u A WAR-MODIFIED PUBLIC OF COLORADO ISSUED BY ji THE DEPARTMEi^T OF PUBLIC INBTRuOTIQJN j MARY C. C. BRADFORD, Superintendent |j 1918 \] VOLUME in !| THE WORLD OF NATURE AND OF MAM' I 1 '- ^ I "JVo child should have less opportunity foi education because of the war" — Woodrow Wiisui^ P^PARED BY MARY G. C. BRADFORD AND CO-d^ERATING EDUCATORS 1918 DENVER lAMIS aKCJa., BTftTB ^!eiNI"i:S3 A WAR-MODIFIED COURSE OF STUDY FOR "X ^ 7 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF COLORADO Cy6rvOXA-« ISSUED by THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION MARY C. C. BRADFORD, Superintendent 1918 VOLUME III THE WORLD OF NATURE AND OF MAN "J\lo child should have less opportunity for education because of the war" — Woodrow Wilson PREPARED BY MARY C. C. BRADFORD AND CO-OPERATING EDUCATORS 1918 DENVER EAMES BROS., STATE PRINTERS NOTICE Teachers of Colorado. TMs volume is public property and is not to be removed from the district when you leave; The State of Colorado provides these books, paying for them from the State School Fund. They are ordered by your County Superintendent for use by any teacher who may be in charge of the school where you are now teaching. War service demands conservation of books and all other school material. Therefore, as a matter of honor and an obliga- tion of patriotism, please regard this book as public property, not for personal ownership. state Superintendent of Puhlic Instruction. fi; •t B. AUQ 28 1920 FOREWORD This volume of the War-Modified Course of Study contains those subjects that are essentially interpretive of matters in rela- tion to nature and society. The co-operating educators are: T. Gilbert Pearson of the National Association of Audubon Societies, also G. A. Barker, H, S. Phillips, Mary K. Sherman, Alvin Kezer, P. L. Clarke; Inga M. K. Allison, G. A. Eaeth and Ivan Sample of Colorado. To them I offer the thanks of the teachers and school children of Colorado, and I urge that the teaching force give most sympathetic response to the outlines and suggestions offered by these expert school people. The contributing architects are: Mountjoy, French and Frew en. State Superintendent of PuMic Instruction. INDEX PAGE Geography ..--- 5 Nature Study and Science - — - - 12 Agriculture - 59 School Gardens 65 Home Economics -.. 102 Manual Training and Vocational Education .- 129 Good E-oacls ---'. 159 School Architecture 163 The Junior Red Cross as a Permanent Educative Agency 179 GEOGRAPHY FIRST GRADE Sand Table Work. — Europe Avorkecl up by teacher. Mountain ranges in relief. Oceans or other large bodies of water, — pieces of glass or mica. The location of the French and other fronts. Stories of life among the children of France, Italy, Belgium and Russia read to children. Correlation of Nature Study Work. — Plants and trees of European origin that grow with us and along French roadsides and in the lanes of Italy: Lombardy poplar, silver leaf poplar, white birch, apple, pear, plum and cherry. Colorado crops that grow in France : wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, potatoes, turnips, radishes, beets, lettuce, spinach, carrots, parsnips and onions. Animals we have in Colorado that we would see in France : horses, cows, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea fowls and English sparrows. SECOND GRADE The making of a map of your own locality, first of schoolroom, then of school yard, finally of town or of several miles adjacent to school, with roads and farms as well as farm buildings marked out. Bring up with the children the difference between an American countryside with thinly scattered countryside buildings being each on the farm of its owner, and apart^ from the buildings of the neighbors, and the buildings of a French country- side, crowded together in a village with a patchwork of farms with no buildings in between villages. Draw an idealized map on the board to show pupils the little patchwork of French farms without house, each farm from ten to forty acres, and the Colorado farms with houses on an immense- 160 to 640-acre area. Bring out which country is the more thickly populated. THIRD GRADE The study of the products of your own locality insofar as they may be related to the war. How does the growing of wheat by your father help your brother and your neighbor's boys in France? b GEOGRAPHY How does it help the French ? Why haven 't the French plenty of wheat themselves ? In the same way, the sugar beet, Mexican beans, cattle, hogs, sheep. Trace a bushel of Mexican beans from your farm into the hands of a cook in France. Start with your own rail- road at nearest place, trace to seaboard on board convoy, landing at Bordeaux, on railroad to railhead, and by auto truck to front. FOURTH GRADE How Colorado is helping in the war. The minerals of Colo- rado's mountains and how they are used in war materials. Lead and zinc from Leadville, tungsten from Nederland, vanadium from Vanadium, etc. : Lead — Bullets. Zinc — Alloy in brass materials. Tungsten and Vanadium — Tempering steel. Colorado coking coal from Trinidad and Walsenburg and its mission in smelting steel for shrapnel and cannon. Colorado pantry open to the Allies: corn, wheat, oats, sugar, Mexican beans, navy beans, onions, potatoes, etc. Colorado food mLnufacturing industry as aiding the soldiers and our Allies: (1) sugar, (2) canned peas and beans, (3) canned tomatoes and pumpkin, (4) flour, (5) condensed milk, (6) butter. Colorado as a recuperation center for wounded and invalided soldiers. Work out here from State Course of Study the good feature of Colorado's climate. FIFTH GRADE The United States.— The resources of which will win the war. United States has fourteen times as much iron ore as Germany and thirty-three times as much coal. United States has 108,000,000 people and Germany 68,000,000. Germany is only the size of the single State of Texas, con- trasted to the total United States area. Germany has not much variety of climate, hence is not capable of growing the variety of crops found in the United States. 1. Germany grows no olives, oranges, figs, dates, almonds, peaches, cotton, sugar cane, rice, peanuts. 2. Germany grows little corn and tobacco. 3. Germany grows many potatoes, much wheat, oats, rye, barley and turnips. ftEOGbAPSY 7 "What crops in the above list grown (List 182) in United States yield oils or fats from their seeds? Can you see why Germany is suffering an oil and fat famine while we are not? Make a map suggesting war material (food, lumber, ammuni- tion, etc.) derived from each state. Be able to tell in a moment what Michigan, Texas or Arizona contribute to Uncle Sam .in war material. Discuss the shipbuilding industry, telling where we are build- ing our iron, our wooden and our concrete ships. Make a map of United States showing the location of the various cantonments, or soldier camps. Tell where you have friends. SIXTH GRADE Europe looms so large upon the world map of the present that it should occupy a larger portion of the rest of the time taken up than it usually does. This should be done by trespassing upon the time usually spent on Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and the parts of North America south of the United States. This is not suggested as a permanent plan, but one that will give results while the interest in the war is at fever pitch. THE ARCHITECTURAL PLAN OF EUROPE Europe is all built around a core and this core is not the high- est mountain range, the Alps. The core of a continent is the oldest land of that continent and the Alps are not the oldest land of Europe. The core of the European continent runs from northeast France and Belgium, through "central and south Germany, to the mountains of northern Austria. This core is composed of old crystalline rocks ; for instance, granite and slates. Now such old crystalline rock areas are likely to be rich in metallic minerals, and this is true of this crystalline core. Iron, copper, zinc, lead, silver and even nickel are found in this crystal- line core. Now most of the crystalline core lies in the Central Empires, giving them most of the iron and other minerals, as contrasted with France and England. A large part of the iron of this crystalline core was acquired by Germany when she stole Alsace-Lorraine from France in 1870, and during the present war she invaded French Lorraine and occupied the iron fields of Brie, hoping to keep them after the war and be the "iron master" of Europe. 