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GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A.

PORDUE UNIVERSITY.

LEAFLETS ON NATURE STUDY.

LAFAYETTE, INDIANA.
JUNE 1, 1808.

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/cu31924085811127

FOR THE USE OF TEAGHERS.

Leaflets on Nature Study.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF TEACHERS OF

SCHOOLS IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY.

PRESS OF WM. B. BURFORD,
CONTRACTOR FOR STATE PRINTING AND BINDING.
1898.

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2 St ot me go te

10.

CONTENTS.

Introd Wetionw.iccuuns es aag yous Sons 5345 te cake Coulter.
The Study of the Foliage Leaf .................. Coulter.
The Flower as an Object for Nature Study ....... Coulter,
The Care of Domestic Animals ................. Plumb.
A Children’s: Garden: +: ¢ss¢saaeaewgetaceeysnaas Bailey.
A Chat About Bugs:cccos vsacieaane vane oureecanas Coulter.
The Observation Club ..............cece eee ees Compiled.
Sprinp Birds, wcneuinicssr navman seyqrewserenad Ruby.
A Country School Garden .... 0.0.20... cece eee ee Coulter.
A, Talk About Trees..v..+cxeseetasseveass vans . Coulter.
A Study of our Insect Enemies.................. Troop.
A Talk About Water-drops....... 0... ...000000- Duff.
Climate in Some of its Relations to Daily Life.... Huston.
The Germination of Seeds ...............0.0005. Arthur.
Our Insect: Friends iis x9 4s 055 savasinded ved es ook Troop.
Butter-making for Young People................ Plumb.
About Spiders and their Curious Ways........... Ed. ‘School and Home.”
The Workiol Wateb a ce cis t00 6 cine nie ae aeoea nn Duff.
Heat and What It Does .... 6.0... . cece eee eee Duff.
Our Friends, the Birds ...............000 sees eee Snyder.
A Vegetable Garden ......... 00.6 cc cece eee ee Troop.
An Experimental Farm for Young People....... Latta.
Points for Young Farmers’ Club ................ Latta.

The-Care of the Soll: sissnaca vs vice seamged yeas ve Huston.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

At the present time Nature Study is receiving considerable atten-
tion from our high schools, and, to some extent. from our city an
town graded schools. But little attention, however, has been given
to the subject by the teachers in rural districts. While it may seem
that the difficulties involved in the problem of Nature Study in rurai
districts are great, we think that a careful examination of the con-
ditions will show that these are more apparent than real. Indeed,
the opportunities for work in the country are very much greater
than for work in the city. We think it will be found also that the
introduction of Nature Study will enable the teachers of district
schools to accomplish the work which they are now doing more easily
and with greater success.

It is thought by many that there are influences at work upon the
children in rural districts which have a tendency to withdraw their
interest from their rural surroundings and to create in them a desire
to leave the farm and seek their fortuncs in more populous centers.
That this is true to a certain extent, no one will doubt. It then he-
comes important to ask: how shall we enable these children to appre-
ciate the beauties of Nature by which they are surrounded; to take
a wider view of their opportunities: how shall we lead them to higher
country living and country thinking, and, how shall we make the
occupation in which most of them will, for a time at least. be engaged.
more attractive and more profitable? The teachers are potent factors
in the consideration of these important questions. It is our purpose to
assist the teachers in solving them. and it is believed that we can do no
more effective work in this direction than by publishing this seriex
of Nature Study Leaflets, the purpose of which is described in Prof.
Coulter’s “Introduction to Nature Study.” found in Leaflet No. 1.

In order to show that this kind of work has been found to be
eminently practicable, we may call your attention to what is going on
in a large number of elementary schools in Europe.

I quote from Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly for February,
1898:

In many places in Europe schoo] grounds are very much better managed than
in this country. Not only do school authorities there aim to supply materials for
study in the school room, but they mean to impart clear ideas of horticulture and
related occupations by various uses of land connected with the schools. They

appreciate the training which results from pruning, budding and grafting trees,
plowing, hoeing and fertilizing land, hiving bees and raising silk-worms.

6

Tn 1890 there were nearly eight thousand school gardens—gardens for practical
instruction in rearing trees, vegetables and fruits—in Austria.

In France, gardening is practically taught in twenty-eight thousand primary
and elementary schools, each of which has a garden attached to it, and is under
the care of a master capable of imparting a knowledge of the first principles of
horticulture. No one ean be appointed master of an elementary school unless
qualified to give practical instruction in cultivating the ordinary products of the
garden.

In Sweden, as long ago as 1871, twenty-two thousand children received instruc-
tion in horticulture and tree-planting, and each of two thousand and sixteen
schools had for cultivation a piece of land varying from one to twelve acres.

Still more significant is the recent establishment of many school gardens in
suuthern Russia. In one province two hundred and twenty-seven schools out
of a total of five hundred and four have school gardens whose whole area is two
hundred and eighty-three acres. * * * This movement has also widely spread
over different provinces of central Russia.

Since 1877 every public school in Berlin has been regularly supplied with plants
for study every week, elementary schools receiving specimens of [our different
species and secondary schools six. During the summer, at six o’clock in the
morning two large wagons start from the school gardens loaded with cuttings
packed and labeled for the different schools. The daily papers regularly announce
what plants may be expected, and teachers consult with the gardeners as to what
ought to be sown or planted. Teachers take their classes into the school gardens
for lessons in botany, and are aided by the gardeners, who cut the specimens.

Tn a conversation which T held Jast fall with Governor Mount
upon the condition of the children of rural districts, he showed great.
interest in the subject and made several important suggestions, and
he afterwards made a speech before the State Agricultural Board on
Jan. +, 1898, in which he warmly endorsed the scheme for the distri-
Intion of leaflets on Nature Study, whereupon the State Delegate
Board passed the following resolutions:

Resolved, That we heartily approve of Governor Mount’s suggestions to the effect
that the children in the public schools of the State should be systematically in-
structed in such matters as pertain to country life. To this end we are in favor of
an amendment to the school laws of the State, by which instruction shall be given
in such elementary sciences as shal] pertain to agriculture and household econ-
omy.

Resolved, That until this change in the law can be secured, we suggest to offcers
of public schools the propriety of advising their teachers to give occasional oral
lessons upon such topies in Nature Study as will have a tendency to interest
students in agriculture, horticulture, economic entomology, the care of domestic
animals and household economy.

Resolved, That we believe that the preparation and use of properly prepared
leaflets upon subjects relating to agriculture, as suggested in the Governor’s address,
would prove to be of great interest to our children in public schools and of great
value to the agricultural interests of the State.

The general principles on which the leaflets will be prepared and
used may be summarized as follows:

v4

First.. No attempt wil] be made to issue the leaflets in the order
in which they are to be used by the teacher. [t is manifestly unde-
sirable, if not impossible, to de this.

Second. The leatlets for the most part will be prepared by mem-
hers of the Purdue faculty, but assistance will be sought from others,
and occasional selections from books and magazines may be expected.

Third. No specific indication will be made as to the length of
time each subject should occupy the attention of the pupils. Some
of the subjects may properly occupy four weeks and some but a
single week. This must depend chiefly upon the ingenuity of the
teacher and upon the interest manifested: by the pupils. Further-
more, some of the leaflets treat of subjects that should occupy the
attention of the pupils for a brief time during the summer, and also
for a brief time during the winter, as for example, the leaflet on
~The Care of Domestic Animals.”

Fourth. Teachers should at all times strive to induce the pupils
io xee and hear and think for themselves; in short, to become original
investigators.

Fifth. Tt would be well for teachers to organize observation clubs
and take the pupils on occasional rambles through the country.

Sixth. The pupils should be encouraged to make reports, to write
essays and descriptions, and to illustrate on the blackboard and in
their drawing books.

Seventh. The method of presentation should he oral so far as
possible. Habits of correct expression should be cultivated, and the
children should he encouraged to ask questions. .\ query box might
possibly be used to advantage.

Eighth. Teachers should endeavor to interest parents in the en-
terprise, and xhould conduct the work in such a way as to secure
their earnest co-operation. They should be careful not to require
an undue outlay of time or money.

Ninth. It is sugvested that flower and fruit festivals, in their
proper season, at which small prizes could be offered, might be help-
ful. The co-operation of the county agricultural society and other
similar organizations might be secured with advantage.

Tenth. Since the leaflets are to be used by teachers of varying ex-
perience and under widely differing conditions in respect to progress
of pupils, no uniform method of treatment will he employed. Some
of them will be in the form of directions to teachers, others in the
form of directions to pupils, others again, in the form of oral object
lessons, and still others will be in the form of stories; and, since they
are prepared by a number of different people, no attempt will be made
to present them with any uniformity in style of composition.

8

It is important to observe that very much of the Nature Study
by the children must be done out of doors, and in the spring and
summer, but many of the schools will not be in session at that time |
of the year.

Such of the leaflets therefore as especially relate to spring and
summer work on the part of the children should be translated into
oral lessons and given by the teachers of such schools during the
winter term. It is quite apparent the leaflets can often be used in
this way with but few slight changes in phraseoloyy. Thus instead of
taking the children on an excursion in May to observe spring birds
the teachers can re-phrase the leaflet on that subject, and use it as
a basis for a conversation with the children, instructing them how to
become good observers ax they vo about and requesting them to report
the results of their obvervations at the beginning of the next term.
These oral lessons should bring out, ax much as possible, the previous
information of the children.

Some of the leaflets, however, which seem especially to relate to
objects which can be observed only in the spring, may serve as models
upon which the teacher can construct exercises adapted to use in the
fall by substituting subjects of study which can be readily found in
the later months of the year.

To emphasize what has already been said in the Letter of Trans-
mittal it may he repeated that the chief purpose of these leaflets is
to suggest methods to the teachers rather than to give them informa-
tion, and that the most sucecssful results will be obtained when
teachers are able to supplement these lessons by those of their own
construction,

JAMES H. SMART,
President Purdue University.

No. 14.

LEAFLET

On Narure StTupy.

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS OF
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

INTRODUCTION TO NATURE STUDY.

By PROF. STANLEY COULTER.

The purpose of these leaflets is to aid the teachers to bring the chil-
dren of rural districts into close sympathy with nature, to cultivate the
habit of accurate observation, and to give them such information con-
cerning these matters as will be not merely of present interest and use,
but which will serve to give added power and usefulness to them in
after years, whether they remain upon the farm or enter some other
life work. It is further the purpose to show how the truths gathered
from these observed facts may be made to be of service in enabling
them to do familiar things in a better way, or may even serve to sug-
gest entirely new ways of forcing nature to contribute to our prosperity
and comfort.

Teachers in our ungraded schools are already overcrowded with
work, and it is a part of the purpose of these leaflets to suggest to
them how, not by added work, but by work of different character they
may secure much more perfect and enduring results. Nature work of
the highest type can not be given from data drawn from books how-
ever skillfully prepared, the data must be drawn from nature itself. So
each of these leaflets has as its real center some broad underlying prin-
ciple, capable of almost endless illustration and expansion. If this is
grasped, it will give new methods of interpretation of nature and its
phenomena, which will enable the teacher to use to the objects nearest
to his hand as the material for nature study.

2

Each leaflet is merely a suggestion as to how certain familiar objects
may be successfully and profitably used in this work. No one of these
leaflets is a complete statement of all the truth known concerning the
subject treated. They should therefore be regarded by the teacher
merely as suggestions, indicating how such material may be used.
Large numbers of similar exercises upon subjects suggested by the
teacher, or, better still, by the pupils, should be introduced at every
point. The real value of these leaflets will be found to lie in the
method of treatment and interpretation, not in the detailed exercises
with which each one closes. -

It should be remembered that the primary purpose of nature work
is to cultivate habits of accurate observation. It is evident that in
young children the perceptive powers are most keenly alive. Every-
thing is novel and interesting to them, and the purpose should be to
direct this interest in such a way as to bring to them added knowledge
and become a mental habit. The objects used in nature work should
be those objects which surround the child, and so these leaflets treat of
familiar things which can be readily observed in almost any region.

Children love to do things. As they watch the processes of nature
about them they see various changes brought about by varying condi-
tions. These are usually so complex in nature as not to be of ready
interpretation. So far as the subjects admit, there is added to each
leaflet suggested experimental work which is within the grasp of the
pupils and which may serve to enforce the facts observed. These ex-
periments should as a rule be conducted by the pupil, although the
teacher should see that the required conditions are met. These ex-
periments may be advantageously extended in ways self-suggestive to
the live teacher, if care be taken that conditions are not too compli-
cated for ready comprehension.

While it may be necessary for the teacher occasionally to secure suit-
able material for the demonstration of a specific point, the children
should from the first be taught to provide their own material. It is
fairly easy to have suitable material provided by showing an example
of such object. If for example material illustrating the opposite
arrangement of leaves upon the stem, with the successive pairs of
leaves in different planes is desired, a twig of maple could be shown
and the children asked to bring in branches in which the leaves were
arranged in the same manner. Nothing should be said as to the char-
acter of the arrangement, the eye of the pupil being the sole guide
as to the material to be collected. It is plain that a similar method
might be employed in almost any form of work undertaken. If chil-
dren collect their own material they will develop habits of accurate

3

observation much more rapidly and at the same time will have a much
keener interest in the work. It cannot be too strongly insisted that
about the surest way to defeat the object of nature work is to tell the
child what he is to see. Yet this is at the same time the teacher’s most
common error. Unless the child is trained to observe and to rely upon
the observations thus made, nature work in the lower grades is
meaningless.

The work should not be entirely formal or systematic, and indeed it
would be impossible to formulate any definite work either as to char-
acter or amount which should be assigned to the different grades. The
children should be encouraged to observe those things that present
themselves and these will vary from day to day. At one time it may
be a flight of birds, at another a strange stone, at another a hail storm,
or the opening of a flower, whatever it may be it should be used as
matter for comment and farther observation. The children should
be encouraged to extend their observations so as to include as wide a
range of objects and phenomena as is self-suggestive. Yet the work
should not be left to the chance material which may attract the child.
It would be well to suggest objects to observe from time to time, which:
will serve for the basis of some work which all have had opportunity
to consider. Experience has shown also that such suggestions add
much to the interest of the work and serve to give a new purpose and
meaning to the field work or short excursions which should form a
part of nature work. It would perhaps be well to spend the half of
each exercise upon some previously suggested subject and the other
half as an observation club in which the pupils should be encouraged
to report and question concerning things which may have attracted
their notice since the last exercise. Encourage this especially, even
though you are not familiar with the objects or phenomena, for you
are only an older pupil in nature work, and if you are sufficiently quiet
and observant you may learn much of nature through the keen eyes
of your pupils.

The value of true nature work can scarcely be over-estimated.
Habits of accurate observation soon lead to a correct perception of rela-
tions, and this, when applied to the affairs of mature life, conditions
success. But in the period of school life it leads to correct notions
concerning the relations of living forms to each other, of their relation
to the inanimate world, of the influence of surroundings upon life
forms, in such a way as to make nature self-interpretative, and her
every manifestation educative. Such a knowledge of nature adds di-
rectly and largely not merely to the happiness but to the power of its
possessor. Knowing nature and her processes, knowing life and its

4

phenomena, he can so direct and control them as to produce the great-
est results with the least expenditure of energy. It will make its
possessors more expert in their management of cattle and poultry and
bees, more skillful in their gardening and culture of small fruits, more
successful in the larger operations of the farm. The applications of
nature work touch every interest of rural life directly and constantly.

These leaflets will therefore be so directed as to apply to the various
interests relating to agriculture, horticulture, the care of domestic
animals and household economy. ‘This will of course involve leaflets
upon economic botany, economic entomology, soils, and other subjects
having a bearing upon these broader topics.

It is suggested that at least one hour a week be assigned for work
of this character, and further, that in the case of very young children
no exercise exceed twenty minutes in length. If the teacher is
successful in presenting nature work it will be through honest effort.
The more popular literature bearing upon the subjects treated should
be read by the teacher, so far as opportunity offers, in preparation for
the work. Excellent material bearing upon these subjects may be
found in the science books recommended by the State Reading Circle.

The fact that the objects which suggest themselves for nature study
are so variant, and the added fact that they vary from day to day, with
the season and with the region, renders it an evident impossibility to
issue a series of leaflets which shall either by number or by date of pub-
lication, indicate the order of the presentation of natural objects.
These leaflets, then, do not suggest an order of presentation, but
are meant simply as helps to the earnest, ambitious teacher, when
in his nature work he meets the subjects of which they treat. As their
purpose is to help the teacher, their number will be largely controlled
by their success or failure in accomplishing this end. It is further sug-
gested that no time can be assigned in which the work outlined in
any leaflet should be completed. The method given is meant to be
the chief feature, and these methods should, in the hands of the
teacher, be capable of application not merely to the subject treated but
to a very wide range of related subjects.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 2.

LEAFLET

On Narure StTupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

THE STUDY OF THE FOLIAGE LEAF.

By PROF. STANLEY COULTER.

The materials for “nature” study are the nearest and most con-
spicuous natural objects. These materials necessarily differ with the
locality, with the seasons, even from day to day. It will be found,
however, that in almost every locality the greater part of these studies
will be connected with plant forms. The reasons for this are very
apparent. Plants are living things and life appeals to the child. The
material for the studies is convenient and abundant. Plants have a
fixed position, allowing the effect of varying conditions to be readily
seen and understood. The life cycle is so short that all of its phases
may be observed in a single school year. Beyond this it is to be re-
membered that plants stand as the visible sign of the agricultural
capacity of any region, giving us direct report of the character of its
soil and climate; that they are intermediaries between unorganized
matter and animal forms, and that they have profound economic im-
portance not merely in furnishing food-stuffs, but also in some of their
forms, in absolutely conditioning public health. It is, however, be-
cause of their abundance and relative ease of preservation in any
desired condition, that plant forms must naturally furnish the ma-
terial for a large part of nature studies.

The flowering plants are evidently the most conspicuous plant
forms in any region, and of these the foliage leaf is the most conspicu-
ous part. From the earliest spring when it begins to unfold its blade
of delicate green, until it falls clothed in autumnal brilliance, it is the

2

dominating feature of the plant. For this reason, this leaflet is in-
tended to suggest how the foliage leaf may be used as an object for
nature study in such a way, that all work done will have a definite pur-
pose and an equally definite value.

Foliage leaves are so variant in general appearance, in position, in
size and general outline, that it seems necessary to determine what
characters are common toall such organs. The following general
characters will be found to apply to all foliage leaves however diverse
they may be in appearance.

1. The foliage leaf is a lateral organ of the stem. It is found upon
no other part of the plant body.

2. The foliage leaf is, characteristically green, due to the presence of
chlorophyll which is developed only in the presence of sun-
light.

3. The foliage leaf is an expanded organ, giving the greatest possible
surface exposure to light and atmospheric conditions. Other
puts of the planis are mass structures, not surfaces.

It is very evident from these common characters, that the foliage
leaf is un organ adapted for the light relation. The value of this con-
ception of the foliage leaf in nature studies can scarcely be over-esti-
mated. Its application readily and clearly explains peculiarities of
form, of position, of lobing, and the great mass of adaptations char-
acteristic of plants growing under differing conditions. It explains in
a general way plant outlines, and will be found to render clear many
apparently puzzling conditions.

Before illustrating the above points specifically, it will be well to
consider briefly the work of the leaf. This work may be grouped
under four heads.

1. Yranspiration, or the interchanges of moisture between the in-
terior of the plant and the external air. The result of trans-
piration, which is after all apparently little else than evapora-
tion, is to aid in the transfer to the leaves of the nutrient
water taken from the soil by the roots.

2. Respiration,or breathing. Those gaseous interchanges between
the plant and the air through which oxygen is taken up by
the plant and carbon dioxide returned to the air.

3. Carbon fixation, or those processes through which, under the in-
fluence of light, carbon dioxide taken from the air is broken
down, the carbon being retained and built into the tissues of

the plant, while a portion at least of the oxygen is returned
to the air.

3

4. Photo-syntax, or those processes through which, under the influ-
ence of the light, the erude food materials derived from soil
and air are transformed into substances suited to the needs
of the plant.

While for the purposes of this leaflet, only one of these uses, that
of transpiration, will be considered, the others have been given to
show how essential the light relation is to the foliage leaf if it ac-
complish its assigned work. The foliage leaf then is not merely an
ornamental appendage to the plant, its various peculiarities being
considered as the result of chance, but a working organ intimately
concerned with the most important duties in the individual life of the
plant.

Let us now examine some of the ways in which this light relation is
secured. One of the forms, often seen, especially in the early spring,
is that known as the “rosette” arrangement. The foliage leaves are
apparently arranged radially, lying flat upon the ground, and in the
absence of the stem, seeming at first glance quite unlike organs for
light relation. Common plants with this arrangment are the mullein
and plantain. If the leaves in this arrangement are without leaf stalks,
it will be found that in almost every case they are broader at the apex
than at the base, a form which in definitional botanies is known as
spatulate. The successive circles of leaves as they arise from the center
are progressively shorter, the broader portions at the apex fitting into
the spaces left between the narrowed bases of the leaves of the preced-
ing circle. If the whole rosette be looked at from above it will be seen
that scarcely any portion of the lower leaves is shaded by those above,
each leaf, by its peculiar form and the regularly diminishing size of
the leaves of succeeding circles, being brought into the most perfect
light condition.

In the case of the plaintain, where leaf-stalks are present, the same
condition is brought about by the progressive shortening of the leaf-
stalk from the lower to the upper circles of leaves. It is very evident
then that the “rosette” arrangement is a device for securing the light
relation on the part of plants with reduced stems.

MATERIAL FOR ILLUSTRATION :
Common plantain, earlier leaves of mullein, shepherd’s purse, dandelion

Taking the cases where leaves are found upon a well developed
stem, the most casual examination will show device after device for
securing proper light relations. So evident are they, that they need
not be mentioned in detail, almost every species of plant furnishing its
own solution to the problem. If an ordinary erect stem is looked at

4

from above it will be seen that the leaves are arranged in a series of
fairly distinct ranks. The number of these ranks is important, since
it has a direct relation to leaf form. The greater the number of ranks
the narrower the leaves. The smaller the number of ranks the broader
the leaves. Facts evidently explained by our conception of the leaf as
the organ of light relation.

Thus far it has been assumed that the leaf-bearing stem has been
erect. If by any chance, or by the necessities of growth it should
change from the erect to the horizontal position, it is evident that to
secure proper light relations the leaf position must also change. Com-
parisons of leaf positions upon erect and horizontal stems taken from
the same plant will prove of great value in emphasizing the fact that
above all other things the leaf must have light exposure.

MATERIAL FOR ILLUSTRATION :

Erect and horizontal stems of elm, maple, linn, oak, apple, peach,
cherry, catnip, wild pinks, honeysuckle or of any plant that may be
growing near at hand.

J have considered as yet only cases in which the leaves were entire,
or with unbroken margins, since these furnished the simplest illustra-
tions. In the case of lobed or dissected leaves, the conditions are
somewhat different. In the simpler forms of lobed leaves, the lobing
is evidently a device to prevent the shading of underlying leaves. If
you recall the ordinary ivy with its sharply angled leaves, almost geo-
metrical in their regularity, this fact will be evident. Ifa growing tip
of this plant, as it clings to the wall, be carefully flattened down it will
be seen that the leaves fit into each other so accurately by means of
these angles, that on the one hand there is scarcely any perceptible
shading, and on the other there is scarcely any space unoccupied by
the leaf. Such accurate fitting of leaves when brought to a common
plane, produce what is known as leaf “mosaics,” which simply serve to
again prove that the leaf is the organ of light relation. Where the
leaves are much dissected, as in the case of the common rag-weed,there
is the same arrangement in ranks, the same arrangement of leaves in
different planes as in the case of the entire leaf, but as a rule no
marked diminution in the size of the leaves as we pass from the base
to the top of the plant, the constant shifting of the parts of the dis-
sected leaf, and the possible play of light through the openings be-
tween the leaf parts, being sufficient to prevent any portion of the
underlying leaf from being continuously shaded.

MATERIAL FOR ILLUSTRATION:

Ivy, geranium, star cucumber, begonia, common mallow, rag-weed or any
plant with lobed or dissected leaves.

It will be seen then that leaf form largely determines the outline
of the plant taken as a whole. Let us return to the mullein for a mo-
ment. It will be remembered that the leaves are entire, the lower ones
being the largest and standing nearly at right angles to the stem. As.
the summit is approached the leaves become gradually smaller and at
the same time more closely appressed to the stem, until at the extreme
summit they are much reduced and nearly parallel to the stem. This
arrangement, so evidently for the purpose of preventing shading of
lower leaves, serves to give to the whole plant a general pyramidal
outline, a form characteristic of simple plants with entire leaves. In
the case of the rag-weed, on the other hand, since there is no diminu-
tion in size of the upper leaves, the general outline of the plant is
eylindrieal, a form characteristic of plants with divided or dissected
leaves.

It is evident that in genuine nature work the foliage leaf is to be
studied from a new view point. It is not to be used as a frame upon
which to hang definitions as to form and margin, apex and blade, but
is to be considered as a working organ charged with important duties
which can only be successfully performed in the presence of the light.
In this view all peculiarities of position and form and structure are
but devices for enabling the leaf to properly accomplish its work. The
main question in every case concerning the foliage leaf is, “How is the
light relation secured?”

Before considering specifically how the view of the foliage leaf as
the organ of light relation serves to explain many so-called adaptations
to meet special conditions, it is necessary to touch very briefly upon
the relation of plants to the soil. It is evident that by far the greater
part of the food of the plant is derived from the soil. It is also plain
from our knowledge of the structure of the plant, that this food must
be taken up in the form of a watery solution. It follows, therefore,
that the amount of water in the soil has a very important bearing upon
the food supply of the plant, and serves, perhaps, more than any other
one factor to determine its structural features. Indeed this matter of the
available water of the soil is of such great import that it determines
largely not merely the external form of the plant, but also modifies
in a marked way its minute structure.

Based upon this dependence of plants upon and their relation to
water, the plants of any given region may be separated into three

6

groups, each showing adaptive arrangements to fit it for its place in
nature.

1. Water-loving plants, or those plants which live either wholly
or partly in water, or else grow in very wet soil, where the
water percentage is 80 or above. This is an extreme form of
vegetation, and the number of species of plants in this class
in Indiana is relatively small. Technically such plants are
known as Hydrophytes.

2. Dry soil or desert plants, at the opposite extreme from the
water-loving plants. These plants grow in dry soil and atmos-
phere, the water content of the soil being below 10 per cent.
at its minimum. Such plants are known as Xerophytes.

3. Intermediate plants, or those adapted to medium conditions of
moisture in air and soil. Such plants are known as Mesophytes,
and constitute the larger portion of our native flora.

While these differing soil conditions modify the structure of the en-
tire plant, we wish at this time to consider only their effect upon the
leaf. It is plain that when a plant lives in an extremely dry soil, that
the water lost ly transpiration can be replaced with extreme diffi-
culty, and that if no check were placed upon transpiration the avail-
able water in the soil would soon be exhausted and the plant would die.
On the other hand, when plants live in the water or in a soil rich in
water, the losses from transpiration, however great, can be easily re-
placed. As the foliage leaf is the chief organ of transpiration, the
most evident adaptations to control the process occur in it.

Let usconsiderin what ways transpiration may be checked, and then
see if by an application of these facts, the foliage leaf will not tell to us
the story of the water capacity of the soil.

1. Transpiration may be checked by reducing the size of the foliage
leaf. Much less water will be evaporated in a given time from a vessel
with ten square inches of exposed surface than from one with a sur-
face exposure of one hundred square inches. So, much less transpira-
tion will take place from a small leaf than from a large one. Think of
the leaves of the waterlily, of the splatter dock, of the skunk cabbage,
indeed of any water or marsh plant with which you are familiar, and
compare them as to size, with leaves of the golden rods or the mullein
or any familiar plant living in a dry soil. You will see at once a
marked contrast. In tropical regions where water is abundant both in
soil and air, the foliage leaves are very large, but as we come into the
temperate regions the leaves are reduced in size until finally in desert
or arctic regions they are so reduced that they almost lose the sem-
blance of foliage leaves.

7

®. ‘Transpiration may be checked by reducing the number of leaves.
Ifyoucan recall any plant, say a wild rose, and compare one growing in
moist soil with one growing in dry soil, you will at once see how often
nature makes use of this device to prevent damage by excessive tran-
spiration and to fit the plant to meet its conditions. And in this way
also, the leaf tells us of the water content of the soil. You know
farmers and gardeners say that in wet weather their plants all
run to leaf, which only means that no check need be placed upon tran-
spiration.

3. Transpiration may be checked by thickening the outer wall of the
leaf. If you compare a leaf of a plant growing in dry soil with that of
one growing in very moist soil, the former will in almost every case
have the thicker and tougher outer covering. This is one of nature’s
favorite devices for checking transpiration, and you can scarcely ex-
amine a leaf taken from a plant growing in dry soil which will not
show it and at the same time tell to you the character of the soil as to
its water capacity.

4. Transpiration may be checked by the leaves having a covering
of hairs. This also is of frequent occurrence in nature. The common
mullein is a familiar example of this method of controlling transpira-
tion. This of course is not the only use of hairs, as may be shown in
some future leaflet, but it is one of their important uses.

There are other methods of checking transpiration, but we are
only concerned with those which are readily apparent and can be used
in nature work.

If we compare then the foliage leaves of plants growing under dry
conditions with those of water-loving plants, the following facts are
apparent:

1. The leaves are relatively small.

2. The leaves are often fewer in number.

3. The outer covering of the leaf is thicker.

4. The leaves are often clothed with hairs, which in water-loving
plants are almost always wanting.

The intermediate plants show almost all conceivable variations be-
tween these extremes and are extremely sensitive to the slightest
changes in soil and air moisture, recording these changes in cor-
responding leaf modifications. The differences in many cases in plants
of the same species growing under differing conditions is so marked
as to have led to the formation of distinct species, when the plant was
merely trying to tell us the story of the soil.

It is not wise, in these studies, to press the work upon a single
feature too far. Continued application is an acquirement of age. The

8

endeavor has been to call attention to a few points which may suggest
to the teacher how to use the foliage leaf in nature work.

Similar studies, using some other one of the leaf functions as a4
basis, will doubtless suggest themselves to the teacher, as this work
_progresses. Some of these may be treated in future leaflets should this
one prove to be helpful to the teachers of the State.

The teacher in the country school has here the greatest advantage
over the teacher in the city. God’s laboratories are infinitely more
complete and more suggestive than man’s, and earnest, honest work in
these lines will develop in the pupil habits of observation which will
not only be of temporary value but will be a permanent possession.

METHODS OF PRESENTATION.

1. Develop general characters of leaf. (p. 2.)

This may be done by bringing in abundant material representing
different plant forms. Some of the plants should be entire, showing
root as well as stem. Have the pupils tell what part of the plant is
stem, what part is leaf and what part root. This develops easily and
naturally the posttion of the leaf. The color of the leaf can now be con-
sidered and this followed by the leaf as a flat organ or surface. Tell
the pupil to bring to the school any plants in which the leaves are not
upon the stem, are not green and are not expanded surfaces. Such
exceptions will be found, but so rarely, that the general characters
given will be seen to be the rule.

2. Arrangement of leaves to prevent shading.

(a) Take some simple case, as the maple, the elm, the mulberry, or
indeed almost any form with simple and entire leaves, being careful
to select erect stems. The specimens should be fresh, or the wilting of
the leaves may obscure the real relations. Ask if the successive leaves
as you pass from base to top of the twig are directly above each other.
Does this arrangement prevent the shading of the lower leaves by
those above? By abundant material of these simple forms, have the
child see the different ways in which this shading is prevented.

In most cases it may be necessary to suggest to the child to look
at the specimen from above and not from the side.

(b) Take horizontal stems of the forms studied under (a), and
have the child report upon the very apparent differences in arrange-
ment. Ask why this difference occurs. If the answer does not sug-
gest itself to the children, repeat the work under (a) and (b), using
different forms. Be careful not to suggest the explanation, but allow
the pupil to work it out, even though it seem to take a long time.

9

(c) Take the earlier leaves of the mullein, the plantain, the shep-
herd’s purse or the dandelion. Work out first the “rosette” arrangement.
Then lead up to various arrangements for preventing shading. In the
hands of the skillful teacher, this should not be a difficult task.

(d) The case of lobed and dissected leaves had perhaps better be
illustrated by the teacher. The common ivy, star cucumber, or any
convenient plant with lobed or angled leaves will be found suitable.

3. The general form of the plant as determined by the leaf.

(a) To show pyramidal form of simple plants with entire leaves,
take the common mullein, the shepherd’s purse, or any plant growing
in your.region having entire leaves. Have lines drawn from the tip of
top leaf to the tip of bottom leaf. What is the shape of resulting
figure?

(b) To show cylindrical form of plants with dissected leaves, take
the rag-weed, or any form easily obtained, and proceed as in (a). In
both cases plants of as many kinds as possible should be examined in
order that the plant form as determined by the leaf may be seen to be
the rule and not merely a chance outline. Plants in which branching
does not occur or in which it is very simple should be chosen, as
branches complicate the plant outline and render this point more dif-
ficult to work out satisfactorily.

4. The leaf as indicating differing soil conditions.

(a) Select any water or marsh plants with entire or nearly entire
leaves. Suitable forms are waterlily, splatter dock, arrow leaf, skunk
cabbage, or marsh marigold. Have them examined with reference to
size, toughness and thickness of outer covering of leaf, and presence or
absence of hairs.

(b) Select forms of plants loving dry ground, such as the golden-
rods, mustards, some of the smart-weeds, indeed any form growing in
dry soil, whether its name is known or not. Examine as to same points
as in (a). Compare conditions found in (a) with those in (b).

(c) Take some single form, such as the wild rose, which you find
growing in moist soil, intermediate soil, and dry soil. Note changes
in leaf size, leaf number, character of outer covering and presence or
absence of hairs, in specimens growing in these different conditions.

5. Experimental Work.
1. To show necessity of light for the development of leaf green.

(a) Take two plants, equally vigorous, and place them in pots.
Keep one in the sunlight, the other in the dark. Let all other condi-
tions be identical. At the end of a week or ten days what differences
are noticeable in the plants?

10

(b) Shade a portion of a vigorously growing leaf by covering with
apiece of pasteboard. The pasteboard maybe held in place by pins passed
vertically through it and the leaf, the small wounds made by the pins
not producing any injurious effects. At the end of two or three days
remove pasteboard and note results. Expose the previously covered
portion to the action of light for a few days and note results. In the
case of young children interest may be added by cutting the shading
pasteboard into various patterns.

2. To show that leaf green is necessary to the growth of the plant.

Continue experiment one (a) for two or three weeks. Note differ-
ences in size and vigor of plants.

3. To show effect of soil moisture upon plants.

Take vigorous seedlings of Indian corn, beans, peas or any rapidly
growing plant and place in pots. Subject one plant to drought by
withholding moisture from it, give to the other abundant water, being
careful, however, not to drown the plant. Note the results at the end
of one, two, three and four weeks.

These suggestions are made not as laboratory directions, but merely
as indications to the honest teacher, of methods by which information
may be secured from nature itself without the intervention of text
books. Suggestions which it is hoped will lead the teacher to find new
meaning in that very common thing, the foliage leaf, and through this
to give him the power to advance to a clearer and fuller interpretation
of the life about him.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 3.

LEAFLET

On Nature Stupy.
DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS OF

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

THE FLOWER AS AN OBJECT
FOR NATURE STUDY.

By PROF. STANLEY COULTER.

In this study let us remember that the beauty of the flower is but
an incident, that the work of the flower is the essential thing. Every
living organism, whether plant or animal, has two supreme functions.
One is the maintenance of the individual life of the organism, and this
is secured by the varied processes concerned in nutrition. The other
is the maintenance of the species or kind, and this is secured by the re-
productive processes. To the flower, in a very large, degree, is com-
mitted the work of perpetuating the species, and if this fact is kept
in mind it will serve to make clear much of what follows:

Before we consider the work of the flower, let us examine the flower
itself very briefly. Let us take for example the apple-blossom or
spring-beauty. It will be readily seen in these cases that the flower
consists of four circles of parts. An outer and lower circle, which
is green in color, known as the caly«, the separate parts being called
sepals. Immediately within and slightly above the calyx, a second
circle, usually some other color than green. This is the corolla, and
its separate parts are petals. Within the corolla a third circle of parts
very unlike either sepals or petals in form, the individual members of
which are known as the stamens. If you examine closely you will

2

find the stamen to consist of two parts, a thread-like or ribbon-like
lower portion, the filament, which bears at its summit a box-like part
known as the anther. Within the anther are developed small bodies,
rounded or angular in shape, and usually yellow or brown in color,
which are called the pollen grains. | When the pollen grains are fully
ripened the anther bursts open and the pollen is set free. When you
walk through a field of rag-weed in the late summer the yellow powder
that covers your shoes is the pollen of the plant. Do not forget this
pollen, for it is very important, as we will find later. In the center of
the flower a fourth circle of parts, often appearing as a single organ,
the pistils. Here again we must examine the part somewhat in detail.
In most cases the pistil is found to be made up of three parts; a
swollen, rounded base called the ovary, a more or less expanded sum-
mit known as the stigma, and a part connecting stigma and ovary
known as the style If the ovary be cut across it will be found to
contain a number of small, round bodies, usually colorless, which are
known as the ovules. These ovules are the bodies which, after fertili-
zation, become the seeds. Now, the ovules can only be fertilized
through the agency of the pollen grains. If I wished to state the
matter scientificially I would say that fertilization occurred when the
protoplasmic contents of the pollen grain united with the protoplas-
mic contents of the ovule, but for our purpose perhaps the first state-
ment will do. It is easily seen, then, that pollen grains and ovules
are the parts of the flower essential to reproduction, or, in other words,
to the formation of the seed. We then have to seek the significance
of the calyx and the highly colored corolla, for they must in some
way be associated with the work of the plant. Let us turn for a
moment to some other flowers, those of the walnut tree, of the oak,
or of grass. Examining these, we find calyx and corolla absent or
much reduced, although stamens and pistils are readily made out. It
is very clear, then, that calyx and corolla can be and frequently are
dispensed with by the flower.

After this somewhat lengthy prelude, let us see what the facts it
contains teach. Evidently the pollen, when liberated from the anther,
must in some way reach the pistil, and, having reached the pistil, its
protoplasmic contents must reach the ovule, which is completely en-
closed in the ovary. With this latter part of the process we are not
concerned in nature-study, but the former is of very great interest.
It is plain, if we examine any large number of flowers, that the rela-
tive positions of stamens and pistils are such that gravity will not
insure the falling of the pollen grain upon the stigma. We must find
some means, then, by which the pollen grain is transferred to the

3

stigma. This mechanical transfer of the pollen grain to the stigma
constitutes what is known as pollination. Cross pollination is said to
oceur when the pollen of one flower is carried to the stigma of another
flower of the same kind. Without discussing the matter, we find that
in nature cross-pollination occurs in a large majority of plants, and
that by many devices self or close pollination is prevented.

Cross-pollination is effected in a large measure through two
agencies, the wind and insects.

If we examine wind-pollinated flowers, we find the following con-
ditions to exist:.

1. Calyx and corolla absent or greatly reduced.

2. Absence (ordinarily) of fragrance.

3. Absence of nectar or honey.

4, The development of an immense quantity of pollen.

The reasons for these correlations are very evident. The wind is
an insensate agent; it “bloweth where it listeth,” and its direction is
not changed by brilliance of color, delicacy of odor or presence of
nectar. So nature wastes no energy in the development ‘of useless
structures, and all the force thus saved is turned to the production of
large quantities of pollen grains. This great amount of pollen is
necessary because of the uncertainty of any large portion of it finding
its way to stigmas ready to receive it; and so these large quantities
stand merely as the index of the difficulty of the perpetuation of
species in wind-pollinated plants.

In insect-pollinated flowers, however, we have a sentient agency, the
insect, and as we examine the flowers we find the following correla-
tions:

1. Development of color.

Development of fragrance.
Development of nectar.
Extremely varied forms.

. A reduced amount of pollen.

It is scarcely necessary to speak in detail of these correlations.
Color and fragrance serve largely, doubtless, to enable the insects to
readily find the plants which produce their favorite food. We must
remember that insects do not visit flowers because the flowers are
beautiful or fragrant, but because they want food, the color and
fragrance standing merely as the indication of the presence of food.
The food, however, is so placed that the insect securing it bears away
upon its body greater or less quantities of pollen. As it visits another
flower of the same kind, this pollen is brushed off by the stigma, and
pollination results. The devices for insuring that the pollen be thus

OLR gow

4

borne away by the insect, and that it be deposited upon the stigma,
are very numerous and very wonderful. Some of them are so jntri-
cate as to seem almost incredible unless we remember how jealously
nature guards the type.

It sometimes happens that particular plants can only be pollinated
by particular insects, a fact which largely explains many irregularities
in flower forms. For example, the common red clover can only be
pollinated through the agency of the bumble-bee. If the bumble-
‘bees in any given region were completely exterminated, the red clover
would fail to set seed and would, in a very short time, become extinct.
In many cases where the red clover blooms very early farmers do not
expect the first flowers to set seed, because, as they say, “the flowers
blossomed before bee-time.” Because of the purposeful movements
of the insect from flower to flower in search of food, pollination is
much more certainly assured than in the case of wind-pollinated
flowers, and there is a corresponding reduction in the amount of the
pollen.

We here begin to see how tangled is the web of life, how closely
interdependent are life forms. The plant furnishing food for the
insect, the insect in its turn insuring the perpetuation of the plant
form. The more we study nature, the closer and more wide-reaching
will these relations be found, until we see that the fullest study of a
single form would in the end include all living organisms.

But, whether the pollinating agent is wind or insect, it would be
possible in many cases that self-pollination would occur did not spe-
cial devices for its prevention intervene. The more apparent of these
are the following:

1. Stamens in one flower and pistils in another, though upon the
same plant.

2. Stamens in the flowers of one plant, pistils in those of another.

3. Pollen maturing before the stigma is in condition to receive it,
or the reverse.

It is very evident that any one of these conditions will effectually
prevent self-pollination. The existence of these conditions is easily
made out by an examination of the flowers, although the last may
need a word of explanation. The maturing of the pollen is evidenced
by the bursting of the anther for its escape, and the subsequent droop-
ing of the filaments. The indication of the stigma being in a condi-
tion to receive the pollen is ordinarily the development, upon a more
or less definitely marked region, of hairs or a mucilaginous substance
which will serve to retain the pollen which falls upon it.

