c.s., chipping sparrow. The trees are: 


WADpleta, Sy enet: Saeed ws, 3b Gh Ets os 5 Maple —one robin (two robins, rg00). 45 
Ash, Mountain... ..... 2 Oak — (one robin, ae Beeioe Sets ee Gh 
Birch 8 tay eS Peach . . Patch 5 
Cherry —(one vedstart) Thee. ae 9 Pear— one faning one enol eh anette hel 
Chestnut — one woodpecker (one ori- Pine; €tGs, 5. ape: Go Leen eon MOS) 
(0) (I (:] 0.) a a a >) lam: 335.(0. a oS) Soca see prone 77, 
Elm .. ae 5 Others . . & has) eee. 
Hawthorn —one chipping sparrow . I Total number of trees. 4 eo ESTO) 
Flick ony’ sos ee Ge es se 4 Bignonia vines — (three chipping spar- 


TOWS, 1900). c ©) ey et eee 


either in a case or hung about the walls and windows, 
a collection of a few deserted nests. These the pupils 
could use for special drawing work and for the study of 


THE BIRD CENSUS AND FOOD CHART 321 


form, structure, methods, and materials used by the birds 
in building. Knowledge on all the above points wili 
find application in a succeeding sec- 
tion, when we consider methods of 
attracting the birds and of provid- 
ing for their needs. Nothing in all 
ornithology is better fitted to inspire 
in a child the love of bird life than 
the study of their wonderful nests. Fic. 123. Nest or Baxri- 
If the children were given a course eae 
in such study during February or March, they could hardly 
be induced to molest a bird’s nest the following season. 
A great deal of information, giving at a glance the 
essence of years of study and hundreds of pages of bird 


Fic. 124. BIRD CENSUS AS KEPT ON BLACKBOARD, UPSALA STREET SCHOOL, 
Grav_E VII 


322 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


books, has been collected by Miss Ball into the chart 
opposite. We can see, for the various birds, so far as 
is known, what the species does for man and what, in 
turn, we may do for the birds by way 
of insuring for them an abundant and 
inexpensive supply of their preferred 
foods. Birds have been persecuted and 
slaughtered for generations because 
they have been compelled to levy toll 
in cultivated fruits for their invaluable services. I say 
compelled, because we have hitherto paid no attention to 
the natural sources of food supply for our birds and, in 
clearing the land, have destroyed, often unnecessarily, the 
native trees and shrubs upon which they depended. It 
is now well known that birds prefer wild to cultivated 
fruit, and that to protect our fruit the most effective and 
humane way is to leave or plant such wild or valueless 
fruits as ripen at the same time. In coming to realize 
how recklessly the country has been stripped, the writer 
considers it bad biology even to put scarecrows in the 
cherry trees to frighten the 1,,. ise bird sits at his door in the sun, 
birds from our gardens until Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, 
And lets his illumined being o’errun 
we have planted wild cherries, With the deluge of summer it receives; 

‘ o His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings, 
mulberries, and Juneberries nd the heart in her dumb breast flutters 
for the birds to feedon. We y, Geet wide world, and she to her 
can find plenty of other things In ae of Nature which song is the 
to eat, while the birds cannot. _ best? Dowetk, The Vion af 
All farms and many gardens Diy LaUnfal Bs 1 
and city lots have room for some tree or trees which 
would furnish food for birds. Our city streets, school 

_ yards, and public parks might be planted most profitably 


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324 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


with some regard to this matter, since, besides adding 
pleasing variety, it would tend to fill the towns and even 
cities with our native birds. No less an observer than John 
Burroughs says: “Indeed, the food question seems to be 
‘ the only serious one with the birds. Give them plenty to 
eat and no doubt the majority of them would face our 
winters.” He goes on to describe how a pair of bluebirds 
and even a mocking bird were induced, by the shelter of 
his porch and the fruit of a hackberry tree that stood 
close by, to spend the winter with him eighty miles north 
of New York. With available room properly planted we 
might have ten wild birds to one that we have now in 
our towns and many of our cities; and those who favor 
the English sparrow, because he is the “only bird we 
have in winter,” might soon be consoled for his absence. 

It would be ideal nature study if all the children in our 
schools would learn the list of bird-food trees and plants. 
By learning them I do not mean being able to say over 
their namcs merely; but they should be able to recognize 
each at any season of the year; they should know its 
possibilities of growth for purposes of decoration and 
ornament ; and, most of all, they should study how to propa- 
gate each species, so that they can actually plant and have 
a tree anywhere they wish. 

Glancing down the first column of the chart, we see 
that certain birds subsist on animal food, insects, worms, 
etc. These birds are the house wren and cuckoo; and, 
when it is determined, we may add to this list the chicka- 
dee, vireos, swallows, swifts, martins, and flycatchers. We 
could not have too many of these in this country. Another 
larger class of birds takes 50. per cent or over of animal 


THE BIRD CENSUS AND FOOD CHART 325 


food but, even with the othcrs, as well stated by Wood 
(Theodore Wood, Our Bird Allies, p. 7), birds that take 
but a small per cent of insect food may still destroy 
insects which would have damaged fruits and crops much 
more than the birds themselves. Birds that come early, 
like the bluebird, robin, redwing, and grackle, may be of 
especial service by destroying insects before they have 
laid their eggs for the season. 

For four years now the food chart has occupied a place 
on the wall of my study. I have had occasion to refer to 
it many hundred times, and never without learning some- 
thing that I was glad to know. Still its best service, 
after all, lies in showing us how little we know about the 
foods of our birds. Each blank square is really a ques- 
tion, a suggestion to try this or that, and an infinite 
number of other things not mentioned in the chart, to 
see whether any particular bird will eat it. And when a 
child finds that any bird will eat something which it is 
not shown to eat in the chart, he may have discovered 
a fact which no one else in the world knows. If it be 
some destructive insect, his observation may be very 
valuable, and if he tells everybody about it, he may lead 
people to protect the bird more carefully and so help to 
make the world better. 

As years go by and great numbers of our birds become 
so tame that they will come to us and eat from our hands 
and allow us to observe them as they hunt their natura] 
foods and feed their young, we may be able to discover 
more in this important field, in possibly the next ten years, 
than man has learned in as many centuries. Methods 
suggested for taming birds may assist in this work. 


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CHAPTER XX 
PRACTICAL DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 


No longer now the wing’d habitants, 
That in the woods their sweet lives sing away, 
Flee from the form of man; but gather round, 
And prune their sunny feathers on the hands 
Which little children stretch in friendly sport 
Towards these dreadless partners of their play. 
‘ é f ; i happiness 
And science dawn though late upon the earth. 


SHELLEY, Demon of the World. 


Tue process of domestication consists in three things : 
first, in development of intelligence sufficient to discern 
between friends and foes ; second, in development of a 
sympathetic appreciation of the animal’s physical needs 
sufficient to enable it to live with man in mutually helpful 
relations ; and third, in so universalizing these attainments 
and relations that all may work in unison, to the end that 
what one builds up others will not tear down. The evi- 
dence is already obtained to prove the value of a number 
of the common species. On the esthetic side alone the 
sentiment is growing rapidly that our birds are worth 
their board and lodging, which they pay for many times 
over with their beauty and their song. In addition ‘to 
this, recent discoveries as to their work in insect destruc- 
tion should win for them an assured place in nature-study 
courses; and, it would seem, that in no other way could 

327 


328 ; NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


we bring about that universal regard for bird life that the 
country needs. 


Before givin them any of these data below, ask the pupils, as a 
part of a writing lesson, to make a list of the birds they like best, 
stating after each how much they would be willing to give to have a 
pair nest by their home. 

People buy birds and go to the expense and care of keeping them 
in cages. How much more is it worth to have a pair of free birds 
come and nest by your window, to have them sing to you the season 
through and show you the secrets of their wonderful housekeeping ! 
Four of my friends have kindly given me estimates as to how much 
they would be willing to give thus to have a pair of the following 
birds. (We may compare the figures with Holden’s prices for choice 
songsters of the same species.) 


EsTIMATED VALUE Hovpen’s Price 

FOR A PAIR OF IST 2D | 3D 4TH FOR A MALE BIRD 
Brown Thrashers . $5 $3 $3 #8 $5 to $8 
Catbirds . I I 75 1 5 “10 
Tanagers . I 10 3 4 3 es (ac 
Grosbeaks I 8 7 8 5 1B 
Robins 5 5 I I 3 an 
Bobolinks 2 10 6 8 2 eo 98 
Orioles 6 4 3.50 3 5 
Chickadees j 2 I 2 2 _— 
Bluebirds. . . . I 5 4 3 om 
Mocking birds (not thought of as a possibility) 350 “ 50 


Anything that a man can avoid doing under the notion that it is 
bad, he may also avoid under the notion that something else is good. 


1 had hoped to place alongside of the esthetic value the economic value of the different 
birds ; but our highest authorities in ornithology tell us that this is not known fora single 
bird. If a toad may be worth $19.88 each season for cutworms alone which it destroys 
(Kirkland’s estimate, “The Common Toad,” Bzdletin No. 46, Hatch Experiment Station, 
Amherst, Mass.), many of our birds, like the chickadee, swallow, wren, soit and others, 
must be worth much more. 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 329 


Wean them [school children] from their native cruelty by 
imparting to them some of your own positive sympathy with an 


: ae” E . ‘ 
animal’s inner springs of 19¥e JAMES, Zalks to Teachers, p. 195. 


What positive work can the children do for birds that 
will tend to their increase and draw them closer and 
closer about our homes year by year? Let us apply 
ourselves thoughtfully to this question; for I am sure 
we shall find increasing pleasure in following its varied 
suggestions as long as we live. We have been chasing 
the birds farther and farther back into the woods long 
enough. Let us reverse all this and induce them to 
come to us. 

Food, Water, and Home, Essentials of Bird Life.— Since their 
homes are such frail affairs, we should expect birds to 
build where food and water are abundant. Still we should 
remember that the idea of home, with birds as with men, is 
intimately associated with a sense of security, and that the 
predominant characteristics of birds are wings, timidity, 
ability to flee. The sight of a cat, the careless throwing 
of a stone, when a pair are seeking a nesting place, may 
often influence them to go elsewhere. On the other 
hand, no animals have eyes so quick to discern acts of 
friendliness, and, if all appearance of hostility is avoided, 
I doubt if we need to modify the daily course of our lives 
essentially to have the birds come to us. Their nests 
often stand close to railroads and overhang busy streets, 
and if not directly molested, many of our most valuable 
species seem quite content to take the world as they find 
it. This is the result of my observations and experience 
for the past ten years. 


330 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Few people realize the importance of water to bird 


life. How many times a day a bird drinks I have never 


Fic. 127. A Birpb BaTH 
(Photograph by Timothy F. Myers) 


seen stated or even 
mentioned in any of 
the books.! But we 


1 Water may be pro- 
vided by placing a shallow 
dish on a short post, high 
enough to be out of the 
reach of cats. The water 
should be from one-half 
inch deep on the shallow 
side to two or three inches 
in the deepest part, which 
may be accomplished by 
either tilting the dish or 
by partially filling it with 
washed sand or fine gravel. 
A large flowerpot saucer 
makes a good dish, as it 
is a little rough, and it is 
said that birds do not like 
a slippery floor to stand 
on when they bathe. Few 
people who have not tried 
it can have any idea of the 
satisfaction there is in see- 
ing the thirsty birds come 
down to bathe and drink. 
For five years past I 
have had one by my study 
window, and at the pres- 
ent moment a robin is 
making the water fly in 


every direction. The next comer is an English sparrow, and the next 
and the next and the next two, English sparrows, — while they are with 
us we should not wish them to be thirsty,—and the next is a female 
robin, the next a red-eyed vireo, the next an English sparrow, all within 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 331 


know they drink often, and they must have their baths 
once a day and probably twice in hot weather. 

Another kind of bath the birds know how to take, and 
people should indulge in more, is the sun bath. The 
bird leans over, broadside to the sun, the wings fall, the 
bill opens, and every feather is raised to let the light strike 
the skin. When we see it for the first time, we think the 
bird is dying; but as the solid comfort of it is appreciated, 


Fic. 128. MockinG BIRD TAKING A SUN BATH 


we can hardly resist the temptation to go and do like- 
wise, — bask in the sun. 

The lack of pure water and suitable places to bathe 
may go farther than anything else toward explaining the 
disappearance of birds from our cities during the hot, dry 
summer months. Wesee them drinking and bathing in the 
gutters and mud puddles, and is it not natural that they take 
their nestlings to the country as soon as they can fly? 


fifteen minutes, and so it goes in the noon hour whenever I have time 
to watch. Nothing adds more to the comfort of birds in hot weather. 


ee NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


As an outdoor lesson ask the class to hunt the district 
over thoroughly and report on the number of suitable 
places for birds to drink and bathe. Previously discuss 
with them what constitutes a suitable place. Our park 
waters are commonly too deep and, with their rock-bound 
borders, seldom afford a bathing place. Birds recognize 
their helplessness when their feathers are wet, so that 
streams or pools whose 
banks afford hiding 
places for cats will be 
avoided. Then the 
water must be whole- 
some, clean, and con- 
stant, not likely to fail 
on hot days. If there 
is a lack of proper bird 
fountains, call for vol- 


Fic. 129. Birp Houses 


Designed and made, at suggestion of Principal 
J. Chauncey Lyford, by ninth grade manual unteers amon ge the 


training pupils, Winslow Street School, children who will see 

Worcester, Mass. The bird house is now ; e 

adopted as one of the regular models in the to it that the birds of 

ninth grade manual training course through- the district are well 

out the city : 
provided for. 

Leaving the matter of food, as most important, to the 
last we may next inquire what the children can do to 
supply bird homes. The idea of building a bird house 
and of having birds live in it has a great fascination for 
children. The bare suggestion is sufficient, and off they 
go, perhaps carrying the house and running after every 
bird they see, calling “Come, birdie,”’ and great will be 
the disappointment at first that every imaginable bird 
does not come forthwith and take up its abode. 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 333 


We should guard against such disappointments in con- 
nection with the autumn bird census and during the 


study of nests and nesting 
For each bird 
included in their grade plan 
they should have clear ideas 
as to its preferences and be 
led to accommodate them- 
selves to the bird’s life, 
rather than expect the bird 
to do impossible things. 
To supply homes, nest- 
ing places, and materials 


materials. 


for nests is a fascinating 
study. 
pruned to make inviting 
crotches, and a dark tangle 
of bushes overgrown with 
vines and sunflowers, dense 
lilac bushes, or a “syringa 


Trees may be 


thicket”? will be sure to 
attract catbirds, brown 
thrashers, and some others. 
Bird houses furnish homes 
for wrens, bluebirds, chick- 
adees, nuthatches, tree 
swallows, and purple mar- 
tins, but here, again, Eng- 


Fic. 130. BLUEBIRD 


One of the author’s tenement houses. 


There are five young ones inside, and 
the pair reared three broods in 1901 


lish sparrows are the omnipresent nuisance and must be 


served frequent notice to quit the premises. 


The proper 


size for a bird house is six inches square floor space and 


344 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


eight inches high, and houses of more than one compart- 
ment may be made by cutting the boards in multiples of 
these numbers. Old weathered boards should be used, 
or, if painted, they should 


Alas, dear friend, that, all my days, 


be made the color of an old Hast poured from that syringa thicket 
A The quaintly discontinuous lays 
tree trunk. A single open- To which I hold a season-ticket, 


ing near the top should be _A season-ticket cheaply bought 
ec meee With a dessert of pilfered berries, 
made, two inches in diameter And who so oft my soul hast caught 
for most birds ; although, for With morn and evening voluntaries. 
: Lowe, Vightingale in the Study. 
wrens and chickadees, one 
inch is sufficient and will serve to keepout English sparrows, 
and for wrens the house should be set in a shady place. 
Besides being a cheery songster and a most sprightly 
and fascinating fellow, the wren depends for practically 
his whole food supply upon the insects of our grounds 
and gardens. While wrens have become scarce of late 
; years about our towns and cities, driven 
out probably by English sparrows, a few 
of the children in Worcester have reported 
them as occupying their bird houses. No 
doubt, we may soon have them common 
again if we supply sparrow-proof homes 
and get rid of the English sparrows. 
Probably no bird possesses a higher 
economic value than the chickadee. All 


Fic. 131. summer he feeds on insects and all winter 
CHICKADEE 


on the eggs which they lay on the twigs 
and bark and around the buds of trees. Professor Forbush 
reports finding 5500 eggs of plant lice in the crop of a 
chickadee, this number representing what the bird had 
gathered for a single breakfast. When heavy snow and 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 


335 


especially sleet covers the trees, be sure to see that your 


chickadees are provided with food. 


marrow and meat on it or 
a piece of suet fastened to 
the limb of a tree and kept 
free from ice from time to 
time may save dozens of 
these precious little lives 
Chicka- 
dees are also among our 
cheeriest and tamest birds, 
and we could not have too 
many of them about our 
homes. 

For swallows every barn, 
and I am tempted to say 
house attic as well, should 
be provided with a hole high 
up in the gables, which can 
be left open the whole year, 
or at least all the time the 
This 
is a custom of our fathers 
which should not be per- 
mitted to lapse. It is some- 
times objected that the birds 
bring undesirable insects 
into the house. The idea 
is probably based on faulty 


during a winter. 


swallows are with us. 


A fresh bone with 


Among the dwellings framed by birds 
In field or forest with nice care, 

Is none that with the little Wren’s 
In snugness may compare. 


And when for their abodes they seek 
An opportune recess, 
The hermit has no finer eye 
For shadowy quietness. 
WorvswortH, 7he Wrens Nest. 


This poet, though he ‘ive apart, 

Moved by his hospitable heart, 

Sped, when I passed his sylvan fort, 

To do the honors of his court, 

As fits a feathered lord of land, 

Flew near, with soft wing grazed my hand. 
Emerson, The Titmouse. 


Further on we found what we were chiefly 
looking for—a flock of lively little chicka- 
dees. ... They would light on our hands, 
inspect the pieces of crushed nut there, knock 
off the ones that did not suit them, and 
finally fly off with one — usually the largest. 

Froyp C. Nose, aged 14, Bird-Lore, 

Vol. I, p. 58. 


On two occasions, Chickadees have flown 
down and perched upon my hand. Dur- 
ing the few seconds they 1emained there I 
became rigid with the emotion of this novel 
experience. It was a mark of confidence 
which seemed to initiate me into the ranks 
of woodland dwellers. 

Cuapman, Handbook, p. 390. 


Note also Chapman’s ‘The Legend of 
the Salt,” Bird-Lore, Vol. I, p. 55. 


Gentle swallow, thou we know 

Every year dost come and go ; 

In the spring thy nest thou mak’st ; 

In the winter it forsak’st, 

And divert’st thyself awhile 

Near the Memphian towers, or Nile. 

Anacreon, XXXV, p. 8g, Stanley’s 

Translation (562 B.C.). 


observations, but, in any case, the parasites may be easily 
destroyed, and we should do this rather than not have the 


336 


swallows. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Old barns are sometimes seen with this wise 


provision, but it is seldom, if ever, found in the new ones 


that are fast taking their places. 


As the old barns fell to ruin, 

New ones, raised to take their places, 
Lacked the broad and generous shelter 
Which the eaves had once afforded 

To the owners of the mud huts, 

To the swallows of the Saco. 


Weary-winged, from distant Southlands, 
In the spring have come the swallows, 
Seeking hopefully their nestings, 

Seeking eaves and sun-warmed barn sides ; 
Come and found the crackless clapboards, 
Come and found ill-odored pigments, 
Come and found new barns for old ones, 
Come and found no eaves for shelter, 
Come with joy and met with sorrow, 
Seeking vainly for old barn sides 
Changeless as the cliffs of Paugus. 


Weary-winged, the homeless swallows 
Flutter on into the darkness — 
Whither going? That they know not. 
But ’tis certain that the Saco, 

That the /onely cliffs of Paugus, 

That the steeps below Chocorua, 

Do not bear their cosy dwellings. 
Years ago, on man depending, 

Mother swallows taught their nestlings 
Barns alone were made to build on — 
Barns have failed them, man betrayed them. 


Bo.ves, Chocorua’s Tenants. 


As well suppose the trees without leaves 
as the summer air without swallows. Ever 


Fic. 132. BARN 
SWALLOW’S 
NEST 


since of old time the Greeks went round 
from house to house in spring singing the 
swallow song, these birds have been looked 
upon as the friends of man, and almost as 
the very givers of the sunshine. ... The 
beautiful swallows, be tender with them, 
for they symbol all that is best in nature and 
all that is best in our hearts. 

Jerrrigs, Field and Hedgerow, p. 100. 


Then out of the high heaven above, at 
once one hears the happy chorus of the barn 
swallows; they come rejoicing, their swift 
wings cleave the blue, they fill the air with 
woven melody of grace and music. Till 
late August they remain. Like the martins’, 
their note is pure joy; there is no coloring of 
sadness in any sound they make. The sand- 
piper’s note is pensive with all its sweet- 
ness; there is a quality of thoughtfulness, 
as it were, in the voice of the song sparrow ; 
the robin has many sad cadences ; in the fairy 
bugling of the oriole there is a triumphant 
richness, but not such pure delight; the 
blackbird’s call is keen and. sweet, but not 
so glad; and the bobolink, when he shakes 
those brilliant jewels of sound from his 
bright throat, is always the prince of jokers, 
full of fun, but not so happy as comical. 
‘The swallow’s twittering seems an expres- 
sion of unalloyed rapture, —I should select 
it from the songs of all the birds I know as 
the voice of unshadowed gladness. 

Cevia THAXTER, An Jsland Garden, p.22. 


1 The nest in the margin was taken from such an old 
barn, with swallow holes in the peak, belonging to Elliott 
Moore of Worcester, and the swallows have nested in it 
regularly for many years. 
fast making our buildings impossible for swallows. A 

. case has recently come to my knowledge, and they are 
doubtless numerous, where the nests of a large colony of 
eave swallows were scraped down in order to paint a barn. 
They deserted the place and have never returned. It-would 
certainly pay to tack a rough board along under the eaves 
of barns, to attract colonies of this most valuable bird. 


Paint and planed lumber are 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 337 


Even the Indians used to hang gourds to their wig- 
wam poles for the martins. The Greeks celebrated the 


swallows in poetry and song as early 
as the dawn of authentic history. We 
cannot afford to let these deep lines of 
sentiment and human good fail from 
our lives. I have heard complaints 
that our barn swallows are becoming 
scarce, as though it were due to some 
inevitable change in natural condi- 
tions. Look at our barns, and the 
whole matter is explained. Provide 
homes, wherever this has been 
neglected, and swallows will soon be 
numerous again. It was indeed a 
pathetic thing to see, as I did 
recently, a fine colony of barn swal- 
lows flying round and round a large 
barn, examining every knot, clinging 
about the too well glazed windows, 
anable to find an entrance. Farmers 
should realize the hot days of suffer- 
ing and annoyance from flies, gnats, 
and mosquitoes which a beautiful col- 
ony of swallows would save. 

The purple martin has been prac- 
tically driven from our towns and 
cities by the English sparrows. It 
should be considered no mean public 
service to keep a suitable house 
clear of sparrows for these beautiful 


Fic. 133. Birp House 


Erected in the school yard 
(Upsala Street). It was 
taken by a pair of tree 
swallows before it had 
been up an hour 


338 


birds. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The bird house for purple martins should be 


placed on a pole some distance from trees and buildings, 


This guest of Summer, 
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, 
By his lov’d masonry, that heaven’s breath 
Smells wooingly here. . . . 
Where they most breed and haunt, I have 
observ’d, 

The air is delicate. 

SHAKESPEARE, Macbeth. 


All the summer long the swallow is a 
most instructive pattern of unwearied indus- 
try and affection. ... ‘The swallow is a 
delicate songster. 

GILBERT WHITE, Sedborne, 1767, 
Vol. II, p. 5. 


most carefully protected. 


and the openings may be 
three inches in diameter. 
The little chimney swift 
and the night hawk are 
birds of wonderful power 
and usefulness in sweeping 
the air clear of insect pests. 
Both have applied for homes 
in our cities and should be 


The night hawks nest on the 


flat roofs of buildings, and the swifts in unused chimneys. 


If every bird has his vocation, as a poetical 
French writer suggests, that of the American 
robin must be to inspire cheerfulness and 
contentment in men. His joyous ‘ Cheer 
up! Cheerup! Cheery! Becheery! Be 
cheery!”’ poured out in the early morning 
from the top branch of the highest tree in 
the neighborhood, is one of the most stimu- 
lating sounds of spring. 

Besides admonishing others to cheerful- 
ness, the robin sets the example. Not only 
is his cheering voice the first in the morning 
and the last at night, — of the day birds, — 
but no rain is wet enough to dampen his 
spirits. 

Ouive THorne Miter, Ju 
Nesting Time, p. 2. 


The swifts nest in colonies 
in the same chimneys and 
are often killed in great 
numbers by fires that are 
built during cold weather in 
Great care 
should be exercised to avoid 
this whenever possible. 

To one awakened at morn- 
ing and cheered at evening 


early summer. 


1It is often stated that purple martins are becoming rare, English spar- 


rows being generally given as the cause. 


This is probably true in the main, 


since the sparrows nest before the martins come north, and especially 
because the sparrow nuisance has discouraged people from providing 
martin houses. That the lack of suitable houses for martins may be at the 
bottom of the difficulty is indicated by the fact that a martin house, erected 
in Worcester, May 1, became within three weeks the home of nine pairs 
of these “rare” birds. Within limits of food supply, we can doubtless 
have as many purple martins as we furnish with sparrow-free houses. 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 339 


by their songs through years of childhood, robins are 
necessaries of life. No summer is complete without a 
pair of these rollicking birds nesting about the house. 


Fic. 134. Ropin’s NEST IN THE CHERRY TREE 


(Photograph by the author, 1go1) 


But how to induce a pair of wild robins to do this is a 
problem fascinating but as yet almost wholly unsolved. 
In very dry weather, or where mud is not easily 
obtained, it is a good plan to keep a pan of mud on the 
post with the birds’ watering dish. Mrs. Treat has 


340 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


described how robins take mud for their nests from her 
flowerpots, and Olive Thorne Miller relates that a female 
robin has been known to dip herself in water, fly directly 
into the dust of the street, 
and then pick off the mud 
from her feet and feathers. 
When it comes to this, we 
may be sure that a little help 
will be appreciated. Several 
children in the Worcester 
Ten to One Clubs have put 
out pans of mud and have 
been greatly delighted in a 
number of cases by seeing 
But I hope the 
one who first discovers how to make a nook so inviting 
that a pair of robins cannot resist the temptation to build 
their it will tell 
me, and every one else, all 
about it. 

It is almost as hard to do 
without bluebirds, orioles, 


BLUEBIRD 


Fic. 135. 


robins come and carry the mud away. 


in A rout of evanescence 
With a revolving wheel ; 
A resonance of emerald, 
A rush of cochineal ; 
And every blossom on the bush 
Adjusts her tumbled head, — 
The mail from Tunis, probably, 
An easy morning’s ride. 


nest 


Enity Dickinson, Second Series, p. 130. 


and vireos, and a host of 
others, and if plenty of nest- 
ing material be provided at 
the proper time, it is per- 
haps easier to attract orioles 
and vireos than any others. 


A flash of harmless lightning, 
A mist of rainbow dyes, 
The burnished sunbeams brightening, 
From flower to flower he flies ; 
While wakes the nodding blossom, 
But just too late to see 
What lip hath touched her bosom 
And drained her nectary. 
Joun B. Tass, p. 59. 


They can build in almost any tree and find food in every 


garden and orchard. 


Hence abundance of nesting mate- 


rial, linen and cotton thread and strings, store twine, yarn, 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 341 


or tow, may decide a pair to build on the spot. A little 
hair for a chipping sparrow is another thing not to be 
forgotten, and plenty of honeysuckles and other nectar- 
bearing flowers will be sure to attract humming birds. 


Fic. 136. HumMinG Birp’s NEST ON AN APPLE LIMB 


(About natural size) 


Whatever we do to attract a pair of birds to nest on 
the premises must be done, of course, at the proper time, 
and to this end we should know when each species begins 
to nest, and our preparations should be made a week or 


342 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


LIFE CHART OF OUR COMMON 


Arrive Depart ek cee bation 
Broods Days 
Bluebird A fewresident, March Nov. 2-3 May, early 12 
Robin A few resident,March| Oct., Nov. 2-3 May 12 
Wood Thrush May Oct. 2-? May, late 12 
Brown Thrasher April, late Oct., late | 1 or 2 | May, early 
Catbird April, late Oct., late 2? May, early 
House Wren April, late Oct., mid. 3 May, early 
Chickadee Resident 2 May, early 
Vireos May Oct., late I May, early 
Cedar Bird Resident I June—Oct. 
( Barn April, mid. 
Swallows { Eave April Sept., mid. 2 
( Tree April Oct. 

Purple Martin April Sept., mid. 
Tanager May Oct., early I May, late 
Grosbeak May, early Oct., early I 
Orioles - Mayr Sept. 1 i || Wak iiee 14 
Bobolink May Oct., early I - June r 
Kingbird , April, late Sept., early | 1 (2?) | May, early | 12-13 
Phoebe March, mid. Oct., last 2 May, early 12 
Cuckoo May, early Oct., late 2 May, mid. 
Chipping Sparrow April 9 Nov. 7 May, mid. 
Song Sparrow Resident May 1 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 


343 


BIRDS. (LatTirupE oF NEw York.) 
Young 
ae Nest Eggs 
in Nest i 
F Height ; Num- 
Days Location Feet Material ber Color, etc. 
Hollow in tree | 4-10 | Grass 4-6 | Pale blue 
or box 
Crotch of tree 5-15 | Rootlets, grass, mud | 3-5 | Greenish blue 
In sapling 8 Rootlets, mud, fine | 3-5 | Greenish blue 
grass 
Low, thick o-5 | Twigs, rootlets 3-6 | Grayish white, finely 
bushes or on speckled with cin- 
ground namon 
Thicket ordense| 3-30 | Twigs, leaves, grass, | 3-5 | Dark greenish blue 
tree rootlets 
Hollow tree,box,} 1-? Twigs, grass 6-8 | Wine or flesh colored, 
or cranny finely speckled 
Hollow trees, | 4-20 | Moss, grass, feathers, | 6-S | White, spotted, and 
birch. stubs plant down speckled with brown 
Pensile in fork | 15-70 | Bark fibers, paper, | 3-4 | White, black spots on 
of branch plant down larger end 
Fruit and shade | 3-25 | Twigs, bark, grasses, | 3-5 | Pale bluish green, 
trees leaves, moss, rootlets spotted with dark 
On rafters, etc., Mud, twigs, grass, | 4-6 | White, spotted with 
ledges, eaves, feathers brownish 
holes in trees, Same as above 4-7 | White 
bird houses Twigs, grass, feathers White 
Bird houses Straws, twigs 4-5 | White 
clear of trees 
Trees 3-20 | Twigs, weed stems, | 3-4 | Pale bluish or green- 
tendrils ish white, brownish 
markings 
Bushes or trees | 5-20 | Fine twigs, rootlets 4-5 | Pale blue, with brown 
markings 
14 Pendent from| 8-50 | String, hair, plant | 4-6 White, with dark 
branches fibers scrawls and blotches 
On ground, in Grasses 4-7 | Grayish white, with 
grass brownish spots and 
blotches 
14 Trees 4-40 | Weeds, grass, moss, | 3-5 | White, spotted with 
plant down, rootlets umber 
14 |On beams or] 6-20 | Moss, mud, hairs 4-6 | White, rarely spotted 
ledges with brown 
Lowtreesorvine-| 4-10 | Sticks, grass 3-5 | Pale bluish green 
covered bushes 
Bushes and trees] 5-20 | Twigs, grasses, root-| 4-6 | Bluish, brownish 
lets, hairs markings 
On ground, rare- Grasses, dead leaves, | 4-6 | White, or bluish white, 


ly on bushes 


bark 


covered with brown- 
ish markings 


344 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


two before this occurs. The preceding table, which we 
may call a Life Chart of a few of our commoner species, 
may serve to bring a number of points of interest together 
in convenient form for reference. It would be well if, 
each spring, classes in nature study could make a table 
of this kind for their own localities. This would bring 
out variations in season from year to year, define these 
periods more exactly, and furnish incentive and guidance 
to active work in supplying homes and nesting materials. 