8 GEOGHAPHY Now we have four great crystalline cores in the United States, the Lake Superior Region, the Piedmont Plateau in east United States, the Ozark Mountains and the Eocky Mountains. Most of our metallic mineral wealth is concentrated in these crystalline core centers. In the Colorado crystalline core we get lead, zinc, silver, gold, copper and tungsten. In Wyoming we get in addition iron. When you come out of the mountains at Canon City, Manitou, Morrison, Golden or Lyons, you pass into the "hogback" country, in which you have layers of rock slightly tilted up towards the mountains west of them. These rocks usually end in a cliff -like slope on the western side (mountain side) and a gentle incline eastward. In these foothill rocks we get our coal and gypsum, two of our chief mineral materials. Germany also has foothill rocks around her crystalline core and in these foothill formations coal and potash, two great mineral products, are found. These foothill rocks are in France and Bel- gium as well as Germany, and Germany was as much interested in invading the coal fields of her enemy as in capturing their cities. Lens and Lille are two cities in the French coal district, Liege is one in Belgium. The coal fields of Poland were also invaded by the Germans. Why did Germany desire to invade the coal and iron fields of her enemy? The foothill rocks of France, just west of the Vosges, give steep wall-like faces to Germany and gentle sloping faces west toward Paris. Germany invaded Belgium so as to go north of these foothill rocks and later failed at Verdun because of them. Why ? SEVENTH GRADE EACES OF EUROPE We are prone to judge the race of a man by the speech upon his lips, but obviously this is an absurdity. A negro who speaks English is not an Anglo-Saxon, nor is a Mexican Indian who speaks Spanish of the Spanish race. Speech means merely a eon- tact in the past, often due to conquest, of two peoples. The old racial classification, Celtic, Teutonic, Latin and Slavic, has gone into the discard today. We no longer believe in the old Aryan race theory, which was based entirely on language. Instead today we believe in a classification of white mankind in Europe on physical characteristics, like. color of hair, color of GEOGRAPHY 9 eyes, stature, shape of head and features. By such a division we classify European peoples into three primary races: 1. Nordic — tall, blond, blue-eyed, long, narrow head and elliptical face. 2. Alpine — short, stocky, "heavy set," broad-headed, round- face, medium hair and eyes neither decidedly dark nor light. 3. Mediterranean — short, slight, almost black hair, usually curl}^, dark complexioned, dark eyes. All European peoples of the white race come under this classi- fication. They are composed of these races or mixtures of them. North French — Nordic French Central French — Alpine South French — Mediterranean Great Britain ^""'^ England-Nordic W elsh — Mediterranean and Ireland West English, Irish, Highland Scotch- Mediterranean and Nordic Northwest Germans — Nordic Germany Southwest Germans — Alpine Prussians — Nordic and Alpine Italy North Italians — Alpine South Italians — Mediterranean. Spain — Mediterranean. Norway, Sweden and Denmark — Nordic. Belgium Walloon — Alpine Fleming — Nordic Seacoast — Nordic Holland Zuyder Zee — Nordic and Alpine South Holland — Alpine Austria-Hungary — Nearly pure Alpine. Switzerland— Alpine and little Nordic. 10 GEOGRAPHY Bulgaria, Serbia, Roumania — Largely Alpine. p North — Alpine and Mediterranean South and Islands — Mediterranean. Russia — Nordic and Alpine and small amount of Tartar in Ukrainia and south Russia in general. SO-CALLED YELLOW OR MONGOLIAN RACES It is generally the custom to call the Turks, Hungarians and Finns yellow races, because thej'' speak a tongue originally used by yellow peoples. All these races are so crossed and recrossed with white peoples that all trace physically has been lost of a Mongolian origin. The Finns, racially, are tall, blond Nordics, the Hungarian (Magyar) and Turk are Alpines. THE POLITICAL EFFECT OP SPEECH VS. RACE We must not, however, underestimate the effect of language on national ideals and solidarity. The French have the three races of Europe within their boundaries, — no other nation presents such a psychological unity as the French. The French speak one lan- guage. The peoples of Austria-Hungary are almost entirely of Alpine race. Yet they speak nearly a score of languages, with the result that__each language group is endeavoring to be independent politically. It is not important whether the Roumanians speak a Latin tongue because they are really blood relatives of the Italians, or that they merely think they are, when really they are not related to the Italians. The result is the same in international good feeling. "We must endeavor to separate the effects of language and race. Language determines national ideals, national boundaries, national friendships. Race determines the physical and mental characteristics of a race. Language determines the friendship between Italy and Roumania, based on a common Latin speech, — race determines that the Italian shall be artistic and the Roumanian shall not be so gifted. CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES MENTALLY In general the Nordic is the race of action, initiative combat- iveness and restless emigration,. ' GEOGRAPHY 11 The Alpine is the race of plodding toil — the peasant race of Europe, conscientious, hard working, good at detailed task, unedu- cated, makes a splendid peasant educated, a splendid microscope maker or watchmaker. It is the race interested in details some- what unimaginative. The Mediterranean is the artistic race, having many potential artists, musicians, orators and actors. Of course blends of these races produce every imaginable varia- tion of temperaments and gifts in the various nations of Europe, as all sorts of crosses take place between the various races. Have the children in your room grouped according to races and also according to nationality. They take a keen interest in such work. In this grade the newer kingdoms-to-be of Poland, Jugo- Slavonia and Czecho-Slavonia should be found with their bound- aries. Find the part of Austria that is tied to Italy by language, to Roumania by language. This work above outlined is merely for the purpose of supplementing the work on Europe in the State Course of Study. EIGHTH GRADE A study of the geography of the eastern and western battle fronts, with names of towns and pronunciations. Watch weekly periodicals like Literary Digest, Outlook, Independent, etc., also daily papers, for such materials. Study Asia, Africa, Malaysia and the South Seas in the light of the colonies taken from Germany in these regions ; also the trade lost to Germany. Study South America from the standpoint of lost German trade and what America can do in gaining the trade markets. Stud}'' the Statesmen's Yearbook for such information. Supple- ment with study of these continents in the State Course of Study. NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE A period of twenty minutes a day for three days a week for the first three grades, and of thirty minutes a day for the other grades, should be given to this subject. The oral Geography of the first three grades can be very closely correlated with Nature study. Much of the work should be out of doors, and all should draw on actual experience as far as possible. It should deal with experiences of the pupils rather than with knowledge gleaned from books, although such sources should be drawn upon to supplement the experiences of the .child 's environment. In the lower grades, the attempt should be to question nature in the world about us rather than develop logical scientific knowl- edge. The teacher should guide the child as to the things he may look for rather than simply to impart knowledge. Whatever belongs to the environment of the normal child is legitimate material. As the environment of the child in this state varies very much, any course of study must be suggestive only. The most important thing is for him to be so directed as to see and question nature about that which is to be found all about him. The smallest school on the plains or in the mountains offers a wealth of material for this study. No text-book is a prime necessity, although there are many books and charts which would be helpful to supplement local observations. Subject matter should be the animals and plants that are the source of our food, clothing, and shelter; animals and plants that are beneficial or injurious to the production of these sources; animals which make good pets or which are domesticated so as to be useful to man ; plants which make beautiful gardens and parks ; and the wild flowers of our state. Food production, conservation and distribution are of the greatest importance, and tie all these subjects to everyday life. Nature phenomena, all about us, furnish appropriate material for the teacher who has the inquiring mind and is seeing what nature is doing. The heavens, the air, the earth, are open books which the children should be taught to question. The