®i|e ^, p. ^m pbm-g ^nrtt^ Olaralma ^tate Qlolkg^ QH55 C^5 y^u'u^'.t»-^ji'v.ji^^.j»i»7.».-ir»tMj,Miii»AJJ>« reaching as high as the air goes, would weigh nearly fifteen FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 13 A Leather "Sucker" pounds. The air, then, is pressing in all dircclions at this rate. Experiment 2. — Pass a strong cord througli the center of a round disk of sole leather, tying a knot in the lower end to prevent it passing through the leather. Soak the disk in water until it is quite soft, then press it closely to any smooth surface, as shown in the cut, and attempt to pull it away. 4. Stick the leather sucker to a stone. Why can you lift the stone? How can you get it off? Why? 5. Why will not mo- lasses flow from the large hole in a barrel until a small one is made in the upper side of the barrel ? In a canyon out west is a great reservoir filled with water. A large wooden pipe, bound with strong iron bands, carries the water from the reservoir down the canyon at a very steep grade. One day the man in charge suddenly closed the great valve at the reservoir, shutting off the water from entering the pipe. The water which already filled the pijjc continued by its great weight to flow downward, leaving the upper end empty. A long section of this empty pipe was crushed in. What crushed it in? Some students of the college near there had told the man what would happen if he turned otT the water suddenly, but he would not believe them. Experiment 3.— Put one end of a bent tube into a glass full of water, with the other end hanging down the outside. Why docs not the water flow out? 14 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 6. Suck the air out of the tube and tell what happens. Why ? 7. Explain the action of the siphon. Tell some of its uses. 8. Tell about other examples of air pressure. LESSON VIII THE BAROMETER Experiment i. — Take a wide- mouthed bottle one fourth full of water and fitted tightly with a cork having two small holes through it. Down one of these holes push a long, straight, glass tube until its lower end reaches below the surface of the water. Put a short bent tube into the other hole, not far enough to reach the water. Blow through the short tube and tell what takes place in the long one. 1. What happens when you blow gently ? When you blow hard ? Why ? 2, Upon what, then, does the height of the water in the long tube depend ? Experiment 2. — Fill with mercury a long tube closed at one end, and de a sack made of buckskin over the other. Invert the tube. The mercury is so heavy that it falls away from the closed end of the tube a short dis- tance. Now squeeze gently the sack of mercury. What happens to the column in the tube? 3. When the air presses on the sack of mercury, what happens ? 4. If the air pressure is great, what is the effect upon the column? If the air pressure is slight? FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK ^5 When properly made, the tube de- Experiment 2 forms the chief part of a Generally a barometer is set in a wooden protect it, and a carefully graded scale is hind it so that the height of the mercury can be read with ease. Since no air can reach the upper surface of themercu- downward, the column is moved very eas- pressure on the sack of mercury at the open vessel of mercury is often used in- the sack and acts in the same way. 5. Does the smoke from a chimney rise keep near the ground when the air is Why? In what direction do very heavy things tend to move ? 6. Will a chimney draw better when the barometer is high or when it is low? Why? 7. Explain why a balloon rises. What effect will high or low air pressure have upon its flight ? 8. In some coal mines explosive gases ooze out of crevices in the coal seams all the time. Does more come out when the \ir is light, or when it is hea\7? 9. Is the danger of explosions in such mines greater when the barometer is hio^h or when it is low ? scribed in barometer . frame lo placed be- in the tube pressure ry to press ily by any bottom. An stead of rapidly or h e a \' y ? Simplest Form of the Barometer LESSON IX USE OF THE BAROMETER 1. Where does the moisture come from that forms clouds ? 2. Where does evaporation chietly lake place, near the 1 6 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES earth's surface or far from it? Tell where you have seen water drying away. 3. How does vapor get up to where it forms clouds? What will make air so light that it will rise? Experiment.— By means of "smoke paper," or a small, sensitive windmill, show that the hot air is rising over a lamp chimney, radiator, stove, or other place where a portion becomes heated. Explain the draught of the chimney. 4. When the air near the ground becomes very warm, and at the same time moist, what movement usually takes place ? 5. If this air rises, the moisture goes with it. Does an upward movement of air over a large area cause the barometer to rise or fall? Why? 6. What change takes place in the moisture of this rising air when it reaches the cold upper regions? What happens when warm moist air from the ocean is blown against high mountains ? From what we have already learned, explain how rain is produced. 7. How does the barometer generally move just before a storm? Why? 8. If a great body of air is rising from one place, what movement of air must be taking place somewhere else ? 9. If the air is falling over a large area, how is it influencing the barometer there? Why? 10. Can air, falling from the cold, upper regions into warmer, moister places cause a storm ? Why ? 11. Why does a high barometer indicate fair weather? 12. Why does a thunder shower usually happen on a hot, sultry day? 13. Watch the barometer and tell when a storm is coming. FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK LESSON X CONDITIONS AFFECTING RAINFALL 1. Tell how rain is made. . 2. What kind of weather causes fastest evaporation ? 3. How does rapid evaporation affect rain? 4. What part of the earth is hottest? Where, then, will there be the most rapid evaporation? 5. What can you say of the amount of rainfall in those regions ? 6. When is the sun farthest north of the equator ? - 7. When is it farthest south of the equator? 8. What influence has the sun upon evaporation? Com- pare the power of its direct and slanting rays in this re- gard. 9. Why does the rainy season in Mexico begin in June, while in Bolivia it begins in December? 10. Why do the daily rains in the Tropics follow the sun in its journey north and south of the equator ? 11. Since the most evaporation occurs over the ocean, how does the vapor get inland to make our rain ? 12. What wind in your locality most frequendy brings rain? Do you think this wind comes from the ocean ? 13. What conditions must the vapor in the clouds meet to cause rain? 14. In how many ways is the vapor carried in the air made cool enough to condense and fall as rain or snow ? 1 8 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES LESSON XI OBJECTIVE REPRESENTATIONS To THE Teacher. — Appropriate graphic or objective representations of data suggested by the pupil are very helpful in discovering relations and making inferences. Children naturally use one set of objects to stand for others. In their playhouses, chips and stones stand for people and animals, or for furniture or what not. Lead pupils to invent, as they need them, their own methods of representing the results of their observations of the weather, and to keep a careful record of them on the blackboard or in some fitting, objective way. The following examples will illustrate some ways in which this may be done. I — Temperature 1. Make a mark on the blackboard that will represent the temperature to-day. 2. What was the temperature yesterday? Represent it by another mark beside the first. Is it longer or shorter than the first? Why? 3. In like manner make a series of upright lines that will represent the temperature each day during the week. 4. Number or name the lines to show for which day each one stands. 5. Can you tell from these upright lines just how high the thermometer was each day of the week ? Can you arrange a diagram that will do this? 6. How could this be done easily on cross-section paper? 7. Let each vertical line on a piece of cross-section paper stand for one hour. Name them 9, 10, 11, 12, i, 2, and 3 for the hours that school is in session. Let each horizontal line represent one degree of temperature. Give one of these FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 19 Record of Daily Temperature The height of the barometer may be shown in a similar way. the number corresponding to the reading of the thermometer at 9 o'clock, and the others in-order above and below. 8. At 10 o'clock note the change in temperature and make a line from the point indicating the height of the thermometer at 9 o'clock to the one that will show the height at 10 o'clock. 9. In like manner, at the end of each hour, extend the line to indicate the temperature (See page 127, Book I). A dia- gram of small squares on the blackboard will serve as well. II — Air Pressure 1. Tell how the height of the barometer can be recorded in a similar way. 2. Could the same piece of cross-section paper, or the same blackboard diagram, be used for both readings? 20 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 3. How might differently colored chalk aid to do this? 4. Instead of indicating the readings each hour for a week, how may such a diagram be made to show the average daily readings for a month ? Ill — Cloudiness 1. Think of some way to represent on the blackboard a fine clear day; a cloudy day; a rainy or stormy day. 2. What colored chalk will be suitable to represent each of these three conditions if you wish to use colors? 3. If a square on the blackboard filled with hea\7, double shading lines represents a stormy day, what will represent a cloudy day ? a fair day ? 4. At the end of the month, how may a large square be divided and marked so as to show the number of fair days, of cloudy days, and of stormy days in the month? 5. Make such a card at the end of each month, and at the end of the year fasten them together and they will make a record of the year's cloudiness. September October November December Cloudiness Represented The top space indicates fair weather; the middle one, cloudy, and the bottom one stormy. Twelve of these squares may be drawn on a large card to form a chart, or bound together as the leaves of a book. FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 2 I IV — Rainfall 1. How may the amount of rainfall each month be repre- sented on the blackboard? 2. If you had twelve bottles of the same size and shape, how could you represent this much better? 3. Can you think of any other ways of representing each month's rainfall? Experiment. — At the end of each month, saw accurately from the end of a square picket, a block to represent exactly the total rainfall of the month, and fasten it to a strip of smooth wood — a piece of lath will do. Write the name of the month and the depth of the rainfall under each block. At the end of the year the strip to which all the blocks are fastened may be cut so as to show the total year's rainfall. R.^iNFALL Represented The lower blocks represent the average rainfall in Salt Lake City each month for thirty years, beginning on the left and with January, which averages 1.44 inches, and ending with December on the right with an average ol 1.64 inches. The total annual rainfall there aver- ages 16.19 inches. The upper blocks represent the rainfall by months for the current year, a new block be- ing added by the pupils at the end of each nuntli until the year's record is cfimpiete. .A glance shows how the rainfall in any month compares with the average for that month. 2 2 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 4. Think of ways in which the lengths of day and night, the average direction of the wind, and other things learned through observation, may be represented by drawings or objects. 5. Of what value to you are such representations ? LESSON XII NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR To THE Teacher. — At the same time that the pupils are studying the weather, they should also obsen-e animal and plant life, that the big relations between these three things may be discovered. Encourage free discussion in class of the observ^ations of the pupils, and make a special detailed study of any animal, plant, or condition that attracts their attention greatly. 1. What plants are blooming now? Which are seeding? Are any shedding their leaves ? Bring specimens to the class and discuss them. 2. Which have already finished the year's work and died? 3. Are any seeds germinating now? If so, what are their chances to grow and mature ? How came they to be so late ? Bring samples to the class. 4. What fruits are gone? Which are just ripening? Which will keep during the winter? 5. What birds are seen now? Which have gone for the winter? Have any come to spend the winter with us? Men- tion examples. 6. Are toads, frogs, snakes, lizards, etc., as numerous now as in the summer time? Why? Where do they go to spend the winter? FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 23 7. Mention all the insects that you can see to-day. WhicJi have disappeared? 8. What becomes of most insects in cold weather? Have you seen any changes taking place in them? 9. Catch caterpillars and keep them in a larvae box until they make their winter cocoons. If kept in a cool place, they may be seen to come out as perfect moths or as beautiful butterflies in the spring. 10. Find out how ants and bees and earthworms pass the winter, and when they disappear. 11. What are the larger wild animals doing to prepare for winter? Do any of them go to warmer countries? 12. How may a record of the things seen be kept in the most useful way ? Can you think of a better way than writing in the form of a story, the things seen? Think how these facts may be tabulated so as to be seen and compared at a glance. NATURAL HISTORY CALENDAR, 19— Name. Date i Observation Where Seen Condition What Doing Remarks Sept. 20 21 1 2 2 Robins In the orchard Perched in trees " Butterfly On goldenrod Seeking food Oct. Choke Cherries In canyon Getting riijc Blue birds had eaten many " Wild Ducks On the wing Flying toward lake it Caterpillar Under fence rail Making cocoon Was well protectetl 13. Do any animals change their garb as winter approaches ? 24 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 14. What plants die in the fall? What have such plants done to insure more plants like them next year ? 15. What plants have roots that live all the winter, but tops that die? 16. How are crops cared for during the winter? Consider fruits, vegetables, grain, hay, etc. 17. Notice the many changes that take place in the animals and plants around you during the fall months, and tabulate the most important things on the blackboard or write them in your Natural History Calendar. 18. Find out reasons as far as you can for the changes that you notice. LESSON xin THE STARS The sad and solemn night Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires, The glorious hosts of light Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires; All through her silent watches, gliding slow, Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, and go. — Bryant To THE Teacher. — This lesson may be assigned at any time when clear nights prevail and recited when the pupils have had time to ob- serve the stars sufficiently. Myths may be used in connection with Orion, Cassiopeia, and other constellations. 1. Are all the stars of the same size? Can you count the stars? 2. How are they scattered over the sky? Are they in long rows or squares or regular forms? 3. Are all stars "fixed" in their groups, or do some of FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 25 them move about among the other stars ? Watch some of the brightest stars for a few weeks, and notice if any change their positions among the other stars. Notice especially the morning and evening stars. 4. Learn to name and locate a few very bright stars, as the North Star, Sirius, the Geminii, Vega, and the planets. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc., when they can be seen. A Few of the Brightest Stars Seen in the Northern Sky 5. Locate a few of the brightest groups of stars, as the 26 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Cassiopeia, Orion, and Lyra, all of which are in the northern sky and may be seen on a clear night. 6. Find the Milky Way. Why is it called the Milky Way ? Does it always cross the sky in the same place ? It is supposed to be made up mostly of stars so far away as to appear to us as a mass of light stretching across the sky. 7. Of what use to us are the stars? How do they help sailors to tell the points of the compass? 8. What daily motion have the stars ? Do they all rise and set like the sun and the moon? Watch the Big Dipper; the evening star; the North star. Stars are supposed to be suns, but they are so far away that even through the biggest telescope they seem to be mere points of light. The nearest star is so far away that, astronomers tell us, it would take a ray of light, which can travel several times around the earth in the twinkling of an eye, two years to reach us. The North Star is so far away that it would take light forty-seven years to come from it to the earth; and, if the star should suddenly be destroyed, its light would continue to shine and we should not know for forty- seven years that anything had happened to it. LESSON XIV STUDY OF TREES— SHAPES To THE Teacher. — At the beginning of the year, have the class select several trees and shrubs to study and get acquainted with the changes that they pass through during the whole year. Choose such as have different habits of growth, as a shade tree, a fruit tree, an evergreen tree, a shrub, and a vine. Occasionally the pupils should FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 27 write a description of the changes noticed in the trees for a language lesson, and draw them for an art lesson. 1. Do all trees have a similar shape? 2. What is the difference between the shape of the box elder tree and that of the Lombardy poplar? 