5

The questions in the study of the flower in nature-work that should
always be in mind are these:

1. Is the flower self-pollinated or cross-pollinated?

2. If cross-pollinated, is the agency the wind or insects?

3. If by insects, what forms of insects visit the particular flower
under examination?

4, What devices are present for preventing self-pollination?

It will be seen that in this leaflet I have called attention to the
matter of pollination alone. Other suggestions could be made as to
the use of the flower as an object for nature-study, but a somewhat
extended experience has convinced me that, with this point as the
center, the interest in the flower is keener and of longer continuance.
The study of form and color weary after a time, because of their
almost infinite variety. The study of a definite purpose accomplished
by means of various adaptations is of abiding'interest. If you' and
‘your pupils have the clear-cut conception that the flower has a
definite and vital work to perform, and will honestly attempt to work
out the various means by which this end ‘is secured, every flower will
be to you material for nature-study, and you will find your work
increase in interest from day to day.

METHODS OF PRESENTATION.

1. Select fairly large and simple flowers for the study of the four
circles which go to make up the complete flower. Abundant material
should be secured and the variety of forms should be as great as possi-
ble. Any or all of the following forms will be found suitable:

Any of the buttereups, marsh marigolds, violets, water cress, larkspur,
common ‘wild yellow poppy, ‘peas, beans, locust, apple, peach, cherry, straw-
berry, dog-tooth violet, or any form near the school and accessible to the
children. Work out the different circles repeatedly, using differ-
ent plants until they are clearly understood. Make out the different
parts of stamen and pistil.

Do not have the flower torn to pieces, except when looking for the ovules.

2. Take flowers of maple, oak, hickory, beech or any grass and com-
pare with flowers studied under No. 1. Points for comparison will
readily suggest themselves to the teacher.

3. To study prevention of self-pollination by separation of stamens
and pistils, use flowers of sassafras, spice bush, any of the spurges, oak,
walnut ov willow. Many others will be found, if careful examination is
made.

6

4. To stady ripening of pollen and stigma at different times, use
crocus (cultivated), common plantain. It will be of great interest to
the pupils if they are allowed to work out points under Nos. 3 and 4
for themselves. The material should be distributed, with only one
question—“Does any device exist for the prevention of self-pollina-
tion?”

5. While drawing is not nature-work, it is an accessory to it, and
should be used wherever practicable, but never to the extent of ob-
scuring the real center of the work, which is the study of nature. The
drawing in nature-study is chiefly to be used as a convenient method
of making notes.

EXPERIMENTAL:
To show insect agency in pollination.

When peas or beans are in blossom, cover some bunches of flowers
with mosquito netting in such a way as to exclude insects, yet admit
light. Note results from day to day.

Try the same experiment upon apple, peach or strawberry blossoms,
and note results.

If possible to have access to a field of red clover, enclose some
flower-heads before opening in mosquito netting, to prevent insect visi-
tation. Compare “netted” flowers with those that were left “un-
netted,” as to setting of seed.

These suggestions as to methods and experiments are only meant
to serve as hints to the busy teacher. If fuller details are desired by
any teacher into whose hands this leaflet falls, they will be cheerfully
given upon addressing the author.

Finally, it must be remembered that in all this work the essential
feature is contact with the forms studied in their natural relations.
It is the living plant that is to he studied. The scholars should be
encouraged to collect their own material, to report upon facts they
have observed, and be made to feel that it is their work to find new
and interesting facts in nature about them.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

[LEAFLET

On Nature STupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

THE CARE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

By Pror. C S. PLums.

The purpose of this little leaflet is to aid in training the powers of
observation of children, by studying the animal life of their daily sur-
roundings at home. Enough suggestions are given to the teacher in this
to enable one to discuss several phases of such life with the children, and
inspire them with an ambition to become more familiar with the daily
needs and welfare of farm animals.

Once upon a time, over a century ago, there lived in England a little
boy by the name of Robert Bakewell. He lived with his parents in a
stone house and helped take care of the horses, cattle, sheep and swine
on the farm. He showed an unusual interest in all of the live stock, and
was with them much of his time. As he grew in years, so bis interest in
farm animals increased. He was rather a reticent fellow and kept his
thoughts to himself. But he was a great thinker and observer. He saw
that the people about him had many animals tbat were unworthy of their
keeping. The stock grew slowly, ate much expensive food, were of ill
shape and were not profitable to their owners. And so after giving this

NOYE TO THE TEACHER.

You will notice that part of the leaflet is printed leaded, or with the lines far
apart. and a part of it not leaded. The teacher should use his discretion in the
use of the closely-lined matter. In most cases it will be necessary to simplify it
to meet the comprehension of the children. The leaded matter may be read to
the children or presented orally just as it is. It, however, admits of unlimited
amplification and discussion. In presenting it, the previous knowledge and expe-
rience of the children should be drawn upon so far as possible. It is suggested
that this leaflet affurds material enough for a great many lessons, and that part of
it should be used in the summer and part in the winter.

2

matter much thought, Robert Bakewell began the work of improving the
farm animals of his locality, in the county of Leicester. Horses, cattle
and sheep he resolved to improve to a higher standard of excellence.
His neighbors laughed at him, but he was not diverted from his self-
assumed task. For years he worked at his problems, and finally he
placed before the admiring world the improved English cart horse, Long-
Horn cattle and Leicester sheep. Then Bakewell was honcred, even be-
yond the shores of Britain, and in later days he became known as ‘‘ the
father of improved live stock husbandry.”

What led to Bakewell’s success ? .

A natural love for animals The faculty of observation. An ambi-
tion to improve that which he thought was inferior. The use of better
methods. Persistency of purpose.

Are not all these qualities found to some degree in you? Do not the
boys and girls of the farm, more often than not, love the animals with
which they come in contact? How can this love be turned to account as
a means of education in one direction, and animal betterment in another?

Let ussee! Robert Bakewell, as one engaged in caring for and improv-
ing farm animals, believed in three things:

(1) Stabling or shelter ;

(2) Proper feeding and watering; and

(8) Gentle treatment.

Have you ever thought what a highly developed being the improved
farm animal of to-day is? Did he not once run wild and independent?
Has not the will of man greatly improved the horse, ox, cow and pig since
the days when they roamed wild? Seventy-five years ago the fastest
horses could hardly race a mile in three minutes. Do you know what
the fastest record is today? Where cattle run wild they produce only
enough milk to raise their calves on. How much milk has the best cow
you have ever heard of given ina year? In some parts of the country,
where the pigs run wild and have no care, they are so thin and have such
long legs that they call them ‘‘ razor backs,’ and they can almost outrun
the fastest dogs. How do the best looking pigs that you see on our farms

and at our Fairs look, compared with a ‘razor back”?

Yer, it is true, the farm animal of to-day is an artificial one, compesed
of either nerves, muscle, meat or wool, and over which man has a won-
derful power, if he but knew it Once shelter and care would have been
an injury; now is more frequently a neces-ity. And so you should know
the real necessity of giving farm animals the care that humanity and
economy make des rable.

Would it not be well to look into the necessity of these things? Sup-
pore we consider some phases of the lives of farm animals that we might
give attention to, and thereby add to the comfort of dumb beasts, while
adding to our own knowledge of life.

Stabling ov Shelter. All animals require protection from the changes of

weather or other conditions to a greater or less extent. In the severe

3

cold of winter or the heat of summer, what do most animals'{naturally
do? Do they seek for shelter? Is it fur this reason in part that sheds
or barns are erected? How do cattle look as they stand in the corn-
fields or barnyard on a cold, cloudy day in January, with a strong wind
blowing? On the great prairies cattle seek the protection of groves or
windbreaks, where other shelter is not provided. In the cooler northern
part of the country, in winter, as in Indiana, for example, the humane and
wise man provides comfortable barns or warm sheds in which his stock

may be housed.

Is this important? Let us see.

Some years ago the writer conducted an experiment at the Indiana
Experiment Station at Purdue, to see if shelter was desirable for ani-
mals in winter. Six cows were used. Three of these were given shelter
from all kinds of disagreeable weather, while three were kept out, ex-
posed to all sorts of conditions during the day, the only shelter provided
being a small shed open ou two sides. This experiment showed several
things. First, that the exposed cows produced less milk each day than
the sheltered. Second, the exposed cows lost in weight, while those given
shelter gained Third, the exposed cows ate more food than the shel-
tered ones. Fourth, from the financial side, the sheltered cows showed
nearly $13 00 more to their credit than did the exposed ones.

The animal body is something like the boiler of an engine. The food
is the fuel which creates the energy to make the body go. If this body
is exposed to severe cold, then more food or fuel is necessary to keep the
system up, and so the cost for food is increased.

Another thing should never be lost sight of, and that is that it is cruel
to expose animals to intense cold without for hours ata time. Even in
summer, when there is no breeze and the heat is excessive, all kinds of
farm stock will suffer if they can not secure shelter of some kind from
the sun’s rays.

Suppose that we make some observations on the subject of shelter.
Turn one of the horses or cows out of doors in cold winter weather, and
note how it affects the appearance and the appetite. When it is stormy
in winter, if possible compare the condition of wool and skin of a flock
of sheep out of doors with those kept in shelter. Ask the man who
buys and sells wool what kind of a fleece is most valuable, the one from
sheep running in the rain and snow or the one kept in the dry shed?
In sunimer place some pigs in a field exposed to the sun, where they can
get no shelter, and compare their appearance and comfort with those
lying in the shade. In warm weather, when flies are biting badly, begin
to weigh the milk of four cows morning and night. Now turn two of
these into the pasture and keep two in a darkened stable, and see what
ig the influence on the milk yield and comfort of the different animals.

4

Food and Feeding. All true lovers of animals enjoy watching them
eat. lu the great zodlogical gardens crowds assemble to see the lions
eat and to feed the monkeys peanuts and candy. There is a sense of
pleasure in watching our farm animals with hearty appetite eating their
grain in the manger. The most successful feeders study the appetites of
their stuck, and enjoy giving changes of diet and noting the relish shown
by the animal in eating of it.

Of the foods fed, horses prefer oats or corn. Cattle and sheep relish
both of these, as well as bran and oil meal, while pigs enjoy corn or
shorts or middlings best. In fact a large share of the pigs grown in the
United States are fed on corn or its products.

All classes of stock, however, enjoy and need herbage in some form,
eith-r dry or green. Horses are usually fed timothy hay, and cattle
clover and corn fodder, green or dry while sheep need clover or some
kind of fine grass, as, for example, Kentucky blue grass. This last is
the best pasture grass we have, though for pigs nothing is better than
green clover.

Now, that we know what fouds are used, how shall the animals be fed ?
Shall they be fed at any regular hours? Is there a good and a bad way
to feed? Suppose we say, that the best way to feed horses is to give
them water first, then some grain, and last, hay. Is that right? Is that
the way you do at home? I think horses should be watered before eat-
ing. That is, so they will not wash their food down before they have
ground it up well in the stomach. But suppose you ask a few men you
know, who have horses, when they give them water, and report on this
subject.

Cattle are usually fed their grain first, and then the hay, or coarse
fodder, or pasture. Horses and cattle must be fed morning, noon and
night, although grain is not usually fed cattle at noon. Much, however,
depends vpon circumstances, for horses that are hard worked, or cattle
that are being fattened, or heavily milked, require more nutriment than
do others. Sheep and pigs should be fed at morning and night, but if
being fattened, it is best to feed them three times a day.

It is important that all kinds of stock be fed only such an amount as
will be entirely eaten, and with a relish, especially the grain. With some
coarse hays or clover there always is necessarily some woody material left
uneaten.

Here isa good chance to make some observations. What do the live
stock you are acquainted with eat? How much is fed them of this or
that? At what hours of day are they fel? Do you know how fast they
grow? There are sheep and pigs on many farms, where simple feeding
experiments might be conducted. Let us take two lambs about the
same size, and feed one corn meal and the other ground oats, and see
which will grow the best. We should have scales, and the lambs should
be weighed occasionally, say once a week, and an accurate record kept of

5

the growth, as well as of the amount of food eaten each week. Then, in
a few weeks, it will be interesting to report on the gain in weight, how
many pounds of grain were eaten, its value, and which cost the most.
Will it not be easy to feed the calves the skim milk for a few weeks,
weighing or measuring what they drink of it, and then report on the
amount of such food a calf needs each day to grow well? Can you not
show how much each 100 pounds of skim milk is worth, when fed to
calves or pigs? Feed them the milk, weighing what you give daily, and
keeping a record of the weights of the pigs or calves. How much grain
do some cows eat daily, that make large amounts of milk? Will such a
cow give less milk if she is fed less grain?

Watering. Few people realize how important it is that farm animals
should be watered properly. In wioter they suffer most, from having to
drink from icy prols or troughs, so that if they get enough to satisfy
thirst they are frequently chilied all through. With cold air all about
the exterior of the body, and ice-water within, the temperature of the
body is reduced, and then more food (fuel) is required in the furnace to
warm up the body to the necessary point ayain.

Do you thivk animals prefer warmed water in winter? Mr. Gurler, in
his book ‘‘American Dairying,”’ tells of a case where some young heifers
jumped into a water trough to get where the water was coming warm
from a pipe. He says his cows when given water slightly warmed keep
in better condition and give more milk. I have seen cows go to a stream
of water flowing along icy shores, and drink, and then stand humped up
and shivering as though suffering from ague. They were chilled through.

A cow will easily drink fifty pounds a day of water at a temperature
of 60 degrees, but if at 35 degrees, she will not drink all she needs, and
will turn away chilled, yet thirsty. Do you know how a cow looks con-
taining fifty pounds of ice-water.

Teach the necessity of giving the farm stock water that is pure and
clean, and which in winter has the chill removed from it. Filthy water
usually carries disease germs, and may cause serious sickness. Thou-
sands, yes millions, of pigs have died from disease through drinking
water that was contaminated with cholera germs. The sheep and pig
need as pure water to drink as the horse or cow, and they require plenty
of it at all times.

Would you not be interested to learn something about this important
subject? How much will our farm animals drink at a time? A bucket
of water on the scales may be weighed before and after drinking. Will
more warm water be drunk than cold? Place a pail of very cold and
one of very slightly warm water before the horse on a cold winter day
and see which he will drink first. How much water does a sheep drink
at atime? How much water will a horse drink in a week? Willa
horse that is working hard drink more than one standing in the stable?

6

How much more water will a large horse drink than a small one? Do
you know of any men who have heaters in their water troughs in winter,
so that their stock may have warm water? If so, ask them how they like
these heaters.

Genileness is a most important thing to observe when among animals,
if one desires to secure the best results in handling them. The man who
has the pigs uuder his feet whenever he goes into the lot where they are,
by his quietness and gentleness has taught them that he is their friend.
Such a person usually knows how to feed profitably aud raise stock suc-
cessfully. The man who sits by the nervous cow and quietly soothes her
with a gentle voice while milking, instead of using harsh measures,
secures more milk and enjoys the company of the beast more than would
the man who would ‘teach her a lesson.’? No dumb animal was ever
improved in disposition, or made more profitable to the owner, by the
adoption of brutal or unnecessarily severe measures. The most successful
feeders of stock are invariably gentle in handling their animals. The
man who succeeds in getting the greatest speed out of a horse on the
race-track is the one who rules by love, not fear.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 5.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS OF
' PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

A CHILDREN’S GARDEN.

By L. H. BAILEY,
Professor of Horticulture in Cornell University.

[Reprinted from a Cornell Leaflet by permission. ]

We want every school child in the State to grow a few plants this
summer. We want everyone of them to learn something of why and
how plants grow, and the best and surest way to learn is to grow the
plants and to watch them carefully. We want everyone to become in-
terested in everything that lives and grows. It does not matter so very
much just what kinds of plants one grows, as it does that he grows
something and grows it the best that he knows how. We want the chil-
dren to grow these plants for the love of it,—that is, for the fun of it,
—and so: we propose that they grow flowers; for when one grows
pumpkins and potatoes, and such things, he is usually thinking of how
much money he is going to make at the end of the season. Yet, we
should like some rivalry in the matter in every school, and we there-
fore propose that a kind of fair be held at the school house next Sep-
tember, soon after school begins, so that each child may show the
flowers which he has grown. What a jolly time that will be!

Now, we must not try to grow too many things or to do too much.
Therefore, we propose that you grow sweet peas and China asters.
They are both easy to grow, and the seeds are cheap. Hach one has
many colors, and everybody likes them. Now let us tell you just how
we would grow them.

1. The place.—Never put them—or any other flowers—in the mid-
dle of the lawn,—that is,not out in the center of the yard. They donot
look well there, and the grass roots run under them and steal the food
and moisture. I am sure that you would not like to see a picture hung

2

up on a fence-post. It has no background, and it looks out of place.
The picture does not mean anything when hung in such a spot. In
the same way, a flower bed does not mean anything when set out in
the center of alawn. We must have a background for it, if possible,-—
a wall upon which to hang it. So we will put the flower bed just in
front of some bushes or near the back fence, or alongside the smoke-
house, or along the walk at the side of the house or in the back yard.
The flowers will not only look better in such places, but it will not
matter so much if we make a failure of our flower bed; there are always
risks to run, for the old hen may scratch up the seeds, the cow may
break into the yard some summer night, or some bug may eat the
plants up.

Perhaps some of the children may live so near to the school house
that they can grow their plants upon the school grounds, and so have
sweet peas and asters where there are usually docks and smartweeds.
Grow them alongside the fence, or against the school house if there is
a place where the eaves will not drip on them.

2. How to make the bed.—Spade the ground up deep. Take out all
the roots of docks and thistles and other weeds. Shake the dirt all out
of the sods and throw the grass away. You may need a little manure
in the soil, especially if the land is either very hard or very loose and
sandy. But the manure must be very fine and well mixed into the
soil. It is easy, however, to make sweet pea soil so rich that the plants
will run to vine and not bloom well.

Make the bed long and narrow, but not narrower than three feet. If
it is narrower than this, the grass roots will be apt to run under it and
suck up the moisture. If the bed can be got at on both sides, it may
be as wide as five feet.

Sow the seeds in little rows crosswise the bed. The plants can then
be weeded and hoed easily from either side. If the rows are marked
by little sticks, or if a strong mark is left in the earth, you can break
the crust between the rows (with a rake) before the plants are up. The
rows ought to be four or five inches further apart than the width of a
narrow rake.

3. How to water the plants.—I wonder if you have a watering-pot?
If you have, put it where you cannot find it, for we are going to water
this garden with a rake! We want you to learn, in this little garden,
the first great lesson in farming,—how to save the water in the soil.
Tf you learn that much this summer, you will know more than many
old farmers do. You know that the soil is moist in the spring when
you plant the seeds. Where does this moisture go to? It dries wp,—
goes off into the air. If we could cover up the soil with something, we

ss)

should prevent the moisture from drying up. Let us cover it with a
layer of loose, dry earth! We will make this covering by raking the
bed every few days,—once every week anyway, and oftener than that
if the top of the soil becomes hard and crusty, as it does after a rain.
Instead of pouring water on the bed, therefore, we will keep the
moisture in the bed.

If, however, the soil becomes so dry in spite of you that the
plants do not thrive, then water the bed. Do not sprinkle it, but water
it. Wet it clear through at evening. Then in the morning, when the
surface begins to get dry, begin the raking again to keep the water
from getting away. Sprinkling the plants every day or two is one of
the surest ways to spoil them.

4. When and how to sow.—The sweet peas should be put in just as
soon as the ground can be dug, even before frosts are passed. Yet,
good results can be had if the seeds are put in as late as the 10th of
May. In the sweet pea garden at Cornell last year, we sowed the seeds
on the 20th of April. This was about right. The year before, we
sowed them on the 30th. If sown very early, they are likely to bloom
better, but they may be gone before the middle of September. The
blooming can be much prolonged if the flowers are cut as soon as they
begin to fade.

Plant sweet peas deep,—two to three or sometimes even four inches.
When the plants are a few inches high, pull out a part of them so that
they will not stand nearer together than six inches in the row. It isa
good plan to sow sweet peas in double rows,—that is, put two rows
only five or six inches apart,—-and stick the brush or place the chick-
en-wire support between them.

China asters may be sown from the middle of May to the first of
June. In one large test at Cornell, we sowed them the 4th of June,
and had good success, but this is rather later than we would advise.
The China asters are autumn flowers, and they should be in their
prime in September and early October.

Sow the aster seed shallow,—not more than a half inch deep. The
tall kinds of asters should have at least a foot between the plants in
the row, and the dwarf kinds six to eight inches.

Sometimes China asters have rusty or yellow spots on the undersides
of their leaves. This is a fungous disease. If it appears, have your
father make some ammoniacal carbonate of copper solution and then
spray them with it; or Bordeaux mixture will do just as well or better,
only that it discolors the leaves and flowers.

5. What varieties to choose.—In the first place, do not plant too
much. A garden which looks very small when the pussy willows come

4

out and the frogs begin to peep, is pretty big in the hot days of July.
A garden four feet wide and twenty feet long, half sweet peas and half
asters, is about as big as most boys and girls will take care of.

In the next place, do not get too many varieties. Four or five kinds
each of peas and asters will be enough. Buy the named varieties,—
that is, those of known colors,—not the mixed packets. If you are
very fond of reds, then choose the reddest kinds; but it is well to put
in at least three colors. The varieties which please you may not please
me or your neighbor, so that I cannot advise you what to get, but I
will give you some lists which may help you.

Amongst all the sweet peas grown at Cornell last year, the following
seemed to be best on our grounds:

Dark purple. Waverly.
Duke of Clarence.
Striped purple. Gray Friar.
Juanita.
Senator.
Lavender. Countess of Radnor.

Dorothy Tennant

Lottie Eekford.
White. The Bride.

Emily Henderson.

Queen of England, Alba Magnifica.
Primrose. Mrs. Eckford.
White flushed with pink. Blushing Beauty

Katherine Tracy.

Eliza Eckford.

Striped or flaked pink. Ramona.
Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain.

Orange-pink. Lady Penzance.
Meteor.
Rose-pink. Her Majesty.
lendor.
Apple Blossom.
Boreatton.
Rose pink shaded with orange. Firefly.
Princess Victoria.

At another place or in another season, these varieties might not
have given us the most satisfaction; but these names suggest some of
the colors, if one does not happen to have a seedsman’s catalogue
handy.

Of China asters, the Comet type—in various colors—will probably
give the most satisfaction. They are mostly large-growing kinds.
Other excellent kinds are the Perfection and Peony-flowered, Semple
or Branching, Chrysanthemum-flowered, Washington, Victoria, and,
for early, Queen of the Market. Odd varieties are Crown, German
Quilled, Victoria Needle and Lilliput. Very dwarf kinds are Dwarf
Bouquet or Dwarf German, and Shakespeare.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 6.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

A CHAT ABOUT BUGS.

By PROF. STANLEY COULTER.

I believe in using pencil and paper, so I want you to have them near
you while you are reading this leaflet. The first thing I want you to
do is to make a list of all the animals that you know live about your
home. I do not mean donestic animals, such as sheep and pigs and
dogs, but wild animals, such as squirrels and rabbits. Write the names
in a column on the left side of the page. Now opposite each name tell
where the animal lives, whether in trees or caves or under ground, and
also tell what kind of food it eats.

After you have done this make a similar list of the birds that live
about your home.

Now try to make a list of the lugs or insects that you know live
about your home, being sure to tell where they live and what kind of
food they eat. You cannot tell so much about them as about the ani-
mals and birds, can you? Of course, every boy and girl is interested
in animals and birds. they love to watch them and are constantly
trying to find out more about them, but I find very few boys and girls
or even grown-up people who are interested in what they call “bugs.”
Now, I do not think “bugs” a very nice name, but we can afford to let
that pass because we know just what kind of animal we mean when
we use the term. I was talking the other day about insects to some
people, and when I got through one of them said: “I never knew

2

there was anything interesting about bugs before.” It was just because
of that remark that I am writing this leaflet. Have you any idea how
many different kinds of insects there are in the world? Well, there
are hundreds of thousands. There are at least four times as many
different kinds of animals of this kind as of all the other kinds put
together. Have you studied arithmetic yet? If you have you will
understand what I mean when I say that four-fifths of all the kinds
of animal life by number belong in the family in which the bugs are
found. So you see that they ought to interest us because they are so
numerous. Did you ever hear of insects darkening the sun? They do
sometimes, for they fly in such great swarms that they hide the sun
just as it would be hidden by a heavy cloud. Do you think they
could ever stop one of the great trains that you see rushing past on the
railroad? They have done it, just because of their countless numbers.
In Indiana we do not often see such vast numbers at a single time,
but don’t you remember sometimes how you have driven through
clouds of gnats, or how in the evening the fireflies have made the
meadow gleam like the lights of a distant city’ If you watch this
summer you will be surprised to find how many times you will see
great swarms of bugs. Sometimes it will be in the morning, some-
times in the iniddle of the day, sometimes in the evening. When you
see them, if you have time, watch them and see if you can find out
what becomes of them.

Of this vast nuinber of bugs or insects some are very helpful to man,
while others vive him a great deal of trouble and often cause him to
lose his crops or harvested grain. Some of these insects help man,
because if it were not for their love of honey many plants would not
set seed, and that would mean that, after a while, that plant would
entirely disappear. If all of the bumblebees in the world should be
killed the red clover would also be destroyed, for red clover can only
set sced when visited by bumblebevs. Others of these bugs help man
because they eat the harmful ones, or destroy their eggs or young,
while others, such as the honey bec, furnish him with food.

A good deal of the harm done by insects is to growing crops. They
attack it at all times. Sometimes just as the seed has burst open and
is sending out its tender stem and roots, sometimes they wait until
the leaves unfold and eat them, and sometimes they leave the plant
untouched until the fruit is ripening and eat that. After the farmer
puts his grain in the granary it is not safe, for some of the bues known
as weevils may find it and eat it, just as if it had been put carefully

3

away for them. Try to find out how many kinds of bugs eat the
tender, young seedlings. How many kinds eat the leaves? How many
kinds eat the grain or fruit? Watch the growing corn and cabbages
and potatoes and tomatoes, and do not forget the currant bushes and
grapes and fruit trees. Sometimes you will have to look closely, for
these dangerous insects are often so colored and marked as to almost
exactly imitate the part of the plant upon which they feed.

Then insects injure man because of their attacks upon domestic an-
imals. Did you think a fly could keep cattle out of a country? There
are some regions, especially in South Africa, where there is splendid
grass and plenty of water, but no cattle. The reason is that in those
regions there lives a fly known as the tsetze fly, which actually worries
the cattle to death. I cannot stop to tell you about the way in which
this is done, but perhaps if your father will tell you something about
the bot fly and the way it troubles cattle you can work it out for your-
self. Then others of these insects are hurtful because they destroy
those that help us. Do you know any one that keeps bees? If you
do, ask him to tell you about the bee-moth and other insects that spoil
the hives.

You see from what I have said that our bugs are of two kinds,
those that eat vegetable food and those that eat animal food. Try
how many different kinds of insects you can find that eat plant food
and how many that eat animal food. I suppose none of you think you
would be afraid of a flesh-eating insect. It might do to be afraid of
a bear or a lion, but no one would be afraid of an insect. Yet in some
places these fierce, flesh-eating insects at times gather in great num-
bers and march in unbroken lines across the country in their search
for new homes. Nothing can stop their march but fire or flood, and
if a man should attempt to force his way through such an army he
would be killed and eaten in a very short time.

Even the plant-eating insects do their work of destruction very
rapidly. I have seen a forty-acre field of wheat entirely eaten in less
than two hours. Some time when you have found out all you can
about bugs with your eyes, I hope you will get a magnifying glass, and
then you can see the curious mouth-parts of these dangerous insects.
Some are like scissors and some like chisels and all are very strong and
powerful.

When the bugs, which you have thought so uninteresting, have so
much to do with the success or failure of the year’s work, don’t you
think it would be wise to find out all you can about them? I am sure

4

I do, for I believe that if your fathers and mothers had known as
much about bugs as you may. if you keep your eyes open, they would
be very much richer than they are to-day.

A million dollars seems like a ereat deal of money, does it not? A
great many splendid things could be done with that amount. But did
you know that the farmers vf Indiana Joxe more than a million of
dollars every year because of insects? It is because I want you to try
to save this vast sum of money that Iam trying to interest you in what
are known as bugs. T believe I have said enough to show that bugs are
worth studying.

But did you ever think how wise xeme insects were? J know of
some that build great domes ax perfect as our best engineers can de-
vise. When we think of the size of the insect, they are vastly larger
than anything man has ever undertaken. Man has wood and iron and
steel to help him, but these insects have only the earth, and vet their
wonderful arches and domes stand strong and true. Sometinics these
domes are 60 feet around and 25 fect high and are led into hy a series
of vaulted halls and passages that cover rods in every direction. Then
xome insects are too proud to work, and so have slaves, who do all
their work; in some cases they compel the slaves to chew the food for
them and place the prepared morsv! in their mouth. To capture these
slaves they march out in companies and regiments and brigades, under
the command of officers. and wage a genuine war. They talk to each
other by means of their “feelers” or antennae, as wise men call them,
and »end messages from one part of the army to another or back to
the home nest. I could tell you many more wonderful things that they
de. Do you want to know what strange kind of insects know so
much? Well, they are the ants. If you can find an ant nest this sum-
mer far enough away from the house not to be a nuisance, do not
destroy it, but watch it from day to day, an hour or two hours at a
time, and you will come to the conclusion that I have, that an ant has
more sense than the elephant, big as it is, and that it knows more than
even the dog or horse. It is strange, is it not, that vou and I have not
been more interested in animals that did such wonderful things?
There are other insects beside the ant that are very intelligent. but I
cannot stop to tell about them here.

I was talking a little while ago about plant-eating and flesh-eating
inscets, but what would vou think of insects that eat the hardest wood,
or that thrive on carpets and furs? Of others that prefer stone, and
others that will chew up iron? Yet there are inseets that destroy
stone pillars. eating their way straight into the hard mass, and there

o
are those that eat into the hardest wood, making holes as true and
smooth as you can make with a carpenter’s gimlet. I believe you will
want that magnifying glass pretty soon to examine those wonderful
mouth parts.

Then some of these bugs can sew, making seams so perfect and
drawing torn or cut edges together so carefully that you will need the
magnifying glass again to find where they have been at work. Some-
times instead of simply mending, they cut patterns out of leaves with
their scissor-like jaws and sew the pieces together to make the de-
sired article. There are others that spin, some coarse, rough threads,
but others the finest silk. Indeed, if I were to try to tell you of
all the wonderful things bugs could do I would have to write a book
instead of a leaflet. Squirrels and rabbits cannot do such things, nor
can birds. So I think if you watch closely you will find in your study
of bugs not only many useful things, but many very wonderful things.

But I believe the most wonderful thing is yet to be told. If you
see a young lamb you know it is a lamb, and when it grows it only gets
bigger, and though we call it a sheep, it has still the same shape and
eats the same kind of food. A young pig is just like an old one, only
smaller. But with our bugs this is not so. Most of them have three
different forms, in each of which they spend part of their life. These
forms look very unlike, they have very different habits and sometimes
eat different food. Some time in the summer you may be fortunate
enough to find some eggs which have been laid by a butterfly upon a
leaf. If you mark the spot and watch carefully by and by you will
see the eggs break open, and there will come out, not little butterflies,
but ugly, worm-like looking things, with any number of legs and
strong, big jaws, with which they immediately begin to devour the
leaf upon which they were born. We call these caterpillars. Scien-
tific men call them larvae. You can always tell a caterpillar from a
worm, because a worm has no visible legs and no well-developed
mouth parts. Now, remember that every caterpillar you see is only a
“bug” in one stage of its life. Watch these caterpillars. Find a to-
mato “worm” and watch it from day to day. Does it eat much?
Does it grow rapidly? Go to the currant bushes and watch the cater-
pillars there. Examine the tent caterpillars that grow in cherry and
elm trees. Do they eat much? Do they grow rapidly? I believe you
will come to the conclusion that about all a caterpillar has to do is to
eat. Indeed, many insects are only destructive in the caterpillar stage.
Do you know if the farmers in Indiana knew this and would destroy
caterpillars, or better still, the eggs, they would save thousands of dol-

6

lars each year? Did you ever hear of a “cut worm?” Go out into a
cornfield where they are at work. You can tell because the young
corn is cut off just below the ground as cleanly as if with a knife. Dig
up one of the cut worms. Is it a worm at all?

But by and by, if you watch the caterpillar, it moves about less
and eats less, and builds over itself a strange-looking outer covering.
This outer covering varies in color with the material of which it is
made. Sometimes it is earth, sometimes leaves, sometimes silk spun
by the caterpillar. In this tightly fitting house the caterpillar lies,
perfectly quiet, sometimes for a month, sometimes for two or three
months and sometimes even for years. This is another stage of insect
life, which is called the pupa stage.

At last movements show themselves within the case, it splits open
along the side, and there comes out the butterfly. It looks nothing
like the caterpillar and nothing like the pupa. It does not have to
grow, for it is as large the moment it is born as when it dies. Did
you ever watch these changes from the egg, through the various
stages, to the perfect insect? It can be easily done. You can try it
with the currant caterpillar or the tomato caterpillar, and if you feed
them well in the caterpillar stage you will have little difficulty in the
work.

But I only wanted to show you how much of interest there was in
bugs, and more than that, how important it was that we should
know more about them, and not to tell you in detail how to study
them.

After you have studied bugs a little while and know more about
their structure you will find that lobsters and crawfish and spiders be-
long in the same family, unlike as they seem to be to the butterflies
and bees and grasshoppers. You will find that there are bugs that
live in the water and others that live in the air; that some live under-
ground and some upon other animals. Jndeed, you will find that
every possible place where animal life can exist contains members of
this great family, and you will no longer wonder that their number is
so vast.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. ‘7.

LEAFLET

On Nature STupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

THE OBSERVATION CLUB, No. 1.

You will remember that in our talk last Friday I told you that we
should try to-day to form a sort of observation club composed of those
of us who think we would be interested in taking excursions about
the country in order to find out all we can about the things which we
see and hear every day, but about which, as I am sure you have already
discovered, most of us know very little because we have not learned
to use our eyes and ears as we should. I think from the talks we
have already had you have begun to realize what a wonderful world
this is; how full of beauty; and how many instructive lessons it has
for us if we are but ready and willing to learn them.

I hope you have been thinking and talking over what was told you
last week and are ready now to organize some such club and to elect
your officers. It seems to me we ought to have a president who will
look after the business of the club and preside at its meetings; also a
secretary to keep our records, take care of our money, if we ever have
any, and of our museum, if we are able to collect one.

I do not think we shall need any written constitution unless we
should grow into a society of naturalists, as I hope we may when we
have had more experience.

Since I have promised to direct your field expeditions and to give
you what field lectures I can, you may call me, if you please, the
director of the club.

2

NOTE.—The children should then, in proper order, nominate and elect
such officers as in the judgment of the teacher are desirable, with or with-
out written rules for the government of the club.

Among the names which may be selected for the club the following are
suggested: The Ramblers, The Naturalists, The Zig Zag Club.

Now, in order to interest you still more in the work which this club
is going to try to do, I want to tell you something about a famous man
who started, and for a long time conducted, one of these observation
clubs in England. This man, the Rev. Chas. Kingsley, was a great
preacher—for a time in the Cathedral at Chester and afterwards in
that beautiful Westminster Abbey, of which you have probably heard—
He was a great lover of books, too, but a still greater lover of nature.
Tn an address which he once made to the boys in Wellington he said
a good many wise things, a few of which I will read to you. I want
you to listen very carefully, for he tells you some things which will be
useful to you as members of an observation club.

“The first thing for a boy to learn, after obedience and morality, is
a habit of observation—a habit of using his eyes. They say knowledge
is power, and so it is, but only the knowledge which you get by obser-
vation.

“The art of learning consists, first and foremost, in the art of ob-
serving.

“Hiverything which helps a boy’s powers of observation, helps his
power of learning; and J know from experience that nothing helps so
much as the study of the world about you, and especially of natural
history. To be accustomed to watch for curious objects, to know in a
moment when you have come to anything new—which is observation.
To be quick at seeing when things are like, and when unlike—which is
classification. All that must, and I well know does, help to make a boy
shrewd, earnest, accurate, ready for whatever may happen.”

While Mr. Kingsley was Canon of Chester he thought he might do
good to the working people by interesting them in nature study. So
he occasionally gave them evening lectures. I want to read you now
a part of his lecture on coal, from which you will see that he had very
keen eyes, and, too, that he used very beautiful language.

In the course of his lecture he lifted a lump of coal from the table,
and holding it up before his listeners, said:

“A diamond, nothing less. We may consider the coal upon the fire
as a middle term of a series of which the first is the live wood, and the
last a diamond; and indulge safely in the fancy that every diamond in
the world has probably, at some remote epoch, formed part of a grow-
ing plant. A strange transformation, which will look to us more

3

strange, more poetical, the more we look at it. The coal on the fire,
the table at which I stand, what are they made of? Gas and sunbeams,
with a small percentage of ash, or earthy salts, which need hardly be
taken into account.

“ “Gas and sunbeams.’ Strange, but true. The life of the growing
plant—and what that life is, who can tell?—laid hold of the gases in
the air and in the soil, of the carbonic acid, the atmospheric air, the
water, for that too is gas. It drank them in through its rootlets; it
breathed them in through its leaf pores, that it might distil them into
sap, and bud, and leaf, and wood. But it had to take in another ele-
ment, without which the distillation and the shaping could never have
taken place. It had to drink in the sunbeams, and absorbed them,
buried them in itself—no longer as light and heat, but as invisible
chemical force, locked up for ages in that woody fibre.

“So it is! Lord Lytton told us in a beautiful song, how ‘the wind
and the beam loved the rose.’ But nature’s poetry is more beautiful
than man’s. The wind and the beam love the rose—or rather the
rose takes the wind and the beam, and builds up out of them, by her
own inner life, her exquisite texture, hue, and fragrance. What next?
The rose dies; the timber tree dies—decays down into vegetable fibre,
is buried, and turned to coal; but the plant can not altogether undo
its own work. Even in death and decay, it cannot set free the sun-
beams imprisoned in its tissue. The sun force must stay, shut up age
after age, invisible but strong; working at its own prison cells, trans-
muting them, or making them capable of being transmuted by man,
into the manifold products of coal, coke, petroleum, mineral pitch,
gases, coal tar, benzole, delicate aniline dyes, and what not, till its day
of deliverance comes. Man digs it, throws it on the fire, a black, dead-
seeming lump. A corner, an atom of it, warms till it reaches the ig-
niting point; the temperature at which it is able to combine with oxy-
gen. And then, like a dormant live thing, awaking after ages to the
sense of its own powers, its own needs, the whole lump is seized, atom
after atom, with an infectious hunger for that oxygen which it lost
centuries since in the bottom of the earth. It drinks the oxygen in at
every pore; and burns. And so the spell of ages is broken. The sun-
force bursts its prison cells, and blazes with the free atmosphere as
light and heat once more, returning in a moment into the same forms
in which it entered the growing leaf a thousand centuries since.
Strange it all is—yet true. But of nature, as of the heart of man, the
old saying stands—that truth is stranger than fiction.”

NOTE.—If the children are too young to understand the language of this
quotation, it should be omitted. The teacher might, however, translate it
into simpler language and make it serve as an interesting object lesson.
Should he do this and wish for further information on the subject it may be
found in “The Fairy Land of Science,’ by Arabella Buckley, one of the
books in the list adopted by the Indiana Reading Cirele Board.

But while Mr. Kingsley felt that he was helping the people by
means of these lectures, he soon decided that he could do far more for

a7

+

them by establishing sowething in the way of an observation club,
and so he offered to conduct excursions into the country and to give
field lectures. He thought that perhaps there might be ten or fifteen
people who would be willing to follow where he, with his botany box
on his back and his geological hammer in his hand, would lead, but
he often had a hundred or more.

This was the beginning of the famous Chester Scientific Society, one
of the strongest societies of its kind in England, which now has nearly
six hundred members, and enrolls as honorary members such men as
Huxley, Tyndall, Lyell and other famous scientists.

In the lecture at Wellington, which I have already mentioned, Mr.
Kingsley spoke of a very interesting story, which had, as he said, a
great influence on his life. He said: “When we were little and good,
a long time ago, we used to have a jolly old book called ‘Evenings at
Home, in which was a great story called ‘Eyes and No Eyes, and
that story was of more use to me than any dozen other stories I ever
read. And when I read that story, I said to myself, I will be Mr.
Eyes; I will not be Mr. No Eyes, and Mr. Eyes I have tried to be ever
since; and Mr. Eyes I advise every one of you to be, if you wish to be
happy and successful.”

I will, if you like, read you the story to which Mr. Kingsley alluded.
Although the scene is laid in England and the story speaks of some
things which are not to be seen in this country, I think you can get
from it some valuable lessons as to the use of your eyes and ears.

EYES, AND NO EYES;

OR, THE ART OF SEEING.

By Dr. AIKIN AND MRS. BARBAULD.

“Well, Robert, whither have you been walking this afternoon?” said
Myr. Andrews to one of his pupils at the close of a holiday.

R.—I have been, sir, to Broom-heath, and so around by the wind-
mill upon Camp-mount, and home, through the meadows, by the river
side.

My, A.—Well, that’s a pleasant round.

R.—I thought it very dull, sir; I scarcely met with a single per-
son. I would rather by half have gone along the turnpike road.

Mr. A.—Why, if seeing men and horses were your object, you
would, indeed, have been better entertained on the highroad. But did
you see William?

5

R.—We set out together but he lagged behind in the lane, so I
walked on and left him.

Mr. .\.—That is a pity. Ie would have been company for you.

R.—O, he is so tedious, always stopping to look at this thing and
that. I had rather walk alone. I dare say he has not got home yet.

Mr. A.—Here he comes. Well, William, where have you been?

W.—O, sir, the pleasantest walk! I went all over Broom-heath, and
so up to the mill at the top of the hill, and then down among the
green meadows, by the side of the river.

Mr. A.—Why, that is just the round that Robert has been taking,
and he complains of its dullness, and prefers the highroad.

W.—I wonder at that. Iam sure I hardly took a step that did not
delight me. and I have brought home my handkerchief full of cu-
riosities.