upper grades may well investigate the laws of heat in rela- tion to the heating of houses ; heating of the soil, as related to the water; the production of air currents (winds) ; the formation of storm centers and expansive force of steam, evaporation and con- densation of rain; study the chemistry of the loaf of bread; of a NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 13 cake of soap ; a few elementary cominon machines as the principle of the gas engine (internal combustion engine), the cream separa- tor, the electric motor and electric light; electro-magnet, as found on the door bell ; or other machines ; elementary agriculture. The following is a quotation from a course of study compiled by a group of teachers for the Denver schools : ' ' The method of teaching Nature Study must be scientific, not only that conclusions may be the truth, based upon careful and continued observation leading to unbiased conclusions after the facts are all obtained, but that pupils may gain control of the scientific method of observing life and attacking its problems. ''The teacher who has had little of scientific training should become a learner with the children. No way is more legitimate nor more fruitful in securing higher results in character training than through studies which will open the eyes of student and teacher to the beauties of the world, to adaptation of structure to function in the natural world, and to the lessons which we may read in nature. No place in the world could be richer in subjects than our own environment. The color combinations of our landscapes, our clouds, our lakes and our mountains; the graceful shapes of our mountain trails, our winding streams, the outlines of our ranges — all these may be seen from the schoolroom windows. The pro- tective coloring of our horned toad, the stubby nature of foliage on our dry plains, the Cottonwood tree pruning itself, the habits of growth of the lodge pole pine and its cone, whereby it quickly covers forest areas denuded by fire, — all illustrate the wonderful and mys- terious adaptation of structure to use. ' ' Not the least of the social ideals attained in this study is that gained by the pupil who is allowed to bring information and mate- rial to the teacher and classmate, or better, to take his associates to the spot where he has made his discoveries. ' ' FIRST GRADE Autumn. 1. Plants. a. Flowers ; classify as to color, purpose of flowers, special study of sunflower, aster, and dandelions. b. Seeds; forms, protection, dispersal, use to plants, use to man. c. Leaves ; evergreen and deciduous, use to plant, forms, change in color, use in fertilizing plants. d. Roots ; storehouses, edible roots. 14 NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 2. Birds. Migration, study of finch, robin, and any local birds ; usefulness of birds in destruction of insects and weed seed. The carrier pigeon would be of great interest at the present time, 3. Insects. Preparation for winter by the ant, bee, and cater- pillar. 4. Squirrel's preparation for winter. 5. Sheep. The thickening of coat of wool for winter protection, and our use of it for Clothing ; food and habitation of sheep ; use as meat, and importance to man. 6. Formation of clouds ; the direction of winds. Food. Observation and some participation in gathering and storage of food, as beans, potatoes, tomatoes ; seeds, as nasturtium, poppy, sweet pea, radish and other seeds; observe the removal and storage of crops from the field ; fall plowing ; care of cattle and poultry. Winter. 1. Forms of water ; snow, frost, hail, sleet. 2. Domestic or other animals ; the cow, horse, cat, dog ; pets. 3. Peoples, and methods of living; Eskimo, Indian, etc. ' ' The Seven Little Sisters, ' ' and like books, are a good basis for this work. Whenever possible, pictures show- ing the lives of these people and any articles which are used by them should be had in the class. 4. Food. Note manner of keeping stored food and visit such stores where possible ; the use and care of the cow and her products ; the making of butter and cheese ; cooking of fruit and vegetables; make candy. 5. Clothing. . Change for season; distinguish between cotton, wool, and silk; visit shoemaker, and determine source of leather. Spring. 1. Keturning birds ; robin, bluebird, and other local birds. NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 15 2. Winds; influence on rain, on temperature. 3. Germination ; make a window garden and observe germin- ation of bean and other seeds. 4. Awakening of insect life. 5. Trees ; buds, the rising sap, the growth of the leaves. 6. Flowers; violet, crocus, daffodil, daisy. 7. Effects of insect on fertilization; appearance of the butterfly. 8. Hen and chickens and other domestic fowls. 9. Gardening and food production. 10. Food. Plant seeds in eggshells or small pots to take to home gardens to plant; plant four-o 'clocks, nasturtiums, radish, lettuce, beans ; spring work of farmer ; visit fields to watch plowing and sowing. SECOND GRADE Autumn. 1. Flowers; golden rod, primrose, poppy, gladiolus. Sepa- rate into endogenous and exogenous— not using the names ; use to bee ; to man ; to plant. 2. Fruit; classify as to color, manner of protecting seeds, edibility, other uses. Study apple, nut, orange. 3. Seeds; review dispersal and protection; food-saving seeds for spring. Gather seeds. Study the common food seeds, as wheat and corn; the common food tubers, potato and turnip. 4. Fall marketing of farm crops; cornmeal, hominy, break- fast foods, flour, cornstarch; preparation of meal or flour by grinding. 5. Clothing ; get a boll of cotton, where possible ; observe fibres of raw cotton ;. pick out seeds ; story of cotton by pictures, — spinning, weaving, dyeing; observation of. sheep ; food ; shearing ; spinning and weaving of wool. Winter. 1. Preparation for winter ; hibernating of the snake, bear, and frog; chrysalis forays; winter preparation of bees, ants, squirrels. 2. Snowflakes ; crystal forms ; protection given by snow ; conservation of the water supply by snow in mountains. The reindeer, wolf, fox, etc. 16 NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 3. Nations; Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos. 4. Study of evergreen tree ; coal ; iron, as needed by man. 5. Food of races studied, — Japanese, Chinese, Eskimo, In- dian; storage of food by squirrel and bee; use of the refrigerator ; cold storage plants. 6. Study evergreen tree, coal, iron, as needed by man. Spring. 1. Germination; peas, beans, corn, pumpkins. 2. Gardening; necessary soil conditions, fertilizing, irri- gating. Second grade pupils should know the common vegetables, as radishes, lettuce, peas, beans, etc. They should plant and care for small plots, either in home or school garden. It is of great economic importance that the elementary principles of agriculture be taught in all grades. 3. Winds; as related to climate in home locality; windmills; kites ; sailing vessels. 4. Eeturning birds ; study swallow, wild goose or duck ; nest- ing, food, use to man. 5. Garden friends and enemies. 6. Butterflies, moths. 7. Parts of flowers; work of bees; butterflies and wind in fertilization. 8. Pussy willow, sand lily, anemone, daffodil. THIRD GRADE Autumn. 1. Flowers; cosmos, dahlia, evening-star, pansy. 2. Seeds ; special study of tree seeds, maple, cottonwood, elm, pine, mountain ash. Special study of cotton ; uses of the seed and of the fibre. Compare the cotton fibre, in usefulness, with the great animal fibres, wool and silk. Manufacture of clothing from these fibres. 3. Fruit ; various ways of preserving for winter use. Study the melon, peach, acorn. Gather seeds; plant bulbs, crocus, tulip, hyacinth ; start geranium cuttings. 4. Root crops ; beets, sweet potatoes, etc. NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 17 5. Winds; add to previous knowledge, as to direction of winds, the effect on climate. Clouds; kinds of cloud, cause of clouds, rain. 6. Soil; sand, clay, loam. Cultivation of soil. Study the soil in the making in your immediate locality. 7. Winter preparation of trees, as the cottonwood and maple, or any local trees in your neighborhood. 8. Insect life ; review the life history of insects. Study the grasshopper and his habits, as they can be observed by the children. Winter. 1. Animal life of locality; also the bear, beaver, rat. 2. The action of running water and of frost on rocks and soil formation. Water-power and generation of elec- tricity; natural electrical phenomena. 3. Nuts; study the peanut, walnut, etc. Value to man as food. 4. Foods ; production of sugar, flour, meat. 5. Minerals; gold, silver, lead, iron, copper; uses of same and importance in industry. 6. Peoples ; African negro, Mexican and Alaskan life. Spring. 