3. Describe, or draw an outline of, an apple tree; a pear tree; a palm; a pine; an elm. 4. Write a list of trees that are tall and slim. Write another list of trees that are low and spreading. Trees may be grouped as to shape into four groups, as rep- resented in the illustration. Shapes and diameters of trees 5. Compare the vertical diameters with the horizontal ones, and in each case notice where they cross each other. 6. Mention trees having shapes similar to each of these types. 7. Is the shape of a tree any advantage to it ? Why is a poplar tree tall and slim? Where arc most of its seeds 28 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES formed ? How are they scattered ? Docs a strong wind break a poplar tree as easily as it does other trees ? 8. Why arc most fruit trees low and broad ? Why are their best fruits found on the highest limbs? What do fruits need to make them develop best ? Where are the poorest samples of fruit generally found ? Why ? Think of reasons for the shape of fruit trees, shade trees, and forest trees that you know. 9. Why do men trim trees ? What is the difference between a wisely trimmed orchard and one that has been neglected ? Pine Tree Loaded with Snow Pine Tree Shedding Snow To be able to trim trees properly we must know the effect of the shape, and the needs of the trees for much or litde foliage, and how to distribute it to meet their needs. FOURTH GRADE—P^ALL WORK 29 10. Study the shape of the pine. Why is its foliage ar- ranged around the trunk in layers that grow longer and longer from the top to the bottom, making the outer surface of the trees look like the rows of shingles on the roof? 11. Do the pictures opposite suggest any reason for the shape of pine trees? 12. Why are cocoanuts placed at the top of the tall palms on which they grow? What danger to the fruit is thus overcome? W^hen ripe, why does not the fruit break when it falls so far to the hard ground ? Is the thick husk of any other use to the plant ? How are cocoanut palm seeds distributed ? What kinds of soil do they like best ? How does nature secure for them this kind of soil in most cases? 13. What habits of growth make the different shapes of trees ? 14. In which kinds do the end buds grow most rapidly ? In which kinds do the side buds grow fastest? If the side and end buds grow at the same rate, what shape is pro- duced ? LESSON XV STUDY OF TREES— TRUNKS 1. Name some trees that have long, slender trunks. Arc their branches mostly large or small? Do they grow best in groves or singly ? Have you ever been in the woods ? Compare trees growing in a forest with those growing singly. 2. Of what use to a tree is a long trunk ? This use must be a very important one, as it costs a tree many years' labor to get a trunk. 30 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 3. What trees have short, thick trunks? Are any of their branches very large? Are such trees found in dense forests? Do they get as much sunshine as do tall, slim trees ? How do they get enough sunshine? 4. In what w^ays are tall, slim trees of use to man ? 5. What benefit do we get from trees having short, thick trunks and wide spreading branches? 6. How do some plants escape the labor of making great trunks for themselves? How do vines get enough sun- light ? 7. How do ferns and mosses get along with so little light as comes to them under the trees? Experiment 1. — From a good sized limb of a nearby tree cut a small piece of bark every week or two in the fall, and see what changes take place in the bark as the autumn advances. Find out just how the trunk and limbs grow thicker, and why the number of rings seen in the end of a tree trunk give us an idea of the age of the tree. 8. How do the trunks of trees grow? How may we tell the age of a tree? 9. What is the use of bark on the trunks of trees? Experimenl. 2 — Girdle some useless tree by removing a strip of the bark from around the trunk and note the effect. 10. Describe the different layers of bark. Which part seems dead? Which part is alive? Bring samples of the bark of different trees to the class. 11. Is it a good practice to hitch a horse to the trunk of a valuable tree? 12. What trees can you tell by their bark? 13. Describe the bark of the elm, the locust, the poplar, the pine, the birch, and other trees that you have seen. FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 31 THREE TREES The pine tree grew in the wood, Tapering, straight, and high; Stately and proud it stood, Black-green against the sky. Crowded so close, it sought the blue, And ever upward it reached and grew. The oak tree stood in the field. Beneath it dozed the herds; It gave to the mower a shield. It gave a home to the birds. Sturdy and broad, it guarded the farms With its brawny trunk and knotted arms. The apple tree grew by the wall. Ugly and crooked and black; But it knew the gardener's call. And the children rode on its back. It scattered its blossoms upon the air, It covered the ground with fruitage fair. LESSON XVI STUDY OF TREES— BRANCHES 1. What trees have short trunks that divide up into branches ? Do such trees have large branches ? 2. What trees have trunks that extend from the ground to the top of the tree ? Are the branches of such trees large or small ? 3. Are the lower branches generally larger or smaller than the upper ones? 4. What would probably be the effect if the top branches were much longer than the bottom ones? 32 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 5. Are there generally more branches on one side of a tree than on the other? Why do branches grow from all sides of the trunk? 6. What trees have branches that grow at almost right angles with the trunk ? Which form an acute angle with the trunk? Do any trees have branches that slope downward from the trunk? Think of some purpose in branches leaving their trunks in these three different directions. 7. What trees have tough branches? What trees have branches that are brittle? Experiment i. — Take green Uvigs of about the same size from various trees near by. Bend until they break, and decide which branches are toughest. 8. Which trees need to be tough? Which rarely have any load to bear? Consider fruit trees, shade trees, ever- greens, etc. 9. Can you tell the age of a tw%? Find the place on a twig that marks a year's growth. 10. Examine twigs and branches and tell how old they are from the joints that are formed each year. Tell what part grew this year; last year; the year before. 11. On twigs from fruit trees notice the leaf scars where leaves used to be. Observe lilac and horse chestnut twigs. Also find places where fruit used to be. What is the difference between a fruit scar and a leaf scar? Experiment 2.— Examine a young fruit tree and from the fruit scars tell if it bore this year; last year; the year before last. Thus the history of a tree is written year after year by the truthful hand of nature in its own self. 12. Are trees the only living things whose works nature records within themselves? FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK T^T, 13. Is it of any value to us to be able to tell the history of a tree? 14. Draw a twig showing leaf scars, fruit scars, and one or more rings or joints that denote a year's growth. LESSON XVII STUDY OF TREES— LEAVES 1. Collect as many different kinds of leaves as you can find. Learn to name each kind at sight. Experiment. — Strip off all the leaves from a small tree or shrub and note the effect. Try the experiment again in the spring. Of what use to the tree are its leaves? 2. What plants have the largest leaves that you have seen? What plants have the smallest leaves? Does the size of the leaf tell us the size of the plant or tree on which it grew? 3. Are large leaves as numerous on their plants as small ones? 4. Are all leaves of the same shape? Group your sample leaves according to their shapes. 5. Are the edges of all leaves the same? Which are notched? Which are plain? What leaves have pointed tips? 6. What leaves are thick? What leaves are thin? Which are fuzzy? Which are smooth? 7. Do the veins of leaves all run the same way? What leaves have parallel veins? In what way do the veins run in the leaves of the rose? the geranium? the maple? the oak? corn? grass? 34 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 8. Do any leaves have an odor? Mention all those you know that have one. Of what use is this odor ? 9. What leaves seem to be made up of several small ones ? 10. Compare the finely divided leaves of the mosses, ferns, and grasses which are found in the forest shade, with the leaves of the larger trees above .them. 11. Do you find very large leaves growing in very shady places ? 12. Notice how different kinds of leaves are arranged on their twigs or branches. Which are in pairs opposite each other ? Which are alternate ? Which grow on the twig so as to form a spiral whorl around it? 13. What is nature's purpose in thus scattering the leaves around on the twigs and branches ? Would it do as well for the leaves all to grow on the same side of the branch ? Why not ? 14. How are the branches placed around the trunk? Is there a purpose in their arrangement ? Where are the largest and healthiest leaves found on a tree ? Why ? 15. Can we tell anything of the condition of the tree by the appearance of its leaves ? When the tree needs water, how do the leaves show it? If the roots are diseased, how do the leaves tell us? 16. Examine many plants and trees to see if there are any leaves on them that the sunshine does not reach during some part of the day between sunrise and sunset. 17. Is the space between the trees of a full-grown orchard a suitable place to plant a garden ? Why ? 18. Are all leaves green ? What is the color of birch leaves ? of table beet leaves? What leaves are variegated? Describe ribbon grass. Mention greenhouse plants whose leaves are are not green. FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 00 Name Each of These Leaves 19. When do most leaves begin to fall? What change takes place in the color of many leaves in the fall of the year ? Do 30 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES frost-bitten leaves have beautiful colors? How do frost- bitten leaves look ? 20. Why is it a good thing that the leaves of most of our trees fall? What would happen to the trees during the winter if they kept all their leaves? In the Province of Alberta, Canada, very few fruit or shade trees are grown, because untimely snows come there so often and are so hea\y that the trees are kept broken down. 21. What trees are best suited to such a condition? Could this trouble be lessened by the right kind of pruning ? 22. Draw or paint different kinds of leaves. Collect autumn leaves. LESSON XVIII STUDY OF TREES— BUDS 1. Examine leaves just before they fall. How does the tree get rid of its leaves ? Examine with a lens a leaf scar where the leaf has been torn off, and one where it has fallen off naturally. How does nature heal the wound in each case? Are there any buds on the twigs when the leaves fall? 2. Where are the new buds? At what time in the fall do these new buds grow most rapidly? Have the new buds anything to do with the falling of the leaves? When are the new buds first formed ? 3. Did all the buds that formed last year grow into leaves this year? Examine many twigs and branches and tell what part of the buds formed last year failed to grow this year. Did those that grew have any advantage over those that did not grow? FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 37 Experiment. — jSIark some buds this fall that you think, will not grow and see in the spring if your judgment was good. 4. Why does not careless hoeing kill the weeds? Pull up several kinds of weeds by the roots, and see if you can tell how low down new buds will grow if the top is cut off ? How will this knowledge aid us in hoeing a garden ? 5. Examine many kinds of buds. How are they covered ? Why are some covered with scales? Why are others fuzzy? Has the bitter gum on some of them any use ? 6. Consider the coverings of buds in relation to insects, frost, rain, snow, and other dangers. LESSON XIX STUDY OF TREES— ROOTS 1. What direction do the roots of a sprouting plant always take? Where are most roots found? 2. Bring to class samples of different kinds of roots. In taking them from the ground, avoid breaking otT the fme hair-like rootlets. Wash the roots clean and examine them with a lens. 3. Compare the roots with the tops of plants. Do roots differ in shape? What roots have a single large part going downward with many small roots growing out from it? This is called a taproot; it may be compared to what kind of tree trunk?" 4. What roots form a bushy mass in ihe soil? These are fibrous roots, and look like the lop of what plants? 5. Do roots have a bark or outer protecting covering :■- 38 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 6. Why are weeds so hard to pull from the garden ? Why is it a good thing for the plant to be held so firmly in the soil by its roots? 7. What happens to a plant if its roots are killed ? What is the chief use of roots to a plant ? Mention other uses of roots. 8. What care should be taken of the roots in setting out trees and shrubs? How should the ground be prepared to receive the roots of trees being transplanted? 9. Why should most of the branches be cut off when a tree is transplanted? Can the roots work as well at first in the new place as in the old one ? 10. How far from a tree or plant have you seen its roots go for food? 1 1 . How deep hiave you seen roots grow downward into the ground ? As stems and leaves often bend toward the light, so roots will grow in the direction of food and water. 12. Have you seen them do this? Where? 13. Which plants have more and longer roots, those grow- ing in marshy places or those growing in a dry or desert place? Compare the total roots of a water cress plant with those of a wheat plant. Account for what you find. On one barley plant, one hundred eighty feet of roots have been measured, and the roots of the sage brush are known to go twenty-five feet downward. The sand covering the roots of a cottonwood tree, near Lake Michigan, has been blown away, leaving the roots bare, and making a great sand dune just beyond. One root, less than an inch in diameter where it leaves the trunk, measures more than eighty feet in length before it reaches a place where it has not been un- covered. It is here more than half an inch in diameter and FOURTH GRADE-FALL WORK 39 may extend as much farther into the sand. Usually, however, roots do not extend far beyond the shade cast by the branches, nor do they go very deep. 14. Look for roots in river banks, washes, and where men are digging foundations, cellars, etc. 15. What insects injure the roots of trees? Describe any you may have seen. 16. Have you seen tree roots that were diseased? Which of the apple tree roots in the illustration is healthy, and which is diseased? How can you tell? THE TREE I love thee when the swelling buds appear, And one by one their tender leaves unfold, As if they knew that warmer suns were near. Nor longer sought to hide from winter's cold; And when with darker growth thy leaves are seen To veil from view the early robin's nest, 40 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES I love to lie beneath thy waving screen, With limbs. by summer's heat and toil oppressed; And when the autumn winds have stripped thee bare, And round thee lies smooth, untrodden snow, When naught is there that made thee once so fair, I love to watch thy shadowy form below. And through thy leafless arms to look above On stars that brighter beam when most we need their love. — Jones Very LESSON XX PLANT RELATIONS TO WATER To THE Teacher. — This lesson should be preceded by a field lesson, or excursion to places where the pupils can see both marsh plants and those that grow in the driest regions accessible to the school. The natural relations and environment of both kinds can thus be studied and samples of plants secured for use in the schoolroom. 1. How do the roots of marsh plants compare with those of desert plants in number? in size? Which are the longer and go down into the soil farther ? Can you give a reason for any of the differences that you find ? 2. Which have many long, fine, dry, tough roots? Which have short, thick, moist, tender roots? Which need the greater amount of roots, marsh or desert plants? A class in one of the schools of the arid west dug up an Indian simflower having only a small top with half a dozen blossoms. The mass of roots extended six feet into the groimd and weighed many times that of the top. 3. Why are the leaves of the dry land plants so often few in number and long, slender, dry, and fuzzy or scaly ? 4. Compare them with water plants and account for the differences. FOURTH GRADE— FALL WORK 41 5. Mention other differences in these two kinds of ).>lants ? Experiment. — Take equal weights of water cress leaves and those of sagebrush. Dry them thoroughly and weigh them again. This will show which kind contains the more water. 7. Mention some plants that use much water. 8. Mention others that need but h'ttle moisture. 9. What features do most water plants have ? 10. Describe in a general way the roots, stems, and leaves of desert plants. 11. Can you tell by the looks of a plant whether it needs much or little moisture? How? 12. What crops grow^ in marshy places? 13. What crops are raised in arid regions? 14. Which of the following plants need much water and which will thrive with but little — rice? corn? rye? celery? cabba.s:e? wheat? LESSON XXI SAGE BRUSH To THE Teacher. — Where sagebrush is not found, choose another shrub or weed growing near the school and have its uses studied in a similar way. Sagebrush is a common plant throughout the western half of the United States, and has done so much for the farmer that its work and nature should be known. 1. Bring samples of sagebrush to class to study. 2. How large is the sagebrush ? What is its shape ? 3. Describe its leaves. What is their size? shape? color? 4. Is their surfa.ee smooth or fuzzy ? Do many leaves grow on one bush? 42 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 5. Is sagebrush an evergreen, or does it shed its leaves in the fall ? 6. Account for the dry, brittle nature of the stem, twigs, and leaves. 7. Note how the fallen leaves collect at the base and mix A Sagebrush Plain with the soil. What effect will this action have, in time, upon the soil of an area covered with a dense growth of sagebrush ? 