Organized Bird Protection ; the Audubon Societies. — “ As for 
the birds that are the special object of preservation of 
your Society, we should kecp them just as we keep trees. 
They add immeasurably to the wholesome beauty of life.” 1 

These words of President Roosevelt express the matter 
in a nutshell. We should have birds about our homes 
just as we have trees and flowers. In planning for farms 
or gardens, for public parks or for homes, we should 
always provide for birds. Bird life, in fact, is the natural 
complement of plant life, both useful and beautiful. 

To impart to our work for the birds the universality 
that shall render it effective for the whole country we 
need organization. Happily, this is provided for in the 
Audubon Societies, now established in twenty-two states. 
Both teachers and pupils may join ‘the societies of their 
respective states, and it would be none too many if every 
nature-study class should form a branch Audubon Society. 
The teachers receive suggestion and help, and the chil- 
dren feel the inspiration there is in all working together 
for a cause of truly national importance, — the universal 
protection, domestication, and increase of our native birds. 


1 From a letter of Theodore Roosevelt, Bird-Lore, vol. ii, p. 98. 


DOMESTICATION OF OUR WILD BIRDS 345 


Objections have been raised to the usual Audubon Society pledges, 
due to the negative elements that enter largely into all those I have 
seen. The objections do not hold with regard to a clear, positive 
statement of purpose, which is always of value in active organizations, 
and as such a pledge I would submit the following: 

L promise to do all I can for our native birds by treating them 
with kindness and by providing them with food, water, and homes. 

The official organ of the Audubon Societies is Bzra-Lore (The 
Macmillan Company, Harrisburg, Penn.), each number of which con- 
tains an Audubon Society directory. From this any who wish infor- 
mation about organizing branch societies may obtain the address of 
their State Secretary. 


Mrs. BRIGHTWEN. Wild Nature won by Kindness. London, 1898. 

Cuar_es A. Bascock. Bird Day. Silver, Burdett & Co., 1901. 

F.E.L. Beat. “Some Common Birds in their Relation to Agriculture,” 
Farmer’s Bulletin No. 54, United States Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, 1808. 

D. Lance. Our Native Birds. The Macmillan Company, 1899. 


Goov SAMARITANS 


Fic. 137. 


CHAPTER XXI 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 


Like one in danger; cautious, 
I offered him a crumb, 

And he unrolled his feathers 
And rowed him softer home 


Than oars divide the ocean, 
Too silver for a seam, 

Or butterflies, off banks of noon, 
Leap, plashless, as they swim. 


EmILy Dickinson, /n the Garden. 


FEEDING and taming go together, for the only way to 
a bird’s heart is through his crop. If we have a tempting 
morsel in the palm, they will fly toour hands. Had Emily 
Dickinson offered a meal worm instead of the “crumb,” 
the result might have been different (see Fig. 138). We 
must learn enough about a bird’s food to know what to offer, 
and we need to come into sympathy with a bird’s life to 
know how to offer it so that the proffer may be accepted. 

As indicated on the chart, bird foods may be divided 
into vegetable and animal, and among the latter different 
kinds of insects form the most important part. Artificial 
foods will also require a little attention for reasons to be 
developed later. It is a fortunate coincidence that many 
of the most useful birds are also the most beautiful and 
our best songsters. We may divide them into three classes, 

347 


348 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


The first class includes those that are wholly or almost 
wholly insectivorous: the swallows and martins, wrens, 
vireos, flycatchers, warblers, cuckoos, night hawks, whip- 
poor-wills, swifts, and humming birds. We cannot have 
too many of these birds. All they need is safe homes and 
water, and they should be encouraged and protected up 
to the very limit of insect food. We should not attempt 


Fis. 138. 0. E. D. 
A wild robin tamed to come at call by means of a few meal worms. 


(Photograph by the author, 1gor) 


to keep one in confinement for any length of time unless 
we have an enormous supply of suitable insects, and 
even then, with some of them, their manner of snapping 
insects on the wing is so different from that of picking 
them up from the ground that we could hardly expect to 
feed them adequately or give them sufficient freedom for 
health. Those birds, however, that do not catch their 
food on the wing, such as the wrens, vireos, warblers, 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 349 


cuckoos, and the humming bird, are easily tamed and may 
be fed successfully and kept in comfort, if accidentally 
disabled for flight. 

The second class includes birds that by preference feed 
on insects but are able to vary their diet to fruits, nuts, 
or grains when insects fail. The bluebird, robin, wood 
thrush, mocking bird, brown thrasher, catbird and all other 
thrushes, chickadee, cedar bird, grosbeak, meadow lark, 
grackle, oriole, and woodpecker 
belong in this class. For these 
the best work must consist in 
planting and preserving such 
trees, shrubs, and vines as will 
insure them an abundant supply 
of their favorite fruits. If de- 
sirable, any of this class may be 
fed in confinement on fruits, 
meats, bread, eggs, potatoes, 
and meal worms, as will be 
described presently. The birds 
in this class that spend the Fis. 139. Porrrair or a Youne 

: : : BLUEBIRD 
winter with us — chickadees, (By Myron W, Stickney) 
nuthatches, brown creepers, and 
woodpeckers— may be attracted to our window sills and 
made very tame by supplying them with cracked nuts, suet, 
meat, bones, doughnuts, etc., during severe weather. 

The two classes already described are commonly known 
to bird fanciers as ‘“soft-billed”’ birds. To the third class 
belong the seed-eating, “hard-billed”’ birds, the canary, 
goldfinch, song and chipping sparrows; in short, all the 


finches and sparrows. These birds are most easily 


350 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


and hence most commonly kept in confinement, because 
they can be fed almost entirely on seeds. Outside, it is 
only necessary to keep a pile of hay-loft sweepings, with 
its grass and weed seeds, or to scatter millet, sunflower 
seeds, or grain in some sunny, sheltered spot to have such 
as remain with us all winter long or arrive early in the 
spring feeding under our windows. 

To effect the practical taming of the wild birds about 
our homes we should do everything calculated to attract 
them and to give them a feeling of security in our pres- 
ence; and food is the great loadstone. When we begin 
this positive work little attention need be given to the 
negative side, z.e., refraining from such things as disturb 
and frighten them away. 

It is comparatively useless to attempt to tame an old 
bird. A bird is a quick-lived, extremely sensitive creature, 
keenly intelligent within narrow limits. The ability to 
help itself within this narrow range, that a child takes 
years to learn, the little bird masters in so many weeks or 
even days; hence a bird’s brain is so organized that one 
decisive lesson commonly lasts its lifetime. This fact 
we must bear in mind when we seek to tame a bird, and 
one other fact also, which is that a bird is a timid, 
defenseless creature whose life for ages has depended 
chiefly on ability to fly. With so many enemies on every 
side, a bird must interpret any quick movement as a hos- 
tile act. Its eyes are probably keener than ours. So in 
approaching a bird we can come quite near if we are 
careful not to look at it and if we zigzag toward it or 
pretend to be looking for something else. For a bird to 
stop singing is a signal that we have come as close as we 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 351 


dare until we reassure it of our good intentions, possibly 
by withdrawing a little or by sitting down and pretending 
to look the other way. We must always remember that 
one careless or hostile act 
may make a bird “wild” 
for life. 

I mention these points 
in order that we may 
unite intelligently in 
taming the birds about 
our homes by doing only 
those things that assure 
them and make them feel 
that we are their friends. 
Among the little acts by 
which we are able to 
give this assurance the 
proffer of food is the 
most effective. Our 
little friend in the 
picture proves that we 
may have them coming 


9 fea 


to our hands, and this Fic. 140. CHIPPY TAMED TO FEED FROM 
is now such a familiar ieeou sea 
experience that there is 
no longer any doubt that 
a general movement to domesticate our common wild 
birds would be successful. John Burroughs had the 
robins in his garden so tame that they would perch on 
his knee, waiting for him to turn up a worm. The song 


sparrows and humming birds perched upon Celia Thaxter’s 


From Bird-Lore, Vol. 1. By permission. 
(Photograph by Mr. George B. Wood) 


352 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


arms as she busied herself with her flowers, and Mrs. 
Treat has long had the birds as tame around her home. 
These are leaders who have shown how readily the birds 
respond to domestication. 

People not infrequently say that wild birds should be 
wild. It is not “natural” for them to be tame. Why 
man’s best friends, so beautiful, so graceful in every act, 
so harmless and so important, should not be sufficiently 
domesticated to look upon man as a friend rather than 
as an enemy is a mystery indeed. That it is ‘‘natural” 
for birds not to fear man is abundantly attested by 
their behavior on islands to which unnatural human 
abuses have not extended and in wildernesses where 
man is seldom seen. Furthermore, I have never known 
young birds in the nest to show “instinctive” fear of 
man. If a nestling be taken without the least fright 
and without hearing the cries of the parents, it is 
practically a tame bird from the first. It will take food 
eagerly from the hand, follow one about, beg, and from 
the first day act toward a person as. toward its own 
parent. The same is true of nestlings not quite able 
to fly that are picked up on the ground. If this can 
be done without frightening them, they will often immedi- 
ately perch on the finger and feed from the hand. I 
have tested this with young vireos, chipping sparrows, 
orioles, grackles, and repeatedly with young robins, which 
some even put down in their books as untamable. To 
demonstrate this let any one use ordinary care not to 
startle or try to grab the little stranger. Think what a 
monster the open hand must seem toa bird. The grabbing 
of a bird must be, from its point of view, nothing short of 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 353 


a] 


being swallowed alive. It is a rare lesson in gentleness 
to capture a young bird without frightening it, but if 
successfully done, your bird is practically tame. If even 
a young bird is caught after a severe chase, it is likely to 
be days, weeks, and even months, before the effects of 
its fright can be obliterated, 
and I have known one case 
of a young robin that had not 
recovered from the effect of 
such treatment in connec- 
tion with its capture after 
more than a year. 

I have one reason for 
mentioning these facts. It 
is not that I wish children 
to catch and tame birds to 


keep in cages. One tame 
bird at liberty about a home 


is worth a hundred in cap- 
tivity. The reason is, in gig. x4: 


a word, that thousands of = FoR A Day or Two unTIL THE 
WINGS GROW STRONG 


(Photograph by Myron W. Stickney) 


A Goop ORPHAN’s HOME 


fledgelings yearly leave the 
nest a day or two before 
their wings are quite strong enough to fly, and fall a 
prey to cats. No work in the entire nature course is 
more valuable either in humanizing influences for the 
children or in practical service in fostering and increas- 
ing our valuable bird life than this tiding of the little 
orphans over these first hard days out of the nest. 
With our rapidly decreasing bird life, the children 
owe this werk to the birds, to the community, and to 


354 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


themselves. But in order that it may effect the desired 
saving of birds, the children should be carefully instructed 
in the work. 

A nest of robins is in the cherry tree. We have been 
careful to disturb them as little as possible. We have 
kept the water fresh, dug worms for them in the garden, 
and with every look and movement have tried to assure 
them that they are welcome. Stray cats that have worried 
them we have driyen off. Finally the most ambitious 
of the overflowing nest tries his wings too soon and falls to 
the ground. Both birds are in a panic of alarm, and the 
little wide-eyed adventurer, with spotted breast, nest-down 
sticking to his feathers, and stubby tail just starting to 
grow, sits in the grass and calls loudly for help. Now is 
the time to cultivate patience and tact. In afew minutes 
the old birds will probably quiet down and go off in search 
of food. Then if we approach-slowly, the youngster will 
quite likely open his bill to swallow us, when we can let 
a bit of earthworm or a crushed raspberry fall into the 
yawning chasm. He is ravenous. The chasm yawns 
again, this time with a new purpose, and in less than five 
minutes the nestling is-sitting contentedly on our hand 
and gulping down berries and worms. Then the little 
head grows heavy, the eyelids droop, and Bob is asleep in | 
our hand. 

What we do now depends upon how much time we 
have and on whether or not we wish to make a study of 
the food of a young robin. Certain it is that returning 
it to the nest will avail nothing. If our time is limited, 
we may place it in a cage with some green oilcloth for a 
roof and hang in the tree near the nest. We may put 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS ace 


worms and berries around the base of the cage, outside 
the wires, to show good intentions, and we shall have 
the pleasure of seeing the parent birds coming regularly 
to feed its occupant. In two or three days the wings 
will be strong enough to try again, and if the bird can 
fly and has sense enough to take refuge in the trees, it 
may be given its liberty. 

Any one who has once reared a young bird by hand, 
even from the time it leaves the nest until it is able to 
shift for itself, will appreciate the fact that we should leave 
this work to the parent birds whenever possible. Still an 
experience of this sort is a revelation of the mysteries of 
bird life. 

The first thing we learn is that a nestling does not 
know how to feed itself. We may pile all sorts of ber- 
ries and worms around it, but it simply sits and clamors 
for food. Innumerable young birds have died of starva- 
tion at this juncture in the hands of well-meaning chil- 
dren, much to their discouragement, simply because they 
did not think how young and ignorant their pensioners 
really were. The bird is probably not more than twelve 
or fourteen days out of the eggshell; and for those few 
days it has sat in the nest, with nothing to do but to 
open its mouth and swallow what its parents put into it. 
Suddenly it sees the wide world around it. Its mouth 
has always been so wide open that it could not see what 
was being put into it. How is it to know berries or 
worms or to know how to get them into its bill? I am 
convinced from careful study of a number of young birds 
of different species that the day they leave the nest they 
do not know either of these things, and how could we 


356 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


expect them to, — twelve days out of the egg and part of 
one out of the nest ? 

It is a fascinating study to discover how the parent 
birds tide their nestlings over this most difficult period of 
their lives. Ask the pupils to watch a family of birds as 
the young leave the nest and to describe what they see. 
Olive Thorne Miller writes of seeing one parent bird 
call her young one into a berry bush, and while the 
youngster clamored for food and held its mouth wide 
open, she quietly helped herself, as much as to say: 
“This is the way we doit. See?’ But the young one 
could not “see”; for the only thing it had ever done or 
knew how to do was to hold its mouth open and flutter 
its wings and beg; and it must have thought the mother 
cruel when she slipped away, leaving it alone to study the 
lesson. One of the most interesting lessons I ever saw 
was given by my big cock robin to his class of four young 
ones. The task for that morning was evidently to learn 
how to catch and eat earthworms. It was a drizzling 
morning in June. All the youngsters were fully fledged, 
and each appeared about as large as the daddy. They all 
hopped along in a group, the parent a little in the lead. 
Soon he pounced upon a large worm, and while he tugged 
it out of its burrow, what did the young ones do but sit 
back, hold their mouths open, flutter their wings, and beg? 
He threw the worm, squirming, among them. Not one 
attempted to touch it. He picked it up again and, whack- 
_ ing it on the ground, broke it into bits. Not one of his 
class offered to help. They, every one, simply held their 
mouths open and begged. He tossed the squirming bits 
on the ground before them. Not one caught the idea, 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 359 


and finally he fed a piece of the worm to each one. The 
same lesson was repeated with the next worm, and the 
next, and so on for nearly an hour; but never a youngster 
offered to do anything but sit up and beg. That teacher 
will remain a model of patience as long as I live. It 
was the most amusing and most instructive bit of bird 
life I ever observed, and I saw in a flash just why it 
is that a young bird may starve with food piled high 
around it, 

How long this period of helplessness lasts for different 
birds I have never found stated in the books. I have 
found it to be from two to five days with young robins. 
During this time every morsel must be placed 27 the young 
bivd’s mouth, and it should be fed at least once an hour 
from sunrise to sunset. 

What is a nestling’s menu for a day? No one has 
answered this question.1. There are about sixteen meals to 
be accounted for. Are they varied course dinners, with 
insects and fruit for dessert? Are they rather monotonous 
affairs? Does a parent bird bring worms to its young 
tor one meal, grasshoppers for the next, and berries for 
the third or do they get the same thing all day long? 
Do they make no intelligent choice, but feed whatever 
they find first? These questions may seem farfetched, 
but to one who has been trying his hand at feeding young 
birds they become intensely practical. None of them have 
been answered, so far as I know; but the fact seems to 


1 I was once watching five young cedar birds just out of the nest, when 
the mother bird flew down to them. They were all in a row on a twig, 
and I saw her drop a red currant into each of the open mouths in turn. 
T should like to have known what their next meal was. 


358 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


be, that while different species doubtless have quite differ- 
ent habits of feeding, all birds seek and enjoy great variety 
in foods. , 

As to the choice we make, the only rule to follow is to 
provide as nearly as possible the natural foods of the 
species. The food chart tells us nearly all that is known 
on this subject. With any species we have only to fol- 
low out the line from the name and read at a glance what 
the bird is known to eat. If the exact species is not on 
the chart, we may study the foods of closely related birds 
and not go far astray. We should also bear in mind that 
even the finches and sparrows feed their young as long 
as they are in the nest, chiefly, or wholly, on insects. 
Spiders are often called, among bird fanciers, the best 
medicine a bird can have, and I have found this true. If 
your bird seems to be inclined to droop, a meal of these 
will almost invariably act like magic. It will be noticed 
that every bird in the chart eats grasshoppers. These 
can generally be caught in abundance toward the end of 
summer. At this season they are filled with eggs and 
form a most nutritious diet. Grasshoppers would make 
a most valuable insect bird food for winter use if caught 
at this time and dried. They should be scalded and dried 
thoroughly, and then if scalded again a short time before 
feeding, they are nearly as good as fresh. ‘“ Ants’ eggs,” 
which are the pupz of ants, are also a valuable bird food. 
They may be had of bird dealers for about a dollar a 
pound, but for a dry food I think grasshoppers may well 
take their place. For the sake of variety the children 
may be encouraged to try gathering a few from under- 
neath stones and logs or from ant-hills. 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 359 


The best insect food for all soft-billed birds is meal 
worms, and every child that wishes to help young birds in 
the way suggested or care for any wounded bird that may 
fall in his way should learn how to rear them and keep a 
supply on hand. They are also excellent food for winter 
birds and for robins and bluebirds and many others that 
come early in the spring. We do not always have the 
time to collect insects in sufficient quantity, but we can 
always have a supply of meal worms if we once learn how 
to rear them. 

The meal worm is the larva of a black beetle which 
can be found from May to October about granaries, mills, 
where feed is kept in stables, in the dust of haylofts, in 
pigeon lofts, and meal chests. The eggs are laid in these 
places and when hatched and fully grown the larve are 
smooth yellow, Zenebrio molitor, or blackish, 7. obscurius, 
“worms,” about an inch in length. While commonly 
looked upon as pests, for feeding birds they are well-nigh 
indispensable. The writer has paid twenty-five cents a 
dozen for them to feed mocking birds, and the market price 
by the wholesale is $1.50 per thousand. If we know how 
to use them, the worms in a meal chest may thus be worth 
many times the value of the meal, chest and all. 

Directions in the bird books for raising meal worms are 
quite misleading, and in order to go to work intelligently we 
must learn the life story from eggtoegg. The first fact to 
learn is that the insect is single brooded, 7.¢., it requires an 
entire season to complete its growth. The beetles may be 
found laying eggs from May until freezing weather in 
the fall. The early eggs will produce larvee that are full- 
grown by September or October of the same season, and 


360 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


larvee from the late eggs do not attain their growth until 
about midsummer of the next season. A female beetle » 
lays from twenty to fifty eggs. While practically any fari- 
naceous material—corn meal, ground feed, cracker crumbs, 
bread crusts — is suitable, feeding experiments have proved 
that wheat, in some form or other, is preferred and yields 
the best specimens. 

The easiest way to rear a supply is to imitate nature, 
z.¢., make a heap of bran and shorts in some out-of-the- 
way corner.in the barn. Ground feed, corn meal, oatmeal, 
flour, bread crusts—any of these, discarded for fresher 
supplies — may be used. The beetles will find it and do all 
the rest. It is well to tuck into different parts of the pile 
raw potatoes or apples to supply water from time to time 
as they are eaten, and the whole should be covered with 
sacks or pieces of carpet. Woolen rags are called for 
in the usual directions, but the number of clothes moths 
that they may breed makes their use unadvisable, and cot- 


ton cloths or burlap seem to answer about as well. The 
only difficulties with this method are that other insects 
are apt to find the material and become a nuisance and 
that rats and mice, if they are allowed on the premises, 
may devour practically the whole crop. 

Perhaps a better way is to fill a tight box or earthen 
jar half full of the food material, put in scraps of old 
leather, cover with woolen cloths, and have a lid of wire 
screen. Put in a few hundred larve or beetles and leave 
undisturbed, except to insert a raw potato from time to 
time. If this be done about April, a good supply of 
larvee will be obtained for use the following fall, winter, 
or spring. 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 361 


Where natural insect food is not obtainable a number 
of artificial bird foods are available, the chief of which 
is the so-called “mocking-bird food’”’ of the bird stores. 
But if we bear in mind what has been said of variety, the 
use of this somewhat troublesome mixture is not a neces- 
sity. The people in Ireland, it is said, feed their pet 
birds chiefly on mashed potato; in Scotland, on oatmeal ; 
in China, on rice. Bread and milk form a good staple food 
for young soft-billed birds. Vary this diet with berries, 
a few insects, the yolk of hard-boiled eggs, scrapings from 
raw beefsteak or finely chewed or minced cooked meat, and 
almost any bird of this class will thrive. Finely chewed 
nuts are also eaten with great relish and may be given with 
advantage once or twice a week. 

These directions are given with the primary purpose of 
teaching children enough to enable them to save fledge- 
lings and wounded birds, tame them, and let them go 
when they are able to take care of themselves. If they 
remain tame, so that they will come at call, build their 
nests near by, and allow us to study their foods and habits 
at close range, they will be the most interesting pets in the 
neighborhood; and in this way practical domestication 
may be extended to many of our valuable wild birds. 

A secondary purpose has to do with practical lessons 
upon bird foods. Numbers of birds have been shot in 
different parts of the country, and the contents of their 
stomachs have been analyzed to discover what the species 
feeds upon. This has resulted in acquisition of much 
valuable knowledge, which has stimulated interest in 
better laws and in the more efficient protection of bird 
life. But this method is quite imperfect and cannot be 


362 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


recommended for school use; while feeding tests with nest- 
lings, conducted in:the manner suggested for the toad, 
would open the eyes of children to the work birds per- 
form in nature as no amount of book work could do. 
Toward the end of the spring term the fledgelings that the 
children are rescuing should be utilized for such study, 
and not infrequently a crippled bird that could not be 


Fic. 142. A CONTRAST IN HOUSEKEEPING 


Nests of chipping sparrow and English sparrow 


safely liberated may come into the possession of the school 
and may be kept for such tests. The usual objections to 
caged birds would not apply to such cases. 

But, after all, the taming of a bird is the great lesson, 
—great chiefly for its influence upon the child. It isa 
lesson in gentleness, tact, and patience that cannot be 
excelled in the whole realm of nature study. If a child 
has once accomplished this feat, its civilizing influence 
may go with him as long as he lives. 

Books about birds are now so numerous and so acces- 
sible to all that I hesitate to name any, since space forbids 


TAMING AND FEEDING BIRDS 363 


giving a complete list. A few hours spent in the public 
library with the different authors may spare the purse and 
save the shelves from a burden of books that will be opened 
but once. We may leave to specialists the treatises which 
deal chiefly with classification and museum methods of 
bird study. Happily, we have a goodly number of books 
that enter into the spirit of bird life. We will follow these 
and still bear in mind that the great book lies daily open 
before us in the bird life about our homes. 


Natural history is taught in infant schools by pictures stuck up 
against walls, and such like mummery. A moment’s notice of 
a redbreast pecking at a winter’s hearth is worth it all. WILLIAM 
WORDSWORTH. 


ALVD SIT IsayOy Wout WALANOTUY AIONAXY 


CP DIA 


364 


CHAPTER XXII 
ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 


THE CULTURE AND APPRECIATION OF TREES 


Who does his duty is a question 
Too complex to be solved by me, 
But he, 1 venture the suggestion, 
Does part of his that plants a tree. 
LowELL. 

To surround the home and schoolhouse and to shade 
the roadsides with trees is a worthy purpose about which 
to group our studies, and without some such aim what is 
learned about bark, leaves, and forms of tree tops one day 
may be forgotten the next. As with flowers the inner 
purpose is to develop an enduring interest, love, and appre- 
ciation of trees that shall make impossible their so com- 
mon injury and abuse. To this end we must again have 
recourse to the fundamental principle of “doing.” 

Ask the pupils to write a description from memory of 
the trees about their homes, telling the different kinds they 
know, giving the story of their planting, the rapidity of 
their growth, their present size, and other points of inter- 
est. For another writing lesson the pupils may sketch a 
plan giving the kinds of trees they would like to rear and 
plant about the schoolhouse. These exercises will serve 
to bring out what the children know about trees, and by 
giving some attention to the subject each year, according 

365 


366 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


to the grade plan, we may teach a working knowledge of 
from twenty to forty important forest trees during the 
school course. 

It has seemed to me that the key to the situation lies 
in a knowledge of the seeds of trees and methods of 
saving and germinating them. A tree seed in the act of 
sprouting is one of the inspiring things in nature. The 
possibilities contained in it, the size to which it may 
grow, the beauty it may develop, the long years it may 
live, the infinite numbers of seeds it may produce, all 

stretch out into a vista 


before us. It is here, 
too, that we grasp the 
lever with which to do 
something worth while. 
Too much of our tree 
study is passive and 
selfish and lacking in the 


Fic. 144. SEEDLING TREES 


: ideality and altruism of 
Reared in a schoolroom 
our grandfathers who 
planted the trees we now enjoy. A bright young man 
recently said to me: ‘I would have as soon thought 
of planting a gold mine as of planting a chestnut tree.” 
And so we have “four boys to one chestnut.” But why 
should this be so? What a tremendous force in nature 
we lay hold of if we have the faith to place a seed in the 
earth and give it a chance to grow! Centuries of sunshine 
and rain will do the rest. 

Beginning, then, with the seeds let the children bring 
such as they can find to make a school collection of 
the kinds most desirable to plant in the neighborhood. 


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. 


368 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


streams, the shores of ponds, the gutters of city streets, — 
where they quickly germinate (except the red elm, which 
will not sprout until the following spring) and, if condi- 
tions remain favorable, produce vigorous seedlings the 
same season. 

2. Nut seeds that ripen in the fall. — Oak acorns, chestnuts, 
black walnuts, butternuts, hickories, hazels, and lindens 
fall under their parent trees, and their rounded forms 
enable them to roll into holes or down the hillsides. The 
trees cover them with their leaves, and the winter snows 
bury them. The spring freshets carry many of them down 
the gullies and ravines and leave them buried in masses 
of dead leaves, leaf mould, and rubbish along their courses. 
This class of trees also, by their nutritious nuts, seeks 
the aid of animals in the dissemination of the seeds; the 
rows of nut trees along our stone walls show how well 
the squirrels, especially, have done their work. To this 
class may be added also the seeds of our cone-bearing 
trees, the pines, spruces, and larches, but they are largely 
disseminated by the winds. 

3. Seeds in fleshy fruits. — Among these are the wild 
cherries, hawthorns, hackberries, plums, mulberries, dog- 
woods, and crab apples. The fruits of most of these roll 
into holes or down the streams with the nuts, but they 
also hire the birds to plant and scatter, and most of the 
trees of this class that we have were probably cared for in 
this way. 

4. Dry seeds that ripen in the autumn. — The ashes, birches, 
hard maples, box elders, and ironwoods, like the soft maple 
and elm, trust their seeds to the winds and waters to dis- 
seminate and plant. 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 369 


5. Seeds borne in pods. — The locusts and coffee tree, the 
catalpa, the Judas tree, and acacias have hard, dry seeds, 
difficult and slow to germinate, which they scatter to the 
winds. 

Taking our primary suggestions from the trees them- 
selves, we may next ask the children to observe, in case of 
certain trees in the neighborhood, about how many of 
their seeds produce trees. Is the small proportion due 
to failure in securing favorable conditions to germinate, 
or are the seedlings dried up or overgrown with weeds 
before they become strong enough to take care of them- 
selves? We may answer this question in a general way 
by saying that the trees have done their best to secure 
the germination of the seeds, but that they are forced to 
depend largely on accidents of wind and water. These 
may take them to unsuitable places, may bury them too 
deep, or leave them exposed to dry’up. What, then, may 
we do to assist the trees in their work? We may help 
them save their seeds, we may plant them under the most 
favorable conditions, and protect the seedlings until they 
are strong enough to take care of themselves. 

Methods of saving tree seeds is a large subject, and I 
shall give only a few hints, in the hope that they may be 
helpful in making a beginning.! 

The first fact to bear in mind is that most tree seeds 
lose their vitality rapidly and hence should be planted 
as soon as possible after ripening. Drying is the thing 
chiefly to be guarded against, especially with nuts, acorns, 
and similar seeds; these and fall-ripening seeds may best 


1¥For further instructions, see Forestry in Minnesota, Samuel B. Green, 
Delano, Minn., 1898. 


370 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


be planted as soon as ripe. If it be desired to keep them 
until the following spring, they should be mixed with moist 
sand and left out of doors through the winter. Small 
quantities may be covered with a flat stone or an over- 
turned sod in a place where water is not likely to stand. 

Seeds of fleshy fruits should be washed clean of pulp 
and planted in the fall, or they may be kept under stones 
or sods and planted in the spring. Many of these —the 
pits of cherries, plums, and peaches — germinate better 
if allowed to freeze while moist. 

A number of the tree seeds are said to be “refractory ” 
from the fact that they insist upon lying dormant one 
or two years before germinating. The locusts, redbud, 
thorn apples, red cedar, and lindens belong in this class. 
If seedlings do not appear the first year, keep the rows 
in the seed bed well marked and watch for them the 
following spring. Germination may be hastened with 
the leguminous seeds and the lindens by pouring boil- 
ing water over them just before planting. To germi- 
nate the red cedar soak the berries in strong lye for 
twenty-four hours, rub off the pulp, and then mix with 
moist sand and let them freeze during the winter. Even 
after this, they will probably not germinate until the 
sccond spring. Unless magnolia seeds be thoroughly 
cleansed of their gummy coverings, they will not germi- 
nate at all. 

Seeds of coniferous trees should be gathered in the 
early fall, before the cones open. As soon as the cones 
dry they open and release the seeds. They should be 
mixed with avy sand and kept in a cold place until the 
following spring. 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 371 


After directions for saving the seed, the next topics 
are naturally the seed bed and methods of planting. 

For the school bed select a strip of ground about three 
feet wide, sheltered on the north and west by a hedge or 
fence. Make the soil mellow to a depth of from twelve to 
fifteen inches and enrich it with leaf mould or rotted sods. 
Sow the seeds in drills eight inches apart across the bed, 
quite thickly since many tree seeds are imperfect. When 


Fic. 145. A TREELESS STREET 


they come up, thin to about an inch apart by removing 
the weaker seedlings after danger of damping off is past. 