1. Tlie fly and mosquito ; life history ; danger to man : exter- mination. 2. Gardening; the germination of seeds, as flax, squash, bean; gardening conditions reviewed; garden friends and enemies; the extermination of insect enemies; the killing of weeds. Plant the garden. Each child should have his own cultivated plot in the home garden. 3. The value of birds and their need of protection. ^ Nesting ; food and habits of woodpecker, or some local bird. Blue jay, sparrow, meadow lark. 4. Flowers; sand lily, anemone, primrose, Easter lily; fruit blossoms. 5. Winds; clouds, rain, dew. Explain reasons causing the different forms of moisture. 6. In what way do sunbeams feed plants? Study the sap of the tree. How does it help the tree"? How does it help man? 18 NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE Stems J endogenous; exogenous. Leaves ; parallel veined ; netted veined. 7. Common butterfly families; name two; monarch, tiger, swallow-tailed, suggested. 8. Products of other countries in common use; tea, coffee, rice. Stories and references for the suggested work of the first three grades may be found in the following list : In the Child's World, Roulson. How to Tell Stories, Bryants Stories to Tell, Bryant. The Story Garden, Lindsay. The Children's Hour, Bailey. The Story Hour, Kate D. Wiggans. > Cat Tails and Other Tails, M. H. Howliston. Bell of Atri, Tennyson. Birds of Killingsworth, Longfellow. Mother Stories, Lindsay. Storyteller's Book, 'Grady. Letters from a Cat, Helen Hunt. Cats and Dogs, Johannot. Birds I Have Kept, Olive T. Miller. Trees and Peaks, Eva Bird Bosworth. Practical Nature Study, Coulter & Patterson. Bulletin No. 33, United States Department of Agriculture. Sleeping Beauty. Three Bears. Three Pigs. -^ FOURTH GRADE Autumn. I. Observation of birds should be made throughout the year, in order to know the real birds. Museum specimens are to be had and colored plates are plentiful. 1. List. Choose from bird-list at end of nature study, birds which are in children's environment. 2. Outline for bird study. a. When and where seen ; special haunt, seen alone or in flocks. NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 19 b. Appearance; size, color, special markings, flashes of color seen when bird flies. c. Action; running, hopping, wading, flying. Flight; sailing, darting, wavelike motion, much flapping of wings, steady, etc. d. Songs and calls. e. Migration. f . Nesting habits. g. Food. h. Use to man. i. Protection. j. Bird laws. k. Attracting birds. II. Continue study of plants started in spring in home gardens or fields ; decide which are preferable for food ; the harvesting and storing of such foods ; cutting and threshing of wheat and oats ; husking and storing of corn ; digging and storage or shipment of potatoes ; cutting and threshing of beans. Gathering and storing of gladiolus or dahlia tubers. Gather various flower seeds for spring planting. III. Insects. — The tomato worm will usually be found in gardens ; work out its life history by feeding worm until it forms chrysalis, and later hatches out the butterfly. Lady bugs found in garden; what valuable work are they doing ? Bees as honey makers ; study life and habits ; feed on and prepare sweets which would otherwise be lost ; money value to homes. Winter. — Mammals. 1. Suggestive list. Black and grizzly bear. Mule deer and prong horn. Coyote. Prairie dog. Mountain lion. Mountain sheep. Buffalo. Beaver. 2. Outline for study and comparison, a. Where native. 20 NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE b. Movements in walking, running, trotting, jumping, crouching, seizing prey, feeding; in play, fear, or anger. c. Coloring; general color, markings, diff^erences with age and season. d. Cries and calls. e. The animal in repose. f . General shape and characteristic features. g. Care and feeding in captivity, h. Food and habits in wild state. i. . The young. j. Relation to man. Destructive as well as advantageous qualities. Method of control of injurious animals like the rat. 3. Study the phases of moon for one month of the year, as in January, from new moon to new moon; its varying shapes and positions in the sky; its path across the sky; the time from one phase to the next; direction of travel; reason for its different appearances. 4. Keep a shadow-stick throughout the year, measuring and recording the lengths of shadow and comparing with the variation of hours of sunshine in the day ; associate with latitude ; compare the varying amount of heat received by the earth and influence on seasons. Spring. IV. Trees and Shrubs. 1. Value of forests and trees to Colorado. 2. Practical applications. a. Kinds to plant. Our rapid growing natural trees, Cottonwood and box-elder, willows and poplars; good for a time or where others will not grow readily ; but the slower growing, such as maple, elm, and ash are more desirable. b. Rules for planting. c. Care until well started. d. Fruit trees which will bear in your locality. e. Ornamental shrubs. V. Continue stud.y of trees and shrubs about your school yard or in your locality, including evergreens and deciduous trees. NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 21 Consider the following points : Differences in shapes and masses of foliage ; relation of trunks and branches ; changes of color ; development of seed or fruit ; yearly growth ; the formation, growth and protection of buds ; swelling and bursting of buds, their location, terminal and lateral buds; the use of buds; flowers, fruit, distribution of fruit ; insect enemies and helpers ; value of bird visitors ; spraying to kill insect enemies ; cultivation of ground about trees ; pruning ; raising of small fruits, currants, raspberries, etc., on small plots of ground in gardens or yards. Emphasize the economic value and value in health of these fruits to the family. Even in the arid parts of the state, small hardy fruits may be raised by local watering and by protection from winds. FIFTH GRADE The general idea is a study of plants, animals, and soils in relation to their value and disadvantages in gardens, lawns, and fields, and a beginning of a study of agriculture; also a study of conservation in methods of using fuel, in heating houses. I. Autumn. 1. Reports with sketches, maps, and exhibits of products of summer gardens. Lists of cultivated flowers and vegetables. 2. Injurious insects which are laying eggs in the ground, on trees, and in other places. How to control them. Gov- ernment bulletins will be helpful. See Relation Between Birds and Insects, Year-book, 1908 ; The Grasshopper Problem, Cir. 84, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau ^ of Entomology; Usefulness of the American Toad, Farm Bulletin 196. 3. Fall preparation for next summer's garden and lawn. a. ^ Clearing away garden refuse. b. Turning over soil and fall fertilizing where advisable. c. Gathering seeds. d. Leaving lawn grass proper length. e. Burning weeds on nearby vacant lots. II. Winter. 1. Study of snowfall with special reference to conservation of water for next summer 's irrigation ; value of forests in water storage and prevention of floods. 22 NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 2. Great mineral resources of state ; iron, coal, copper, silver, lead ; other valuable metals ; building stones ; granite, sandstone, lava stone, marble. 3. Toward spring, make planting plans for season, and test seeds by germination. 4. Observe winter birds. 5. Combustion, and heating of houses ; fuel ; conditions neces- sary to burning; heating by means of stoves, hot-air furnaces, steam, hot water; ventilation; danger of over- heating ; saving fuel ; sources of fuel — wood, coal, gas ; sun as source of all energy; connection between dis- covery of fire and growth of civilization. Study coal ; kinds of coal beds; methods of mining, transportation; making and uses of charcoal and coke. III. Spring. 1. Identify most common weeds. Study methods of control of weeds which infest lawns and gardens, as plantain, dandelion, wild lettuce, and the various wild grasses. 2. Report on work done on lawns and gardens for the coming summer. 3. Take up poultry, bee-keeping, raising of hares, or some such specialized topic within experience of the pupils. 4.' Keep record of the return of the birds. Study nesting; protection of birds and eggs ; attracting useful birds by providing houses and material for nests, food, drinking and bathing places. Elementary Agriculture. 1. Distinction between dead and living matter; protoplasm; amoeba; cells. 2. Soil and soil water in growth of plants. Evaporation from soil; from plants; capillarity in soil; circulation of water in soil ; taken up by plants ; need of cultivation ; weeds rob plants of water ; prevention of waste of soil water. 