Mr. A.—Suppose, then, you give us some account of what amused
youso much. I fancy it will be as new to Robert as to me.

W.—I will. sir. The lane leading to the heath, you know, is close
and sandy; so I did not mind it much, but made the best of my way.
However, I spied a curious thing enough in the hedge. It was an old
crab tree, out of which erew a great bunch of something green, quite
different from the tree itself. Here is a branch of it.

Mr. A.—Ah! this is mistletoe, a plant of great fame for the use
made of it by the Druids of old in their religious rites and incanta-
tions. It bears a very slimy, white berry, of which birdlime may be
made, whence its Latin name Viscus. It is one of those plants which
do not grow in the ground by a root of their own, but fix themselves
upon other plants; whence they have been humorously styled parasiti-
cal, as being hangers-on, or dependants. It was the mistletoe of the
oak that the Druids particularly honored. F

W.—A little further on, I saw a green woodpecker fly to a tree, and
run up the trunk like a cat.

Mr. A.—That was to seek for insects in the bark, on which they
live. They bore holes with their strong bills for that purpose, and
do much damage to the trees by it.

W.—What beautiful birds they are!

Mr. A.—Yes: the woodpecker has been called, from its color and
size, the English parrot.

W.—When I got upon the open heath, how charming it was! The
air seemed so fresh, and the prospect on every side so free and un-
bounded! Then it was all covered with gay flowers, many of which I
had never observed before. There were, at least, three kinds of heath

G

(1 have got them in my handkerchief here), and gorse and broom, and
bellflower and many others of all colors, that I will beg you presently
to tell me the names of.

Mr. A.—That I will, readily.

W.—I saw, too, several birds that were new to me. There was a
preity grayish one, of the size of a lark, that was hopping about some
great stones; and when he flew he showed a great deal of white about
his tail.

Mr. A.—That was a wheat-ear. They are reckoned very delicious
lirds to eat, and frequent the open downs in Sussex, and some other
countics In great numbers.

W.—There was a flock of lapwings upon a marshy part of the heath,
that amused me much. As I came near them, some of them kept flying
round and round, just over my head, and crying “Pewet!” so distinctly,
one might almost fancy they spoke. I thought I should have caught
one of them, for he flew as though one of his wings was broken, and
often tumbled close to the ground; but as I came near, he always made
a shift to get away.

My. A.—Ha! ha! You were finely taken in, then! This was all an
artifice of the bird’s to entice you away from its nest; for they build
upon the bare ground, and their nests would easily be observed did
they not draw off the attention of intruders by their loud cries and
counterfeit lameness.

W.—I wish I had known that. for he led me a long chase, often
over shoes in water. However, it was the canse of my falling in with
an old man and a boy, who were cutting and piling up turf for fuel,
and I had a good deal of talk with them about the manner of prepar-
ing the turf and the price it sells at. They gave me, too, a creature I
never saw before—a young viper, which they had just killed, together

“with sis dam. I have seen several common snakes, but this is thicker
jn proportion and of a darker color than they are.

Mr. A.—True. Vipers frequent those turfy, boggy grounds pretty
much, and I have known several turf-cutters bitten by them.

W.—They are very venomous, are they not?

Mir. A.—Enough so to make their wounds painful and dangerous,
though they seldom prove fatal.

W.—wWell, I then took my course up to the windmill on the mount.
I climbed up the steps of the mill in order to get a better view of the
country around. What an extensive prospect! J counted fifteen
church steeples; and I saw several gentlemen’s houses peeping out
from the inidst of green woods and plantations; and I could trace the

7

windings of the river all along the low grounds, till it was lost behind
a ridge of hills. But, I’ll tell you what I mean to do, sir, if you will
give me leave.

Mr. A.—What is that?

W.—I will go again and take with me the county map, by which I
shall probably be able to make out most of the places.

Mr. A.—You shall have it, and I will go with you, and take my
pocket spying glass.

W.—I shall be very glad of that. Well—a thought struck me, that
as the hill is called Camp-mount there might probably be some re-
mains of ditches and mounds, with which I have read that camps
were surrounded. And I really believe I discovered something of that
sort running around one side of the mound.

Mr. A.—Very likely you might. I know antiquarians have de-
scribed such remains as existing there, which some suppose to be
Roman, others Danish. We will examine them further, when we go.

W.—From the hill, I went straight down to the meadows below, and
walked on the side of a brook that runs into the river. It was all bor-
dered with reeds and flags, and tall flowering plants, quite different
from those I had seen on the heath. As I was getting down the bank,
to reach one of them, I heard something plunge into the water near
me. It was a large water rat, and I saw it swim over to the other side
and go into its hole. There were a great many large dragen flies all
about the stream. I caught one of the finest and have got him here in
a leat. But how I longed to catch a bird that I saw hovering over
the water, and that every now and then darted down into it. It was
all over a mixture of the most beautiful green and blue, with some
orange color. It was somewhat less than a thrush, and had a large
head and bill and a short tail.

Mr. A.—I can tell you what that bird was—a king-fisher, the cele--
brated halcyon of the ancients, about which so many tales are told.
It lives on fish, which it catches in the manner you saw. It builds in
holes in the banks, and is a shy, retired bird, never to be seen far
from the stream where it inhabits.

W.—I must try to get another sight of him, for I never saw a bird
that pleased me so much. Well, I followed this little brook till it
entered the river, and then took the path that runs along the bank.
On the opposite side I observed several little birds running along the
shore, and making a piping noise. They were brown and white and
about as big as a snipe.

Mr. A.—I suppose they were sand-pipers, one of the numerous fam-

8

ily of birds that get their living by wading among the shallows, and
picking up worms and insects.

W.—There were a great many swallows, too, sporting upon the sur-
face of the water, that entertained me with their motions. Some-
times they dashed into the stream: sometimes they pursued one an-
other so quickly, that the eve could scarcely follow them. In one
place, where a high, steep sand bank rose directly above the river, I
observed many of them go in and out of holes, with which the bank
was bored full.

Mr. A.—Those were sand martins, the smallest of our species of
swallows. They are of a mouse color above, and white beneath. They
make their nests, and bring up their young in these holes, which run
a great depth, and by their situation are secure from all plunderers.

W.—A little further, I saw a man in a boat, who was catching eels
in an odd way. He had a long pole, with broad iron prongs at the
end, just like Neptune’s trident, only there were five instead of three.
This he pushed straight down among the mud, in the deepest parts of
the river, and fetched up the eels sticking between the prongs.

Mr. A.—I have seen this method. It is called spearing of eels.

W.—While I was looking at him, a heron came flying over my head,
with his large, flapping wings. He alighted at the next turn of the
river, and I crept softly behind the hank to watch his motions. He
had waded into the water as far as his long legs would carry him, and
was standing with his neck drawn in, looking intently on the stream.
Presently he darted his long bill, as quick as lightning, into the
water, and drew out a fish, which he swallowed. I saw him catch
another in the same manner. He then took alarm at some noise I
made, and flew away slowly to a wood at some distance, where he
settled.

Mr. A.—Prohably his nest was there, for herons build upon the
loftiest trees they can find, and sometimes in society together, like
rooks. [ormerly, when these birds were valued for the amusement of
hawking, many gentlemen had their heronries, and a few are still
remaining.

W.—I think they are the largest wild birds we have.

Mr. A.—They are of great length and spread of wing, but their
bodies are comparatively small.

W.—I then tured homeward, across the meadows, where I
stopped awhile to look at a large flock of starlings, which kept flying
about at no great distance. I could not tell at first what to make of
them; for they arose altogether from the ground as thick as a swarm of

i)

bees, and formed themselves into a sort of black cloud, hovering over
the field. After taking a short round they settled again, and pres-
ently arose again in the same manner. | dare say there were hundreds
of them.

Aly. A.—Perhaps so; for in the fenny countries their flocks are so
numerous as to break down whole acres of reeds by settling on them.
This disposition of starlings to fly in close swarms was remarked even
by Homer, who compares the foe. flying from one of his heroes, to a
cloud of stares retiring dismayed at the approach of the hawk.

W.—After I had left the meadows, I crossed the cornfields in the
way to our house, and passed close by a deep marl pit. Looking into
it I saw in one of the sides a cluster of what I took to be shells; and
upon going down I picked up a clod of marl, which was quite full of
them; but how seashells could get there I cannot imagine.

Afr. A.—I do not wonder at your surprise, since many philosophers
have been much perplexed to account for the same appearance. It is
not uncommon to find great quantities of shells and relics of marine
animals even in the bowels of high mountains, very remote from the
sea. They are certainly proofs that the earth was once in a very dif-
ferent state from what it is at present; but in what manner, and how
‘ong ago these changes took place, can only be guessed at.

W.—I got to the high field next our house just as the sun was set-
ting, and I stood looking at it till it was quite lost. What a glorious
sight! The clouds were tinged purple and crimson, and yellow of all
shades and hues, and the clear sky varied from blue to a fine green at
the horizon. But how large the sun appears just as it sets! I think
it seems twice as big as when it is overhead.

Mr. A.—It does so; and you may probably have observed the same
apparent enlargement of the moon at its rising?

W.—I have; but, pray, what is the reason of this?

Mr. A.—It is an optical deception, depending upon principles which
I can not well explain to you till you know more of that branch of
science. But what a number of new ideas this afternoon’s walk has
afforded vou! I do not wonder that you found it amusing; it has been
very instructive, too. Did you see nothing of all these sights, Robert?

R.—I saw some of them, but I did not take particular notice of
them.

Mr. A.—Why not?

R.—I don’t know. I did not care about them, and I made the best
of my way home.

Mr. A.—That would have been right if you had been sent with a

10

message; but as you walked only for amusement, it would have been
wiser to have sought out as many sources of it as possible. But so it
is—one man walks through the world with his eyes open, and another
with them shut; and upon this difference depends all the superiority
of knowledge the one acquires above the other. I have known sailors,
who have been in all quarters of the world, and could tell you nothing.
* * * Qn the other hand, a Franklin could not cross the Channel
without making some observations useful to mankind. While many a
vacant, thoughtless youth is whirled throughout Europe without gain-
ing a single idea worth crossing a street for, the observing eye and
inquiring mind find matter of improvement and delight in every
ramble in town or country. Do you, then, William, continue to make
use of your eyes; and you, Robert, learn that eyes were given you to
use.”

I hope that as Mr. Kingsley says, you will try to be Mr. Eyes all of
you, especially during the coming week, and that you will try to find
out all that you can about the birds that you see day by day. Next
Saturday we will take our first field excursion and the subject of our
study will be “Our Spring Birds.”

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No, 8,

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

SPRING: BIRDS.

By Mrs. JEANETTE D. RuBy.

I wonder why every boy that can borrow a gun goes out into the
woods, and tries to kill birds. I sometimes think it is because boys,
and even grown people for that matter, know so little about birds.
When we become acquainted with our native birds and learn their
habits and know what they eat, we find that nearly all of them are help-
ful to us, and that only a very few are ever harmful to us. Suppose
you write down upon one slip of paper the ways in which birds help us,
and on another the ways in which they harm us. Which list is the
longer? Perhaps when you first think about it the second will be the
longer; but keep the lists, and during the summer keep your eyes open
and note down every good thing and every bad thing you see birds
do. When the season is over, I believe you will care for the birds not
merely because they are so beautiful, but also because they are so help-
ful. You think the owls are altogether bad, perhaps, but try to find
out what they feed upon and see if it is true. Of course they may eat
a chicken occasionally, but you know that the owls in your neighbor-
hood do not eat enough chickens to keep them alive. You guard your
chickens too carefully for that. What do you think they eat when
they cannot get chicken? When you find out let me know whether
you think that even the owls are altogether bad. You can watch the
screech owl more easily than any other perhaps, because it is so very

2

common and does not seem to be so much afraid of man as some of
its relations.

But I am not going to talk about the good or the harm that birds
do just now, that may come later, but I wanted to show you why I
think you ought to study the birds about your home, and how I think
you ought to study them. To-day, as it is late in March, let us go out
into the woods and see how many different kinds of birds we can find
and try to learn something about each of them. Of course we cannot
learn all about them in a single trip like this, but we can begin, and
then by watching them from day to day we can have them answer all
the questions that we choose to ask.

Listen! That is the first note of our earliest arrival, the bluebird.
He has been called the “Darling of Spring,” and that soft, pleasing
warble can come from no other throat. Notice his different tones.
What do they mean? Can you hear him warble half angrily, then
coaxingly, then cheerily and confidently, and the next moment
sadly and plaintively? You must learn these different notes, for they
each have a meaning which you can find if you are in earnest in try-
ing to learn all you can of bird life.

There he is, no one can mistake the blue-bird. I wonder if we will
see his mate, for sometimes he comes a week in advance of her. Yes,
there she is also, but not quite so gaily dressed. Why do you suppose
her feathers are not so bright a blue as her mate’s? Notice this sum-
mer how many different kinds of birds you can find in which the col-
ors of the female are not so bright as those of the male. Suppose you
do not ask anyone to tell you the reason, but see if you can work it
out yourself. There must le some good reason for it, for everything
in nature has its reason.

But there they fly to that knot-hole in yonder apple tree. Why do
you suppose they are examining it so intently? Place a box in your
garden and see whether they will choose that, or a hole in a rotten
stump or tree for their home. But while they are so busy let us see
if we can how they are dressed. Perhaps as the male bird is the more
showy of the two we had better watch him. Tis coat is blue, no mis-
take about that, and some one has called it the azure blue of the spring
sky. What is the color of his throat and breast? What is the color of
his under parts? Are his eyes large or small? What is the color of
his legs and beak? How long is he? Don’t you see you will have to
carry a note book with you so you can put down all you are learning?

I hope he will not meet with the sad fate of a blue-bird I found last
August, who had been indulging in his favorite pastime of peeping

3

in holes and crevices, and by some unlucky move got his leg entangled
in a horse-hair which had been woven into a nest. His efforts to free
himself were hopeless and there he perished. His form dried and
embalmed by the summer’s heat was yet hanging in September, the
outspread wings and plumage nearly as brilliant as in life. Did you
ever see any in winter? Note the time they first appear. Who has
seen them feed their young? Let me tell you what I have seen.

Last summer, I saw a mother-bird capture a harvest-fly, and after
bruising it awhile on the ground, she flew with it to a tree, and gave
it to the young bird. It was a large morsel, and baby made a brave
effort to swallow it, but did not succeed, so that mother took the fly
again to the side-walk, and proceeded to bruise and break it more
thoroughly. Then she again placed it in her baby’s beak with an air
which seemed to say, “There; try it now.” He swallowed and choked,
but the great fly was still too big for his tiny beak. The young bird
fluttered and fluttered and moaned, “I’m stuck, I’m stuck;” and the
anxious parent again seized the morsel, carried it to an iron railing,
and came down on it with all the force of her beak, with never-tiring
perseverance. She offered it to her young a third time, with the same
result, except that this time he dropped it, and she was on the ground
as soon as the fly, and taking it in her beak flew to a high board fence.
Just then the father blue-bird appeared, and said very plainly and
eurtly, “Give me that bug.” But she would not do it, and flew away,,
and I never found out whether baby blue-bird got any portion of the
fly dainty.

Watch carefully this summer and see if you can find a blue-bird
feeding its young. What kind of food do the young blue-birds eat?
Do they never eat other kinds?

Let us go on through this old orchard. Just over that fence yonder
we will strike the old wood-road. See the ferns in their first dress of
tender green, wearing their droll little hoods; but we must not stop
for them to-day, for our March visitors have come and are calling for
us. There is the note I have been listening for. Did you ever hear a
more charming song? How would you describe it? “One high note,
three times repeated, and then a trill like a canary.” This is a song
we will hear frequently for, the song-sparrow never wearies of singing.
There; James is beckoning us eagerly. I suspect he has found the nest
in that clump of bushes, or under that pavement of board which is
raised from the ground a couple of inches. Has he disturbed the
birds? Something is the matter, for there they are with their wings
raised in a way expressive of horror and dismay. Let us hurry. Oh,

ag

4

there is a black-snake. See the quick movement of its head. What is
it trying to do? Seize the birds? Let us hide here behind this stump,
and watch the battle. The birds are so busily trying to beat him off
that they have no time to cry. Notice how they keep their wings
uplifted. There, the snake struck at one of them, but the other is re-
newing the assault from behind. How the poor things are panting
with the fright and the exertion. John, throw a stone at that snake.
Well, that routed him and he has hidden under the fence. Too bad.
The nest has been rifled and there are no eggs. I wish we had come a
little sooner. Why did they not build their nests higher, so that snakes
could not rob them?

Do the song-birds generally build high or low? Observe for your-
self and tell me. Last May, a song-sparrow that had met with some
such misfortune ax this bird. built its nest in a thick mass of wood-
bine, against the side of my house, about fifteen feet from the ground.
‘Would you not have thought that a safe place? But it was not, either
a rat or an owl pillaged the nest one night. What did the mother-
bird do? After a week’s moping she built again. Where, do you sup-
pose? A few yards from the house on a smooth piece of green grass.
There was not a weed or shrub to conceal it. When I saw the nest on
the bare ground almost at my feet, I felt sure that the cats would kill
her. The desperate little bird sat there day after day, looking like a
brown leaf pressed down in the short grass. As the weather grew hot,
and the sun beat down on her, she fairly panted. It was no longer a
question of keeping the eggs warm, but of keeping them from roast-
ing. I have known male robins in similar cases to make sunshades of
themselves. But there was no perch for her husband had he been
disposed to shield his mate. Unwisely, I‘tried to help, and stuck a
leafy twig beside the nest. It was a mark for some cat or other enemy,
and probably this time the mother-bird was caught, for I never saw
her again.

Whose eyes were keenest and who can best describe our little song-
sparrows who were fighting the snake? Mary says, they wore black
and brown coats,andhad chestnut heads with small black stripes. Very
good. Who can add to that? When they flapped their wings, Ruth
says, she noticed their under parts were white streaked with brown.
Wow many saw the dull red edging the wing feathers, and the little
brown stripe behind the ear? Don’t forget their long and nearly even
brown tails. Were their bills and feet black like the blue-bird’s? Some
say “Yes.” and some “No.” They matched the rest of their very sober

5

and tasty spring dress, being pale brown. Do you think you can call
them by name when you meet them again?

How many know the robin? All? Suppose then you draw me a
robin, and write a description of his plumage, and habits. Early in
March he is with us to remain until fall. Let us sit down by this
crooked, lazy little stream bordered with willow, while we do our draw-
ing and writing. Very good. I would know that to be a bird, but
whether robin or song-sparrow I could not tell. “Under part, dingy
orange red, or chestnut brown.” Right as far as it goes, but is that
all you can tell?

Let me ask you a few questions: and how fortunate it is that
that robin has come and perched himself on that limb not twenty feet
away. But you must look quickly and keenly for he may fly away at
anv moment. What is the color of his throat? What the color of his
eyelids? Has he any spot in front of his eye? If so, what is its color?
What is the color of his back, and wings, and tail? Are they all alike
or different? What is the color of his legs and beak? How long do
you think he is? If you have all those questions answered you will see
what I meant when I said you would have to see quickly and keenly.
Now he is singing; and do you know what his song seems to sav to me?
It seems as if he were saying, “Spring is here—is here—is here. I’m so
glad. Im so glad.” Does it sound like that to you? Jf it does not
now. I am sure it will some time in your life, for whether it rains or
shines, whether it is cold or hot, the robin never forgets to sing his
glad song.

I hope some time you will find a robin’s nest. If you do, be very
careful not to disturb it, but if you can, find of what materials it is
made. Find also if you can how many eggs it contains. What is their
color? What is their size? In this work you will have to be able to
think in inches. Can you do it? Make dots on a sheet of paper an
inch apart. Then some three, five, seven and ten inches apart. Then
take a ruler and measure and see how near right you are. If you are
very much mistaken keep trying until an inch really means something
to you.

Some persons think we ought to kill the robin because he eats our
cherries, grapes, and other small fruits. They are very much mis-
taken. Fruit is a small part of the robin’s diet. What do you think
he eats before cherries are ripe? It is worms and insects, and by the
havoc he makes among them he more than compensates for his occa-
sional visits to our fruit trees. I once kept a couple of robins in a

6

eage for a day or (wo and found that each one ate sixty-eight worms
a day. The length of those worms which I patiently toiled all day to
provide, was about fourteen feet.

If you really wish to study birds, place a shallow vessel of some sort,
in your school or home yard, and keep it constantly filled with water.
For several summers I have had an old-fashioned iron camp-kettle in
my back yard under some peach trees. The birds soon found out that
there was always fresh water there and a secluded spot in which to
drink and bathe. Although few nested in the yard, the robins, blue-
jays, red-headed woodpeckers, cat birds, sparrows and many others,
came almost daily. Some must have come from quite a distance. I
thus had a good chance to watch the industry of father robin, whose
whole day was spent in putting worms in insatiable beaks at about the
rate of ahout one in every three minutes. Watch the robins teaching
their young to bathe. The father keeps a lookout for cats and other
enemies, while the mother says as plain as bird can say to her children,
“Jump in. Jumpin. Dm here. I’m here.” Sometimes the bluejay
comes, and naughty, selfish fellow that he is, drives parents and
babies both away, claiming the bathing place as his especial right. He
was even very impudent to me. Several mornings in the hot summer
weather, I forgot to fill the kettle with fresh water. The bluejay
would come to the house and scold, and scold, until I came out, then
flying low over my head, as I filled the kettle, he would rate me
soundly for my neglect. I tried him on several occasions until I con-
vinced myself that his actions were due to design, not accident.

Let us make a list of the birds we have seen to-day. We have seen
three—blue-bird, song-sparrow, and robin. What bird has been with
us off and on all winter? He has a shrill whistle like “wheeo—wheeo,
wheeo.” Everyone knows him. It is our naughty favorite, the hand-
some, saucy, mischievous bluejay. He is a vain fellow, and you have
a chance to make many good sketches of him as he sits coquettishly
turning his splendidly crested head from side to side. All the birds
know his trick of stealing through the trees in May or June in quest
of eges. Just watch the robins hustle him out of the tree that holds
their nests crying, “Thief, thief,” at the top of their voices. Did you
ever hear him sing? It is said that he can sing as sweetly as a mock-
ing-bird, but his usual notes are harsh and ill-tempered and only
occasionally musical and sweet. Some people say he is a murderer,
that he is a regular cold-blooded assassin, killing the fledglings
of other birds, but the careful studies made by the Agricultural De-
pariment at Washington seem to prove that much of his bad reputa-

7

tion is undeserved. Find out all you can of his habits, where he builds
his nest and how. How can you tell him from a bue-bird, for he too has
a blue coat and black bill and legs? Are there any markings on his
wings or throat or head, by which you may always know him?

Now let us stop for to-day and take another trip together late in
April, but do not let us forget to watch the birds every day until then.

The morning is the best time to study birds, so let us start early for
the woods this bright April day. This field so green with its covering
of young wheat is just the place to find one of our familiar birds, the
meadow lark. So two of you have seen him at the same time. One
has seen him walking between the rows of wheat and the other
perched on the top of a rail fence. Now as you have found him you
may answer our questions about him. What is the color of his back
and of his wings? Is it a solid color or is it speckled? What is the
color of his breast? Has he any queerly shaped mark upon it? Sup-
pose you describe it. What is the color of his legs and beak? How
long do you think he is? Is he larger or smaller than the robin? How
did he move when on the ground, did he walk or hop? As you are
studying birds this spring, suppose you make a list of the birds that
walk and another list of the birds that hop when moving about on the
ground. At the end of the season see which list is the longer. Let us
watch the bird upon the fence and perhaps we can see him when he
sings. It will not take us very long, for the meadow-lark like the
robin is almost always singing. Listen to his song and see how he
throws back his dear little head in true operatic style. What do you
think he says? Some people who love the meadow-lark think it is, “I
see you, you can’t see me.” Whatever it is, he evidently thinks this is
a beautiful world and is telling us so.

Go over into the meadow and see if you can find the meadow-lark’s
nest. It ought to be on the ground, concealed by some of the long
grass. But what is that gorgeous bird, with his crimson epaulets bor-
dered with buff that we have disturbed so that it is flying away? You
all know him, because he is our very common red-shouldered black-
bird. Do you hear what he is saying as he flies away? Listen closely
so that you can recognize him by his call after this. He is a very
great friend of the meadow-lark at this season of the year, and usually
chooses the same meadow for his nesting place. But we must go on
or we will not reach the woods. Here is a nest which I almost stum-
bled on in the grass. Yes, it is the meadow-lark’s nest, and in it are
four eggs. What color are they. Don’t disturb it, for we want to see
some baby larks in the weeks to come, and hear some more lark songs
next spring.

8

What is that rattling drum-call? Look! There is the drummer,
high up on that telegraph pole, and very conspicuous he is, with his
glossy black and white plumage, and brilliant red head and neck.
How does he beat that long, rolling rattle, the regular woodpecker
drum-call? Does the sound come from the bird or the wood? Did
you ever notice a red-headed woodpecker make a soundless call on a
fence stake where the decaying wood allowed of the full entrance of
his beak? There he goes to that hickory tree. Notice the rapid, spas-
modic motion of his head. Don’t you think he is a pretty good ath-
lete, to hurl his head and beak back and forth like that? Let us count
how many strokes to the second. How many did you make it? No-
tice his leys. Have you seen any bird this Spring with as short ones?
Can you tell me why his tail feathers are tipped with stiff points?
Watch him and vou will see. There, he’s going to strike a hard blow
with his bill. Sce him brace the pvints of his tail feathers against the
tree and, rising to the full length of his short, powerful legs. and
drawing back his body, head and neck, dash his bill home with a force
of weight and muscle which is knocking off good-sized pieces from
the hard hickory tree. What is he after? Some worm or insect whose
retreat he has discovered. You think he must hurt the tree, do you?
Suppose you watch him closely this summer and see whether he works
on living or dead trees.

But he has a relative known liy his yellow vest, sometimes called
the “yellow-bellied xap-sucker,” who does injure fruit and shade trees
by stripping off the bark and boring holes. Our red-headed friend
dovs not confine himself to insects alone. He eats nuts, fruits, and is
very fond of corn, wheat and melons, but he eats so many insects that
he earns all that he takes from the orchard and field. He is not a
very satisfactory article for a sketch. Five seconds is about as long
as he remains in one position, but we must learn to do some things in
a hurry. Let us see if we can draw an outline of his form. It is
pretty easy to make something that everybody knows is meant for a
hird, but it is not nearly so easy to make a sketch that every one will
know was meant for a particular bird. But this is one of the things
that it will pay you to keep on trying. and after a while you will be
surprised to find how well you can draw. But, while he is before us,
let us write his color description. Put it in this order: Head and neck,
back, breast, wings. Where are the white bands—on his body or on
the wings, or both?

Tf we had as sharp eyes ax he has, not much would escape us.

See! Starting from the topmost branch of that tall tree he is flying

9

fifty yards straight to an insect near the ground. Look at him catch
that fy on the wing. How many different kinds of woodpeckers do
you suppose we have in our woods? Find out their names. There are
six or seven you will certainly see, and perhaps you will be fortunate
enough to meet two or three more. The red-head has numerous rela-
tives—thirty alone that are good American citizens, and about two
hundred foreign relatives. Wouldn’t you like to see the king of them
all, who lives in the South and only rarely visits us? He must be
worth seeing, with his grand scarlet crown, and great ivory white bill.
How much larger do you suppose he is than this one we have been
watching? The length with his ivory bill is twenty-one inches, while
this one can not be more than ten. To see such a king and queen in
vigorous galloping flight through the woods must be a sight worth
seeing. His dress is very much like our red-head’s. Indeed all the
woodpeckers have a bit of red about their heads, and that makes them
so conspicuous that cruel women like to wear them on their hats. I
think the bird knows it, for he has been a little shy of late, keeping
in the woods and up in the tree-tops, instead of along the old weed-
grown, worm-eaten fences.

Would you call the woodpecker a musician? Well, if the drummer
is a musician, he is one. He can also call, squawk, squeal and splutter.
There is another woodpecker. That is the one I spoke about a little
while ago—the “yellow-bellied sap-sucker.” Why is he called a sap-
sucker? Follow him into the woods and you will find out. See how
many holes he has drilled—a regular band of them about the trunk of
that sugar maple tree. What is he drinking so eagerly? Sap, of course.
Robert, climb that tree, and count the holes he has made. Sixteen!
think of that. Sometimes a sap-sucker will stay for hours at a single
tree, sipping the sap, and then waiting for it to collect again. How
much of their time do you suppose they spend sap-drinking? Did
you ever see one sitting on the edge of a sugar trough drinking of the
ready tapped maple sap? It is a short step from sap-sipping to cherry-
tasting. Don’t you think you would stop drilling into the hard green
wood for food, when you could find a superior flavor stored up in a
cherry, apple or grape?

The poor woodpeckers have to suffer for their kinsman’s sins, but
the yellow vest, and the crimson cap, enclosed by a half moon of
black, and a border of yellowish white, ought to enable any one to
know the bird of bad morals from his more virtuous relations.

Let us go into that thicket of haw and crab-apple. Last year it
was the favorite haunt of the brown thrush, or the brown thrasher,

10

as he is sometimes called. We are fortunate, for there is our bird in
his snuff-colored coat and dappled vest. I believe he is the very same
bird that I found here last year. Is he not a picture to remember,
sitting on the topmost branch of that tree, with the morning sun
bringing out the red tints in his brown coat. Listen to that shower
of song, so full-toned, loud and clear. Such ecstatic trills and qua-
vers; and Nature has been his only teacher, but there is none above
her. Does he sing all the year round? In the South he now and then
sings a low, dreamy, lulling song at night. Let us separate and ex-
amine every foot of ground quietly and closely for the nest, being
careful not to frighten the birds. But here is the nest. Why do you
suppose the male bird is no nearer his mate? To throw us off the
track, and distract our attention from his treasures? Is this the nest,
this straggling mass of twigs, roots, bark and leaf stems on the flat
projection of that fence-rail? Is it ever on the ground? See how
artfully it is concealed. It is the last place I would have thought of
looking, and when you do look, you can see nothing but a mass of
green leaves. What delicately pretty eggs. How many are there?
“Four. But one is different—a dirty, speckled looking egg—not like
those pale-green ones flecked with brown.” Let me see it. It’s a
cow-bird’s egg. “What is a cow-bird?’ You have certainly seen
them in the cow pasture, as black as crows, but much smaller and
with an evil, thievish eye. It is a bird of low principles. What do I
mean by that? It makes some other bird hatch its eggs. J have
caught it in the act of carrying off wren’s eggs; and, of course, it had
left an egg of its own in the wren’s nest. Is it not a shame that our
lovely brown thrush, devoid of a single vice, will have to rear this
ugly little foundling, who has taken the place of at least one nestling?
It will be much larger than the others, and, if it is like its kind, will
be very selfish and claim everything in sight. pushing the baby
thrashers aside.

Suppose we sit down on the bank of this stream and rest a while.
What was that splash? Ah! A kingfisher after his prey. There he
mounts to his perch in that branch of sycamore overhanging the
water, with a fish in his beak. How will he kill it? Watch him and
see. There, he is beating it on the limb of the tree until the spines
of its fins are crushed. Is he choking? No, but certainly his eating
is not very enjoyable, judging by his gulping, stretching of neck,
jerking of wings and contortion of body. What advantage is it to him
that he is all ashy-blue and purple and silver-gray and white, instead
of bright scarlet? Do you suppose a minnow looking up through the-

11

dancing water can tell that sky-blue and silvery creature poised above:
him from the sky and clouds? If he could, the kingfisher would often
go hungry. Why is he called the “belted kingfisher’? Where does.
he nest? I expect we would find his nest over there in a hole in that
dry, sandy bank, for the kingfisher is one of our burrowing birds.
There is an interesting legend about him, and the poets have sung
about him under his other name, the “Halcyon.” See if you can find
out what they tell of him. Write a color description of him as you

did of the other birds.

"But let us go back to the school yard and see if we can discover
what birds have found a vessel of water we placed there for their use.
What is that slender, quick-moving bird? The cat-bird, you all say.
What a strange name. Irritate him and see if you can not find how
he got that name. But if we find out more about him we will have
to follow him over into that secluded corner of the pasture. Now
listen to his song. Did you ever hear anything finer? It is one of the
best in the world. Does it resemble the song of any of the birds that
we have met in our walks? Think carefully and listen carefully be-
fore you answer.

Now, listen to the cat-bird talk, the soft “chuck” and “mew” in all
tones. I wish he would give us his wonderful whisper song. There,
his mate has seen us. She says, “Sing lower—lower—lower.” Now
we can hardly hear him, and we are not more than ten feet distant,
but we can see him and get his description for our picture gallery
of spring birds. Note the color of his back, breast and head. See if
you can see a patch of chestnut-brown anywhere about him. He
seems very happy now. See him sit and swing and sing on the willows
by yonder little brook. Don’t you think him handsome? His beauty
does not make him a favorité, however. What is the cause of that?
Well, like the human family, his unsocial habits and the way he has
of skulking off by himself have excited a prejudice against him which
is not unfounded, for I caught a cat-bird last summer perched upon
the rim of a pewee’s nest, hastily devouring the eggs. I was so vexed
with her that I killed her on the spot, but I regretted it heartily when
I found that she had a well-constructed nest of her own in a tree not
far from the house, and five lovely deep greenish-blue eggs in it.

But here we are near the corner where we must separate.

How many birds have we met and described in our walks? Name
them, if you can. Have we met others? “Many of them.” How
many do you suppose can be seen in the State of Indiana alone? Over
three hundred different species. and of these about one hundred and

12

fifty make their homes here. During the summer you will have the
opportunity to visit many bird homes and find out how feathered
babies are taught and cared for and disciplined. Let us see whose
note-book will have the best sketches and the most accurate descrip-
tions of birds seen and observed.

NOTE TO THE TEACHER.

This leaflet is the result of original observations combined with adap-
tations from John Burroughs, Maurice Thompson and John B. Grant.

It is intended to be used by the teacher simply as indicating the man-
ner in which children may be interested and directed in the study of birds
about them; and also the use which the teacher may make of the many
valuable and instructive books upon the subject in the way of adapting
them to the child’s needs. %

This, of course, is an imaginary excursion. The real excursion should
have more of the activity of the children in it and its incidents will of
necessity be altogether different. It should be remembered that the time
at which the birds spoken of in this paper will appear will depend some-
what upon the advancement of the season and also upon the latitude. In
order to see the most of them at their best, two or three excursions at
least should be taken.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 9.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

A COUNTRY SCHOOL GARDEN. :

By PROF. STANLEY COULTER.

Have you ever thought how much of your time is spent at school?
Suppose you take a pencil and work it out. Seven months, or twenty-
eight weeks, or one hundred and forty days. And you are there just
about eight hours each day. Do you not think you would work better
and be happier if the school yard and school room were made pretty
and attractive? I know you would, for I have watched children at
work for many years, and know just how much cheerful surroundings
help them.

What kind of school yard have you? J have seen hundreds of
schools in the country, and nearly as many in towns, where the
school yard was so bare and ugly that I wondered how either the
teacher or scholars could possibly do good work. Now, if your school
yard is of this sort, suppose, when school opens, you all join together
to make it more pleasant. Of course you will want plenty of room in
which to play, and that part you need only keep free from litter and
rubbish. Then, of course, you must have walks, so that there is only
left the odd corners of the school yard for you to care for; and it is
about these odd corners that I want to talk. But, before I do, I want
to say something about walks. I visited a school not long ago where
there was no sign of a walk, and had w wade through the mud to
icach the front door. Of course, I carried a good deal of mud into
the school room, and it dried on the floor and soon became dust, which

2

very soon filled the air and made it unfit to breathe. For dirt and
<lisease are very closely related, you know. All this, because there was
no walk. But just outside the school-house yard was a great gravel
bank, and, if the boys had thought to bring a wheelbarrow and some
shovels to school, they could have made a good walk in a very short
time. If you have not walks, you can make them in nearly every
region, with very little trouble. It will pay you to do so, for the school
room will be kept cleaner, the air will be purer, and you will find that
you can do more work and better work.

But, about those odd corners: Did you ever notice how nature tries
to cover over the bare spots? Over logs and unsightly stumps she
trails delicate vines; in among the recks she sets out ferns, and in
every possible corner and crevice she plants flowers. Now, I want
you to take a hint from nature, and, indeed, get her to help you to
make the school yard beautiful.

If you have any stones in the yard, pile them up in a loose heap.
‘Go out into the nearest woods and get some of the rich, black earth
that you will find about decaying logs, and with it fill the spaces be-
tween the rocks. When the ferns are just beginning to appear in the
spring, dig some up very carefully, so that you may not injure the
roots and plant them in your rock pile. Be sure to leave some of the
“home” earth about the roots, and water the ferns frequently, because
you know they love moisture. Then, if you notice the places from
which you dig the ferns, you will also see that they love shade. Of
course, this means that your rock pile must not be put in a place
where it will catch the full ight and heat of the sun. If you do this,
it will not be very long before your unsightly rock pile is a beautiful
fernery, and one of the odd corners is filled. Watch the ferns as they
grow and see how the delicate fronds unroll themselves. Probably
there are ten or twelve different kinds of ferns in your neighborhood.
Trv to get them all to grow in your fernery. .A little later in the sea-
son, after the fern leaves are fully opened. if vou watch the under-
side of the leaf carefully, you will see little round bodies which at first
are green but afterwards hecome brown. These are the spores of the
fern, and from these spores new fern plants will be developed. Now,
you will not find this very hard work: indeed, I think you will soon
come to enjoy your fernery very much.

Are there any stumps or bare fences or sheds about the school yard?
I think that there must he, unless your school yard is unlike most of
those I have seen. Suppose, about such places, you plant morning
glories or the wild cucumber. Perhaps vou do not know what the

3

wild cucumber is; if not, the morning glory will do very well, and you
can get morning glory seeds almost anywhere. Dig up the earth where
you want to plant the seeds, and, having broken it wp very finely, mix
with it some of the rich black earth of which I have already spoken.
Do not plant the seeds very deep, certainly not over half an inch.
In a few days the morning glories will begin to come up, but the two
leaves which first appear do not look at all like the later leaves. Now
put a small stick in the ground near the young morning glory and,
tying a string to it, stretch the string up to the top of the stump or
fence which you want to cover. This string is to support the stem,
which is too weak to carry its load of leaves without some such help.
The vine grows very rapidly, and it will not be long until the stump
or fence is completely covered. Watch the stem from day to day as
it twines itself about the string. Does it always twine in the same
direction? Is this direction from right to left, or from left to right?
Suppose you put some of the sticks to which the strings are tied, a
foot or more away from the young morning glory, and watch the
plants every day. Does the young stem ever go in any other direction
than towards it support? How do you suppose it finds is way to the
string? Watch other vines which climb by twining, and see if they be-
have in the same way? Do you think the plant can see? If not, how
does it know where the support is to be found?

You will also see that the flowers are visited by many insects. What
do they come for? Are their visits of any use to the plants? See if
you can find how many kinds of insects visit the flowers.

The morning glory can stand more sunlight and heat than the ferns
and does not need as wet a soil. Indeed, it will grow freely and vig-
orously in almost any place if you prepare the bed as I have said. If
you are trying to cover the side or end of a shed with the vines, be
sure you dig your bed far enough away from the building to escape
the drip from the eaves. If you do not, the soil is liable to be washed
away from the seeds before they germinate, or else to be packed so-
tightly by the beat of the rain that the plant can not get any air. As
a plant is a living thing, it breathes, and if air is cut off it dies just as
an animal would die under similar conditions. With these morning
glories, then, you see you can cover many unsightly objects very
rapidly.

Then, in the other odd corners, I would make flower beds, in which
I would plant some of our beautiful wild flowers. These beds ought
to be dug up to a depth of at least a foot and the earth broken up very
completely, and then thoroughly mixed with rich earth. If the origi-

4

nal soil is very gravelly, or a heavy clay, some of it ought to be thrown
* away and replaced with good earth. If you are very much in earnest
about making the school yard more beautiful you will not have much
trouble in having the beds dug up in the first place. After that you
will want to do all the rest of the work yourself. Now, what shall we
plant in these beds? I think I would take one small bed and fill it
with violets. Did you know that there are ten or eleven different
kinds of violets in Indiana? Probably five or six of them will be
found growing in your neighborhood. If you decide upon a bed of
violets, go out into the woods and study the violets in their homes.
Do you find them most frequently in the sun or in shady places?
When you have answered this you can settle the location for your
violet bed. Do you find violets most vigorous in dry soil or in wet soil?
When you answer this question you will know something about the
amount of water you must give them if you want them to do well.
Now, dig up your violets very carefully, keeping a good deal of the
home earth about their roots, and replant them in the bed which you
have made. You will find that they grow well and blossom all through
the spring and summer. In this bed you should have blue violets and
yellow violets and white violets: violets in which the leaves seem to
come directly out of the ground and those in which the leaves arise
from the stem, for all of these forms doubtless grow in your neighbor-
hood. As the plants grow you can watch them every day, and if you
do, you will find they will tell you much of the story of their life

Then, in another bed, I think J would put some phlox or “wild
sweet William,” as it is called. You know it, of course, for the phlox
is very abundant all over the State, and its pink to red flowers are
very beautiful. There are several different kinds of phlox in the State
and you will-probably find two or three of them in your neighborhood.
Of course, before you plant them in their new home, you should know
whether they live in sunny or shady places, and whether in wet or dry
soils, for you want to keep the new conditions as much like the old
ones as is possible. If you do this, you will have little difficulty in se-
curing good results.

The other beds I would make “nixed” beds, putting in them almost
any pretty flower that I could find. I would put in spring beauties,
and blood-root, and the yellow crow-foot, and anemones, and wild
geraniums; indeed, anything that was attractive in appearance. You
will be surprised to find how soon this mixed bed becomes very beau-
tiful. By watching carefully during the first season you can find what
flowers have a long blooming season and what ones blossom for only a

5

few days. The second season those that are unsuited to the situation
because of this or any other reason can be omitted and only those
which are satisfactory used. I am not going to tell you which ones
are the best, for I want you to find out for yourself.