The depth to which the seeds are covered is a matter 
of great importance, more tree seeds being killed by too 
deep covering than in any other way. Elm seeds, for 
example, are unable to germinate if planted half an inch 
deep. A good general rule, as with many other seeds, is 
to cover them about their own diameter. The ground 


372 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Fic. 146, ABUSED STREET TREES 


should be neither wet nor dry, but mellow, and after the 
seeds are planted it should be lightly rolled or packed 
and then well wet down. If the bed is likely to dry out 
quickly, it is well to sprinkle over it a thin layer of pine 
needles or sphagnum moss, but this should be drawn aside 
when the plants appear, to avoid mould and damping off. 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 373 


Most tree seedlings start in spots partially shaded by 
other trees, and, if possible, the bed should be located 
where it will be shaded in the afternoon. The two dan- 
gers to which the little trees are subject are drying and 
burning up in the sun, and damping off in the shade 
and wet. If natural shade be not at hand, a convenient 
screen may be made by nailing laths on a frame the width 
of a lath apart. Supported on little posts one or two feet 
above the bed, this will give half-shade. 

Where land is not available the children may rear their 
trees in flowerpots or in window boxes, and the main idea 
be attained,—that of planting and rearing trees from 
the seed. 

The next topic is the treatment and care of trees. Are 
there trees enough on the streets? Ask the children to 
investigate the conditions prevailing in the locality, and 
let them write or tell how street and roadside trees, 
especially, may be protected from injury. Have them 
learn the city or town ordinance with reference to injury 
of shade trees and the rules of the tree warden of their 
neighborhood. The chief object of these inquiries should 
be, not to threaten or suggest punishment in case they 
injure the trees, but to develop their ideas of the public 
values of trees for shade and beauty and make them 
active protectors of the trees in their own town or city. 
Let each member of the class examine one hundred 
roadside trees and state how many are horse-gnawed or 
barked by wagons, how many have tree guards around 
them, and what kinds are used. Do the tree guards add 
beauty to the street? These studies may be used to 
interest the public in the proper care of shade trees, 


374 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Instead of inclosing the trees in guards, it has always seemed more 
fitting the crime if those who injure them were put into the guards 
for a while. Still, accidents are likely to happen, and cheaper and 
less conspicuous guards may be made with strong wire netting fas- 
tened around the trunk, as shown in Fig. 148. However, in my vari- 
ous travels I have found 
at least one city where 
public sentiment ade- 
quately protects the shade 
trees of its beautiful streets. 
This city is Richmond, 
Indiana, and it may well 


stand as the ideal for less 
favored cities in this re- 
spect. Its wide streets, 
with their four rows of 
beautiful trees, without 
guards of any sort, and 
none of them injured, make 
its residential sections 
practically forest parks, 
shady and cool by day 
and a fairyland under the 
electric lights at night. 


Nut trees and their 
planting and treat- 
ment should form a 
study well calculated 


Fic. 147. to appeal to the Fic. 148. 
TREE GUARDS WIRE GUARDS 


children. Nuts are a 
delicious and wholesome food for the fall and winter 
months, and nutting parties are outings with exercise 
and purpose in them. Are there nuts enough, and a 
good variety, for all the children to have a supply from 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 375 


October to May? 
not. Let them ask 
their parents about 
the history of nut 
trees in the neigh- 
borhood to find out 
whetherthey havein- 
creased or decreased 
in number during 
their recollection. 
Let them ascertain, 
so far as possible, 
the causes for de- 
crease in nut trees, 
if such has occurred, 
and encourage them 
to reason out the 
best ways by which 
these causes may be 
counteracted and 
nut trees increased. 
In the writer’s 
experience abuse of 
nut trees, and of 
those who own 
them, is the chief 
reason why we do 
not have as many 
as we could wish. 
Is that true in the 
neighborhood ? The 


If not, ask the class to explain why 


Fic. 149. THANKS FOR BEARING CHESTNUTS 


(Photograph by the author) 


376 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


accompanying photographs tell the story. It is certainly 
a brutal recompense when a tree has borne its load of 
nuts to stone it or pound it with iron sledge hammers, 
to throw ropes over it and tear off its branches. So 
it has come to pass that farmers in the neighborhood 
of towns, at least, cannot raise chestnut timber, because 
the trees are bruised, growth is stunted, and ‘at the 
wounded places decay develops, which soon renders the 
whole tree worthless. Thus nut trees must be ruled 
out from roadside planting, 
simply on account of thought- 
less abuse, and year by- year 
fine bearing trees are cut down 
on account of the clubbing and 
stoning and nuisance that rages 
around them while the nuts 
are ripening. If this senseless 
process goes on, many districts 
will be wholly reduced to deserts 
as far as their nut trees are 


concerned, as some already have 
Fic. 150. Marxs or Ancient been. Our only hope is again 
seuyeH on the positive side. Set the 


This chestnut tree will soon have : a 
children to planting nuts. Can- 


to be cut to avoid danger to 
near-by houses not they do what the squirrels 


have done so well? It is a 
little thing to plant a nut in a sheltered place by the 
edge of a flat stone along a roadside wall, but there is 
altruism and ideality in the act, and the child who has 
done it will begin to love and appreciate the trees as 
never before. 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 377 


A generous portion of the propagation bed may be 
devoted to nut raising, and the seedlings may be used 
in lessons on grafting with the best varieties and, later, 
be transplanted into favorable locations. We must, then, 
study what the best varieties are. Nut culture is a sub- 
ject that has been neglected in this country, and, as a 
consequence, we annually import about $4,000,000 worth 
of nuts and then do not have enough to go around. 
Little is known as to best varieties of any kind of native 
nut. No two trees of any given kind produce nuts 
exactly alike, in size, shape, flavor, and other qualities. 
Which is the best chestnut, hickory nut, black walnut, 
butternut tree in the neighborhood? A nut show in the 
school, similar to the fruit and flower exhibitions spoken 
of in previous chapters, will prove an instructive bit of 
nature study and may serve to awaken interest in the 
possibilities of their rational culture.! 


1 Nut Culture in the United States, Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, 1896, should be referred to in this connection. See also “The 
Forest Nursery: Collection of Tree Seeds and Propagation of Seedlings,” 
by George B. Sudworth, Audletin No. 29, United States Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, 1900. 


WUVJ TH ANWIONY MAN V AO saaUL 


‘ISI ‘Ol 


378 


CHAPTER XXIII 
ELEMENTARY FORESTRY (Continued) 


INFLUENCES OF ForRESTS ON SoIL FORMATION, SURFACE 
WATERS, AND ON CLIMATE; Forest FIRES 


Ask the class to.observe freshly cut banks, railroad 
cuts, quarries, excavations, washouts, etc., in forest land 
to learn two things, not sufficiently appreciated in this 
country: (1) formation of humus or leaf mould; (2) dis- 
tribution of roots below the surface. With a sharp tool, 
when the ground is wet, cut out a square foot of the 
“forest floor,’ — leaves, dead sticks, leaf mould, — down 
to solid earth; mount in a box with at least one side 
glass for study and for experiments to be described below. 
Beneath this covering the soil is black for some distance, 
— “surface soil” or “loam.” Take a pound or so of this 
also for study and experiment, and, to compare with it, 
secure a similar specimen of loam from a field long under 
cultivation. Compare the two as to color, appearance, 
and consistency. Which seems to be “richest”? Which 
would be best to plant seeds in? 

What makes the loam black and rich? Suppose we 
take an equal amount, say 100 grams (one of the chil- 
dren can get it weighed at the nearest drug store, if there 
are no scales in the school), of leaf mould, of loam from 
the forest and of soil from the field. We know that 

379 


380 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


wood, leaves, and all kinds of vegetable matters burn 
up readily; and we know that coal is vegetable matter 
that has been buried in the earth. We must be sure 
that the samples 
are dry before 
we weigh them ; 
then we will 
see how much 
of them we can 
burn away. To 
do this we will 
place the sample 
on a clean piece 
of tin or sheet 
iron and heat it 
red hot over a 
gas stove or over 
a bed of coals in 
the furnace, and, 
after we are sure 
no more can be 


burned away, 
we will weigh 
again. We saw 
that the leaf 
mould burned 
brightly and left 
alight mass of asheson the tin. These weighed 22 grams, 
which means that leaf mould is 78 per cent vegetable 
matter. The black loam from the woods left more earth 
and ashes behind. This remainder weighed 89 grams, 


Fic. 152. How a CHESTNUT TREE HOLDS SOIL 
TOGETHER 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 381 


which proves that forest loam is 11 per cent vegetable 
matter. The soil from the barren field did not burn and, 
on weighing, we found 
99 grams, giving only 1 
per cent organic matter. 
Put the burned samples 
away in dry bottles, 
of clear glass and simi- 
lar size and shape, for 
the school collection. 
These are valuable speci- 


Fic. 153. RELATION oF Humus TO 
mens that tell a long Growri.or CORN 


story. Compare again 1, clay subsoil; 2, same with fertilizer; 
3, same, with humus. 


as to color and composi- 
(Photograph by C. L. Goodrich) 


tion, so far as this can be 
done by the unaided eye and by feeling with the fingers. 
Are the samples not more alike than before they were 
burned ? 

Have a few of the class fill a series of flowerpots or 
boxes with different kinds of soil, as shown in Fig. 153, 
and in them plant corn or other seeds. This work may 
be varied in regard to soils and seeds planted. The plants 
should stand together in one of the schoolroom windows, 
where they may receive equal light and care. Observe 
and possibly measure the growth from time to time. 

We have thus found that vegetable matter is the chief 
constituent that makes the soil black and rich; and we 
know that this comes from falling leaves and twigs and 
from decaying roots of the forest. How long does it take 
the trees to make rich loam? In the main, this is a ques- 
tion that the children will not find time toanswer. They 


382 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


may find freshly cut stumps near some of the sections of 
the soil that they have been studying, and, by counting the 
annual rings, they may arrive at some idea as to how long 
the forest has been at its work. Their fathers may also 
tell them something about the woods in the neighborhood. 
The following answer (from Green, p. 36) is the most 


Fic. 154. APPARATUS FOR TESTING RETENTION OF WATER BY 
DIFFERENT SOILS 


The figure represents 100 grams each of gravel, sand, barren soil, loam, and leaf 
mould, and 25 grams of leaves 
definite that I have been able to find. He says: “It has 
been estimated that after a sandy soil in New England is 
so exhausted that it will produce nothing but red mosses 
it may be renewed to its pristine vigor and productive- 
ness by the growth of trees on it for thirty years.” 
Let us next see what relations soils of different kinds 
bear to the water that falls upon them. These questions 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 383 


are of interest in connection with all the foregoing work in 
gardening and the cultivation of plants, for water, in con- 
nection with rich soil, is the great essential to plant growth. 

Let us take again 100 grams of gravel, sand, soil from 
the barren field, rich loam from the woods, leaf mould, and 
25 grams of dry pulverized leaves. Knock the bottoms 
out of six tall, slender bottles (the common olive-oil bottles 
are well adapted for this experiment, or large glass tubes 
may be used). Dry before weighing and put the samples 
each into its bottle, inverted, with the neck stoppered with 
a notched cork. Shake the different materials so that 
they lie evenly and compactly, and then from a measuring 
glass pour in water slowly, so that the whole mass is wet, 
and see how much water each will absorb before the water 
begins to run out at the bottom. Or we may pour into 
each a known amount, say 100 cubic centimeters, and then 
measure all that runs through. The quantity absorbed is 
known as capillary water or film moisture. It is this that 
constitutes the water supply for the roots of plants in the 
soil. Fertility, the power of the soil to support plants, 
thus depends largely upon its power to retain water. 

In the experiment represented in Fig. 154 the results 
were as follows: 


GRAMS ABSORBED 
Gravel 100 8.5 grams 
Sand 100 36 eC 
Barren Soil 100 40 “ 
Rich Loam 100 69 ee 
Leaf Mould 100 210 6“ 
Leaves 25 120 “ 


To make the result still clearer we may take a piece 
of punk, or partially decayed wood, dry thoroughly and 


384 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


cut down until it weighs 100 grams; soak in water and 
weigh again. We thus find that the vegetable matter in 
the soil is one of the chief elements that enables it to soak 
up water. 

From the data gained in the above experiments 
encourage the children to estimate the influence of the 
forest floor on soaking up and retaining the water that 
falls in the form of rain or snow upon it. 

Next, ask the class to describe the springs and streams 
in the neighborhood. This will form a valuable coordina- 
tion with their geography lessons, and they should draw 
maps showing the woods, springs, and streams. Ask them 
especially to note whcther the springs are muddy. Are 
the streams of the neighborhood muddy? Are they 
muddy all the time or only after heavy rains? 

With a series of tumblers of water, into which a little 
gravel, sand, loam, and leaf mould have been stirred, study 
the way different materials settle to the bottom. How 
does this illustrate the way we find such materials depos- 
ited in sand banks along a stream? Some part of the 
district may afford a good example. Let the children, 
from time to time, bring in bottles of water skimmed 
from the surface of the stream and have them study what 
the stream is doing,—what it is carrying away. Wood 
and leaves, stubble and cornstalks, with now and then an 
acorn or a nut —everything that floats—is going down 
stream. Examine the banks of the stream, where often 
tons of this rich material have been lodged during a 
freshet. Lead the class to reason from these observa- 
tions and experiments that the best part of the soil is 
being washed away. 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 385 


In connection with geography lessons trace the journey 
of the soil that is being carried from the district, until it 
reaches the ocean. Has the teacher or have members of 
the class visited any of the cities along the route and 


Fic. 155. TENEMENT Houses MADE BEAUTIFUL 


(Photograph by Louis P. Nash, Holyoke, Mass.) 


observed the working of dredges in deepening the chan- 
nels and cleaning the mud out of the harbors? Many 
millions of dollars are expended annually in river and 
harbor improvements, much of which might be saved by 
keeping the soil at home. 

Now follow this material back into the fields and hills, 
where the forest has been recently cleared away, and 
where the ground is bare and has been washing badly. 
Show how, after the lighter constituents of the soil have 
~ been washed away, the sand and gravel are taken up and 
carried over the fertile ground below. Compare the way 


386 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the soil washes in the woods, in grass land, and where the 
ground is bare. 

Next let us study how we can keep the soil at home 
and make the water clear as crystal. Pour a tumbler of 
muddy water into a filter and catch the water in a clean 
glass as it comes through. In one of the bottles with the 
bottom out make a filter of leaf mould, pack it well and 
wash the dust out of it, if necessary, and then see how 
clear muddy water may be made by passing through it. 
Can we make it as clear as the water from the spring or 
well? Why not? How deep is the filter through which 
the spring water passes? Do we need a very thick filter, 
if it is fine enough ? 

Find a pond in the neighborhood with an inlet and outlet; 
a temporary one will serve the purpose if no permanent 
ponds are available. Study the water that flows in and 
compare it with that which flows out. Refer back to the 
experiments of settling muddy water in the tumblers, and 
call attention to the fact that the lighter particles remain 
floating a long time and may even leave the pond by 
the outlet. There are other ways of keeping the water 
pure, which will be taken up when we study aquaria, but 
these two, filtering and settling, are the chief methods 
with which every plan for purification of surface waters 
must begin. 

The water supply to a district is another topic closely 
related to the foregoing. Does the water run off in 
torrents after a rain and when the snows melt in the 
spring? Do the springs and wells go dry and the streams 
fail in a long period of drought? Are the springs and 
streams generally lower than they used to be? If this 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 387 


is so, why is it? What do the children know about 
the way the snow melts in the spring? Where does 
it melt first? Where can they find the last snow bank 
in the spring? Bring out the fact that the snow melts 
slowly in the woods, allowing the water to soak into the 
ground. 

We have already seen that the leaf mould, with its mass 
of tangled roots, and the loam of the forest floor absorb 
water like a huge sponge and give it up slowly to the 
springs below and to the leaves of the trees above. It 
has been found that only from one-half to one-quarter as 
much water evaporates from forest land as from land 
under cultivation, and to gain a hint as to one of the 
factors that cause this we may make some further experi- 
ments upon soil of different kinds in the tumblers. 

Let the class arrange and label eight tumblers of the 
same size and shape and, having the materials dry, fill to 
within one-half inch of top with the following materials: 
gravel, No. 1 ; sand, No. 2; barren soil, No. 3 ; rich loam, 
Nos. 4 and 5 ; about one inch each of gravel, sand, and 
loam in order, the loam on top, No. 6 ; two inches of rich 
loam with one inch of finely pulverized leaf mould on top, 
No. 7; water, No. 8. Weigh each and, unless it is 
desired to study fractions, bring them all up to even 
grams to start with by adding a little of the appropriate 
dry material. Then pour into each, except the last, an 
equal amount of water, say 100 cubic centimeters. Place 
the tumblers somewhere in the schoolroom where the sun 
will not shine on them and every day at the same time 
weigh them all carefully to see how much water has 
evaporated from each. Set down the weighings on the 


388 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


lackboard in the following form. If desired, the children 
may copy them into their notebooks. 


e 


WEIGHT 


TWENTI- 
ETH Day, 
ETC. 


First Stconp | Tuirp FourtH Firtu TENTH 
Day Day Day Day Day Day 


1, Gravcl | 
2, Sand 
3, Soil 

4, Loam 
5, Loam 
6, (GSiG: 
7, L.Li-m. 
8, Water | 


With No. 5, keep the top, toa depth of about half an 
inch, loose and fine by stirring.! 
The influences of trees on weather and climate are topics 


1 These observations may be repeated in various ways that will readily 
suggest themselves to the teacher. The two main facts that the children 
should get, are, first, that loam and leaf mould protect the water in the 
soil from drying up; and, second, that a covering of fine dry dust serves 
this purpose most effectually. They should thus learn, as Professor Bailey 
puts it, how to water their gardens with a rake instead of with a watering 
pot. It would also be well, in clayey districts, to have a third tumbler of 
loam and stir it thoroughly, after adding the water, to show the effect of 
working the soil while we¢; it will then dry in hard lumps. 

In this cennection, too, it is well to repeat the common experiment of 
wetting two spots on the blackboard and fanning one to show how much 
more rapidly it dries. The trees thus prevent the winds from drying out 
the water in the soil. 

Shade is another important influence that trees exert. If possible, to 
the above eight add three tumblers filled respectively with gravel, sand, and 
loam and set in the sunniest window of the schoolroom. This will demon- 
strate, aside from the influence of forests, the value of planting gardens so 
that the ground may be well shaded in districts where drought is common. 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 389 


of great interest, but the problems are so large that the 
children cannot do much practical work with them. Cooi 
shade, however, is appreciated by all in hot weather, and 


two thermometers, 
one hung intheshade 
of a tree, the other in 
the open sunshine, 
will tell an interest- 
ing story. Protect 
two thermometers 
with a bit of paper 
and bury the bulbs an 
inch in the ground, 
one in the sun, the 
other in the shade. 
If we do this about 
three o'clock ona 
warm day in June, 
it will show how hot 
the unprotected soil 
becomes. Let as 
many of the children 
as have thermome- 
ters in their homes 
take a careful read- 
ing at exactly 12.30 
P.M., on some _ hot 
sunny day, compare 


Fic. 156. A FACTORY COVERED WITH 
WOODBINE 


(Photograph by Louis P. Nash) 


the temperatures, and try to explain any differences that 


may have been observed. 


hot day. 


This should be done on a clear, 


390 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


If the school possesses a hygrometer, an instrument 
for measuring moisture in the air, it will be interesting 
to test the relative humidity in woods or well-planted 
districts and in the hottest and driest place available, the 
business portion of a city, for example. Without instru- 
ments this difference is often appreciated in the moist, 
“soft” air of the forest. 

It has been estimated that forest fires cause a loss of 
not less than $30,000,000 annually in this country. Ask 
the class to collect all the data possible as to such fires in 
the neighborhood. We have seen that not only may the 
trees be destroyed, but the leaf mould and even the loam, 
representing the work of the trees in enriching the soil 
for many years, may be burned away. If practicable, 
make an excursion to some tract that has been recently 
burned over and study on the ground the damage to 
timber and soil that has resulted. Inquire particularly 
into the causes of such fires in the neighborhood and 
consider the means of prevention ; and, finally, obtain a 
copy of the law against setting forest fires in your state 
and discuss its provisions with the class. 

Forest Resources. — As a national industry, forestry stands 
second only to agriculture in number of people and 
amount of capital employed and in value of product. In 
connection with language lessons develop all that the chil- 
dren know about the uses of wood and the adaptation of 
different kinds to various purposes. A part of the work 
in manual training may well be devoted to making a col- 
lection of native woods to show cross, slab, and quarter- 
cut sections, in natural state and finished in various ways. 
Study in this connection the market price of different 


ELEMENTARY FORESTRY 391 


woods. What determines price? According to the price 
of lumber, what is the value of different trees in the 
neighborhood? How long has it taken for them to grow? 
What is the difference in price between clear lumber and 
knotty lumber? How may we grow clear lumber? 

It has been estimated that we have 500,000,000 acres 
in growing forest, and that 35 cubic feet of wood are 
annually produced per acre. Annual consumption of 
wood, according to Professor Fernow, is probably double 
the amount produced. Inferences from these facts are 
obvious. 

Interesting geography lessons may be made by asking 
the children to draw in their maps the ranges, as given in 
Sudworth’s Check List, of the trees included in their 
grade plan. : 

For additional information on the topics of this chapter, 
consult : 


GrorceE B. SupworTH. “Check List of the Forest Trees of the United 
States,” Bulletin Vo.17. This contains the scientific and common names 
of 495 species and gives the geographical range of each. Washington, 
18098. 

E. B. Fernow. “Suggestions to Lumbermen of the United States in 
Behalf of a more Rational Forest Management,” Circular Wo. ro. 

E. B. Fernow. ‘Facts and Figures regarding our Forest Resources 
briefly stated,” Circular No. 11. 

E. B. FeErnow. “ Forest-Fire Legislation in the United States,” Circular 
No. 13. 

E. B. Fernow. “ Forestry for Farmers.” Washington, 1895. (Reprint 
from Yearbook, 1894.) 

N. H. Ecteston. “Arbor Day: Its History and Observance.” Wash- 
ington, 1896. 

For all the above, address United States Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D.C. 


° 


Woalavnoy TOOHIS 


‘LS1 ‘DIA 


392 


CHAPTER XXIV 
AQUARIA 


THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT 


No one piece of nature-study apparatus is capable of 
serving so many and so various uses as an aquarium. It 
may be used wet or dry; filled with water it becomes the 
means of practical acquaintance with all kinds of aquatic 
life, both plant and animal; managed as a vivarium, or 
terrarium, it makes a fine insect-breeding case, a fernery, 
a place for a collection of living mosses, the home of frogs, 
tree frogs, turtles, salamanders, snakes, slugs, and land 
snails. With one end arranged for water and the other 
for land, and filled with mosses and ferns, pitcher plants, 
and sundews, it may be at once a paradise for all kinds of 
things, both aquatic and terrestrial. Filled with earth, it 
may be used to germinate seeds in. By planting them 
against the glass and darkening with a black cloth we may 
study “root and all” in its natural environment, observe 
the root systems of various plants, and make all sorts of 
interesting experiments. If we wish, we may plant a hill 
of potatoes ; and we must certainly plant against the glass 
all sorts of seeds of our forest, fruit, and nut trees. 

Every schoolroom should have at least two good-sized 
aquaria for general purposes, and then if each child could 
have a little one, on his desk or in a window, for his own 
use, there would be none too many. We now furnish books 
in abundance, but here is a book of fascinating continued 

393 


394 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


stories which a child could read, one after the other, in the 
reality of nature itself for the entire eight or nine years of 
his primary and grammar-school life. 

Aquaria are ordinarily too expensive (or so considered) 
to be used in the way suggested. The usual directions 
for making them, with wooden frames, result in aquaria 
that are always cracking and leaking and hence are unsat- 
isfactory and generally discouraging. Our first topic is, 
thus, the best way to make an aquarium. 

Instead of wood for the frame, which will never stop 
warping, swelling, and shrinking, and is wholly discarded 
by all makers of aquaria, we will use angle tin, and the 
only other materials needed are glass, of the desired size, 
aquarium cement, and solder with soldering fluid or resin. 
A few tools will be required, most or all of which may be 
borrowed for the occasion, —a wheel glass cutter, a pair 
of tinner’s snips, a pair of pinchers, a soldering iron, and, 
last and most important of all, a carpenter's square. A 
small anvil or block of iron with square corners and a 
light hammer are convenient to square up the corners 
nicely, but this may be done with the pinchers. The 
angle tin, solder, and soldering fluid! we will get at the 
tinner’s. For the glass, we will ask the children to bring 
all the broken window panes and spoiled photographic 
negatives that they can find. 

The temptation of beginners is to make the aquarium 
too large. It is then hard to fill, hard to keep clean, hard 
to move, and is apt to be an elephant inthe way. A good 
size for general purposes is 13 inches deep, 15 inches long, 


1Soldering fluid is made by dissolving pieces of zinc in hydrochloric 
acid to saturation. 


AQUARIA 395 


and 8 inches wide. Where a larger aquarium is desired, 
which may be partitioned off with panes of glass to keep 
a variety of specimens, a good size is 12 (or 15) inches 
deep, 24 inches long, and 8 (or 9) inches wide. As it is 
often desirable to use this as a terrarium for turtles, frogs, 


Fic. 158. MAKING AN AQUARIUM 


1, angle tin; 2, glass; 3, soldering outfit; 4, frame in process of construction ; 
5, completed frames. 


toads, or plants, when floor space is a desideratum, it 
may be well to make at least one 12 inches wide. For 
individual pupils, or even for school use, it is surprising 
how many interesting studies may be carried on with 
smaller aquaria, made from waste negatives 8 x 10, 7 X 9, 
or even 5 X 7, having them 4 or § inches wide. In fact, 


396 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


these little aquaria are so convenient that they will be 
used much oftener than the larger ones for definite 
experiments, like germination of seeds, rearing insects, 
feeding tests with toads, frogs, and salamanders, purifica- 
tion of water by tadpoles, fresh-water clams, mosquito 


Fic. 159. FORMS AND SIZES OF AQUARIA 


1,5 7% 4,in which meal worms are being reared; 2, 8 x 10x 4; 3, same, with 
flytrap attachment; 4, 12 x 24x12; 5, 8x 10x 4, made flat and set up for 
toads’ eggs. 


larve, etc. They are useful at every season and easily 
changed from one kind of work to another. 

Suppose we have decided on 10 X 8 X 5, the size 
shown in course of construction in Fig. 158, and have our 
glass cut square to these dimensions. We go to a tin- 
ner’s and ask him for two strips of 3-inch, “three-cross ” 
angle tin the length of the sheet, which is 28 inches, 
and four pieces ro} inches long. These should be made 


AQUARIA 307 


” 


of ‘“three-cross’’ tin by cutting strips § inch wide and 
folding to a right angle along the center. We must allow 
% inch for thickness of cement and interference of the 
glass at the upright corners; so that we will now cut the 
long pieces halfway in two with the snips, z.c., in as far 
as the angle, at exactly 82, 138, 224, and 274 inches, cut- 
ting off the end at the last mark. We thus have the 
top and bottom of our frame each in one piece. We next 
bend them to a rectangular figure, squaring the corners 
neatly, and, holding the open corner inside the square, 
solder this joint. We now have the top and bottom of 
our frame. Taking the four vertical corner pieces, we 
solder them over the corners, holding each carefully in 
the square while we solder, and the frame is done. With 
tools and materials at hand, it should take about ten 
minutes to make the small frame. If we do not wish to 
have the children learn to solder,! or cannot get the tools, 
the tinner will do this in a few minutes. 

If we wish a cover to keep insects, frogs, toads, and 
even fishes from jumping out, we solder two small brass 
hinges to the frame. We may use for the cover per- 
forated zinc or tin, folded over one-quarter of an inch all 
around to strengthen the edges, or wire screen in a 
wooden frame. The perforated metal makes a neat cover, 
with hinges soldered to one edge and a handle ring to the 
other. To hold it shut it is well to solder a little ring to 


1 Soldering is a good exercise in patience; the secret of getting a smooth 
joint is to heat the iron properly and to hold it still long enough and 
to move it slowly enough to me/t the solder thoroughly. The iron will then 
leave the surface perfectly smooth, without wrinkles or points that will be 
likely to break the glass. 


398 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


snap over the edge of the frame, as shown in Fig. 160. If 
a handle is desired, solder wire eyes into the middle of 
each end of the frame. The bale should be made of stiff 
galvanized wire, bent at right angles, with the drop just 


ye long enough to let it fall 

MUR a ee neatly along one corner 
of the frame. 

Fic. 160. COVER OF AQUARIUM To set the glass lay 


s.r. snap ring; 4.7., handle ring. aquarium cement evenly 


in the bottom of the frame and press the bottom glass 
into place; lay the sides in the same manner, and finally the 
ends. Then, very carefully, for this is the point where 
some glass is likely to break, spring in some limber green 
twigs to press the glass gently against the frame and hold 
it in place while the cement hardens. Cut off all super-. 
fluous cement and then smooth neatly along the angles 
and seams, inside and out, and set away to dry. Aftera 
week it is ready to fill with water. 

Larger sizes may be made, and at least the bottom of 
the largest size should be made, of double-thick glass. As 
in any case the glass is likely to be warped and bent, 
we should select plane pieces if possible, but if curved a 
little, the convex surface should be placed inside. For 
the larger sizes we naturally use wider angle tin. The 
table below represents my own experience in this matter. 
Length, depth, and width are given in order. 

For aquaria 5X 7x4 to 8x10X 5 use 3-inch angle tin for franie. 
s “Tox 12:6 ore 
cc PEM T2K'S to 18 xX 1g x 9. Hg Coen om SS ce 
(ee either 1-inch angle tin for 


“ « 20X12X9 to24X 13X12 ? frame or 1 inch around bot- 
tom and $-inch for the rest. 


“ “ “6 “ 


AQUARIA 399 


For larger sizes it is safe to say that angle iron or 
aluminium bronze, either cast in a single piece or riveted 
at the corners, would be preferable. 

The corners of all sizes larger than 8 x 10 x 5, around 
the bottom and up the vertical angles, should be laid as 
represented in cross-section in Fig. 161, with a prism of 
cement in the angle, covered by a narrow strip of glass. 
This greatly strengthens the joint and protects the water 
from the cement.! 

A good aquarium cement, for either fresh or salt water, 
is made by mixing dry ten parts each, by measure, of fine, 
dry, white sand, plaster of Paris, and litharge, and one part 
powdered resin. Mix as required, to a stiff putty with 
boiled linseed oil. (This must be warranted free from 
any trace of adulteration with fish oil, and it is commonly 
necessary to buy raw oil of a practical painter, who should 
know that it is pure, and boil it for 
a few minutes, to drive off the water 
in the raw oil.) The simplest and 
best aquarium cement, the formula 

‘ of which has been given me recently 
by the United States Fish Commis- 
sion, is made as follows : Stir together 
dry, by weight, eight parts putty (dry 
whiting), one part red lead, and one = Fi. 161. Section oF 
part litharge. Mix, as wanted for use, POR NEI ION GUAT 
with pure raw linseed oil, to consistency of stiff putty. 


eo a PITT LS a 


1 Although not necessary, I generally put one or two coats of copal, or 
spar varnish, around the angles on the inside. No aquarium has leaked 
when this has been done; and if a leak occurs, it is necessary only to dry 
very thoroughly and varnish on the inside around the angles. 


400 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


How to set up or fill the aquarium for general purposes 
is the next topic. First put in about two inches of sand, 
washed until a stream of water runs off clear; then, 
with the sand only moist, set the plants about the corners, 
making furrows in the sand in different directions and 
laying the roots in them; finally, arrange pebbles, shells, 
and larger stones about the bottom where they will 
keep the plants in place. Next pour in the water up to 
within an inch 
of the top, hold- 
ing the hand or 
a piece of thin 
board so as to 
break the force 
of the stream, 
and avoid wash- 
ing the plants 
loose. Finally, 
put in a fresh- 
water clam or 
two,some snails, 


Fic. 162. A FRoG wiTH Six LEGs 

A curiosity for the aquarium a few tadpoles 

(if the fishes 

will allow of it), to keep the water clean, and, after a day 
or two, such fishes — not more than two or three —as it 
is desired to study. Overcrowding is the common temp- 
tation to be resisted. Allow one gallon of water to each 
fish three inches long, and where enough water plants are 
present to oxygenate the aquarium, the fishes will show by 
their actions, quiet movements, and breathing that they are 
comfortable. If they come to the surface and gasp for air, 


AQUARIA 40! 


we may know that the water is not properly oxygenated, 
and we must take out some of the animal life or put in more 
plants, or do both. Children will be much more inter- 
ested in the plants and animals that they have collected for 
their aquaria themselves ; and for other reasons we should 
use chiefly the native life of our ponds and streams. 