8. Examine the root. As the great number of small root fibers enter the soil and after doing their work die and decay, what effect will they cause in the soil? 9. Study the seeds. What can you say of their size and number ? How are they scattered ? Do many of them grow ? 10. Does sagebrush grow alone or do the plants grow in great numbers together? 11. How do men clear off sagebrush when they wish to FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 43 cultivate the soil on which it is found? Why can they burn it off more easily than other shrubs? The leaves and seeds of sagebrush are often used for medicine, but the plant's greatest good to man is its enriching of the soil. 12. What other plants help to make soil rich ? 13. What domestic animal uses sagebrush for food? Be- cause of this it is a great source of wealth to whom? 14. W^hy are not the great sagebrush covered plains and hills used for a summer range as well as for a winter range ? FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK LESSON XXII SNOW 1. What conditions indicate the approach of a snow storm ? Consider the wands, the clouds, the temperature, etc. 2. When does the first snow usually come in your vicinity? How long does winter last ? 3. What determines the length of winter in different parts of our country? Experiment. — When it snows, watch the flakes as they fall. Catch them on a cold slate or a dark-colored cloth and examine them with a lens, before they melt. 4. Have the flakes any common shape? Examine the largest and most perfect flakes you can catch. Compare them with hoar frost. 5. Tell how they are formed. Draw several different flakes having different forms. 44 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 6. Where does most snow fall, in the valleys or on the mountains ? Why ? Is this a wise provision ? Why ? 7. Describe how snow accumulates in the mountains. 8. Have you ever seen snow slide off a steep roof? W^hat causes it to do so? 9. Account for snowslides or avalanches in mountainous regions. 10. W^here do they often occur? Why? 11. Describe a snowslide. What harm do snowslides often do to people ? to railroads ? to trees ? 12. When does the snow stored in the mountains melt? At what temperature does snow melt? 13. Where does it never melt? 14. Have you ever seen snow in summer ? 15. When do the snows in the mountams melt most rapidly ? How does this affect the size of the rivers ? 16. If all the snow were to melt as soon as warm weather comes, what harm would result ? 17. What good comes to us because the great deposits of snow melt slowly during much of the year ? 18. What feeds the streams and springs during the sum- mer ? 19. In countries where it never snows, they have a wet and a dry season instead of winter and summer. How do you think their streams compare with ours? Why do the people there often suffer for water? 20. Why do the people who live in the arid regions of the United States always like to see an abundance of snow each winter stored in the mountains? 21. Why are most of the towns there situated near high mountains ? FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 45 22. In time of high water, when the snows meh most rapidly, are the streams clear or muddy? 23. What will be the effect upon the land to irrigate it frequently with this muddy water? Note. — Irrigated land rarely becomes exhausted. New material is added each time it is irrigated. In fact, often the farmers will turn a large muddy stream of water over a poor piece of land, and, as the water spreads over it and sinks downward into the ground, a layer of the richest soil is deposited on the surface. The author has seen soil eighteen inches deep form.ed in this way. LESSON XXIII PREHENSION OF FOOD 1 . Can any animals live long without eating ? 2. Mention different kinds of food that are eaten by different animals. 3. What animals live chiefly upon plants? What plants are raised by man chiefly to feed to animals ? 4. Animals that live upon plants, or herbs, are called herbivorous animals. Make a list of all the herbhorous ani- mals that you know. 5. What animals cannot eat vegetation? Which of these live upon the flesh of other animals? Make a list of those you know. These are called carnivorous animals. 6. What animals live upon insects? Make a list oiinsectiv- orous animals. 7. Name animal foods that grow near the ground; that grow on trees; that are found in the water. 46 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 8. Do any animals find their food in the mud? What animals catch their food in the air? 9. Mention other places where animals find their food. 10. Describe the different ways that animals have of seizing their food and putting it into their mouths. 11. How does man convey his food to his mouth? Could he feed himself without hands ? Describe a babe's efforts in learning to do this. 12. Make a list of all the animals you know that use their hands or fore limbs in the act of eating. Describe their movements in eating. 13. What animals do not use their fore limbs in getting their food? How do they get their food into their mouths? Discuss in detail several common animals in this respect. 14. What does the horse eat when in the wild or natural state? How does he get his food into his mouth? How does a cow do this ? What is the shape of the horse's head ? Where is his mouth? How does the length of his neck correspond with that of his legs? How do all these things enable the horse to feed ? If his legs were as long as those of the giraffe, could he live upon his present kind of food ? What would be the result if the horse's neck were as short as the hog's? 15. How does a horse drink? Can you tell how he makes the water run up his neck ? 16. Tell in like manner how the following animals get their food and eat it, considering the shape of the head, the mouth parts, the ability to reach and seize food, the kinds of food that they eat, and the places and conditions where each kind is found: — the sheep, the cat, the chicken, the duck, the woodpecker, the toad, the fly, the mosquito, and any other animals that you have seen eating. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER \^^ORK 47 17. From what you have seen in the menageries or learned in other ways, tell how the following animals get their food and put it into their mouths: — the elephant, the giraffe, the eagle, the crane, the kingfisher, the alligator, the codfish. 18. Why can sheep "run out" horses and cattle on a range ? Which eat the grass off closer to the ground ? Why ? 19. Could a cat and a rabbit exchange kinds of food and hunting grounds, and survive ? 20. Can you think of a wise purpose in nature for having all these dift'erent animals made so that each kind gets its food in a different way? 21. Can you tell by an animal's mouth parts anything about the kind of food it eats? Explain. LESSON XXIV ADAPTATIONS FOR FOOD GETTING 1. Bring to class the heads and feet of any birds or animals that can be secured without killing them for the purpose. From the fish or game market, specimens may be obtained for study. - 2. Study tame animals at home or stuffed specimens at school to learn of the ways in which different animals are adapted to get their food. Suppose we study the duck and the owl from the samples. 3. What is the food of the wild duck? Where is this food found ? 4. How is a duck's bill adapted to scoop up insect food found in the mud ? Examine carefully the duck's mouth. 5. What is the use of the saw-like teeth? Are they fitted to 48 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES chew food? Have you ever heard a duck "smack his Hps" after probing in the mud for a time ? He seems to be washing the mud out of his mouth and straining the water through his teeth, that the larvcE, or insects, caught in the mud may not escape. 6. Why does not water wet the duck's feathers? Compare them with the feathers of the owl. Have you seen ducks preening their feathers? They cover them with oil which makes them waterproof. 7. Do ducks make much noise in flight? Would a noise frighten away their food? Is the color of the duck's feathers of any advantage? 8. Describe the duck's feet. How do they aid the duck when hunting for food ? Can the duck see when his head is under water? 9. Why is his body boat-shaped? Why are the legs so short and placed so far toward the rear of the body ? 10. Compare the movements of a duck on land, in water, and in the air. 11. Why do ducks need to swim and dive well? Do they spend much time on the land? Why are ducks good flyers? 12. Do wild ducks migrate? How and where do they rear their young? 13. Are they ever hunted for sport? During what months? Why? 14. Tell what you know of the habits of tame ducks. What do they eat? 15. Is the owl a useful or a harmful bird? What is his food? 16. When does the owl search for his food? Describe his eyes. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 49 17. Describe the beak of the owl. How is it adapted to aid him in getting his food? 18. Describe the owl's feathers. Why are they so soft and fluffy? Is his flight noisy or silent? How does this aid him in getting his food? 19. Is the owl's color any advantage ? 20. Tell how the owl's feet help him in securing his prey. Would the duck's feet serve the owl's needs ? 21. How may the head and feet of a bird tell us what he eats? 22. Examine ah the specimens before the class, and tell what kind of food each animal eats as shown by its mouth parts, its feet, and other parts of its body. LESSON XXV THE SKELETON 1. What animals have soft, fleshy bodies without any bones ? Make a list of all such animals that you know. 2. Describe their movements. Do they run fast or crawl slowly? Do any of them fly? Do any swim? How do they contrive to move? 3. What animals have a hard, bony covering on the outside? Make a list of those that you know. Arc their movements quick or slow? Describe the movements of several of them. 4. What animals have a bony skeleton within their bodies? Make a list of those that you know. Compare their mo\'e- ments with those of the other two kinds. How do these animals contrive t() move? 50 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Experiment i. — Bend your arm slowly at the elbow, and answer the following questions from your own observations: 5. What muscle makes the arm bend at the elbow ? We call this the biceps muscle. How does this muscle act to cause this motion? If there were no bones in the forearm, could the movement be made in this way? How are the bones of the forearm joined to the one in the upper arm? This kind of joint is called a hinge joint. Why is it so called ? Could this motion be made if there wxre no joint at the elbow ? Does the biceps muscle have to shorten much to move the hand as far as it can go ? Explain why this is. What muscle straightens the arm? It is called the triceps muscle. Describe its action. 6. How many movements can be made with a hinge joint ? 7. Are all the joints hinge joints? Name all the hinge joints that you can find in your body. 8. How many kinds of movements can be made at the shoulder? Is this a hinge joint? Movement in many directions is secured by a hall and socket joint. The upper end of the arm bone is round like a ball, and fits into a socket in the end of the shoulder blade. 9. Can you find another ball and socket joint in your body ? 10. What kind of joints have we at the knee? at the wrist? at the hip? at the knuckles? 11. How do the bones aid in the movements at these joints ? 12. Do swift animals have long and slim bones, or short and thick ones? Why? Compare a race horse with a draft horse; a deer with an ox; a hawk with a hen. FOURTH GRADE -WINTER WORK 51 13. Are all the bones in the body used in causing motion ? What is the use of the bones of the skull ? of the ribs ? of the bones of the face? of the backbone? How many different uses have the bones of our bodies ? Experiment 2. — Place a slender bone in weak muriatic acid anri another in a hot fire for a time, and note the effects. The acid will dissolve the lime, or mineral matter, out of one bone, and the fire will burn all the gristle, or animal matter, out of the other. The first can then be bent or even tied in a knot, while the latter is very brittle. 14. Why may a child fall many times without breaking a bone, while an aged person is so apt to break one in falling ? 15. Why do bones need to be tough in childhood and rigid in old age? What gives toughness to the bones? What makes them hard and rigid? 16. At what time in life are bones most easily bent and made to grow in a wrong shape? Would it injure an old person as much as it would a young child to sit long in a wrong position ? 17. Should a baby be urged to walk when very young? Why not? Should small children in school sit on a seat so high that their feet will dangle? What may result from this error in time? 18. What will be the result if children wear shoes or clothes that are too tight? How are the feet of Chinese women deformed? Could this be done in old age ? Why? Some savage tribes think a flat forehead and a sloping head beautiful, and place their infants' heads in an angle between two boards that are fastened together at one end, in such a way as to flatten the forehead and back of the head, making a sharp point or edge at the crown. 19. Could the shape of a man's head be changed so easily ? 52 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES LESSON XXVI HEAT— TEMPERATURE SENSE Experiment. — Get three vessels of water — one very cold, one very warm, and one temperate (about 70°). Place the right hand in the warm water and the left hand in the cold water. Keep them there for a few minutes. Take the hand from the warm water and place it quickly into the temperate water. How does the latter feel to it? Next take the other hand from the cold water and place it in the temperate water. How does it feel to this hand ? 1. One hand says that the temperate water is cold; the other hand says that it is warm. Which hand tells the truth? Explain. 2. Notice carefully what takes place with each hand during this experiment. When the hand was placed in the hot water, what happened to the heat in that hand ? When it was taken from the hot water and placed in the temperate water, did it lose or gain heat? Did the other hand lose or gain heat when placed in the ice water? in the temperate water ? 3. When heat is going out of. our bodies, how do we feel? When it is entering our bodies, how do we feel ? 4. How might a good closed barn feel to a man who had ridden a long distance in a blizzard? How would the same barn feel to a man who had just left a warm fire? 5. Give other examples where the same temperature might be described as both cold and warm. 6. Can we always judge temperature accurately? What instrument do we use to do this? FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 53 LESSON XXVII HEAT— SENSE TRAINING To THE Teacher. — Perform the following experiment in the class and continue as long as necessary the training of the temperature sense. It will soon become quite accurate. Let the pupils feel and judge the tempera'ture of a vessel of water 150° F. Add cold water until it is 130° F. and let them judge again. Continue reducing the temperature 20° at a time, letting the pupils feel of it and judge each time, verifying each judgment with a thermometer. In like manner begin with ice water and raise its temperature 20*^ af a time by adding boiling water. Let the pupils feel and judge the tem- perature each time and verify as before. Repeat the experiment each day for a time, first changing the tem- perature only 10° at a time, then only 5°; until the pupils learn to judge with considerable accuracy the temperature of liquids. 1. Of what value is our temperature sense to us ? 2. In what ways does it guard our health ? our life ? 3. From what injuries does it keep us? 4. What things might we swallow or handle that would do us harm but for the pain they cause by burning us ? 5. In what ways is a well-trained temperature sense useful in cooking ? in other kinds of housework ? 6. How is this sense useful to the physician ? 7. What tradesmen need it in their work ? 8. Judge the temperature of the air each time before you look at the thermometer, and learn to tell how cold or warm it is by your own feelings. 9. Which was colder, yesterday or to-day? this week or last, and how much? After judging, look at your record and see how nearly correct you are. 54 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES -100-1 ■80- 60- 40- -20- -0- 20- 40 hOO|2l2 200 « 180 80— -A ■160- 60-140- 120- ■40 •100- -20- ■20- _ _-20 40-40. -80- -60 -40i ho -^32" 20 -0- 212- 32' -0- 40 LESSON XXVIII HEAT— MEASUREMENTS 1. Why do we need a thermometer in the schoolroom? 2. For what does a doctor use one? 3. Why do men sometimes hang ther- mometers among the trees of their orchards ? 4. Did you ever use a thermometer in making candy ? 5. Tell as many uses as you can of the thermometer and why one is needed in each case. Experiment. — Breathe upon the bulb of a ther- mometer, and note what happens. Why does the mercury rise? Place the bulb in cold water. What happens? Explain the action of the thermometer. 6. What other things have we studied that expand with heat and grow smaller with cold? 7. Study the scale on the thermometer. Where is freezing point? blood heat? boiling point? How can you test if these points are correct ? About two centuries ago, a German named Farenheit invented the thermometer most commonly used. He marked the freez- ing point of ice 32° above o, thinking that there was no heat below o. The temperature of our blood he made 98°, and that of boiling water, 212°. Many cheap therrnometers are not made to test the boiling point. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 55 Another method of marking the same temperatures is used in the Centigrade thermometer, which is much easier. The temperature of melting ice is marked o, and that of boiling water, ioo°. These two natural points are easily tested. 8. From the illustration learn to compare the two gradings. How many degrees are there between freezing point and boiling point in the F. thermometer? in the C. thermom- eter ? 9. Which is greater, one degree C. or one degree F. ? How much? LESSON XXIX HEAT— NATURAL SOURCES 1. Where does the earth get most of its heat ? 2. Do we get the same amount of heat from the sun at all times ? What parts of the day are coldest ? warmest ? 3. What part of the year is warmest ? coldest? 