I have written this as if the leaflet would come to you in the early
spring, and as if you were going immediately to work to make your
school yard more beautiful. But it may come to you in the fall, and if
it does, you will have to start with other flowers. I would make one
bed of the splendid yellow golden rods, and we have twenty-seven dif-
ferent kinds of them in the State. Then I would have a bed of asters,
of which we have very many, and very beautiful kinds. You know
they range in color from white, through blue to deepest purple. As
there are thirty-one different kinds of asters in the State, you ought
to be able to get twelve or fifteen different kinds for your bed. Both
the golden rods and asters are very hardy, bloom freely and keep their
beauty for a long time.

Then off in one corner I would have some wild sunflowers. Indeed,
in the fall you will have no trouble at all in finding plenty of flowers
with which to work. Of course, if you are trying to make your school
yard beautiful you will keep out weeds, such as the burdock and plan-
tain and thistles, not merely because they are not attractive, but
because they use the food and water in the soil which you want to go
to the other plants.

I believe it is worth your while to try what I have suggested. If you
succeed you will have to study plants in their homes and in this way
will find out a great deal about plant life which may afterwards prove
of great value to you. Then if you succeed you will begin to have a
real pride in the appearance of your school grounds, and when that
happens you will find you are also very much interested in your school
work. Of course, it means work, but we must always work for any-
thing that is worth having.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

Ne, 410.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

A TALK ABOUT TREES.

By PROF. STANLEY COULTER.

Have you evér thought in how many ways wood was used? Suppose
vou take a pencil and paper and make a list of all the different articles
that are made of wood. You will find you will need a pretty large
piece of paper before you are through. Of course, you will put down
as the first thing houses and buildings of various kinds, and then, per-
haps, you will put down the furniture. If you go out into the kitchen
vou will find other things made of wood, and if you go to the barn or
tool house you will find still others. When you travel on the railroad
you will find the rails rest on wooden ties, and that-the telegraph wires
are held in place by wooden poles. If you live near a river, the steam-
ers and skiffs and wharf boats will be found to be largely of wood. The
merchant gets his goods in wooden boxes, and the miller packs his
flour in wooden barrels. But I am not going to tell you how many
things are made from wood, for I want you to make as long a list
as you can yourself. I think it would be interesting for you, though,
to have your teacher tell you how paper is made from wood, because
perhaps you do not live where you can see how it is done.

It is because the trees are so useful to us that I think all of us ought
to learn all that we can about them. So in this leaflet I am going to

-talk to you about trees. Do you know how many different kinds of
trees grow in Indiana? It has taken me a good many years to find
out, and as you will not be able to find them all near your home I will

2

tell you. There are 109 different kinds. Some of these are found all
over the Ntate, and some are found only in a few places. Some are
very large, and their wood very valuable, while others are small, and
their wood of no particular use. It is only the plentiful and useful
kinds that I am going to talk about. The forests in Indiana are nearly
always mived. That is, if you go into any forest or grove you will
find a great many different kinds of trees. That is not always the
case. If you were to go with me down into the mountains of Tennes-
see I could show you some forests covering thousands of acres, in
which almost all of the trees were chestnuts, and other forests equally
large in which nearly all of them were pines. But it 1s not xo in
Indiana, and for this reason Indiana is a good place to <tudy trees.

Now, let us go out into the school yard, or to the nearest woods and
see how many different kinds of trees we can find. In most cases,
unless you live in the southern counties of the State, vou will find
that very many of the trees are vaks. If you live in the southern
counties perhaps the beech tree will outnumber the oaks. Do vou
know an oak tree when you see it?

The trees are usually quite thick and tall. The bark is quite rough,
being broken up into irregular shapes hy cracks of comsiderable depth.
In some cases the bark is light colored, in others it is dark in color.
See if you can find oak trees with light-colored bark and dark-colored
bark. Do most of the oak trees where you live have light-colored bark
or dark-colored bark? Sometimes we think the bark of a tree is
worthless, but this is not always true. The bark of oak trees was once
very largely used in making leather, and all the corks that we use are
made from the bark of the cork oak. Look at the leaf. Do vou see
how the leaf stalk holds a single green part? When this is the case
the leaf is said to be a simple leaf. All oaks have simple leaves. If
vou look at the leaf stalk you will see that it seems to run right
through the center of the leaf to its tip, dividing the green part into
two parts, which are almost exactly alike. Do vou see how branches
seem to go from this mid-vein, as you may call it, to different parts of
the leaf? See if these branches or veinlets come from the same point
on the mid-vein or if they start from different points. Do these vein-
lets run clear to the edge of the leaf? Look carefully and see just how
they end.

If we look at the edge of the leaf we find it is always notched or
lobed, sometimes very deeply, at other times only slightly, but the
margin of an oak leaf is never entire. Now look carefully and see if
the veinlets, which we have just examined, have anything to do with

3

this lobing or notching of the leaf. I think it will help you to remem-
ber the things we have been talking about if you will place an oak leaf
on a sheet of paper and with a sharp pencil draw its outline. When
this is done fill in the mid-veins and the veinlets. See how many
different kinds of oak leaves you can find in the woods about the
school house or your home.

Did vou ever see the flower of an oak tree? Watch this spring, and
almost at the same time the leaves begin to unfold you will see long,
slender spikes hanging down from various parts of the branches.
These spikes are yellowish or greenish in color, and if you examine
them closely vou will find they are made up of a large number of
flowers. Of course, the flowers of the oak tree do not look very much
like those of the roses or pinks, but still they are flowers. At what
date do the leaves of the oaks open? At what date do the flowers ap-
pear? Does the time of leafing and flowering differ in the different
kinds of oaks? You may think I am asking you a great many ques-
tions, but the questions I have asked can be easily answered if you
keep your eves open.

Of course, you know that the fruit the oak tree bears is called an
acorn. Now there are as many different kinds of acorns as there are
different kinds of oak trees, and, if possible, vou should find the
acorn of every kind of oak tree you study. If this leaflet should come
to vou in the fall of the year, gather as many different kinds of acorns
as you can and plant them in boxes or pots, so that you may see what
young oak trees are like. If the leaflet comes to vou in the spring,
look carefully under the oak trees and see if you can find any of these
seedlings, as they are called. Are their leaves like those of the full-
grown tree? Iam not going to say anything about acorns, because the
next leaflet I write is going to be about “forest fruits,’ but before
that comes to you I want you to know all you can about the different
kinds of oak trees that grow in your neighborhood, and the kind of
acorns that they bear.

I have talked a good deal about oaks for two reasons. The first is
that, having taken so much time on one kind of trees, the others can
be studied much more easily. The second is, that we have more dif-
ferent kinds of oaks than any other tree, and that they are perhaps the
most valuable timber that now remains in our State in any great
abundance. There are seventeen different kinds of oaks in Indiana.
Almost all of them are of large size, and almost all of them are exten-
sively used in manufacture. The wood is very firm and strong and is
used for a great variety of purposes. See if you can find how oak wood

4

is used where you live. When you do, will you not write and tell me,
for that is what I have been trying to find for a long while?

I want you now to see if you can pick out a maple tree. Whether
you live in the city or country you will be pretty sure to find one, for
maples are very plentiful in the woods, and are more largely planted
than any other form in city streets. If you compare the maple with
the oak you will find it neither so thick nor so tall. The bark is thin-
ner than in the oak, and not nearly so rough, but like the oak is light
colored in some forms and dark colored in others. The branches of
the maples spread in such a way as to give abundant shade and at the
same time give to the tree a very beautiful shape.

Now pick a leaf of the maple and examine it carefully. As in the
case of the oak you will find the leaf stalk bears a single green blade,
or, in other words, that it is a simple leaf. But now look at the vein-
lets. Do they arise from the same point on the mid-vein or from dif-
ferent points? Measure the length and breadth of an oak leaf, and
then the length and breadth of a maple leaf. Does this difference in
the way in which the veinlets arise have any relation to the shape
of the leaf? Leaves in which the veinlets are arranged, as in the oaks,
are said to be pinnately veined. Where the veinlets are arranged, as
in the maple, they are said to be palmately veined. See how many
different kinds of trees you can find in which the leaves are pinnately
veined. How many in which they are palmately veined. In the
maples, as in the oaks, you will find that the edge of the leaf is never
entire, but is more or less deeply lobed. How many of these lobes are
there in a maple leaf? Does the distribution of the large veinlets
bear any relation to this lobing? Trace the outline of a maple leaf
and fill in mid-vein and veinlets.

The flowers of the maple are more conspicuous than those of the
oaks. Instead of being arranged in spikes they are arranged in clus-
ters. They are sometimes yellowish in color, and sometimes a bright
red. In the maples, which appear first, the flowers or leaves? At
what date do they appear? The fruit of the maple is a strange looking,
two-winged affair. Notice when the fruit is ripe how it is carried by
the wind from beneath the shadow of the parent tree. When the fruit
finally reaches the ground are the wings pointed upward or down-
ward? Why is this so? Examine the seedlings of the maple. Com-
pare the shape of the young leaves with those of the fully grown
tree.

We have four kinds of maples in Indiana. The most abundant of
these is the sugar maple, which is found in every county in the State.

5

The wood of all of the forms is very valuable for manufacturing pur-
poses, while from the sugar maple we get our maple sugar and maple
syrup. If there are any sugar maple orchards near where you live see
if you can find out how maple sugar is made. At what season of the
year is it made? How is the sap of which it is made secured without
injury to the tree? Be sure to visit a “sugar camp” if there is one in
your neighborhood and watch every process from the collection of sap
to the time in which it is changed into syrup or sugar. If you do not
live near a sugar maple orchard, have your teacher tell you how maple
sugar is made.

I suppose every boy and girl in Indiana has eaten walnuts and
hickory nuts, and many of you have gathered them in the fall, after
the first heavy frosts have loosened them from the branches and
brought them rattling to the ground. The walnuts and hickory nuts
are very closely related to each other, being in the same family. If
trees counted kin as we do, the walnuts and hickory nuts would be
cousins. Look, now, for a walnut tree. See how thick and rough and
dark colored the bark is, much darker than in the case of the dark-
colored oaks or maples. If, however, the walnut tree is very young
the bark will be somewhat lighter in color. The tree is tall and very
straight, and is sometimes two or three feet in diameter. Pick a leaf
of the walnut, being very careful that you get the entire leaf. Do
you see how the leaf stalk, instead of bearing a single green part, as
in the maples and oaks, bears many such parts, each looking like a
perfect leaf? In the case of the walnut the number of these leaflets.
as they are called, varies from fourteen to twenty-two. When a single
leaf stalk bears more than one green part it is known as a compound
leaf. All the trees in the great walnut family, and that means the
walnuts and butternuts, and all of the different kinds of hickory nuts,
have compound leaves. Are the leaflets in the walnut opposite each
other, or is one slightly above the other? Do the leaves of the walnut
unfold before those of the maple, or after? Do they appear before or
after the leaves of the oak? Do the leaves appear before the flowers?
At what date do the leaves and flowers appear? ‘There, you see, is
enother long list of questions which you can easily answer if you
wateh the trees from day to day on your way to and from school.
You will Le surprised to find how many things you can learn about.
trees by watching them in this way.

Of course, you know the wood of the walnut tree is very valuable.
In the fully grown, old trees the wood is very dark in color and takes
a beautiful polish, and so it has been very largely used in making fur-

6

niture, and for picture frames, and for finishing the inside of houses.
Indeed, the wood was so much sought after that now scarcely any large
walnut trees are left in the State, except in small groves about houses.
The walnut trees in the woods are nearly all what is called “second
growth,” and the wood is not nearly so valuable, because it has not had
time to develop the dark, rich color which makes walnut wood so
handsome. If people who owned farms had cared for their walnut
trees many of these large forms would have been still left, and their
owners would be very much wealthier. But we are just as foolish
about the trees that are left and are every day making ourselves and
the State poorer hy uselessly destroying them. Beside the ordinary
walnut we have what is known as the white walnut, or butternut.
While this tree is not so large as the other, it is a very valuable tree,
and should be carefully protected. It looks so much like the other
walnut that you can easily recognize it in the woods. You see, how-
ever, as you look at the bark that it is not nearly so rough and thick
and that it is gray in color, instead of dark. Sometimes the gray color
seems to run in a series of bands straight up the tree. Pick one of the
compound leaves and count the number of leaflets. Are they arranged
in the same way as in the other walnut? When do the leaves and
flowers appear? But you know the list of questions I want you to
answer, so J will not write them out.

From the walnuts you can easily find the hickory-nut trees, for
their leaves look so much alike. In all of our hickory trees the bark
is of a light gray color and in many cases seems to almost fall off the
tree in long, slender strips. If vou try to pull off one of these strips
you will find it still very closely fastened to the tree. In one of our
hickories the whole trunk is made shaggy by these strips of bark, and
we call the tree the “shaghark,” or “‘shellbark,” hickory. Pick the
compound leaf of a hickory tree and count the number of leaflets.
How are the leaflets arranged? Do hickory trees have flowers? If so,
when do they appear? We have seven different kinds of hickory trees
in Indiana, all of them of large size and all giving us very valuable
timber. The wood is very hard and strong and this fits it for very
many uses, in which great strength is required. The handles of tools,
such as axes and plows, wagon-tongues and spokes, and a thousand
other things are made from hickory when it can be obtained. Every
boy knows be can make a good bow from a straight-grained piece of
hickory, and that which makes it good for a bow makes it suitable for
the other uses of which I have spoken. All of these trees bear nuts
which can be eaten, except in one case. The nut of the “pig-nut” hick-

7

ory is too bitter for even nut-hungry boys and girls to eat. The best of
all these hickories, not only in the value of its wood, but also in the
quality of its nuts, is the “white,” or “shellbark,” hickory.

But I have written more than I ought to already, and I have only
talked about a few trees. But what I hope you will do is this: Dur-
ing this year see how many kinds of trees you can learn to tell apart.

1. By the bark.

2. By their leaves.

3. By their fruit.

Never mind about the long scientific names, the common ones will
‘do just as well. While you are watching them notice the following

things. If I were you, I would put them in a book, so that I might
not forget them:

1. When do the leaves appear?

2. When do the flowers appear?
3. How long do the flowers last? -
4+. When does the fruit ripen?

5. When do the leaves fall?

And then, I think, last of all, I would try to find the uses to which
the wood of the different trees were put in the neighborhood in which
T lived. If you do this, or even a part of it, you will know so much
about trees at the end of the year that the woods and groves will have
a very different meaning to you.

If in your work you come to any questions which you can not an-
swer, if vou will let us know about it we will try to help you.

FOR THE USG OF TEACHERS.

Noo 44,

[LEAFLET

On Nature StTupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DIstTRICTs.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

A STUDY OF OUR INSECT ENEMIES.
IN THREE FIFTEEN-MINUTE LESSONS.

By PrRor. JAMES TROOP.

I

No children have a better opportunity for studying the habits of
insects than those of you who live in the country; and I suppose it is
true that the most of you do know a great deal more about the ways of
insects in general than your city cousins; but I wonder how many of
you have any idea how many kinds of insects there are in the world? I
do not suppose that any one knows exactly, but I think we would be
safe in saying that fully four-fifths of all the animals in the world
belong to this class. This is a good many, you say. Yex, indeed, it
is a good many, but you will see when you get a little older that I have
not stated it any too high.

In studying insects it has been found necessary to divide them into
classes as a botanist classifies his flowers. The classification that has
been adopted is based largely upon the wings of insects. Those having
thin, membranous wings are put in one class; those having scale wings
in another; and those having sheath wings in still another, and so on.

NOTE TO TEACHER.—The time at which these various lessons should
be given will depend somewhat upon the latitude and advancement of the
season; but since it is desirable to give the lessons about the time the obser-
vations can be made it will be necessary to place them about three weeks
apart.

2

There are seven of these classes that are important, the names of
which are pretty hard {o remember, so I will have them written on the
blackboard and you may copy them in your notebooks. Here they
are:

1, Hy-men-op-tera. Having membranous wings. This is the class to which

the hees and wasps belong.
2. Lep-i-dop-tera, — Having scale wings. Here we find the moths and but-

terflies.

3. Dip-tera. Having two wings, including the common house fly and
the mosquito.

4. Co-le-op-tera. Sheath-winged. To this belong the beetles, such as the-
May-heetle, or ‘June-bug,” as it is sometimes called.

». Hem-ip-tera. Hali-winged. These are the true bugs. The black
squash-bug and the green plant lice are good exam-
ples.

6. Or-thop-tera, Straight-winged. To this class belong the grasshoppers
and erickets.

«. Newrop-tera. Lace-winged. Jlere we find the dragonflies or snake-
feeders.

Now [want to ask a question. Have any of you discovered in these
hard names any portion which is the same in all of them? Look
closcly at the names on the board. You will see that the latter part
of each name is alike. This part is from a Greek word which means
wings.

There is something with regard to the most of the insects which I
wish to explain to you before we beyin to study them. It is this:
Most insects are found in four different forms. The first is the egg.
When the cge hatches it produces a worm-like animal or caterpillar
which cats and grows sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks some-
times even for months. This stage the scientists call the larva, and
it is iu this stage that the greater part of the insects do the most dam-
age. Can you name some such insects? Yes—tent-caterpillars, cur-
rant-worms and cut-worms are insects that are most injurious at this
time.

When it bas eaten and grown enough it lies very still for a long
time, often wrapping itself wp in a covering called a cocoon. This is
the pupa or chrysalis silage. After awhile this pupa bursts open its
outer covering or cocoon and ajpears as a full-grown insect like the
hutterfly, or beetle, or common house fly. This last stage is called the
imago. Can you name some insects that are most harmful when full
vrown? Yes—grasshoppers and some of the beetles.

NOTE TO TEACHER.—If the children could be shown a large number
of specinens of different insects, either mounted or alive, for the purposes
of observation and classification it would greatly enhance the value of the
Jessons.

Now we are ready for our talk, which to-day is to be about some of
our insect enemies. Where shall I hegin? With the mosquito? With
the fly? I suppose we may call mosquitoes and flies our insect ene-
mies, so I will speak of these for a few minutes.

Perhaps the mosquito and fly are as well known to us as any of the
insect tribe, but I wonder how many of the hoys and girls know all
about the habits of these very familiar little insects? For instance, I
speak of the mosquito as she. Did you know that Mr. Mosyuito has
much better manners than Mrs. Mosquito? Well, he has, for he never
tries to worry or bite us as she docs. He is a bashful fellow, and is
always found hiding in some out-of-the-way place, such as swamps and
woods, while his mate amuses herself by trying to sing us to sleep so
that she may have a good chance to stab us with her little spear, and
suck our blood.

In our study of these and other insects it will be quite desirable for
us to have a small hand magnifying glass in order that we may sce
them to better advantage. For example, the spear or bill of the mos-
quito appears to the naked eye to be made up of a single straight
piece, but with a good glass it will be seen to be made up of a number
of long thread-like pieces which she can bring together, thus form-
ing a tube through which she takes her food. Compare this with
the beak of the house fly and note how they differ. Next examine
their wings. How many does each one have? By this time you will
very likely begin to think that these two insects are related to each
other; and so they are.

How many know where the mosquito lays her eggs, and where the
young live during their babyhood? Let us see. Did you ever know
mosquitoes to be numerous where there were no ponds, or rain bar-
rels, or other standing water? You did not? Very well, if you study
them closely you will find that the old mosruito lays her eggs in little
hoat-shaped masses upon the water, and the little ones spend all their
time in the water feeding upon decayed matter that is always to be
found in such places. After a short time the young mosquito, which
does not look at all like a mosquito, changes to a different form, and
then it frequently comes to the top for air. If you disturb it, it will
go wriggling down to the bottom again. What then would you call it?
A wiggler? Yes, that is right. After a few days it comes to the top
for the last time, the old skin splits open on the back and makes a
nice little boat for the full-grown mosquito to stand in until it can
stretch its wings and legs, when off it goes to search for food. All
this that I have just told you can he readily seen, providing you have
sharp eyes.

4

Let us see how the house fly differs from the mosquito in these re-
spects. Do you think the fly lays her cges in the water? No, she
lays her eggs in cracks in the floor or in other out-of-the-way places
where there is a good supply of food for her young. Here they live
till they are full grown, when they change their form, as did the mos-
quito, but they take on a very different shape, looking somewhat like
a small black bean. After a short time, one end of this little black
case is forced off and out comes Mr. Fly.

I wish you to notice that these insects which we have called our ene-
mies are not altogether bad. They help us while they are young by
destroying various kinds of filth and decaying matter which, if left in
the water, or upon the ground, or in our dwellings, would be very in-
jurious to our health.

I think perhaps we have said enough about the fly and mosquito at
this time to put you on the right track, so that during the summer
with the aid of your glass you will be able to discover many more in-
teresting things about them.

Il.

Spring will soon be here and with the first warm days the currant
and gooseberry bushes will begin to send out their leaves and will take
up another season’s work of increasing their growth and producing a
crop of fruit. If those of you who have them in your gardens will
wateh carefully you will probably find after a few days, down in the
center of the bush, some leaves which have tiny holes through them,
and yet there does not appear to be anything on them. But pick a
leaf and look closely at the underside of it. There you will find a
dozen or more little greenish worms with black dots all over their
bodies. Where could they have come from? Look carefully along
the ribs of the leaf on the underside and you will soon be able to
answer this question.

But in order to find out what heconies of these worms when they
are full grown, we must have a breeding cage. Such a cage is easily
made, You have only to take a small box, about a foot in diameter
each way, knock off the bottom board and replace it with cheese-cloth
and then cover the top with glass so that you can see what is going
on inside. When the worms are about three-fourths of an inch long,
which will be when they are about three wecks old, put some fresh
currant leaves in the breeding cave and on these place some of the
worms. Give them fresh leaves every day as long as they will eat and
watch carefully to see what becomes of them. 1 can tell you, but I

(

a)

think you can find out for yourselves, and if you watch carefully you
will discover xome very curious (hings. I want you to put down in
your notebooks just how these worms eat, because later you may
wish to compare their habits with those of some other worms of which
I will tell you.

The parents of these little worms of which we have been speaking
are very spry, so that you will probably not be able to catch the
mother-fly in the act of laying her eggs, but if you could, you would
see her use a little saw, which she carries in a convenient place, with
which she cuts small holes in the veins of the leaves, and in these she
places her eggs, just as you saw them when looking for the young
worms. Now, what would you suggest as her family name? Saw-fly?
Certainly; that is just what she is called.

Do you know what injuries these saw-flies do to our fruits? Ask
your father and he will probably tell you that if they are left to them-
selves they will soon strip the currant and gooseberry bushes of their
leaves.

So far we have spoken of but one kind of saw-fly, but there are a
good many kinds, all more or less injurious to our cultivated plants,
although they differ a good deal in their habits. For example, you
may have a cherry tree with its bright green leaves just beginning to
do the work which Nature intended they should, when you suddenly
discover that something is the matter with them. Something has
eaten away part of the leaf covering so as to make it appear spotted.
Find out, if you can, what it is that has done this. Ah! There you
have him—a sticky, slimy-looking fellow, eating away as contentedly
as can be. He looks like a snail, you think. So he does. Do you
notice, though, that he eats only the green part of the leaf and leaves
the veins? But does this really hurt the tree, you ask. Let us see.
I think you must have learned before this that the green portion of
the leaf is called chlorophyll, and that without it the tree cannot digest
its food, and this digestion is necessary in order that it may grow.
Now, if you will watch your cherry tree for a few days you will see
what will happen if these [-llows are allowed to go on with their work
unmolested. The leaves will die, and thus the tree, being deprived of
its food, will stop growing.

Let us see if we cannot find some simple remedy that will rid us of
this pest. I wonder if any of you know how insects breathe? You
know that a dog breathes through his nose or his mouth, but these

“little creatures breathe through holes ylaced along the sides of their
bodies. Now, you remember that these insects were covered with a

6

sticky substance, so suppose we scatter some fine road dust over them
and sev what will happen. Uf you do this successfully you will close
wp all their breathing holes, and thus choke them to death.

But how about those rose bushes with their leaves stripped of their
chlorophyll? Can you find any worms on them? If so, how do they
compare with the others? Yes, they resemble the others in most re-
epects, hut they are not covered with a sticky substance.

Now, how do we know that these ihree insects all belong to the
Saw-Fly family? If we could examine ihe female flies of each kind
we would always find the little saw of which I have spoken tucked
away ready for use. But that is too difficult a task. I think it will be
easier for you to find out about the family by examining the young
of these flics, or the larre; that is, those worms of which we have been
talking.

Suppose you find a tent-caterpillar and count its feet. Sixteen, you
suy? That is correct. And the strange thing is that there is but one
femily among the insects that has more than sixteen feet; and that is
the Saw-Fly family. Now count the feet of each of the three worms
cf which we have heen talking. How many do you find? Twenty in
each case, you say. Very well. Ilere you have the family of which I
spoke.

ITT.

At some convenient time visit the cclery plants growing in the gar-
den and see what you will find. T think it will he a peculiar striped
worm, eating away at the plants. You have all xeen him before, but
who knows what hecomes of him ? Visit the spot again in a few days
and see what you find—a bright-colored object hung up hy one end
toa celery stalk, and around its shoulders it has placed a silken thread
or band and fastened the ends to the celery plant also. Now, in order
to he sure of it when it males its next change. von had better take
the stalk to which it is attached and place it in your breeding cage.
Tf you watch it carefully you will observe another very curious
result. It will have beautiful wings, and I wish you to take your
hooks and make notes of their size, shape, and color, so that you will
recognize others of the same kind.

This is also a good time to visit the cabbage and watch the small
white butterflies as they fly from one plant to another, apparently just
for the fun of the thing. Notice what the female is doing. Did you
see her lay her egg? Where did she put it, upon the upper or lower
side of the leaf? Now, nole carefully when the eves hatch, and how

baat}

7

long it takes the worms to pass through their various changes. You
observe that they finally turn into full-grown butterflies. Note down
in your books the size of the body; shape and color of the wings; how
they are folded when at rest; shape of the antenna or feelers, and
any other striking peculiarity you may notice.

Now, I will speak of only one or two more, and one of these is the
Tomato Moth. I speak of it here in order to show you the difference
between a moth and a butterfly.

Every farmer boy or girl knows a tomato worm, of course, and some
of them are afraid to touch one for fear they will get pricked with the
sharp horn sticking out of his back; but that was only put there to
frighten timid people. It is not a dangerous weapon. I wonder how
many of you know how long it takes this worm to become full grown,
and where it goes after it stops eating? Did you know that it goes
into the ground and remains there all winter? Well, it does; and so
in order to follow it through its other two changes this year, it will
be necessary to begin this spring. Go into the garden when they are
plowing the last year’s tomato ground, and you will probably find a
number of brownish, oblong objects about an inch and a half in
length, each having a queer little jug-handled arrangement at one
end. Thev are apparently dead, but if you pinch one of them it will
probably squirm a little, enough to let you know that it is alive, but
that it has not yet awakened from its long winter’s sleep. Now, place
some moist soil in the bottom of the breeding cage and bury these
again and wait until about the time vour father’s tomato plants are
well grown, when von will he surprised some morning to find some
beautiful Jarge moths in your cage in place of the ugly-looking things
you put there.

Now eet your notebooks and observe Jiow they differ in size of
body, shape and color of their wings from the cabbage butterfly. How
do they fold their wings when at rest? Are their antenne of the
same shape as those of the butterfly? Now I think you will be able
to tell some of the differences at least between a moth and a butterfly.

But, someone asks, why don’t we see these moths flying about in the
daytime, like the butterflies? Sure enough. That is a peculiarity that
we overlooked, because these moths have been kept in a cage all of this
time. If you let them out you will see that they will go and hide
themselves as quickly as possible until just at twilight, when you may
see them, if you look sharply, flitting from flower to flower, sipping
the sweet nectar from the deep flower tubes which the bees could not
reach. Watch them and see how they remain poised over the flower
while they poke their long tongucs down into it, Can you think of

8

any kind of bird that behaves in a like manner? ‘The humming bird?
Certainly; and these moths are sometimes mistaken for humming
birds. So we will call them the Hamming Bird Moths.

But I want to speak of one more before closing. You will remem-
her that T asked you to make a note of how the currant-worms took
their food. Now go into the garden and watch those large black
squash bugs, as they are feeding away on the squash vines. Can you
sce where they have eaten the plants? You cannot? Well, the plant
seems to be dying. What is the cause? You can’t tell? Let me help
you a little. Catch one of these bugs and look at its mouth under
your magnifying glass. You sec a straight beak. Can you tell me
how this one differs from the currant-worm in its method of eating,
and why the squash plants were withering? You will notice that it
does not eat the leaf as the currant-worm did, but thrusts its beak into
the plant and sucks its juice, thus causing it to wither and die.

Now, I think you will be able to sce that the most of these insects
about which we have been talking are able to do a evreat deal of in-
jury during their lifetime, if we but let them alone. Sometimes whole
gardens are destroyed and whole fields of grain are ruined in a single
season. A single insect is very sinall and not able to do very much,
but when many of them unite their forces they are able to accomplish
great results.

They attack our wheat, our oats, our larger fruit trees and our
smaller ones, as well as our garden crops—indeed almost everything
that grows may be injured hy insects. Sometimes this State loses
a million or more of dollars’ worth of agricultural products in a single
year by their ravages. ‘This, you think, is a very important matter,
and so itis. Some of you may ask, is there no way to get rid of them?
Yes, there are many things that you can do to prevent them from do-
ing injury, but the methods are so difficult that I cannot explain them
to you at this time. If your father is interested in the matter and
wishes some information on this subject, you had better ask him to
send a postal card to the Director of the Experiment Station, Lafay-
ette, Ind., stating that he is a farmer and asking for bulletin No. 69.
Tf he will do this he will receive a bulletin which will tell him how to
prevent insects from doing so much damage.

The next time I shall talk about beneficial insects, or Our Insect
riends.

FOR THE USE OF TE

ACHERS.

No, 12.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

A TALK ABOUT WATER-DROPS.

By Prof. A. WILMER DUFF.

What is a water-drop? To experiment is to try for yourself, and
as that is the surest way of learning anything, we shall begin with an
experiment. Dip your finger into water and withdraw it, and you will
be able to see the shape of the drop that forms at its end. It is
round like a glass bead except just where it hangs to your finger, and
if you watch it carefully you will see that, just when it gets free from
your finger, it is nearly perfectly round. If you let it fall on a piece
of glass it will form a circle. If you could sce it while it is falling
you would find that it is nearly a perfect sphere. If I let water from
the end of a stick gather and form a drop, while the end is in a glass
of paraffin oil, you will be able to see a much larger drop hanging
from the stick and you will find that it is nearly quite round.

Such, too, is the shape of a rain-drop while it is falling. You may
try this the next time it is raining by holding a sheet of paper so as
to catch some of the drops. We can, however, learn still more from
the drops formed at the end of the finger. Watch a few and you will
see that eaeh drop seems to have some difficulty in tearing itself away
from the water that remains. The drop has to grow quite large and
heavy before it can by its weight pull itself free. It is evident, then,
that water holds together with considerable force. It is, in fact, this
force which causes the drops to become round, for it makes the parti-

NOTE.—This leaflet will furnish material for several short lessons,

2

cles draw as closely together as possible. You can see another in-
teresting example of the same thing if you hold the square end of a
stick of sealing wax in a flame, for you will find that, as it becomes
liquid, the sharp corners disappear and the whole end becomes round
like the water-drop. This force which holds particles of liquid to-
gether is called cohesion.

Now, you all can tell me what will happen to awater-drop if it is left
for some time where it falls. It will vanish. The first one which we
allowed to drop on glass may already have done so. What has be-
come of it? No one saw it going away, and if any one looked at it, he
merely noticed that it seemed smaller each time he looked. But has
it left nothing whatever behind? If you look closely enough you will
probably discover that it has left a thin film or crust. What-
ever this crust is, it must have been contained in the water-
drop. You should see whether all kinds of water leave the
same crust. Try, for instance, drops of spring water, river water, rain
water, and also, if you can get them, a small piece of snow and a small
lump of ice. We shall not, however, in this lesson, attempt to make
a study of the crust that a drop leaves behind. Leaving it for another
occasion, let us ask again what became of the water itself. Some of
you will be able to tell me that it has become vapor or steam and is
scattered in the air around us. It escaped in small particles that were
invisible, and in this invisible form they are called water-vapor or
steam. To this you may object that the steam formed by a boiling
kettle is not invisible, but look closely and you will find that just
where it issues from the spout it is invisible and only becomes visible
a little farther on. It is true water-vapor that issues from the spout
and what we sce a little farther on is not water-vapor, but a little
cloud of water-drops. Try putting a spirit flame beneath this cloud,
and you will find that the drops are again turned into invisible vapor.

Thus we see that one way of turning water into vapor is to heat it,
and that heat can overcome the force of cohesion, which holds the
particles together. It would seem, however, that this is not the only
way, for if we watch a little cloud from the kettle, we shall see that
it gradually turns back again into invisible vapor, which spreads itself
throughout the room. Sometimes, however, the cloud rises much
higher than at other times, and it seems much less ready to turn into
vapor. You will find that this is the case when the kettle has been
steaming for a good while in the room and the doors have been closed.
Now, this evidently means that vapor forms less readily when there

is already a good deal of vapor in the room, and more readily when
there is hut little vapor in the air.

»

”
a)

You may see the same thing on a much larger scale if you look at
the puffs that come from a locomotive drawing a train. Sometimes
there is very little smoke mixed with the steam, and the cloud that
rises is like the cloud from the spout of the kettle. Look carefully
and you will probably find that there is a space between the top of
the smoke-stack and the cloud where nothing can be seen. Just above
it is cooled by the air, and it shrinks into separate drops of water. If
you could see inside the boiler you would find that the steam above
the water is quite invisible water-vapor, and the same thing can be
shown by boiling water in a thin glass flask such as chemists use.
Notice the clouds thus formed by a locomotive, and you will observe
that on some days they hang lazily in the air for quite a long time,
and on other days they fade away quite rapidly. Observe what the
days are like on which they disappear rapidly, and what the other days
are like on which they disappear slowly.

It will help you to understand the matter if you will try some ex-
periments to find how fast water will turn into invisible vapor. Turn
a saucer upside down and you will see a shallow depression with a rim
around it. Put the saucer with the bottom up somewhere out of doors
where it will not be disturbed, and pour enough water in the hollow
to fill it. Then find how long it takes the water to dry up. Do this
on several days, and put down in a little note book the length of time
it takes in each case. Note also in your book whether the day is
cloudy or sunny, warm or cold, windy or still, and see if you can find
any connection between these things. If you wish, you may use a wet
rag hung from a clothes-line instead of the saucer. Always use the
same rag and hang it up without wringing. Find as before how long
it takes to dry.

We can now understand how real clouds are formed. Vapor is con-
tinually rising from the water on the surface of the earth, the process
being greatly aided by the heat of the sun’s rays. It is quite invisible
until it rises high in the air. Now, people who have climbed high
mountains and men who have gone up in balloons tell us that the air
is much colder higher up than it is at the surface of the earth. We
can understand, then, what happens to the invisible vapor when it
rises high in the air. It is cooled and turned again into water-drops.
These make up the cloud that we see far above us. If you watch the
different clouds on a fine day, you will probably see some that look
like large masses of cotton-wool. They are wavy or irregular above,
but bounded by a sharp line below. The line marks the place at
which the air becomes cold enough to turn the vapor into drops. If
now a cold wind comes along and chills these clouds still more, the

4

small drops will grow larger by more vapor turning into water, and
finally they become large enough to fall rapidly as rain. You may
sometimes, but not often, find that rain falls before any clouds are
formed. This is due to a very cold wind suddenly blowing in and
chilling the air a short distance ahove us, so that the vapor quickly
turns into large drops, which fall as rain. You will find it interesting
to note the direction from which the wind that brings rain usually
comes. If you keep a list in your notebook you may soon become
quite an authority on the weather.

After writing the last two sentences I remembered that it is some-
times very difficult to tell from what direction the wind really does
come, and when the wind is very light you will probably find this dif-
fieulty. You may then try the method that sailors sometimes use
when they wish to find from what direction a very faint wind is
springing up. Wet one of your fingers and hold it up. Wait until it
begins to dry, and you will feel one side of it much colder than the
rest. That is the side of it on which the wind blows. You can detect
the very slightest wind in this way. If you open the outside door
of a warm room a couple of inches and hold a wet finger at the bottom
of the opening, then at the top and then at points near the middle,
you will be able to learn something very interesting about how air
circulates.

But this experiment can teach us more than the direction of the
wind. We learn from it that when water dries up from any surface
it leaves the surface colder; that is, the vapor takes heat away with
it. In fact, the heat is needed in all cases to turn the water into
vapor. ‘Try wetting one side of your face and then standing so as to
face the wind, and then you will perhaps be able to explain why a
little little wind is so very agreeable on a warm day. Is it because the
wind itself is cool? There are some hot summer days when the wind
does not seem to cool us at all. If you notice you will find these are
days on which the air itself seems moist; some people describe the
weather as “muggy.” Can you explain why hot weather is so much
more oppressive when the air is moist?

While speaking of the cold produced by water turning into vapor,
let me suggest another experiment: Some hot summer day take two
bottles of Iuke-warm water; wrap a wet towel around one and put
them out in the shade where the wind will blow on them, and after
the towel has nearly dried see if there is any difference between the
two bottles as regards the taste of the water. You will then know
how to get cool water on a hot day. If you find that on some days
you cannot get this plan to work well, you should see if you can ex-
plain the cause.

5

But we have wandered somewhat from our subject, which was the
fate of the water vapor that rises from the earth. We found that rain
is one way in which it comes back, but that is not the only way.
You will readily think of the dew that sparkles on the grass when the
sun rises after a cold, starry night. Cold has a good deal to do with
the formation of dew, but you may wonder why the stars are men-
tioned. With a little assistance you will find for yourself the explan-
ation of dew and the connection between it and the stars, and you will
then wonder why the explanation was never thought of until less than
a hundred years ago. You must all have noticed what happens when
a pitcher of cold water is left standing in a hot room. The outside of
the pitcher soon becomes covered with moisture, which may even
gather in drops and run down the sides. This is exactly the way in
which dew is formed. The surface of the ground becomes cold at
night and chills the air near it, and the vapor in the air then shrinks
into drops.

I am going to ask you to notice on what nights dew is most plenti-
ful. Before going to bed find out whether the night is cloudy or clear
and whether there is much wind or very little. In the morning see
whether there is much dew or little. We shall keep a record for a
month, and at the end of that time you will be able to predict at night
whether much dew will be seen in the morning, and you will be able
to answer the question, “What have the stars to do with dew?” Take
some care to notice, also, where there is most dew, on the earth, on
grass, on stones or on metal articles, and whether there is more on the
open grass or on grass under trees. You will also learn something
interesting about the matter if you stretch a piece of muslin on four
little stakes and notice how much dew is deposited under it. I must
not, however, leave you with the idea that all dew comes from the
air. Some part of the dew on a leaf actually comes from inside the
leaf by means of small openings or pores.

But we have not yet mentioned all the ways by which vapor returns
to the earth. We all know what snow is, although people who pass
all their lives in the countries near the equator never see it. What is
snow? Some still, cold day when the large flakes are just beginning
to come down, catch some of them on the sleeve of your coat and look
at them carefully. You will soon find that they are among the most
beautiful things that you have ever seen. The flakes are all in the
form of stars, shooting out rays on every side. Sometimes these rays
are quite straight, but in many cases you will find that there are
little raylets darting out from the main ray and giving it a most
beautiful fern-like look. I am not going to tell you what these dif-

6

ferent snow stars are like. You can find out much more easily than
I could tell you. You should draw pictures of as many as possible,
and see how many different kinds of stars you can get. You will
easily find half a dozen; others have found as many as a thousand.
If you count the number of rays on each of the different stars you will
find something very interesting about them. Perhaps the day on
which vou first try may not he a very good day for observing, for there
may be too much wind and many stars may stick together or they may
be too small. But persevere and you will find that some day you will
get a good view of these snowy gems.

But we have not yet answered the question, “What is snow?” Snow
flakes are not frozen water-drops, for if they were they would be round
like water-drops. They consist of particles of water vapor which have
been caught and fixed in position by some invisible power before they
united to form water-drops. This power is not merely the coldness
of the air, for that could not give the snow flakes their regular shape.
The star-making power is something more than mere cold or even the
cohesion which we spoke of before, but we shall not at the present
time attempt to explain it. If you wish to find the effect of great cold
alone on water vapor, fill a tumbler with a mixture of salt and snow
and observe how the vapor particles from the air are deposited on the
outside, owing to the intense cold produced by the freezing mixture.
What you gct here is much like the hoarfrost that takes the place
of dew on very cold nights, and, in fact, hoarfrost is merely frozen
water vapor which did not become liquid before freezing.

Perhaps you are somewhat surprised at the statement that vapor
can turn into a kind of ice, such as snow or hoarfrost,.without first
becoming liquid water. Yet there is no doubt about it, and it is no
more surprising than the other fact that snow or ice can turn into
vapor without first becoming water. For instance, when there is very
cold weather for two or three days together it is often found that the
snow disappears, although the weather is quite too cold for it to melt.
Jt has simply flown away particle by particle as vapor. You may have
to wait a good while before you get a chance to observe this, but there
is another way of noticing the same thing. The next time that
clothes are put out to dry on a very cold day notice that the clothes
can dry almost completely although it was certainly too cold for the
ice on them to melt into water. You may say that it has melted into
vapor.

Although snow docs not consist of frozen water-drops, yet we
are all familiar with frozen water-drops under the name of. hail.
These little ice balls come down sometimes in summer when the air

7

does not seem cold enough to freeze water. But they must have
liven froezn somewhere before reaching the earth, and so we learn that
there must be somewhere above us on a summer day places where the
air is cold enough to produce ice. You can often see such a place,
even on a hot summer day, if you wish. Look for a cloud that seems
very high up, one that resembles hairs or feathers with their fibers
curled. These clouds are sometimes called horse-tail clouds. They
consist really of small pieces of ice instead of drops of water. When
you see many of these clouds you may expect wind soon, or at least
a change of weather. They are very high up, sometimes as much as
ten miles. You must not, however, suppose that the hail actually
comes from these clouds. It really is formed much nearer the surface
of the earth by very cold currents of air. If the drops are first frozen
into hail by cold air, and these frozen drops before reaching the earth
have to pass through a thick layer of warm air, they are partly melted
again, and we get what is called sleet.