A large aquarium should be permanently located before 
it is filled. The best place is near a light window where 
the sun shines but a few hours during the day, and then 
it must be placed so that most of the time it may be 
shaded from direct sunlight. It is generally stated that 
an aquarium should stand where the sun will not shine 
directly on it, but the plants are then apt to grow weak; 
hence it is desirable, and should be possible, to admit 
sunlight without moving the aquarium. However, a more 
serious difficulty in properly locating the aquarium is that 
of too much light. A pond receives light only from 
above, and even there the water is generally the clearest 
and the plants freest from overgrowths of slimes in shady 
nooks along the shore. We must study nature closely 
and try to imitate the conditions that produce the best 
results in the ponds of the neighborhood. The growth 
on the glass and plants of green or brown alge, often in 
slimy masses that fill the water, indicates too much light. 
Shade well for a time and put in tadpoles and snails to 
feed upon the algz. While difficult enough to make it 
interesting, it is a valuable study, — that of balancing the 
life and managing the light in an aquarium so that the 
water will remain clear and sweet ; and the knowledge 
thus gained will be found applicable to the conditions of 
park waters and ponds in general. 


402 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


How often does the water require changing? This is 
the question often asked by those who wish to start an 
aquarium. The answer is: ‘Not once a year, if the ani- 
mals and plants and light are properly balanced and regu- 
lated.’”’ In doing this it is best to use the plants and 
animals that live in still water, in ponds and quiet pools, 
rather than those characteristic of the running streams. 
Aquaria with running water are more difficult to manage 
and are expensive in use of water. They are, moreover, 
a constant menace as to flooding the building, and cannot 
be recommended for school use. 

What causes the water to become cloudy or milky? 
This is the next troublesome question, and with fifty chil- 
dren all anxious to feed the fishes something, it would 
seem that every school aquarium must be in this condi- 
tion all the time. But one of the chief uses of an aqua- 
rium is to make the children careful and thoughtful, and as 
experience has shown, they readily learn that giving more 
food than the fishes and other animals will eat clean, gen- 
erally before it sinks to the bottom, is the quickest way to 
make the water foul and, possibly, to kill their pets. We 
shall learn more of this when we study about bacteria in 
the water. Fishes, and aquatic animals in general, should 
not be fed oftener than once a day, and then only so much 
as willbe eatenclean. If mistakes are made in their eager- 
ness to feed bountifully, the children who do it should be 
asked to remove all surplus food with a siphon or dipping 
tube before it has had time to decay. 

What animals can be safely kept together in the aqua- 
rium is another frequent question. The general rule of 
keeping predaceous species by themselves, except while 


AQUARIA 403 


we are making definite feeding tests, is the best one to 
follow. The vegetable feeders, or those that eat only 
animals not larger than worms and insects, may be kept 
together. If we are not certain what a new specimen 
may do, it is best to partition off one end of the aquarium 
for it while we study its foods and habits. This may be 
done by forcing a pane of glass into the sand below and 
wedging it at the top with bits of cork. Goldfishes and 
other varieties of carp, shiners, dace and all kinds of 
suckers, darts, orfs, frog and toad tadpoles, young newts, 
and salamanders may be kept together. Bass, perch, 
sunfish, trout, pickerel and pike, pouts and eels, stickle- 
backs and paradise fishes, turtles, water snakes, large 
salamanders and frogs, leeches, water beetles and dragon- 
fly larvee must generally be kept by themselves. Clams, 
snails, and tadpoles form the scavenger brigade for every 
well-ordered aquarium. 

A few simple pieces of apparatus will aid greatly in 
management of the aquaria. A shallow dip net is indis- 
pensable in catching specimens. It may be made accord- 
ing to directions for the insect net, except that it should 
not be deeper than about the diameter of the ring. A 
small rubber scraper will probably be needed to keep the 
slimes off the glass until animal scavengers and light can 
be properly regulated. A dipping tube, z.¢., a piece of 
glass tubing, about fifteen inches long and a little less 
than one-half inch in diameter, with nicely fused ends, 
will be used daily. A piece of half-inch rubber tubing 
about two and one-half feet long may serve as a siphon 
to draw off the sediment from the bottom from time 
to time. 


NING SLI GHHS AHVNS NMOUG V ONIHOLVM 


“E91 ‘OIA 


40-4 


CHAPTER XXV 
MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 


A NUMBER of animals, too important to omit from 
nature-study courses but not fitting in with those already 
treated, may be grouped together in this chapter. Each 
may be taken up as occasion presents itself during the 
year and season indicated in the grade plan. 

The Bat. — This is an interesting but misunderstood ani- 
mal. Not infrequently one drops out of a ventilator into 
a schoolroom or is brought in as a curiosity, too often dead, 
by one of the pupils. Suppose we have a live bat, let us 
see what it will eat. It may open its mouth and chatter 
in a most threatening manner, but while we should not put 
our fingers in the way of its sharp teeth, it can be handled 
in a towel or handkerchief. It may be tamed, gener- 
ally in a few minutes, by gentle treatment and feeding, so 
that it will take insects and lick drops of water from the 
fingers. It is only necessary, when it opens its mouth to 
defend itself, to drop in a fly, meal worm, spider, or even 
a bit of raw meat, possibly at first on the end of. a tooth- 
pick or hat pin. It will soon understand, and then feed- 
ing tests may be made with whatever bugs or insects the 
children can find. 


1The writer has not been able to find any insects that a hungry bat 
refuses to eat; but we must be a little careful not to overfeed; on one 
occasion he fed a bat 243 flies, but, while it apparently ate the last one 
with relish, it died a few minutes afterwards. 
405 


406 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Whether or not we are able to do any of this practical 
work, we should strive to gain definite knowledge of the 
role these animals play in nature. So few of our birds 
are truly nocturnal, and so many of our worst insect pests 
—the codling moth, tent-caterpillar moths, the white- 
marked tussock moth, owlet moths, parents of the cut- 
worms, June beetles, mosquitoes, and a host of others — 


Fic. 164. FEEDING A BaT 


have taken refuge in the darkness, that we need the bat as 
the night police of our gardens. They should be accorded 
much the same protection as our most valuable insectiv- 
orous birds. Koebele describes bats flitting about an 
infested apple tree catching codling moths on the wing 
and even snapping them from the leaves, and the writer 
has repeatedly fed these moths and their larvz to bats in 
confinement. 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 407 


An instructive problem may be made as follows: If a bat catch 
one female codling moth every night from May 20 to July 1, how 
many bushels of apples may be saved, allowing that each moth lay 
fifty eggs on as many apples and that there are two hundred apples 
to the bushel? Azs. 273 bushels. 

An unwarranted fear and dislike of bats seems to be general in 
this country. They are said to fly into people’s hair, necessitating 
cutting it off, if long, in order to get them out. The writer has had 
bats for months at a time given full liberty of the house, but has 
never known of such an accident. Even if one should get into the 
hair, it would do no harm and could be easily removed if the person 
were not frightened. It is also said that they carry vermin, especially 
bedbugs, but I have examined dozens and never found a single speci- 
men ; and, further, I have found that they actually eat bedbugs with 
apparent relish. Bats are known to live in caves, hollow trees, and 
the crevices about barns and houses, often in colonies of scores or 
even hundreds. The fact that such numbers are able to find sub- 
sistence is sufficient proof that a family of bats is a valuable acquisi- 
tion to a farm or garden. 


Squirrels. — These are graceful pets and, next to the 
birds, form the most animated life of parks and wood- 
lands. It is one of our crimes against nature that they 
have been so nearly exterminated in many sections. What 
the children can do to bring them back is the ques- 
tion for nature study. Their food consists chiefly of 
nuts and acorns, which fall in such abundance that we 
should not begrudge them the few they need, and they 
undoubtedly plant enough to repay the trees for those 
they eat. 

Perhaps one of the pupils has a tame squirrel that he 
can bring to school for afew days. If so, we shall be able 
to study its foods and habits in such wise as to enable the 
children to form a genuine acquaintance with it. If there 


408 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


are squirrels or chipmunks about the schoolhouse, it is 
generally an easy matter to tame them by leaving nuts or 
bits of bread in some convenient crotch, and. soon they 
will be coming regularly to share the children’s lunch. 


Fic. 165. TAMING A CHIPMUNK 
(Photograph by Miss Jessie Gelston Whiting) 


As to the different species, a few facts should be devel- 
oped in connection with rearing them, especially in towns 
and city parks. 

The common red squirrel, or chickaree, is the living 
impersonation of mischief. He will cut every pear from 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 409 


a tree, —to eat the seeds of a few perhaps, — apparently 
for the mere fun of seeing them drop. This alone makes 
it inadvisable to have him around. But a more serious 
crime of which this little rogue has been convicted con- 
sists in robbing nests and eating birds’ eggs and young 
birds; so, in general, the fewer red squirrels we have the 
better for our birds. Have any of the children observed 
this for themselves? 

Our gray squirrel is commonly accredited with neither 
of these injurious traits and, together with the large fox 
squirrel, may be freely encouraged to come and live with 
us. In a single instance, among many that the writer 
could cite, in which gray squirrels became too numerous, 
some damage was done to fruit; but this may have been 
due to lack of food or, more probably, to lack of water. 
It would be advisable, at least, to bear these points in 
mind before passing final judgment. That both food and 
water in plenty have no influence in reducing the mis- 
chievous propensities of at least one red squirrel the 
writer has had abundant proof. 

The flying squirrel, though it is nocturnal in its habits, 
is one of the most interesting of the group and is easily 
domesticated. 

Rats and mice are too common intruders to be omitted 
from a course in nature study. We sometimes find them 
recommended for pets, and they both have some interest- 
ing traits; but they have long been recognized as hostes 
humant generis, enemies of the human race, and the plain 
truth may as well be taught. By the skillful and persistent 
use of traps and poisons these pests may easily be exter- 
minated. No less than this should be aimed at, as they 


410 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


multiply with such rapidity, and when this‘is accomplished 
there will be one less argument for keeping cats. 

Several other common animals may be studied as occa- 
sion offers, among them, woodchucks, muskrats, minks, 
otters, skunks, moles, shrews, and weasels. For the char- 
acter of the latter the description of Kagax given by Long 
in Wilderness Ways is admirable. To his graphic account 


Fic. 166. TAMING A Woop TuRTLE 


the writer may add that one morning, when a boy, he found 
six sheep dead near an old straw stack ina field. The only 
marks of violence in each case were four little cuts behind 
the ear, where an artery had been severed. The straw stack 
was burned during the day, and two old weasels, with a 
litter of half-grown young, were found and killed. 
Turtles. — These may be brought in by the pupils and 
acquaintance made with a few of the commoner species. 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS AIL 


Most of them are aquatic or semi-aquatic and may be 
kept in the aquarium. Their habit of crawling out on rocks 
and logs to sun themselves should be borne in mind in set- 
ting up the aquarium for them. As some are terrestrial, 
a good rule to follow is the one already given for other 
animals: Study the environment in which they may be 
found and make that of the aquarium, or vivarium, as nearly 
like it as possible. Little seems to be known about the food 
of even the commonest turtles. The aquatic forms —snap- 
ping turtles, painted and spotted turtles, and the soft-shelled 
turtles —are carnivorous and feed mainly on fishes, although 
they often take young ducks and goslings. The fact, as 
every fisher boy knows to his chagrin, that they are often 
caught with the baited hook demonstrates their fondness 
for earthworms, and this is the food upon which they may 
be most easily kept in confinement. The box and wood 
turtles subsist chiefly on worms, slugs, and insects, but 
also eat succulent leaves. They should be given lettuce 
or cabbage, together with earthworms, and if some child has 
a tame turtle, interesting feeding tests may be made. Young 
turtles will be found to eat mosquito wrigglers with great 
avidity. 

Not the least interesting things about these queer ani- 
mals are their nests and eggs. What boy or girl will 
volunteer to find some turtles’ eggs and bring them to 
school? They may be found, often in great numbers, 
buried in the sandy banks of ponds or streams. It is said 
that young turtles as soon as hatched crawl toward the 
nearest water. Test whether this is true. 

Lizards. — These are different from salamanders, which 
they resemble in form, in having the skin covered with 


412 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


overlapping scales. Very few are found farther north 
than Pennsylvania, being chiefly tropical or subtropical in 
distribution. They are insectivorous, and in the Southern 
States, where they abound, valuable feeding tests may be 
made as suggested for toads, frogs, and birds. The manner 
of catching insects with their long tongues is interesting, 
as are also the rapid changes of color of several species. 

Snakes. — Many of the common species are among our 
most beautiful animals. A strange fascination seems to 
attach to them, which is almost certain to result in their 
intrusion into the nature-study course whether the teacher 
wishes it or not. The fear of anything is a heavy burden 
to carry through life. The lurking fear of something that 
we are likely to meet in our daily walks in the fields or 
woods may spoil much of our enjoyment in nature or, at 
least, hem us in on every side. If for no other reason 
than to cast out this fear, we may introduce a reasonable 
study of these animals. 

While some may be inclined to consider the fear of snakes heredi- 
tary, it may quite as well be explained as a matter of suggestion. 
The fact, to which my own experience attests in many instances, 
that it can be thrown off by a moment’s exercise of the will, and 
also the fact that children who have never been frightened by the 
fears of others may show no traces of it, render this explanation 
the more reasonable. My own children, for example, have always 
handled and played with our harmless little snakes as freely as with 
kittens. A single concrete instance will make my meaning clear. 
I was demonstrating our common green snake, when one of the 
members of the class asked if I would hold it while she touched it. 
After touching it she asked if she could take it in her hands. A 
year or two afterwards she referred to the circumstance and said that 
she had never since felt the least aversion for snakes but had thor- 
oughly enjoyed studying them. She expressed her thanks for being 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 413 


helped over her “last nature fear.” Was not the momentary effort 
well worth the while? 


This study is the more to be recommended because so 
little is known about the food and habits of even our com- 
monest species. Any child who tames a snake and finds 
out what it eats is quite likely to discover facts that may 
extend the range of knowledge. This in itself is a keen 
incentive. Are they valuable or harmful animals? We 
cannot tell until we learn their foods, and this, according 
to the Washington authorities, ‘“‘is not known for a single 
species of North American snake.” 


We know, in general, that all snakes feed upon living animals, 
which they swallow whole, and very often alive. Garter snakes feed 
largely on toads and frogs; water snakes are known to destroy 
great numbers of fishes; and the black snake has the well-earned 
reputation of killing birds and robbing their nests. Whether they 
do enough good to offset this harm, or whether they do any good 
at all, remains to be discovered by patient observation and study. 
As far as the evidence goes at present, however, it seems that the 
fewer we have the better. 

No such harmful traits can be attributed to our green, or grass, 
snake or to the little brown snakes, since they probably feed exclu- 
sively upon worms and insects. As they are gentle and harmless, 
never attempting to bite or to defend themselves, they are the best 
forms with which to begin acquaintance. They may be readily found 
under flat stones. In June or July they deposit their eggs under the 
stones where they live. The eggs are white, irregularly oblong, few 
in number, and about the size of sparrows’ eggs; the shells are thin 
and papery, and a little later, when we hold them up to the light, we 
may see the young snakes coiled up inside. 


Fishes. — The original plan of this book included a 
chapter on the common fresh-water food and game fishes. 
As it is, a few of the more important are distributed 


414 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


through the grade plan, with the understanding that the 
pupils shall study them alive in their aquaria, and in the 
ponds and streams by the general methods suggested for 
frogs and salamanders. Feeding tests will be found 
especially interesting. Ask the pupils particularly to 
observe the spawning seasons and habits of the different 
species. These matters should be as thoroughly learned 
as the nesting seasons of the birds, in order that we may 
give fishes the universal protection which may result in 
restocking our barren waters. 

Botflies. — A family of flies which do not belong properly 
with household or garden insects, may be introduced here. 
The botflies are large brownish hairy flies, found buzzing 
about horses and cattle. There are a number of species. 
The ox bot, or heel fly, lays its eggs on the hair about the 
fetlocks. The eggs are licked off and soon hatch in the 
animal’s mouth or stomach. The larve bore their way 
through the tissues and finally reach the skin, which they 
perforate, probably to obtain air. After attaining their 
growth they crawl out, drop to the ground, burrow under 
the surface, and transform into pup. The following 
spring they emerge to repeat the story. The elk in 
Fig. 167 is seen to be afflicted with bots. 

Other botflies lay their eggs in the nostrils of animals, 
and the larvee develop in the cavities of the head. They 
attack sheep especially and cause not only much loss to 
the farmers, but great suffering to the animals as well. 
Several kinds attack our native wild herbivora. The elk 
in Fig. 168 was thus killed by “grubs in the head.” A 
kingbird on every mullein stalk in the pasture would 
possibly be the best remedy for these pests. 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 415 


Ants. — No insects, excepting the honeybees, have 
proved more interesting to study than the ants. Turn 
over a flat stone any time after the middle of May and 
you are almost certain to find a colony of ants. As the 
stone is lifted, if the day be warm, you will see little piles 
of whitish oblong bodies, — the pupee, — commonly called 


y wy | (4 


\ 
\ 


Fic. 167. Cow ELK 
‘The lumps in the skin are caused by botflies. (Copyright by Charles Irving Rice) 


eggs; and immediately the workers seize them and hasten 
to carry them down into the nest. Besides these you may 
often find smaller masses of shining black eggs. These, 
probably eggs of plant lice, the workers also carry into 


416 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


their holes. At this season you will commonly find at the 
surface only workers, pupe, and eggs. If now a spade 
be deeply thrust into the earth and the whole nest turned 
out, you may be able to discover the queens, much larger 
than the workers, and the white maggot-like larve. At 
this season you are not likely to find any winged ants in 
the nest, but later, in August or September, the air may 
be filled with them, flying in every direction. If we now 
visit an ants’ nest or some ant-hill in the neighborhood, 
we may see swarms of winged males and females issuing 
from the ground and taking flight. This is their wedding 
journey, and after it the males soon die. The females 
either join a colony of the same species as one of its 
queens or found a new colony. They tear off their wings 
as of no further use, or the workers do this for them. 

Any species that is common in the neighborhood may 
serve as the basis for these lessons, but perhaps the best 
ones to work with, aside from the ants that infest the 
house, described in Chapter V, are the following: 

The carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus, one of 
our largest black ants. Its nests are built in timbers of 
buildings, logs, and even trees, by excavating a complicated 
series of passages and chambers. A nest of this species 
may be arranged for study, if one is not convenient out- 
side, by bringing the wood in which they are working 
into the schoolroom and mounting it on two bricks which 
stand in shallow pans of water. This latter is to prevent 
them from escaping into the room. 

The mound-building ant, Formica exsectoides, is perhaps 
our most conspicuous species on account of its large hills, 
often from one to two feet in height and five or six feet 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 417 


in diameter. The head and thorax are dull red, and the 
abdomen and legs black. 

The slave-maker ant, /ormica adifficilis, resembles the 
above in size and appearance, but builds its nests almost 
wholly underground, often beneath large flat stones. 

The slave ant, Formica subsericea, is found in colonies 
of its own under stones and commonly, also, as slaves in 
the nests of the last-named species. 


Fic. 168. ELk KILLED By GRuBS IN THE HEAD 


(Photograph by Charles Irving Rice) 


The corn-louse ant, Laszus brinneus, is the brown ant, 
about one-eighth of an inch in length, so common about 
roads and pastures. Many, if not all, ants attend aphids, 
in order to obtain the sweet secretion, commonly known 


418 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


as honeydew, which some species discharge. For this 
reason aphids are sometimes called “ant cows.” The 
milking of their cows is readily observed. Practically all 
the ants seen about trees are tending their herds of cows, 
and if we follow one we may soon see her come up to an 
aphid and stroke it gently with her feelers. In response 
the aphid emits a little droplet of honeydew from two 
minute tubes on its back, and this the ant eagerly licks up. 
A destructive species of aphid, the corn louse, feeds upon 
the roots of corn, and it has been found that the brown 
ant collects the eggs of this aphid in the fall, takes care 
of them in its nest during the winter, and carries the 
newly hatched plant lice back to the corn roots in the 
spring. It is possible that this or other species of ants may 
distribute plant lice in a similar manner to the leaves of 
trees or shrubs, but this has not as yet been discovered. 
An ants’ nest may be made with a slate and a pane of 
glass large enough to rest upon the frame all the way 
around. Cut one or more little passageways in the 
frame, have a board just as large as the glass to keep 
the nest dark when not under observation, and stand the 
slate on two bricks in a shallow pan of water. To fill 
the nest select a hot, sunny afternoon, turn over a flat 
stone quickly, and with a spoon first scrape up as many 
ants, pupz, and eggs as possible into a wide-mouthed 
bottle; then dig open the nest and be sure to catch one 
or more queens, with as many more ants, eggs, and larve 
as possible. Cork the bottle and, without more delay than 
necessary, turn the contents upon the slate, spreading it 
out so that the glass will rest on the frame, and cover 
up. By the next morning you will find a well-ordered 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 419 


ants’ nest, with its chambers and passageways, the queens, 
eggs, larve, and pupz all nicely arranged in the center. 
By feeding with sugar, crumbs of cake, insects, or bits 
of meat placed on the board cover or around the edges 
cf the frame, they may be kept as long as is desired. 
In this way the whole life and work of the colony 
may be observed and studied in the most convenient 
manner. 

An ordinary roofing slate, about twelve inches square, 
with strips of one-quarter inch wood glued to it so as to 
include a rectangular area a little smaller 
than the slate, say ten inches square, a 
and arranged as above described, makes 
a most satisfactory ants’ nest. 

Spiders. — These interesting creatures 
play too important a réle in nature to 
omit from the course. To gain an idea of 
how many spiders there are, look out 
on some grassy meadow on a dewy morn- 


ing. The grass is carpeted with webs. Fic. 169. 
On the one side, spiders destroy winged — AN InrEReEstiNG 
insects — flies, mosquitoes, gnats, and ae 
moths. Let each one of the children examine some con. 
veniently placed spider web from time to time for two or 
three days and report, as nearly as possible, how many 
and what insects are caught in it. On the other hand, 
spiders are most valuable food for birds. Bird fanciers, 
in fact, consider them the best medicine for birds, acting 
like magic to make them well. 

While the class is studying spiders, which should be in 
September, have them collect all the different kinds of 


420 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


spiders’ eggs they can find. They are laid in little bags 
of spider web, hung up in the web, as with the common 
house spider, or placed in cracks, under boards, scales of 
bark, or under stones. If the eggs are kept in a cold 
place, the hatching in the spring will furnish interesting 
lessons. 

A spider may be encouraged to spin in one of the 
schoolroom windows, or one may be confined for this pur- 
pose in a dry aquarium, and then, with the aid of their 
insect nets, the children can bring in flies and mosquitoes 
to feed it. Besides the common house spider for these 
observations, be sure to have an orb weaver, as its web is 
the most interesting and beautiful of all. By studying 
a jumping spider, a running spider, a cobweb or funnel 
weaver, an orb weaver, and a gossamer or flying spider 
a fair idea of the life and habits of this group may be 
obtained. The jumping spiders are found on plants, logs, 
sides of buildings, etc. They are usually hairy, are very 
agile, and catch their prey by springing upon it. They 
spin webs only as egg sacs or as shelters in which to 
moult or hibernate. For the South the trapdoor spider 
should be added to the list. 


An interesting lesson with the spider. Wave a pan or basin filled 
with water on a table in the largest open space in the schoolroom. 
By using an ink bottle or even a potato to hold it upright, erect in 
the pan a stick twelve or fifteen inches high. Have the children bring 
in various kinds of spiders, — almost any kind will do for this experi- 
ment. Select one and place it on the top of the stick and let the 
class watch the spider’s movements. It will first run down the stick, 
but will find that it cannot escape, because this is surrounded by 
water ; it will then mount to the top again. After several more 
trials to escape, the children will notice that the spider is spinning a 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 421 


fine silken thread. This grows longer and longer and floats out into 
the schoolroom. It floats to and fro and at last is caught on some 
piece of furniture, perhaps adesk. The thread, which extends from 
the top of the stick to the desk, is very slack, and now the little 
weaver is seen to 
tighten and fasten it. 
This done, he quickly 
runs across and makes 
his escape. ; 
The story of the 
first suspension bridge 
is thus told, ‘‘ an engi- 
neering feat of which 
the spider was the 
earliest discoverer.’ 


How many of 
the class think 
that spiders are 
insects? What is 
an insect? Whatis 
a bug? Whatisa 
worm? These are 
questions relating 
rather to the right 
use of language 
than to compara- 
tive zodlogy, and 
we may as well clear them up. Ask each child, after 
putting these questions and letting him try to answer 
them, to bring to school a worm, a bug, another kind of 
insect, and a spider. It is convenient to have them 
brought in dry, clean bottles for ready observation and 


Fic. 170. AN ORB WEAVER 


1 Read Gibson’s “‘ The Spider’s Span” in Sharp Eyes. (Mary C. Henry.) 


422 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


comparison. Has every one a worm? They should all 
have an earthworm ora leech. What is the main differ- 
ence between the worm and all the rest? While it is 
made up of segments, somewhat like many caterpillars 
and grubs, zt-has no legs. What difference can the 
children discover between the mouth of a worm and that 
of a grub or caterpillar? The children have had occasion 
to observe various caterpillars as they eat the leaves by 
gnawing off particles with their sharp jaws. What does 
an earthworm eat, and how does it manage without either 
jaws or teeth? What child will volunteer to find out and 
tell the class? What does a leech eat? Boys who have 
been in swimming or who have caught fishes with leeches 
attached to their gills can tell. Hereafter we shall try 
to distinguish between worms and the larvee of insects, 
and we can tell most of them apart at a glance. Several 
marine worms are provided with sharp hooks or teeth, 
but they have no legs. 

Next, what chief differences do they see between a 
spider and an insect? The insect is divided into three 
parts, viz., a head, chest, or thorax, and abdomen; the 
spider into two, -—head and chest united and abdomen. 
Further, all insects have six legs, no more nor less, and 
most of them have one or two pairs of wings. Do any 
spiders have wings? How many legs do spiders have? 
Eight. Hereafter, then, we will try to call spiders, 
spiders, and not insects. We have found, too, that 
insects go through wonderful transformations, the egg 
hatching into a larva, the larva changing into a pupa, 
the pupa finally transforming into the perfect insect like 
that which laid the egg. What hatches from a spider’s 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 423 


egg? It is never a wormlike larva but always a little 
spider. 

Nearly every small creeping thing is called a bug. 
All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. The 
distinction is more difficult than those we have just made. 
Are any of the class sure that they have a bug in their 
bottles? Good examples are the giant water bug, Belos- 


toma americanum, water boatman, Cortsa undulata, squash 


Fic. 171, 


a, centipede; 4, millipede; c, sow bug. 


bugs, soldier bugs, lice, bedbugs, plant lice, leaf hoppers, 
and scale insects. Bugs may or may not have wings, but 
all agree in having mouth parts for piercing and sucking. 
If some child will volunteer to bring in eggs of the squash 
bug, we will watch them hatch and thereby gain one of 
the ost characters of the group. If a good 
magnifying glass is at hand, the eggs of plant lice will 
do. The eggs of bugs hatch into forms more nearly like 
their parents than is the case with most other insects. 
They have no wings at first, but otherwise resemble 
their parents. We will thus understand by bugs certain 
kinds of insects that do not undergo a complete change in 


424 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


passing from the egg to the adult and that live by suck- 
ing the juices of plants or animals. They stand low in 
the scale of insect life. 

The children will doubtless have brought in, for worms 
or insects, a number of forms that do not fit in any of the 
above groups. They are probably wormlike but have far 
too many legs to be classed with the insects or spiders. 
If not garden slugs, which will be described under the 
head of mollusks, they are probably either centipedes 
(hundred legs), millipedes (thousand legs), or “sow bugs.” 
These are figured above, and when we speak of them here- 
after we shall call them by their right names and not call 
them insects, worms, or bugs. 

The centipedes live in damp places, under logs and 
stones, and feed on insects. The millipedes live in simi- 
lar places and eat decaying vegetable matter principally, 
but sometimes living plants. They may become a serious 
pest in a strawberry bed by eating holes in the ripest 
berries. The sow bugs are often found in great numbers 
under rotting boards and logs. They undoubtedly find 
plenty to eat, but to discover just what it is we shall have 
to make feeding tests. Sow bugs belong to the great 
group of Crustacea along with the crayfishes and crabs. 

Earthworms. — Every boy has made the acquaintance of 
these animals as bait for a fishhook, but how many know 
or realize the réle they play in nature? Says Darwin!: 

When we behold a wide, turf-covered expanse, we should remem- 
ber that its smoothness, on which so much of its beauty depends, is 


mainly due to all the inequalities having been slowly levelled by 
worms. It is a marvellous reflection that the whole of the superficial 


1 Vegetable Mould and Earth-Worms, p. 313. 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 425 


mould over any such expanse has passed, and will again pass, every 
few years through the bodies of worms. The plough is one of the 
most ancient and most valuable of man’s inventions ; but long before 
he existed the land was in fact regularly ploughed, and still continues 
to be thus ploughed by earth-worms. It may be doubted whether 
there are many other animals which have played so important a part 
in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures. 


Earthworms burrow into the soil to a depth of from 
three to eight feet, making channels for water, air, and the 
roots of plants to penetrate. In order to study this sub- 
ject have each child count the worm burrows in a square 
foot of ground. They may be found by the little piles of 
castings at the mouth of cach burrow and also by the 
leaves and grass that the worms have pulled into the 
opening to feed upon and to close the door. If a box 
be turned over the area a day or two before the count 
is made, so that the surface will not be disturbed or the 
castings washed away by rains, the burrows will be more 
easily found. 

Next fill a small aquarium with fine sand or garden 
earth and place three or four large worms on the surface. 
Study the way they burrow. After they have established 
themselves in their burrows scatter a little grass or a few 
dead leaves on the surface and observe from day to day 
what the worms do with them. If sand and leaves be 
used, and the aquarium be left for a number of weeks, 
the formation of vegetable mould may be observed in a 
striking manner. 

Von Hensen placed two worms in a vessel eighteen inches in 
diameter, which was filled with sand, on which fallen leaves were 


strewed ; these were soon dragged into their burrows to a depth of 
three inches. After about six weeks an almost uniform layer of sand, 


426 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


a centimeter (.4 of an inch) in thickness, was converted into humus 
by having passed through the alimentary canals of these two worms. 
DARWIN, doc. ctt., p. 310. 


To see the earthworms at work under natural condi- 
tions, since they are nocturnal, we must ask the pupils to 
take a lantern in the evening and study this lesson, for 
at least fifteen minutes, out on the ground. Just after a 
good rain in June is the time; for if it is dry, the worms 
will be feeding on the materials they have drawn into 
their holes and will not come to the surface. They may, 
however, be induced to come out by wetting down a 
flower bed with the garden hose. Let each child tell] 
what he has observed. 