4. From what you have already learned, can you give any reasons for the changes in the amount of heat that we get from the sun at different times ? 5. Do we get any heat from the moon ? from the stars ? 6. Where does the snow melt first — on a mountain, or in a valley? Why is there so much more snow on a mountain than in the valley? 7. Why do many people spend the hottest weeks in summer at some mountain resort? 8. What changes in temperature do balloonists tell us take place as they rise higher and higher ? The heat of the sun strikes the earth and collects near its 56 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES surface very much the same as it collects and warms the air on the sunny side of a building in the winter. The further we go from the surface that reflects the heat, the colder it becomes. 9. State one reason, then, why hills and mountains, being above the general surface of the earth, are cooler than the the lower places? 10. Would the thin air of the upper regions hold warmth as well as the heavier air near the ground ? 11. If you lived by the sea and near where a great current of warm water coming from near the equator flows, how do you think that this current might influence the temperature near your home ? The gulf stream is such a current and makes some coun- tries much warmer than they would be without it. 12. Do winds influence temperature? What winds near your home are generally cold ? which are warm ? 1 1 . Are some soils warmer than others ? Experiment. — Take a chalk box filled with sand and another filled with clay dust, and place them in the sun. Both should have the same temperature at first. Test them at intervals with a thermometer. 12. Which draws more heat from the sun, sand or clay? 13. Explain the expressions "burning sands" and "as cold as clay." 14. Why are some soils spoken of as " warm soils ? " W^hich will produce the earlier radishes, sandy soil or clayey soil ? Which kind of soil would a market gardener prefer? 15. Mention all the things you can that influence tempera- ture. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 57 LESSON XXX HEAT-COMBUSTION 1. Does the sun furnish us with all the heat that we need? For what purposes do we need more heat than the sun gives us ? How do we make heat for these needs ? 2. What things are used for fuel? Bring for the school cabinet samples of fuel — coal, coke, wood, charcoal, peat, etc. In some places gas and crude petroleum are used for fuel. Gasoline and alcohol also are sometimes burned to make heat. 3. Which is the most common fuel? Where does the coal burned in your city come from ? What does it cost a ton ? 4. Which makes more heat, wood or coal? Which costs more? 5. Describe making a fire. How is it regulated ? 6. Name all the parts of a common stove. (Recall the work of Lesson 29, Third Grade.) 7. What is needed for a fire besides fuel ? 8. Mention all the different kinds of fuel that you know; describe each kind and tell for what it is used. 9. In what two ways may we fix the amount of heat from a stove or furnace ? If the fire becomes too hot, what do we do ? Why? When it is too low, what do we do? AA'hy? 10. How do Indians and other savage tribes make and use fire ? What fuels do they use ? 11. Which have greater need for heat, civilized or savage people ? 12. Tell many things that we do with artificial heat. 58 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 13. Visit a blacksmith shop, a foundry, a smelter, or other places where great heat is used. 14. Describe the manner of heating the school building. LESSON XXXI HEAT— RELATION TO OXYGEN Experiment. — Pour some limewater into a wide-mouthed bottle and shake it. Do you see any change in the water ? Now carefully lower a piece of lighted candle into the bottle by means of a wire wrapped around it. Cover the mouth of the bottle with the hand until the light goes out. Remove the candle and shake the water again for a few moments. 1. How has the water changed? Why did it not turn milky before ? 2. Has the appearance of the air in the bottle changed ? Note.— This test shows that after the candle went out, the air in the bottle contained something that it did not contain before — a gas called carbon dioxide. This gas is made whenever common fuels are burned. We cannot see it nor smell it, but its power to turn limewater milky is a good means to find out when it is present. 3. Why did the candle go out? 4. Would it have gone out if it had been supplied with a current of fresh air? 5. What becomes of the carbon dioxide made in stoves, grates, etc. ? What would be the effect if this gas were not taken out of our rooms? Note. — Carbon dioxide is made of one part of carbon obtained from the fuel and two parts of oxygen obtained from the air. The union of these two elements produces the heat caused by the fire. 6. What will happen to a fire, then, if the supply of either of these two elements is cut off ? FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 5g 7. Why should the doors and windows of a burning building (except those used by the firemen) be kept closed ? 8. Why may a fire, just starting, be " smothered " by putting over it a quilt, blanket, overcoat, or other covering that may be at hand? 9. Explain ''banking" the fire in a furnace. 10. Will too much fuel ever put out a fire? Will too much air ever put out a flame ? Why ? 11. What condition is necessary before fuel and air will unite so as to make a fire and produce heat? Explain how a fire is started. LESSON XXXII HEAT-FRICTION Experiment. — Rub a brass button upon the sleeve or upon the floor. A stick rubbed with hard pressure in a close-fitting groove will serve the purpose better. 1. What causes the heat produced ? 2. Mention examples of heat being made by rubbing things together. Did you ever see an axle of a wagon get hot because someone had forgotten to oil it? 3. Explain the striking of a match; the "hot box" on a train; the sparks that fly from the brake blocks when a train is being stopped quickly. 4. Is the heat produced by friction ever used by man? Give examples. 5. Is it ever harmful to man ? Give an example. 6. How is friction prevented in machinery? Explain the use of lubricating oil. 6o NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 7. Compare the friction of ball bearings with that of other kinds of bearings. 8. Why do we rub our hands together briskly when they are cold? 9. Explain why the iron break-blocks on heavy freight- cars often get red hot while going down the steep slopes of the Rocky Mountains. LESSON XXXIII HEAT— PERCUSSION Experiment. — Hammer vigorously a penny, or any small, thin piece of metal, on an anvil or large stone. Note the heat produced. Black- smiths often make iron very hot in this way. 1. Have you ever made sparks by striking together two large stones? 2. Explain the old-fashioned way of making a fire with flint and steel. Explain the firing of an old flintlock gun. 3. How is a modern gun fired? How is the heat needed to burn the powder produced ? 4. Give other examples where heat is produced by a blow or shock. Does man often use this method in making heat? How was fire made before we had matches? A pound weight, falling a distance of 772 feet, will make enough heat on striking to raise the temperature of a pound of water one degree. 5. Niagara Falls are 160 feet high. Is there any differ- ence in the temperature of the water at the top and the bottom of the falls ? Why ? 6. Does "whipping" cream or ' beating" eggs change their temperature ? Why ? FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 61 LESSON XXXIV HEAT— ELECTRICITY Experiment. — Turn on the electric light and feel the bulb gradually get warm. What' makes the heat ? 1. Mention other examples of heat coming from electricity. Describe electrical heaters, stoves, flatirons, etc. 2. Are the wires that carry the electricity always hot ? Electricity is turned into heat when it is forced to pass through a wire or other medium that is too small or that resists its passage. 3. Have you ever seen a small wire melted when a large one carrying electricity broke and fell across it ? 4. Lightning is electricity. Have you ever heard of houses, barns, oil tanks, etc., being set on fire by lightning ? 5. Tell of any accidental burnings that you may know of that were caused by electricity. In foundries and other places where steel and iron are made or used, workmen often cut or weld great steel bars by means of heat from an electric current. 6. What marks of heat have you seen on trees or other objects that have been struck by lightning? 7. When persons are killed by lightning, does it ever burn them ? 8. Examine the ''fuse" in a common electric light. \\'hy is it made of lead? 9. If lightning' strikes the electric wires, how does the "fuse" protect our home? 62 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES LESSON XXXV HEAT— CHEMICAL ACTION Experiment i. — Pour some cold water on a little quicklime and watch the action that takes place in a short time. 1. What change takes place in the temperature of the lime ? in the form or condition of the lime ? Experiment 2. — Pour a few drops of sulphuric acid into a little cold water in a test tube, and feel the water grow warmer. 2. Can you tell why it gets warmer ? Experiment 3. — Pour a few drops of the same acid into a mixture of sugar and potassic chlorate. A fire is produced at once. When great changes take place rapidly from putting to- gether two or more substances, heat is often produced. This change is called chemical action, and often takes place so slowly that little or no heat is made. 3. When hay is put into the stack or barn before it gets dry, why does it " heat " and turn black and musty ? 4. Account for the steaming of a damp manure pile and its heat, which often melts the snow as fast as it falls upon it. Decay is a chemical action and when rapid often creates heat. 5. Have you ever heard of a barn or store burning from this cause? 6. Have you ever seen a pile of damp clothes that had become warm after lying for a long time without being moved ? Give examples of heat caused by decay, molding, or by other chemical action. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 63 LESSON XXXVI HEAT— EXPANSION OF SOLIDS Experiment i. — Take a small round bottle and twist a fine wire around it so tightly that the loop will hold up the bottle. Now remove the loop and heat it red hot in the lamp flame and it will allow the bottle to slide through it with ease while the wire remains hot. 1. Explain the action of heat in this experiment. Give other examples where you have seen heat cause solids to expand. 2. How are wagon tires " set" by blacksmiths ? 3. Why do we heat the neck of a bottle when the glass stopper refuses to come out ? 4. Why is a small space left between the ends of rails on a railroad track ? Think of other examples of this law. 5. The author once saw a railroad station burned. During the fire the tracks in front of the burning building rose grad- ually many feet into the air. What do you think caused them to do this? 6. How may the amount of expansion of a solid by heat be measured ? Study carefully the piece of apparatus shown on the next page and make one like it in the manual training room. 7. How will the expansion of the wire move the short end of the index finger ? How will it move the long end ? How^ will the distance one moves compare with that of the other ? 8. Suppose the short end of the index finger is half an inch and the other five inches long, how will their res])ect- ive movements compare? How will this tell us the amount the wire has lengthened? 64 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES / __^^ ^^^^^^^^m ^ ^^p I^T^^I^^H Measuring Expansion Due to Heat A heavy, horizontal wire is fastened at one end to an upright post, and passes through a loop at the other end, where it presses against the short end of an index finger. The long end of the finger moves over a graduated arc. The wire may be heated by moving an alco- hol lamp to and fro under it. Experiment 2. — Fasten firmly to a strong frame, as shown in the cut, several strips of different metals as iron, copper, zinc, etc. Place them on a hot radiator or stove, or in a vessel of boiling water, in such a way that all the strips will receive the same amount of heat. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 65 9. Do you think the same amount of heat will expand all metals equally? 10. What change does the heat produce in the strips? Explain it. 11. Which metal expands most? LESSON XXXVII HEAT— EXPANSION OF LIQUIDS AND GASES Experiment i. — Fill a Florence flask full of water and close the mouth with a cork through which passes a long glass tube. Heat the water in the flask and it will begin to rise in the tube, and may be made to overflow. 1. What effect has the heat upon the volume of water in the flask ? 2. Recall the action of the thermometer and its causes. 3. Why does a teakettle boil over ? 4. Think of other examples where heat causes liquids to expand. Experiment 2. — Arrange an empty flask as in the last experiment, but with the upper end of the glass tube bent and placed under water. Apply heat and notice the bubbles of air leaving the flask. Remove the hrat, and, as the flask cools, observe that the water will be sucked back into it. 5. Explain the eft'ect of heat in this experiment. Can you think of any use that is made of this principle ? Experiment 3 (for the teacher).— Take a piece of small glass tubing about two inches long and close one end by heating it in the alcohol lamp. When cold, pour a few drops of water into the tube and seal the other end in the same way, taking care to hold it so that the water will remain away from the end while being heated. Suspend the tube in 66 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES the flame of the lamp and place a pane of glass between it and the class. In a few minutes the tube will burst with a loud report and small pieces of glass will be thrown in all directions. 6. Explain the action of the heat in this experiment. 7. What use is made of this great expansive force of steam? What dangers does it often cause? 8. What actions in nature are no doubt due to this cause ? LESSON XXXVIII HEAT— CONDUCTION Experiment i. — Take three wires of equal size — one of iron, one of brass, and the other of copper — and twist them together at one end into a common stem. Separate the other ends and fasten them as shown in the illustration. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 67 On each wire, at equal distances from the stem, place small balls (jf wax. Now heat the stem and note the order in which the wax bails melt. 1. Where does the heat come from that melts the balls ? 2. Through what does the heat travel to reach the balls? How do you know that the heat does not travel through the air? 3. Which ball melted first? second? third? W^hat effect had the distance of the ball from the heat upon its time of melting ? 4. Why did not all the balls that were the same distance from the flame melt at the same time? 5. Which wire carried (conducted) the heat fastest? 6. The heat traveled slowest in which wire ? That which carries, or conducts, heat fast is called a good conductor of heat. What would be a poor conductor ? 7. Which of the three wires is the best conductor of heat ? Which is the poorest conductor ? 8. Are all solids conductors of heat? Experiment 2. — ^Pierce a card with a wire nail and a splint of wood of the same size and length. Lay the card 'over a cup of boiling water so that the greater length of the nail and the splint will be in the water. Place a wax ball on the upper end of each and note which ball will begin to melt first. 68 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 9. How do wood and iron compare as conductors of heat? Why is wood called a non-conductor of heat ? 10. Mention good conductors of heat. Make a list of them. Name as many uses of good conductors as you can. 11. Mention some poor conductors of heat. Make a list of them. 12. Why are handles of pokers, oven doors, teakettles, flat- irons, etc., made of wood or of coiled wire ? 13. Would a lumber box filled with hot water or steam serve to heat a room as well as an iron radiator ? Why ? 14. Why are steam boilers and pipes often covered with asbestos? Experiment 3. — Make two snowballs of equal size. Wrap one of them in cotton cloth and the other in woolen cloth of the same thickness. Put them both on the radiator, or in some warm place side by side, and see which will melt first. 15. Which is the better conductor of heat, wool or cotton ? Why? 16. Which is used more in winter clothing? for summer wear ? 17. Explain how our winter animals are kept warm by the coats nature g* ves them. LESSON XXXIX HEAT— PHYSICAL CHANGES Heat is a wonderful power and brings about many strange results when used upon different things. Mention as many FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 69 different effects of heat upon different things as you can. Here are a few: I — Heat Softens 1. 'What things are softened by heat? Which get soft by gentle heat ? Which take a great amount of heat to soften ? 2. What use does the blacksmith make of this law of heat? 3. What things in our homes do we make soft with heat? What is the effect of heat upon most of our foods ? 4. Is this action of heat ever harmful to us? Is any thing ever damaged by it ? II — Heat Melts 1. Make a list of things that will melt when heated. 2. Which of these things will melt if left in the sun ? 3. Which will take the heat of a furnace to melt them ? 4. Do you know of any solids that cannot be melted ? Name some. 5. Name many ways in which this power of heat is used. 6. What things sometimes melt when we do not want them to melt? Ill — Heat Vaporizes 1. What becomes of water spilt on a hot stove? Does water ever disappear with gentler heat? 2. What other things are turned to vapor by heat? Make a list of these. 3. What is the most important use made by man of this power of heat ? Most of the coal burned in the world is used to make steam. 70 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 4. What accidents sometimes happen from vapor caused by heat? 5. Does heat ever turn things to vapor to man's injury? IV — Heat Toughens 1. Mention things that are made tougher by heat, 2. Compare burned and unburned bricks. Which are tougher ? 3. How is glass annealed, or made so it will not break easily ? 