We have said a good deal about water vapor shrinking as it is
cooled until it becomes drops of water. What happens to water as it is
cooled? Does it shrink? Try it for yourself in this way: Take a
large glass bottle with a narrow neck. Fill it-first with pretty warm
water, merely to warm it up. Then pour this out and fill it with
water that is nearly boiling. Tie a string around the neck just where
the water stands, cork the bottle and put it where it can cool. Look
at it as it cools, and notice that the level of the water falls steadily.

We thus see that water shrinks as it cools. Notice which part of
the bottle is the colder and see if you can explain why. If the day
is cold enough you may at last get the water down to the freezing
point. You will find, however, that it does not go on shrinking right
down to where it begins to freeze. A little expansion actually occurs
before the freezing point is reached, but unless your bottle be very
large and have a very narrow neck, you may not be able to see this.
If you can get a small glass tube and pass it through the cork and
then shove the cork hard into the bottle full of water you may make a
very narrow neck for the bottle, and then you may be able to see
this slight expansion of the water before it is quite down to the freez-
ing point.

But what happens when the water actually begins to freeze? Leave
the bottle of water out on a very cold night and see what has hap-
pened to it in the morning. You will find that the bottle has cracked,
showing that when the water began to freeze it must have expanded in
volume, and as the bottle couldn’t expand also, the latter was shat-
tered. So we see that while water vapor and water both shrink steadily

8

as they cool, when water turns into ice it expands instead of shrinking,
and therefore the ice must le less dense than the water. Now, any
solid that is less dense than water will float on water, and so we see
why ice always floats on water instead of sinking. Try this for your-
self with a lump of ice and a tumbler of water. Try and judge how
much of the ice is above the water and how much below. If you can
judge very accurately you will find that there are about eleven times
as much of it below as above.

How many different effects produced hy this expansion of freezing
water can you think of? There are some very important ones, indeed;
but we must leave such questions as these for another leaflet.

FOR THE USB OF TEACHERS.

Na. 48.

LEAFLET

On Nature Srtupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RurRAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

CLIMATE IN SOME OF ITS RELATIONS TO DAILY LIFE.

IN FOUR LESSONS.

By PRor. H, A. HUSTON.

is

The weather is a continuous but very variable factor in our every-
day life. We accept all kinds of weather as a matter of course and
often underrate its influence on our affairs. Extremes of heat or cold,
great storms and unusual phenomena attract passing attention. But
the ordinary climatic conditions upon which so much of our comfort
and welfare depends are practically unnoticed. Do you know what is
the average temperature of the town in which you live? Do you
know how much rain falls about you in a year, how it is distributed
by months, and how it varies from year to year? The figures repre-
senting these facts are not exciting reading, yet the conditions that
they record exert a most important influence on our health, our ca-
pacity to work, our ability to produce or obtain food and, in fact, on
almost every act of our lives. Every one who has charge of workmen,
students or invalids understand the ill effects of a dull or unseason-

NOTE.--Some of the topics in this leaflet are difficult ones to present
to very young people, but an attempt has been made to simplify the lan-
guage as far as possible, and it is hoped that much of what is found here
may profitably be presented by the skillful teacher to most of the chil-
dren in the district schools,

9
able day. These conditions are practieally beyond our control, yet a
careful observation of them, supplemented by a day’s notice of what
conditions to expect, will enable us to so adjust our affairs as to take
advantage of favorable conditions and to reduce to a minimum the
injury caused by the unfavorable ones.

CLIMATE AND HEALTH.

Some people attribute all their ills to the weather. While this is, of
course, an extreme view of matters, it is still true that a careful com-
parison of the weather and the health records for a long series of
years shows that there is a well-defined relation between the preva-
lence and severity of certain diseases and the state of the weather.
Rheumatism is one of the old weather prophets and pneumonia is a
typical cold-weather disease, the dangers of which are intensified by
sudden changes of temperature. Careful observation has shown that
when the water in wells rises after a prolonged drouth there is a
marked increase in diseases of the typhoid-fever class, owing to the
germs being carried into the wells. In hot weather there is a great
increase in the death rate of children, especially in the poorer quarters
of large cities. Actual experiments have shown that this is in great
measure due to disease germs carried in such food as milk. The hot,
moist weather furnishcs the most favorable conditions for the multi-
plication of the germs causing such diseases.

CLIMATE AND COMMERCE.

Tt is difficult for one who has not been connected with a weather
office to realize how great and how varied are the commercial inter-
ests that daily seek information regarding the weather conditions and
how these interests are controlled by the information received. The
shipper of perishable materials, such as fruit, vegetables and meat,
knows what losses may be caused either by extreme hot or cold
weatuer. Financial and humanitarian motives lead the shipper of live
stock to scan the “probabilities” carefully. If a destructive hot wind
occurs in the western part of the corn belt at a critical period in the
growth of the crop, its effect is shown not only on the crop, but in
every corn market in the world.

Railroads are most frequent users both of predictions and weather
records, and reciprocate by rendering valuable aid in distributing pre-
dictions along their lines.

3

Great as are the financial benclits derived from an intelligent use of
weather predictions, they appear insignificant when compared with
the great saving of human life resulting from the system of storm
warnings at lake and ocean ports.

October 8-14, 1882, a hurricane crossed Cuba, causing the loss of
thousands of houses and cattle; 40 persons were killed. Its passage
along the Atlantic coast was marked by violent gales and great dam-
age to shipping, but urgent and timely storm warnings detained most
vessels in port until the hurricane passed. Fifteen steamers and over
200 sailing vessels, representing a property value of from eight to ten
million dollars, were held in New York harbor alone by timely notice
of the violent storm. On the Labrador coast over 70 vessels were lost
and about 100 men perished.

Il.

CLIMATE ANI) CROPS,

The production of materials used for food and clothing employs
the energies of the greater part of the earth’s population. In no
field of human activity is the influence of climate of such vital impor-
tance as in this. Not only do certain great groups of products require
certain well-known conditions of climate, but in the zones adapted to
the cultivation of these groups, what may appear to be only a slight
departure from the average conditions may cause a disastrous failure
of the most important crops, often accompanied by famine and pesti-
lence in addition to the enormous financial losses. Such calamities
are often viewed as dispensations of providence and thus beyond our
control. Yet much may be done to reduce the ill effects of these visi-
tations. If the last killing frost of spring be ten days later, or the
first killing frost of the autumn be ten days earlier than the average,
it may cause the loss of many millions of dollars.

A desert is bare not because it is infertile, but because of a lack of
water. Some of the most productive lands in the world are portions
of deserts to which water has been supplied by irrigation systems.

Drouth is the great cause of crop failure. In 1885 Indiana pro-
duced 45,000,000 more bushels of corn than in 1887, although more
acres were planted in 1887. What was the cause of the enormous
difference? During the months of June, July and August, 1885,
10.85 inches of rain fell; during the same months of 1887 7.20 inches
fell, an average difference of less than one and a quarter inch per
month for these three months, yet it made a difference in the value
of a single crop of over $12,000,000.

#13

PROTECTIVE MEASURES.

A few simple observations will serve to illustrate the principles
upon which the methods of combatting unfavorable conditions of cli-
mate in respect of crops are based. What can we do to reduce the
effects of drouth? Our first observation is that only a part of the
water falling on the land leaves it by the way of streams and rivers.
The rest is evaporated from the surface of the soil or from plants.
Can we do anything to reduce the loss from evaporation at the surface
of the soil? Let us try a simple experiment. We will need a pair of
scales, two tin buckets holding about four quarts each, a peck of loam
and some water. The loam should be well mixed, free from stones
and large lumps. Place the loam in a box which is not water-tight,
cover it with water and allow the surplus water to drain off. Fill the
buckets with this wet earth, placing an equal weight in each. The
buckets of earth must be allowed to stand where they will be protected
from rain and freely exposed to the air. The earth in one should be
left undisturbed. So soon as the surface of the earth in the other
is dry enough it should he stirred to a depth of about one inch, and
this stirring should be repeated every few days in order to keep a
layer of loose earth on the surface. Weigh the buckets of earth every
few days and note the results. Why docs one lose weight faster than
the other? Let us see if this can be made clear to you by using a
familiar fact as an illustration: How does the oil pass from the lamp
reservoir to the flame? What would be the result if all except a few
of the fibers of the wick were cut or if the top end of the wick should
be made of material that did not readily permit the movement of the
oil through it? When you have thought out the answers to these
questions, you have the principle involved in the use of the mulch
blanket of fine earth which is so valuable in conserving soil moisture
and in carrying crops through prolonged periods of drouth. Frequent
shallow cultivation is of great value in reducing the loss of water
through evaporation from the surface of the soil.

Can we do anything to increase the water kept stored in
the soil and to decrease the amount that is lost in streams?
Do you not know of hillsides where heavy rains make gul-
lies and the water carries the soil away? or of flat lands
on which water stands until it “dries up?” Why is this?
Because the water cannot enter the earth as fast as it falls. Often the
washing does not begin as soon as the rain begins to fall; in this we
may find the key to a solution of the matter. If the ground has been
plowed five inches deep it may take up the water until this five-inch

5

layer contains all it can hold. The water then passes very slowly
from the plowed layer to the hard layer below. The excess runs off
the surface and washes the hillside or stands on the surface of the flat
land. Suppose the soil had been loosened to a depth of 15 inches,
would it not have taken up three times as much water? If so, it
would have taken up as much as falls in our heaviest rains, and no
washing would have occurred. Three times as much water would
have been stored in the soil for the use of the crops. If any one in
your neighborhood subsoils his land, notice whether such land washes
or dries out quickly. Subsoiling is performed with a special plow that
follows the common plow. It loosens the subsoil, but does not bring
it to the surface.

Some clay lands become puddled as soon as the rain wets the sur-
face. After this the water enters such soils very slowly. Can a
simple remedy be found for this? Procure some heavy clay, moisten
it well with water and divide it into two equal parts. Work one part
well and form it into a ball. Work well into the other part as much
freshly slaked lime as will lie on a penny. Put both balls where they
can dry out, and after a week break them and notice which breaks the
more easily. If you are impatient you can get a quicker result by
filling two clean bottles of equal size with muddy water from the road-
side. To one bottle add a spoonful of lime water made by shaking an
ounce of freshly slaked lime with a pint of water and allowing the
coarser particles to subside. Allow the two bottles to stand a few
hours and examine the deposits on the bottom of them. Notice the
difference in the thickness of the layers and the appearance of the
edges. Lime has the power of making the very fine clay particles
group themselves in little flakes which do not stick closely to each
other. When a few hundred pounds of freshly slaked fine lime are
mixed with the surface soil of an,acre of heavy clay the rain water
enters it much more readily and the surface does not become puddled.

III.

PROTECTION FROM FROSTS.

In order to understand the theory of protection from frost we must
keep in mind how dew and frost form. Water freezes at 32 degrees
Fahrenheit. If some of the water vapor in the air deposits on plants
or other objects which have a higher temperature than this the water
forms in a shape which we call dew. But if the things on which the
water deposits have a temperature below 32 degrees the water is de-
posited in the form of little erystals of ice, which we call frost.

6

We all know how garden plants are protected from frost by a simple
covering of paper or cloth. Do we protect them in this way on a
windy or cloudy night? he air under the protecting paper is not
notably warmer than the air at the same height outside. What is the
principle involved? In the early evening many objects, such as plants
and things made of metal, lose heat faster than they receive it. It
leaves in straight lines that point to the sky. ‘These bodies lose heat
faster than the air does; they therefore become cooler than the air
above them. <A frost may form on plants when the air four feet
above them is at 40 degrees. If some body be placed between them
and the clear sky the heat cannot readily pass off, and they remain at
the temperature of the air. This body may be a paper, a layer of
smoke or a cloudy sky.

But what is the frost? The air always contains some water in the
form of invisible vapor. The amount is not the same at all times.
One cubic foot of the air contains an average of about 1.3 grains of
water in January and 6.5 grains in July. Heat perhaps has something
to do with the amount of water vapor in the air? Yes; the temper-
ature of the air determines the amount of water vapor it can contain.
At our average January temperature (26.6 degrees) a cubic foot of air
could not contain over 1.8 grains, and at our average July tempera-
ture (74.8 degrees) not over 9.3 grains of water vapor.

What happens when warm, moist air cools? Our air usually con-
tains seven-tenths as much water vapor as it can hold. <A cubie foot
of air at 50 degrees would then contain about three grains. This is
the total amount that air at 41 degrees can contain. If this air cools
to 388 degrees it cannot hold all the water vapor. If the air be in
contact with leaves or metals or other objects that lose their heat
readily, the water from the air will condense on them, and we call it
dew. Ifa cubic foot of the air at 50 degrees had contained but two
grains of water vapor it could have cooled to 30 degrees before any
of the water would have been deposited. But this is below the point
at which water freezes. The vapor would then have been deposited in
the form of minute ice erystals which we call frost. If a cubie foot of
the air at 50 degrees had contained but one grain of water vapor it
could have cooled to 11 degrees before any of the water would have
been deposited. But plants would have frozen before any such tem-
perature had been reached. Under these conditions the tem-
perature would not usually fall to 11 degrees, and no ice particles
would he deposited on the outside of the plants. This is the dreaded
black frost.

7

The temperature at which dew or frost begins to be deposited is
called the dew point. When water is converted into vapor a definite
quantity of heat is absorbed. When the vapor condenses into water
- this heat reappears. ‘Iherefore, when dew begins to form, the tem-
perature at the point where the dew is forming does not fall any
more. Did you ever see a frozen dew-drop? Upon these principles is
based the method of making local

FROST PREDICTIONS.

There is no simple way by which the quantity of water vapor in a
cubie foot of air or the dew point can be directly found. But they
may be found through the relation between the dryness of the air
and the rate at which water is converted into vapor. In passing into
vapor, heat is absorbed, and if the heat is taken from the water the
temperature of the water will fall. Cooling a body by wrapping a wet
cloth ahout it is a familiar example of this principle. Place the bulb
of a thermometer in some water that has the same temperature as the
room. Remove the thermometer, leaving the bulb wet, and notice
the reading as the water evaporates from the bulb. If one end of a
piece of old, clean muslin the size of a lamp-wick be tied around the
bulb of the thermometer tube, entirely covering it, and the other end
of the piece of muslin be placed in a cup of rain water (do not use
well water) the water will be renewed about the bulb, and in about 15
minutes the reading will remain constant. Such an arrangement is
called a “wet-bulb” thermometer. If the air contains all the vapor
that it can hold at a given temperature there will be no evaporation
from the muslin, and the wet-bulb and the dry-bulb instrument will
read the same. Such air is already at the dew point. But if the air
has less vapor in it than it can contain at the observed temperature,
the water will evaporate from the muslin and cool the wet bulb. The
temperature to which it will fall will depend upon the relative’'amount
of vapor in the air. This in turn fixes the point at which dew or frost
will form.

Now let us try to foretell whether there will be a frost or not. The
instruments must be used at a distance from trees and buildings or if
in cities, they should be used on roofs and exposed to free movement

The common thermometers sold in shops generally read too high. Most of
them are so bad as to be worthless. The errors range from 2 to 27 degrees.
Thermometers made by Henry J. Green, of Brooklyn, N. Y., are always reliable.
The form with a cylindrical bulb is the best. It is better to get two of them, one
for the ‘wet bulb” work and one for the ‘‘dry” or ‘‘exposed” bulb. They may
also serve as standards for checking other and cheaper thermometers.

s

of air. A rule which gives fairly accurate results when the tempera-
ture is at 50 degrees or below is to multiply the difference between the
reading of the wet and dry bulb by 2.5 and subtract the product from
the reading of the dry bulb. The number so obtained is the approx-
imate degree to which the temperature will fall during the night
unless the wind changes and hlows from a moister quarter, or cloudi-
ness intervenes. This is also the dew point. On a fine, clear day
toward evening or after sunset, suppose we find the dry bulb reads 49
and the wet bulb 39. Then 10 times 2.5==25; 49—25—24. You may
be sure that a frost will occur. If the readings are 49 and 45, we have
4. 2.5==10; 49—10—=39, and no frost will occur. If the readings are
19 and 42, we have %2.5=17.5; 49—17.5==31.5; a light frost will
probably occur and tender plants should be protected. By the use of
dew-point tables published by the Weather Bureau somewhat more
exact results may be obtained. But either method gives results that
may be of great vulue in protecting perishable crops.

IV,

THE WORK OF THE WEATHER BUREAU

The United States has the largest and best weather service in the
world. Observations are taken at 8 a. m. and 8 p. m., Washington
time, at over 100 regular and at several hundred volunteer stations.
The observations taken furnish climatic records of very great value
and are at once utilized for the purpose of predictiny the weather con-
ditions for the 36 hours following each observation, and issuing storm
and frost warnings when necessary.

A description of the instruments and the methods of using them
may be found in a pamphlet called “Instructions to Volunteer Ob-
servers,” issued by the Weather Bureau.

The lesson for us is that the present magnificent system which
saves thousands of lives and many million dollars worth of property
every year is the outgrowth of careful observation of local phenomena.
The foundation of our knowledge of American storms is said to be
the observation of Franklin, that the severe coast storms in which the
wind blew from the northeast reached Philadelphia before they did
Boston. A further study of the matter developed the fact that while
the wind moved from the northeast the storm itself moved toward the
northeast. It was found that the winds in such storms did not blow
in straight lines, but in spirals. At the common center of these there
was an area in which the air pressure was low and the wind circled

9

about this center moving in a direction contrary to that of the hands
of a watch. If you will place a circle of card-board on the map of the
United States in such a position that the western one-third of the
dise rests on the State of South Carolina and the eastern two-thirds
rest over the ocean, and then move the disc northeast parallel to the
coast, at the same time rotating the disc so that its northern edge
moves to the west, you will form a very good idea of the movement of
such a storm center and the winds that circle about it. Such storms
may be several hundred miles across. They are called cyclonic or low-
area storms. Many of them move across the United States every year
coming from west of the Mississippi River and generally moving a lit-
tle north of east at the rate of 600 to 900 miles per day. East of the
storm center the air is warm and moist, frequently rains fall, the
winds are from the south and east and the barometer falls. After the
storm center has passed, the weather clears, the air becomes dryer,
the temperature falls, winds come from the north and west and the
barometer rises. When such storms are accompanied by high winds
they are called cyclones or hurricanes. We should distinguish sharply
between cyclones and tornadoes. A cyclone is a great storm 200 miles
or more wide and its path is often 2,000 miles long. A tornado is a
local storm of great violence, 100 to 600 yards wide and from one to
50 miles long. It generally has a funnel-shaped cloud that rotates
and moves forward in the same way as a low-area storm. The area of
greatest violence moves forward from 20 to 50 miles per hour in
nearly all cases from southwest to northeast. ‘Tornadoes are asso-
ciated with low-area storms. They are likely to occur 200 to 300
miles southeast of the low-area, at points where the air is both very
warm and very moist. In the lower Missouri and the upper Missis-
sippi valleys tornadoes occur more frequently than at any other point
in the world. You can determine the direction of a low pressure
area very readily. If you stand with the back squarely to the wind,
the low area is always to your left. The experiment is easily tried and
you can verify it by the observations of the weather bureau which
are published in the large daily papers.

There is another kind of storm which is just the reverse of the low-
area of cyclonic storm. In its center is an area of high pressure about
which the winds rotate in the same direction as the hands of a watch.
It is not a storm in the common meaning of the term since it is asso-
ciated with clear, cool, dry weather. It is often called an anti-cyclone.
Just as the low-area storm is often associated with the tornado, so the
anti-cyclone is often associated with the cold wave. This term was
coined by the Signal Service and means that the temperature will fall

10

Lo at least 45 degrees and that the temperature ab a given hour (as 3
p- m.) to-morrow will be at least 15 degrees lower than it is at the
same hour to-day. Cold waves do not go with every anti-cyclone, for
in July the temperature rarely falls to 45 degrees, but there never is a
cold wave without an anti-cyclone. They originate in Canada just
east of the Rocky Mountains and follow three general courses—one
from west to east along the Great Lakes, another from Manitoba di-
rectly south to Texas, and a third in a southeasterly direction. This
last course crosses Indiana.

The knowledse of the general movements of low and high areas
is the basis of the prediction of weather conditions. Twice each day
the forecast official reccives telegrams giving the conditions at a large
nunher of stations. These he enters on a map and after observing
the changes since the last observation, he ventures to predict what
will take place during the next 36 hours.

The movements of storm areas are influenced to a considerable ex-
tent by local conditions, such as the presence of lakes, river valleys
and mountain ranges. The forecast official must know not only the
laws governing the general movements of the storm areas, but he
must also keep in mind all these local variations. He is the most suc-
cessful forecaster who knows best the effect of these local conditions.
These are learned only hy constant observation of the things about
him, and here we have another illustration of the fact that the sound-
est and most useful knowledge is that which we derive from a careful
olservation of the things with which we are daily brought in contact.

LITERATURE.

The only suitable work for general reading for American students is “American
Weather,” by Gien. A. W. Greely. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., $2.50.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 14.

LBAPLET

On NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS.

By Pror. J. C. ARTHUR.

I brought in a handful of acorns from the woods some days ago, and
threw them into a dish of water to rinse off the dirt. Being a warm
day, although in February, I had taken a stroll to enjoy the springlike
air and see what could be picked up of interest.

Under the trees, among the dead leaves I found quantities of
acorns, some still in their scaly cups, just as they grew upon the trees,
and more yet that had dropped out of the cups
and now showed the large round scar where they
had been attached. Most of the acorns were well
covered with fallen leaves and snugly enough
tucked away from cold winds and weather. Of
course, every one knows that there is a plant
inside of the acorn, because we all have heer TOE wie i. A coeminatine
that “great oaks from little acorns grow.” aC Orns

Tt was odd to see how much the color of the acorns made them look
like the dead leaves, sticks and soil, in which they were partly buried.
I thought if the squirrels had as much trouble to see them after they
were uncovered as I ‘did, they might sometimes go hungry, even with
plenty of acorns right before them.

This made me think to taste of an acorn, just to see if it would
be good to eat. So I cut one open and tasted ever so little of it, but
didn’t swallow any; for you may be sure that I was not going to eat

2

it until some one who really knew told me it was all right. But the
acorn I tasted was bitter, and I think even squirrels would not care to
eat such bitter food if any other could be obtained. It may be all
acorns do not taste the same. I mean to taste of the different kinds,
and also watch the squirrels, when I go out next time.

While I was wondering if there were any animals that really liked
hitter things to eat, I noticed one of the acorns had a small hole in
the side of it. and at once suspected that there was a worm inside.
Cutting it open, I found no worm, for it had already escaped, and had
left behind only some brown stuff like wet sawdust, in the place of the
kernel.

I now noticed for the first time that about half of the acorns I had
thrown into the water when I came from the woods had sunk to the
bottom and the others floated. (See Fig. 2). I cut into some of them
and found that the ones that floated were quite brown and dead
inside, and some had white worms in them; not exactly worms either,
but larve that will probably change into some kind of insects. I
intend to plant the rest of the floating acorns in a box of dirt, and
tie a piece of mosquito netting over the top of the box. If I keep
the box in a warm room,
and do not have it too wet
or too dry, the insects
ought to come out after a
time, and as they can not
vet away, I shall be able to
vee what they look like.
There may he a good many
kinds that like to eat
Fig. 2. A dish of acorns; the bad ones floating, acorns; we shall see.

and the good ones ut the bottom. The acorns that went to
the bottom of the water I planted in a box of soil in a sunny window,
and they are already coming up. The young oak as it comes through
the ground is a rather curious plant. It is a slender stalk, without
leaves at first. at least not true leaves, but with a number of small
scales, set in pairs. The upper end is bent over as it comes from the
ground, which is a way it has to protect the growing end from injury
when pushing up through the rough soil. It is as if a boy should lift
up a cellar door from beneath by putting his shoulder to it, so as not
to injure his head. Potatoes when they are coming up through the
ground do the same thing, and many other plants.

More curious things yet are going on under ground. Dig up some
of the young plants and wash off the dirt. It was fortunate that I

3

planted them in a deep box, for what long straight roots they have,
ever so much longer than the stems. Some that have just started to
grow show that the root comes out of the seed first, and grows straight
down into the soil, with only very few small side roots. (See Fig. 3.)

The root always breaks out at the same end of the seed and the
shell usually splits so as to make three points. Why three points,
rather than any other number? It has been found out that when
the acorn is very young, still in the flower (it may be you never saw
oak flowers—look for them in the spring), there are three parts to it,
and two plantlets. embryos, to each part, all too small to be seen except
with a strong microscope. One embryo usually gets ahead of the
others, and grows so fast that it fills wp the whole acorn, and the
other five perish for want of room. Sometimes two embryos grow;
and by hunting long enough one might find an acorn with two ker-
nels, that is. with two grown embryos. Even three might be found,
and possibly more, even as many as six in one acorn; but that would
be far more difficult than finding four-leaved clovers. If you come
across two or three young oaks coming up together in the woods, dig
down and see if they come from one acorn.

Now, pull off the three valves of the acorn shell and the kernel
separates into two parts. It is not hard to see that these
are really two very thick leaves on short, flat stalks, and
“@ that the stem grows from between them. The seed

# \eaves are called cotyledons, and they are of all sizes
and shapes in different sorts of seeds. When thick-
ened they hold food for the young plant, until it can
get well established with roots in the soil, and leaves
spread out to the light. So what is food for squir-
rels and worms, and small boys and girls, is food for
young oaks. Thus plants and animals evidently like the
same kind of food, and thrive on it.

If some of the acorns are uncovered as soon as
they start to grow, and the shell pulled off, the coty-
ledons will spread apart after a time and turn green.
But they never look very much like ordinary leaves,
for their greatest use is to hold the food for the little
plant, stored up by the parent oak, and not to make
new food.

Fig.3. Anoak 7 have noticed that the exposed cotyledons have not

seedling before it

has broke, only turned green, but they are quite red in places.

ground. and I see that the young stems are decidedly red,
too, now that one’s attention is directed to the matter. Red is some-

4

times called a warm color, and such it is in very fact; for the stems and
leaves retain more of the sun’s heat when they are red. So that many
young shoots in early spring, before settled warm weather arrives, are
red to help them keep warm enough to grow well.

It is very interesting to start different kinds of seeds, and see how
they behave in germination. Peas will be found to have many resem-
blances to acorns in their mode of growth. The two thick cotyledons
normally stay underground, and there are scale leaves on the young
stem before the true foliage leaves appear. Don’t forget to compare
the roots, the way the stem pushes through the soil, and the color.
The pea has no hard shell, but it has a skin to protect it, which
becomes soft when soaked. By looking in the acorn we shall find
that the kernel really has a skin about it, only it is thin, brown and
papery. Then if we remember that the pea grew in a pod that was
dry and hard when ripe, we shall see that the acorn and the pea are
more alike than appeared at first; even the half-dozen peas in a pod
only show that more grew up than in the case of the acorn.

Plant some scarlet runner beans. and some common field beans.
The first behave quite like peas, but the second carry their cotyledons
up into the air, and turn them into quite fair foliage leaves, but not
at all the shape of the leaves that follow. Try some pumpkin, tomato
and onion seeds, and notice the different ways they adopt to establish
the young plant. These seeds can be planted at any time during the
year, while the germination of acorns can not be readily observed
except during winter and spring.

In the case of corn there are differences that are not clear at first.
The seed remains underground and acts as a source of food supply
for the plantlet. The first leaves are short, as they are in the oak
and pea, but enwrap the stem, and are placed singly, instead of in
pairs. This leads us to suspect that there is only one cotyledon, and
that it must be held fast in the seed. Let us try and separate it.
The best we can do is to tear away the germ, but it has carried the
roots and stem with it. This soft white germ is in fact the cotyledon.
It does not have the stored food inside of it, as with the acorn, but
outside of it, and so is grown fast to the storehouse, and sucks out
the nutriment as the plantlet needs it for growth. If the seed is
planted deep, the stem is very long from the cotyledon to the base
of the first leaf, so as to bring the first leaves above ground. Roots
are formed at this first joint after a time. We must not forget to look
at the roots that spring from the seed and notice how very different
they are from those of the acorn. Possibly some connection can be
found between the disposition of the first roots of the seedlings and

5

the rooting habits of corn and oaks when full grown. Who knows
whether these plants have roots that go down deep into the earth or
that spread out close beneath the surface of the ground?

If some seeds are grown between blotting paper or folds of cloth
laid in a dish with just enough water to keep them moist, and another
dish turned over for a cover to prevent the whole from drying out,
some more important and curious things can be seen. The roots will
be nearly covered with white, delicate root-hairs, that collapse and
wholly disappear if kept in the open air for a time. At the tips of
the roots and back a ways from the tips there are no root-hairs, this
being the part that pushes through the soil; and there are none
on the oldest parts of the roots, but for a very different reason. Some
kinds of plants produce more and larger root-hairs than others; they
are so small on the oak seedlings that I have to take a magnifying
glass to see them. Examine roots growing in earth and notice how
the hairs cling to the particles of the soil. It is the way the plant
has of getting nourishment out of the ground. The root-hairs help
to dissolve the solid particles, which they afterward absorb, together
with moisture and any nutrient matters held in the soil water.

I have just tried growing some seeds in a covered dish fixed up
with wet blotting paper, so that the seeds are kept damp enough, but
the roots have to grow out into the moist air of the dish, and I
have found out a number of strange things that I did not suspect
before. When I go for acorns next time I intend to look for walnut,
hickory, sycamore and other tree seeds, and also for various kinds
of weed seeds, and it may be that I can find some little plantlets
already started. It seems much easier to see all these curious things
now that some of them have been pointed out, than when I brought
in my first handful of acorns.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 1;

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

OUR INSECT FRIENDS.

By PRoF. JAMES TROOP.

In a former Leaflet you were told that fully four-fifths of all the
animal life upon the globe belongs to the great tribe of insects. Now,
do you not think that it would be very strange, indeed, if, among all
of the many thousands of different kinds with which we are daily
surrounded during the summer, there were not some which we could
call our friends? Have you ever thought about it? Is it not true
that you have been in the habit of thinking of every kind of insect as
being your enemy? I suspect that you have sometimes called the
honey bee hard names because it stung you when you got too near its
hive or because you pinched it when it was quietly sipping the sweet
nectar from a flower in the garden. And I imagine that you have
thought of the bumble bee as a good-for-nothing old fellow when you
knocked him off a clover blossom and then accidentally stepped upon
him with your bare foot. In each case the bee was simply trying to
protect itself against such harsh treatment. I suppose that you did
not stop to think that the honey bee was working hard at that moment
in storing up honey for your benefit, and that without the bumble
bee your father’s clover plants would not produce any seeds, and that
without clover seed we should have no clover.

I think that you can see that our insect friends may do us good in
many different ways. For example, some may give us something

2

good to eat, while others may show their friendship by preventing our
insect enemies from injuring us or our crops.

Let us see if we can not divide them into two classes. In one class
we will put those that produce something we can eat, or wear, or that
we can use in some other way. In the second class we will put those
_ which help us by destroying our insect enemies.

Now, which ones shall we place in the first class? There are only
a few, like the honey bee, the silkworm, the cochineal bug and per-
haps the blister beetles.

The second class will not be very large either. Here we might
name the lady bugs, a number of the larger ground beetles, and two
or three families of little flies, which are commonly called parasites.

Now let us talk about some of the members of the first class for a
little while. Let us take first the honey bee. How many kinds of
material do we get from the honey bee? Two—honey and wax. Of
course, every farmer’s boy ought to know that. Now, where is the
honey made? Do the bees gather it from flowers? <A good many peo-
ple think so, but let us see. The next time you find a clover blossom
pull out a single flower and suck out the sweet substance which it con-
tains. Is it honey? No, you say it does not have any of the peculiar
honey taste about it. It is simply a sweet substance called nectar.
It is not honey until it has been manufactured by the bees. This is
such a difficult operation that I think you will have to wait till you
get older before attempting to learn how it is done.

Now, can you tell where the bees get the wax? Do you think they
gather that from plants also? A good many hundred years ago people
thought that the bees used the little yellow balls, which we sometimes
see clinging to their hind legs, for making wax, but now we know
the little yellow balls are made of pollen which the bee gathers from
flowers for the purpose of feeding its young and that the wax is
secreted from their own bodies in much the same way as a cow secretes
milk. The wax forms in little scales on the under side of their bodies
and when they want to use it they pick it off with their feet and after
mixing it in their mouths, they use it in building their combs and in
making the little pockets in which they store the honey.

How many of you know how many kinds of bees there are in a
hive? If your father keeps bees you have probably heard him talk of
the “queen,” the “workers” and the “drones.” It is very easy to dis-
tinguish between these different kinds of bees if we observe them a
little closely, but I doubt if many of you have done this because, as
a rule, people do not care to get very near to bees, especially when
they are at work. You need not feel afraid of them, however, for the

3

bees are like our domestic animals; if we treat them kindly they will
usually treat us in the same way.

This is especially true of the queen, who is the largest and most
important bee in the hive. Of course, then, like other queens, she
must have a larger and finer house to live in than those her subjects
have. If you should examine the living room of the queen bee you
would find that it is nearly four times as large as those of the other
bees. It is about the size and shape of a peanut and is usually placed
on the edge of the comb.

The queen is the mother bee and lays all the eggs. How many do
you suppose she can lay in a day. One writer tells us that he had a
queen bee that sometimes laid more than three thousand eggs in a
single day, and that she continued to lay at intervals for more than
five years. Of course, there are some seasons of the year when she
does not lay so many, and other seasons when she stops laying alto-
gether, but it does not take long for her family to become so large
that the hive will no longer contain it. What do you suppose happens
then? They prepare to found a new colony, or in other words, they
“swarm.” Have you never seen a cloud of bees come out of the hive
and light upon some tree or bush near by, then after a while fly away?
If the bee farmer has been watching them and is familiar with their
habits he has a new home ready for them, but he sometimes has to use
a good deal of ingenuity to get them to go into it. If he has not been
prepared for their swarming they frequently get away from him alto-
gether and fly off into the woods.

Now, why do you suppose they lighted on the first tree or bush? Ut
was that they might be sure their queen was with them. A swarm
will never permanently leave a hive without a queen bee.. If they find
that she is not with them, they will return to the old hive, wait for a
time and then make another attempt.

But, you say, if the queen goes with the new colony, who is to gov-
ern the subjects she leaves behind? The workers have prepared for
that. They would not allow her to leave them unless they had her
successor ready to take her place. An egg has been laid in the queen’s
cell, and the young, larval queen has been fed upon what is called
“Royal Jelly.” This food is very much richer than that fed to the
workers or the drone larve, and it is this that causes the difference
in the size and structure of a queen. In case of an accident to their
old queen, the bees have a curious way of getting a new one very
quickly. The drones select three cells which contain larve, knock
out the partition walls, kill two of the Jarve and feed the third on the

Royal Jelly.

4:

The “workers” are the most numerous as well as the most active
class among the bees. How many should you think there were in a
good, strong colony? The number varies, of course, but usually there
are from 30,000 to 40,000, and each bee has its own particular work
to do. If you could look into the hive when they are all busy you
would find the young bees building the comb, feeding the larva, and
doing general housework; those a little older would be secreting wax
and helping their elders in shaping the pockets for storing the honey
which these older bees bring in.

We have learned that the queens sometimes live four or five years,—
now, how long do you suppose these workers live? It depends a good
deal upon the time of the year at which they are hatched; if late in
the fall, they will live until the next spring, but if during the busy
season in summer, they work so hard that they wear themselves out
and live only forty or fifty days.

And now there remains only our third class of bees—the “drones.”
These are the male bees. They are larger than the workers, but have
no sting and are altogether very lazy, useless fellows. We might call
them the “tramps” of the bee family. Sometimes the “workers”
grow tired of feeding and caring for them; they will then kill them
and throw them out of the hive.

How much honey do you suppose is made in one summer by a
good hive of bees? The amount will depend very much, of course,
as to whether or not there has been an abundance of flowers for the
bees to work upon, but I know that a great many pounds, often
twenty-five or thirty, have been taken from one hive, and that when
swarms of bees have wandered off to live in a hollow tree the hollow
has been found to be full of delicious honey. Different varieties of
bees vary in their ability to produce honey. I presume your father
would tell you that the Italian bees are the best kind to have, because
they begin their work earlier in the morning and continue it later in
the evening. Then, too, they have a longer tongue than the black
bees and can get nectar from flowers which the black bees can not
reach. Best of all, they are much more gentle and easy to handle.

I think, perhaps, the silkworm is next in interest of our
insect friends. Not many of you will be able to see just how silk is
made, so I will talk about it a little while. In the first place there
is a beautiful large moth which lays the eggs which hatch into the
larve or silkworms. These worms are then fed all the mulberry
leaves that they can eat until they are full grown, when they spin a
silken cocoon around themselves, completely shutting themselves in;
then they change to the pupe state and remain quiet for a few weeks.

5

Now, if you leave these pupe long enough they will burst open their
cocoons in much the same way that the mosquito does and thus many
of the threads of silk will be broken, so at this time men take these
cocoons and put them in an oven and bake them so as to kill the pupe.
Then the cocoons are placed in hot water and the silk is wound off
and used for making thread, cloth, ete. If you will watch the large
caterpillars, which feed upon the apple and cherry leaves next fall as
they are getting ready for winter you may see just how the silk threads
are made.

Can you think of anything else that we get from insects? Well,
there are a number of insects which furnish us with dye stuffs. One
of these belongs to the order Hemiptera, or true bugs. It feeds upon
the cactus plant and is known as the cochineal bug. It secretes a col-
oring material from its body which is used in coloring candies and
other things. They are very useful, but as they do not live in this
climate, we will pass on to another one with which you are all
acquainted. This is commonly called the blister-beetle. Members of
this family are long, black and striped fellows, which we often find
doing so much injury to the potatoes, beets, ete. You did not sup-
pose that these insects were of any use, did you? Most people do not
consider them so. Why do you suppose they are called blister-beetles?
It is because they are used for making blister plasters. The beetles
are killed, dried and then pulverized and the powder is made into
paste and used by the doctors to produce blisters. In this way they
become very useful in curing certain diseases.

Now, we come to the second class, which, I think, is the most
friendly of all, because without its aid our crops would frequently be
entirely ruined by the injurious insects. These are flesh-eaters and
so are called carniverous, because they feed upon other insects. Some
of these kill only as many as they want for their immediate use,
while others place their eggs either upon or within the bodies of the
larve of other insects and, as they hatch, the young feed upon them
and so destroy them.

In this class we may place many of the beetles—those with the
hard wing covers. Among these are the Tiger beetles. Of course,
you all know what Tiger beetles are. Those long-legged, bright-col-
ored beetles which run very swiftly, and nearly always go hunting in
the hot portion of the day. There are a number of other kinds of
ground beetles among our friends, but they hunt for their prey after
night and hide during the day under stones and logs. Now, do any
of you know where the young Tiger beetles live? They cannot run as
fast as the full-grown beetle, so they have to adopt some other plan

6G

to catch their prey. It is very interesting, and you may see them
this summer if you watch carefully. This is the way they do it. The
larva digs a little well in the grassy sod just large enough to admit
its body, then it gets down into it so that its head is just below the
surface of the ground, and then waits—for what? For some unlucky
insect to come crawling along over its hiding place, when, like a
flash, up goes its head and its stout jaws are securely fastened intu
the body of its victim and it is dragged down into the well and
devoured.

I wonder how many of you know the “Lady bugs.” I hope that
you all do, because they are among our very best friends. Some peo-
ple who have not studied about insects suppose these little beetles to
be injurious, but they are not. The next time you see some of these
little spotted fellows crawling over the fruit trees or rose bushes just
watch them closely and see what they are about. They will appear
to be looking for something, and pretty soon you will see one pick up
a green plant louse, suck its blood, toss the dry skin away, and then
look for another. This they keep up day after day all summer.
Thus they destroy an enormous number of plant lice, which, as you
know, if left to themselves, would do a great deal of damage to the
young plants. The young Jady bugs are even greater eaters than
the full-grown beetle. I wonder how much a wide-awake lady bug
can save in this way each day. I cannot tell you, but I know that
in a large market garden they may save many hundreds of dollars’
worth of vegetables each year.

I wish now to speak to you for a moment of two families of the
Parasites. What are parasites, I hear you ask. They are plants or
animals that get their living by feeding upon some other plant or ani-
mal. For example, if your father keeps sheep, you have probably
seen the sheep ticks which get on the little lambs and worry them so
much. These are parasites, and your father will tell you how destruc-
tive they are to the lambs. But since these must be classed among our
enemies, we will not talk about them now. The friendly parasites of
which I wish to speak to you are two families of flies. They differ a
great deal in size; some of them are quite large, while others are very
small, but they all work in the same way, though in different insects.
Would you like to know how they work?

If you will examine the oat plants carefully about the time they are
nicely headed you will probably find a large number of plant lice
busily sucking the juice out of the plants. It would not take them
long to destroy the whole oat crop. Now, if you will watch care-
fully you will probably notice a little black fly very actively engaged

7

about something. Look closely and you will see it apparently sting
the plant louse. You will find that there are a great number of these
little flies, and all hard at work. What are they doing? They are
laying their eggs inside of the bodies of the plant lice and when these
eggs hatch the young flies will feed upon the lice and soon eat them
up. If you will look again in a week or ten days you will probably
find that the lice have all disappeared and the oat crop has been
saved.

One more familiar example. Go into the garden in August and
September and examine the tomato worms. Some of the worms will
be almost completely covered with little white objects that look like
little eggs. Look at them more closely through your magnifying
glass and you will see that they are little cocoons. Where did they
come from? This worm has had a great many little eggs laid within
its body; they have hatched and the young, having fed upon the
worm until they were full grown, have come out and spun little
silken cocoons upon the outside in order that the full-grown flies
may get out easily when the proper time comes. The worm, which
is very destructive to the tender plant, will soon die.

There is still one family of flies of which I wish to speak to you.
The flies are very sinall, in fact, among the smallest of all known
insects, but there are so many of them that the family is a very large
one. As you will not be able to see them, I will tell you how they
work. The female fly bores a tiny hole through the shell of the ege
of some other insect and lays her egg inside of the other. When it
hatches the young fly or larve feeds upon the other egg until it is
full grown. In this way great numbers of injurious insects are
destroyed while yet in the egg.

I think now you will understand why these little insects of which
we have been speaking should he classed among our insect friends.

__FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS. _

No. 46.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED EY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

BUTTER MAKING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

By PrRor.’C. S. PLUMB.