3. Feeding by plants ; food taken in solution ; water, mineral matter and carbon as plant food; sources of this food, the air and the soil. ' 4. Making of starch in the presence of the sun and chloro- phyll ; made in the leaves of the plant ; sun as source of all energy. NATUKE STUDY AND SCIENCE 23 5. Parts of plants as connected with growth; roots, stems, root hairs, buds, leaves. 6. Soil; origin, good soil, humis, cultivation of soil, fertiliza- tion by the introduction of plant food, as nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. Common fertilizers; manure, commercial fertilizers and fertilization by- bacteria on roots of alfalfa and other legumes. World- wide search for potash supplies today. Fertilization by plowing under crops ; rotation of crops. 7. Saving of soil moisture; by cultivation, by drainage, by having humis in soil, by mulching. Irrigation and dry farming. Influence of irrigation in fer- tilizing land; examples in our irrigated sections, in Nile Valley. SIXTH GRADE I. Tree Study, 1. Observe and make lists of various kinds seen. Have pupils name trees at sight and from leaf, bark, picture, description. 2. How trees live. a. Boots furnish mouths to get food from soil. b. Leaves serve as breathing organs and help to prepare food, e. Trunk and branches transport food and spread leaves to light. 3. General appearance of trees from distance; spreading, compact, loose, conical, drooping, erect, etc. 4. Bark. Describe. .5. Leaves. Shape, color, margin, etc. 6. Usefulness and importance, a. Use of lumber, wood, shade, nuts, etc. b. Which grow faster, hard or soft woods? c. Which are more desirable to plant, rapid- or slow- growing trees ? II. Lumbering. 1. Make collection of available kinds of wood; learn to recognize each kind; hard woods, soft woods; list of trees, making each kind of lumber; give at least one use of pine, oak, poplar, hickory, mahogany; cause of 24 NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE grain in wood ; what is quarter-sawed lumber, and why more valuable? 2. Visit lumber camp or mill, if possible ; describe cutting of trees J transportation of logs to mills and making of lumber. What may be done to prevent forest fires? 3. What is the governpaent doing in making new forests (reforestration) ? Why? III. Forests op Colorado. 1. What their protection and replanting means to the state. -Forestry department. Forest reserves. Life and work of forest rangers. ''The average saw -log cut today began to grow about the time Washington used his hatchet. ' ' — Enos Mills. 2. Special study of evergreens of Colorado (Reference, Evergreens of Colorado, by Burton 0. Longyear. Publication No. 1, State Agricultural College). a. Learn to recognize a few cone-bearing trees ; yellow pines, silver spruces, etc. b. Leaves. Needles; count number of needles in bun- dles, with or without sheath at base ; uses of needles ; moaning of wind in pines. c. Cones. Position on trees; scales thick, hard, and woody, or thin, leathery, and papery ; scales protect seeds ; winged seeds ; nearly all species take two years to mature ; pollen producing cones distinct from those which produce seeds. d. Uses of cone-bearing trees. Lumber, pitch, balsam, turpentine. Uses of Colorado evergreens. IV. Fish and Wild Game of Colorado. 1. National game preserves. 2._ Laws for birds, fish, and game protection. 3. Fishes. a. Characteristics. Fins, tail, gills, breathing, swim- ming, bladder. b. Work of hatcheries and re-stocking streams. c. Study of the trout. V. Soils, Rocks and Physical Features. 1. Review and intensify study of clay, loam, sand. IstaWre study and science 25 2. Kinds of rocks one can pick up in vicinity. Crystals, petrified wood, water-worn stones, igneous rocks, frag- ments of sandstone, granite, etc. 3. Minerals. Make a collection of minerals in your locality ; name as far as you can; classify for each of these qualities^ making lists of classes; hardness, weight, color, transparent, translucent or opaque, elasticity. 4. Collect samples of iron, lead, copper, silver, gold, and other valuable ores. Learn to tell by sight, the chief metal in each sample. Effect of great heat on metals ; origin of clinkers in stove ; of glass ; compare lava, porphyry, pumice stone with limestone, sandstone or shale. Effect of fire. 5. Visit quarries, mines, smelters or foundries, if possible. Make collection of building stones of the community. Brick and brick-making. Cement-making; concrete construction. Agriculture. 1. Germination of seeds ; soil water and air necessary ; value of pressing the soil about seeds; selection of seeds. hav- ing good germs; prevention of fungus diseases, as smut by dipping wheat seed in blue vitriol solution. 2. Testing of seeds for germination ; seed testers and prac- tical use of same ; loss of power of germination with age. 3. Study method of growth of seeds by planting beans, radishes, peas, wheat. 4. Seed improvement by selection ; cross fertilization. 5. Propagation from buds, layering, cuttings, grafting. 6. Transplanting; preserve root hairs; trim tops to corre- spond to rootlets broken off; plant in fine, rich soil; trim off broken and mangled roots; keep roots moist before and after planting; keep the soil moist and shaded; transplant trees and shrubs only when leaves are off. SEVENTH GRADE In presenting science and nature study to the seventh, as well as to the eighth grade, it is the aim to meet the demands for the curious in pupils of this age ; to create a liking for science, and to 26 i^AtURE STUDY AND SCIENCE lay a broad informational basis. The studies are offered in the light of present needs, rather than as a preparation for future work. Where there is a Junior High School, the work in agriculture suggested here should be briefly covered in the sixth grade, so as to keep the unity of the work. I. Weather. 1. Cloud forms. 2. Forms of precipitation. 3. Temperature of atmosphere. 4. Humidity of atmosphere. - II. In the study of climate, continually observe the adaptation of structure of plant and animal life to local conditions. III. Use lists of Colorado plants and animals to be found at end of this course to interest pupils in identifying as many species as possible. To be able to recogTiize and name many of our wild flowers and weeds, mammals, birds and trees is an accomplishment worth while. IV. Study at least one of the folloiving areas of land carefidly, to discover the plant and animal life present. This is a valu- able exercise, especially if pupils make individual observations with notebook in hand and report to class. Each time over the tract will add something new. Nothing is too insignificant to notice : 1. The Foothills Forest. 2. The Irrigating Ditch. 3. The Shallow Pool. 4. The Eiver.' 5. The Slope of the Hill. 6. The Swamp. 7. The Arid Plain. 8. The Country Roadside. 9. The Yucca Patch. 10. The Cactus Area. 11. The Sagebrush Area. 12. The Dry Creek-bed. 13. The Irrigated Garden or Lawn. NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE 27 V. Agriculture. 1. Eradication of weeds ; early and careful cultivation ; pre- , vention of seeding ; methods of killing ; annuals ; biennials; perennials. 2. Some common weeds; Canadian thistle, burdock, ox-eye, daisy, cockle bur; sow thistle; Eussian thistle; sour dock; wild mustard; wild parsnip; quack grass; wild carrot; bind-weed or wild morning glory; prickly let- tuce; long-leaved plantain. Methods of elimination based on habits. Study weeds of your locality and methods of eradication. 3. Insects and parasites injurious to plants; potato beetle, bean beetle, grasshopper, plant louse, etc. Fungus parasites. Study habits and methods of extermination. Various bulletins by the Department of Agriculture and by the State Experiment Station will be furnished on application. These bulletins treat folly on all classes of injurious insects and parasites. 4. Animals that destroy insects; ichneumon fly larvae destroy tree borers ; lady bugs destroy plant lice, scales, and other insects, and have been largely imported for that purpose; dragon flies are great enemies of mos- quitoes, gnats, and flies ; toads feed largely on insects ; swallows, vireos, woodpeckers, chickadees, wrens, swifts, cuckoos and flycatchers live largely on insects. Most owls and hawks catch many mice and rats. Study methods of bird-raising and protection as aids to the farmei*. 5. Gardening; the importance of the garden to the town dweller, from a financial standpoint; the raising of small fruits in the garden, as strawberries, raspberries, currants, etc. The garden furnishes the practical thing which every boy and girl may care for with pleasure and profit, and which may be of the highest educational value. Each pupil in the seventh and eighth grade should have a definite part in maintaining ' the home by engaging in gardening or farming. Methods of conducting that work should be the founda- tion for part of the school work. 28 NATURE STUDY AND SCIENCE EIGHTH GRADE I. Autumn. 