4. How is iron made into steel ? V — Heat Hardens 1. Give examples of the hardening effects of heat. 2. What foods get hard with too much cooking ? 3. Why is pottery ware burned ? 4. Is heat used in tempering steel ? 5. How is the hard glazing put on earthenware ? 6. Mention any other uses of heat in the kitchen; in the laundry; in the factory; in the foundry; in the garden; in the field, the forest. LESSON XL EVAPORATION To THE Teacher. — Preparing the experiments may take the entire time of the first recitation period. Several lessons may then be given in considering the results of the experiments, making inferences, and apply- ing the principles discovered. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 71 1. Why does a teakettle boil dry? What becomes of the water ? 2. Explain the drying of muddy roads; of sprinkled streets; of wet clothing on the line. Experiment i. — Put equal quantities of water into two similar vessels; place one of these in a cool place and the other upon the stove or radia- tor. Allow them to remain there several hours. 3. Which vessel has lost the more water? Why? 4. Give several examples of evaporation caused by heat. 5. How do we use heat to dry things in our homes ? 6. How are clothes dried at the laundry ? 7. Give examples of heat used to hasten evaporation in manufacturing and other industries. 8. Compare the moisture seen in nature in cold and in hot weather. When are the roads muddy? When are they dusty? When do weeds and grass die of drought? When does the dew on the grass disappear ? Why ? 9. When is evaporation a good thing? When does it do harm? Experiment 2. — Place two equal vessels of water where they will have the same temperature, covering one so that the air cannot reach it, and exposing the other to air currents. 10. In which vessel is evaporation most rapid? Why? 11. Why do we wave a wet handkerchief when we are try- ing to dry it? Do clothes on the line dry on a calm day as fast as they do in the wind? 12. What effect has the wind upon muddy roads ? 13. In the arid regions, why do the farmers dislike a wind just after irrigating their crops? y2 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 14. What is the effect of the wind upon our hands and faces if we are out in it long ? (See Lesson 28,Third Grade.) 15 Give other examples of air currents causing evapo- ration. Experiment 3. — Place the same amount of water in each of two vessels, one being shallow, like a saucer, exposing a large surface to the air, and the other narrow and deep, exposing only a small surface to the air. Keep both at the same temperature and note from which the evaporation will be the more rapid. 16. What effect has the amount of surface exposed to the air upon the rate of evaporation ? 1 7 . Why are wet clothes hung on a line ? 18. Why is hay allowed to lie several days after being cut before it is raked and piled and placed in a stack or a barn ? 19. Why are haycocks often scattered after a rain? 20. Why are bottles containing liquids generally corked ? 21. What three conditions hasten evaporation? 22. Describe many examples of where one or more of these three conditions are used to cause evaporation. 23. Describe a fruit evaporator and explain how it works. 24. What things do we keep moist by preventing evapora- tion? Give examples. 25. When plants are suffering for water, what is gained by the leaves curling together ? LESSON XLI EVAPORATION— (Continued) I. Do other liquids than water evaporate? Mention some that do. FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 73 2. What liquids evaj^orate rapidly '^ 3. Which evaporate slowly or not at all ? 4. Do any solids evaporate, or decrease in size and weight, when left exposed to the air or sunshine ? Give examples. 5. Is this shrinkage due to the evaporation of water con- tained in the solid, or does the solid itself disappear ? 6. If these solids are put in a damp place, will they regain any of their lost size or weight ? Note. — Few solids evaporate. Most of them contain water which may be drawn off by heat, etc., leaving them smaller and lighter, but they never dry away entirely as do most liciuids. 7. Does ice or snow ever disappear without melting first? Do clothes frozen on the line ever dry without thawing first ? Experiment. — Put equal quantities of water, alcohol, turpentine petroleum, honey, oils of various kinds, or any other liquids easily ob- tained, into vessels where conditions for influencing evaporation will be equal, and find out their difference in rate of evaporation. A drop of each liquid placed on a clean pane of glass to evaporate will serve the purpose fairly well. 8. Make a list of the liquids tested, writing first the ones that evaporate most rapidly. 9. Which would dry first, a coat of paint or varnish mixed with alcohol, or with turpentine, or with linseed oil ? Why ? 10. Why do painters call turpentine or alcohol a "dryer?" 11. Would oils that evaporate be good to use in oiling machinery? Why? 12. If water and alcohol are mixed and gently heated, which will pass off as vapor first ? Why ? 13. In roasting rneats, how do we prevent the juices from evaporating ? 74 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 14. Why is perfume kept in bottles having ground glass stoppers ? 15. What liquids are valuable because they evaporate quickly ? 16. What liquids are valuable because they do not evaporate quickly ? LESSON XLII CONDENSATION Experiment i. — Hold a slate or any cold surface in the steam of a tea kettle, or breathe, upon a cold window pane. 1. What do you observe on the cold surface ? 2. Where does it come from? 3. What change takes place in the temperature of the vapor as it touches the cold surface ? 4. Why does a pitcher of ice water "sweat" after standing for a while in a warm room? 5. Observe carefully the stream of vapor as it issues from the teakettle, and note that it cannot be seen at the mouth but becomes visible a short distance from it. Why is this? Experiment 2. — Place the flame of an alcohol lamp in the visible steam and explain why the steam becomes in\dsible at that point. 6. What change takes place in the temperature of the vapor as it mingles with the air? as it touches a cold surface? as the flame touches it? 7. Account for the moisture often seen on window panes in the winter. Why is it not seen there so often in summer? 8. If this moisture on the window should freeze, as FOURTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 75 it condenses there, what would be formed on the window? 9. On which side of the window is the frost formed ? Why ? 10. In the summer time, which gets cold first after the sun sets, stones, earth, etc., or grass and other plants? Explain how dew may be formed and on what things it is formed. 11. If dew should freeze as fast as it gathers, what would be formed? 12. Apply the thought in this lesson to the formation of clouds; of rain; of fog; of mist. 13. Mention many examples of condensation and its uses in nature and to man. LESSON XLIII WORK FOR THE FROST 1. When water freezes, where are the first ice crystals formed ? Examine some with a lens and describe them. 2. Show by means of a drawing how they form a network on the surface until a crust of ice is made. 3. Why does ice form on the surface of water ? 4. What makes it float ? About what part of a piece of ice will remain above the surface ? Test it. 5. What would be some of the results if ice were heavier than water? 6. What happens to a pitcher when water freezes in it? 7. What causes water pipes to burst sometimes in very cold weather ? 8. What do these things tell us about the space a given amount of water occupies before and after freezing ? 7 6 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 9. Is this an explanation of why ice floats on water ? 10. Why are water mains laid about four feet deep in the ground ? 1 1 . How deep does the prairie dog dig his winter home ? Experiment. — Dig holes in the frozen ground in several places and find out how deep the frost penetrates in the different kinds of soil and report in the class. 12. In what kinds of soil does the frost go deepest ? 13. When the frost comes out of the ground in the spring, in what condition does it leave the soil ? 14. Why is frost sometimes called "nature's plowman?" 15. When does the farmer do most of his plowing? Is the ground as easily plowed at other seasons as in the spring? 16. Compare the work of digging in the garden at different seasons of the year. When is it easiest ? Why ? 17. What plants are liable to be hurt by late frosts in the spring ? How may they be protected ? 18. Why are tomato and cabbage plants often started in a greenhouse and afterward transplanted to the garden, es- pecially in the northern states ? 19. What fruit crops are sometimes killed by untimely frosts ? 20. Discuss the good and bad effects of frost upon various things, and methods used to keep it from doing damage. FOURTH GRADE -SPRING WORK 7 7 FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORT' V The year's at the spring And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hillside's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn; God's in his heaven — All's right with the world! — Robert BROvraiNG. LESSON XLIV THE WEATHERING OF ROCKS 1. If the frost softens and loosens the soil, does it have any effect upon the rocks? 2. Have you ever seen stone doorsteps, window sills, or copings that seemed to be scaling or softening on the outside? Where? Account for the change noted. 3. Strike with a hammer any stone that has been exposed many years to the weather. Does the outer layer seem to be as hard as the inner part? 4. When on a field trip, notice whether large rocks show any effects of the action of weather upon them, and report observations. Experiment.— Weigh carefully a piece of dry sandstone. Soak it in water over night and account for any change in its weight. Examnie the wet stone with a lens. 5. What effect upon the grains of sand in it, would you expect if this stone were frozen ? 78 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 6. If water, in freezing, expands so as to burst a water pitcher or an iron pipe, how will it act among the grains of sand forming the sandstone? 7. How in nature may stones become wet in the daytime and freeze at night? 8. What effect will this weathering of rocks have upon the shape of cliffs and mountain peaks, as it keeps on for ages? 9. Why have the stone pyramids kept their shape for so many centuries in the deserts of Egypt ? 10. What becomes of the sand and dirt thus torn loose by the action of weather? 11. When are our streams muddiest ? Why ? 12. When the snows on the mountain sides melt during the day and fill with water the crevices in the rocks, what will happen when this water freezes at night ? 13. Where do the sharp cornered bits of stone come from that are found near the base of most mountain cliffs? How do they get there? LESSON XLV EROSION OF ROCKS Experiment. — Neariy fill a strong bottle with pebbles that have been washed perfectly clean. Add clear water to cover them. Cork tightly and shake vigorously before the class for one minute by the watch. The water will then be quite muddy, unless the pebbles are very hard. 1. What made the water muddy or turbid? Where did the dirt in it come from ? 2. How may we find out just how much dirt was worn ofif in one minute by the pebbles rubbing against each other? FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 79 Complete the experiment by passing the water through a filter paf t. that has been carefully weighed. Then dry it and weigh it again lo find how much dirt it has caught. 3. What would be the condition of the water if the shaking were continued an hour? a day? What effect would it have upon the pebbles? 4. Are rocks ever ground in nature in a similar way ? 5. What proof of such wearing, or erosion, have we in the shape of most pebbles ? Note. — Some of the toy marbles used by the boys in their play each spring are made from stones in a marble mill. The stones are first broken into small cubes and a quantity of them placed in a steel cylinder, which is made to revolve on its axis day and night while a small stream of water passes in and out again. In this manner the edges and corners are gradually worn away and the cubes become spheres. When polished, they are ready for market. A miniature mill of this kind may be made by using a large glass bottle to contain the pebbles and attaching it to a small water wheel in such a way that it will revolve by the force of the water from the faucet at the sink. LESSON XLVI CONSTITUENTS OF SOIL 1. Examine, with a lens, samples of different kinds of soil. 2. Do all the particles seem to be of the same kind of material? Describe them as to shape, size, color, kinds, etc. 3. Which do you think are good soils? Which are poor? Give reasons for your judgment. 4. Can you think of a way of separating the dift'erent kinds of materials, or the constituents, that make up the soils? 8o NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 5. How can we get rid of the sticks, leaves, etc. — the vegetable matter? Experiment i — Weigh four ounces or 100 grams of good soil that has been thoroughly dried. If possible, heat it red hot in some suitable vessel. Cool it and weigh again. The loss in weight will be the vegetable matter burned in heating it. 6. Are all the remaining particles of the same size ? 7. How may these be separated ? Fourth Grade Pupils Analyzing Soil — Utah State Normal Training School Experiment 2. — Pass the sample through a sieve made of ordinary screen wire. (See Book I, page 161.) This will take out the gravel. Weigh it carefully. Pass the remainder through a sieve made of fine brass wire cloth. This will separate the coarse sand. Weigh this also. Put the fine dust remaining into a beaker, and wash it very carefully until the water becomes clear. In changing the water, let the fine sand FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 8 1 settle each time before pouring off tl. j turbid water which takes away the clay. Drain off the water when it becomes clear, and dry and weigli the fine sand left in the bottom of the beaker. 8. How may the weight of the clay be found ? 9. Compare the amount of clay and sand; of gravel and fine sand. Write the results of this experiment. 10. Which of the samples of soil has most sand ? Which has most clay? 11. Where does the soil get its gravel? its sand? its clay? 12. How do leaves and sticks get mixed with it ? LESSON XLVII NATURE OF SOIL MATERIALS Exprriment i. — Take three chalk boxes and fill one with sand, one with clay, and one with good garden loam, all having the same temperature. Place them side by side in the sunshine, and test the temperature of each at intervals. 1 . Which absorbs heat most rapidly from the sun ? 2. Which absorbs least ? 3. Do plants grow best in warm or cold soils ? 4. The sand in the soil has what influence upon its heat? 5. Does the sand add to the heat of the desert ? 6. For early gardening would you prefer a sandy or a clayey soil? Why? 7. Which are called " warm " soils ? Why ? Experiment 2. — Take several lamp chimneys and tie a piece of muslin over their ends to retain their contents. Fill one with sand, one with clay, and one with loam. Various samj.lcs of soil may be tested at the same time. Stand them upright in a pan containing half an inch of water. (See Illustration, page 82.) 82 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Experiment 2 8. Which absorbs water most rapidly? most slowly? 9. Where will rain penetrate deeper, in sandy or clayey soil ? Which will cause the rain to run off ? 10. Why are sand and gravel used on walks and roads to prevent mud? 11. What two things, needed by plants, does sand absorb into the soil? Experiment 3. — Place like amounts of wet sand and wet clay in the sun, or upon a warm stove, and see which will dry first. 12. The power of clay to retain moisture is of what value to soil? 13. Why does good soil need to have nearly equal amounts of sand and clay ? What good does each do ? 14. What is the result if the soil has too much sand? too much clay? 15. Can you tell good soils by their looks ? LESSON XL VIII THE SCHOOL GARDEN To THE Teacher. — Since most schools close by the first of June for a long vacation, a school garden can never accomplish for the pupils more than a fraction of the good that would otherwise come from it. Generally there is a disappointment to both teacher and pupils on leaving it that is relieved only by the joy of a vacation. FOURTH GRADE— SPRTX(; WORK 83 In the development of the race, agriculture played a \ery imj)ortanl part psychically as well as physically, and the child now shoukl n(jt be so wholly deprived of its benefits as he seems to be under modern conditions. Some work, therefore, should be done, and with a natural motive, by each pupil; and fortunate is the one who can complete the season's work in a home garden and gather the ripened psychic harvest with the other. A few early flowering plants and some early garden vegetables, such as radishes, lettuce, young onions, etc., may mature sufhciently before vaca- tion for the products to be gathered and used; and if the janitor, or some other person, can be secured to care for the garden during the summer, crops of late vegetables and fruits may be enjoyed by the children after school begins in the fall. In the hope that some of the principles of agriculture may be discovered and applied, the following simple problems are suggested for the pupils to work out in the school garden. Many recitation periods should be spent in the garden. When spring changes begin, the Natural History Calendar should 1)6 resumed in order to stimulate observation and to secure data and speci- mens that may be needed. Weeds 1. How do weeds get into the garden ? Recall the work done on the scattering of seeds. (See Book I, pp 141-145.) 2. To what extent are weed seeds found in the soil in early spring? Test samples of soil and find out if they contain weed seeds. How may this be done ? 3. How can weeds in the garden be prevented next year? What work must be done, and what precautions taken to keep the weeds out of the garden ? 4. In hoeing weeds, why must they be cut off as low as possible in the ground? Why will not mowing or cutting olT the top kill them? 5. In what ways are weeds harmful in the garden? Allow some to grow among the useful plants and see. 84 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 6. Are weeds of any use in nature ? 