Sometimes, especially after heavy rains, the worms are 
seen crawling all over the ground; but generally they 
will be found with the tail end clinging to the burrow, 
the body stretched out over the ground, and with the 
mouth sucking and pulling at bits of leaves or grass. 
When a hold is obtained on a leaf the body contracts 
and the leaf is drawn toward the burrow. If the children 
have learned their lesson properly and have observed 
this, ask them why the worm clings to its burrow. -Can 
they find eyes, nose, or ears anywhere in the body of 
an earthworm? Can aworm see? Can it hear? Can 
it smell? Let them try to answer these questions for 
themselves by appropriate experiments and observations. 
If they turn the light of a lantern on the head end of 
a worm, after a few seconds it will generally draw back 
into its burrow. This proves that it can slowly distin- 
guish light from darkness. This is further shown by the 
fact that earthworms are nocturnal. As to hearing, one 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 427 


may whistle, shout, or even fire a toy pistol, but the worms 
give no response. They cannot hear at all. To test for 
smell, place a bit of onion a little to one side and near 
the head of the worm. It soon reaches about and finds 
it. It can smell a little. This experiment may be made 
with the worms in the aquarium, as Darwin has shown, by 
burying the onion, when it will always be found and dug 
up by the worms. Lacking all 
the special senses that higher 
animals use so much, if a worm 
lets go the burrow, it cannot find 
it again, but is obliged to make 
anew one. It may be lost within 
an inch of its home, and most of 
those we see about the pave- 
ments die by drying up before 
they can find a place to bur- 
row. Lacking the other sense 
organs, earthworms have a most 
delicate sense of touch. Jar. 
the earth a little, stroke with 


% 2 Fic. 172. EARTHWORMS “ RAIN- 
a feather, blow lightly; in re- iNcy God) tan’ OMe NTR RATOAE 


sponse to all these stimuli the PANE OF GLASS 
worm dashes like a rabbit into its burrow. 


Earthworms lay eggs almost too small to see with the 
unaided eye, but they are done up in capsules about 
the size of mustard seeds, which may be found by sharp 
eyes near the openings of the burrows along in June. 
They may be hatched in a watch glass, and a little 
fine, moist earth may be added as soon as they come 
out. 


428 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


It is a common belief that earthworms “rain down.” 
What do the children think about it? The evidence that 
is popularly assumed to prove this consists in finding 
worms in rain-water barrels or gutters. Let the class 
observe how easily a worm can ascend a vertical surface, 
even a pane of glass, and then decide whether the worms 
“rain down” or “rain 
up.” 

Hair Worms. — These 
strange creatures resem- 
ble animated hairs so 
closely that it is not 
strange that the myth 
should arise as to their 
origin from hairs left 
in the water. If the 
children insist upon this 
belief as strongly as 
some grown people do, 
it might be well to let 
them put some hairs in 
water and see if they 
turn into hair worms. 


Fic. 173. THREE HAIR WORMS REMOVED 
FROM A GRASSHOPPER 


a,a specimen 22} in. long, froma katydid. But the true life story 
of hair worms is more 


wonderful than the fiction. They are usually found in 
one of two places, —in roadside or meadow pools after a 
rain, in the spring and summer; in the bodies of insects, 
late in the summer and fall. In the insect’s body they 
are long white threads. I have found one in a katydid, 
more than twenty-two inches long. In the pools they are 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 429 


dark in color and continually writhing and twisting about, 
tying themselves into knots. This peculiarity has given 
them the generic name ‘“ Gordius,” from the Gordian knot. 

In a word, the life story of one of our common forms is 
simply this: The mature worm lives in the ground and 
comes out into the pools to lay its eggs. The egg is very 
minute, and the tiny worm that hatches from it bores its 
way into some insect, usually a grasshopper, and lives as 
a parasite within its body. The insect dies, and the worm 
enters the ground to pass the winter. 

The nematodes, to which the hair worms belong, are a 
large class of lowly organized worms. Most of them live 
in water, soil, or decaying matter and are harmless. 
Many are almost or quite microscopic in size, the “ vinegar 
eel”’ being one of our most common forms. A few are 
parasitic in animals, living either in the intestine or in 
the flesh. It is these latter, especially the trichina of 
pork, that make it unsafe to eat meat that has not been 
thoroughly cooked. Other nematodes are parasitic in 
plants, especially in the roots, where they produce swell- 
ings or galls. They are particularly destructive in the 
greenhouse and window garden in the North, where the 
eggs are killed by freezing during the winter, but they 
often seriously injure field and garden crops farther 
south.? 

Mollusks. — These form one of the largest animal groups, 
there being 21,320 living species and an almost equal 
number (20,895) of extinct fossil species. How many 
kinds do the children know? They may be defined as 


1 George E. Stone and Ralph E. Smith. ‘Nematode Worms,” Budletin 
No. 55, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, 1898. 


430 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


soft-bodied animals without segments and without jointed 
limbs. Generally the body is protected by a shell, either 
single and coiled spirally, as with snails, periwinkles, and 
conchs, or composed of two pieces or valves, as in clams, 
oysters, and mussels. A few have no shell, as the garden 
slugs and the most highly developed of the whole group, 
the octopus and ink squid. 

While the children may be encouraged to collect fossil 


Fic. 174. Type Forms or MOLtusks 


a, fresh-water clam; 4, pond snails; ¢, garden slug; d, octopus. 


shells and the many species that they may find during 
their summer vacations at the seashore, we will confine 
our attention to four of the commonest and most widely 
distributed kinds. 

Can some boy or girl bring in two or three specimens of 
the common garden slug, with a nest of eggs, if they can 
be found? They may be kept in a small aquarium and 
fed on lettuce leaves or fresh young radishes to show what 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 435. 


havoc they may make in a garden or greenhouse. It is 
interesting to watch their movements in gliding over the 
glass. How do they do it? Not like a leech or meas- 
uring worm, by looping the body and holding on with first 
one end, then with the other; not like an earthworm, by 
stretching the body and catching hold and drawing the rest 
of the body up. But they remain apparently motionless, 
neither longer nor shorter, and still glide smoothly and 
rapidly along. They are nocturnal, feeding by night and 
lying hidden in damp places during the day ; but a telltale 
trail of slime is left wherever they go, and if they have 
been doing mischief in the garden, they may easily be fol- 
lowed home. The eggs are found under boards in damp 
places, but instead of describing them I wiil ask the children 
to find them, if they can, and keep them to make sure that 
they hatch out into little slugs. The pupils may observe 
how a slug eats, and they are sure to be interested in the 
way it breathes, — through a large hole, or spiracle, on 
the right side. 

In order to keep the algze from overgrowing the sides of 
our aquaria we need some snails, which the children can 
find in any fresh-water pond or stream. The two kinds 
that are most useful are represented in Fig. 174. Their 
eggs are laid in glairy masses fastened to the water plants 
or often to the glass where their development may be 
easily watched. 

Among the bivalve mollusks are the oyster, clam, quahog, 
scallop, and mussel, all valuable for food and connected 
with interesting methods of cultivation and with fishery 
industries. Where these can be studied alive, as along the 
coast, they may be brought into the course. But the 


432 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


bivalves of most importance for the school aquaria and for 
the work of purifying surface waters are the common 
fresh-water mussels, or clams. They may be found in any 
pond or stream. Ask the children to bring in a few and 
keep three or four large ones in each of the larger aquaria 
and one in each of the small aquaria. Now ask a group of 
the class to test the puri- 
fication of water by clams. 
They may do this by ar- 
ranging two small aqua- 
ria, exactly alike, with 
sand and plants, filling 
them with water that is 
turbid from growth ot 
alge or bacteria. Put a 
clam in one but not in 
the other and watch the 


Fic. 175. FRESH-WATER CLAM 
a, inhalant siphon ; 4, exhalant siphon; result. Generally the 


¢ gills; ¢, mouth; ¢, foot. water with the clam in it 

will become perfectly clear in a few hours or days, accord- 

ing to the size of the aquarium, while the other grows 
more and more turbid. 

Next we will try to discover how the clam works. If 


we look at the clam from above, we notice two openings 
between the posterior ends of the valves. These are sur- 
rounded with a fringe of dark papilla which are sensitive to 
light. This may be demonstrated by suddenly cutting off 
the sunlight, when the valves will close. With a fine straw, 
or a glass tube drawn to a fine opening, let fall close to 
the upper siphon a little colored liquid, — carmine or dilute 
India ink. It is sent whirling away from the clam. Now, 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS 433 


without touching the tentacles, let a little more fall near 
the lower opening. It is all drawn into the clam, and if a 
solution or a very fine suspension of inert matter, like car- 
bon, chalk, clay, etc., it is soon seen streaming out of the 
upper siphon. If this prove irritating to the clam, it will 
shut up with a snap, throwing clouds of the liquid out of 
both siphons. We thus see that a stream of water is being 
drawn into one siphon and thrown out at the other. Next, 
take a suspension of yeast plants, small algz, or bacteria, 
let it pass into the inhalant siphon, and watch the exhal- 
ant siphon. It goes in turbid and comes out perfectly 
clear. This shows what the clam feeds on, — minute floating 
particles inthe water. The currents are set up by the gills 
of the clam, the water being passed through while the food 
material is strained out and carried up to the mouth. A 
culture of typhoid fever bacteria, for example, flowed through 
the gills of an oyster, which are quite similar to those of a 
clam, came away sterile, 7.2. with all the bacteria filtered 
out. Clams are thus living filters, and in a pond well 
stocked with them they must exert considerable influence 
in keeping the water cleansed of floating organic matter.? 


1 The structure of the clam is explained somewhat in Fig. 175, and, if 
the school possesses a compound microscope, the action of the gills may 
be demoastrated, but this may as well be left to later courses in zodlogy- 


176. A WOODLAND SPRING 


Fia. 


434 


CHAPTER XXVI 
FLOWERLESS PLANTS 


Ferns, Mosses, Liverworts AND LICHENS, ALG&, 
MusHROOMS 


ELEMENTARY studies of plants commonly include only 
those that bear flowers and produce seeds. The impor- 
tance attaching of late years to many of the lower forms, 
together with their educational values, renders it advisable 
to include their study in a course that pretends to give 
adequate elementary instruction in the natural environment 
of a community. 

Ferns. — These form a natural introduction to this group 
of plants. Gray’s Botany gives sixty-two species native 
to the United States. How many different kinds can 
the pupils find in their neighborhood? A bed or rockery 
of ferns will make a beautiful nook in the school garden. 
Have the children notice and describe the places where 
they grow best; then select the most favorable spot for 
the bed, generally a corner on the shady side of the school 
building. If the soil is not suitable, have a load of black 
leaf mould from the woods put on the bed and arrange 
naturally a few moss- and lichen-covered rocks to give the 
ferns their appropriate setting. Since the ferns are all hardy 
perennials, a bed once planted will continue with little care 
from year to year and yield good material for drawing and 

435 


436 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


language lessons, and for study and genuine acquaintance. 
A small pool in one edge of the bed will add to its beauty 
and may support a collection of interesting water ferns. 
Aside from their grace and beauty the interesting fact 
connected with the study of ferns is their method of repro- 
duction by spores. Watch the underside of the leaves, 
and when the fruit dots, or sori, as they are called, turn 


Fic. 177. COLLECTION OF FERNS 


George Putnam School, Roxbury, Mass. 


brown and appear to be ripe, distribute pieces of the leaf 
to the class and let them pick out some of the spores on a 
sheet of white paper to gain a definite idea of what is meant 
by the much-used term “spore.’”’ The finest dustlike par- 
ticles that they find in the sori are the spores. If a few 
leaves are permitted to dry over a sheet of paper, spores 
may be obtained in quantity. It may be too difficult a task 
for the children to undertake, but if any wish to volunteer, 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 437 


let them try to rear some fern plants from the spores. 
To do this the spores must be kept uniformly damp. Have 
an inch of wet sand in a small aquarium and lay on this 
a fragment of mossy flowerpot, thickly dusted over with 
spores. Cover the aquarium with a piece of glass; keep 
the sand wet and watch carefully to see what grows on it. 
It might be well to set the aquarium in a greenhouse, if 
one is available, so that it may be kept at a constant tem- 
perature. If the experiment succeeds, the strangest thing 
of all will come to light, viz., that the spores do not produce 
ferns but, instead, tiny little plants, consisting each of a 
single heart-shaped leaf. This is called a “ prothallium,” and 
from the underside of this a little fern will finally grow. 

Mosses. — The mosses are still smaller plants that do not 
bear flowers but reproduce by spores. These are often 
borne on slender stems in little capsules. A collection of 
as many of the common sorts as the children can find may 
well be transplanted to the fern bed. There are 6750 
species known. How many different kinds can the chil- 
dren find in their school yard? 

Liverworts. — These are little mosslike plants, but their 
stems are always flat, or, in other words, carry a leaf-like 
expansion on either side. Their fruiting capsule opens by 
two or four valves and never by a lid such as we find in 
the mosses. There are several beautiful little plants of 
this kind well adapted for the school aquaria. How many 
different kinds can the children find ? 

Lichens. — These are a step lower in the scale of plant 
life. They have no stems but are leaf-like growths, gray or 
yellowish green, on rocks, boards, the bark of trees, or the 
ground. Their spores are borne in little cups on the surface. 


438 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


An abundance of these plants will probably occur on the 
stones in the fernery or on the tree trunks in the school 
yard. It is not intended, for these elementary lessons, that 
any of the different species be learned, for we have no 
common English names with which to designate them. 
There are 5600 named species, but it will be sufficient if the 
class study and draw two or three of the commonest in the 
neighborhood and learn to associate the name “lichen” with 
them. It may be possible to explain to the class that 
a lichen consists of two different plants living together: 
a white fungus, consisting of a felt work of minute threads, 
such as we shall see in the moulds and mushrooms; and 
much smaller, generally greenish plants, algee, entangled 
in the meshes of the fungus. The fungus furnishes sup- 
port and moisture to the algze, and, in return, the alge by 
means of their green coloring matter and sunshine supply 
food to the fungus. The algze can live without the fungus, 
for they can find support and moisture for themselves, but 
the fungus invariably dies if deprived of the help of the 
algze, for it cannot get food enough from the stone to which 
it clings, and without chlorophyll it cannot draw food from 
the air by the aid of light. From this point of view the 
lichens serve as an introduction to the two next plant 
groups, — the algze and the fungi. 

Alge. — We can always find algz in the school aquaria, 
often as incrustations or velvety growths on the glass, or 
as green slimes attached to the plants or floating on the 
surface. Snails, tadpoles, and clams will be required to 
keep the aquarium clear. Algze vary in size, from plants 
as small as a fern spore to the large brown rockweed, fucus, 
that clings to the rocks and piles all along the coast. As 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 439. 


Dr. Brooks has shown, they supply, directly or indirectly, 
the food for all animal life of the ocean. Oysters feed upon 
little else, and their quality is influenced by the kinds of 
algze that grow in the water over their beds. Algae may 
be classified according to color: (1) the blue greens, found 
as slimy patches on damp wood or stones, or in shallow fresh 
water ; (2) the green alge, found in fresh water chiefly ; 
(3) brown alge, kelps, rockweeds, etc., found on the coast, 
chiefly marine; and (4) red alge, the “seaweeds,” or “sea 
mosses,” also mostly marine. Ask the children who go to 
the seashore to bring back a few handfuls of such as they 
can find. They may be dried as they come from the salt 
water and at any time floated in fresh water upon cards or 
white paper. To come to know them as objects of beauty 
is deemed sufficient. There are at present described and 
named 14,854 species of algee. How many kinds have the 
class been able to discover ? 

Fungi. — In descending the scale of plant life, from trees, 
wild flowers, and garden plants, we left flowers and seeds 
behind when we came to the ferns. In passing now from 
the alga to the fungi we leave the green coloring mat- 
ter, the chlorophyll, by which these higher plants use the 
sunshine to help them build wood, leaves, and fruit from 
water, soil, and air.! 

The fungi form an enormous group of most interesting 
and important plants. Numbering the 970 species of 

1 To illustrate this important relation between green plants and the sun- 
shine ask a few of the class to sprout a number of plants — potatoes, beans, 
corn, squash, and peas— and keep them for a week in the dark. Then let 
the class watch them from day to day to see them develop the green color 


and begin to grow as they are exposed to the light. A few may be kept in the 
dark by inclosing them in tubes of black paper for still further comparison. 


440 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


bacteria with them, 43,830 different kinds are now described, 
nearly one-quarter of all the plant species known to science. 
In size they range from large mushrooms and giant puff- 
balls, of many pounds in weight, to moulds and bacteria, 
so small that it would require 10,000 placed side by side to 
measure an inch, — far too minute to see with the unaided 
eye, even as a speck of dust on a polished mirror. The 
prime characteristic of this large group is absence of the 
green coloring matter, chlorophyll, of the higher plants. 
Lacking this, the fungi are unable to build up living matter 
from the elements by the aid of sunlight; hence, they 
commonly grow in dark or shady places, and they must 
depend for their food upon other organisms, animals, or 
plants, either dead or alive. While we shall find many 
and beautiful colors, the prevailing tone throughout the 
whole group is white or gray. A few of the higher 
plants, notably Indian pip2, pine sap, dodder, have lost 
more or less of their chlorophyll and, at the same time, 
have become parasitic upon other plants. Those fungi 
that live upon dead matter are saprophytes,; those that live 
upon the tissues of plants or animals to their detriment are 
parasites. Siill other species, especially bacteria, subsist 
upon or in living organisms with mutual benefit and are 
called symbzotes, i.¢., ‘together-livers.” 

When we inquire what this group of plants does in the 
economy of nature, we must study them in connection with 
their foods, as above specified. 

By far the greater number subsist upon dead matter — 
the remains of animals and plants. Imagine all the trees, 
plants, and animals that have died since the world began, 
whose bodies did not happen to have been burned or eaten, 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 441 


still lying as they fell, and we have a picture of what nature 
would be without the beneficent work of fungi; that is, 
they cause decay. They return to Mother Earth the mat- 
ter which has lived, that it may live again. Without them 
all available food in the world would soon be locked up in 
dead forms, and new life would be impossible. 


This is a rather knotty point; but it may be attacked in a direct 
and simple manner by asking the children: ‘* Where does our food 
come from? What is its last 
or ultimate source?” They 
will say: “It comes from 
plants, wheat, corn, fruits, 
vegetables; and animals, 
beef, mutton, pork, fish, fowl, 


etc.” “But where do the 
animals that we eat obtain 
their food?” “It comes 


from the plants; so that, in 
the last analysis, the food of 
animals, man included, comes 
from plants, directly or in- 


directly.” The next question n 
Nee 4 ‘NITRATES 
is: ‘*Where, then, do the 
‘ » Fic. 178. THE CIRCLE OF PROTEID Foop 
plants get their food? 
= MATERIALS 


“ With the help or sunshine n, m, represents free nitrogen drawn in 
green plants clerive the food from. therair 


with which they build up 
leaves and grains and fruits and woods from the soluble materials 
in the soil and from the invisible matters in the air.””, Now comes the 
crucial question: ‘Can a green plant grow in wood, or leaves, or 
fresh meat, ze, in the undecayed body of an animal or plant? 
Have any of the class ever seen a green plant, not a parasite, 
growing in this way?” 

The diagram, Fig. 178, will make these relations plain. In their 
elementary physiology lessons the children may have had simple 


442 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


discussions of the three classes of foods: fats and o/ls, starches and 
sugars, and, most important of all, prozezds, or nitrogen-containing 
foods, such as flesh, the white of egg, or the gluten or similar sub- 
stances of wheat and other vegetable foods. This is the great essen- 
tial food for all animal life. On no amount of fats or sugars can any 
animal sustain its life for more than a few days. 

Without the help of the fungi we might, with a great deal of 
labor, burn everything that died and thus return the elements to the air 
and to the soil ; but in burning nitrogenous compounds we should return 
their nitrogen to the air along with all the other gases, and the green 
plants are not able to take nitrogen directly from the air. They 
require nitrogen in some soluble form, as nitrates in the soil; so that 
the burning of nitrogenous compounds is a most wasteful process. In 
fact, up to within a few years it used to be said that when a rifle is 
fired a man is killed, whether the bullet strikes one or not. This 
was thought to be true, because it was supposed that in burning the 
soluble nitrate in the powder, thus returning the nitrogen to the air, 
the nitrate could not be recovered and that eventually some one 
would starve for the lack of it. How certain bacteria are able to 
take free nitrogen from the air, and thus give food to plants and 
everything that lives, we shall discuss in the next chapter. 

Another line along which this may be explained to the children in 
a practical way has reference to their plant lessons. When the chil- 
dren were given seeds and asked to see who could rear the best 
plant, many of them immediately asked: «What will make a plant 
grow best? What can I feed my plant to make it grow fast?” 
The answer is zz¢vates, chiefly of potassium and sodium. These are 
the main constituents of chemical fertilizers, now so commonly used. 
No knowledge of chemical formulas is necessary to make this plain. 
Simply get a little potassium nitrate, let the children see, handle, and 
taste it, burn a little of it, and, finally, dissolve a teaspoonful in a quart 
of water and treat a certain plant with it once a week. It would be 
well to have two similar plants growing in two pots of rather poor 
soil and give this solution to one and not to the other, to let the class 
see how it makes the plant grow. This is a simple elementary les- 
son in fertilization of the soil and will serve to show the réle that 
nitrates play in plant growth. 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 443 


Thus we see in a general way that the fungi reduce dead nitroge- 
nous matter to soluble plant food in the soil. Leaves, twigs, and 
wood decay to form vegetable mould and animal matters ; manures 
and composts must be thoroughly rotted before they become available 
for plant foods. 

A smaller group of fungi live as parasites upon or within plants 
and animals, and thus cause the majority of those diseases commonly 
known as contagious or infectious. We should know something 
about these and how they may be controlled, and to this end we 
may describe a few that commonly attack garden plants and trees, as 
well as some that are of great importance in relation to home and 
school sanitation. 

Finally, a small group of bacteria are truly symbiotic and live 
within the roots of plants, especially of the clovers and peas, and 
possess the power of absorbing nitrogen from the air and of fixing it 
in soluble form as food for the plants. As with the lichen and the 
alga, the root supplies moisture and support, while the microbe manu- 
factures plant food in return. It has long been known that clover, 
for example, enriches the soil in which it grows, and this fact is now, 
in a measure, explained. 

The above facts are given to aid the teacher in planning the les- 
sons and in appreciating the value of the observations and experiments 
that follow. 


Mushrooms. — The best time during the school year to 
study mushrooms is in the fall, after a spell of wet weather. 
We may begin by asking the class how many know mush- 
rooms and have found them growing in the neighborhood. 
The children may know them better by the popular name 
“toadstools,” which is commonly used to designate poi- 
sonous or worthless mushrooms; but, since this is not a 
helpful term, we had better make the distinction by calling . 
them ‘poisonous mushrooms” instead. Possibly one of the 
class knows some one who is raising mushrooms and can 
tell the rest how it is done. Ask the children each to dig 


444 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


up one or two mushrooms, being sure to get the “ roots,” 
and bring them to school for the next nature-study period. 
Look over the specimens and place the amanitas by 
themselves. Then have the class sort the others into piles 
according to their characteristic forms and structures, put- 
ting thé puffballs, the gill-bearing kinds, all having tubes, 


Fie. 179. THE DEADLY AMANITA 
The gills ; a button just pushing out of the cup; a mushroom showing cap, or 
pileus, stem, and cup, or volva at base of stem 


and those with fine pores underneath, and such as present 
branching forms, the Clavarias, each ina pile by itself. We 
thus see that there are marked and interesting differences 
in form and structure. 

To understand the growth of these strange plants have 
some of the children carefully wash the earth away from 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 445 


the base of the stem, selecting specimens with a large ball 
of earth. They should find an irregular mass of white 
threads, some of them running into the bottom of the stem. 
They may also find among these threads “buttons” of 
various sizes. These are young mushrooms that will grow 
larger and finally push their way up into the air,—for what 
purpose we shall see in a moment. Have the class com- 
pare their specimens and try to find a series from the 
smallest “button” to a full-grown mushroom. Do any in 
the class know what relation the white threads bear to the 
mushrooms? While not conspicuous these are really the 
main part of the plant. They are called the ‘“mycelium”’ of 
the mushroom. This mycelium may grow for months or 
even years, sending thread after thread in every direction 
through the soil or through the wood of a tree, absorbing 
food and increasing in size. It is thus the vegetative or 
nutritive part of the plant. We shall find something 
similar when we study the moulds. When the proper con- 
ditions arrive, generally after heavy rains (for mushrooms 
are almost all water), the “buttons” enlarge and push up 
through the surface, often ina night. Fig. 179 will serve 
to explain the conspicuous parts of a mushroom — stem, 
cap or pileus, gills or spore-bearing structures. Emphasize 
the fact that the mushrooms that we ordinarily see are only 
the spore-bearing, or reproductive, part of the plant. They 
are pushed up into the air by the mass of the mycelium, in 
order that the spores may be carried in every direction by 
the winds. 

Let us next ask the children to study the sporing of 
their mushrooms. From any large specimen the spores 
are probably being shed, from between the gills or from 


446 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


within the tubes or pores, in a constant shower; but they 
are far too small to see. Cut off the stem close to the 
gills and lay the mushroom, gills down, on a piece of paper 
and cover it with a glass so tight that not the slightest 
current of air can enter. The spores will then fall straight 
down and draw a picture of the under surface of the mush- 
room. We make, in other words, a “spore print.” A few 


Fic. 180. THE DEADLY AMANITA 


Spore print 


of these will greatly aid the children in forming clear ideas 
about spores as we have found them in the ferns and mosses 
and are soon to study them in the moulds and bacteria. 
The spore dust of a ripe puffball should also be studied in 
this connection. The important fact to be brought out is 
that spores are so small that they become invisible as they 
disperse in the air and are so light that they are readily 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 447 


carried by air currents. Thus they form a constituent of 
dust. If the gills or tubes of a mushroom are dark colored, 
we will make the spore print on white paper, if white, on 
black paper, and if we care to keep the spore prints, we 
will use paper over which a thin coating of mucilage has 
been laid. This may be allowed to dry, as the moisture 
in the spores will cause them to stick to it. 

The food value of mushrooms has been exaggerated by 
popular writers. Chemical analyses have shown that they 
are about as nutritious as cabbage. Rated at twenty-five 
cents a pound, which is from one-fourth to one-tenth the 
usual price, they cost about ten times as much for actual 
nutrition obtained as beef at fifteen cents per pound and 
124 times as much as wheat flour at two and one-half 
centsa pound. However, they afford variety; a few species 
are said to be “delicious,” and a very few are poisonous. 
As a people we are behind most European nations in 
knowledge of mushrooms and, hence, in ability to utilize 
them for food. The main reason for introducing thcir 
study into nature-study courses is to give definite instruc 
tion, first, about the few poisonous species and, second, to 
point out a number of the more valuable kinds that now 
go to waste in large quantities in our woods and pastures 
and even city lawns and gardens. To do this adequately 
would require a book, but a few points of general impor- 
tance may be given in connection with the following partial 
outline of their classification. 

Since the conspicuous part of amushroom is a mechanism 
for producing and disseminating the spores, they are natu- 
rally classified by the position and form of the spore-bearing 
surfaces or parts. 


448 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Puffballs, Lycoperdacce. — Putfballs have a rind or wall 
and produce their spores within a closed cavity. When the 
spores are ripe the wall ruptures, and off they go with every 
puff of wind in the well-known clouds of dust. No puff- 
ball, so far as known, is poisonous if taken while the flesh 
is perfectly white, but some caution must be observed not 


UA 


Fic. 181  PurrFBabys 


to mistake for a puffball 
a “button” or “egg” 
of some other kind of 
fungus. 

Coral Mushrooms, or Cla- 
varias, Clavariacee. — These grow either 


Fic. 182. 
A CoraL MusHRooM 


in the form of single clubs or many- 
branched masses. The spores are shed 
from the entire surface of the branches. 
So far as is known, all the clavarias that 


Fic. 183. A More 


are of any size are edible. 

Morels, Cup Fungi, Dzscomycetes.— These have a stem 
and cap, but unlike most mushrooms the spores are borne 
in pits distributed over the convex surface. They appear 
early in the season, May and June, are generally free from 
insects, and may be dried for future use; all the common 
species are edible. A morel may be recognized by its resem- 
blance to Fig. 183, which is A/orchella conica. Norchella 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 449 


esculenta, the esculent morel, has an oblong or egg-shaped 
cap, and in M. deliczosa, the “delicious” 
nearly cylindrical. 

Stinkhorn Mushrooms, P/alloidee.— These might be 
omitted, did they not too often force themselves upon our 
attention. Their vile odors, suggestive of decaying animal 
matter or escaping sewer gas, strike consternation to the 
householder, and he is likely to begin a vain, because mis- 
directed, search for the cause of offense. The odor prob- 
ably serves the plant by attracting 
insects, which in return for their 
feast disseminate its spores. While 
there are several kinds, differing in 


morel, the cap is 


color and somewhat in structure 
and form, the general appearance of 
the plant as shown in Fig. 184 will 
be sufficient to classify any specimen 
that may be brought in. The stink- 
horns are not given in the books as 
poisonous; in fact, most of them have 
the reputation of being “edible” if Fis. 184. StinxHorn 
taken in the egg stage. The most aa Gri ae 
frequent question about them, however, relates not to their 
edibleness, but rather to methods by which they may be 
exterminated. They are apt to grow about rotting wood in 
damp places, and since we know that the main portion of 
the plant, the mycelium, consists of a mass of fine threads 
beneath the surface it will probably be necessary only to 
scrape up and clear away any decaying wood and possibly 
turn over the soil to a depth of a foot effectually to rid the 
place of the nuisance. 


450 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Trembling Mushrooms, 7yemellincw.—These strange fungi 
derive their name from their gelatinous consistency. The 
spores are. borne over the entire surface. They occur 
generally on decaying twigs or wood, drying up so as to 
be scarcely distinguishable and swelling again when wet. 
Little or no food value attaches to the group, but none 
have been reported as poisonous. 

Agarics, Agaricacee. — Any mushroom having the spore- 
bearing surface arranged in folds or gills radiating from 
the stem, or from the point of attachment when no stem 
is present, is an agaric. Possibly the chief reason for 
introducing the study of mushrooms .into elementary 
courses is to enable the pupils to distinguish certain 
extremely poisonous plants of this group, the amanitas. 
The distinguishing features of Amanita phallotdes, our 
most deadly species, are sufficiently well indicated in Fig. 
179; but the way to teach them is to have the specimens 
brought in wherever this is possible. Amanita verna, 
appropriately called the “destroying angel,” so closely 
resembles: A. phalloides that it may be considered, for ele- 
mentary purposes, a white variety of it. A. muscaria, the 
fly agaric, is generally larger than A. phalloides and differs 
from it in having the cap bright yellow, varying to orange 
and even red. Crumbled into a saucer of sweetened water, 
it serves as an effective fly poison, whence its name. The 
gills are white, rarely yellowish, and the cap is typically 
dotted over with whitish flocks or scales formed from the 
part of the volva that clings to the cap as it expands. 
These may dry up and blow off and hence be absent from 
old specimens —a fact that should be borne in mind if we 
are to make the acquaintance of A. c@saria. 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 451 


Two or three amanitas are edible, notably A. rudescens 
and A. c@saria, but the variations in size, color, and other 
characteristics that occur, as they grow under different 
conditions of soil and weather, are so great, and their resem- 
blance to the poisonous species so close, that we must pass 
them over to the specialists. 

A. rubescens is dingy red, and the flesh quickly turns red when 
broken. The gills are white, and there is scarcely any trace of a cup 
at the base of the stem, since nearly the whole of the volva is carried up 
and remains as warts scattered over the cap. 4. c@sara, the imperial 
agaric, czbus deorum, reddish or orange 
fading to yellow with age, is one of the 
most beautiful and “delicious ” of mush- 
rooms. While its cap resembles some- 
what A. muscaria in color, it rarely has 
any flocks from the volva on it, and the 
gilis are bright yellow. 