Each year, during the week of the State Fair at Indianapolis, one
day is devoted to the children. This is known as “Children’s Day,”
and every boy or girl who wishes, by the generosity of the Indiana
State Board of Agriculture, on this day is allowed free admission to
the State Fair grounds, where many interesting and instructive sights
can be seen. Thousands of happy boys and girls crowd the grounds,
and their bright faces are to be seen everywhere. They see and learn
many things. If they go into the Dairy building and look around
carefully, they see a very large refrigerator with glass sides, built into
the room, in which are many tubs and packages of beautiful yellow
butter. The State Board of Agriculture offers prizes to the people
who will make the best butter and show it at the fair. This butter
in the refrigerator was made to compete for the prizes offered, and
it is supposed to be of unusually good quality. This butter is all
carefully examined by an “expert judge,” who critically studies it in
every way. He grades it for its flavor, color, texture, the amount of
salt in it, for its general appearance, and finally awards the prizes for
the best butter.

Now, would it not be a good idea for the school children of Indiana
to learn something of how nice butter is made, so that they might
know how to make butter that they could show with pride at the
county, or, if you can go, at the State Fair? Think how interested

2

the people would all be in a show case filled with beautiful yellow
butter made by school children. How proud the teacher of your dis-
trict school would be to show her friends such an exhibition. No
doubt the fair directors would be glad to encourage in some way such
an exhibit. Did you ever think of what a difference there is in butter
and its value in the market? Let us take a simple, every-day example.

Two women drive to town, each with some butter to sell. They
go to the same store. One places pound prints, neatly wrapped in
special butter paper, before the store-keeper. The other puts on the
counter unshapely lumps, wrapped in none too clean white cloth.
That in the paper, on being unwrapped, is seen to be of a beautiful
yellow color, of firm texture, with a flavor of the most appetizing
character. The other, removed from its cloth, is unattractively white,
somewhat soft, and with a flavor that but few people enjoy.

One persor receives 20 cents a pound for her product, the other
14. The store-keeper desires to buy the one of fine flavor and attrac-
live to the eve, for such is always in demand. The other he can sell
only as an inferior article, with a slow sale at that.

Why should there have been so much difference in these two lots
of butter?

Tf you can learn how to make such butter as the woman received
20 cents a pound for, then you need not be ashamed to show it to
your friends. You might, perhaps, make a creditable exhibit at the
fair, among much older people than yourself. So we will consider
some of the important things, a knowledge of which is so essential to
success in the process of butter-making.

If we could examine a drop of milk under a powerful microscope
we should see a quantity of very minute, roundish bodies of a pearly
appearance, floating about in the fluid. These are so small that it
takes from 15,000 to 25,000, placed side by side, to cover the length
of an inch. These little particles are the fat of the milk, and from
these butter is made. They are lighter than milk and so gradually
float upward toward the top of it in the pan or can, where, mixed with
a little of the milk at the top, they form cream.

Now, cream is really exceedingly rich milk. One hundred pounds
of common milk may contain four pounds of butter, while 100 pounds
of cream may have twenty.

Did you ever notice how different milk is as regards the amount
of cream it contains? Here is a pretty chance to experiment. Get
four bottles that are rather tall and made of clear white glass. Bottles
six or eight inches long will do. Fill each of these up to within half
an inch of its neck. Put in bottle No. 1 skim milk; in No. 2 the

3

milk from a black and white cow; in No. 3 that from a red cow, and
in No. 4 the milk of a Jersey cow. Place these bottles in a cold room
or refrigerator and let them stand over night. The next day you will
find each bottle contains a layer of cream on top of the bluish-white
milk. Now, what is the difference in these milks in the amounts
of cream they contain? Measure them and find out how much is
cream and how much is milk in each bottle. This will show you
how much milks differ in the amounts of cream they contain. It
will also show you that it requires very careful skimming to get all
the cream from the milk. If you have no such cows as the above to
make an experiment with, then select three cows from among those
that you do have at home, with which to make the experiment. They
will do. Then report on the results.

If this cream we have been considering is placed in a churn and
dashed and swashed about, the little particles of fat begin to hit
together and stick to each other, so that if the conditions are right,
in a little while they unite to form small pieces of butter about the
size of a mustard seed or perhaps a grain of wheat. Then the fat or
butter becomes visible to the eye, floating in the white buttermilk.
This fat may then be taken from the milk and worked up into lumps,
such as is sold in the stores.

Now, we wish to find out why one person makes good butter and
another person poor butter.

Milk is the parent of butter. It is an interesting liquid, and is
peculiar in that it absorbs or takes up bad odors. To illustrate this,
get some fresh, warm milk and place in a box or room containing,
say, cabbages or onions, and let it stand there an hour or so. Then
place it in a clean, sweet-smelling room, and leave it till the follow-
ing day. When you next examine it, smell and taste of it, and report
upon its odor, or flavor. Does it taste like the milk you are accus-
tomed to? After being in the sweet room for a day, does it lose the
bad odor? No doubt you will have an interesting report to make,
but it will surely also interest you and your schoolmates if you will
try another experiment. At noon, if your father will consent, feed a
cow a small amount of strong-smelling vegetables, such as cabbage,
turnips or onions. At night, after she is milked, drink some of the
milk and try its flavor. Also let some of it stand until it becomes
cool, and then taste. Do you notice anything peculiar? You will
be quite sure to, for such strong-smelling vegetables, when eaten by
a cow a few hours before milking, will taint the milk. This will show
you how sensitive milk is to odors, and that it will even absorb them
before it ig drawn from the cow. So we must be careful where we

4

place milk, in order to keep it pure and sweet. We must also keep
it in very clean, nice pans or cans, and the cow must be fed the sweet-
est and best of foods.

Butter is really a part of milk, and like it will absorb strong odors
of any kind. This you can easily Jearn, if you will. Go to a store
where the butter is kept in refrigerators or boxes that are not clean,
and smell and taste of it. You will be surprised to find that butter
tastes of so many different things. I am sure it will interest the
teacher and children if you will report your discoveries in this butter
box. You also can carry on a simple little experiment at home. Take
one of the nice, sweet lumps of butter your mother has made and cut
it into two parts. One part keep in a clean, sweet room or box.
Place the rest in a box that has had some kerosene (coal oil) spilled
on the inside of it, and keep it there over night. Now, every one will
be interested to know if there is any difference in the flavor of the
two halves of that lump of butter. You should be able to tell.

Tam very sure that your various investigations will show that both
milk and butter absorb strong odors, and so themselves become of bad
quality, thus injuring their value. So does this not teach us that it
is important to keep all milk and butter in a sweet air and in very
clean vessels if we are to have agreeable tasting food of this kind, and
wish to get the best prices for it?

After obtaining the cream from the milk, by skimming, it is neces-
sary to churn it to secure the butter, and as has already been said,
this is done by a dashing process. The vessel the cream is dashed
about in is the churn, of which there are many different kinds. The
best churns are usually of the simplest make.

Several things combine to make the operation of churning easy or

difficult, and to produce good or poor butter. Among these may be
mentioned—

Ist. The kind of churn.

2d. The kind of cream.

3d. The temperature of the cream.

4th. The temperature of the room.

5th. The washing of the butter.

6th. The salting and working of the butter.

Let us briefly consider these points.
ist. THE KIND OF CHURN.

Generally speaking, a churn that contains a dasher or paddle will
not make as good butter as will one that is free of such things. The
dasher bruises or smears the butter, so as to injure what is called the

5

“grain.” These dashers are not really necessary, for cream dashed
against the sides of the churn which contains no sticks or paddles
will yield butter in a very few minutes. For this reason the best
churns now made are barrels or boxes, without dashers, that either
turn over and over or swing back and forth while churning.

Will it not be possible for you to get some information about
churns? Visit some of the butter-makers in the neighborhood and
learn what kind of churns they use, and see them in operation. Then
compare the appearance of the butter made in the different churns.
You may group all churns into two classes; first, those with dashers,
and, second, those without them. Can’t you make a few observations
on these two points: First, which churn makes the best appearing
butter; second, which churn is most easily kept clean? It will also
be a good plan for you to see which is the easiest to churn with, one
of the old dash churns or a box or barrel churn.

2d. THE KIND OF CREAM.

If your mother skims the cream from the top of the milk, and
takes with it some of the sour, curdled milk, little hard, white lumps
- called “curds,” will occur in the butter and so injure its looks. These
lumps will also get rancid, and so spoil the flavor of the butter. The
only way to prevent this is to strain the thick cream through a fine
strainer, so that nothing but very smooth cream will pass into the
churn.

Of course, from what has already been said, the cream must be
kept where there are no bad odors, otherwise it will be seriously
injured.

Another thing that affects the butter is the condition of the cream
when churned, whether it be sweet or slightly sour or “acid,” as it
is called.

Here we have two nice opportunities for experimenting. In sum-
mer weather get your mother to allow several pans of milk to become
sour and clabbered before skimming. Have her skim some of the
thick top milk with the cream, as is so often done where milk is
skimmed by hand. Now divide the cream into two parts. One lot
churn just as it is, but the other pour through a wire strainer, so as to
remove all lumps. What is the difference in the butter from these two
lots of cream?

You can carry on an interesting experiment by taking two lots of
cream, one of which is real sweet and the other slightly sour and
churning them separately. Which do you find churns easiest, and
which has the best flavor?

6
3d. THE TEMPERATURE OF CREAM.

lnvery person who has a dairy and churns should use a thermome-
ter. Did you know that cream will churn much better at some tem-
peratures than others? Nice thick cream will churn best at about
56 degrees. The only way you can find out when the cream is at the
right temperature is to use a thermometer. You can buy floating
bulb or dairy thermometers for 25 cents that will be very valuable, and
any druggist can get them for you. The use of the thermometer for
one day may more than pay for the cost of it.

Here is an experiment for you that will be worth something to
your parents, perhaps, as well as to other people.

Take some fairly thick cream, put it into a deep pan or pail, and
place in a tub or large pail of very cold water and cool it until your
thermometer says it has a temperature of 56 degrees. Stir the cream
in the can to make it cool rapidly and evenly. Then take some cream
that is much thinner and churn it at the same temperature. Which
does it take you the longest to churn? Now, supposing you get some
thin cream and churn it at 62 degrees. How long does it take the
butter to come at this temperature? If you study this question care-
fully, you will find that in summer it will be well to churn the cream
at 56 degrees, because it will gradually warm up some in the churn,
while in the winter it will be well to have it somewhat warmer, or
about 60 degrees. The colder you can churn your cream and get
butter the better the butter will be, and you will not lose so much fat
in the buttermilk.

4th. TEMPERATURB OF THB ROOM.

If you place some cream at 56 degrees in the churn, and then agi-
tate it in a room at 70 degrees, what will happen? After you have
churned fifteen minutes take the temperature of your cream. You
will be sure to find that it is warmer than when you put it in the
churn. What does that mean? Does it not mean that the air of the
room is warming up the churn and its contents? That is just it.
Now, if the butter comes in this warmed-up cream, will it be nice
and hard to handle, or somewhat soft and sticky? Can’t you report
on this? Would you advise churning in a room warmer than the
temperature of your cream, or in a little colder one, if possible?

5th, WASHING THE BUTTER.

After the butter comes in the churn to about the size of wheat
grains we stop churning and draw off the buttermilk. That leaves
the butter in the bottom of the churn, sometimes like a mass of

7

golden wheat grains. Now, each of these pieces of butter has just
been bathed in buttermilk, and so it needs a bath of water to make
it clean. If you do not believe this, do what I tell you. Take some
butter from the churn without washing it and make a nice solid lump
of it, and place it in the ice chest. Then wash the rest of the butter
in the churn with clear cold water, twice, allowing the water to run
off quite fully each time. Make a lump of butter from some of this
and place alongside of the other unwashed butter, and keep it for a
week or so, and note which keeps sweetest and of the best flavor.

6th. WORKING AND SALTING.

People take butter from the churn and put it in a bowl or on a but-
ter-worker. Then nice dairy salt is scattered over it, usually about
three-quarters of an ounce of salt to a pound of butter, and then the
butter and salt are worked together. This working is for the purpose
of mixing the salt with the butter, and also to get the water or milk
out of it, and make it into hard, attractive lumps. Now, if the butter
is rubbed or worked over too much, it looks greasy and does not have
a nice “grain.” Did you ever notice how some pieces of stone when
broken have a ragged, glistening, broken surface? That surface shows
the grain, and when butter is not worked too much, if a lump is
broken in two, it will show a nice grain, much like the broken stone.
So in working butter it should be firmly rolled or pressed with ladles
or wooden sticks or rollers, but never rubbed with them. Rubbing
destroys the grain, while the other process does not injure it, unless
carried to excess.

If you know of a creamery that you can visit, ask your parents if
they will not let you go there and watch them work the butter, so you
can tell how it is done. Then go to some store where they sell plenty
of butter, if you have an opportunity, and ask to see it. Look and
see if you can tell which has been worked too much, and which is all
right. Now, you will be able to understand some of the reasons why
one woman received more for her butter than another. She knew
how to make her butter properly.

Do you think this is an important subject? It certainly is. Indi-
ana has about 500,000 milch cows. Each one of these cows makes
about one hundred pounds of butter a year, or 50,000,000 pounds in
all. In 1890 over 48,000,000 pounds were made in Indiana. Suppose
this butter is like the poor stuff sold by the farmer’s wife to the
grocer. Then it would be worth $7,000,000. If, however, it were
made as the woman made hers who got the highest price, because she
made it the right way, it would be worth $10,000,000. Now, if the

8

people of Indiana, by making a better quality of butter can increase
their income from butter sales by $3,000,000 a year do you not think
it would pay? It not only would pay us well in money, but our
butter would get a better reputation, and so have an increased demand
by consumers. And so, if you will use your influence to teach people
how to make good butter it may be the means of making Indiana
a great butter-producing State.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

Nee,

LEAFLET

On NaTurE StTupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

ABOUT SPIDERS AND THEIR CURIOUS WAYS.

(Condensed from Morse’s First Book of Zoélogy by the
Editor of “ School and Home.’’)

The spider is divided into two regions or parts. The hinder region
is called the abdomen. The front part, to which the legs are attached,
is called the cephalo-thorax. Cephalo-thorax means head-chest, and is
thus called because the spider has its head and chest combined.

The spider has four pairs of legs, instead of three pairs of legs, as in
the true insects. Projecting in front are a pair of jointed feelers called
palpi. These look very much like legs, and in very young spiders can
scarcely be distinguished from them.

The mouth is armed with a pair of jaws which are attached above
the mouth and hang down in front, at the end of which are the
poison fangs. With these they are enabled to secure and kill the flies
and other insects upon which they feed.

Directly behind these jaws are two smaller jaws, which aid in crush-
ing the food and arranging it for the mouth.

The spider has eight eyes, situated on the front part of the cephalo-
thorax. They look like little black beads, and in large spiders can he
easily seen without the aid of a magnifying glass.

The abdomen has little appendages at its hinder end called spin-
nerets, and from these the spider produces the thread with which it
builds its nests and nets, the nets being commonly called spiders’ webs.

Highly magnified, the spinnerets appear as blunt protuberances
arranged together: in pairs, and capable of being contracted or

2

expanded. These spinnerets are covered with hundreds of jointed
hairs which are perforated and through which the web-forming mate-
rial escapes. This material is fluid and something like the white of
an egg. Escaping from the body, through hundreds of these minute
openings, the strands of this fluid dry almost instantly, and, uniting,
form the delicate, yet comparatively strong, thread of the spider.
Thus it will be seen that the thread of the spider is composed of hun-
dreds of strands, which may be often separated just as the fibres of a
rope may he pulled apart.

As the thread issues from the spinnerets the spider guides it with
its hind pair of feet, and these are curiously adapted for the purpose
not only of holding and guiding the thread, but also of enabling the
spider to run rapidly across its nets without getting entangled, while
other animals become helplessly ensnared in attempting the same
thing.

The ends of the legs terminate in three claws, a pair of larger ones,
generally notched like a comb, and a third one, like a spine, which
acts as a thumb. Other notched spines or hairs also aid in securing
a hold upon the web, and even if these fail to secure a footing, the leg
itself is covered with long, stiff bristles, pointing downward, which
are sure to catch in the web. The two large notched claws, as well
as the other claw and spines, are highly polished, and consequently
present no roughened surface to which the thread will adhere.

By observing the spiders which build their nets across the openings
of windows and in other convenient places while at work, they
may be seen to use their hind feet in apparently drawing out the
thread, as it were, from the spinnerets. It will be observed that the
thread issues in a broad band, and, when these spiders are sluggish,
the thread may be caught on the end of a pencil by gently rubbing
the spinnerets with it and then by withdrawing the pencil the thread
may be reeled off.

The various kinds of nets are adapted to entrap the spider’s food,
which consists of flies and other insects.

Certain kinds of spiders do not build nets, but go in search of their
prey by stealthily creeping up and pouncing upon it unawares.

It is a very interesting sight to watch the little black-and-white
spider (so common on the sides of houses) slyly approach a fly which
has alighted near it. If the spider is on the side of a window sill and
a fly has alighted near it, the spider instantly turns around, facing the
fly, cautiously and very slowly moves backward till it gets on the
upper side of the window sill and out of sight, when it rapidly
approaches, now and then peering over the edge of the sill, to see

3

where the fly is, and, finally getting directly above the fly, it gathers
its legs for a jump, securing its thread to the window sill at the same
time, and then with a sudden spring seizes the fly in its jaws. Some-
times the insect is much larger than the spider, and flies away with
the spider tightly clinging to it; the thread, however, holds fast,
though sometimes run out to the length of a foot or more. Soon the
poison of the spider takes effect and the fly gradually weakens and
ceases its struggles, when the spider carries it off to some nook, there
to devour it.

One of the most common spider nets is thus made: The spider
first runs a few threads as a sort of framework, to which are to be
afterward attached the radiating threads, that is, those which run
from the center of the net to the sides. Having arranged these so
near together that the spider can easily reach from one radiating
thread to the other, the creature commences at the center of the
net and runs a thread from one radiating thread to the other in a
rapidly unwinding spiral till it reaches the outer edge of the net.
This is to form a staging and also the better to hold the radiating
threads in place. It then commences at the outside and going back
over its last course carefully constructs the permanent mesh; and, as
it comes to each radiating thread, it will be seen to attath to it the
thread it is now making by simply pressing the spinnerets against it.
As it goes around again and again, continually lessening the circle, it
gathers up the thread which was first laid as a staging, and, rolling
it up in little balls, drops it to the ground. This habit has led to the
impression that the spider eats its web. The circular threads are glu-
tinous, while the radiating threads are smooth, and this can be proved
by throwing dust through the net, when the cross-threads will catch
and hold the dust, while the radiating threads will remain clean.
The actual center of the net is not the geometrical or true center,
but a little above it. It may be observed, too, that the net does not
stand vertical, but leans a little and the spider having completed the
net, takes a position in the actual center of the net, head downward
and on the inclining side of the net. With its legs outstretched and
resting on the radiating lines, it can feel the slightest jar or agita-
tion made by a struggling insect. The spider being above the true
“center of the net and on the inclining side, if the fly has become
‘entangled below the center, it can instantly drop to the desired point
suspended by the ever-ready thread which it makes, and, swinging to
the net, it almost instantly catches the fly.

Besides the nets made by spiders to ensnare insects, some species
have the power of running out a long thread which answers the pur-

4

pose of a balloon in raising them from the ground and carrying them
floating a long distance in the air. In constructing this buoyant
means of transportation, the spider does it at peculiar times of the
day, and in peculiar positions. Selecting some place where the heated
air is rising from the ground or from the side of a fence, it turns up
its abdomen and allows the rising current of air to carry upward the
thread which is being made, and when this thread is of sufficient
length for its buoyancy to overcome the weight of the spider, it floats
away with the spider hanging below.

The spider also constructs cases to hold her eggs and lines them
warmly with the finest web. These nests vary greatly in appearance.
A common variety, somewhat oval in shape, may be found suspended
in barns and sheds.

The young spider comes from the egg resembling in form the par-
ent spider, except that the legs are much shorter in proportion to his
relative size, and the palpi appear so large that they look like another
pair of legs, as they then are in fact, but they afterward become modi-
fied to feelers.

As the young spider grows it sheds its skin at short intervals of
time till it has reached adult size.

The mother spider, generally so timid, vvercomes her fear during
the time she has the care of her eggs, and with many spiders the egg-
cases are directly cared for by the mother, she oftentimes carrying
them about with her or holding on to them and showing the greatest
solicitude for their safety. Some species of spiders carry their young
on their backs and move about with them.

The spider has no power of throwing or ejecting its thread to dis-
tant objects, as many suppose. When threads are seen stretching from
one tree to another, the spider has caused the thread to issue from the
spinnerets, and the wind has then caught it and borne it along till
finally it gets entangled with some object and in this way the spider is
enabled to cross from one point to another.

These creatures are not so dangerous as many suppose and but very
few authenticated cases are known of man having been bitten by
these animals; though the larger spiders at the South and in Califor-
nia, as the tarantula, for example, can inflict a dangerous wound.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 48.

LEAFLET

On Nature Srupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISsTRICTs.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

THE WORK OF WATER.

By Pror. A. W. DuFF.

One of the busiest of all busy things is water. It is always work-
ing, usually doing useful work, but sometimes causing great damage.
It carries more freight than all the railways; it breaks up more soil
than al] the ploughs; it cuts more rock than all the quarrymen; it soars
higher than the highest mountain, and digs deeper than the deepest
mine. It is the most active thing in the world.

The next time it is raining see what becomes of the raindrops that
fall on a sivping road. First, they make small imprints in the dust;
then they join to form pools; these pools overflow and streams start
down the road; these streams unite to form larger streams, and near
the foot of the slope you have a small brook, which has dug out a
regular channel for itself. If you follow it far enough you will prob-
ably find that it joins other brooks and becomes a large stream and
flows into a river which finally reaches the sea.

1

Nore.—The material of this paper will suggest subjects for several
lessons. Although the primary purpose is to teach children to observe for
themselves, the explanation of some of the phenomena referred to would
be difficult if attention were not called to operations of Nature beyond the
ordinary range of observation. Hence, this leaflet departs somewhat from
the principle laid down in the Introduction to Nature Study as found in

Leaflet No. 1.

7
a

But if this were all, we could hardly describe water as an active
worker; it might be better described as a mere busybody. You will
be able to discover which it is if you fill a glass jar with water from
the nearest brook or river, and let it stand for a few hours. You
will find that the water becomes much clearer, and that a layer of
muddy matter forms at the bottom. Dip off all of the water you can
without disturbing the mud, and then leave the jar in the sun until
the rest of the water dries up, and you will find that you have a crust
like clay at the bottom. Now, evidently, the mud did not come down
in the rain, for if you test some pure rainwater in the same way noth-
ing whatever ‘will settle to the bottom. Hence, the mud must have
been taken from the ground over which the water passes. Thus
every stream carries off some of the materials which it meets in its
course.

Now, what becomes of all the mud that the streams thus carry off?
Much of it, no doubt, settles to the bottom of the river. But the
river itself is always taking up more from its banks. Hence it is clear
that the river must always be carrying earth to its mouth where it
empties it into the ocean. If you examine a mapof the mouth of a large
river, such as the Mississippi, you will observe that it has a very
curious form, as if the river had dragged the land out into the sea;
and so, in fact, it has, for it has built up banks of mud from the
material it has carried from far inland. Part of its burden it carries
still further than the banks at its mouth, bearing it even for some
distance out into the ocean.

The quantity of mud thus carried out to sea by the Mississippi is
enormous. It amounts to 400,000,000 tons every year. Thus the
rivers are ever busy transporting the mountains into the sea.

But is this work useful? Much of it certainly is. Those of you
who live near a river with very low banks will probably think of one
very useful form that it takes. In the springtime the river often
overflows the bottom lands near it and deposits on them some of the
soil which it has taken from elsewhere, thus greatly increasing their
fertility. Many rivers were formerly much larger and deeper than at
present and the very fertile land found along their banks was formed
by deposits of soil in the way mentioned. This, evidently, is very
useful work.

But rivers are not content to carry off mud only. They can even
pick up pebbles when they are running swiftly. The gravel which
you find along the banks is evidence of this. In countries that are
more mountainous and where the streams move more swiftly, rapid
torrents can even carry off stones that weigh many pounds, and in some

3

\

places they have been known to partly roll and partly carry rocks
weighing many hundreds of pounds. This may seem almost incredi-
ble when you think of the weight of large stones, but water by no
means finds the stones as heavy as you do. Take a stone weighing
several pounds and hold it under water and notice how much lighter
it seems. If you have a spring balance you may amuse yourself by
weighing the stone while it is in air and then while it is in water.
If while it is in air it weighs twice as much as an equal bulk of water
it will lose half its weight when you weigh it in water; if three times
as much it will lose one-third of its weight in water, and so on. And
so you may discover about what the density of the stone is. These
experiments will help you to understand how water can carry off peb-
bles which it has dislodged.

You must remember, however, that it is only very swift streams
that can carry even pebbles to any distance. You will discover how
mud or very fine sand is carried farther than coarse sand, and coarse
sand farther than pebbles if you take a handful of gravel and throw it
into a glass of water. You will notice that the stones fall to the bot-
tom at once, while the coarse sand falls in a more leisurely fashion,
and the very small particles that make up mud may take hours to set-
tle down to the bottom. In the same way the river soon drops the
stones that it may have taken up, while it may carry the coarse sand
some distance, and the fine sand and mud is carried to great distances.

Examine the part of the bed of a river that is exposed when the
river is very low. You will find that where the current has been very
strong there may be a gravel bank. At other places, where two cur-
rents meet, you may find a ridge of sand which the water has dropped
where it is partly stopped by the opposing currents. But wherever
the flow has been very gentle you will find the channel covered with
fine mud.

Now we have already seen the good work accomplished by the mud
carried by the river. But the pebbles also play an important part in
the work of the river. As they are shoved along near the bottom and
sides they naturally tear up the ground and so set more earth and
mud in motion, and these, too, are carried along by the stream. Evi-
dently this means that the pebbles help the river to scour out its bed,
and thus make a wider and deeper channel. If you have grasped this
you really know how most rivers come to exist. Where you now see
a mighty river with a deep, wide bed there was once but a small
stream, and the stones carried along enabled it to scoop out a deeper
and wider channel and so the process has gone on until you have the
present river, with its great, wide, deep bed. Have you ever seen a

*No. 16.

4

picture of the Colorado river? At certain places it runs for long
distances at the bottom of an enormously deep channel in the solid
rock, the sides being at some points more than a mile high. How was
this gigantic furrow ploughed? Simply by the water itself, with the
assistance of the stones and sand it carried along.

Yet this is still only a very small account of the industry of water.
It carries mud and small stones down stream with it for hundreds of
miles, but what is more surprising still, it was water that actually
made the mud and pebbles. To explain this we must refer for a
moment to the way in which water turns to ice and ice to water. If
you have not yet tried the experiment of freezing water in a bottle
on a cold night you should do so and you will learn that when water
freezes it expands in volume and occupies a larger space. This
explains why ice floats on water, for in becoming ice it increases in
volume and becomes therefore less dense, and so can float on the
heavier water. You will no doubt know cases in which the expansion
of freezing water does much damage. Water pipes and jugs that are
full of water must burst when the water in them freezes. We say it
is due to frost, but this merely means that it is due to the freezing
water.

Now all of the rain that falls does not run off in streams. Much of
it sinks into the soil and even into such rocks as sandstone and lime-
stone. Sandstone is a very coarse kind of stone and contains quite
large spaces or pores between the separate grains of sand which make
up the stone, and limestone is full of cracks, into which the water
trickles. Suppose, now, cold weather comes and part of the water
freezes. In freezing it must expand, and in expanding it shoves the
parts of the rock apart and so produces cracks which grow larger every
time the water freezes in them. If you notice the rocks exposed in a
quarry you will find that they are split up by great fissures, and these
large cracks enable the quarryman to divide the rocks up into large
blocks. At an exposed surface of the rocks layers are actually peeled
off by this action of freezing water, and fall from the rest. But
the water is not content to leave even the pieces that thus fall off.
In the same way it splits up these pieces into still smaller pieces until
it at last reduces them to fine grains of sand or mud, just as if they
had been crushed in a mortar. Thus rocks are turned into soil by
the action of water. Frost, then, is one of the farmer’s greatest
friends. It helps to make the soil for him and also loosens the
ground so that the roots and fibres of plants can readily enter. Observe
the surface of a cultivated field after a frost. You will find that it is
now a layer of fine mud and in some cases you will see that the small
stones have been partly pushed out of their beds.

5

From all this we see that while water is continually carrying earth
and small stones from higher to lower levels and so tending to leave
the rocks bare, it is at the same time breaking up the surface of those
rocks and so forming fresh soil. If all the soil on a piece of land
were scraped off so as to leave the bare rocks exposed, these rocks
would in course of time become covered with fresh soil, due to the
action of the water that comes down as rain in tearing up the surface
of the rocks and reducing the small fragments to fine powder. There
is, however, one respect in which this account is very incomplete.
Water does not owe its wearing power altogether to its expansion
when it freezes. Another property of water greatly assists in this pro-
cess, namely, the property it has of taking up certain substances called
acids, which are formed chiefly from the decay of plants. These acids
are dissolved in the water and greatly assist in its rock-cutting work.
To explain the action of these acids would require more space than
we can now spare, and so we shall leave it until you come to study the
subject of chemistry. We have also said nothing about the small
parts of plants that form an important part of all soils. This belongs
to botany, and you will readily see the importance of these subjects if
you wish to understand fully how soils are made.

THE UNDERGROUND WORK OF WATER.

We now turn to the answer to a question which you must have
been inclined to ask some time ago. How do rivers continue to flow
when there is very little rain? It is true that in very dry seasons the
river contracts a good deal, but it is clear that it must get supplies of
water from somewhere since it continues to flow at all. This leads
us to consider the underground work of water.

The next time there is a heavy shower notice what becomes of the
rain that falls on level ground. You will find that where it descends
on sand it sinks down as rapidly as it falls, and a short time after the
rain is over the surface of the sand will be fairly dry. We have
already pointed out that water also sinks through sandstone or lime-
stone, though much more slowly, and in a quarry you will probably
find that the rock taken out holds a great deal of moisture, which the
workmen call “quarry water.” But if the rain continues for a long
time the pores of these rocks become choked up and no more water
soaks in. But see what happens when the rain falls on clay or on a
very firm rock like granite. It can not now soak down, for the pores
in these materials are much too small to allow the water to pass
through rapidly. You will here find it useful to employ two terms to
indicate these different actions. Substances which allow water to pass

6

through rapidly are said to be permeable, and those which do not
allow it to pass through are called impermeable. Now what happens
to the water which sinks through permeable material? Some part of
it no doubt does not get to any great depth. After mixing with the
earth and taking out of it certain substances which it can hold as
water holds a spoonful of salt, it is sucked up by the roots of plants
and yields to the plants the materials it has washed out of the earth.
This assistance that it gives to growing plants is one of the most
important of the many useful duties discharged by water, for animals
live on plants and without water it would be safe to say that neither
plants nor animals would exist.

But what becomes of the water that sinks still deeper down? We
could learn a great deal about it if we could follow a miner as he digs
the shaft of a mine, or even by going down a newly dug well, the sides
of which had not been walled up. Probably you can learn a good
deal about the matter at the nearest railway cut, where, to get a level
track, a road had to be made through a hill. There are, it is true,
many different kinds of such cuts, and the one you inspect may not be
exactly like the one we are going to describe. Examine all within
your reach and you may find one such as the following. You may
discover that it consists of sand or a permeable soil above, but at a
certain depth down you come to clay. Usually the line of division
between the two slopes in some direction. If the main slope is in the
direction of the track you will see that the rain which soaks down
through the sand can not get through the clay; and so runs down
along the surface of the clay and where the cut has been made the
water oozes out between the sand and the clay. But if the main
slope be across the direction of the track, the water runs down hill
away from the track on one side and toward the track on the other
side, and more water flows into the cut on one side than the other.
Now, if the cut be a long one and you follow it you may be able to
find where the sand stops and only the clay is left. This will, of
course, be on a side hill. If you leave the track where the sand or soil
ceases you will be able to follow along the side of the hill the line
that divides the soil above from the clay or, perhaps, rocks below.
You will then probably be able to see what becomes of the water that
sinks through the soil. H, in leaving the track, you have taken the
direction in which the surface of the clay slopes you will find springs
or wet places, showing where the water runs out between the soil or
sand and clay. This is one of the simplest ways 1n which springs are
tormed. If you know of any springs in your vicinity you should gee
if they can be explained in this way. If not you may find that they

7

are produced by little streams issuing from cracks in a rock, through
which the water has sunk.

In the preceding we have supposed that clay or an impermeable
material through which the water will not pass comes out to the sur-
face on a side hill near the bottom of a valley. But this may not be
the case. The valley may not go deep enough to reach that layer.
How, then, shall we get at the water? Evidently we must make an
opening down to it. Such an opening is a well. In an ordinary well
we know that the water has to be raised by a pump or bucket, but
there are others called artesian wells, which require no bucket or
pump, for the water, when we once reach it, rushes up to the surface.
What is it that produces some kind of pressure below and forces the
water up? If we could see down an artesian well we would find that
at its bottom there is water confined in a permeable substance like
sand by one layer of an impermeable substance like clay above and
another impermeable layer below. Now, let us in imagination start
from the bottom of the well and follow this sand layer. We will find
that it slopes upward, and at a great distance comes out on a hillside,
where it catches water when it rains. This water runs down through
the sand, being prevented from escape by the two impermeable layers,
and accumulates in the sandy layer so as to produce great pressure.
When this reservoir of water is tapped by the hole bored down, the
water rushes up with great force. If you wish to see how such action
takes place punch a small hole in the bottom of a tin can (say a two-
pound coffee can) and after half filling a bucket with water, push the
can down into the water and notice how the water spurts in through
the hole, rising nearly to a height of the water in the pail.

There are many other interesting kinds of springs, such as hot
springs and springs that sometimes stop and then start again every
few hours, but as you may not hear of any in your neighborhood, we
shall only say a few words about them. The water that comes from a
hot spring is often very warm. It has in fact been heated by the
great heat there is deep in the earth. A miner will tell you that the
earth grows about one degree hotter for every sixty feet he descends.
Now, some water that falls on the surface of the earth finds cracks
in rocks, especially limestone, and passes down in all kinds of zigzag
directions until for some reason it can get no further, when it turns
around and comes up by another series of zigzags. Having gone to
a great depth, it is greatly heated and when it finally reaches the sur-
- face it is still very hot and gives rise to a hot spring. The other kind
of spring mentioned that starts and stops in a very mysterious fashion
is difficult to explain, so I shall not attempt to account for it here.

8

We thus see that a spring is a place where water comes to the sur-
face after a long underground journey. Is it the same kind of water
as when it went in? Try a drink of fresh rainwater and then a drink
of spring or well water, and see. You will probably find the rain-
water rather flat and tasteless compared with the spring water. The
difference will remind you of how food, for instance oatmeal, tastes
with and without salt. In fact, the spring water does contain salt,
while the rainwater does not. There are places where springs are so
salt that thousands of tons of salt per year are gotten from them.
But the spring water contains other things also, chiefly lime, and
this is what is left when the water is boiled away in a kettle. Thus
we see that water is continually busy transporting materials from the
depths of the earth to the surface. The things which are thus
brought up are often of great importance. The lime contained in
the water furnishes material for the bones of animals and the iron,
which is another ingredient, supplies the coloring matter for their
blood. It is true that most of what is needed of these materials is
gotten from our solid food, but as spring water contains them it is
healthier than rainwater for drinking and cooking. When we thus
think of the water carrying away material from the solid rock we can
see how so many cracks and fissures come to exist. As water passes
through a very small crack it carries some material away with it, and
so enlarges the crack, and so the crack grows until quite a stream can
pass through.

We now see how rivers continue to run during hot weather when no
rain falls. They are supplied by the water from springs and under-
ground streamlets, and as this water often has great distances under-
ground to travel it only reaches the river a long time after it has
fallen as rain. Some of this water must evidently be many months
journeying in the earth before reaching the river and a small part of
it perhaps even years. But at last it emerges, joins the river and
reaches the ocean.

You may imagine that now its useful work is done. By no means.
For let us see what happens to it after reaching the ocean. We have
already seen that it carries a large burden of mud with it. This it
drops gradually, some near the shore and some far out at sea. Thus
it coats the sea bottom with clay, which in the course of ages solidi-
fies into rocks and these rocks will in still more distant ages probably
be raised to the surface to form new continents. Some of the mate-
rials carried by the rivers into the ocean also serve as food for the
creatures that live in the ocean.

This, however, is not the only useful work which the currents in
the ocean do. Let us consider, for instance, the water carried down

5)

by the Mississippi. It falls into the Gulf of Mexico in a very hot
region of the earth. There it becomes heated more than before, and
along with water from other rivers it starts off on a long journey up
the eastern side of North America, forming a remarkable current
called the Gulf Stream. This Gulf Stream is in fact a river in the
ocean instead of on land. The warm water that forms it does not
mix to any great extent with the cold water which it passes on the
way. It flows in a bed of its own over the ocean of colder water. It
is quite a shallow river compared with the depth of the ocean beneath
it. After continuing its way up to Newfoundland it strikes across
the Atlantic. It divides into branches in the middle. One branch
passes up to the British Isles and has a remarkable effect on their cli-
mate. Tio understand the effect you must remember two things:
First, that the water of the Gulf Stream is much warmer than that of
the rest of the ocean around it, and, second, that water when warmed
up contains a very great deal of heat, much more than an equal quan-
tity of most other substances. To better understand this latter point
try the following experiment: Take two bottles exactly alike or two
similar tin cans with covers. Fill one with water and the other with
anything else, say sand or earth. Then place them in a pot or tin
pail and pour water into it until they are nearly covered. Place the
whole on the stove and leave it until the water gets too hot for you
to put your finger in. Then dip some of the water out of the pot or
pail and take the bottles or cans out and put them out in the air to
cool. Notice how much more quickly the one containing sand or earth
cools than the one containing water. The one containing water has
so much more heat that it can not lose it nearly as quickly as the
other, and so cools much more slowly. This is the explanation of how
the Gulf Stream keeps the land of the British Isles warm in winter,
although there is not nearly as much water in the Gulf Stream as
there is land in the islands.

Now, we have only spoken of the Gulf Stream, but there are many
other such warm streams in other oceans flowing from the hot parts
of the earth to cooler parts and helping to keep these cooler parts
warm and fit for habitation. But since warm water is thus spreading
from the hot parts of the earth to the cold parts, cold water must flow
from the cold parts to the hot parts, and this cold water plays the
equally important part of keeping the temperature in the hotter
regions lower than it otherwise would be. Were it not for the moder-
ating influences thus received by ocean currents tropical countries
near the equator would be too hot for man to live in, and most of
Europe and North America would be unbearably cold.

10

Now, we have seen that water is continually flowing by means of
the rivers from the land to the seas. The process has been going on
for ages past. It evidently couldn’t continue unless there was some
means by which the water came back from the seas and oceans to the
land. What is the road which it travels on this return journey? To
discover it let us trace the rain to its origin. Rain comes from moist-
ure condensing in the clouds. Where do the clouds come from?
Some of them form from vapor which rises from the land, and some
from moisture that rises from the sea. Now this is the only known
path by which water returns from the ocean to the land. The vapor
rises gently and invisibly from the sea, and it seems almost incredible
that such huge masses of water can rise in this imperceptible form as
is carried by the Mississippi and all the innumerable rivers of the
earth. Yet such is the fact, and when we think of the immense cur-
rents that carry water from the land to the ocean we should at the
same time try to imagine the equally immense overhead rivers of
vapor which convey the water back from the ocean to the land.

But water does not move of its own accord. To what great agency,
then, do we owe this tremendous activity of the water on the globe?
Firstly, to the heat of the sun, which falls silently on the waters of
the ocean, tearing particles free and raising them as vapor into the
air. It is really the sun, too, that starts into motion the winds which
carry this moisture over the land, where it falls as rain. Then we
have the assistance of gravity or the attraction of the earth, for it is
to this that the flow of the brooks from the hillside to the river is
due, and also the further flow of the rivers to the ocean.

FOR THE JSE OF TEACHERS,

No. 19.

LEAFLET

On Nature Stupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

. PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

HEAT AND WHAT IT DOES.

IN TEN SHORT LESSONS.

By Pror. A. W. DuFF.

I.

How do you know there is such a thing as heat? You have never
seen it, and yet you probably believe there is such a thing. Put a piece
of iron out in the sun on a hot day, and after some time feel it. No
doubt you will say that it feels hot and that it got its heat from the
sun. Now, hold your right hand on the iron for a while and then put
your right hand on your left and you will find that your right hand
feels hot to your left. Your right hand must have gotten its heat
from the iron. This shows that when the iron feels hot it must be
giving heat to the hand. Such is always the case; a body feels hot
when it is giving heat to the hand. But your right hand felt hot to
the left, and, therefore, your right hand must have been giving heat
to the left. Now, how did your'leit hand feel to the right? You
will say that it felt cold. And so you see that when a thing-feels cold
to the hand, heat is going from the hand to that thing. So the terms

_hot and cold simply refer to the direction in which heat is going.

Feel the iron of a hammer which has been in a cool place, and then
feel the wooden handle. Which seems cooler? Evidently the iron
does. Do you really believe that it is any cooler? It is difficult to see
how it can be, since both were in the same place. Perhaps it is because

2

the iron is readier to take in heat just as water can be more readily
poured into a tumbler than into a bottle. How shall we test this sup-
position? Suppose the tumbler and the bottle were both full of water,
out of which could you pour the water the more readily? Out of the
tumbler, of course. Now, let us try the same thing with heat. Put
the hammer into a hot oven for a few minutes and feel which is hotter,
the head or the handle. The iron is; and so we find that when the
hammer is cold the iron feels colder than the wood because it takes
in heat more readily, and when the hammer is hot the iron feels
hotter than the wood, because it gives out heat to the hand more
readily. You will thus see that touch is a poor way of finding how
hot a body is. How can we discover a better way? We must find
something else that heat does, and perhaps that will give us a better
way of measuring it.