1. Gathering and caring for crops from vegetable garden. Methods of storing, preserving, drying, evaporating. The silo. Cold storage. Parts used in food. 2. Cuttings. Bulbs. Grafting. Layering of grape vines and currants. 3. Injurious insects and fungi and their relation to the plants, shrubs, or trees on which they are found. Spraying trees and plants; insecticides. Relation of plants to soil culture. Beneficial insects, snails, slugs, toads and bird visitors and their relations to the garden. 4. Woods and reasons for their success. II. Winter. Topics chosen from outline on "Raw Materials of Colorado" and "Some Scientific Principles." III. Spring. 1. Seed-testing. Arrangement of crops in garden according to space needed, amount of light necessary, etc. Cul- tivation of garden. Flower garden. Care of lawn, shrubs, and perennials. 2. Hot-beds. Cold frame. Transplanting. 3. Rotation of crops. 4. Needs of plants. Light, water, food. Method of obtain- ing these. 5. Plans for landscape gardening. 6. Return of the birds. Bird boxes, nests, etc. Economic value. RAW OR MANUFACTURED MATERIALS OF Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer--Farmers' Bulletin 630 How to Attract Birds - - Farmers' Bulletin 760 Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard-Farmers ' Bulletin 513 INSECTS United States Government Piihlications Apliids Injurious to Orchards Farmers ' Bulletin 804 The Common Cabbage Worm.- Farmers' Bulletin 766 How to Detect Outbreaks of Insects and Save Grain Crops Farmers' Bulletin 835 House Ants and How to Control Them- Farmers ' Bulletin 740 Grasshopper Control - Farmers' Bulletin 223 Control of Diseases and Insect Enemies of the Home Vegetable Garden ..--—,- ---Farmers' Bulletin 856 Colorado Agricultural College Insects and Insecticides -- Bulletin 210' Common Insects of the Garden Bulletin 199 MISCELLANEOUS UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS How to Increase the Potato Crop by Spray- ing - Farmers' Bulletin 868 Cabbage Diseases -- Farmers' Bulletin 925 Organization of Boys' and Girls' Poultry Clubs Farmers' Bulletin 562 The Peanut Farmers' Bulletin 431 Weeds and How to Control Them Farmers' Bulletin 660 Colorado Agricultural College Some Colorado Mushrooms - -.- --- Bulletin 201 Hotbeds and Cold Frames ..Bulletin 221 Reports and Plans of City Garden Clubs.. ..Extension Bulletin 133 The above list is not complete, but it will give the teacher an introduction to much valuable information. Most of the Farmers' Bulletins are sent free on request, but in some cases a small charge 70 SCHOOL GARDENS is made. It will be worth while to ask the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C, to send you price lists of the gov- ernment publications. The Colorado Agricultural College will be glad to send lists of their publications. The National War Garden Commission, Maryland Bldg., Washington, D. C, have issued some most excellent bulletins, which they send on request. The Extension Department of the International Harvester Co., Harvester Bldg., Chicago, 111., publish a number of very fine bulletins strikingly and attractively illustrated. They send these for about the cost of postage. They will send you a price list on request. Many excellent books have been published. A few are named here : Principles of Vegetable Gardening, by Barley-MacMillen Co., Chicago. Vegetable Gardening, by Watts Orange Judd Co., Chicago. Productive Vegetable Growing, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Phil- adelphia. School and Home Gardens, by Meier, Ginn & Co., Chicago. Vegetable Gardening, by Green, Webb Publishing Co., Min- neapolis. Practical School and Home Gardens, by Hood, Long & Co., Lincoln, Neb. The months of September and October are favorable for the study of insect life. This is a subject in which children find keen pleasure. Unfortunately, too, the general public are woefully lacking in information on this line. In a general way the uninformed individual considers all in- sects injurious to his garden. Usually he has heard in a hazy way that the lady bird beetle is helpful in destroying other in- sects, but very few people recognize this beneficent little creature in its larva form, and so destroy it in its most useful stage. There are a number of other insects helpful because they feed on bugs, lice, eggs, etc., and so help protect the garden. Among these may be mentioned the beautiful golden-eyed, lace- wing fly, with its curious stilt-like eggs; the ichneumon fly, with its four-inch long ovipositor; the braconids that parasitize plant lice; the beautiful tiger beetles with their shiny metallic coats, and the dragon flies, sometimes called mosquito hawks, because they feed on those irritating pests. There are many others whose names and habits we ought to know. Butterflies are generally looked upon as harmless, but in SCHOOL G.\JIDENS 71 the larva form many of our butterflies and moths are quite de- structive to vegetation. 'Ihe. cabbage butterfly, the eight-spotted forester whose larva feeds on the grapevine and the Virginia creeper, the tomato sphynx, the cut worm moth, the black swallow- tail whose curious larva feed on celery and related plants, and the leaf-roller moths, whose young are so destructive to the leaves of trees and shrubbery, are common examples. As soon as one begins to study, he is astonished at the number and variety of insect pests. Children are always interested in these life forms and it is regretable that more teachers and parents are not able to an- swer their questions concerning them. Ask the children to look in the large dictionary for the distinction between a bug and a beetle, and a moth and a butterfly. In the back part of Webster's International Dictionary, among the pictures, is an alphabetically arranged list of insects that teachers will find very helpful. The list of birds, animals, and fishes also found there, should have a better use than simply to amuse the pupils. The Century Dic- tionary is especially good for its pictures and descriptions of in- sect life. Children will take much pleasure in helping make a collec- tion of garden insects for the school and in observing and learning about the life histories of the insects found. In a large way the study of insects in Colorado is an unexplored country and there are many opportunities for the young naturalist to present new facts and unrecognized species to the scientific world. Small insects as bugs, beetles, flies, and the like, can be pre- served in small bottles filled with a weak solution of formalde- hyde. Two teaspoonfuls of this liquid in a teacup of water makes a good preserving fluid. The small clear glass vials such as physi- cians use are excellent for holding insects preserved in formal- dehyde. Butterflies, moths, and the larger insects may be killed with cyanide, benzine, or even gasolene, and then mounted for exhibit purposes. A mounting board can be easily and cheaply made. If the teacher has never seen such a board, perhaps some teacher in a nearby high school can show how to make one. The fall is a good time for the collection and study of seeds. A glass test tube filled with successive layers of different kinds of seeds makes a curiosity that children will like to look at. If different shapes and colors are placed adjacent' they will add to the odditv of the collection. A dozen varieties of beans make a 72 SCHOOL GARDENS line showing when thus arranged. Corn, the various cereals, and the varieties of vegetable seeds, can be exhibited and studied in this way very nicely. Small clear glass bottles can be used for holding samples of soil, loam, sand, gravel, clay, adobe, and the like. The bottles when corked keep the samples looking fresh and are very con- venient for observation and study in class. If a microscopic ex- amination or the feel of the soil is desired, a small amount maj be taken from a bottle without disturbing the rest. If experiments with different kinds of soil are undertaken, larger amounts will be necessary. Books on agriculture suggest a number of interesting tests with soil that require the use of numerous bottles, lamp chimneys, tumblers, and the like. If one has the apparatus, he should use it by all means. But by molding the soil into the form of a bird's nest and carefully pouring into the nest a small quantity of water and noting whether the water soaks away quickly or slowly, much can be learned without the bottles and lamp chimneys. The child who has made mud pies Avill be quite enthusiastic about getting things ready for such an experiment. A very interesting 'test can be made by using two jars or crocks about five inches across and seven or eight inches deep. The