7. Write a list of all the common weeds you know, and tell how their seeds are scattered. 8. How may each kind best be destroyed or prevented? LESSON XLIX THE SCHOOL GARDEN— (Continued) I. — Planting 1. Plant the same kind of seeds at various times, care well for them all and see which produce the best crops. Keep a careful record of the dates, conditions, and results during all experiments. 2. Plant similar seeds at different depths and note results. 3. Plant seeds at various distances and determine the amount of room that different plants require. 4. Of what value to the farmer is it to know the best time in which to plant his different crops? What may happen if he plants too early? too late? Give examples of injury to crops through not having been planted at the proper time. 5. If seeds are planted too deep, what may be the result? If not planted deep enough, what harm may it cause? 6. Why should a farmer know just how much seed to plant to an acre ? If seed is planted too thick, what harm is done ? What is lost if not enough seed is planted ? 7. Why do fields of sugar beets always have to be " thinned " early in the spring, leaving the young beets a uniform dis- tance apart? 8. Plant two kinds of seeds together, as corn and squash, FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 85 and find out if this is true economy. Docs cither interfere with the other and make a poor crop? II. — Irrigation • 1 . What crops require much moisture ? 2. What crops grow well with little water ? 3. Supply different rows of plants in the garden with different amounts of water, and find out which are benefited by getting more water than falls as rain. 4. Does it always rain when crops need moisture ? 5. If plants suffer long for moisture, will they ever revive and become as vigorous and strong as though they had received all the time the water that they needed? 6. Tell what you know of the efTects of a drought. III. — Rotation of Crops « 1. Does the same crop thrive as well when grown year after year on the same land? 2. Can you think of any reason why it should not ? 3. If you can, ask some skilled farmer what would be the result of planting the same crop for several years in succession on a given field. 4. Do the same wild plants grow and thrive year after year in the same place? Which do? Which do not? Give a reason for what you have observed about wild plants in this regard. 5. Do farmers near your school change their crops each year? 6. What do the farmers do to make the soil rich and fertile ? Why is this needful ? 86 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES IV — Effects of Various Conditions 1. How do plants behave when it is very hot? Do any die because of the heat in summer? 2. How does very cold weather serve them? Describe the effects of a frost upon the plants in the garden. How does a cold, damp, backward season affect the garden ? Do seeds ever rot in the ground because of cold weather? Examine seeds planted early and see if any decay without sprout- ing. 3. Find out by experimenting in the garden what harm too much shade does to plants. Compare similar plants grown in sunshine and in shadow. 4. In one place in the garden, prepare carefully the soil for planting; and in another place, plant the same seeds with- out loosening the soil. Discover the difference in results. 5. Keep some plants carefully hoed or cultivated and. compare with others of the same kind that are neglected. 6. Uncommon seeds, or those grown in other lands, may be planted and studied. V— Trees 1. If the garden is large enough to contain trees, tell which are pruned so as to have good shape. 2. Describe how small trees are transplanted. What care should be taken of the roots in digging up a tree ? In setting it out ? Why ? 3. Describe how fruits are gathered, packed, and shipped. 4. Name the different fruits seen at the market and tell where each kind comes from. 5. What kinds have you seen growing ? FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 87 6. What insects do harm to trees? What are their natural enemies ? 7. Why are fruit trees sometimes sprayed? Describe how this is done. Tell why it is done. LESSON L GOD'S MIRACLE OF MAY There came a message to the vine, A whisper to the tree; ' The bluebird saw the secret sign And merrily sang he! And like a silver string the brook Trembled with music sweet — Enchanting notes in every nook For echo to repeat. A magic touch transformed the fields, Greener each hour they grew, Until they shone like burnished shields All jeweled o'er with dew. Scattered upon the forest floor, A million bits of bloom Breathed fragrance forth thro' morning's door Into the day's bright room. Then inch by inch the vine confessed The secret it had heard. And in the leaves the azure breast Sang the delightful word; Glad flowers upsprang among the grass And flung their banners gay, And suddenly it came to pass — God's Miracle of May! — Fr.\nk Dempster Sherman.* *By courtesy of the author's publishers, Messrs. Houghton Mitllin Company. 88 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES STUDY OF BUDS 1. Recall work done on buds in Lesson i8. 2. Collect twigs of many kinds and place them in a bottle of water in a sunny window of the schoolroom; watch the development of the buds. 3. Name and describe the different varieties of buds. 4. Learn to recognize each variety at sight. 5. Note the winter protection of each kind. 6. Which buds contain leaves? Which contain flowers? How can you tell a leaf bud from a flower bud ? How may this knowledge prove to be of great value. 7. Are the leaves of all buds folded within the buds in the same way? 8. Which generally burst first, th*e leaf buds or the fruit buds? Have you ever seen an orchard in bloom? Are many leaves to be seen at that time ? 9. Why should fruit buds open first ? 10. Do all the buds formed in the fall grow in the spring? (See Experiment, Lesson 18.) 1 1 . What advantage do the buds that grow have over those that do not grow, or that lie dormant} Consider position, sunshine, size of buds, etc. 12. Can the dormant buds be made to grow? Experiment. — From a thrifty twig having dormant buds, cut off all the active buds when they are nearly grown. Watch the effect upon the dormant buds. 13. Of what use to the tree are the dormant buds? When may they be made to grow? Note. — One spring the tender young leaves of a large mulberry tree near the door of a certain schoolhouse were all killed by a severe frost. The teacher and pupils feared that this would kill the tree. In a few FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 89 days, however, all were delighted to see a new covering of leaves on the tree as heavy as the first had been. 14. Where did the second growth come from ? 15. Many years ago most of the orchards in the arid west were stripped of all their foliage by the common grasshojjper, or locust, leaving the branches and young fruit entirely bare. What do you think happened to the orchard a few weeks later ? 16. Dormant buds are like a reserve army, called into action only when needed to meet a danger. Explain the wisdom of this provision. LESSON LI RELATION OF BIRDS TO TREES 1. What birds have you seen in trees? Make a list of them. Consult your Natural History Calendar. 2. What birds rarely or never perch upon limbs of trees ? 3. Are the feet of all birds adapted for perching u]:)on trees? Describe the feet of different birds that you have seen. 4. Compare the feet of the robin, the woodpecker, and the duck, and tell how each one's feet are made to fit best its needs. 5. What foods do these birds eat? Arc these foods found in trees? 6. Compare the beaks of these different birds and tell how each is adapted to the needs of its owner. 7. Tell what you can about the feet and beaks and foods of any of the birds found near the school. 90 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Doing a Double Service 8. Where do birds build their nests? What birds build them in trees ? Describe any nests that you have seen built. 9. Have you ever seen old birds feed their young ? What do they bring to the nest to feed the young ? 10. How does this habit of the birds bene- fit man? Does it ever =• injure man? A young bird will sometimes eat its own weight of food in a day. Experiment. — If the nest of a robin or of any of our songsters can be found near the school, watch it all day after the young are hatched and count how many times the old birds bring food to the nest. (Each mem- ber of the class may take a turn at the work, beginning at daylight and ending at dark.) Keep a careful record of the time of each visit, what the old one brought, if you can tell, and any happenings of interest. The old birds must not know that they are watched and you may need to hide at a distance and use opera glasses to see what takes place. 11. Mention bugs and worms that injure trees and their fruit. Make a list of them. Bring examples to the school. 12. Tell what damage you have seen done by each. Bring samples of bark, leaves, fruit, etc., injured by insects. 13. Name any insect-eating birds that you know, and tell how and where they catch their food. FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 91 Note. — The apple crop in the west has been a partial failure for many years because of the codling moth; and each year millions of dollars worth of crops are destroyed by insects in the United States which the birds would prevent, if there were enough of them. Besides insects, a great quantity of weed seeds also are destroyed by the birds. A single song sparrow has been known to eat enough dandelion seed in a day to seed a good sized lawn and ruin it. 14. What arc the chief enemies of these birds ? 15. How may we aid to increase their numbers ? LESSON LII AN ORCHARD 1. What fruit trees have you seen growing ? 2. Make a hst of all the fruits that grow near your home. 3. If possible, visit an orchard and talk with the owner about the care of the trees and the crops. 4. What trees, and how many of each kind, would you select to plant an orchard of 100 trees to meet best the needs of a family ? What trees ripen their fruits early ? late ? What fruits keep during the winter? 5. Tell how much fruit each kind of tree named will bear in a year when the trees are full grown. 6. Why are trees in an orchard f)lanted in rows? How far apart should rows of various trees be planted? How far apart should various trees be planted in the row ? Why ? 7. Tell how trees are transplanted. On Arbor Day, or at some other suitable time, transplant some trees and see if they will grow. 8. Visit a nursery and see how the young trees are planted, budded, cared for, and removed and sold. 92 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 9. Describe transplanting trees and the setting out of an orchard. What is the proper depth to set out a young tree ? How should the roots be arranged before covering them? What should be the condition of the soil into which the young '■5*. t- ^ ■^r^ Tf-^^BgS^SWiMU i A Cherry Orchard in bloom tree is placed? Why are many of the branches trimmed off? 10. Should a fruit tree be tall, or low and spreading ? Why ? Should it have a long or a short trunk? Should it be one- sided? 11. How may trees be made to grow into desired shapes ? 12. Does the best fruit grow in the shade or in the sun- shine ? On which limbs do we find the best fruit, on those at the top of the tree or on the low shaded ones ? 13. Should fruit trees have a dense foliage? How can this be regulated? FOURTH GRADE -SPRING WORK 9S 14. Is it good economy to cut off large limbs when pruning an orchard? Why? How may the need to do so be avoided ? 15. How are different fruits gathered ? 16. Tell how each of these fruits is packed and shipjjed: apples, peaches, apricots, cherries, oranges, bananas, straw- berries, raspberries, etc. Give reasons for each method. 17. What care should the ground among the trees receive? What neglect in this regard is common? What are the effects ? 18. What useful crops may be grown among the trees when young? Are these secondary crops profitable in old orchards ? LESSON LHI ORCHARD PESTS 1. Describe changes that have taken place in eggs, larvcT, cocoons, etc., collected or seen since early spring. 2. How were these specimens protected during the winter? 3. What causes them to hatch or change at this time? 4. Most insects pass through how many changes in de\elop inc ^ 5. In which state do they eat most ? least ? 6. Mention all the ways in which you have seen insects injure an orchard. Which eat the leaf? Which bore under the bark? Which hurt the root? Which suck the sap, or moisture, from the leaves and cause them to wither and drop off? 7. What are the natural enemies of these pcsls ? 94 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 8. What means do men use to get rid of them ? 9. Tell how orchards are sprayed to get rid of the pests. 10. What insects are killed by using a poison in the spray ? 11. What poison is commonly used? Why will not this kill all insects? Would one that sucks the sap, as a mos- quito sucks blood, swallow poison sprayed on the surface of the leaf? 12. Tell what you know of the great benefit of spraying to various crops. LESSON LIV EFFECTS OF CULTIVATION 1. If a flower bed or garden is neglected, what changes begin to take place at once ? What is the effect if the neglect continues long. 2. Compare a well-kept garden with a neglected one. Experiment. — Neglect one portion of the school garden and notice the results. 3. How will the seeds or fruits of a well-kept garden compare with those of one that is neglected ? 4. If the poor seeds of a neglected garden be planted, will they produce as good crops as good seeds will ? 5. If a farmer fails year after year to cultivate his crops properly and plants the poor seeds he raises, what will be the effects on his crops in a few years ? 6. How can a farmer improve continually his crops? Is it wise to choose the biggest and best seeds to plant ? Why ? FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 95 7. What care should be given the lawn? Do you know of lawns that are not properly cared for ? 8. Tell what you can of the care needed by a flower bed; a vegetable garden; an orchard. Note. — Through proper cultivation our choicest apples have come from the wild, sour, crab apple; our finest double rose, from the common wild rose. The form, size, and quality of most modern agricultural products have been much improved in the same way. The man who has made the greatest success in raising wheat without irrigation, in the arid west, secures his seed for planting in this way. He keeps in the best possible condition a few acres of his best land on which to raise his seed wheat. When this wheat is ripe and ready to cut, he goes through it and selects the largest, fullest, heads and gathers them by hand into a sack. When he has secured in this way enough wheat to sow for next year's seed, he cuts and threshes the rest of this patch and gets seed enough from it for many hundred acres, whose crop he markets. Next season he sows the hand-selected wheat again for seed, and again selects the best. In this way he has greatly increased the quality and yield of his grain. LESSON LV MAKING OUR HOMES BEAUTIFUL 1. What homes near the school look beautiful and inviting? Which do not ? 2. Describe the home that you think shows most taste and beauty in its surroundings. 3. What schools and public buildings have beautiful grounds ? 4. Is your own home as neat and clean and pretty as you would like it? 5. Can we make our school grounds or buildings look better? How? 96 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 6. Is there any rubbish to remove ? Are there any paths to level ? trees to trim ? shrubs to train ? lawns to cut ? 7. Is there a plot of ground on which flowers could be Boys of the Utah State Normal Training School, Buildeng a School Arbor and Planting Vines planted? Is there a good place to plant a rose bush or a climbing vine or shrub? 8. Draw a plan for walks and garden around a home. 9. Name and describe several ornamental shrubs you have seen. 10. Which bloom? Which do not? Which are annuals FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK ';7 and which are perennials? Suggest suitable places to ])hmt them. 11. Mention flowers that bloom early; others that bloom later; and others that bloom until winter frosts kill them. How may this knowledge aid us in making our homes prettier ? 12. Mention beautiful house plants that you know. Which grow from seeds? Which grow from slips? What house plants have you at home? What care do they need? 13. What have you done to make your home more beau- tiful? What more can you do? THE BUILDERS I dwell near a murmur of leaves, And my labor is sweeter than rest; For over my head in the shade of the eaves A throstle is building his nest. And he teaches me gospels of joy, As he gurgles and shouts in his toil; It is brimming with rapture, his wild employ; Bearing a straw for spoil. So I know 'twas a joyous God Who stretched out the splendor of things, And gave to my bird the cool green sod, A sky and a venture of wings. — Edwin jMarkham LESSON LVT THE COMMON TOAD 1. Describe a toad. 2. Of what use to it is its color? the roughness of its skin ? 98 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 3. Describe its movements on land; in water. 4. When is it the more active, during the day or at night ? 5. What food does it eat ? 6. How does it catch its prey ? 7. Where did it pass the winter? Have you ever seen toads plowed up in the spring? How did they become covered so deep in the ground? 8. If possible, bring one to school. It is perfectly harmless. Put it in a box having two or three inches of moist dirt in the bottom. Feed it on insects of any kind — flies, worms, caterpillars, ants, bees, beetles, spiders, etc. 9. How many bugs will a toad eat in a day ? Is the toad a friend to man? 10. How many toads can you find near your home ? 11. Tell what you know of the good that toads do. Did you ever know of one doing harm ? 12. Bring some toad's eggs to school. Where may they be found ? 13. Describe the eggs of the toad. How can you tell them from frog's eggs? - 14. Keep the eggs in a large glass dish, or in an aquarium, with some water cress, slime, and other plants, and watch them hatch and grow. 15. Describe the changes through which the young tadpoles pass. 16. How many of them live until they get four legs and can hop away for themselves? 