II.
HEAT EXPANDS LIQUIDS.

Fill a bottle with cold water just up to the bottom of the neck, and
put the bottle in a pan or pot of moderately warm water on the stove.
Watch how the water rises in the neck as the water becomes warmer,
how it finally comes to the top and at last overflows. You thus see
that heat expands water, and if there had been any other liquid than
water in the bottle the result would have been similar, except that
the amount of expansion might not have been the same. We con-
clude, then, that heat expands liquids.

HEAT EXPANDS SOLIDS.

Take a bolt, and a nut that is a neat fit and will just serew on the
bolt. Heat the screw of the bolt in the fire and then see if you can
serew the nut on. Probably you can not; certainly you can not if
they fitted closely enough when they were cold. But if you had heated
the nut up instead of the bolt you would have found that it went on
more readily than before.

If the school building is heated by steam or hot water, see if you
can find a part of the pipe at least 25 or 30 feet long. You will notice
that at certain places the pipe is supported on upright wooden strips.
Stick needles into these strips at two places 25 or 30 feet apart so
that the head of each needle is above the pipe and very close to it.
Then make a mark just below the head of each needle with a knife.
If you have done this when the pipe is cold, wait until some time
when the pipe is hot and see if the knife-marks are still just below the

3

needles. You will thus discover that the pipes become longer when
heated. This is one reason why the pipes are hung in brackets at-
tached to the board instead of being fastened more solidly, and the
noise you hear when the pipes are being heated up is partly due to
their slipping in the brackets.

Il.
HEAT EXPANDS GASES.

We have now seen that heat expands solids and liquids. Will it
also expand a gas like air? You will find the following a beautiful
experiment: Hold a glass bottle by the neck and dip it quickly a few
times in very hot water merely to warm it up gradually so as not to
break it. Finally hold it in the hot water until it becomes thoroughly
heated up. Then invert it quickly in a pan containing water to the
depth of about an inch and watch what happens. You will find that
as the bottle cools, water is quickly sucked up into the bottle until
finally the bottle becomes about one-fourth full of water. This shows
that the air in the bottle contracted as it cooled. Will it also expand
when it is heated? To test this, all you have to do is to pour hot water
over the bottle as it stands inverted in the pan, and you will find that
the air expands again and drives out some of the water. (Why does
it not drive all the water out again?) To vary the experiment, invert
the cold bottle in the pan and pour hot water over it, and notice how
bubbles are driven out by the expansion of the air. When you have
driven out as many bubbles as possible, let the bottle cool again, and
you will find that water is sucked up as before. (Is there as much
sucked up this time? Why?)

WHY HOT AIR RISES.

You will now be able to understand better why hot air rises. It is
because on being heated it expands, and therefore becomes less dense,
and so it rises above the cold air just as a piece of wood rises in water
because it is less dense than the water. An interesting proof of the
rising of hot air can be obtained by making a little paper mill, fasten-
ing it to the end of a stick by a pin and holding it over a hot stove.
You will find that the current of hot air, rising, will turn it, just as
wind turns a windmill. Other examples of the rising of hot air will
occur to you, such as the rising of hot air and smoke in a chimney, and
the fact that the air in a room is much warmer near the ceiling than
near the floor. See if you can think of some more examples.

2—19

4

IV.
‘THE THERMOMETER.

This expansion of bodies when heated gives us a means of finding
how hot anything is, that is, finding its temperature. Tor instance,
to find whether it is hotter out of doors than in a room, you might
take a bottle with a very narrow neck and fill it up to the middle of
the neck with water. Now let it stand in the room for half an hour
and mark where the surface of the water stands in the neck; then put
it out in the sun and let it stand for another half hour, and see whether
the water has risen or fallen. This will tell you whether the tempera-
ture is higher or lower indoors than outdoors. But if it should happen
to be ahout as warm outdoors asx indoors there would only he a very
small rise or fall of the water in the neck. You can easily understand
that the change of level would be much greater if you used a bottle
with a much narrower neck: but then the neck would need to be very
much longer to prevent it running over altogether. (Why not try it
with two bottles, one with a broad, short neck and the other with a
long, narrow neck?) And now you know what a thermometer is, for
it is merely a very sinall bottle with a very long and very narrow neck.
There is, however, one other. difference—it docs not contain water,
but mercury. One reason for not using water vou will see if you think
what would happen to a thermometer containing water on a very cold
day in winter. There is also a scale marked on the thermometer or
attached to it, so that it can tell vou different degrees of temperature.
Tf you can get a thermometer to use, try some temperatures with it.
For instance, note the temperature when the thermometer ix in the
air, and then bury the lower end of it in a small hole in the ground
and find whether the soil is warmer or cooler than the air. Do this
at different times of the day and of the vear and keep your results in
a notebook, and you may make some interesting discoveries. If you are
near a river or lake, make notes of its temperature in the same way.
Tf your thermometer is one with degrees marked on the glass, put the
bulb of it in your mouth and find how hot you are; see whether you are
warmer on a hot day than on a cold day, or at noon than at night.
See also whether working makes you any warmer. You may try the
temperature of the cat and the dog also, if you can coax them to be
quiet enough. You will be able to think of many other interesting
things to try with a thermometer.

Vv.
HOW HEAT TRAVELS.
Heat being invisible, it is somewhat more difficult to find how it

travels than it is to see how something visible, like water, travels, and

vet the difference is not so very great. For, just think of how water
travels. It can run through a pipe that conduets it. Similarly heat
can run through many things that conduct it and are called con-
ductors. When heat travels in this way it is said to travel hy con-
duction. For instance, when an end of a poker is kept a good while
in the fire the heat travels the whole way to the handle and it may be-
come too hot to be held. Hence, iron is a conductor of heat. So, too,
are all other metals, but some conduct better than others. For in-
stance, put an iron or tin spoon and a solid silver spoon into a cup of
hot water and notice which becomes hot at the upper end sooner.
You will then readily see that silver is a much better conductor than
iron or tin. (low can vou test whether a silver spoon is solid or
merely plated with silver?)

Suppose we next compare silver with copper. If you can find a
Canadian copper cent you will see that it is almost exactly the size of
a silver quarter. Put both of them at the same time on a hot stove
lid and quickly hold two matches on them and see which match burns
first, and so vou will discover which is the better conductor, silver or
copper. If you can't easily find a Canadian cent, try a dime and a cop-
per cent. They will tell you the same thing, but for a reason that you
should try to think out, you can’t trust this form of the experiment
so much. To see how paper conducts, as compared with copper, use
two copper cents in one heap and a cent with a piece of pasteboard
about as thick as a cent on top of it as the other heap, and see which
will light a match first. Try also picces of glass, then flat stones and
china and other things, and you can easily make up a list of poor con-
ductors and good conductors in this way. Compare also slate pencils
with nails of the same length, holding them upright on the stove
and trying on which you can hold your finger longer. Having these
ways suggested to you, you will easily go on and discover many other
ways for yourself.

But so far we have been talking of the conducting power of solids
only. Can we find out anything as to the conducting power of liquids
and gases? This is more difficult. Perhaps the best way is to get a
kind of very thin tube called a test-tube at a druggist’s. Fill it with
cold water and hold it by the lower end at a slant ~o that the upper
end may be over a gas or-lamp flame. You will find that the water
may be boiling for some time at the top before it begins to feel hot
below. This shows that water is a very poor conductor. You may ask
why we don’t hold it by the top and heat it below. It would heat
up much more quickly in that way, but we would not be really testing
the conducting power of the liquid in that way. Perhaps you can

6

think out the reason of this statement for yourself, but if you can not
you will understand the matter more fully when you read the next
section. What we have seen from the former of these experiments,
namely, that water is a poor conductor, is true of all liquids.

As to the conducting power of gases, it is so very difficult a
thing to test by experiment that you must for the present be
satisfied to know that gases are very poor conductors indeed.
In fact, the warmth of woolen or flannel clothes is mostly due to the
fact that air clings to the threads and in the openings between threads,
and it is the very poor conducting power of the air that prevents the
heat of the body escaping. You will now be able to explain why ice
houses are often built with double walls having an air space between
the walls, and why in cold climates outside doors and windows are put
on in the winter time. You will no doubt think of many other ex-
amples, if you try.

HOT CURRENTS AND COLD CURRENTS.

There is another way in which heat travels in liquids and gases,
namely, by the formation of currents that carry the heat with them.
This is the way in which water in a kettle is heated by the fire. You
may see this process, which “is called convection, by the following
experiment: Take an ink bottle in which about a spoonful of ink
has been left. Warm it up gradually by dipping it a few times into
a vessel of warm water. Then fill it with hot water and put it at the
bottom of a pail full of cold water. The inky hot water will come out
of the bottle and you can see the way in which this hot water rises
through the midst of the cold water. Now, that is the way in which
water moves in a pot or kettle that is being heated on the stove. But
it is evident that as the hot water rises in the middle of the pail, cooler
water must go down along the sides, and so we have hot and cool cur-
rents moving up and down and conveying heat to all parts of the pot.
Here is an interesting illustration which you may try for yourself.
Make a box out of thick writing paper by folding it at the corners and
stitching the flaps with thread to keep them from opening. Then
hang it up-by threads attached to the four corners, half fill it with
water and bring a flame beneath it. You will find that the water can
be boiled without scorching the paper. This shows how rapidly heat
is carried off by convection. Currents of hot water rise to the surface
conveying heat away and cold currents descend to take the place of
the hot water that has risen. Thus the bottom of the box is kept
cool. If it were not for this action the paper would burn. In fact,
if the flame is too big the paper does get scorched above the water
line.

v4

VII.
HEAT RAYS.

But how does the heat pass to your hand from a hot body when
you are not touching it? This is perhaps not so easy to understand.
In some way the heat passes off from the body and crosses the space
between the body and your hand, just as the sun’s rays come from the
sun to the earth. For this reason the process is called radiation, and
the body is said to radiate heat. Some surfaces radiate much better
than others. Here is a simple experiment to illustrate it: Blacken
one side of a tin can with shoe-blacking, or by holding it in a very
smoky flame, then fill the can with boiling water and hold one hand
near the bright surface and the other equally near the black surface
and find which feels warmer. You will thus arrive at the conclusion
that black surfaces radiate heat better than bright surfaces.

While we are speaking of giving heat out by radiation, it will be
well to say something about taking in heat that other bodies radiate
out. This taking in of heat is called absorption. Let us first see
which takes in heat better, a bright surface or black surface. You can
test this by getting two similar tin can covers and blacking the outside
of one with shoe blacking. Now, support them just above the middle
of a hot stove on little pieces of glass, all of the same thickness, which
rest on the stove. Puta couple of matches in each and observe which
cover first becomes hot enough to light the matches. If you suspect
that one was over a hotter part of the stove than the other, exchange
their positions and try again. Instead of putting the matches in, you
may pour equal quantities of water into the two covers by using a
small cup for measuring, and then see in which the water will boil
first. You will thus learn that black surfaces absorb heat more
quickly than light surfaces. Now, think of these things and try to
decide which part of a kettle should be brightly polished—the bottom
or the outside. Try also to think of other cases of such differences.
Consider, for instance, house paints, colors of summer ‘and winter
clothes, ete.

If you are studying this subject in the winter time you may try the
effect of putting different colored cloths of about the sale thickness
on the snow on a bright, sunny day and finding under which the
snow is most melted by heat taken in from the sun. These are only
some of the ways in which you can make experiments on the subject.
You may be able to think of other ways yourself.

VU.
CHANGES IN MATTER PRODUCED BY HEATING.

We have already referred to two of the changes heat can produce
in matter, namely, an increase of size and a rise of temperature; but
if you try to think of the most striking change that heat gives rise
to, you will probably decide that it is the change from solid to liquid
or from liquid to vapor. To illustrate the former change, suppose you
take two similar cans, fill one with crushed ice well packed in, and in
the other pour ice-cold water until the two cans seem equally heavy
(vou may weigh them if you have a balance). Now, put them on a
stove, taking care to xee that they are on nearly equally hot places.
You will find that when the water is xo hot that vou can barely put
your finger in it, the ice has merely melted and the water it has
formed is nearly ice cold. Now, they must have taken in about equal
quantitics of heat from the stove, and -0 vou see that to melt ice
requires nearly as much heat as to raise the same quantity of water
from the melting point to the boiling point. This heat that voces to
melt ice does not produce the ordinary effect of making the substance
warmer and hence the heat so used is called hidden or latent heat.

Now, Jet us turn to the other case, that in which water turns into
vapor. This is somewhat more difficult to experiment on, but you
will see into it to some extent by putting a canful of water on the
stove and placing a thermometer in it. You must take care not to
use for this purpose a thermometer such as is used for finding tem-
perature out of doors, but one that cooks sometimes use for finding
the heat of the oven will do for the purpose. You would only break
the former, for it ix not supposed to go as high as the temperature of
boiling water. Supposing, however, that vou have the right kind of
thermometer, vou will notice that after the water boils its tempera-
ture does not rixe any higher, in spite of the fact that it must all the
time he taking in heat from the stove, This heat has been taken
away with the vapor and is necessary for the turning of water into
vapor. Here, then, we have another case of hidden heat: the heat
required tognake vapor from water is called the latent heat of vapor.
You will get another example of it if vou wet a finger and hold it up
in the wind (as claimed in Leaflet 12): vou will find that as the
water evaporates the side to the wind becomes much cooler than the
rest, showing that heat is taken up in vaporizing the water. and as
this heat is taken from the finger it leaves that side colder. You will
see the same thing much more clearly if vou let a drop of ether fall
on the back of your hand. .

Ns
HOW HEAT IS MADE.

So far we have not considered how heat is produced, but have
merely assumed that there is a source of heat near. Now, the question
of how heat is made in the ijirst place is rather a difficult one and it
would take us too long to explain the whole of the subject. Burning
something is, of course, the hust known way. For instance, where
does the heat come from when vou strike a match? You might sup-
pose it due altogether to something contained in the match. But try
rubbing a brass button on a board, and vou will find that you can
make it too hot to be held comfortably. By rubbing two sticks
together vou can make them quite hot, and can understand how sav-
ages get fire without matches. You may not be able, like a savage, to
get the wood to burn, but rub hard enough and you will get another
interesting case of heating by friction. I shall leave you to think of
what it is for yourself.

And now you should be able to explain what sometimes happens
when the axle of a carriage has not been oiled, and in consequence
grows hot and perhaps sticks fast in the wheel, or else the hub may
be torn from the spokes. You know that sawing produces heat, but
this is, of course, merely another case of rubbing. Hammering will
also cause a body to grow hot. No doubt you can make a nail quite
warm by hammering it on a stone. An expert smith can make a
piece of iron red hot by hammering. This production of heat hy ham-
mering will perhaps help you to understand the flash of light you
sometimes see when the shoe on a horse’s foot strikes a stone. So
much heat is formed that something actually burns and produces
light. ¥ou can do the same in a dark room with a hammer and a
stone; and let me suggest that while youare in the dark room you
should try crushing a lump of sugar with a blow of the hammer; you
will see quite a flash of light. This is perhaps a somewhat different
case, for electricity is produced, and the light you get is like a light-
ning flash, due to a discharge of electricity. This last remark will
remind you of the production of heat and light by electricity, but
as we can not take space here to describe all the ways in which heat
is produced, vou must be left to think of as many as you can for
yourself.

oes

WHAT IS HEAT?

And now that you have made some experiments and observations
on heat without knowing what it really is, I am going to ask you to

10

exercise your imagination a little and to try to picture to yourself
what this thing is that you have been studying. You must think of
any portion of matter, whether it is solid, liquid or gas, as consisting
of an immense number of very small particles which are not at rest,
but all the time in vigorous motion. You can not see these particles,
for they are too small to be seen, but you can imagine how they act if
you think of people seated close together in a crowded room. If you
were far enough above the people you can easily understand that you
would think the whole audience to be a solid mass without motion,
but when you come close enough to them you can see that each one
has a certain amount of freedom and can move to and fro a little,
though always confined to a particular seat and kept pretty closely in
contact with his neighbors. Now, that is exactly the state of affairs
in a solid. The particles are continually vibrating backward and for-
ward, but nevertheless they do not get any considerable distance away
from their average position, and when you heat the solid all that
happens is that each particle vibrates more vigorously than before,
and, owing to this more vigorous motion, all the particles shove one
another farther apart, and so you find the solid expanding.

But what about liquids? Think of how the same crowded audience
would act if they were standing up and there were no seats in the
way. Each one would keep bumping to and fro among his neighbors
and gradually, though slowly, making his way from one place to an-
other. This will help you to imagine what a liquid is like, for in a
liquid the particles are continually vibrating to and fro, frequently
striking against their neighbors, and thus gradually straying from one
part of the vessel to another. Heating not only increases the vigor
of the vibration, but enables the particles to move around more freely.
Moreover, as in the case of the solid, we have an expansion of the
whole mass due to the particles shoving themselves farther apart.

Then, as to a vapor or gas like the air, we will get an idea how the
particles in it behave if we think of skaters on a lake dashing rapidly
to and fro and going considerable distances without colliding with
others or being stopped by the banks. Here, again, a higher tem-
perature means a greater speed of motion of the particles.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No. 20.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS.

By Miss LILLIAN SNYDER.

We sometimes forget that every animal, however insignificant it
may seem, as it lives its life, is either helping or hindering man in his
work. We are afraid of late springs and early frosts, of too much
rain or too much sun, but often forget that if all these conditions
are as we would have them, that other enemies are endangering our
food supplies. I believe that the most harmful of these enemies are
the insects. Do you know that two hundred million dollars worth
of fruit and grain and other crops of various kinds are destroyed in
the United States each year by insects? The insects are in many
cases so small and conceal themselves so skillfully that we fail to know
they are present until the damage has been done and the crop ruined.
Then sometimes they come in such countless numbers that man is.
helpless and can only stand and watch the destruction of his year’s
work. But if we do not interfere too much with nature’s way of
working we will find that she has her own method of holding these
insect hosts in check. If you look about you closely you will find
that our native birds are, for the most part, busily at work protecting
our crops through feeding upon insects. Prof. E. E. Fish says that
the birds save for agricultural purposes because of their destruction of
insects, one hundred million dollars each year in the United States.
If this statement is true, and careful studies have shown that it is
true, will it not be a wise thing to find what birds are our friends and:

2

the ways in which they help us? When we find how much they save
us in labor and money we will not be so apt to kill them and destroy
their nests.

The best way for you to find our bird friends is to study birds and
their habits; but it is sometimes hard to know just how to start in
such a study, and so in this leaflet I will try to show how some of our
common birds help us. See if you cannot find other ways than those
given and if you can add other birds to the list of those helping man.

Perhaps the first bird you will see in the early spring will be the
robin. The robin is one of the first birds to come to us, and I think
there is not a boy or girl in the whole State who does not recognize
this pretty red-breasted visitor at a glance. If you make a study of
the robin during the season you will discover many interesting facts
about his food habits, and will soon come to think of him as one of
our best friends. It may be that you have been told that the robin is
a very bad bird, that it steals cherries and strawberries and other
products of the farm and garden. But watch the robin in a freshly
plowed field or in your yard and see what he is doing. Evidently he
is working eagerly for his dinner, and cherries and strawberries do not
grow in such places. It is plain that he is seeking his food among the
insect forms, and if we watch closely we will find that grubs, cater-
pillars, crickets, grasshoppers and other smaller forms make up the
larger part of his meal. Yet these are the forms which are most harm-
ful to the grain, and so every time you kill a robin you kill one of your
best friends. If you get up early enough in the morning you may find
him hunting for cut-worms. You know these worms do their harmful
work in the night and the robin knows that if he gets any cut-worms
for breakfast he must be up very early in the morning. If a single
robin destroys so many harmful insects for his own use, how many
more do you think he will destroy when he has a family to feed? Did
. you ever see a nest full of young robins, with their great mouths wide
open for food? Notice the kind of food the old birds give them.
Are they fed cherries and fruit, or worms and bugs? Do not take any
person’s word for this, but see for yourself. For what I want is not
to tell you things, but to have you see things. I think that you will
find that animal food is necessary for the growth and welfare of the
young birds. I think you will also find that the old robin is kept very
busy all day long hunting worms and insects for the little ones in the
nest. Try to find how many times in an hour the old bird brings food
to the nest. Some one who has taken a great deal of interest in the
robins has found out that a young robin requires each day, more than
its own weight of animal food.

3

Another ‘early bird, though not so abundant as the robin, is the
blue-bird. The blue-bird has the good qualities of the robin without
any of his questionable ones. You may find him eating some vegeta-
ble food in the fall, but for the most part he eats insects. The insects
chosen by the blue-bird are chiefly harmful ones, especially those
forms that are injurious to trees. Do you know where to look for
blue-birds, in the woods, the open fields or in gardens?

One of our common birds, which boys are fond of shooting, is the
meadow-lark. The meadow-lark is one of the farmers’ most efficient
helpers. Its food is chiefly made up of beetles, caterpillars and grass-
hoppers, varied by an occasional diet of seeds. At the Department of
Agriculture at Washington, the contents of the stomach of a meadow-
lark were examined and 54 grasshoppers were found. See if you can
work out the number of grasshoppers destroyed by meadow-larks un-
der the following statement. If one meadow-lark eats 50 grasshoppers
in a day, and there are 20 meadow-larks to the square mile in your
region, how many grasshoppers will these 20 meadow-larks destroy
in amonth? Now, it has been found that a grasshopper weighs about
15 grains and that it eats about its own weight of vegetable food
each day. If you care to you can work out how much vegetation the
grasshoppers would have destroyed in a square mile had they not been
destroyed by the meadow-larks.

All of you have seen the red-headed wood-pecker, hammering away
at the tree trunks with his chisel-like bill. The red-head has a num-
ber of near relatives in the State. Indeed there are seven kinds of
birds in Indiana belonging to the wood-pecker family. We have the
downy wood-pecker and the hairy wood-pecker, which are com-
monly known as the sap-suckers, and the yellow-bellied wood-pecker,
which is the true sap-sucker, and the yellow-hammer, and other forms
not so common. Now all of these birds, with perhaps the exception
of the yellow-bellied wood-pecker, are of great value to the farmer.
Their food is very largely made up of insects of various kinds, but es-
pecially of those which are injurious to trees. You can see that this
must be true, because of the habits of the bird. Indeed the health of
forest trees depends very largely upon the work of the wood-peckers
in destroying the insect enemies of the trees. Do you know that the
oak tree is the home of 500 different kinds of insects, all of which
are more or less injurious to it? The combined work of these insects
would in time destroy the trees were the insects not kept in check by
the wood-peckers and other birds. Other trees are the homes for large
numbers of insect forms, but none have quite so many resident ene-
mies as the oak. The constant hammering of the red-head and his rel-

4

atives, simply tells us how ceaselessly they are working to preserve
our trees. And yet every boy that has had a gun has taken a shot at
these guardians of our trees. The true sap-sucker or yellow-bellied
wood-pecker, may do some harm especially to young trees, because
of the holes he drills in the trunk and the resulting Joss of sap. But
even in this case it is a question whether the good done does not more
than balance the evil. The sweet sap as it comes to the surface at-
tracts insects, and as they become entangled in the sticky fluid they
fall an easy prey to the sap-sucker and other insect-loving birds. You
can always tell if the true sap-sucker has been at work. The holes
he drills are in a straight row right around the trunk; the holes drilled
by the other wood-peckers are scattered. At any rate this bird which
may possibly be harmful is only a summer resident, while the other
wood-peckers spend the entire year with us. The wood-pecker family
should be very carefully guarded and every boy and girl should know
everything they can possibly discover about these good friends of man.
Wood-peckers are wonderfully adapted in their structure to their
habits of life, more perfectly perhaps than any other land bird. Some
time when you have opportunity examine their feet and tail and bill
and tongue, and see how they serve to help the wood-pecker in his
work.

Were you ever given a gun to keep the blackbirds out of a freshly-
planted field? Ifso you were given a foolish thing to do. When the
blackbirds first come in the spring they usually are compelled to eat
grain until the ground is broken by the plow, but this grain is usually
the waste grain upon the ground. As soon, however, as the soil is
turned by the plow and the blackbirds can secure animal food, they
become so eager to secure every grub and larval form exposed by the
plow that they will come within a few feet of the man who is plowing.
Tt has been estimated that at least one-third of the corn planted would
be destroyed by insects were it not for this preliminary work of the
blackbird in ridding the soil of grubs.

The crow has a fairly bad reputation, and I presume he does at
times pick up some corn that the farmer has planted. But what do
you think he is doing all the remainder of the year, for corn is not
being constantly planted. Examination shows that by far the larger
per cent. of his food is made up of insects, largely grasshoppers. In
the long run, taking the entire year, the crow will be found to be of
great service to the former, and his destruction would be a great injury
to agriculture. You will find the crow a very interesting bird to
study, because it is so cunning, and more than that. because it is so

5

very wise. If you read the “Story of Silver-spot,” in Scribner’s Maga-
zine for February, 1898, you will see what I mean by saying that crows
are wise.

Then other of our familiar birds are helpful—the cat-bird, the barn-
swallow and even the jay-bird. The more you come to know of the
lives of these feathered tenants of the farm, the more will you come
to regard them as friends well deserving our most careful protection.

I have not said anythifg about the birds of prey. Generally the
sight of an owl or hawk is.the signal to run for the gun in the hope
of killing it or at least driving it from the farm. Yet only a few of
the largest of our birds of prey are injurious. These larger forms do
destroy poultry and game birds and perhaps are rightfully killed.
But the smaller forms, such as the screech-owl, the barn-owl and the
sparrow-hawk, are among our very best friends. Their favorite foods
are mice and the larger insects, both of which are extremely destruc-
tive to grain and growing crops. Indeed some of our crops might be
shown to be dependent upon the presence of the smaller owls and
hawks.

There are many other birds you will meet during the year; probably
there are 200 different kinds in your county. How many of them
are really harmful? Suppose you watch closely for a year and make
a list of all the birds that harm man in any way. You will be sur-
prised to find how short the list will be.

These birds have a right to live, and every farmer and farmer’s boy
ought to protect them carefully, because but for their incessant labor,
many agricultural possibilities would disappear.

It has been estimated that if all the birds were destroyed, that
within three years the insects would be so abundant, that there would
be one to every square inch of this great land of ours. Does not this
give enough reason for the protection of birds?

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No, 24,

LEAFLET

On Nature Stupy.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

A CHILDREN’S VEGETABLE GARDEN.

By PROF. JAMES TROOP.

It is probable that there are very few farmers’ boys who have
reached the age of twelve years, who have not had some experience in
“weeding the garden;” and I dare say that this experience has not al-
ways been of the most pleasant kind. At least I did not find it so, and
it was not until I was older that I discovered what was the trouble.
Jn order to really enjoy doing a piece of work we must have an inter-
est in it. We must love the work, and as a rule, in order to do that
we must be able to look ahead and see what is to come from it.

Some one has said that when one grows pumpkins and potatoes and
such things he is usually thinking how much he is going to get out of
it at the end of the season. In one sense that is true, because we usu-
ally grow vegetables either for our own use or to sell to some one else;
but before we can grow them, to secure the very best results, we must
certainly learn something about them, how they grow, how to supply
their needs from the time when they first peep their tiny heads
through the soil until they put forth their leaves and blossoms and
finally ripen their fruit or seeds. By so doing we shall be able to work
in harmony with nature, and thus in the end have the satisfaction of
growing the best and receiving the largest returns.

In a former leaflet Professor Bailey has told you about raising
Sweet Peas and China Asters. I suppose that he selected those varie-

4

ties because they afford an opportunity to study and enjoy their beauty
for a long time.

Now I propose that we have a vegetable garden in connection with
the flowers, because, while we all love flowers, I am sure there is not
one of us who does not enjoy nice, crisp vegetables as they are pre-
pared for the table fresh from the garden. And then you know they
always taste so much better when we have planted the seeds and cared
for them all hy ourselves.

There are four things necessary to make a successful vegetable
garden!

1. A suitable soil.

2. Pure seed.

3, Clean cultivation.

+. A good supply of fertilizer or plant food.

If one of these is omitted, the garden will not be the success that
it ought to be.

PREPARATION OF THE SOIL.

Almost any kind of soil will grow some kind of crop, because plants
have a way of adapting themselves to circumstances, and will vrow
under very discouraging conditions: but if vou expect to gather a
bountiful harvest, the soil must be of the very best. It sometimes hap-
pens, however, that the soil contains enough plant food, but it is not
in the proper condition for the plant to make use of it. It may be due
to a lack of moisture. The soil may he baked so hard that the rain can
not get into it,and instead all runs off into the ditches and streams just
as it runs off the roof of the barn into the gutter. When this is the case,
this hard crust must he broken up by deep plowing and thorough eul-
tivation. This will allow the rain to soak into the soil and dissolve
the plant food so that the voung growing rootlets can make use of it.
When soi] is prepared in this way there will be no need of carrying
water for the plants, for if the top soil is kept stirred, as it must be
in keeping out the weeds, there will be no time during the driest sea-
son when there will not be moisture for the plants. If you have read
Leaflet No. 5 on “A Children’s Garden,” vou have learned why this
is $0.

If the soil is naturally so poor that it will not grow a satisfactory
crop of corn, then it should have a good dressing of well rotted stable
manure, plowed under and well mixed with it. T wonder if any of you
know how much manure the Jarge market gardeners put on an acre

a
o

of land? I have heard them say that they use from fifty to seventy-five
wagon loads per acre. Do you wonder then that they can raise large
crops?

Now, before sowing or planting the seeds, the soil should be made
very fine so that the seeds may all be covered at a uniform depth, and
so that the young rootlets may find plenty of plant food near at hand
as they begin to grow. Do you know how the root takes its food? If
you will place a few kernels of corn between some moist woolen cloth
and keep them in a warm room until they begin to grow you will see
a great many little white hairs growing out of the sides of the roots.
These little hairs absorb or drink in the liquid food from the soil for
the use of the plant.

HUW MUCH GROUND TO PLANT.

In the list of varieties suggested there are none that will need any
hand weeding, except what can be done with the hoe, so I think that
about one square rod for each kind will not be too much. This will
give six square rods. The shape of the plats will depend somewhat
upon the size and shape of the garden where they are located. but I
would suggest that they be somewhat longer than broad, say 10 ft.
by 274 ft. This will allow a little room for a walk through the mid-
dle. A grass walk 18 inches wide extending entirely around the
plats and also through the center, if well kept, will add greatly to the
general appearance, but this is not necessary.

WHAT TO PLANT.

How many kinds of vegetables do you suppoxe are generally grown
by market gardeners? If you will get a seedsman’s catalogue and look
it over, I think you will find fifty or more different kinds. Of course
you do not want to plant so many as that, because they would require
too much labor to properly care for them. It will be better to select
only a few kinds and give them the best of care. Nor will you all
want to plant the same things, so I will name a few kinds which may
be grown with very little trouble, and each one may select such kinds
as he may wish to raise. Here they are: Bush Beans, Table Beets,
Cabbages, Cauliflower, Sweet Corn, Musk Melons, Onions, Peas, Rad-
ishes, Salsifv or Vegetable Oyster, and Tomatoes. Such things as
Potatoes, Squash and Pumpkins require too much room for our present
purpose, and may be grown in the field just as well.

4

Having selected the kinds to plant, you should be careful not to
plant more than you can attend to properly. A small plat of each well
grown, will be much better than double that amount partially
neglected. Now, I am going to suggest the following varieties for our
garden: Golden Wax Bean, Gem Musk Melon, Knott’s Excelsior Pea,
Stone Tomato, Early Snowball Cauliflower, and Moore’s Early Con-
cord Sweet Corn. These are all excellent varieties and may be easily
grown.

One of the most interesting things about vegetable gardening, is the
size of the crop gardeners get from their land. Some “truck farmers,”
as vegetable gardeners are often called, harvest enormous quantities
of produce from an acre of soil. They never let the land lie idle. It
is always producing in the growing season. This suggests a scheme
for you. Suppose you plan to have one plat divided into halves, each
part being of the same size. You perhaps plan to plant some toma-
toes. Then plagé just twice as many plants on one-half as the other,
and give them eyual treatment. Keep count of the number of green
tomatoes, of those that ripen and of the weight of those you pick from
each half. Then, if you are sharp and handy with figures, you can tell
at the end of the season what the difference was in total yields of
those half plats and what the difference would be in yield per acre.
This seems to me to be a plan that will interest the home folks, and
would be a very interesting thing for a school report on a truck farm-
ing experiment. This is not suggested so much to studv the vield of
tomatoes as to learn how much can be secured from two equal pieces
of ground differently planted.

Peas —Ahmost any of the garden peas may be sowed just as eurly
as the ground can be worked, as they are somewhat hardy and light
frosts do not injure the plants. Rake the surface of the soil before.
sowing the seed, in order to destroy any weeds which may have ger-
minated since the ground was plowed This will give the peas an equal
chance with the weeds, and the labor of cultivation will be much les-
sened. Make the rows 16 inches apart and perfectly straight by
stretching a line across the bed. With a stick make a mark about one
inch deep and drop in the seed two inches apart, and cover with fine
soil. Now if the soil is pressed down by laying a board over the row
and walking on it, the seeds will germinate much quicker than if the
soil is left loose. This should be done with all seeds which are sown
in the open ground.

Examine the seed peas before sowing and see if you can find any
that are “buggy.” That is, those that have had a portion of the inside

5

eaten out by the pea weevil. Older people have frequently asked the
question if these “buggy” peas will grow. In order to test the ques-
tion for yourselves, take a quantity of these peas, and after counting
them, sow them in a row adjoining the good seed and treat them all
alike.

Now take your note-books and note the date of planting, date when
the plants first show above the ground, the per cent. of buggy seeds
that germinate and of the good seeds, the date of blossoming, the date
of first picking and date of last picking, the numbér of pods on a stem
of the buggy seed as compared with the good seed. Keep a record
of the number of quarts or pecks grown on one square rod of ground,
then you can easily figure the yield per acre.

The Tomato will not bear any frost, so the seeds should be sown in
a box in the house, and when the plants are three inches high they
should be transplanted into another box of fresh earth and placed
where they can get plenty of sunlight. Keep them in the house till
all danger of frost is over, then they may be planted out in the garden.
Set the plants four feet apart each way, and as soon as they get to be
14 or 16 inches high they should be staked in order to prevent them
from falling to the ground. Here I want to suggest an experiment,
viz.: Select two rows as nearly alike as possible; let one grow in the
ordinary way, with bushy tops. Take the other row and cut off all
side branches, as soon as they appear, thus causing the plant to run
up to single stem. Place a stake about eight feet long beside these
single stem plants, and tie them fast as they grow. When the fruit
begins to ripen, take your note-book and put down—

1. The date of first ripe fruit on each plant.

2. Number and size of ripe fruits on each plant each day.

3. At the end of the season, if frost comes before the plants
are done bearing, note the number of green fruit remain-
ing on each vine. If you have done your work well you
will be able to tell some of the other people which
method has given the better results.

Cauliflower is seldom raised by farmers, but when you learn what a
delicious vegetable it is I am sure that more of you will want it. So
here is a chance to grow something that is comparatively new. Cauli-
flower is only a variety of cabbage, and may be as easily grown as cab-
bage. There are two conditions necessary, viz., the soil must be moist
and it must be rich. The Early Snowball variety is grown more than
any other. The seeds should be sown in a box in the house the last

6

of March, if an early crop is wanted, and the young plants transplanted
into the open ground in April or May. In fact they should be treated
in all respects as we treat early cabbage plants. Place your rows three
feet apart and set the plants two feet apart. Keep the ground well
cultivated and watch for the cabbage worm. When it makes its ap-
pearance get a little insect powder and dust it over the plants; this
should kill the worms. After a time the plants will form large, fleshy,
white heads when they are ready for use. Now compare these heads
with the cabbage head. You will notice that while the cabbage head
is made wp of leaves, this is conipoxed of fleshy flower stalks and un-
developed buds. This is only one of the many varieties of cabbage
which are grown by the market gardeners.

Beans, musk melons and sweet corn may usually be planted during
the first week in May. None of these will bear any frost, xo it is neces-
sary to wait until the soil has become quite warm before planting.

Beans.—Plant the beans three feet apart, and the hillx one foot
apart, in the row. Write down in your note-books the date of plant-
ing, the date when the plants appeared above the ground, the date of
blossoming, the date when the beans are large enough to use and the
date of ripening, if anv are left to ripen. Notice the difference, if there
he any, between the beans and peas in their manner of getting out of
the greund.

Wusk Melons.—The hills for the musk melons should be about four
feet apart each way, ax this variety does not make so large vines as
some of the others. Before planting the sveds, dig a hole about eight
inches deep, and put in a shovelful of well rotted barn manure; then:
cover this with soil and plant the seeds, covering them an inch deep.
Press the soil down firmly with the hoe. After the plants are well up,
pull up all but three good, strong plants. These will make a better
growth and hear nicer fruit than if all were left to grow. Now keep
a careful watch for a little striped beetle. They are very fond of
melon and cucumber leaves, and if they get a chance will ruin them
hefore you are aware of it. You may he able to keep them off for a
time by making httle boxes eight to ten inches square and covering
them with cheese cloth, and placing these over the plants. The cheese
cloth will admit air and sunlight and at the same time will keep) out
the insects,

Keep a record of the number of melons grown on a syuare rod: from
this you can figure the vield per acre.

Many people every year get badly deceived in buying musk melons.
They think a large, fine looking melon in a wagon, or at a xtore, must

io
4

be nicer to cat than a smaller, less handsome one. If you will study

this subject I feel sure you will many times in the future be gratified
that you did. If you plant some melon seed you may get ideas of value,
by doing two things: First, plant a few hills of a large and a few hills
of a small variety. Second, plant a few hills of a variety that has a
yellow or salmon colored flesh, and a few hills of a variety with green
flesh. You can find out about the size of melons and color of flesh by
looking in the seed catalogues, or writing to the State Experiment Sta-
tion at Lakavette. After you learn this you will know which ones
you will wish to plant.

Sweet Corn may be planted at different times during the summer,
but for the early crop it should be planted from the Ist tu the 10th of
May. Plant in rows three feet apart and about three feet in the row,
making three hills across the plat. Now it may be that after the plants
are nicely up, a cut-worm may stea] into your garden and cut off some
of the young corn or cauliflower plants. If so, you can probably find
him hiding under a clod of dirt close by the plant, when he may he
dug out and killed. Now to prevent any more injury I would suggest
that if fresh clover be taken, soaked in a solution of Paris green and
water, and then scattered about the hills of corn and among the
cauliflower plants it will destroy these cut-worms, as they will take
the clover instead of the vegetables. But since Paris green is very
poisonous, and as your father will know better how to use it, I would
sugvest that you ask him to do this for you.

There are a number of other experiments which might be suggested,
but I think these will be all that you can attend to in one season.

The radish is an interesting plant, and varies in size from the little
red ones, hardly larger than a hickory-nut to the white Japanese ones,
resembling big turnips. Radish seeds sprout soon, and the plants
grow very rapidly. You plant some, and, lo, in a very few weeks they
are ready for the table. If you are quite impatient to see things grow
fast, as some children are, then trv radishes. People eat the radish
because it is a juicy, tender, peculiar flavored vegetable that is eatable
raw. How much do the varieties differ in productiveness, flavor and
tenderness? A row of several kinds in your garden will tell quite a
story.

It may not have occurred to you, but the fact is, almost any indus-
trious boy or girl, who loves to see plants grow, can on a very few of
these little pieces of ground grow many vegetables and earn some
money for himself. What a pleasure to get up early in the bright,
sunny days of spring and summer, and go into the garden and work

8

among the plants glistening with dew. Then the music of the birds
sounds sweetest, the air is freshest and one can fairly see the melons
and other plants covering the ground. Then one can work with a will
and a clear head. At harvest time, of course, the neighbors will buy
nice fresh vegetables of you and you will Jearn one way of earning
money while studying nature and learning many things.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No, 22,

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

AN EXPERIMENTAL FARM FOR YOUNG PEOPLE,

By Prof. W. C. LATTA.

In Leaflet No. 9 you learned about a School Garden. If you have
acted on the suggestions of that leaflet, you are beginning to realize
how attractive, interesting and instructive such a garden may become.
More than this, you have learned how easily and cheaply you can beau-
tify the school yard with flowers and vines.

In this leaflet I wish to show you how to have a miniature School
Farm, which may be made quite as interesting and instructive as the
school garden.

But I fancy I hear you say, “Where can we find room for such a
farm?’ We can’t take it out of our playground. It is too small now.”
You are quite right. Don’t take any part of your school yard, but
persuade the school authorities to provide a small enclosure—at least
one rod by four in size—just outside the school yard. Doubtless,
some kind-hearted farmer who has not forgotten that he was once a
boy will let you have the ground, and then I am sure you can get the
school board to put a strong, close fence around it.

In this small enclosure the older boys can prepare the ground,
plant the seeds and cultivate the crops “by hand.” About the only
tools you would need for this purpose would be the spade, the hoe and
the rake.

In such a piece of ground you could conduct a great many simple
experiments with the farm crops. You could watch the process of

»
vermination, growth, fertilization and development of grain. und you
could also note when, where and how insects and fungour diseases
attack the several crops. By conducting these experiment» you would
learn many interesting facts that would prove very helpful on the
farm.

It is not expected that you would be able to grow as good crops as
the farmer can under more favorable conditions. You must remem-
ber that the chief object of the school farm is to get knowledge, which
would, later in life, help you to hecome more successful farmers.

Io you know how valuable knowledge gained by careful observa-
tion and experiment really is? Just this kind of knowledge is con-
sidered so valuable that our government expends annually nearly a
million of dollars to maintain Agricultural Experiment Stations in
the several States and Territories and in the District of Columbia.

This vast amount is expended in conducting and in publishing the
results of experiments that will help the farmers to avoid mistakes
and employ only the best methods. By using this experimental
4nowledge the farmers of the country will be enabled to save many
times this sum.

A prominent farmer of northern Indiana estimates that the farmer-
in his county alone might have saved one and one-half millions of dol-
lars in the last ten years by fully using the information afforded by the
experiment Station and the Farmers’ Institutes.

‘xperiments have shown that the stinking smut of wheat can he
effectually destroyed by simple treatment with hot water. If this
remedy alone were faithfully used by all farmers whose wheat is af-
fected, it would save them millions of dollars.

The farmers of Indiana annually expend many thousands of dol-
lars for new varieties of grain, in the belief that the old varieties are
“running out.” Many carefully conducted experiments at Purdue
University and elsewhere have clearly shown that these varieties do
not necessarily run out, and that the old and tried sorts. if well cared
for, will generally do as well as, or better than, the new kinds for
which some farmers will pay three or four prices.