jars should have the same shape and should weigh exactly alike. They should be filled with the same amount of soil by weight, and the soil packed closely. Into each pour the same amount of water by weight. Let them stand for a week or ten days,. leaving one untouched and stirring thoroughly about two inches of the top soil of the other every day. Now on the theory that cultivation prevents evaporation there should be consider- able difference in the weight of the jars. Put them on the scales and see how theory and fact compare. Many other experiments will suggest themselves if teacher and pupils enjoy such tests. In the early fall a garden exhibit held at the school is thor- oughly enjoyed by the pupils and has high educational value. This is a very effective way of establishing correct ideas and standards of prize-winning vegetables. Even if it is not con- venient to hold an exhibit, children may be asked to bring to school choice examples of the various types of garden produce. They will quickly learn what are the qualities which make an ear of corn a prize winner. They will observe that proper shape and smoothness are worth more in a potato than just size ana weight. They will soon note that there are different types of po- SCHOOL GARDENS 73 t'atoes, a prize Early Ohio being obloug, a Peachblow more nearly round, while a Burbank should be about twice as long as it is wide. There are well recognized standards of excellence for car- rots, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, and the like, about which most of our teachers can easily inform themselves and be very helpful to their school and community by passing the information along. In the spring garden planning should begin early. In Febru- ary get catalogs of reliable seed houses and make lists of what you need. Plan your garden and decide how many feet of rows of each vegetable you are going to have. The numerous tables fur- nished in seed catalogs and garden books will then tell how much seed is needed. Fruit and shade trees may be trimmed in Febru- ary except the maple and early flowering shrubs. Seed testing should begin early. Teachers should know how to use a plate tester or a rag baby. Send for the bulletins on these subjects. The proper time of planting will vary with the latitude and the altitude. The dates suggested here are suited to Denver con- ditions. A difference of a hundred miles north or south, or a thousand feet in elevation will usually make a week's difference in the planting time. But the shelter or exposure afforded by mountain ranges has to be considered as well. The early part of March is a good time for indoor planting of cabbage, cauliflower, celery, and onions. The seed of asters, pansies, verbenas, giant cosmos, and the like, can be started in flats at this time. Sweet peas can be planted outside any time after the middle of the month. The earlier a garden is plowed or spaded after the soil is in condition to work, the better. But it should be raked thoroughly immediately after being turned over so as to break up the clods. This is entirely different from fall, plowing where the ground is left rough. In the latter part of March start indoors tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, and the like. Kemove mulching from beds and shrubs unless the season is unusually late. Late March is the right time to set hens if there is a place to take care of the little chicks in the stormy months of April and May. In April, as soon as the soil and season are favorable, sow out- side all the hardy vegetables and flowers. The following list is considered hardy : beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauli- flower, eeleriae, celery, cress, endive, kale, kohl-rabi. peas, pota- toes, radishes, salsify, spinach, and turnips. Usually the class- is printed on the seed packet. 74 SCHOOL GARDENS If the season is early, cabbage, cauliflower and onions can be transplanted outside in the latter part of April. Trees and shrubbery can be set out now, but all such work should be com- pleted by early May. Tomatoes, egg plants, and other tender plants, can still be profitably started indoors for later outside planting. After the garden soil has been turned over it is a good plan to put out cut worm bait. When there is no other green food, the. cut worms will eat the bait ravenously. Root crops should not be put where similar crops were grown last season. Rotation of crops is bet- ter for the soil and helps to keep in check the root maggot. Set hens any time during April. Get eggs of a good strain. Poor stock eggs are not worth the bother. Tender vegetables should not be planted outside before the 15th of May. The following list is considered tender : beans, corn, cucumbers, egg plants, melons, peppers, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, and. tomatoes. If the season is at all backward, plants that have been started indoors do better if not set outside till near June 1st. A common rule among gardeners is to plant seed four times as deep as the seed is thick. Dahlias and other tubers and bulbs should be planted about the 10th of May. Dahlias should be planted about four inches deep with the tubers lying flat, not standing on end. Cultivation should begin just as soon or even before the plants appear. Weeds eat up moisture and plant food in the soil much more greedily than vegetables do. All soils have a tendency to form a crust on top. Proper tillage will replace this crust with a soil mulch and help retain moisture. A good motto is, "Use the hoe instead of the hose." Soak the soil thoroughly when irrigating. If the water tends to run off without sinking in, break up the crust and ridge the surface so that the water has to soak in. In moist soil plants root deeply and therefore stand drought better than when shallow rooted. In every community and neighborhood there are people who are skillful and experienced gardeners. Teachers should seek to become acquainted with such and get their advice and counsel. Oftentimes there are local conditions understood only by local people. The U. S. Bureau of Education has issued, through the U. S. S. G., a number of splendid leaflets on garden culture. They are SCHOOL GARDENS certainly worth asking for. There are many other sources of val- uable information available to the alert teacher, and in this time of the world's great need for food and still more food, every teacher should be alert. UNITED STATES SCHOOL GARDEN ARMY Department of the Interior, U. S. S. G. Bureau of Education, Washington General Leaflet No. 24 SUGGESTIONS FOR GARDEN SOLDIERS 1. Enlist now. , • 2. Begin to plan your garden. 3. Pick out your lot. 4. Dump loads of leaves on it and plow or spade them under. 5. Decide upon what seeds you will need and write to your Congressman for them. Do this soon. Tell him you are a soldier in the United States School Garden Army and are getting your plans all made to help Uncle Sam increase the food production of the world. By getting your seeds early you will have time to carefully test them. Northeastern States Leaflet No. 3 or Southern Leaflet No. 9 will tell you how to do this. 6. Organize your company and when you find out who are the best garden workers and leaders, choose them for captains and lieutenants. 7. Name your company. 8. Write to a soldier you know or one you know about. 9. Write a garden song or play. 10. Make a four-minute garden speech to your class or to other class rooms in your building. 11. Chrysanthemums in Washington are selling for one dollar each. Wonder if you could grow one hundred or more next winter that would sell for this much? 12. Watch your potato pile, and if the potatoes show signs of rotting or sprouting, get more air to them. TO GARDEN TEACHERS, SUPERVISORS OR PRINCIPALS Please supply data requested on enclosed card. Thanks. We are enclosing herewith a copy of the Fall Manual. Additional copies may be had upon request. 76 SCHOOL GARDENS THE FALL MANUAL OF THE UNITED STATES SCHOOL GARDEN ARMY Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICIALS . Franklin K. Lane^ Secretary, Department of the Interior Philander P. Claxton, Commissioner, Bureau of Education John H. Francis, Director REGIONAL DIRECTORS Clarence M. Weed, Northeastern States Frederick A. Merrill, Southern States Lester S. Ivins, Central States Cyril A. Stebbins, Western States John L. Randall, Southeastern States REGIONAL AREAS Northeastern States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsyl- vania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia. Southeastern States: Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi. Southern States: Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico. Central States: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska. Western States: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, California. A Garden for Every Child. Every Child in a Garden, SCHOOL GARDENS 77 A LETTER FROM PRESIDENT WILSON The White House, Washington. 