From Figs. 179 and 180 we see 
the general characteristics of this 
group of deadly plants. No one 
infallible rule or test can be given 
to distinguish an edible from a 

i Fic. 185. ComMON MEADOW 
poisonous agaric; but the death Miucinoon 
cup or a scaly bulbous stem, the veil 
or annulus, and the white spores, taken together, indicate 
that a specimen belongs to the amanita family and must 
be avoided. These poisonous mushrooms are common in 
the woods but occur on open meadows or lawns The 
common meadow mushroom, Agaricus campestris, the spe- 
cies raised for markets, has brown spores, flesh-colored to 
dark-brown gills, and, since it is not inclosed in a volva or 
sac in its early stages, it has no cup at base of stem or 


452 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


warts on the cap, but has a well-marked veil on the stem. 
It grows in open meadows and pastures, though species 
much like it are found in woods. 


This is considered far enough for elementary pupils to go in the 
classification of the agarics. Still, many others are likely to be brought 
in, and it may be helpful, rather than otherwise, to distinguish a few 
of the more prominent groups. 

The shaggy mane and ink cap, of the genus Cofrinus, are com- 
mon about rich lawns and barnyards after wet weather. The spores 
are black, and the gills turn black and liquefy as the plant reaches 
maturity. The black fluid thus formed, mixed with the spores, falls in 
inky drops from the cap. If taken before the gills turn black, they 
are edible. 

The milky mushrooms, of the genus Lactarius, form an interest- 
ing group, easily distinguished by the milky, or colored, juice which 
exudes from any part of the plant when it is broken. The juice of 
these mushrooms may be tasted if care is taken not to swallow any 
of it, and those that are not bitter or peppery may be considered 
edible. 

The Russulas (Lat. russus, * red”) are the brilliantly colored mush- 
rooms — red, pink, purple, blue, green, and yellow — that enliven the 
woods of summer and early fall. In form and fragile structure they 
resemble the milky mushrooms, but none of them exude any milky 
juice when wounded. One of them, 2. emzetzca, is rated as poisonous 
by most authors, but its acrid taste is sufficient to prevent a person 
from eating enough to do serious harm. In color it passes from rose, 
when young, to blood red and finally to tawny or yellow when old. 
Other species of russulas which have a mild and agreeable flavor 
are considered edible. 


Pore- or Tube-Bearing Mushrooms, Polyporace@. — Numbers 
of mushrooms will probably be brought in which resemble 
the agarics in form but, instead of gills, have innumerable 
tubes or pores, from which the spores are dropped. Most 
of these, except the Bodefz, grow upon wood, stumps, and 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 453 


trees, both dead and alive, and many are directly respon- 
sible for the death of trees upon which they are found. 


Boleti. 1f the mushroom is soft, not woody, 
and has tubes easily separable from the rest of 
the cap, it belongs to the genus Boletus. Several 
Boleti are pronounced edible, but, as with the 
amanitas, taste is not a safeguard against the 
poisonous kinds. Satan’s Boletus, B. satanus, 
B. luridus, B. alveolatus, and other allied species 
are set down in most of the books as poisonous. 


McIlvaine pronounces them “remarkably fine 
eating.” 2B. satanus is a large mushroom, three Fic.186. A BoLetus 
to eight inches in diameter, brownish yellow to 

dull white in color. The tubes are yellow, except at their mouths, 
which are bright red. The stem is thick and swollen and is marked 
with red reticulations near the cap. The flesh is whitish but changes 
to reddish or violet when wounded. JB. Zuridus is similar, but smaller, 
two to four inches broad, brownish olive above, and the flesh turns 
blue when broken. 

Fistulina. If the tubes hang separate, ze, are not cemented 
together in a mass, the mushroom is a /7zs¢udina. The common spe- 
cies is /. hepatica, the beef tongue, or beefsteak fungus, which 
grows sometimes in huge masses on oak and chestnut stumps. Its 
color is red, variegated above and streaked in lines of growth. 
Below, the spore surface is pale, tinged with 
yellow or pink. The beefsteak mushroom is 
certainly not poisonous, and some consider it 
edible in spite of its marked acidity. 

Polyport. Vf the tubes cling together, are 
inseparable from the cap, and the plant becomes 
woody or corky with age, it is probably a 
Fic. 187. A PoLyrorus, Polyporus. These are the “bracket fungi,” 

or Bracket MUSH- bunks,” and “conchs” often found growing 
Ree upon trees. A few Polyfori are “ edible,” after 

a fashion, when young and tender, but the chief reason for studying 
them relates to their injury of trees. Have the class examine the 


454 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


trees in the neighborhood and report the number attacked by these 
fungous growths. Can the children discover how the fungus gains 
access to the wood? They may find some broken limb or some 
place where the bark has been injured, to account for the infection. 
With shade and garden trees all wounds should be painted over as 
soon as made, to protect the trees from the spores of fungi. In gen- 
eral, decaying wood, stumps, branches, or trees upon which these 
fungi have begun to grow should be cut and burned, to prevent 
infection of healthy trees. Any piece of rotten wood will show 
how the fungous growth affects the tree. Seek for pieces that con- 
tain plainly visible mycelium, white threads, permeating the wood. 
These, as with mushrooms that grow on the ground, form the nutri- 
tive part of the plant, absorbing certain elements from the wood 
cells, thus causing them to soften and crumble. 
At certain seasons the spore-forming portion is 
pushed out into the air. 


Spine-Bearing or Hedgehog Mushrooms, 
Hydnace@.— If a mushroom, instead of 
gills or tubes, has spines that point 
toward the earth, it may be called by 
either of the above names, or, botanic- 
ally, it isa Aydnum. The class contains 
most variant forms. Some are umbrella shaped with central 
stems, others grow on wood and may form a mere flattened 
layer closely attached to it, while others may develop shelf 
or bracket forms, like many of the Polyport. Other species 
grow in branching forms, like the coral mushrooms, but 
are distinguished from them by the fact that the teeth or 
spines always point earthward instead of upward. Several 
common species are said to be edible, and no Aydnum 
described in the books is stated to be poisonous. 

I have endeavored to give a few suggestions that may 
form an introduction for a child to a large, interesting, and 


Fic. 188. A HEDGE- 
HOG MUSHROOM 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 455 


important group of plants. It has been done with the 
purpose of preventing accidents from mushroom poisoning, 
and at the same time of opening the way toward a study of 
fungi that may lead to better utilization of the valuable 
kinds. In any favorable locality a continued search would 
probably be rewarded by finding at least five or six hundred 
different species of mushrooms. It is not strange that a 
few out of this number should be poisonous. If we are to 
use mushrooms, we should know them as we know apples 
and potatoes. They are fragile and plastic, vary under 
differing conditions, change color with age, etc., so that 
to know a species means ability to recognize it in all its 
different guises, and this is no slight task. Jake one at 
a time is a good rule, and be sure you know it whenever 
and wherever met with. Soon you will have become 
acquainted with a group of interesting friends and acquaint- 
ances and fascinating enemies. 


The way mushrooms have been tested to ascertain whether they are 
edible has been described somewhat as follows: Take a bit of the fresh 
mushroom the size of a pea, chew it and hold in the mouth for a minute 
or two, reject, wait twenty-four hours and note whether any bad effects 
supervene. If not, chew another bit of a perfectly fresh specimen the 
size of a pea and swallow. Wait a day and note effects. 

Mushrooms often change their flavors on being cooked. If no 
bad effects have been produced thus far, cook and eat a small piece. 
Do not season, so that you may be able to describe the flavor accu- 
rately. If the tests indicate that the species may prove a valuable 
addition to the common dietary, gradually increase the amount eaten 
until thoroughly convinced that it is wholesome. The final step in 
the procedure is to try the mushroom on your friends. 

I give these directions with the view not of encouraging people 
to begin testing mushrooms promiscuously, but rather of preventing 
accidents from careless or ignorant testing. 


456 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


When we come to know them as well as we do the 
common nuts and wild berries and fruits of the fields and 
woods, mushrooms will add spice, interest, and variety to 
every walk, excursion, hunt, or camping trip. But a few 
general precautions should be added, and those already 
given may be briefly summarized. 

1. Never be tempted into eating a mushroom in the 
“button” stage, especially one found in the woods. At 
this time the marks by which the different species are 
distinguished are not developed. Many accidents have 
happened from disregard of this sensible precaution. 

2. Reject all mushrooms that show signs of decay. 
Any food may become unwholesome or even poisonous if 
tainted. All specimens infested by insects should also be 
discarded. 

3. Reject all mushrooms that have a cup or sac or scaly 
bulb at base of stem, a vetl or annulus, and white spores. 
These three characters combined point infallibly to the 
deadly amanitas ; but, at first, reject all that show any trace 
of a cup and use extreme caution in dealing with any 
members of this group. 

The statement of Dr. George Francis with regard to all 
other mushrooms is: “Being certain that you have no 
amanitas, it is not unsafe to make cautious trial of any 
species whose raw taste is not objectionable.” 


CHAPTER XXVII 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS (Continued) 
Movu.tps, MiLtpEws, YEAST, BACTERIA 


Ir we have studied the mushrooms and have seen 
the mycelium, it will be an easy step to understand the 
moulds, and from these, through the familiar yeast plant, 
we may pass to the study of the bacteria. We shall not 
have far to seek for specimens of moulds and mildews. 
We may find them too often on plants and trees that we 
are trying to rear. After a period of wet weather they 
may cover the books on our shelves, the clothes in our 
closets, — not to speak of the eternal vigilance necessary 
to prevent them from appropriating any food that is not 
sealed against their attacks. While many may be inclined 
to consider them too minute for elementary lessons, in 
the mass they are easily seen, and their relation to proper 
sanitation of the home and to fungous diseases of plants 
makes them an essential part of the plan for nature study. 
As a whole, too, the group plays a necessary and benefi- 
cent réle in nature. 

Moulds. — A jelly glass, or even a medicine vial, furnishes 
ample room for a garden of these instructive plants, and 
they may be cultivated on almost anything for soil. First 
we will take some kind of liquid culture medium in which 
we can see all the different parts of the mould plant as it 

457 


458 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


grows. Fruit juice as it comes from preserves, —as clear 
and colorless as possible, — diluted one-half and filtered 
or strained through fine cheese cloth, makes an ideal 
medium. Fill the vial or glass half full and sprinkle a 
little dust from the schoolroom over the surface. Cover 
and set aside to observe from day to day. Three such 
cultures should be made, one of which should be kept in 
a dark place, one in a room where direct sunlight does 
not fall upon it, and the 
third should be kept in 
the sunshine as much 
of the time as possible. 
It would be better if 
each of the pupils had 
a vial and one-third 
kept theirs in the dark, 
another third, on their 
desks, in the shade, and 
the other third, in the 
sunshine. Then let 
them compare notes 
The liquid culture is seen at the right. The during the nature-study 
others show arrangement for solid cultures. A period and decide under 
little water is put in to keep the air moist, and what conditions moulds 
the material is supported on a piece of glass 
grow best. Let them 
vary the experiment to see if they can discover conditions 
under which moulds are unable to grow at all. Experi- 
ment by leaving the dust in the bright sunshine for one, 
two, or three days before planting it in the fruit juice. 
It should be kept in a dry vial stoppered with a plug of 
cotton batting. But before we can go further with this 


Fic. 189. MouLtp GARDENS 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 459 


experiment we must be sure that we have killed all the 
germs that may be in the culture medium. Can any of 
the children suggest a way to do this? How is it done 
in their homes in the canning of fruit ? 

A convenient way is to plug the bottles with a wad of cotton 
batting and let them stand in a tightly covered steamer over boiling 
water for half an hour. This kills growing mould plants and bac- 
teria, but not all the spores that may be present in the liquid. The 
heat will be likely to start any such spores into growth, so that if they 
are steamed again on the following day, or before the spores have 
had time to germinate and form spores again, we may be reasonably 
sure that no germ remains alive in our cultures. Two or three of 
these vials should be set aside to compare with others that are 
planted with dust or with the spores of different moulds; and, if all 
the germs have been killed and the cotton is not removed, the cul- 
tures will remain clear, and no growth of any kind will appear in 
them. This is known as “sterilizing.” With a number of the cul- 
tures thus sterilized we may plant them with dust or the spores of any 
mould we wish to study. To do this, pick up a little of the dust or 
spores with the point of a clean needle and apply to the culture. 

After a day or two, if there are any mould spores in 
the cultures, we should see a fine woolly growth spreading 
over the surface and sending its delicate threads down 
into the liquid. This is the mycelium, and the threads 
are known as hyphz. The function of the mycelium, as 
in the mushrooms, is to absorb nutriment. Next we 
observe that a number of the hyphz near the center of 
the mycelium are growing up into the air, and the forms 
they assume are characteristic of different species of 
mould. Four of these typical forms are shown in Fig. 190, 
but it is not intended to go farther into any details that 
require the use of the microscope. A number of the 
larger moulds, however, have fruiting hyphz an inch or 


460 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


two in length, on the tips of which the beadlike spore 
cases are plainly visible to the naked eye. 

We may next have the pupils substitute for the culture 
medium in their bottles various solid materials — bread, 
potatoes and other vegetables, meats, and a variety of dif- 
ferent fruits. Each pupil may provide a different mate- 
rial, and in this way the class will gain a notion of how 
omnivorous the moulds are. 

An experiment that must not be omitted consists in 
inoculating a number of different fruits with mould spores, 


Fic. 190. DIFFERENT KINDS OF MOULD 


a, milk mould; 4, blue mould; c, black mould; ¢, white mould 


to observe the process of decay. Here again the children 
may take different fruits for variety’s sake — some apples, 
some pears, others plums, peaches, grapes, each child 
taking different varieties so far as practicable. We will 
suppose that the pupils have each three fruits of the 
desired variety. Having cautioned them to secure per- 
fect specimens with stems attached and no breaks of the 
skin, let them each put one fruit aside, perfect ; let them 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 461 


make a single puncture with a pin in the second and 
rub in some mould spores or a little dust ; put this away 
with the first; and let them puncture the third, but, 
instead of inoculating it, let them leave it, puncture side 
up, exposed to the air on their desks. They may vary the 
experiment still further by having different pupils use for 
their inoculations a number of the moulds described 
below. This experiment codrdinates itself with practical 
fruit culture and the need of “hand picking” of choice 
fruit. It also carries a larger lesson related to intelligent 
cleanliness in care of the skin and treatment of scratches, 
cuts, and bruises, since in this function of protection the 
skin of an apple and that of a child are much alike. 

Our experiments and observations cannot go far before 
we see that there are many different kinds of moulds. 
We notice, first, that while the mycelia of all appear much 
alike to the naked eye (generally white, like cotton bat- 
ting), the spores are of different colors; and these may 
serve as a basis for elementary classification. 


Blue Mould, Penzc7llinm glaucum.—This is the commonest mould 
we have, and its blue velvety growths over bread and all sorts of foods 
and on the leather of shoes and gloves have made it only too familiar 
to all. Its manner of spore formation is shown in Fig. 190, 6. 

Black Mould, Aspergillus niger.— This is another common house- 
hold form on bread, vegetables, and fruits. 

White Mould, 4/zcor mucedo.— The white moulds are especially 
good for elementary lessons on account of their comparatively large 
size. They grow on all kinds of food, and after covering the mass 
with a white cottony mycelium they send up fruiting hypha, often 
one or two inches in height, which terminate in little black beads 
— miniature puffballs —in which the spores are produced. These 
are seen, enlarged in Fig. 190, d, and natural size in the “mould 
gardens” in Fig. 189. 


462 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Mildews, or Moulds of the Garden.— The moulds that attack 
plants are commonly known as mildews, rusts, blights, or 
smuts. The number of these minute parasitic fungi is 
legion, and as a group they rank with destructive insects 
in rendering the raising of flowers and fruits difficult and 
interesting. We can introduce into the course only a 
few of the more important, such as are most closely asso- 
ciated with the children’s garden studies. They may be 
considered as types to indicate methods of study that can 
be applied to many other kinds. The methods of uni- 
versal application, for preventing fungous diseases of 
plants, relate to intelligent cleanliness of garden and 
premises (the burning of rubbish and dead leaves that 
may harbor the spores) and to so planting and pruning 
as to admit sunlight and air to every part of the plant. 
For recent information about more special methods we 
should send to our State Experiment Station for the 
latest Spray-Calendar. 


The Black Knot, Plowrightia morbosa. — Request the children to 
search their plum and cherry trees, bring in specimens, and report 
the distribution and prevalence of this fungus in the neighborhood. 
The summer crop of spores is produced in June. The knot at this 
time is greenish brown and velvety. The winter spores are produced 
in capsules in the black mass. From about December and for the 
rest of the winter these capsules are perforated and the spores are 
shaken out by every puff of wind, like pepper out of a pepper box. 
The spores that happen to lodge behind a bud or in a crotch or 
crevice send their mycelial threads into the living wood, where they 
multiply greatly and thus cause the swelling or knot. Finally, they 
send fruiting hyphz to the surface, and the life story is repeated. 
A single knot is thus a menace to an orchard or neighborhood; one 
should never be permitted to develop spores, but should be cut off 
and durxned as soon as any swelling appears. 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 463 


The Brown Rot, Monilia fructigena. — Plum, cherry, and peach 
trees are often stripped of their entire crop by this destructive fungus. 
It probably consumes more of these fruits than all the boys and girls 
in the country. The class should study its prevalence and distribu- 
tion in the neighborhood along with that of the black knot. It is 


characteristic of this 
fungus that affected 
fruits cling to the 
branch over winter, 
often cemented to- 
gether in clusters. 
In this condition 
they are said to be 
“mummied” (see 
Fig. 192). The life 
story of the brown 
rot is like that of all 
moulds: a spore 
lodges on a fruit, 
germinates and fills 
the fruit with its 
mycelium, and the 
fruiting hyphe grow 
out to scatter the 
spores. If the pupils 
will inoculate a few 
plums, they will see 
how rapidly this 
fungus works, and 
by so doing appre- 
ciate the necessity of 
picking and burning 


Fic. 191. THE BLack KNOT 


(Photograph of collection prepared by Burton. N. Gates, 
aged sixteen, for his class in the high school) 


affected fruits before the spores are cast. Remedies for A7onzlza are 
pruning to let in light and air, thinning plums and peaches so that 
no two fruits touch, picking and burning all diseased fruits as soon 
as detected, and burning all mummified fruits in the fall, since they 
produce another crop of spores in the spring. 


464 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Peach-Leaf Curl, Exoascus deformans.— By attacking the leaves, 
blossoms, and growing twigs of the peach this fungus sometimes 
causes the loss of the entire crop, and great damage to the trees. If 
present in the neighborhood, the pupils will have no difficulty in 
finding specimens for study. Peach-leaf curl is so easily prevented 
by spraying that there is no excuse for allowing an orchard to be 
affected by it. 

Peach Yellows. — No fungus has been discovered in connection 
with this disease, although it has been sought for with great diligence. 
Expert testimony inclines to the view that it is not due to a germ of 


Fic. 192. PLUMS DESTROYED BY BROWN ROT 


any kind. Still it is clearly contagious, is transmitted by seeds or 
buds, and probably by the mere presence of a diseased tree in the 
orchard. How these facts can be explained on any other theory 
than that of the germ origin of the disease, it is difficult to imagine. 
Affected trees ripen their fruit prematurely, and many of the buds 
intended for the following spring burst into a spindling, sickly, yellow 
growth during the summer. No tree has been known to recover 
when once attacked, and since the fruit is worthless, the sooner it is 
uprooted and burned the better. Laws compel a man to do this in 
a number of states where peach raising is an important industry. 
Other garden fungi that should be observed and studied are: 
Downy Mildew, Peronospora viticola.— This fungus attacks 
grapes, especially vines allowed to grow without proper pruning. 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 465 


Orange Rust, C@oma nitens. — Raspberry and blackberry bushes 
are often attacked by this fungus, the leaves and young shoots com- 
ing out bright orange in the spring. The appearance is so striking 
as to need no description. Affected plants should be uprooted and 
burned before the spores ripen. 

Rose Mildew, Spharotheca pannosa. 

Apple Scab, Fustcladium dendriticum.— This fungus is commonly 
found as black scabby patches on the leaves and fruit and has been 
estimated to injure from one-sixth to one-half of the entire apple crop. 

The Grain Smuts. — A conservative estimate of the damage 
caused by fungi attacking corn, wheat, oats, barley, and rye is said 
to be $200,000,000 annually ; and this amount is stolen so stealthily 
that few realize their loss. In grain-raising sections have each pupil 
gather one hundred heads of wheat and oats at random, and estimate 
the percentage destroyed by smut.! 


Yeast. — Moulds and mildews are plants, many of which 
we can see without difficulty. We now descend a step 
lower to forms that we cannot see without 


a microscope, except in the mass. Greatly a Q 
magnified, yeast plants have the appearance O 


of tiny ovoidal bodies, of which it would re. 193, 
take about 3000 placed side by side to Y#asT PLants 


measure an inch. Still, small as they are, Showing manner 
: , of growth (mag- 
we can study them in a practical way. nified) 

We may use our medicine vials again for this purpose. Suppose 
one-half of the class have their vials each partially filled with diluted 
fruit juice, such as we used in the study of moulds; and the other 
half, after thoroughly cleansing and scalding their bottles, have a 
large drop of freshly scalded flour or starch paste. It should be 
made as transparent as possible, be free from air bubbles, and be 
spread out evenly in one side of the vial. Let the pupils provide 
themselves with needles mounted in sticks and pieces of clean glass, 


1 “The Grain Smuts: how they are caused and how to prevent them,” 
by Walter T. Swingle, Washington, 1898, Farmer's Bulletin, No. 75. 


466 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


and we will place upon each of the glasses a bit of compressed yeast 
the size of a pin head. Ask each to divide his yeast, first in halves, 
then one-half in halves again, and so on until he has a particle that 
he can just see. Let the pupils now plant these just visible particles 
in their vials. They may then cork them and observe the growth 
that takes place from day to day. If a piece of rubber dam is 
stretched over the top of one of the bottles containing fruit juice 
and tied tightly, the gases produced by the growth of the yeast will 
puff up the rubber and thus help to show that something is going on 
inside. The liquid will soon become turbid, full of bubbles, and at 
last a mass of white substance will settle to the bottom. This is 
composed of yeast plants, but may be many thousand times the 
amount with which we started. The liquid will have lost its sweet 
taste and will smell and taste of alcohol, or possibly of vinegar. The 
particle on the starch paste will gradually overgrow the whole drop, 
changing it to a whitish mass of yeast plants. 


bo pe & | 
C58 
a ob c d tfad te 
Fic. 194. FORMS OF BACTERIA 
a, grippe; 2, bubonic plague; ¢, diphtheria; d, tuberculosis; e, typhoid fever ; 
J; Spiral types. 


Bacteria. — The smaller a living particle is, the more 
powerful may it become. This is because the smaller a 
cell is, the more surface it has in proportion to its bulk 
for the absorption of food. Bacteria are the smallest liv- 
ing things we know and, in many ways, the most power- 
ful. Different forms of bacteria are shown in Fig. 194. 
Some are spherical and so minute that it would take 
125,000 of them placed side by side to measure an inch. 
Others are rod shaped, but so, short that 1500 placed end 
to end would make a line only across the head of a pin, 
Many of the elongated forms are bent into commas or 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 467 


twisted into spirals or corkscrews. Minute as they are, 
many bacteria have threadlike appendages, with which 
they swim actively about. 

It has been difficult to decide whether we should class 
bacteria as plants or animals. Their food and what little 
structure they possess are considered to show, however, 
that they are plants, related more closely to the fungi 
than to any other group. 

Bacteria are practically everywhere in nature. They 
exist in the air as dust ; they swarm in all surface waters ; 
the top layers of fertile soil are literally alive with them, 
almost all of them harmless or beneficial. The udders of 
healthy cows, the healthy human mouth, the healthy 
stomach and intestines, all support varied flor of these 
ubiquitous plants. Normally, however, they are not pres- 
ent in the blood or other tissues of a healthy animal. 

Bacteria were discovered by Anton van Leeuwenhoek 
in 1683, but were known merely as curiosities until about 
1880, when Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur demonstrated 
their power to cause disease. For a time people were 
greatly alarmed; they next bethought themselves that 
humanity had fared well before the bacteria were discov- 
ered and would doubtless continue to fare as well, or bet- 
ter, thereafter. As knowledge accumulated, they realized 
that there is no reason why bacteria should not be as good 
to eat as other vegetables ; and finally arrived at the view 
as expressed by a leading scientist, that a healthy human 
body is, after all, the best microbe destroyer in the world. 
Fresh air and sunshine, exercise, good food, vigor, and a 
high health level give us these, and with a few reasonable 
precautions we have practically nothing to fear. 


468 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Small as bacteria are, they possess powers of growth 
and multiplication not paralleled by any other living forms. 
It is estimated that if all the oceans were nutrient broth, 
with an average depth of one mile, the progeny of one 
microbe might fill them full in less than five days. 

By precise methods it is possible to rear as pure a cul- 
ture of a desired kind of bacteria as of any garden plant. 
While we shall not be able to do this, we may make a num- 
ber of instructive observations if we are on the alert and 
know what to look for. The phosphorescence of decay- 
ing wood, fish, or meat is due to bacteria of decom- 
position. The red color, known in superstitious times as 
the “bleeding Host,” that sometimes overspreads bread 
and other foods, is caused by other harmless bacteria. 

It will be difficult or impossible, without expensive 
microscopes, to distinguish bacteria from yeasts and 
moulds. Still, a few simple experiments may be tried. 
We may use our vials again, —this time filled with hay 
infusion! or with a dilute, perfectly clear broth. We may 
sterilize, as before described, by boiling on two succes- 
sive days, and then sow a minute quantity of dust from 
the schoolroom or the street, keeping other vials stop- 
pered with cotton for comparison. The vials in which 
dust is sown will soon grow turbid, a scum will form on 
top, and an offensive odor of decomposition will probably 
make it necessary to wash the vials out before the experi- 
ment has continued too long. <A boiled potato cut in two 


1 Hay infusion is made by soaking a handful of hay in a quart of warm 
water for an hour and filtering. Bread water, potato water, or meat juice 
diluted — any clear solution containing a little organic matter — will serve 
the purpose. 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 469 


with a sterilized knife (a knife that has been held in a 
flame for an instant or in boiling water for a few seconds) 
makes a good field on which to sow dust and observe the 
growth of bacteria. The best culture medium, however, 
is gelatine,! which may be used in the pupils’ vials after 
the hay-infusion experiment. Dust sown on its trans- 
parent surface will leave little doubt in their minds as 
to the reality of microbes. 

Some of the gelatine poured while warm upon a small 
pane of clean glass may be made to yield a most instruct- 
ive demonstration. Touch the hand, soiled and dusty as it 
is, to the solidified gelatine for a few seconds; then wash 
the hands with soap and apply to a fresh surface of the 
gelatine; keep protected from dust for two or three days. 
The soiled hand will be outlined by colonies of bacteria, 
while possibly none or few will grow where the washed 
hand touched the gelatine. I know of no experiment 
which demonstrates so forcibly the reason for washing 
the hands before breaking bread. 

Pear Blight. — The leaves and bark on branches of pear 
trees sometimes turn black. This is due to the work of 
bacteria which gain access to the tree through the blos- 
soms or through some wound in the bark. It was thought 
that bees were largely to blame for carrying the germs of 
blight from blossom to -lossom, and the experiment has 
been tried of removing them entirely from the neighbor- 
hood of pear orchards during the blossoming period. This 

1 Gelatine for study of bacteria is prepared by dissolving in 200 cubic 
centimeters of water 1 gram each of Liebig’s beef extract and common salt 
and 2 grams of peptone, adding 20 grams of gelatine. Dissolve and neu- 


tralize, or make slightly alkaline with sodium carbonate. Stopper the bottle 
with cotton batting and boil for fifteen minutes on three successive days. 


470 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


resulted in greatly impaired fruit, from lack of cross-polli- 
nation, and apparently little difference in the distribution 
of the blight. Affected limbs should be cut off a foot 
below any traces of the blight and promptly burned. 

Foul Brood. — Large numbers of young bees are sometimes 
found dead in the cells. This may be due to chilling, 
but if the larva have turned dark brown and softened to 
the consistency of ropy mucus, and if the hive smells like 
a glue pot, we have to do with the most fatal malady that 
can attack a colony of bees. The disease is caused by 
bacteria, and an affected hive may be the means of killing 
all the bees in the neighborhood. California, Colorado, 
Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Utah, Wisconsin, and 
Ontario, Canada, have passed laws relative to foul brood, 
which should be studied in connection with the lessons on 
the honeybee. 

Symbiotic Bacteria. — Have members of the class prepare 
a demonstration of the nodules found on the roots of 
clover or peas. These are filled with bacteria, which we 
here find in the new réle of helpers and food producers 
for the plant and for man. If time permits, we may try a 
most instructive experiment. Wash thoroughly and ster- 
ilize two flowerpots full of sand. Sow clover or peas in 
both alike, except that the seeds for one pot should be 
thoroughly washed with boiled water and soap, and those 
for the other moistened with water in which root nodules 
have been crushed. Let the plants stand side by side, 
sprinkle with boiled or distilled water, and watch the dif- 
ference in growth. Plants in the one pot can use only 
the food stored in the seed; those in the other will grow 
with the aid of their symbiotic bacteria by receiving 
nitrogen from the air. 


ai. 


aa. 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 471 


Intelligent Cleanliness. — Incidentally, and with a reason- 
able amount of tact, make plain the relation of certain 
bacteria to disease, laying all the emphasis on intelligent 
cleanliness as a means of prevention. Our lessons on 
moulds and mildews and other fungi will have done much 
to define the problem. I do not know of a better plan 
than to study with the class the board of health regula- 
tions of the city or town with regard to cleanliness of 
premises, isolation and control of contagious diseases, and 
practical methods of disinfection. Then, in order to test 
the efficiency of these health measures, take the published 
reports of the board of health. Are there cases of pre- 
ventable contagious disease? Comparing recent reports 
with those of former years, has there been improvement ? 
The story of epidemics in the neighborhood will’ be 
instructive. 

Ways by which Bacteria enter the Body.— Ask the pupils to 
think of a way by which bacteria may gain access to the 
body. After our experiments with dust they should be 
able to do this intelligently. The various answers may 
be grouped as follows. 

The Air Passages. — Since bacteria, as we have seen, 
form part of the dust, they may enter the body with the 
air we breathe. In elementary physiology lessons the 
children have learned that the nostrils are provided with 
curved and folded surfaces moistened with mucus, one of 
the functions of which is to catch all particles of dust and 
so prevent them from reaching the lungs. People who 
breathe through the mouth are continually taking dust 
into their lungs. Diphtheria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, 
and, especially, grippe are some of the diseases that may 


472 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


be transmitted by dust in the air. The bacteria get into 
the air chiefly, if not wholly, from sputum, which after 
drying may be taken up by the wind. For many localities 
the board of health reports will show that more than one- 
seventh of all the deaths are caused by the bacteria of 
tuberculosis. Regulations of the authorities with regard to 
spitting in public places should be heeded most carefully. 

The Skin.—lf cuts or scratches become inflamed, “sore,” 
fester, and discharge pus, we may know that bacteria have 
forced an entrance. Thus, all breaks in the skin should 
be kept clean and carefully protected from dust. 

The Mouth.—This is perhaps the most important por- 
tal of infection, especially with children. Typhoid fever, 
cholera, dysentery, and similar intestinal diseases com- 
monly enter the system by this channel, and generally 
either with drinking water or with food. Ascertain from 
the board of health any local history there may be about 
typhoid fever outbreaks. 


An instructive fragment of such local history happened in 
Worcester, Mass., in 1896. Three cases of typhoid fever, all on the 
same milk route, were suddenly reported to the board of health. 
The clerk of the board hastened to the milk farm and found its pro- 
prietor sick with typhoid fever. By completely cleansing everything 
connected with the dairy and by insisting on its removal to a neigh- 
boring farm, the milk route was not interfered with, and no other 
cases developed. What might have proved a serious epidemic was 
nipped in the bud. 