17. What enemies have tadpoles? What means of escape or defense have they ? 18. A toad will often lay 10,000 eggs in a single season. What would be the result if toads had no enemies ? FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 99 19. In confinement, see if tadpoles ever eat one another. 20. Have we enough toads to eat the injurious insects? 2 1 . How may their numbers be increased ? 22. How long will a toad live ? One toad was kept as a pet for twenty-five years, and another lived in a garden in England for thirty-six years. They can go without food for more than a year at a time with litde injury. 23. How does man needlessly destroy many toads ? 24. How does a toad drink? Experiment. — Keep a toad in a dry place for 24 hours, allowing it no water, and then carefully weigh it. Let it sit for a time in mud or shallow water; then w^igh it again. What causes his increase in weight? Note.— Like the frog, the toad absorbs water through the skin. LESSON LVII THE EARTH WORM 1. In what places are there many earthworms? Where are there few? : Experiment i.— Select and measure off a square yard of land where there are know^n to be earthw^orms. Count the numhcr of entranas that are found. Sweep the surface clean, and collect and weigh each night and morning all the small heaps of dirt found near the mouths of the entrances. 2. Where does this dirt come from? Is as much dirt placed there in the daytime as in the night ? To fmd the earthworms at work, look for them early in the morning or in the evening or by the light of a lantern at night. A shower will induce them to come to the surface. lOO NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 3. What is the average amount of castings every twenty- four hours on a square yard ? How much would this be on an acre ? How much earth would be brought to the surface of a square yard in three months ? 4. Examine this dirt with a lens; compare it with other dirt near. Have the worms improved its quality? Is the earthworm useful or harmful to the farmer ? 5. As these earthworms work year after year, what changes will they produce in the soil? Experiment 2. — With a garden trowel, scrape away carefully the dirt from a worm's burrow until the bottom is reached. Note the size, direc- tion, and depth of the burrow, and whatever may be found in it. 6. Draw a section of an earthworm's home. How deep is it? 7. Is there more than one worm found in a burrow? 8. What does the earthworm eat? Did you find any food in the burrow ? What kind of soil do they prefer ? 9. How do they bore their way through the ground? Put one or more in a glass of damp earth and study them for a few days. Experiment 3. — Expose a worm on a piece of paper to the sunshine. Is there any evidence of distress ? Dip it into water to moisten its body and see if it then seems to be uncomfortable. Does it prefer light or darkness ? 10. How does it crawl ? Which end goes first ? Touch each end and find out whether one seems to be more sensitive than the other. 1 1 . Try to find out if the worm can see or smell. 12. Examine a worm carefully with a microscope and tell all you can about its structure. FOURTH GR.\DE— SPRING WORK loi 13. Why is it difficult for a robin to draw an earthworm from its hole in the ground? 14. Make a drawing of an earthworm. 15. Describe the eggs of an earthworm. 16. Why are they sometimes called "angle worms"? 17. What great good do these little animals do ? 18. Can you fmd that they injure any useful plants ? LESSON LVIII STUDY OF INSECTS 1. What insects do you know^ when you see them ? Make a list of all the different kinds that you can think of. 2. Where is each kind found? Consult your Natural History Calendar. 3. Which are seen by daylight? Which are active at night? 4. Mention insects that fly in the air; that live in the water; that hide in the ground or are found under stones, etc. 5. Which are useful to man? What good do they do ? 6. Which are harmful ? In what ways? 7. What food have you seen insects eating? What do grasshoppers eat? What foods are eaten by bees ? flies? ants? mosquitoes ? butterflies ? codling moths ? 8. Bring to the class samples of leaves, bark, fruil, etc. that you have found partly eaten by insects. 9. Study and describe the mouth parts of the grasshopper, fly, mosquito, or of other common insects. 10. What insects have a sting? For what do they use it? 11. In what Avays do insects defend themselves or escai)C from their enemies? Can you mention any that arc pro- I02 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES tected by their color ? their shape ? their speed ? their armor ? 12. Have all insects wings? Which have two? Which have four ? Do all insects need wings ? 13. What insects live in swarms or large communities ? 14. Which go generally in pairs or alone ? 15. Which do great damage when found in great numbers? Which are troublesome in our homes? in orchards? in fields ? How do we get rid of them ? 16. What natural enemies have insects ? LESSON LIX LIFE HISTORY OF INSECTS 1. How many legs have most insects? Examine many specimens. 2. What is the greatest difference between the bodies of insects and those of other animals? It is from this feature that they derive their name. The word, insect, means cut in. 3. Into how many parts is an insect's body divided? De- scribe each part. To which part are the wings attached ? the legs? the feelers, or antennae? Examine many insects to see if all their bodies are made on the same general plan. 4. Do insects grow or increase in size? Do w^e see tiny house flies, others partly grown, and still others fully grown ? Observe bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and other common insects in this respect. 5. From what do insects come? What changes does an insect undergo in reaching its perfect form from the egg ? Experiment. — Hunt for the eggs, pupae, or larvas of any common insects, and collect samples to study. Keep them in conditions similar to those they have been in and watch them develop. FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK lo; Ants may be observed by putting part of an ant bed into a iarj^c glass jar, or into a box with a pane of glass for one side of it. The lx)X should be darkened except when being observed, as ants work better in the dark. Mosquitoes may be hatched in the schoolroom by getting a pan of water containing "wrigglers," and placing a piece of netting over it to keep the mosquitoes from flying away when hatched. 6. Report to the class all discoveries made about in.sects, and record in the Natural History Calendar your observa- tions. 7. Draw the different parts of a grasshopper and a butter- fly. LESSON LX THE HONEYBEE 1. If possible, visit an apiary and talk with the bee-keeper about the bees. 2. Describe a beehive and tell how it is made to serve the needs of the bees. Draw one. Alake a miniature hi\e. 3. Examine the honeycomb. Notice the shape and size of the cells; the thinness of the walls; and how the wise little bee wastes neither room nor wax in building them. 4. Why does not the honey run out while the cells are being filled? Notice how each cell is sealed over when it is full. 5. Where does the bee get its honey? How docs it get it? Watch bees while at work among the flowers, (limb into a fruit tree when it is full of blossoms and sit perfectly still for a short time, and you will be surjjriscd at the number of bees you can hear and see at work gathering their store of sweet- ness. 104 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 6. Does the bee get anything from the flowers besides honey ? The yellow balls often seen attached to their thighs are made from the pollen of the flowers and are used in making "bee bread." 7. Examine with a lens the legs of a honeybee. Can you find the Httle hairs that form the ''brushes" and the "bas- kets"? 8. What good does the bee do the flower in its visits ? 9. Are all the bees in the hive alike? Do they ah perform the same duties? Tell what you know about the queen; the drone; the worker. 10. Where are the bee eggs laid? By whom are they laid? 11. Describe the growth of the bee from the egg, and tell how the young bee is nursed. 12. Did you ever see bees " swarm ? " Describe and explain the swarming of bees. 13. Why are the beehives generally placed on a bench some distance above the ground? What are the most dangerous enemies of the bees? 14. How do the bees defend themselves from their enemies ? 15. How does the bee-keeper protect himself when working in a hive? 16. How many pounds of honey may be taken from a hive in a season? 17. Why does the bee-keeper remove the honey from the comb and replace the latter? Describe a honey sepa- rator. 18. How do the bees spend the winter ? 19. What do you know of their social habits ? FOURTH GRADE— SPRING WORK lO: SiL\ER- Penciled \\Y/\xdotte LESSON LXI THE HEN 1. What kinds of food have you seen a hen eat? 2. What kinds are given her? What kinds does she get her- self? 3. How does she get her food? What other birds are "scratchers" ? Compare the hen with the quail, grouse, prairie chicken, sage-hen, pine hen, etc. 4. Describe the hen's bill and feet, and tell how they are used in food-getting. 5. How does the hen drink? Why does she raise her head? 6. Why do chickens swallow bits of gravel? How are grains and other hard seeds made fine enough for digestion ? Experiment i. — When a chicken is "drawn" at home, examine the crop and gizzard and their contents, and infer the use and action of each of these organs. 7. Describe the arrangement, structure, size, shape, uses, and molting of the hen's feathers. 8. What shelter should chickens have ? Draw a model hen house. 9. Describe the hen's movements in walking, scratching, flying, etc. 10. Describe the language of hens. Imitate their sounds in crowing, cackhng, calling their young, quieting a brood, alarm, etc. 11. Can a hen hear? W^here are her ears? Describe ihcm. 12. Can she smell? Do you think she can taste ? io6 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Experiment 2. — If possible get a hen that wants to set and put her in a large box or other suitable shelter near the school. Make her a good nest and fill it with as many eggs as she can cover easily. Give her proper food and care and observe her actions until her brood is hatched and reared. 13. How long are the eggs in hatching? Are they ever allowed to get cold? Why? Does the hen ever turn them over? Infer a reason. 14. Describe the little chicks, and how they grow. 15. How are eggs hatched ar- tificially? Describe an incubator. 16. Chickens are raised chiefly for what two purposes ? 17. Name breeds that are good layers; that are good "broilers" and "friers." 18. How many eggs will a good layer produce in a year? a poor layer ? What should be done with the poor layers? 19. What pests often trouble poultry? Suggest remedies. What diseases are common among them? How may they be prevented ? 20. Examine an egg carefully: find a purpose in its shape, shell, lining, and contents. 2T. What time of year are most eggs produced? 22. When plentiful, how may they be preserved until the time of scarcity? Note. Besides being placed in cold storage, they may be packed in coarse salt or dipped in a solution of lime and salt to fill the pores in the shell, and kept in a cool place. B.\RRED Plymouth Rock FIFTH GRADE-FALL WORK jq" FIFTH GRADE-FALL WORK TO AUTUMN Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; To bend with apples the mossed cottage trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core To swell the gourd and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cells. — John Keats LESSON I IMPORTANCE OF WEATHER To THE Teacher. — The weather exerts so constant and important an influence upon all nature that it should receive frequent attention in every grade and throughout the year, until its laws and effects are gradually unfolded to the pupil's mind. In doing this work it is dilTicuIt to avoid, entirely, repeating or reviewing work previously done, but each lesson should lead up to the development of a thought that will be new to most of the class. 1. From what you have learned about the weather, describe what it will probably be this fall. 2. What is the average temperature now? What will it be a month from now? two months from now? 3. What will be the chief cause of this change in tempera- ture ? lo8 NATURE STUDY BY GR.\DES 4. Hang a thermometer where it will show the true tempera- ture of the air out of doors. The direct rays of the sun should not fall upon it, nor should it hang in the coldest place on the north side of the house. 5. At regular times during each day observe the tem- perature. Find the highest, the lowest, and the average of each day and record your observations in a notebook. 6. Find the weekly average temperature. 7. Find the average rate of change in the temperature as the season advances. 8. What kind of storms do we have during the autumn months ? Are they frequent ? What effect do they have upon crops ? 9. When does the first snow storm generally come? Are the crops all gathered? 10. In what part of the United States does snow come first? Why? In what part does it never fall? Why? 11. What parts of the earth are always cold? What zone is always warm? 12. In what zones are changes in weather conditions great- est? Why? 13. Does the weather remain the same throughout the year in any part of the earth? Why do we need changes of weather ? 14. If weather changes are unusually severe, or if they fail to occur near their usual time, what may be the effect upon crops? upon herds? 15. Do you know of any failure of crops that was caused by unusual weather conditions? 16. How does a failure of crops affect the price of products ? Why? FIFTH GRADE— FALL WORK T09 17. How does a knowledge of the weather aid in securing a better harvest? 18. Describe the changes gradually taking place in plant life and animal life as winter approaches. 19. What preparations does man make for winter ? LESSON II DISTRIBUTION OF HEAT I. What change do you notice in the place where the sun rises ? Using the Sciameter This sciameter was made bv a pupil in the manual training rjoni as foIlows_ A smooth board a about 6x20 inches has its upper surface marked oH into inch squares. .Near one end two uprights b, b are fastened, and between them the hollow box c. three inches square, swings on an axis, to one end of which is lixed a fmger that moves with it over a protractor ^. A spirit-level mav be attaclied at any convenient place to tell when tlie board a is horizontal. In using the sciameter, place the board in a horizontal iwsition on a north and south Ime at noon, with the box toward the sun so that its sides are mrallel to the rays that [xiss throu'^h it. A sunbeam three inches square then falls on the board and is si)read over a tx-rtain numt)er of square inches, according to the angle of the sun's rays as shown by the Imger over the protractor. no NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 2. Does the sun set in the same place each evening ? 3. With the aid of a shadow stick, or a sciameter, find out if the position of the sun at noon is changing. Record your observations. 4. From changes noticed in the position of the sun at these three points, tell what change is gradually taking place in the sun's daily path. 5. Is its path through the sky getting longer or shorter? Why? How does the length of the day affect the amount of heat received from the sun ? 6. How does the change in the sun's path change the angle of its rays? How does this change the amount of heat re- ceived on any given amount of surface? Illustrate this by a drawing. 7. Trace with the finger the path of the sun through the sky now; in June; in December. Show the changes now taking place in its path. 8. Compare the changes in average temperature with the changes in the length of day and the slant of the sun's rays. 9. By using the sciameter each noon, the movement of the sun can be discovered. By recording the number of square inches daily covered by the sunbeam in it, explain the influ- ence that the change in the position of the sun has upon temperature. 10. Think of experiments and illustrations in nature that show the difference between direct and slanting rays of heat. 11. When the sunbeam 3 inches square in the sciameter covers 12 square inches, how will the heat falling on i square inch compare w^ith that received when the same beam covers 20 square inches? FIFTH GRADE— FALL WORK ITT \ \ S X V, ^. \ \ \ N •., \ ^, \ S ^^ \ \ \ ^s • \ \ ^ \ \ \ \ N \ ^ \ \ \ \ \ ^ X "- \ \ \ \ s \ ^ 3 Change in Angle of Sun's Rays Distribution of the Light and Heat of Sun's Rays as affected BY the Angle at Which They Strike a Surface _j SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE Shadow Changes Due to the Ch.^nge in Sl.vnt of tue Sun's Rays Each Month 12. What, then, is the chief cause of the changes of the average temperature ? 13. What effect has the shortening of the day upon the 112 NATURE STUDY BY GR.YDES amount of heat received from the sun ? Prove this by experi- ments or by illustrations from nature. 14. Illustrate by means of the shadow stick and drawings the same principles as are shown by the sciameter. LESSON III EFFECTS OF SUNSHINE 1. What month in the year has the most sunshine ? 2. In which month is there most cloudiness? Is there any relation between cloudiness and rainfall? 3. Keep a sunshine chart during the year. (See Fourth Grade, Lesson 11, p. 18.) Experiment i. — Cover two similar potted plants with glass jars. Place one in the direct sunshine and the other in the dark for a short time. Note which plant gives off the more moisture as shown by the water condensed on the inner walls of the glass jars. 4. Infer from this experiment which plant is the more active. 5. Compare the growth made by plants in a dark cellar with that of plants growing in the sunshine. 6. On which branches of a tree are the largest and strongest leaves? the biggest and best fruits ? Why? 7. Why can more sugar be made from a ton of beets raised on irrigated lands in Colorado or Utah, than from a ton raised in the regions of the Mississippi valley where there is so much more rainfall? What states make the most beet sugar? 