25 February, 1918. My Dear Mr. Secretary: I sincerely hope that you may be successful through the Bureau of Education in arousing the interest of teachers and children in the schools of the United States in the cultivation of home gardens. Every boy and girl who really sees what the home garden may mean will, I am sure, enter into the purpose with high spirits, because I am sure they would all like to feel that they are in fact fighting in France by joining the home garden army. They know that America has undertaken to send meat and flour and wheat and other foods for the support of the soldiers who are doing the fighting, for the men and women who are making the munitions, and for the boys and girls of western Europe, and that we must also feed ourselves while we are carry- ing on this war. The movement to establish gardens, therefore, and to have the children work in them is just as real and patriotic an effort as the building of ships or the firing of cannon. I hope that this spring every school will have a regiment in the Volunteer War Garden Army. Cordially and sincerely yours, WooDROw Wilson. Hon. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior. A LETTER FROM SECRETARY LANE Dear Boys : I am glad to receive your letter and to know that last year you had a garden plot and that this year you intended to have another. There are boys and girls in Belgium and in France who had garden plots, but those have been blown up by shells, and some of the boys have been killed, too. You can make gardens now, and the boys and girls of France and Belgium will for all time be grateful to you. But your gardens will not be blown up. The more we raise here the more we will have to make strong the arm of our soldiers across the water. That is the reason that •we are trying to organize the boys and girls into a school garden army — they really will be soldiers, although not old enough to fight. We who stay at home have a very safe place compared with 78 SCHOOL GARDENS the boys in France, and our gratitude for this safety is shown by the work that we do. The idea just conies into my mind that perhaps you know some soldier who has gone to France, and you might name your garden plot after him. Don't you think that this would be a good idea? Cordially yours, Franklin K. Lane. To Milton and Carroll Timberman, 2698 Valentine Avenue, New York, N. Y. A LETTER FROM COMMISSIONER CLAXTON To Boys and Girls in the Schools of the United States, Greeting : We are now engaged in the greatest war in the history of the World. Your freedom and happiness depend on the result. If we win, the world will be free. If we lose, all the world will soon be in bondage to the autocratic German Government, and the freedom for which our fathers fought will be gone. Our young men are going to fight in France and Italy and on the seas. Older boys and girls will work in the fields, factories, mines, shops, stores, and elsewhere, to produce food, clothing, coal, and munitions of war. Most import- ant of all is food. Without it soldiers can not fight, workmen can not produce ships, guns, and shells ; and men, women, and children will die. The people of the United States must this year produce more food than they have ever produced before. The President of the United States is therefore asking all boys and girls from 9 to 16 years of age in cities, towns, and villages to join the United States School Garden Army and grow vegetables, berries, fruits, and poultry. There are 7,000,000 such boys and girls. If 5,000,000 of these volunteer, it will be the largest army ever raised in the United States and larger than all other boys and girls' clubs com- bined. By hard work and with wise direction they can produce food enough to feed all the hungry children of Belgium. Will you join the United States School Garden Army? Your teachers will tell you about the plan. A happy spring, summer, and fall of joyous, useful outdoor ■^ork for you all. Yours sincerely, / P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education. SCHOOL GARDENS 79 FIRST, CATCH YOUR RABBIT You remember the story of the boy who was telling about the rabbit he was going to eat, and his father said, ''Son, first catch your rabbit. ' ' Well, that 's the way you must do with these school gardens. Before you can eat the crops you expect to grow, you must get the garden. For you boys and girls living in the country this will probably be an easy matter. Your fathers will be glad to give you a piece of land for your own use, as large as you are able to handle, where you can groT" as many kinds of crops as you wish. For you boys and girls living in the towns or cities it may be a little harder to get the land for your garden. But many of you will have a back yard of your own where many vegetables can be grown; or your next-door neighbor will be glad to let you use his back yard. At any rate, don't be discouraged if you can't find a place for your garden the first thing. By looking around and sticking to it you will find that there are a great many back yards and vacant lots near your own home which the owners will be proud to let you use after you have told them of the wonderful work the School Garden Army is doing to help win the war. If your garden is to be in a back yard, pick out one that is not shaded too much by trees or buildings. Growing things need sunlight and plenty of it. And try to pick out land that isn't all clay or gravel. You can't expect to grow much on soil like that. Ask one of your friends who is a farmer or who has a garden of his own to help you pick out the right place for your garden. HOW TO PLAN YOUR GARDEN Many of us think of gardening as work to be done only during a few brief weeks in the spring. This is wrong. Your garden will do its best for you if plans for it are made in the autumn and much of its preparation done then. Here are some things you should think of in planning a garden : 1. 8ize. — The average boy or girl can easily spade and care for a garden 10 by 30 feet. A garden of this size will go far to supply vegetables for a family of four. Your garden should be sufficiently large to grow enough vegetables to make it worth while, but not so large as to make its care too much of a task. 2. Width between rows. — Eows must be farther apart if " horse or hand wheel cultivator is used than if you use ' such as a hoe or rake. 80 SCHOOL GARDENS 3. Paths. — Since your plants must receive personal attention you should plan your garden with paths so that you can reach all parts of it without tramping down the plants. 4. Rotation. — This means using the same ground for the growth of one kind of crop, followed by another of a different kind, as a crop of corn followed by a crop of beans. Each plant has habits peculiar to itself. One plant may draw heavily on soil potash, another on soil nitrogen. Besides, certain plants grown time after time in the same soil tends to poison it. Your planting schemes should avoid growing the same kind of plants over and over on the same ground. 5. Keeping your garden at ivork. — A planting calendar will tell you how, by second and third sowings, you can have fresh vege- tables at all times during the gardening season. 6. Use all your land. — Vegetables which ripen quickly may be grown among those which ripen slowly. Thus lettuce, radishes, spinach, and like vegetables may be planted in the soil between tomato plants, potatoes, corn, etc. 7. Plants to grow. — The kinds of plants to be grown will de- termine very largely the nature of your plan. Radishes and lettuce may be planted closer together than cabbages or corn. 8. Adding a touch of Ijeauty. — Finally, if you wish to make your garden not only productive but attractive, flowers -may be grown about the borders. HOW TO PREPARE YOUR GARDEN IN THE NORTH The soil for your garden should be spaded or plowed if possible in the fall. If this can not be done, then you should do it as early in the spring as possible. If your garden is too small to be plowed with a team, you should spade it deeply with a spading fork. Deep plowing and spading, followed by thorough harrowing and raking, puts the soil in the best condition to make your plants grow. When the soil is spaded, each spadeful as it is turned over should be broken up by striking with the back of the spade. When your garden soil crumbles in your hands, it is just right. Vegetables are heavy feeders and, therefore, they need a rich soil. Many experienced gardeners use what is known as compost on '■^^'r gardens. A compost heap is made of a mixture of meadow " \i J'ii>. :^'' straw, grass, lawn clippings, unused portions of food , ', "'