An epidemic with which the above should be contrasted happened 
in Stamford, Conn. In the spring of 1895, 386 cases and 25 deaths 
occurred, practically all of them on the milk route of a man who dis- 
tributed less than one-tenth of the milk supply of the town. The 
investigation indicated that all this suffering and loss of life was 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 473 


caused by rinsing the milk cans in water from a shallow well, prac- 
tically a cesspool. The few bacteria clinging to the cans multiplied 
rapidly in the warm milk. 

The typical case in which typhoid fever was distributed through 
the water supply is that of 1885 in Plymouth, Pa., a mining town of 
about 8500 inhabitants on the Susquehanna River. A case of 
typhoid fever, contracted in Philadelphia, had been cared for during 
the winter in a house standing close to a stream that flowed into the 
town reservoir. The waste from the patient had been thrown out 
on the snow wxsterzlized. When the snow melted, this was carried 
down and mingled with the water supplied to the town. After about 
ten days cases of typhoid fever began to appear at the rate of from 
50 to 200 a day until 1104 had been taken ill, and as a result 114 
died. This calamity befell the town because some one was negligent 
or did not know how to destroy a few germs of typhoid fever or 
prevent them from gaining access to a water supply. 


The school is a natural mingling place for the germs of 
a community, and it is time that parents, teachers, and 
pupils should combine to make it the most ideally clean 
place in the neighborhood. Attention has often been 
called to the fact that diseases of children point to the 
school as the great center of infection. I dare say that 
the statistics of any town or city will show this; and until 
the feather duster is banished and intelligent cleanliness 
is secured, this will go on. Fig. 195 is plotted from the 
monthly reports of the Worcester Board of Health for the 
three children’s diseases specified. 

Why do we go to the expense of providing tools for 
manual training, household furniture, and materials for 
sewing, cooking, and domestic science, and leave the most 
important work of all — cleanliness of the schoolroom—to 


1 Prof. Herbert E. Smith. Report on the Stamford Typhoid Fever Epi- 
demic. Published by the State Board of Health, New Haven, Conn. 


474 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


the janitor? Why do we fail to give the lessons that will 
flow out in health and cleanliness into all the homes of the 
district and go with the children as long as they live? 


3121 1267, 


! 
CASES 
190 


MEASLES 


DIPHTHERIA 


SCARLET FEVER. 


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793-94 "94-95 “95-96 "96-97 ’97-98 


SCHOOL YEARS 


Fic. 195. THE SCHOOL AND CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF CHILDREN 


The upper line for diphtheria gives the number of cases, the lower, the number of 
deaths. The summer vacations are indicated as breaks between the school years 
The following, published by the Health Department of 
Providence, marks an advance in rational teaching of 
cleanliness and personal hygiene. 


HEALTH DEPARTMENT 


SUGGESTIONS FOR THE TEACHING OF CLEANLINESS AMONG 
SCHOOL CHILDREN 


The poisons of some of the common and also of some of the most 
loathsome diseases are frequently contained in the mouth. In such 
cases anything which is moistened by the saliva of the infected per- 
son may, if it touches the lips of another, convey disease. The more 
direct the contact the greater the danger. 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 475 


It is the purpose of health officials to keep in isolation all persons 
having communicable disease during the time that they are infectious. 
But in many cases this is impossible. Little restraint is put on cer- 
tain mild diseases, as measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, and 
mumps; and even such diseases as diphtheria, scarlet fever, and tuber- 
culosis are frequently so mild as to be unnoticed, and children affected 
with them mingle freely with others. It is probable that in such 
cases one of the chief vehicles of contagion is the secretion of the 
mouth and nose. It is believed that much can be done to prevent 
contagion by teaching habits of cleanliness. But if such instruction 
is to be effectual it must be continuous. The teacher must notice 
and correct violations of those rules as habitually as the violation of 
the formal school rules are corrected. 

Even if the question of disease and contagion did not enter into 
the matter at all the subject ought to be given more attention by 
teachers. Our schools should not only teach reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, but it is perhaps quite as important that they should 
inculcate cleanliness, decency, refinement, and manners. Cleanliness 
should be taught for its own sake, even if it had no relation whatever 
to health. 

TEACH THE CHILDREN 


Not to spit; it is rarely necessary. To spit on a slate, floor, or 
sidewalk is an abomination. 

Not to put the fingers into the mouth. 

Not to pick the nose. 

Not to wet the finger with saliva in turning the leaves of books. 

Not to put pencils into the mouth or moisten them with the lips. 

Not to put money into the mouth. 

Not to put anything into the mouth except food and drink. 

Not to swap apple cores, candy, chewing gum, half-eaten food, 
whistles or bean blowers, or anything that is habitually put in the 
mouth. 

Teach the children to wash the hands and face often. See that 
they keep them clean. If a child is coming down with a communi- 
cable disease it is reasonable to believe that there is less chance of 
infecting persons and things if the hands and face are washed clean 
and not daubed with the secretions of the nose and mouth. 

Teach the children to turn the face aside when coughing and 
sneezing, if they are facing another person. 

Children should be taught that their bodies are their own private 
possessions, that personal cleanliness is a duty, that the mouth is for 
eating and speaking and should not be used as a pocket, and the lip 
should not take the place of fingers. 

PROVIDENCE, May, I9gol. 


476 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


I may add to the above Miss Henry’s solution of the 
schoolroom dust problem, At the beginning of the school 
year 1900-1901 all the feather dusters in the building 
were collected and burned. Dusting cloths were pro- 
vided, and two girls in each room were honored by being 
appointed dusters for the month. They are given instruc- 


Fic. 196. THE HEALTH BRIGADE 
Upsala Street School, Worcester, Mass. (Photograph by Katherine E. Dolbear) 


tion on dusting and on the care of the dust cloths and uni- 
forms. The dusters come fifteen minutes early each 
morning, take their cloths to the sink, moisten them, 
wipe the desks and furniture of their schoolroom, rinse 
their cloths, and hang them up to dry. Once a week the 
cloths are laundered. 

The result of the year’s experiment was, wot a case of 
contagion in a school of 425 pupils during the entire school 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS 477 


year, — the first year in the history of the school of which 
this is true, The girls are eager to do the work and enjoy 
wearing the uniforms. In this way twenty girls, prac- 
tically all in the class, are taught this element of domestic 
science and hygiene. Some slight objection has been 
made by a few parents on the ground of menial service 
or of soiling clothes. The little uniforms shown in the 
picture, it is hoped, may meet the one objection ; and 
some appreciation of the value of the lessons and the 
dignity of the service, the other. 

“T myself have washed a flight of stone stairs all 
down, with bucket and broom, in a Savoy inn, where 
they had n’t washed their stairs since they first went up 
them, and I never made a better sketch than that 
afternoon.” RusKIN. 

«But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will 
be great among you, shall be your minister : and whoso-. 
ever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII 
THE GRADE PLAN 


For a graded system of schools a few suggestions may be 
required as to the distribution of topics throughout the course. 
The following grade plan is offered, merely as a suggestion, 
by which progression and codrdination of subjects may be 
secured, and confusion and repetition may be avoided. If I 


GRADE I 
LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


Domestic ANIMALS: The dog; traits, uses, care, kinds 


Brrps: Robin Chickadee English sparrow 
Bluebird Chipping sparrow Crow 


FrRoGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Tree frog 
Toad Feeding with insects; learn notes 
Red and green newts) 


FisHEs: Goldfish Shiners Sunfish 


Insects: Milkweed butterfly Cecropia moth Isabella tiger caterpillar 
Promethea moth Io moth Flea 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: Turtles 
Snakes 


478 


\ Living specimens, care and food 


THE GRADE PLAN 479 


thought that it would exert an undue influence toward rigidly 
fixing and mechanizing the course, I should leave it out. 

Do not attempt too much at first. To begin with, select 
such topics under your grade as you are most familiar with, 
and such as are related to the interests of your pupils, and 
carry these through to a definite result. Gradually, as ease 
and familiarity are acquired, increase the number of subjects. 
For different parts of the country, as suggested throughout 
the Look, free substitution of topics, different species of 
insects, birds, trees, flowers, etc., will be necessary. With 
the methods of study given for similar subjects, any such 
substitutions may be made without difficulty. 


Grave I 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: Dwarf nasturtium 


Stupy oF WILD FLOWERS: 


Arbutus A golden-rod Dandelion An aster 
Anemone Oxeye daisy Bluets Burdock 
A blue violet Buttercup Milkweed Poison ivy 


FLOWER CALENDAR 
GARDEN WorK: Vegetable garden; radishes, onion sets, rhubarb 
Fruit: Peach (or plum); rear from seed 


TREES: Soft maple 


Chestnut } Save and plant the seeds 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: Ferns; acquaintance with a few kinds 


Mytus, LEGENDS, STORIES, POEMS, AND PICTURES OF THE PLANTS 
AND ANIMALS FOR THIS GRADE 


480 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Grape II 
LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


DomEsTic ANIMALS: 


The cat (Tame white mice?) 
BIRDS: 

Baltimore oriole Goldfinch 

Song sparrow Blue jay 

Snow bunting White-breasted swallow 

Downy woodpecker Scarlet tanager 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Bullfrog ; feeding with insects ; learn notes 


FISHES : 


Dace| Acquaintance with living fishes in aquaria and in native 


Pout haunts 

INSECTS: 
Grasshoppers Black swallowtail 
Crickets Polyphemus 
June beetles Luna 
Flies Elm-leaf beetle 
Lice Potato beetle 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 


Rats, mice; habits, destructiveness, methods of trapping 


THE GRADE PLAN 481 


GRabeE II 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 


Calliopsis 


STUDY OF WILD FLOWERS: 


Cone flower Tris 
Trilliums Mallow 

Wild geranium Yarrow 
Robin’s plantain Tansy 

Marsh marigold Healall 
Bloodroot Poison sumac 


FLOWER CALENDAR 


GARDEN WORK: 


Vegetable garden; lettuce, carrot, potato, onion (from seed) 


FRUIT: 


Grapes; layers and cuttings; save and plant the seeds 


TREES: 


Elms 
ee Collect and plant seeds 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 


Ferns 
Mosses & Acquaintance with a few kinds 
Liverworts 


Myrtus, LEGENDS, STORIES, POEMS, AND PICTURES OF THE 
PLANTS AND ANIMALS FOR THIS GRADE 


482 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Grape III 
LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


DomEsTIC ANIMALS: 


Rabbit; foods, habits, care 


BIRDS: 
Barn swallow Cedar bird 
Night hawk Pheebe 
Whip-poor-will Chebec 
Chimney swift Junco 
Humming bird Meadow lark 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Leopard frog; live specimens, feeding tests with insects; learn 
notes 


FISHES : 


Pickerel | Acquaintance with living fishes in aquaria and native 


Pike haunts 

INSECTS: 
Mourning cloak Caddis flies 
Imperial moth Water bugs 
Meal worm Strawberry insects 
Rose beetles Dragon flies 
Clothes moth Damsel flies 


Asparagus beetle 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 


Squirrels 


Se Taming, habits, storing and planting of nuts 


THE GRADE PLAN 483 


GrabeE III 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 


Mimosa 


STUDY OF WILD FLOWERS: 


Solomon’s seal Chickweed 
False Solomon’s seal Mountain laurel 
Hepatica Lambkill 
Cinquefoil Bellwort 
Fringed polygala Bittersweet 

Bur marigold Wild carrot 


FLOWER CALENDAR 


GARDEN WORK: 


Vegetable garden; asparagus, beets 


FRUIT: 


Strawberry ; varieties, propagation by runners, seeds 


TREES: 


Hard maples 
Horse-chestnut | Save and germinate seeds 
Hickory 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 


Lichens and alge ; recognize as classes of plants 


Myrus, LEGENDS, STORIES, POEMS, AND PICTURES OF THE 
PLANTS AND ANIMALS FOR THIS GRADE 


484 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


GraDE IV 
LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS: 


Fowls; kinds, habits, care, food, rearing 


BirDs: 
Vesper sparrow Brown thrasher 
Catbird White-breasted nuthatch 
Kingbird Red-breasted nuthatch 
Cowbird Quail 
Red-winged blackbird Partridge 
Redstart Prairie chicken 
Flicker 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Green frog Learn notes and make feeding tests with 
Spotted salamander J insects 
FISHES : 


Suckers ; living fishes in aquaria and in native haunts 


INSECTS : 
Codling moth Fall webworm 
Tent caterpillars Apple-leaf crumplet 
Cankerworm Carpet beetles 
Apple-tree borer Red admiral 


White-marked tussock moth 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 


Spiders and harvestmen 


THE GRADE PLAN 485 


GRADE -IV 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 


Centaurea, Emperor William 


FLOWER CALENDAR 


STuDY OF WILD FLOWERS: 


Meadow rue Lady’s slipper 
Purple avens Blue-eyed grass 
Indian pipe Thoroughwort 
Sundew Jack-in-the-pulpit 
Shad bush Corn cockle 
Saxifrage 


GARDEN WorK: 


Vegetable garden; parsnips, sage, horse radish 
Wild-flower garden; lessons on transplanting 


FRUIT: 


Apples; save and plant seeds, and learn varieties 


TREES: 


Butternut; germinate nut Mulberry; propagate from cuttings 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 


Mushrooms; collect specimens, learn to recognize poisonous 
Amanitas 


MytTus, LEGENDS, STORIES, POEMS, AND PICTURES OF THE PLANTS 
AND ANIMALS FOR THIS GRADE 


486 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


GRADE V 
LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS: 


The horse; origin, domestication, traits, uses, care 
Laws regarding cruelty to animals 


BIrRDs: 
Bobolink Red-eyed vireo 
Kingfisher Indigo bunting 
Chewink Brown creeper 
Ovenbird Purple martin 
Purple finch Sparrow hawk 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Brown frog 


Feeding tests with insects, notes, rear from eggs 
Red triton } = : : 88 


FISHES: 


Perch; feeding tests, spawning season, and habits 


INSECTS : 
Plant lice Honeybee 
Lady beetles Bumblebee 
Mosquitoes Mud wasp 
Regal moth Paper wasp 
Curculios 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 


Clams and snails Slugs 
Muskrat 


THE GRADE PLAN 487 


GRADE V 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 


Balsam 


STUDY OF WILD FLOWERS: 


Evening primrose Sarsaparilla 
Meadow lily Elecampane 
Buttonbush Columbine 
Jewelweed Blueberries 
Bishop’s cap Checkerberry 
Snake’s-head Spurges 


FLOWER CALENDAR 


GARDEN WORK: 


Vegetable garden ; spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers 
Wild-flower garden ; ferns, spore formation 


FRUIT: 
Elgmis Learn varieties, and study buds, terminal, lateral, 
Apricots fait 
: ruit 
Nectarines 
TREES: 
Black walnut Cedars 
Hackberry Juniper } Study and germinate seeds 
Willows Larch f 
FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 
Moulds and yeast Black knot 
Foul brood Monilia 


Mytus, LEGENDS, STORIES, POEMS, AND PICTURES OF THE PLANTS 
AND ANIMALS FOR THIS GRADE 


488 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


GrabeE VI 
LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


DOMESTICATED ANIMALS: 


Pigeons; domestication, habits, feeding, and care 


BIRDS : 
Maryland yellowthroat Veery 
Rose-breasted grosbeak House wren 
Hairy woodpecker Warbling vireo 
Crossbills White-throated sparrow 
Wood pewee : Fox sparrow 


State laws for protection of birds 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Wood frog | Rear from eggs and make feeding 
Red-backed salamander | tests with insects 
FISHES : 


Bass ; rock, large and small mouth, black 


INSECTS: 
Borers ; peach-tree and others Botflies 
Cabbage worm and parasites Apple maggot 
Tiger beetles House ants 


Squash bugs 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 


Earthworms Moles and shrews 


THE GRADE PLAN 489 


Grave VI 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 


Petunia 


STUDY OF WILD FLOWERS: 


Foam flower Celandine 

Early rue Willow herb 
Dogbane Clematis 

Daisy fleabane Sand spurry 
Speckled alder Butter and eggs 
Purple Gerardia Poison hemlocks 


FLOWER CALENDAR 


GARDEN WORK: 


Vegetable garden; cabbage, turnip, mustard 
Wild-flower garden; collect wild-flower seeds and plant 


FRUIT: 
ee Stud ieties, grafting, buddin runin. 
foe BEE, VATED & & P & 
TREES: 
eee ae } Study and germinate seeds 
Tulip Sycamore 


City or town ordinances with reference to injury of shade trees 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 


Apple scab Rose mildew Peach-leaf curl Peach yellows 


490 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


GrabDeE VII 


LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


BIRDS : 
Tree sparrow Yellow-billed cuckoo 
Grackles White-crowned sparrow 
Wood thrush Ruby-crowned kinglet 
Yellow-throated vireo Golden-crowned kinglet 
Black-billed cuckoo Myrtle warbler 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Life story of common toad; rear from eggs, make feeding tests 
with insects 
Newts 


FISHES: 


Trout 
Salmon; spawning seasons, habits 
State laws concerning fishes 


INSECTS : 
Cutworms Ichneumon flies 
Lion beetles Gypsy moth (in eastern Mass.) 
Army worm Brown-tailed moth (in eastern Mass.) 
Corn worm Household pests; bed bug, kissing 
Sphinxes bug, roaches 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 


Woodchuck Mink and otter 
Centipedes and millipedes 


THE GRADE PLAN 
Grav_E VII 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 
COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 
Ten-weeks stock 
FLOWER CALENDAR 
STUDY OF WILD FLOWERS: 
Ragwort St. John’s-wort 
Milkwort Pitcher plant 
Chicory Sweet vernal grass 
Clethra June grass 
Baneberry Timothy grass 
Star grass Fescue grass 
Blue curls Jimson weed 


GARDEN WoRK: 


Vegetable garden Common weeds 
Wild-flower garden 


FRUIT: 


Grape, raspberry, blackberry 
Grapevine culture ; layers, runners, cuttings, seeds 


TREES: 
Chokecherry Box elder 
Red cherry Ashes Study and germinate seeds 
Black cherry Poplars 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 
Moulds Orange rust 
Grain smuts Grape mildews 
Review mushrooms 
State laws concerning fungous diseases of plants 


491 


492 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


GrabeE VIII 


LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


BIRDS: 

Chestnut-sided warbler Water thrush 
Blackburnian warbler Bank swallow 
Magnolia warbler Hermit thrush 
Yellow-breasted chat Marsh hawk 
Solitary sandpiper Wild ducks 
Little green heron Wild geese 
Red-headed woodpecker Wild swans 


Study game laws 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Pickering’s tree frog Mud puppy 
Cricket frog 


FISHES: 
Eels 
INSECTS : 
Aphids Pear slug 
Currant worms Am. copper butterfly 
Rose slug Painted beauty 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 


Bat Weasel 
Porcupine 


THE GRADE PLAN 493 


GrabDE VIII 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 


Carnation 
FLOWER CALENDAR 


STUDY OF WILD FLOWERS: 


Spring beauty Cassandra 
Gentians Cohosh 

Pale Corydalis Foxglove 
Cardinal flower Loosestrife 
Groundnut Herb Robert 
Green brier Gold thread 
Viburnum Nightshades 


GARDEN WORK: 


Vegetable garden 
Wild-flower garden 


FRUIT: 


Currant, gooseberry 
Methods of propagating fruit and forest trees 


TREES: 
Spruces Beeches | Study and germinate seeds 
Tupelo Lindens J 


State laws concerning forest fires 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 
Bacteria Foul brood 
Pear blight 


494 ; NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Grave IX 


LESSONS WITH ANIMALS 


BIRDS: 
Northern shrike Herons 
Pine grosbeak Eagles 
Pine siskin Hawks 
Sapsucker Owls 
Loon Gulls 
Grebes Terns 


FROGS AND SALAMANDERS: 


Spadefoot frog 
Review and make feeding tests with frogs, toads, and salamanders 


FIsH: 
Stickleback 

INSECTS: 
Scale insects Wood nymphs 
San José scale Fritillaries 
Honeybee and cross-fertilization Swallowtails 


MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS: 
Skunk Fox 


THE GRADE PLAN 495 


Grave IX 
LESSONS WITH PLANTS 


COMPETITIVE FLOWER REARING: 


Tea rose 
Review and classify a number 

STUDY OF WILD FLOWERS: of the common plants under : 

Rhodora Dodder Rose family 

Pipsissewa Blazing star Lily family 

Pyrola Meadow beauty Mustard family 

Pimpernel Lobelia Pulse family 

Spicebush Clover Parsley family 

Arethusa Pokeweed Aster family 

Larkspur Sunflowers Grass family 


FLOWER CALENDAR 


GARDEN WorK: 


Vegetable garden 
Wild-flower garden 


Fruit: 
Quince Review fruits, varieties, culture 
and propagation 
TREES : 
Sassafras Locusts \ 
‘ Study and germinate seed: 
Hornbeam Fir y 8 s 


Influence of forests on: soil formation; surface waters; climate 


FLOWERLESS PLANTS: 
Bacteria, intelligent cleanliness Symbiotic bacteria 
Board of Health regulations and statistics 


INDEX 


[Mumbers in black-face type indicate an illustration on the page cited. | 


A, B, C of landscape gardening, 136. 
Abused street trees, 372. 
Acadian hairstreak, 268. 
Achemon sphinx, 209. 
Acris gryllus, 300. 
Active education, 132. 
Algeria pyri, 191. 
polistiformis, 191. 
tipuliformis, 191. 
fEsculus pavia, 114. 
fésthetic values of nature study, 
20-22. 
Agarics, 450. 
Agrostemma githago, 113. 
Agrostis, 193. 
Aims and purposes of a nature-study 
course, I. 
Alder aphids, 209. 
Alexander the.Great, 4o. 
Algz, 103, 438, 483. 
Amanita ceesaria, 450. 
muscaria, 450. 
phalloides, 450. 
rubescens, 451. 
verna, 450. 
Amblystoma punctatum, 302. 
American copper butterfly, 264, 492. 
false hellebore, 117. 
Jaurel, 114. 
Pomological Society, 150. 


497 


Amphicerus bicaudatus, 193. 
Anacreon, 335. 
Anarsia lineatella, 193. 
Anasa tristis, 225. 
Anemone, 479. 
Angelus Silesius, 102. 
Animal species, 7. 
Anisopteryx pometaria, 196. 
Anopheles, 68-70, 70. 
Anthonomus quadrigibbus, 204. 
Anthrenus scrophulariz, 59, 75-78, 
76, 78. 
Antiopa, 47, 262, 268. 
Ants, 86-88, 86, 87, 415, 488. 
Ant’s nest, how to make, 418, 488. 
Aphids, 210, 214, 486, 492. 
Aphis maidis, 210. 
mali, 210. 
Apple, 485. 
curculio, 204. 
leaf crumpler, 206, 484. 
maggot, 202-204, 203, 482. 
of Peru, 115. 
root plant louse, 215. 
scab, 465, 480. 
Appleseed, Johnny, 158, 159. 
Apple-tree aphid, 210. 
borers, 191, 192, 484. 
Apple tree, how to rear, 169. 
tent caterpillar, 195. 


498 


Apricot, 152, 180, 487. 
Aquaria, feeding of the animals in, 
403. 
construction of, 394-399, 395, 
396, 398, 399. 
Aquarium, scavengers of, 403. 
cements, 399. 
how to stock, 400. 
Arbor day, 391. 
Arbutus, 479. 
Arethusa, 495. 
Army worm, 225, 490. 
Arnold Arboretum, 364. 
Amold, Edwin, 274. 
Ashes, 491. 
Asiatic crab apple, 158. 
Asparagus beetle, 222, 482. 
Aspidiotus perniciosus, 219. 
Asters, 479, 495. 
Astragalus Lambertii, 117. 
mollissimus, 117. 
Audubon Societies, 344. 
Society, proposed pledge for, 345. 
Australian roach, 85. 


Babcock, Charles A., 345. 

Bacteria, 103, 440, 466, 466, 493, 495. 
ways by which they enter the 

body, 471. 

Balsam, 96, 97, 487. 

Baltimore oriole, 480. 
nest of, 321. 

Banded hairstreak, 268. 

Baneberry, 491. 

Bank swallow, 492. 

Bark lice, 215. 

Barn swallow, 342, 482. 
swallow’s nest, 336. 

Basilarchia arthemis, 268. 
astyanax, 268. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Bass: rock, large and small mouth, 
black, 488. 
Bat, as insect destroyer, 187, 405, 
492. 
feeding of, 406. 
Beal, F. E. L., 345. 
Bear corn, 117. 
Beaver poison, I11. 
Bedbug, 82, 82, 490. 
Beeches, 493. 
Bee hunting, 240. 
Bees, races of, 241. 
Bellwort, 483. 
Big ivy, 114. 
Biological type, 289. 
Birches, 489. 
Bird bath, 330. 
census, 319, 320, 321. 
food chart, 323. 
homes, 332. 
house, 337. 
houses, 332. 
Bird-Lore, 344, 345) 351- 
directory of State Auduvon 
Societies, 345. 
Birds, climatic influences upon, 311. 
decrease of, 311. 
eating codling moth, 187. 
enemies of, 312-317. 
food for the young, 361. 
foods of, 322, 347. 
nesting materials, 340. 
rate of increase, 308. 
Bird taming, 347. 
Bishop’s cap, 487. 
Bismarck apple, 157, 158. 
Bittersweet, 117, 483. 
Black ant, small, 86, 86. 
bee, 239, 241. 
Blackberry, 491. 


INDEX 


Black-billed cuckoo, 490. 
Blackburnian warbler, 492. 
Black cherry, 113, 491. 
knot, 462, 463, 487. 
mercury, 107. 
mould, 461. 
nightshade, 117. 
roach, 85-86. 
swallowtail, 268, 480. 
Thalessa, 247. 
walnut, 487. 
Blanks for lessons with plants, 139, 
145, 148. 
Blazing star, 495. 
Blissus leucopterus, 226. 
Bloodroot, 102, 481. 
Blood-sucking cone nose, 83, 83. 
Blowpipe, 57. 
Blueberries, 487. 
Bluebird, 333, 340, 342, 349, 478. 
Bluebottle fly, 63, 64. 
Blue curls, 491. 
emperor, 268. 
jay, 323, 480. 
mould, 461. 
Mountain Forest, 9, 16. 
swallowtail, 268. 
Blue-eyed grass, 485. 
Satyrus, 266. 
Bluets, 479. 
Board of health regulations, 474, 495. 
Bobolink, 323, 342, 486. 
Boleti, 453, 453- 
Bolles, Frank, 336. 
Bollworm, 225. 
Bombardier beetles, 256. 
Bordered skipper, 270. 
Borers, 488. 
Borer signs around base of peach 
tree, 190. 


499 


Botflies, 414, 488. 
Box elder, 491. 
Brackett, G. B., 173. 
Braconids, 250. 
Branch ivy, 117. 
Brightwen, Mrs., 345. 
Brinton, Dr., on property, 127. 
Broad-leaf laurel, 114. 

necked Prionus, 192. 
Brown creeper, 349, 486. 

elfin, 268. 

emperor, 266. 

frog, 298, 486. 

rot, 463, 464. 

tailed moth, 490. 

thrasher, 323, 342, 349, 484. 
Browning, Mrs., 33. 
Brunella, 481. 
Bucephalus, 4o. 
Budding a peach tree, 175-179, 175, 

489. 

Budding knife, 175. 
Buds, lessons on, 161, 487. 
Buffalo herd, g. 

moth, 75. 
Bufo lentiginosus, 297. 
Bug, correct use of word, 423. 
Bugbane, 117. 
Bull, Ephraim, 159. 
Bullfrog, 298, 480. 
Bumblebees, 242, 486. 
Buprestis divaricata, 193. 
Burbank, Luther, 159. 

plum, 160. 
Burdock, 479. 
Bur marigold, 483. 
Burnham, Wm. H., 23. 
Burroughs, John, 302, 309, 324. 
Butter and eggs, 489. 
Buttercup, 479. 


500 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Butterflies and moths, 260. 
Butterflies, table of, 264-273. 
Butternut, 485. 

Buttonbush, 487. 


Cabbage butterfly, 225, 262, 266. 


Plusia, 225. 


worm and parasites, 61, 488. 


Caddis flies, 258, 482. 

Czoma nitens, 465. 

Cajeput, oil of, 82. 

Calico bush, 114. 

California poison sumac, IIo. 

Calliopsis, 481. 

Calliphora crythrocephala, 63. 

Calosoma calidum, 256. 
scrutator, 255. 

Canary, 349. 

Cankerworms, 196, 484. 

Caper spurge, 115, 116. 

Carbon bisulphide, 74. 

Cardinal flower, 493. 

Care of young birds, 354-357. 

Carlyle, 144. 

Carnation, 493. 

Carniolan bee, 239, 241. 

Carpenter ant, 416. 


Carpet beetle, 75-78, 76, 78, 484. 


beetle, black, 78. 
beetle, remedies, 77. 


Carpocapsa pomonella, 181, 182. 


Cashes, IIo. 

Cassandra, 493. 

Cat, the, 41-43, 342, 349, 480. 
destruction of birds by, 312. 

Catalogue of fruits, 150, 152. 

Catbird, 323, 342, 349, 484. 

Caterpillars, 49, 265-273, 421. 

Catopsilia eubule, 266. 

Cecidomyia destructor, 226. 


Cecropia, 47, 48, 49, 259, 260, 272, 
478. 

Cedar bird, 319, 342, 349, 482. 

Cedars, 487. 

Celandine, 489. 

Centaurea, Emperor William, 93, 
485. 

Centipede, 423. 

Chalcis fly, 251. 

Chapman, Frank C., 335. 

John, 158, 159. 

Chebec, 482. 

Checkerberry, 487. 

Checkered cabbage butterfly, 266. 

skipper, 270. 

Cherries, 157, 180, 489. 

Cherry aphid, 211, 212. 

Cherry twigs, 160, 162. 

Chesnut, V. K., 106. 

Chestnut, 479. 

Chestnut-sided warbler, 492. 

Chewink, 486. 

Chickadee, 334, 334, 342, 349, 478. 

Chickweed, 483. 

Chicory, 491. 

Children’s bane, 111. 

Chimney swift, 338, 482. 

Chinch bug, 226. 

Chipmunk, 408, 482. 

Chipping sparrow, 478. 

Chippy tamed to feed from a child’s 
hand, 351. 

Chlorippe clyton, 266. 

Chloroform for killing insects, 52. 

Chokecherry, 491. 

Cholera, 472. 

Chorophilus triseriatus, 300. 

Chrysalis, 48, 49. 

Chrysobothris femorata, 192. 

Chrysophanus epixanthe, 268, 


INDEX 


Cicindelidz, 256. 

Cicuta maculata, III, 112. 
vagans, 117. 

Cimex lectularius, 82, 82. 

Cinquefoil, 483. 

Clam, 432, 486. 

Clapp, Henry Lincoln, school gar- 

dens, 132, 133. 

Clavarias, 448. 

Cleanliness, 471. 

Clematis, 489. 

Clethra, 491. 

Climbing cutworms, 199. 

Clisiocampa Americana, 195. 
disstria, 196. 

Clothes moth, remedies, 73-75. 
moth, southern, 72, 72. 
moths, 71-75, 71, 482. 

Cloudless sulphur, 266. 

Clover, 495. 

Cobweb skipper, 270. 

Coccus cacti, 216. 

Cochineal insect, 216. 

Cockroaches, 84, 85. 

Codling moth, 181-187, 182, 484. 

Cohosh, 493. 

Coleridge, 287. 

Colias eurytheme, 266. 
philodice, 266. 

Colorado potato beetle, 222. 

Columbine, 487. 

Common frog, 297. 

Competitive rearing of flowers, 94- 

IoI, 98. 

Comstock, 61, 71. 

Cone flower, 481. 

Conium maculatum, 110, 110. 

Conorhinus sanguisuga, 83, 83. 

Conotrachelus crategi, 204. 
nenuphar, 204. 