The value of the experiments which you can conduct on a school
farm will depend on what vou undertake and how vou do the work.
If you begin at the wrong time, do the work in a careless manner, or
if you fail to finish what has been well begun, vour observations and
experiments may have very little value. But if vou will carry out
even the simplest kind of an experiment from beginning to eanek ima
careful manner, you will surely gain some useful knowledge. More

Q
o

than this, vou will acquire the habit of systematically taking and
recording observations which will prove invaluable to you all through.
life.

In order to help you, J will suggest (1) a few very simple experi-
ments that vou can try in the garden at home, or in some corner
where they would not be disturhed. and (2) how to arrange and man-
age a school farm, in which vou could join with your schoolmates in
conducting a variety of experiments.

One of the verv interesting things you might do in the garden at
home is to collect and plant all the varieties of peas you can get. This
might include the Canada field peas, the several kinds of garden peas
and the different varietivs of sweet peas. Plant in drills at least one
foot apart, dropping the seeds two or three inches apart in the drill.
Do all the planting in one day in the early spring. and cover about
two inches deep. Note (1) when each kind “comes up;” (2) the differ-
ence between the first or seed leaves and those which follow; (3) how
tall each kind grows: (4) when each kind blooms; (5) differences in
the size. color and fragrance of the flowers; (6) differences in the form
and size of the seed pods and in the number of pods produced on a
-ingle plant of each kind; (7) when each kind matures. You will, of
course. need supports for the taller varieties. When each variety
comes into bloom it will be interesting to carefully dig up one plant of
each kind and examine the roots for nodules (little rounded enlarge-
ments), which will vary in size from a pin head to a pea. The little
colonies of microbes which live in these nodules have the singular
power of capturing the free nitrogen of the air and of rendering it
available for crops.

Most if not all of the leguminous plants (including peas, beans,
lovers, ete.) have this peculiar power of “fixing” nitrogen through
the agency of microscopic svil microbes, and this is one reason they
are called svil-renewing crops.

This experiment would le nearly, if not quite, as interesting if
made with varieties of beans, or corn, or potatoes.

If in addition to, or instead of, these experiments at home, you de-
sire to join with your schoolmates in making a series of experiments,
the school farm will best serve vour purpose. An enclosure one rod
wide by four long is perhaps as large as you can well take care of
“hy hand.” In such an enclosure you can lay out a series of twenty
plats, each one yard square, for the small grains, and another series,
each six feet by seven, for corn, potatoes, ete. The accompanying dia-

4

gram, containing half the plats in each series, shows how the plats
may be arranged, and indicates also the number of hills or drills to
each plat.

LIST OF EXPERIMENTS. SERIES I.

No. 1. Wheat sown broadcast.

No. 2. Wheat sown in drills.

Nos. 3 and 4. Rye sown as Nos. 1 and

Nos. 5 and 6. Oats sown as Nos. 1 and

No. 7.* Two drills seed wheat covered
seed wheat covered 1 inch deep.

No. 8. Two drills seed wheat covered 2 inches deep, and two
drills seed wheat covered 3 inches deep.

Nos. 9 and 10. Seed oats sown as Nos. 7 and 8.

No. 11. Two drills small shrunken seed wheat and two drills
large plump seed wheat.

No. 12. One drill seed wheat sown September 1 to 15, and one
drill, each, seed wheat sown 2, + and 6 weeks later.

No. 13. Two drills seed wheat, 12 grains to each drill, and two
drills seed wheat, 24 grains to each drill.

No. 14. Two drills seed wheat, 36 vrains to each drill, and two
drills seed wheat, 48 grains to each drill.

No. 15. One drill seed oats sown March 1 to 15, and one drill each
seed oats sown 2, + and 6 weeks later.

No. 16. Two drills seed oats, 12 grains to each drill, and two drills
seed oats, 24 grains to cach drill.

No. 17. Two drills seed oats, 36 grains to each drill. and two drills
seed oats, 48 grains to each drill.

No. 18. One drill each of red clover, crimson clover, alsike clover
and alfalfa, sown about April 1.

No. 19. One drill red clover, sown February 15 to 25, and one drill
each red clover sown 2, £ and 6 weeks later.

No. 20. Four drills crimzon clover, sown as No. 19,

oo

3)
# inch deep, and two drills

SERIES IT.

No. 1. Corn in hills, three grains to each hill,
No. 2. Corn in hills, four grains to each hill.
No. 3. Corn in drills, six erains in each drill.

*Sow 20 grains to each drill of Nos. 7-12, inclusive, and to each drill of
No. 15.

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Pt tuple pot

= aa 2

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enamel Lu

6

No. 4. Corn in drills, eight grains m each drill.
No. 5. Corn in drills, twelve grains in each drill.

No. 6. Corn in drills, planted April 20 to 30.

No. 7%. Corn in drills, two weeks after No. 6.

No. 8. Corn in drills, four weeks after No. 6,

No. 9. Corn in drills, covered two inches deep.

No. 10. Corn in drills, covered four inches deep.

The following are some of the many other experiments you might
undertake:

1. A test of varieties of corn, oats and wheat.

2. Treatment of seed wheat, oats and potatoes for fungous dis-
eases,

3. Planting large and small cuttings of potatoes.

4. Planting potato cuttings. part with the “eve” wp and part with
the eve down.

5. Planting tip and butt kernels of corn.

6. Planting sound and defective seed corn.

7. <A test of frequency and depth of cultivation of corn or po-
tatoes.

INSTRUCTIONS.

1. Get advice from your elders as to best time and manner of do-
ing the work, ete.

2. As far as possible, avoid working the ground when wet. This
is very important if ihe soil is heavy. In early and late planting
you cannot always avoid this,

3. Try to get the soil well pulverized before planting or sowing.

4. Each one of the older heys should have a memorandum book.
in which he should draw a diagram of the plats, and number each
one in both series.

5». Under the proper date and number, note when and how each
plat is prepared and planted.

6. Treat the several plats of a group just alike in all respects ex-
cept the point under investigation. To illustrate: If you want to
learn the effect of planting seeds deep and shallow, take care that
the several plats in this group are prepared alike, planted the same
day, with the saane kind of seed, the same number of secds, and cul-
tivated at the same time and in the same manner.

7. Observe when the seeds in each plat “come up.” the per cent. of
sceds that germinate, how the voung plants look, ete... and make care-
ful notes of these and other observations under the proper numbers
and dates in your memorandum book. The chief purpose of this is

nw
é

to acquire the habit of making close observations and carefully record-
ing the same. Your teacher will show you how to make the notes
in your book.

8. From time to time during the season make careful observations,
always comparing the several plats of the group with each other, and
note in your book the points of interest.

9. Be on the lookout for the first appearance of rust on wheat,
oats, rye and corn. Examine both upper and under surfaces of leaves.
Note to what extent each variety is affected by rust.

10. Note what per cent. of smutted heads appears in wheat, oats,
and rye. Be very careful to note the effect of treatment of seed on
the amount of smut present.

11. Note when and where corn smut first makes its appearance.
and whether any varieties show more smutted stalks than others.
Note how many of the smutted stalks produce no ears. Extend your
observations to the fields of corn near by. By counting stalks in the
field with and without smut, and noting the per cent. of ears in each
lot. you may learn how the proportion of grain is affected by smut.

12. If any plants become sickly or die before they mature, try to
find the cause. It is quite likely to be the work of some injurious in-
sect. If you do not look very carefully, the little fellows may escape
notice. Prove that boys have “sharp eyes” hy finding and capturing
the culprits.

13. It will be necessary to continue operations on your school
farm during the swmmer vacation. Six or eight of you can do this
by taking “turns” on successive weeks. Why not organize a School
farm Club and elect one of the older boys Director of Experiments?
Tf no one of the scholars feels competent to take charge of the experi-
ments, invite some wide-awake, progressive young farmer of the neigh-
borhood to act as director.

Your teacher will cheerfully aid you to organize and conduct such
a club. You could meet each fortnight at the school house and com-
pare notes and observations. You would find such a club both inter-
esting and profitable.

14. In performing the experiments many puzzling questions will
arise as to principles and methods of cropping. If your school farm
does not give you the answers consult the other leaflets of this series.
Consult also your teacher, parents and others, and if you are not
fully satisfied, write to me, and I will try to give you the desired
information. I will be glad to hear from you at any time, and will
be especially pleased to have you report anything of interest in con-
nection with your school farm.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

No, 25.

LEAFLET

ON NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

POINTS FOR A YOUNG FARMERS’ CLUB.

By PRoF. W. C, LATTA.

In conducting an Experimental Farm, as suggested in Leaflet No.
23, many questions will arise. Many times will the interested and
inquiring pupil ask the what, when, where, how and why of things—
as, for example, what are plant diseases; when and where do they make
their attacks; how can they be prevented; why will not the same treat-
ment answer for all?

While it is impossible within the limits of a leaflet to anticipate
and answer many of these troublesome questions, the writer desires
to give, in the following pages, some information relative to crops and
principles of cropping that will prove helpful to the teacher in an-
swering questions and to the more advanced pupils in conducting
their Experimental Farm.

The prime agencies or essentials in crop production are seed, soil,
water, air, warmth and light. Among the chief obstacles to success

NOTE TO THE TEACHER.—In Leaflet No. 22 it was suggested that it
might be well for the teacher or some young farmer whom the teacher might
interest in the enterprise to organize a Young Farmers’ Club. This might
be formed of the older pupils in several contiguous school districts. Such a
club, properly supervised, might prove to be very helpful. This leaflet is
designed to serve as a reference leaflet, from which information can be ob-
tained and thus aid the members of the club in the discussion of various
topics which they may desire to consider.

2

in growing crops may be mentioned plant diseases, insect attacks, ex-
tremes of temperature and moisture, lack of available plant food,
and an unfavorable physical condition of the soil due to deficiency of
vegetable matter, want of drainage, or to improper tillage. You
thus sce that growing crops are constantly subject to influences and
conditions favorable or unfavorable to their perfect development.
To a greater extent than you might first suppose these conditions
and influences are under man’s control. As students of agriculture
you are interested to learn just how far the conditions of crop pro-
duction may be controlled.

Of the essentials mentioned above you can control the seed by se-
leeting that which is sound and of a variety that is hardy and prolific.
You can also, by an intelligent treatment of the soil, largely secure a
desirable degree of soil moisture, warmth and fertility—the sunlight
and air will do the rest. Then, tov, the obstacles referred to above
may be largely held in check ly the prompt intelligent effort and
co-operation of farmers.

Your attention is now called more particularly to the considerations
which are especially important in successful crop production.

1. The Soil. The soil should receive earliest consideration (1)
because of its importance in crop production and (2) because its capa-
city to grow crops Is so easily increased or diminished by the treat-
ment it receives from man. The soil inust not only contain all the
mineral elements of plants, but it must supply these elements in
available form to the growing crops as rapidly as needed. To ac-
complish this the soil must be enriched, if not naturally fertile, and
be kept suitably moist, open and warm. The prime ayvencies in se-
curing and maintaining these desirable soil conditions are under-drain-
ave, tillage. manures, green manures, and also an occasional liming of
very close,sticky clays. In all heavy, relentive soils drainage is the first
and fundamental means of improvement. It not only will remove the
excess of water but it will also make the soil more open and warm,
and, curiously cnough, it will in a vreat measure prevent the ill
effects of drouth. This has been abundantly proved both by farmers
and experimenters. Next in importance is to maintain the supply
of humus or organic matter in the soil. This is renewed by manure,
green manure and by turning under straw and other refuse matter.
If the Jand is properly drained and filled with humus, tillage, the next
thing in order will have its maximum ctfect. The tillage should be
both thorough and frequent to make if most effective in destroying
weeds, admitting air into the ground and in conserving soil moisture.

3

Tf you will carefully observe the fields on your way to and from
school you will doubtless find a number of places in which the crops
are not doing well. Try to find whether the reason is lack of drain-
age, tillage, humus, moisture or manure. The more you observe these
“poor spots” and compare them with fields which you have helped to
improve the better will you be able to decide what is needed in each
case to remedy the defect.

2. Drainage. What has already been said about drainage has
doubtless raised the question, “Why is drainage helpful in time of
drouth?” The reason is that by removing the excess of water in wet
weather the drain permits the soil to become warm earlier, admits the
air and this stimulates the chemical activity of the soil. Under these
changed conditions the crop can be sown or planted earlier. It thus
gets a better start, becomes more deeply rooted before dry weather
begins and is, therefore, better able to pass the drouth without serious
injury. Experiments have also shown that a drained soil is actually
moister in a dry time than one that is not drained.

3. Tillage. Although farmers’ boys are familiar with the general
purposes of tillage or cultivation I will call attention to an interesting
“what,” “how” and “why” of this subject that may make it clearer
to von. Just what is the specific purpose of tillage at different times
of the season; how may the desired effect be best secured, and why
does tillage conserve or save soil moisture?

As to the “what,” I would say that the specific object in cultivation
will vary with the time of year and the climatic conditions. When the
seed bed has been properly prepared and the seed has been sown or
planted the chief purpose of tillage af first will be to break the crust
formed by packing rains, and thus admit air so that the seeds may ger-
minate promptly. This will be the first object whenever the land has
become encrusted. In case the land has been allowed to become foul,
owing to poor cultivation in previous years, the chief purpose will
doubtles: be to destroy weeds. The admission of air, the destruction
of weeds and the mixing of the particles of soil with each other or
with manure or fertilizer, are the chief purposes of tilling in the early
part of the growing season. Later in the season, when the weeds have
been subdued, especially when dry weather sets in, the chief purpose
of tillage will be to conserve soil moisture, that is, to prevent its evap-
oration from the surface of the soil as much as possible, in order that
the thirsty plants may get sufficient moisture for vigorous growth.
Now as to the “how.” All of the above named purposes may be se-
cured in most properly prepared soils by the use of a cultivator having

4

many small points or hoes. The spring-tooth cultivator is well
adapted to accomplish these purposes. In case the soil is lacking in
vegetable matter and tends to become packed below, some form of cul-
tivator with larger and rigid points or shovels may be necessary dur-
ing the earlier cultivations. Let us now consider “why” tillage will
conserve moisture. It does it by loosening the upper two or three
inches of soil and thus destroying or weakening the capillary power
of the upper soil. By capillary power I mean the power of the soil
to lift water from below toward the surface. You have often ob-
served how soon the surface soil appears dry after being cultivated.
This is hecause the upper soil has been made so open or porous that
it can no longer lift the soil water to the surface. The moisture
therefore remains in the lower soil just where the plant roots may
profit hy it. Some farmers will roll their fields during dry weather.
This will do while seeds are germinating, as it will tend to bring the
soil moisture near to the surface so that the seeds will sprout more
quickly. But when the young plants get two or three inches high the
roll should give place to the cultivator in order that the moisture may
be more fully saved for the growing crop.

4. Manure. According to an old adage we are to make the soil
(1) dry, (2) elean, (3) rich. Sooner or Jater all heavily cropped soils
must be enriched ly the addition of manure or fertilizer. In our
efforts to enrich the soil we should keep two ends constantly in view,
(1) to restore humus to the soil and (2) to renew the supply of availa-
ble plant food.

We need to restore the humus because it renders the soil open and
friable, enables it better to endure the extremes of wet and dry sea-
sons and, also, because it will aid in the elaboration of mineral plant
food from inert inatters in the soil. We need also to renew the supply
of available plant food, as the soil, when constantly cropped, is unable
to elaborate this food rapidly enough from its own store to meet the
demands of full crops.

Fresh stable manure is best to enrich the soil, ax it supplies both
humus and available plant food.

Commercial fertilizers may be used in connection with green man-
uring crops (such as clover or rye plowed under), the former to supply
the plant food and the latter to renew the supply of humus.

I prefer the stable manure whenever it can be had, because its
effects are uniformly good and lasting, while commercial fertilizers
are quite variable in their action and their effects are transient. In
one experiment at Purdue University fresh horse manure has pro-

5

duced an aggregate increase per acre of 128 bushels of corn in fifteen
years and the effect of the manure still continues as shown by an
increase of 2.4 bushels to the acre in the fifteenth crop. In order to
have its maximum effect the manure should be carefully saved and
promptly apphed. Many farmers fail signally in both these respects.
Their barns are so constructed as to permit the liquid manure, which
iv the best part, to escape through the floor. Then, as if this loss
were not enough, they throw the solid manure out in piles under
the eaves to be washed and bleached by rains. Prof. Roberts, of Cor-
nell University, says that stable manure left exposed for six months
will lose about 50 per cent. of its fertilizing value. The manure that
might be made and saved in one year by feeding out the crops of a 100-
acre farm would contain plant food that would cost, in the form of
commercial fertilizers, at least $1,000. What farmer can afford to
lose 50 per cent. of the manure by letting it escape through the barn
floor or wash out of the barnyard?

You cannot fail to see that the farmer, who would srow the very
best crops. must feed out these crops on the farm and very carefully
husband and apply the manure to his fields.

In order to save and utilize the manure most fully. I would advise
(1) water-tight floors under the stables, (2) plenty of bedding to ab-
sorb the liquid manure, (3) hauling the manure to the field as fast as
made and scattering it at once upon grass or clover sod which is to
be plowed under for corn in the spring.

With his land thoroughly drained, in good tilth and suitably en-
riched, the farmer may properly turn his attention to his crops.

5. The Seed. This heading doubtless recalls what Prof. Arthur
told you in Leaflet No. 14 about acorns, peas and beans. The seeds
of corn, oats and wheat are quite different from acorns, beans or peas
in many respects, which you can readily learn by sprouting them. In
the case of corn, oats, rve, wheat, etc., the seed is a tiny plantlet
with a store of plant food packed around it to give it a start in the
world. In order that the seed corn or wheat may produce a vigorous
young plant two things are necessary, (1) the plantlet, which we call
the germ, must have strong vitality; that is, be able to germinate
promptly and vigorously, and (2) the store of plant food, packed
in the seed, must be sufficient to furnish the growing germ an abund-
ance of material with which to build a few active rootlets, a strong
stem, and one or two green leaves, by which time the young plant
will be able to get its food directly from the soil and air. Asa rule,
bright-looking, plump seeds may be depended on to germinate

6

promptly and well, while small, shrunken seeds will produce, at best,
only a comparatively weak growth. In an experiment conducted on
Purdue University farm, large, plump seed wheat produced two and
six-tenths more bushels to the acre than other seed only a trifle smaller
and not quite x» plump. In selecting seed oats, rye and wheat, it ts
usually quite sufficient to blow and screen out the hight and small
seed by means of the fanning mill. Seed corn, on the other hand,
may be large and plump and yet lack vitality. This is very apt to be
true of the later varieties of corn, which may not become thoroughly
dry before freezing weather begins. As farmers frequently suffer
serious losses from poor seed corn, it is very important, in order to
avoid possible failure, to learn, before planting, whether the seed
will grow well or not. It is so easy to do this, that any boy or girl
may make the test, either at home or in the schoolroom, if the latter
_place is not allowed to get too cold at night. To make the test, place
one or two layers of blotting paper or heavy cloth on a plate. On this
put one hundred grains, taken at random from the seed to be tested.
Cover with two or more layers of the same material, set in.a warm
corner of the rovm, and keep moist, but not wet. for a few days.
From time to time examine, and remove all grains which have germi-
nated. At the end of five or six days you can tell what per cent. of
the seed will germinate under favorable conditions.

Other seeds may be tested in the same way, and if the test is made
in the schoolroom, all will be interested in watching the process of
germination and in noting the differences in the rate and order of
development of stem and roots of various plants.

6. The Variety. The several varieties of corn, vats, wheat, etc.,
differ much in size, manner of growth and hardiness: in ability to
endure extremes of wet and drouth, resist. diseases and insects, as
well as in adaptation to different soils and climates. To illustrate:
Tt has frequently happened in the experimental work at Purdue Uni-
versity that some varieties of wheat have been almost completely
winter killed, while others with the same treatment have escaped
serious injury. Again it frequently occurs that certain varieties which
can endure severe winters have been so seriously damaged by rust
alone as to reduce their yields twenty to fifty per cent. Late varieties
of corn have frequently suffered much more from dry weather than
early kinds when grown side by side on the University farm. Many
other interesting illustrations might be given. We cannot always tell
just why one variety does better than another, but you can readily see

%

how important it is to get the varieties best suited to the locality.
As a rule it is better and far cheaper to continue the standard home-
grown varieties rather than buy from professional seedsmen expensive
new kinds which have not been previously grown in the neighborhood.
In the case of large and small varieties of corn, I think, if you will ob-
serve closely, that you can discover why the smaller kinds have an
advantage in dry seasons.

7. Time of Sowing. When to sow or plant is an important matter
with the farmer. It is not easy to determine, as the time will vary
with the locality and the season. By keeping a record of early and
late sowing or planting for a series of years one may learn approxi-
mately the best time for these operations. This has been done with
wheat and corn on the University farm. In the experiments with
wheat, covering eight years, the dates of sowing and the average
yields per acre were as follows:

Time of Sowing. Average Yield.
Sept 18 tO. 20 res s.greide ads Siege manne a8 Gap Re panes 30 bushels.
Sept :25:to: 28 eves heen’ Selita Saw sae he's 28.7 bushels.
Oct. 240-5 siwet cen encuwescs vow rea weten ee vias eee 26 bushels.
Obs DONO 2 ines niin sind aeioea ean es pee ached Eas 21.2 bushels.

It would perhaps be better still to sow about the middle of Septeim-
ber in the latitude of Lafayette, but for the Hessian fly, which is more
likely to seriously damage very early sown wheat.

The experiments with corn have not been quite so decisive, but
better yields have been produced by planting in the first third of May
than later.

The time of sowing or planting will vary also with the latitude.
For each sixty miles north of the latitude of Indianapolis wheat may
be sown about one week earlier, and for each sixty miles south a week
later. This is true also of corn, but the order is reversed. That is,
the planting should be later to the north but may be earlier to the
south.

In this connection it will be interesting to note how much earlier
than others the naturally or artificially drained soils get into condition
for planting in spring.

8 Rate and Manner of Sowing or Planting. The following gen-
eral rule, as to amount of seed, will apply to those crops which “stool”
or tiller as wheat, oats, rye, etc. Sow less seed (1) if the date is early,
(2) if the seed bed is thoroughly prepared, (3) if the soil is fertile,
and conversely sow more seed (1) if the time is late, (2) if the prepara-
tion of the seed bed is not thorough, (3) if the soil is impoverished.

8

The reason for this rule is that, under the first set of conditions, the
young plants would tiller or multiply and thus make a good “stand,”
while under the second set of conditions little tillering would occur.

Experiments on the University farm, covering eight vears, show
clearly the advantage of thick sowing of wheat. The advantage is
vreatest in severe winters. The average yields per acre from the
different rates of seeding are as follows:

Need Nown. Arerage Yield,
TWO PQCkS: och casas esimiiieedeawegtataas acee BB Rushed:
OUI PECK us was. ede ggeseeg Re eheeweeed eee es 27.4 bushels.
SIX PE(KS: seucsossagezsaceyigs aedacdeysigesenera SIS) bushels:
Hight pecks 0.0.00... .. 0.0 c cece eee ee ee ees DOLD Dushels,

Experiments with thick and thin planting of corn have heen carried
on eleven years at Purdue. Che corn has been drilled in rows three
and two-thirds feet apart, the individual stalks standing about ten,
twelve, fourtcen, sixteen and nineteen and one-half inches apart, re-
spectively, in the rows on the different plats. Here is a brief summary
of the results:

1. Thick planting has produced more grain in favorable seasons
and much /ess grain in very dry seasons than thin planting.

2. Thick planting has yielded more corn fodder than thin
planting.

3. Medium thick planting (stalks twelve inches apart) has pro-
duced the most corn fodder and also the greatest total yield of grain
and stalks.

4. Medium planting (stalks fourteen inches apart) has yielded
the most grain.

Here are some interesting questions to which I hope you may find
correct answers.

1. Why did thick planting in dry seasons reduce the proportion of
grain?

2. Why did it not reduce the proportion of stalks?

3. Why did the thinnest planting in dry seasons yield a greater
proportion of yrain to stalks than any thicker rate?

4. Why is it that, ax a rule, severe drouths reduce the proportion
of grain in the corn crop?

5. Why do not drouths reduce the proportion of stalks? .

6. In growing corn to feed the entire crop of grain and stalks to
cattle, which of the above named rates of planting would you prefer?

7. If vou were to plant two fields to corn, one of which suffers

9

from drouth while the other does not, what rate of planting would
you prefer for each field, and why?

The manner of sowing (whether broadeast or drilled) is also im-
portant, especially with wheat. Either method may: be followed in
sowing oats, but I prefer the drill because it distributes and covers
the seed more uniformly.

Fall crops like wheat and rye should always be sown with the drill
in which case they will pass the winter more successfully. Can you
tell why? If you cannot, try both ways with wheat on your school
farm and watch the results.

9. Rotation of Crops. The succession of crops on the farm has
much to do with their vigor, quality and yield. Corn can follow
almost any other crop better than itself and this is equally true of
all the other farm crops. It has been repeatedly and clearly shown
py farmers as well as hy experimenters that better results can be se-
cured by growing a variety of crops in a rotation than by growing
the same crop every year. In carefully conducted experiments at
Purdue University the yields have been fifteen per cent. to forty per
cent. greater from rotative than from successive cropping. The more
important reasons for rotative cropping are (1) the crops are more
vigorous and suffer less from fungous diseases, (2) injurious insects
are held in check, (3) it is better for the soil, (4) the vields are greater
and consequently the profits are increased.

In choosing crops for a rotation we must select from those suited
to soil, climate, market and the needs of the live stock. In arranging
the order or succession of crops we should as far as it is practicable
try to have (1) a hoed crop follow a sown crop, (2) a slow maturing
crop succeed a quick maturing one. (3) a grass or root crop follow
2 grain crop, (4) a leguminous crop, as clover or peas, succeed a
farinaceous crop, as wheat or rye. So far as the soil is concerned
the following rotation would be satisfactory: (1) corn, (2) oats, (3)
potatoes, (4) wheat, (5) clover. The oats and potatoes might not
prove profitable in some localities, in which case the rotation might
be cut down to a three-course, consisting of (1) corn, (2) wheat, (3)
clover, which, though not the best for either the soil or the live stock,
is the most common one in the State.

10. Inter-crops. In case there should be an interval of several
months between any two crops in the rotation the gap may often be
filled to good advantage by what ix known as an inter-crop. The pur-
poses of the inter-crop are (1) to prevent the land from lying bare,
in which case valuable plant food might wash or leach away, and (2)

10

io furnish a green manure for the succeeding regular crop of the rota-
tion. For example, in the five-course rotation, given above, an inter-
crop of winter rye might follow the oats and be turned under the
succeeding spring for the potato crop. If for any reason it should
seem desirable to follow one corn crop with another, an inter-crop of
rye or crimson clover between the two corn crops would prove a de-
cided gain to the soil by saving plant food and renewing the supply
of humus.

11. Plant Diseases. We may have good seed of an approved vari-
ety as well as a fertile. well drained and properly cultivated soil and
yet. fail to secure the best crops if they are attacked by parasitical
diseases. The more common of these diseases are popularly called
rust, smut, scab, blast or blight. These so-called diseases are minute
microscopic parasitic plants that attach themselves to the wheat, oats
or corn, feed upon their juices and grow within their tissues. For
some time the “host” plant (corn, oats or wheat) may seem perfectly
healthy although the micelium or threadlike growths of the parasite
may be found inside, on examination, with a compound microscope of
high power. Sooner or later the parasite breaks through the epider-
mis or bark of the host plant and exposes its fruit or seed (spores) to
view. Each species of parasite has its own peculiar way of showing it-
sclf on the host plant. One appears as rust on wheat, oats, rye and
corn; another as loose smut of wheat, the entire head of wheat being
changed to a mass of black powder; another as loose smut of oats much
like the last; another as bunt or stinking smut of wheat, which devel-
ops within the wheat grain, causing it to grow thick and short and fill-
ing it with a brownish-black mass of spores that have a very unpleasant
odor; another as wheat scab, which causes the wheat head, or some part
of it, to turn lighter in color, giving it the appearance of premature
ripeness; another as smut of corn, with which you are familiar; another
as potato scab, which attacks the surface of the potato tuber, marring
the appearance, injuring the quality and reducing the size of the
potatoes. The germs of the smuts of wheat and oats and of potato
scab attach themselves to the seed or potato cuttings and make their
attacks underground. To prevent this it is only necessary to have
both seed and soil free from the germs. In case the seed is affected
it may be treated as follows: For stinking smut of wheat and loose
smut of oats immerse the seed five minutes in water heated to 135 de-
grees Fahrenheit.

For potato scab soak the seed tubers or cuttings two hours in a
formalin solution, using one-half ounce of formalin to a gallon of
water.

11

For loose smut of wheat, soak the grain four hours in cold water,
set away in wet sacks for about four hours, then immerse the sce
five minutes in water heated to 132 degrees Fahrenheit. In sowing
use double the usual quantity of seed treated by the last named
method to make up for the part killed by treatment. In all these
cases sow the treated seed in soil which has been freed from the germs
by a rotation of crops. The rust, wheat scab and corn smut make
their attacks on the above-ground portion of the plants. The corn
smut has been prevented by spraying the growing corn from tiie
to time during the growing season with Bordeaux* mixture. To be
thoroughly effective the spraying must be repeated after each rain
and at intervals of about ten days in dry weather. It must also be
continued throughout the growing season. Some degree of succvss
has attended the spraying of wheat to prevent rust.

It is manifestly impracticable, however, in regular farm practice,
to spray large fields of wheat and corn. We must therefore resort to
preventive measures. These are (1) selection of varieties least liable
to attack, (2) adoption of a rotation of crops extending through
three or more years so as to more fully rid the soil of the discase

* germs, (3) removal and burning of smutted stalks as soon as the smut
appears, (4) co-operation, by the farmers of the neighborhood, in these
measures, because if the germs are allowed to develop on one farm
they will be blown onto adjoining farms and thus spread the disease.

12. Injurious Insects. Last but not least are the insect pests.
These little marauders sometimes cause losses amounting to more
than all the taxes of the State. As the crops of corn, oats, wheat, ete ,
cover such large areas the farmer cannot destroy the insect pests by
using insecticides as the fruit growers do. He must, therefore, resort
mainly to preventive measures. Some of the means which farmers
may employ in combating insects are (1) rotation of crops, (2) chang-
ing time of planting or sowing, (3) burning of stubble and rubbish
after crops are harvested, (4) fall plowing, (5) destruction of volun-
teer wheat, (6) breaking up of meadows in two or three years after
seeding, (7) making barriers or traps to head off or capture migrat-
ing insects.

Perhaps the best general preventive of insect depredations is rota-
tion of crops. Certain insects, like the corn-root worm, can be quickly

*To make Bordeaux mixture, dissolve } pound of blue vitriol in three gallons
of water, then slake } pound of quick lime and add it to the blue vitriol solution.
Stir thoroughly and pass the solution through a fine sieve or straining cloth to
remove all coarse particles.

12

and completely destroyed by changing the crop. Many other insects
can be held in check by this means. While the individual farmer
may do much to hold injurious insects in check, much more may be
accomplished if all the farmers will co-operate in fighting these pests
of the farm.

By hunting up the hiding places of these troublesome little fellows
and by noting where they Jay their eges, when these eges hatch and
how the young insects feed you will not only become greatly interested
but you will also learn better how to destroy the injurious insects
without harming the beneficial ones.

I have not named all the conditions of successful crop production,
but Iam sure enough have been said to convince you that, in order
to be most highly successful, the farmer must be a very close observer,
an earnest student and a careful experimenter.

If, as pupils, you act on the suggestions of these leaflets on Nature
Study, you will acquire habits of close, accurate observation and study
that will prove very helpful to you later in life, whether you engage
in farming or in some other business.

Those of you who live in the country possess many advantages for
Nature Study. The fields on every side invite you to watch Nature’s
processes and pry into her half-hidden secrets. By making the most
of your opportunities for Nature Study you will not only find health-
ful and delightful recreation but gain added preparation for leading
-happy and useful lives.

FOR THE USE OF TEACHERS.

Ne. 24,

LEAFLET

On NATURE STUDY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS
IN RURAL DISTRICTS.

PREPARED BY THE
FACULTY OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.

THE CARE OF THE SOIL,

By Pror. H. A. HUSTON,

We cannot make something out of nothing. In order that plants
may come to maturity they require certain materials which are prop-
erly called plant foods. Plants get this material from the soil and
from the air. The value of the plant food taken from the soil by
crops ought to be considered in the same light ax the money we take
out of our savings bank. The more we take out the less there is left.
When we raise 40 average acres of wheat we take from the soil plant
food having a value of $147.20, and when we raise 40 average acres
of corn we take from the soil plant food worth $261.60. These two
crops remove every year from the soils of Indiana plant foods having a
value of over $32,000,000, or one-twenty-third of the total value of the
farms of the State. We cannot take such enormous quantities of plant
food from our storehouse—the soil—year after year, unless we make
some suitable return. In order to do this to the best advantage we
must study carefully both the soil which furnishes the food. and the
crop which uses it. We are encouraged to make the study because the

NOTE TO THE TEACHER.—The purpose of this leaflet is to give
teachers such information as will enable them to answer such questions as
may arise in the progress of nature study. It may, however, properly form
the basis of several interesting oral lessons, and will suggest topics for
Young Farmers’ Clubs or for Farmers’ Institutes.

2

soil, unlike the other great factor in food production—climate—can be
so modified by man as to produce very large and very profitable re-
turns for the required outlay of labor and money.

This leaflet is written for the purpose of calling attention to some
of the more important points that should be kept clearly in mind if
we are to use our soils to the best advantage.

WHAT IS A SOIL?

Any mixture of small pieces of broken rocks and decaying vegetable
matter on which plants may grow is properly called soil. As we go
about we notice that the soil of some fields looks quite different from
that of other fields. In some places we find a loose soil which we can
easily see contains a large amount of common sand. In other places
we find soil that contains so much clay that bricks can be made from
it. We also find mixtures of the sand and clay, some containing
nearly equal parts of each and others having a greater quantity of
either sand or clay. The mixtures of sand and clay are often called
loam.

KINDS OF SOIL.

Some soils are much more easily plowed and cultivated than others
and such soils are known as light soils. The more sand a soil contains
the more easily is it cultivated. For this reason a soil containing
much sand is known as light soil. But we must not think that such
soils are light in weight, for a cubic foot of sand weighs about twenty-
five pounds more than a cubic foot of what we call a heavy clay. We
call the clay heavy because it sticks together and is hard to work.

Different parts of the same field may be quite different in color.
The red color of some clays is due to iron compounds, but the brown
and black color of moist soils is due to the black matter, or humus,
which is the result of the decay of plants. The leaf mould which we
find under the dead leaves in the woods is a good example of this
material which plays such an important part in our soils.

We often describe a soil by the kind of timber that grew on it.
This is a useful method, because it has been found that the wal-
nut and maple grow on rich, strong lands, the poplar and oak on
lands of medium quality, and the beech and black gum on cold, wet,
heavy lands, that require very complete drainage if they are to he used

3

for crops. The treeless prairie and the muck swamps have black
soils, and are very productive when properly drained. Try to find
out what kind of trees grew on some of the fields about you, and
notice whether some of these fields produce better crops than others.

PURPOSES OF THE SOIL.

The purpose of the soil is twofold—to furnish a physical support
for plants and to furnish some of the material of which plants are
made, or as they are often called, some of the plant foods. For the
first purpose almost any kind of soil that is well drained and will per-
mit the roots to readily pass through it will suffice. But the plants
can only get food from soils which contain these foods in sufficient
quantity and in such forms that the plants can take up the foods
from the soil and use them to build up its own tissues.

SOURCES OF PLANT FOOD.

Ordinary plants are composed of thirteen simple substances. These
the living piant uses to build up a considerable number of complex
substances, such as starch, sugar, oil and gluten. All plants contain
some mineral matter which remains as ash when the plants are
burned. These simple substances are taken from the svi! and from
the air,

QUANTITY OF PLANT FOOD REQUIRED.

Different plants require different amounts of the simple substances
that serve as their food. Water and the carbonic acid of the air
furnish the material for the greater part of the plant. But if the
other things are less in amount they are not less in value, and unless
the plant can get all the things that it needs it cannot use to advan-
tage those that may be present in abundance. To obtain some idea
of the relative amounts of the different substances that go to make up
plants we may take as an example an ordinary bundle of wheat just as
it comes from the self-binder. It weighs about ten pounds, and
nearly nine and one-half pounds of the material are taken from water
and the carbonic acid of the air. A large part of the farmer’s labor
is devoted to operations for supplying the ingredients that make up
the other half pound. This half pound contains ten simple substances
and no tyo substances are present in equal amounts. The cut shows
the amounts of these different substances contained in the bundle of

wheat. They are not shown in their elementary state, but in the
form of familiar compounds and in the case of those iost dniportant
to return to the soil the form: is that well adapted for this purpose,

i

| ASH CONSTITUENTS iy NITROGEN |
| IN A BUNDLE OF WHEAT.

NITROGEN 771 Grains

As Armonic Sucphate 3851044

See eS

ae ae ae

|

m! Ciel 1S

Sicica | IRON Oxipel Lime MAGNESIA
754% piGaaive) | 168

20 Ge

SOML ENIEAUSTION,

Some of the plant foods are present in very simall amounts in many
soils. And of this small amount only a part is in such a form that
plants can get it. Tf we raise crops vear after year and remove them

5

from the land, making no return to the soil, one or more of the nec-
essary plant foods will be reduced so much that the crop produced
will be too small to pay for the labor of raising it. When a soil has
reached this condition it is said to be exhausted. This does not
mean that nothing can he grown on the land but that the crop will
be too small to be profitable. Some lands will reach this condition
much sooner than others, since some lands contain a better supply to
start with. We cannot make plants out of nothing. We must sooner
or later make a return to the soil for the material that has been taken
away in the plants. Those materials which it is most frequently
necessary to return to the soil have a money value as real as that of
the grain that we sell. A bushel of wheat removes from the soil plant
food having a money value of 263 cents, and a bushel of corn removes
19} cents’ worth. The grain on the average acre of wheat—13.4
bushels—removes from the svil plant food worth $3.6x, and the grain
on the average acre of corn—30.4 hbushels—removes plant food worth
$6.04, When we recall that Indiana produces an average crop of 37,-
000,000 bushels of wheat and 109,000,000 bushels of corn per year, we
see what an enormous drain is being made on the soil. Yet this re-
lates to the grain only. The corn stalks, wheat and oat straw reinove
each year from the soil of the State plant food valued at $28,000,000,
Not one-half of this is returned to the soil. The loss of $14,000,000
per year would bankrupt any other business than farming. These
vast drains on the soil’s fertility cannot continue long without reduc-
ing the soil to a condition in which it will no longer yield profitable
returns. Rotation of cfops and improved tillage will not put back
all this plant food. Sooner or later we must return plant food to the
soil. The sooner we hevin the better, for it is more economical to
keep a soil fertile than to restore it after the soil has become impov-
erished.

SOURCES OF PLANT FOOD—MANURES.

Where shall we get our plant food? We may use the same material
over and over avain. If farm crops are fed and animals and animal
products sold over four-fifths of the plant food in the crops may be
saved in the form of farmyard manure. These manures being pro-
duced from farm crops, have nearly the same relative amount of plant
food as the crops removed. But many farmers are not favorably dis-
posed to animal production and dairying, and so sell grain. These can
at least utilize the side products such as straw and stalks. These
coarse materials not only furnish plant food but are of high value j in
improving the mechanical condition of the soil.

CLOVER.

Another great source of single plant food—nitrogen—is the clover
plant and its relatives, such as the cow pea and the vetches. But does
not clover get its food from the soil like other plants? It gets much
of its food from the soil, but it has the highly useful faculty of get-
ting the most expensive plant food—nitrogen—from the air. How
does this plant do what other plants can not do? If you will dig up
a healthy growing clover plant and carefully wash the earth from its
roots you will find a number of thickened places on the smaller roots.
These look as though the roots might have been stung by some insect.
Within these enlarged places on the roots are many very minute or-
ganisms too small to be seen by the naked eye, vet these minute be-
ings are of great importance in the world. They have the power of
taking up the free nitrogen of the air and converting it into a form
which the clover plant can use for food. These little organisms live
only on the roots of the clovers and related plants. So these plants
can serve as a means of gathering the most expensive of plant foods
and fixing it in a form suitable for food for plants or animals. The
use of clover for this purpose is one of the forms of green manuring.
Yet the clover brings but one element to the soil, and while it is of im-
mense value, it is not to be forgotten that plants require other things
for food, and we must not allow these other things to be continually
removed from the soil without making a suitable return.

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.

When the home supply of plant food has been utilized it may be
that still more can be very profitably used. Since material from
outside sources must be transported considerable distances, it generally
takes the form of concentrated manures called commercial fertilizers.

Farmyard manures are all of the same general type, but commercial
fertilizers differ very widely among themselves, and may contain
one, two or three of the most important plant foods. These foods
may be in various forms, some of which are more quickly avail-
able to plants than others. One of the earliest and best forms
of wheat fertilizers was finely ground bone. On this account a
eustom has grown up of calling all fertilizers “bone dust,” no matter
what they may contain. Yet a mowing machine and a self-binder
may be less different from each other than are two fertilizers sold
under this common term.

fi

The possibility of making mixtures of fertilizer chemicals in various
proportions places in our hands the means of perfectly adapting the
material to the needs of our soils and crops. All such goods bear a
label showing what they contain, yet many men spend their money
for them without a thought of how many pounds of really valuable
material of each kind they are buying, and without knowing whether
the material is suited to their needs. ‘T’oo often the price is the
only thing that receives consideration. .\ fertilizer may be excellent
for fruit and commercially well worth the price charged for it and
yet be unprofitable if used on wheat. ‘here is nothing so difficult
about the composition or use of these concentrated fertilizers that
an intelligent school boy may not understand the essential facts about
them. They place in our hands the means of producing crops under
the best possible conditions of plant food supply.

As the fertility of our virgin soils becomes reduced, the question of
food for plants becomes of more vital importance. The starting point
for any real progress in this direction must be careful observation and
study of that great storehouse of plant food—the soil itself.