501 


Contagious diseases, 471, 474. 
Contrast in housekeeping, 362. 
Coprinus, 452. 
Coral hairstreak, 268. 

mushrooms, 448, 448. 
Corbin preserve, 9, 16. 
Corn cockle, 113, 113, 485. 

louse ant, 417. 

root aphid, 214. 

worm, 225, 490. 
Cottony cushion scale, 218. 
Cowbane, I11. 
Cowbird, 484. 
Cow elk, 415. 
Cragin, Belle S., 6r. 
Craponius inzqualis, 204. 
Creative effort for good, 30. 
Cricket frog, 300, 492. 
Crickets, 201, 480. 
Crioceris asparagi, 222. 
Crossbills, 488. 
Cross-pollination, 46, 229. 
Crotalaria sagittalis, 117. 
Croton bug, 85, 85. 
Crow, 323, 478. 

poison, 117. 
Cuckoo, 323, 342, 348, 490. 
Culex, 70, 70. 
Cultivation of plants, Io. 
Cultures of bacteria, 458. 
Cup fungi, 448. 
Curculios, 204, 204, 486. 
Currant, 493. 

borer, 191. 

worm, 223, 492. 
Cutworms, 174, 198, 199, 490 

climbing, 200, 490. 
Cyanide bottle, 51, 52. 
Cyprian bee, 240, 241. 


502 


Dace, 480. 
Daisy fleabane, 489. 
Damsel flies, 257, 482. 
Dandelion, 479. 
Darapsa myron, 208. 
Dark fritillary, 266. 
Darwin, on earthworms, 424, 426. 
Datana ministra, 224. 
Datura, 114. 
stramonium, II5. 
tatula, 115. 
Deadly amanita, 444, 446, 450. 
Death of man, III. 
Death-cup mushrooms, 
446, 450. 
Debis portlandia, 266. 
Definition of nature study, 1. 
Delphinium menziesii, 117. 
tricorne, 116, 117. 
Desmia maculalis, 207. 
Devil’s apple, 115. 
bite, 117. 
Dewey, Lyster H., 119. 
Diabrotica vittata, 222. 
Dickinson, Emily, 307, 340, 347. 
Diemyctylus viridescens, 301. 
Diphtheria, 471. 
Discomycetes, 448. 
Divaricated buprestis, 193. 
Dodder, 440, 495. 
Dog, the, 37, 478. 
Dogbane, 489. 
Dogwood, roo. 
Domestication of animals, 3, 293. 
of birds, 327. 
of toads, 293. 
Downy mildew, 464. 
woodpecker, 323, 480. 
Dragon flies, 257, 482. 
Dreamy dusky-wing, 270. 


117, 444, 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Duckretter, 117. 

Dull-eyed satyr, 266. 

Dust in schoolroom, 476, 476. 

Dwarf larkspur, 116, 117. 
laurel, 115. 


Eagles, 494. 
Early hairstreak, 268. 
rue, 489. 
Earthworms, 424, 427, 488. 
Eave swallow, 342. 
Economic values of nature study, 
17-20. 
Ectobia Germanica, 85, 85. 
Educational values of nature study, 
22-28. 
Edward’s hairstreak, 268. 
Eels, 492. 
Eggs of Antiopa butterfly, 47. 
of codling moth, 182, 184. 
of malarial mosquito, 68. 
Egleston, N. H., 391. 
Elecampane, 487. 
Elementary botany, 10, 102. 
zoology, 5. 
Elk, herd of, 5. 
Elk killed by grubs in the head, 417. 
Elm-leaf beetle, 223, 480. 
Elms, 481. 
Emerson, 104, 305, 309, 335. 
Enemies of San José scale, 221. 
English sparrow, 313-316, 323. 
Epargyreus tityrus, 270. 
Epidemics, 471. 
Eriocampa cerasi, 224. 
Erynnis attalus, 270. 
leonardus, 270. 
meta, 270. 
sassacus, 270, 
Esopus apple tree, 160. 


INDEX 


Ethical and social values of nature 
study, 28-30. 
influence of school garden, 136. 
Euchloé gerutia, 266. 
Eudemis botrana, 207. 
Euphorbia bathyris, 115, 116. 
marginata, 117. 
Euptoieta claudia, 266. 
Evening primrose, 487. 
Example of tasteful planting, 138. 
Exoascus deformans, 464. 
Extermination of plants, 105. 
of mosquitoes, 67. 
of species, 8, 9. 


Factory covered with woodbine, 389. 
Fall webworm, 198, 484. 
False Solomon’s seal, 483. 
Feeding a bat, 406. 
Fernald, Professor, 222. 
Fernow, E. B., 391. 
Ferns, 103, 434; 435) 479, 481, 487. 
school collection of, 436. 
Fescue grass, 49I. 
Fir, 495. 
Fishes, 413. 
Fiske, John, 14, 17. 
Five-spotted sphinx, 209. 
Flat-headed apple-tree borer, 192. 
Flea, 78-81, 80, 478. 
trap, 81. 
Flicker, 323, 484. 
Flies, 62-64, 63, 480. 
Flower calendar, 104. 
garden, 141. 
Flowers for competitive planting, 
96-97. 
Foam flower, 489. 
Food chart of common birds, 323. 
Forbes, Professor, 214. 


503 


Forest, influence on water supply, 
382-388, 495. 
fires, 390. 
resources, 390, 495. 
tent caterpillars, 196. 
Fossil species, 8. 
Foul brood, 470, 487, 493. 
Fowls, 484. 
Fox, 494. 
sparrow, 488. 
Foxglove, 493. 
France, C. J., £27, 
Francis, Dr. George, 456. 
Fringed gentians, 106. 
polygala, 483. 
Fritillaries, 464, 466, 494. 
Froebel, 22, 25, 26, 129, 130, 131, 143 
Frog with six legs, 400. 
Fruit culture, 148-153. 
exhibitions of, 149. 
garden, trees for, 134. 
spurs of pear, 163. 
Fruits, best varieties of, 152. 
improvement of varieties, 156- 
159. 
Fungi, 103, 439. 
Fusicladium dendriticum, 465. 


Garden fruits, 147-153. 
spurge, 116. 

Gartered plume moth of grape, 

205, 206. 

Gentians, 493. 

German bee, 239, 241. 
roach, 85, 85. 

Giant swallowtail, 268. 

Gibson, Hamilton, 278, 421. 

Goethe, 121. 

Golden-crowned kinglet, 490. 

Golden-rod, 479. 


504 


Goldfinch, 349, 480. 
Goldfish, 478. 
Gold thread, 493. 
Goodrich, C. L., 381. 
Good Samaritans, 346. 
Gooseberry, 493. 
Gopher plant, 116. 
Grackles, 323, 349, 490. 
Grafting an apple tree, 169-174, 
170, 171, 172. 
Grafting wax, 170. 
Grain smuts, 465, 49!. 
Grape curculio, 204. 
mildews, 491. 
phylloxera, 210, 214. 
shoots, 205. 
Grape-berry moth, 207. 
Grape-cane borer, 193. 
Grape-leaf folder, 206, 207. 
Grapes, 481, 491. 
Grapevine cuttings, 164, 165. 
flea beetle, 223. 
how to rear, 164. 
pruning of, 167. 
root borer, I9r. 
sphinx, 208. 
transplanting, 166. 
Grass family, 495. 
Grasshoppers, 200, 480. 
as bird food, 201, 323, 358, 480. 
Gray squirrel, 409. 
Great laurel, 117. 
Grebes, 494. 
Green brier, 493. 
Greene, Samuel B., 369, 382. 
Green frog, 298, 484. 
swallowtail, 268. 
Grippe, 471. 
Grosbeak, 323, 342, 349, 488. 
Groundnut, 493. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Gulls, 494. 
Gypsy moth, 490. 


Hackberry, 487. 
Hair worms, 428, 428. 
Hairy woodpecker, 323, 488. 
Haltica chalybea, 223. 
Hard maples, 483. 
Harvester caterpillar, 209. 
Harvey, F. L., 204. 
Hawk moths, 209. 
Hawks, 494. 
Hay infusion, 468. 
Head louse, 81-82, 480. 
Hedgehog mushrooms, 454, 454. 
Helenium autumnale, 117. 
Heleothis armigera, 225. 
Hemlock, r1o. 
Henry’s hairstreak, 268. 
Hepatica, 483. 
Herb bennet, 110. 

robert, 493. 
Hermit thrush, 492. 
Herons, 494. 
Hesperia centaurez, 270. 
Hessian fly, 226. 
Hickory, 483. 
High laurel, 114. 
Hoary-edge, 270. 
Home, a, 11. 

and school gardens, 121. 
Honeybee, 228, 229, 486, 494. 
Honeydew, 210. 
Hop aphid, 210. 
Hop hairstreak, 268. 
Horace’s dusky-wing, 270. 
Hornaday, Wm. T., 310. 
Hornbeam, 495. 
Horse, the, 38-41, 39, 486. 
Horse chestnut, 114, 483. 


INDEX 


House ants, 89, 488. 

wren, 223, 342, 348, 488. 
Household insects, 89, 490. 
Howard, L. O., 69, 89. 
Humming bird, 349, 352, 482. 
Humming bird’s nest, 341. 
Humus, and growth of plants, 381. 
Huxley, 21, 28. 
Hyla pickeringii, 300, 492. 
Hyla versicolor, 299, 478. 
Hypha, 459. 
Hyphantria textor, 198. 


Icerya purchasi, 218. 
Ichneumon flies, 210,246,248,249,490. 
Imperial moth, 482. 

Indian pipe, 440, 484. 
poke, 117. 
skipper, 270. 
uncus, 117. 

Indigo bunting, 486. 

Ink cap, 452. 

Insect, how to define, 422. 
collection, 60. 
net, 50, 51. 

Insects, destructiveness of, 46. 
method of spreading, 55. 
methods of controlling, 226. 
mounting of, 52-61, 53. 
number of species, 7. 

Intelligent cleanliness, 471. 

Invitation to the birds, 304. 

Io moth, 478. 

Tris, 481. 

Isabella tiger caterpillar, 478. 

Italian bee, 239, 241. 

Itch weed, 117. 

Ivy, 114. 
bush, 114. 
wood, 114. 


505 


Jack-in-the-pulpit, 485. 

Jackman, 33. 

James, Wm., 329. 

Jamestown lily, 116. 
weed, I15. 

Jeffries, 336. 

Jewelweed, 487. 

Jimson weed, 114, I15, 491. 

Junco, 482. 

June beetles, 480. 

Juniper, 487. 

Junonia ccenia, 268. 

Juvenal’s dusky-wing, 270. 


Kalmia, 114. 
angustifolia, 115. 
latifolia, 114. 

Kermes, 218. 

Kingbird, 323, 342, 483. 

Kingfisher, 486. 

Kirkland, A. H., 288. 


_ Kissing bug, 84. 


Kline, Linus W., psychology of 
ownership, 127. 


Koebele, observations of bats, 187. 


Lactarius, 452. 

Lady beetles, 254, 254, 486. 
Lady’s slippers, 485. 
Lambkill, 115, 483. 

Lamb laurel, 115. 
Landscape gardening, 136. 
Lange, D., 312, 345. 

Larch, 487. 

Larkspur, 116, 117, 495. 
Larva, 48. 

Laurel, 114. 

Layers, propagation by, 165. 
Least copper, 268. 
Lecaniums, 216, 218. 


506 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Leonard’s skipper, 270. 
Leopard frog, 297, 482. 
Leucania unipuncta, 225. 
Leucothoé catesbzi, 117. 
Libythea bachmanni, 266. 
Lice, remedies, 81-82, 480. 
Lichens, 103, 437, 483- 
Light blue, 266. 

Lily, 92, 495- 

Linden, 493. 

Lion beetles, 255, 490. 

List of animals, 6. 

Little green heron, 490. 
silver spot, 264. 
sulphur, 266. 
tree frog, 300. 

Liverworts, 103, 437, 481. 

Living species of animals, 7. 

Lizards, 296, 411. 

Lobelia, 495. 

Locusts, 200, 495. 

Long, William J., 410. 

Long-dash, 270. 

Longfellow, 307, 309. 

Loosestrife, 493. 

Lowell, 91, 322, 334, 365. 

Low laurel, 115. 

Lucilius’ dusky-wing, 270. 

Luna moth, 480. 

Lyczna comyntas, 266. 
pseudargiolus, 266. 

Lycoperdacez, 448. 


Macrodactylus subspinosus, 194. 
Magnolia warbler, 492. 

Making an aquarium, 395. 
Mallow, 481. 

Many-eyed satyr, 266. 

Marks of ancient abuse, 376. 
Markweed, 107. 


Marlatt, C. L., 89. 
Marsh hawk, 323, 492. 
marigold, 481. 
Martial’s dusky-wing, 270. 
Martin house, 318. 
Martin, purple, 337, 342, 486. 
Maryland yellow throat, 488. 
Masked bedbug hunter, 84. 
Meadow beauty, 495. 
lark, 323, 349, 482. 
lily, 487. 
mushroom, 451. 
rue, 485. 
Meal worms as bird food, 359, 360, 
482. 
Mercury, 107. 
Metamorphosis of insects, 49. 
Mice, 409, 480. 
Mildews, 462. 
Milkweed, 479. 
butterfly, 264, 478. 
Milkwort, 491. 
Milky mushrooms, 452. 
Miller, Olive Thorne, 338. 
Millipedes and centipedes, 423, 424, 
490. 
Mimosa, 483. 
Mink, 410, 490. 
Miracle of blossoms, 154. 
Mocking bird, 328, 349. 
Mocking bird’s sun bath, 331. 
Mole plant, 116. 
Moles, 410, 488. 
Mollusks, type forms of, 7, 429, 430. 
Monilia fructigena, 463, 487. 
Monomorium pharaonis, 86, 87 
minutum, 86, 86. 
Monostegia rose, 223, 492. 
Monthly list of publications, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, 89. 


INDEX 


Morels, 448, 448. 
Morgan, L. H., on property, 127. 
Mosquito hawks, 71. 
pupa, 66. 
Mosquitoes, 64-71, 65, 66, 69, 70, 
89, 486. 
and malaria, 68, 68. 
Mosses, 103, 437, 481. 
Mould gardens, 458. 
Moulds, 103, 457, 460, 487, 491. 
Mound-building ant, 416. 
Mountain laurel, 114, 483. 
Mourning cloak, 268, 482. 
Mucor mucedo, 461. 
Mud puppy, 302. 
wasp, 486. 
Mulberry, 485. 
Mummied fruits, 463, 464. 
Musca domestica, 62, 63. 
Museum pests, 59. 
Mushrooms, 103, 443, 485, 491. 
spore prints of, 446, 446. 
Muskrat, 410, 486. 
weed, III. 
Musquash root, 111. 
Mustard, 495. 
Mycelium, 445, 459. 
Myrtle warbler, 490. 
Mysus cerasi, 211, 212. 
persice, 210. 
Mytilaspis pomorum, 216, 217. 


Narrow-leaf laurel, 115. 

Nash, Lewis P., 385, 389. 

Nasturtium, 479. 

Nasturtiums and mimosas, go. 

Nature-study property of children, 
139, 154. 

Nectarines, 148, 152, 180, 487. 

Necturus maculatus, 303. 


507 


Nematodes, 428, 429. 
Nematus vcntricosus, 223. 
Neonympha eurytus, 266. 
Newman, S. M., o1. 
Newts, 301, 478. 
Night hawk, 338, 482. 
Nightshade, 493. 
Nitrates, 442. 
Northern dusky-wing, 270. 
frog, 298. 
shrike, 494. 
Nucleus beehive, 233. 
Nut culture, 377. 
Nuthatches, 349. 
Nuts, 368. 
Nymph, 49. 


Oaks, 481. 
Observation beehive, sectional plap 
of, 238. 

(CEdemasia concenna, 224. 
Olive hairstreak, 268. 
Orange rust, 465, 491. 

sulphur, 266. 

tip, 266. 
Orb weaver, 421. 
Oregon water hemlock, 117. 
Organized bird protection, 344. 
Orgyia leucostigma, 198. 
Oriental roach, 85. 
Oriole, 323, 342, 349, 352, 480. 
Orphans’ home for nestlings, 353. 
Osborn, H., 89. 
Otter, 410, 490. 
Ovenbird, 490. 
Owlet moths, 198. 
Owls, 494. 
Oxeye daisy, 479. 
Oxyptilus periselidactylus, 206. 
Oyster-shell scale insect, 216, 217. 


508 


Painted beauty, 266, 492. 
Paleacrita vernata, 196. 
Pale Corydalis, 493. 
Palmer, Alice Freeman, 23, 130. 
Pandorus sphinx, 208. 
Paper wasp, 244, 486. 
Papilio asterias, 268. 
cresphontes, 268. 
philenor, 268. 
troilus, 268. 
turnus, 266, 494. 
Paradise for children, 146. 
Parsley, 495. 
Partridge, 484. 
Peach, 479, 489. 
Peach-leaf curl, 464. 
Peach tree, how to raise, 174, 174. 
twigs, 164. 
yellows, 464. 
Peach-tree aphid, 210. 
borer, eggs, larva, pupa, and 
cocoons, 187-191, 186, 188, 
189, Igo. 
Pear blight, 469, 493. 
slug, 492. 
twigs, 163. 
Pearly eye, 266. 
Pear-tree borer, 191. 
slug, 224. 
Peckham, G. W. and Elizabeth G., 
243. 
Pediculus capitis, 81. 
Pepper and salt skipper, 270. 
Perch, 486. 
Periplaneta Americana, 85. 
Australasia, 85. 
orientalis, 85. 
Peronospora viticola, 464. 
Persius’ dusky-wing, 270. 
Pets, 33-37) 43-44 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Petunia, 489. 
Philampelus achemon, 209. 
pandorus, 208. 
Phlegethontius celeus, 209. 
Pheebe, 342, 482. 
Pholisora catullus, 270. 
Phorodon humuli, 211. 
Phosphorescence, 468. 
Phylloxera vastatrix, 210, 214, 492 
Physis indigenella, 206. 
Phytolacca decandra, I11. 
Pickerel, 482. 
frog, 298. 
Pickering’s tree frog, 300, 492. 
Pieris mariana, 117. 
napi, 262, 266. 
protodice, 262, 266. 
rapz, 225, 262, 266. 
Pigeons, 488. 
taming the, 43. 
Pike, 482. 
Pikry, 107. 
Pimpernel, 495. 
Pimpla inquisitor, 248. 
Pine grosbeak, 494. 
sap, 440. 
siskin, 494. 
Pines, 489. 
Pipsissewa, 495. 
Pitcher plant, 491. 
Plant breeding, 158-160. 
lice, 210, 486. 
parasitized, 250. 
Planter and owner of peach trees, 
126. 
Plants, list of all known, 103. 
Plowrightia morbosa, 462. 
Plum, 204, 487. 
curculio, 204, 204. 
Plume moth, 205. 


INDEX 


Plums destroyed by brown rot, 464. 
Plusia brassicz, 225. 
Poison ash, 109. 
elder, 109. 
grain for English sparrows, 315. 
hemlock, 110, 110, 489. 
ivy, 107-109, 108, I10, I14, 479. 
laurel, 114. 
oak, 107. 
root, IIo. 
snakeweed, IIo. 
sumac, 109, 109, 481. 
sumac, Californian, 110. 
Poisonous plants, 106-118. 
Pokeroot, 117. 
Pokeweed, 111, 495. 
Polyphemus, 480. 
Polypori, 453) 453- 
Poplars, 491. 
Porcupine, 492. 
Pore-bearing mushrooms, 452. 
Portrait of a young bluebird, 349. 
Potassium cyanide, 51. 
Potato beetle, 222, 480. 
Pout, 480. 
Primitive German home, 3. 
Prionus imbricornis, 193. 
laticollis, 192. 
tile-horned, 193. 
Promethea, 272, 478. 
just emerged, 46. 
Propagation of fruits, methods of, 
180. 
Property of children, 125. 
Proteans, 302. 
Protective coloration, 288. 
Proteid foods, circle of, 441, 442. 
Prothallium, 437. 
Pruning a g;rapevine, 167. 
Prunus seritina, 113. 


509 


Psychology of ownership, 127, 128. 
Puffballs, 444, 448, 448. 
Pulex irritans, 79-81. 
serraticeps, 79-81, 80. 
Pulse family, 495. 
Pupa, 48. 
Purple avens, 485. 
finch, 486. 
Gerardia, 489. 
larkspur, 117. 
martin, 486. 
Pyrameis atalanta, 268. 
cardui, 266. 
huntera, 266. 
Pyrethrum powder, 81, 83. 
Pyrola, 495. 
Pyrus baccata, 158. 
malus, 156, 158. 


Quail, 490. 
Quince, 495. 
curculios, 204, 486. 


Rabbit, 482. 
Ragwort, 491. 
Railroad worm, 202. 
Rain crow (cuckoo), 
348. 

Rana catesbiana, 298. 
clamata, 298. 
palustris, 298. 
septentrionalis, 298. 
sylvatica, 299. 
virescens, 297. 

Raspberry, 491. 
rust, 491. 

Rats and mice, 409, 480. 

Rat-tailed maggot, 252. 

Rattlebox, 117. 

Réaumur, 214. 


323, 342, 


510 


Rearing a peach tree, 174-179, 126, 
174, 175, 176, 177, 178. 
Red admiral, 268, 484. 
ant, 86, 87. 
backed salamander, 302, 488. 
breasted nuthatch, 484. 
buckeye, 114. 
cherry, 491. 
eyed vireo, 486. 
headed woodpecker, 492. 
humped caterpillar, 224, 224. 
shouldered hawk, 323. 
squirrel, 408. 
triton, 302, 486. 
winged blackbird, 323, 484. 
Redstart, 484. 
Reduvius personatus, 84. 
Regal moth, 486. 
Religious values of nature study, 30. 
Research, spirit of, 14. 
Rhododendron maximum, 117. 
Rhodora, 495. 
Rhus diversiloba, r1o. 
radicans, 107. 
vernix, 109, 109. 
Riley, James Whitcomb, 139. 
Professor, 46. 
Roaches, 84, 84, 85, 85. 
Roadside flowers, 105. 
skipper, 270. 
Robin, 342, 348, 478. 
Robin’s nest in the cherry tree, 308, 
339- 
plantain, 481. 
rate of increase, 308. 
Roosevelt, Theodore, on bird pro- 
tection, 344. 
Rose, 495. 
beetle, 194, 482. 
breasted grosbeak, 488. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Rose chafer, 194. 

mildew, 465, 489. 

slug, 223, 492. 
Ruby-crowned kinglet, 490. 
Ruskin, 17, 22, 477. 
Russulas, 452. 


St. John’s-wort, 491. 
Salamanders, 296, 301. 
Salmon, 490. 
Sand spurry, 489. 
San José scale, 219-222, 219, 494. 
Sanninoidea exitiosa, 187. 
Saperda candida, 191. 
Sapsucker, 494. 
Sarsaparilla, 487. 
Sassafras, 495. 
Satyrodes canthus, 266. 
Satyrus alope, 266. 
Saunders, William, 168, 173, 195. 
Saxifrage, 485. 
Scale insects, 215-222, 494. 
Scaphiopus holbrookii, 299, 494. 
Scarlet tanager, 480. 
Scene on K Street, Dayton, Ohio, 
120. 
Schizoneura lanigera, 210, 215. 
School and contagious diseases of 
children, 474. 

aquarium, 392. 

beehive, 234, 235. 

gardens, 132, 133, 135- 
Seedling trees, 366. 
Seeds of fruits, 155-157. 
Selandria cerasi, 244, 399. 
Shad bush, 485. 
Shaggy mane, 452. 
Shakespeare, 338. 
Shaler, 293. 
Sheep laurel, 114, 115. 


INDEX 


Sheep poison, 115. 
Shelley, 327. 
Shelley’s prophecy fulfilled, 326. 
Shiners, 478. 
Shrews, 410, 488. 
Silver-spotted skipper, 270. 
Skunk, 410, 494. 
Slave ant, 417. 
maker ant, 417. 
Sleepy dusky-wing, 270. 
Slingerland, M. V., 187, 188, 189, 
190, 191, 199, 200. 
Slugs, 276, 429, 486. 
Small laurel, 114, 115. 
Smith, Herbert E., 473. 
Snakes, 412, 478. 
Snake’s-head, 487. 
Snakeweed, I11. 
Sneezeweed, 117. 
Snout beetles, 204. 
butterfly, 266. 
Snow bunting, 480. 
on the mountain, 115, 117. 
Soft maple, 479. 
Soil, 436. 
Soils, apparatus for testing retention 
of water by, 382. 
study of, 379-388. 
Solanum dulcamara, 117. 
nigrum, I17. 
Solitary sandpiper, 492. 
vireo, 492. 
Solomon’s seal, 483. 
Song sparrow, 342, 349, 480. 
Sooty wing, 270. 
Sori, 436. 
Sow bugs, 423, 424. 
Spadefoot frog, 299, 494. 
Sparrow hawk, 486. 
Speckled alder, 489. 


Sil 


Spelerpes ruber, 302. 
Spherotheca pannosa, 465. 
Sphinxes, 207, 490. 
Spicebush, 495. 
Spider, not an insect, 422. 
Spiders, lessons with, 419, 420, 484 
Spoonwood, 114. 
Spore prints, 446, 446. 
Spores, 103, 436. 
Spotted cowbane, III. 
parsley, I1o. 
salamander, 302, 484. 
Spray Calendar, 227. 
Spreading of insects, 55-61. 
Spring beauty, 493. 
cankerworm, 196. 
Springwort, 116. 
Spruces, 493. 
Spurge, 487. 
Squash bug, 225, 488. 
Squirrels, 407, 482. 
Stable fly, 63. 
Staggerbush, 117. 
Stagger weed, 117. 
Star grass, 491. 
State Experiment Station, 156, 174, 
204. 
Stemless loco weed, 117. 
Stickleback, 494. 
Stinkhom mushroom, 449, 449. 
Stinkweed, 110, 114, 116. 
Stinkwort, 116. 
Stomoxys calcitrans, 63. 
Stone, George E., 103, 429. 
Stramonium, 115. 
Stratt, W. M., 32. 
Strawberry, 152, 155, 157, 483. 
crown borer, 193. 
insects, 482. 
root borer, 193. 


512 


Striped cucumber beetle, 222. 
hairstreak, 268. 
Strychnine for use with English 
sparrows, 315. 
Subjugation of animals, 2. 
Suckers, 484. 
Sudworth, George B., 377, 391. 
Sundew, 485. 
Sunfish, 478. 
Swallows, 323, 335, 337) 342: 
Swallowtail, 266, 494. 
Swamp hellebore, 117. 
sumac, 109. 
Sweet vernal grass, 49I. 
Swingle, Walter T., 465. 
Sycamore, 489. 
Symbiotic bacteria, 470. 
Syrphus flies, 251, 252. 


Tabb, John B., 340. 
Table of best fruits, 152. 
for methods of propagating 
fruits, 180. 
Tachina flies, 253, 253. 
Tailed blue, 266. 
Taming a chipmunk, 408. 

a wood turtle, 410. 
Tanager, 323, 342, 480. 
Tansy, 481. 

Tasteful planting, 138. 
Tea rose, 495. 

Tenebrio molitor, 359. 
Tenement house, a, 13. 

houses made beautiful, 385. 
Tent caterpillars, 195, 484. 
Ten-weeks stock, 491. 
Terias lisa, 266. 

Terns, 494. 
Tetramorium ccespitum, 86. 
Thalessa atrata, 247, 248. 


NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Thanaos brizo, 27° 
horatius, 279 
icelus, 279- 
juvenalis, 270. 
lucilius, 270. 
martialis, 270. 
persius, 270. 
Thanks for bearing chestnuts, 375 
Thaxter, Celia, 99, 276, 292, 336. 
Thecla acadica, 268. 
augustus, 268. 
calanus, 268. 
damon, 268. 
edwardsi, 268. 
henrici, 268. 
irus, 268. 
leta, 268. 
liparops, 268. 
melinus, 268. 
niphon, 268. 
titus, 268. 
Thistle butterfly, 266. 
Thoreau, Henry D., 309. 
Thorn apple, 115. 
Thoroughwort, 485. 
Thorybes pylades, 270. 
Three-leaved ivy, 107. 
Thrushes, 349. 
Thunderwood, 109. 
Thymelicus ztna, 270. 
brettus, 270. 
mystic, 270. 
Tiger beetles, 256, 488. 
swallowtail, 266, 494. 
Timothy grass, 491. 
Tinea pellionella, 71, 72. 
Tineola biselliella, 72, 72. 
Toad, 274, 478, 490. 
enemies of, 284. 
feeding, 276. 


INDEX 5.23 


Toad, life story of, 278, 490. 
protective color of, 287, 288. 
song of, 273. 

Toads, a pair of, 275. 
aquaria for rearing, 282. 

Toad’s eggs, 279, 280, 281. 

Toadstools, 443. 

Tomato worm, 209. 

Treat, Mary, 201. 

Tree frog, 295, 299, 478. 
guards, 374. 
roots, retention of soil by, 380. 
seeds, how to save and plant, 

367-37 3- 
sparrow, 490. 
swallow, 342, 480. 

Treeless street, 371. 

Trees, care of, 373. 
dissemination of seeds, 367, 

308, 3609. 
for school gardens, 134. 
of a New England hill farm, 378. 

Trembling mushrooms, 450. 

Tremex columba, 248. 

Trichophaga tapetzella, 72, 73. 

Trilliums, 48r. 

Trout, 490. 

Trypeta pomonella, 202. 

Tube-bearing mushrooms, 452. 

Tulip, 489. 

Tupelo, 493. 

Turtles, 410, 478. 

Tyloderma fragariz, 193. 

Typhoid fever, epidemics of, 472, 

473- 


c 


Upsala 

3 

school garden, 135. 
Urodela, 301. 


Street School, bird census, 
1 


12 


Van Dyke, Henry, rol, 105. 
Vanessa antiopa, 268. 
Variegated fritillary, 266. 
Vedalia, 218. 

Veery, 485. 

Vegetable garden, 145. 
Veratrum viride, 117. 
Vesper sparrow, 484. 
Viburnum, 493. 

Vireo and nest, 322. 
Vireos, 323, 342, 345, 352. 
Virginia deer, 15. 
Volcanic skipper, 270. 


Walking sticks, 53. 

Warblers, 348. 

Warbling vireo, 488. 

Watching a brown snake shed its 

skin, 404. 

Water bug, 85-86, 85, 482. 
dog, 303. 
hemlock, 111, 112. 
thrush, 492. 

Weasels, 410, 492. 

Weed, C. M., 61. 

Weeds, 118, 491. 

Whip-poor-will, 482. 

Whirlabout, 270. 

White admiral, 268. 
breasted nuthatch, 484. 
breasted swallow, 342, 480. 
crowned sparrow, 490. 
faced hornet, 244. 
hellebore, 117. 
man’s plant, 116. 
marked tussock moth, 198, 484. 
throated sparrow, 488. 

White, Gilbert, 338. 

Wicky, 114, 115. 

Wild carrot, 483. 


514 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 


Wild cherry, 113. 
flower garden, 132. 
geranium, 481. 
sunflower, 495. 
Willow herb, 489. 
Willows, 487. 
Winchell grape, layer of, 166. 
Wode-whistle, ,1 10. 
Wolfsbane, 117. 
Wolf's milk, 116. 
Woodchuck, 410, 490. 
Wood frog, 299, 488. 
laurel, 114. 
nymphs, 266, 494. 
thrush, 323, 342, 345, 349, 490. 
Woodland spring, 434. 


Woodpecker, 323, 34°: 
Wood pewee, 455. 


Woolly aphids of apple, 215- 


loco weed, 117- 
Wordsworth, 335, 303: 
Worms, defined, 421- 
Wrens, 348, 485. 


Yarrow, 481. 
Yeara, 110. 
Yeast, 465, 465, 487. 


Yellow-billed cuckoo, 489. 


breasted chat, 492. 
necked apple-tree 


224. 


throated vireo, 490. 


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