8. In Salt Lake City, 269 days in the year are days of sun- shine, and in Denver, 304. How do these compare with the amount of sunshine in New Orleans ? in Chicago ? in New York ? in your own locality ? FIFTH GRADE— FALL WORK 113 9. Alfalfa is a plant that yields three crops of hay during the summer. How will a long, cloudy spell affect the crop ? 10. Learn by studying the daily weather maps and re])orts what parts of our country have most cloudiness and what parts have most sunshine. 11. Prove that plants love sunshine and seek it. 12. Do any plants thrive best in the shade? Name some. 13. Do plants ever get too much sunshine ? Experiment 2. — Place a fern or some moss in the strong sunshine and see if any bad effects follow. 14. Notice carefully both wild and cultivated plants that grow in the shade, and compare them with plants of the same kind growing in the sun. 15. How may weeds in the garden affect the supply of light needed by the useful plants there ? 16 What plants grow under the trees in the woods? How do they contrive to get light enough for their needs ? Are they as numerous and as thrifty as plants under similar con- ditions growing in sunshine ? LESSON IV LENGTH OF THE DAY 1. For a few weeks notice the time of sunrise and of sunset, and find out just how fast the length of day and night is changing. 2. Which month contains the longest days? What can you say of the length of the nights in this month ? 3. Which month contains the shortest days? the longest nights ? 114 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 4. Does the length of the day correspond in any way with the length of the sun's daily path through the sky ? 5. How does the length of the day affect us? When do we need longest days? 6. How do long days affect the temperature? Why? Do they affect plant growth? How? 7. Find the longest day in the year; the longest night. 8. Explain the cause of the change in the length of day and night. LESSON V WEATHER.— CAUSES AND EFFECT 1. How do the sun's rays strike the various parts of the earth's surface? If you were at the equator at noon about September 20, where would the sun appear to be ? If at New York, where would it appear to be? If at the north pole, where would it seem to be? Experiment. — Hold a globe in the sunshine and show how the sun's rays fall at various angles on its different parts. Illustrate the same principle by drawings on the blackboard. 2. Describe the apparent movements of the sun during the year. 3. Account for the four seasons in the temperate zone as resulting from the yearly motion of the sun. In the summer the sun comes northward until its vertical rays fall 23 J° north of the equator. In the winter it goes as far south. 4. Locate the five zones as a result of this movement. Tell what you know of the temperature of each zone and what makes it have that temperature. FIFTH GRADE— FALL WORK 1 1 5 5. What must be the seasons in each zone as fixed by this movement of the sun? 6. How does the dimate in each zone influence plant hfe ? What plants grow in the frigid zone? in the temperate zone? in the torrid zone? 7. Tell what you know of the effects of a cold, backward spring, or of a late frost upon crops. How may an early fall influence crops? 8. What would be the result if the farmers in one zone should plant the crops grown in either of the other zones ? 9. How do the changes in temperature, length of day, etc., influence animal life in the fall in this zone ? 10. From the Natural History Calendar tell what animals are disappearing. Why are they going ? Where are they going ? 11. How do we care for our domestic animals during the winter ? 12. How do winter dwellers keep comfortable during the cold weather? 13. In which zone is man the happiest and most civilized? Where is he most indolent and lazy ? Infer a reason. 14. Explain how climate influences man's occupations and development as well as it does the growth of animals and plants. LESSON VI CAUSES OF WIND Experhnent i.— Heat the air in a Florence flask and conduct the over- flow through a perforated cork and bent glass tube under the surface of water. Account for the escaping air bubbles. ii6 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Remove the flame and cool the flask. Account for the water being drawn into the flask. 1. Why does a bal- loon filled with hot air rise? 2. Account for the draught of a stove or chimney. 3. Why does the air rise above the heated stove or radiator ? 4. Give many illustrations proving that hot air rises. Experiment 2. — In a beaker of water place a few particles of chalk dust, wet sawdust, or other substance that will neither sink nor swim readily, but remain suspended in the water. Hold a flame under one side of the beaker and note by the moving particles the movements of the water caused by the heat. 5. Why does the water rise immediately above the flame ? 6. Why does it flow downward on the other side? 7. What is the effect of heat upon air? upon water? (See Fourth Grade, Lesson 29.) Do you remember whether heat ever expands solids? 8. If a given quantity of air or water is thus expanded by heat, how will its weight compare with that which is not so expanded ? Can you illustrate this law by other examples ? 9. What will be the effect if air becomes very warm over a given area — warmer than the surrounding air ? 10. As the heated air rises, what takes its place ? This movement of air is called wind. 11. What part of the earth's surface is warmest? Where, FIFTH GR/VDE— FALL WORK i i -j then, will most air be made to rise? In the immediate area where the air is rising, no wind is felt. Why ? 12. Why do the great regular winds blow towarfl the equator from both poles? Do they blow directly south in this hemisphere and north in the southern? Experiment 3. — Cause a globe to be revoh'ed on its axis, and note the greater distance covered by a point at the equator than by one near the pole, in making a revolution. As the air at any given point has about the same forward movement as the surface of the earth at that ix)int, all air moving toward the equator will naturally lag behind in the motion from west to east. 13. The above law will give these winds what direction if north of the equator ? if south of it ? TO THE EVENING WIND Spirit that breathest through my lattice, thou That cool'st the twilight of the sultry day, Gratefully flows thy freshness round my brow: Thou hast been out upon the deep to play, Riding all day the wild blue waves till now, Roughening their crests, and scattering high their spray And swelling the white sail. I welcome thee To the scorched land, thou w^anderer of the sea! Nor I alone — a thousand bosoms round Inhale thee in the fulness of delight; And languid forms rise up, and pulses bound Livelier, at coming of the wind at night; And, languishing to hear thy grateful sound, Lies the vast inland stretched beyond the sight. Go forth into the gathering shade; go forth, God's blessing breathed upon the fainting carlh! Go, rock the little woodbird in his nest, Curl the still waters, bright with stars, and rouse ii8 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES The wide old wood from his majestic rest, Summoning from the innumerable boughs The strange, deep harmonies that haunt his breast; Pleasant shall be thy way where meekly bows The shutting flower, and darkling waters pass, And where the o'ershadowing branches sweep the grass. The faint old man shall lean his silver head To feel thee; thou shalt kiss the child asleep, And dry the moistened curls that overspread His temples, while his breathing grows more deep; And they who stand about the sick man's bed, Shall joy to listen to thy distant sweep, And softly part his curtains to allow Thy visit, grateful to his burning brow. Go — but the circle of eternal change. Which is the life of nature, shall restore. With sounds and scents from all thy mighty range, Thee to thy birthplace of the deep once more; Sweet odors in the sea-air, sweet and strange. Shall tell the homesick mariner of the shore; And, listening to thy murmur, he shall deem He hears the rustling leaf and running stream. — William Cullen Bryant. LESSON VII THE WEATHER BUREAU 1. Have you ever visited a Weather Bureau station? If so, describe what you saw and tell what work is done there. 2. What reports are issued daily ? 3. What predictions are made concerning the weather? 4. How long beforehand can the weather be predicted with a degree of certainty? FIFTH GRADE— FALL WORK l 19 « 5. How does the telegraph aid the Weather Bureau in making its predictions? 6. At what rate do the most rapid storms move ? 7. Knowing the velocity and direction of a storm, or cold wave, how may its time of reaching any given city be pre- dicted? 8. How will a foreknowledge of the approach of a cold wa\'e or "killing frost" be a benefit to a gardener? a fruit raiser ? 9. What precautions do sailors take when warned of a coming hurricane? 10. Tell in what ways the following people may avoid loss or inconvenience by knowing the day previous that it will rain — the school-boy, the wash-woman, the carpenter, the pleasure seeker, etc. 11. How^ has a warning of the approach of a hurricane saved people's lives? 12. What harm is done by a cold wave or a hot wave that might be lessened through knowing beforehand of its ap- proach ? 13. Describe a weather map. What information docs it contain ? 14. Are the people in one part of the United States bene- fitted by knowing the kind of weather that the people in some other part are having ? Illustrate this. 15. Why do all civilized nations maintain many weather bureau stations? 16. Besides their influence in saving lives and i)roperty, how do they add to our knowledge of the laws of weather ? 17. Study the .signals used to denote different weather conditions. 120 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES LESSON VIII CAUSES OF PRECIPITATION 1. Review the laws of evaporation and condensation given in the Fourth Grade (See Lessons lo, 39, 40, and 41.) 2. On what part of the earth's surface is there the greatest evaporation? Is it a good thing that three fourths of the earth's surface is water? How do you think it would affect the rainfall if three fourths of the earth's surface were land ? 3. In what zones does evaporation occur most rapidly? Why? 4. How does the vapor from the ocean reach inland ? 5. In traveling inland, what things may cause a change in the temperature of the vapor from the ocean ? 6. If the vapor pass over a mountain, what, change is produced? What effect will this change in temperature cause? Prove that mountains are colder than low land. 7. When a cold current of air comes against aw^arm cur- rent, what may happen to the vapor in the latter? 8. When the moist air near the ground becomes very warm, as on a sultry day in summer, what movement is it likely to take? Why does hot air rise? 9. As this warm air rises, how will it affect the barometer? Why? 10. When it reaches the cold upper regions, what will happen? The amount and rapidity of rainfall is influenced by what conditions? 11. Does snow or ice ever evaporate without melting? FIFTH GRADE— FALL WORK l2i When air is very dry, it takes up moisture even when very cold. 12. Under what conditions is snow formed? Do you think snow^ can pass to vapor, and vapor pass to snow, without first turning into water? 13. Describe a hailstorm, and conditions under which it occurs. TO A CLOUD Beautiful cloud! with folds so soft and fair, Swimming in the pure, quiet air! Thy fleeces bathe in sunlight, while below Thy shadow o'er the vale moves slow; Where, midst their labor, pause the reaper train, As cool it comes along the grain. Bright meteor! for the summer noontide made! Thy peerless beauty yet shall fade. The sun, that fills with light each glistening fold, Shall set, and leave thee dark and cold; The blast shall rend thy skirts, or thou maycst frown In the dark heaven when the storms come down; And weep in rain till man's inquiring eye Miss thee, forever, from the sky. — William Cullen Bryant. LESSON IX REGIONS OF HEAVY AND LIGHT RAINFALL 1. What part of the United States has a heavy rainfall? Account for this. Consider the directions of the winds, the location and size of mountains, etc., as influencing rainfall. 2. How does this influence the crops? the ])opulation? 122 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Irrigating Strawberries Near Provo, Utah 3. What part of the United States is arid and used to be called the Great American Desert? Account for this. Con- sider distance from the ocean, intervening mountains, direc- tion of winds, nature of surface, etc. 4. What substitute for rainfall do farmers use in the arid regions? How is this affecting the population of these regions ? 5. Describe methods of irrigation. FIFTH GRADE— FALL W(JRK 123 6. How is our government aiding irrigation in the arid •regions? 7. What countries have greatest rainfall ? Why ? 8. How does the abundant heat and moisture in ilic iropics affect vegetation ? Describe a tropical forest. Note. — Fields of alfalfa in the tropics yield ten crops a year, while market gardens often are made to )ield three. Roads through forests will grow up and become impassable in a few days, if not kept clear. 8. Account for the size of the Amazon River. If the Andes Mountains extended entirely around the coast of South America, how would it change the size of that river? What would be the effect upon the interior ? 9. Suppose the ocean winds were to change from the east to the west in South America, what changes in the rainfall do you think would follow there? In the southern part of South America the winds do come from the west. What is the effect upon the rainfall there? Which is the more productive, Chili or Argentina? Why? 10. Why is Sahara a desert ? What changes in the surface of Africa would you suggest to cause more rain in that region ? 11. Compare the annual rainfall of \arious countries and account for the differences noticed. Consult a good geo- graphy. The mean annual rainfall in New Orleans is 63 inches; in Chicago, 34.55 inches; in Salt Lake City, 16.2 inches. Note.— Scientists say that enough heat comes from the sun each day to evaporate half an inch of water from the entire surface of the ocean. If all this were brought by the winds to the land and fell as rain, it would give us a daily shower of an inch and a half, or an annual rainfall e(|iial almost to the flood. 124 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES LESSON X RESPIRATION Experiment i. — Count the number of times that you breathe in one minute. The whole class may do this while the teacher marks the time. Repeat the experiment several times until all can breathe naturally while counting. Find the average number of respirations per minute for the class. Experiment 2. — Fill a half gallon fruit jar with water and invert it over a vessel containing water, keeping its mouth under the surface so that the water will not run out. Insert the bent end of a glass tube under the mouth of the jar, and breathe through it until the water is displaced by the exhaled air. Repeat this several times, breathing as naturally as possible, and iind the average number of respiraiions necessary to displace the two quarts of water. In a similar way, by exhaling all the air possible at one breath, the capacity of the lungs of various pupils may be tested. Note. — Since conscious breathing is apt to be unnatural, the foregoing experiments should not be regarded as accurate, but as a basis for some interesting calculations upon the amount of air a person needs every hour. 1. If a pupil breathes 18 times every minute and exhales each time i pint of air, how many gallons will he exhale in a minute? in an hour? 2. If one pupil exhales 2 J gallons of air in a minute, how many gallons will all the pupils in the room exhale in a minute ? in an hour ? Since one gallon contains 231 cubic inches, express the answers to the last queries in cubic inches and cubic feet. Experiment 3. — By means of a straw or glass tube, pass the breath through a glass of limewater and note the milky color given to the lime- water. This is due to the formation of a kind of chalk dust in the water and proves that a gas called carbon dioxide is in the breath. FIFTH GRADE— FALL WORK 125 3. What do you remember about this gas? (See Fourth Grade, Lesson 31). Compare it with oxygen. Experiment 4. — Breathe into a wide-mouthed glass jar several times unpe. If living animals cannot be seen, study good pictures. 8. In what states are most beef cattle raised ? Why ? 9. Why are dairy cows not confined to certain localities, but found in all the states ? 10. Is it profitable to raise common, or scrub, cattle for either purpose ? Why not ? 11. Where do the excellent breeds mentioned in this lesson come from? What influence will care, food, and proper selection have in improving breeds of cattle ? Note. — The best breeds have come from the wild oxen of Europe and Asia. The treatment given them by man for many generations has developed from those inferior animals the modern excellent breeds of cattle. 1 1 . Give a description of a cattle ranch. 12. What conditions are necessary for a successful ranch? Consider the value of the land, food and water supply, climate, market, etc. 14. At what age are beef catde marketed ? Why? 15. What is the average price paid for a beef steer two or three years old? 16. What do you know about the size of the herds of beef cattle and the cost of their care ? 17. Tell what you can about how the beef is prepared for market at the stock yards. 18. How is beef shipped on land ? on water? FIFTH GRADE— WINTER WORK i<^>3 Guernsey Ayrshire Jersey 'mmmi Galloway Hereford Short Horn 1 64 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 19. Why is each quarter labeled with the beef inspectors' certificate ? 20. What foreign countries buy great quantities of beef from the United States? Why do they not raise what they need at home? 21. Visit a meat market and learn the names and prices of the different cuts of beef; and from what part of the body each cut is taken. 22. What cuts are roasted ? fried? boiled? stewed? 23. Which are costly? Which are cheap? Suggest a reason for the price in each case. 24. How is meat preserved from spoiling for shipping or for future use ? Describe methods of cold storage; of canning, drying, pickling, etc. 25. Mention all the useful products besides meat and milk that are obtained from the cow. Make a list of them and tell all you know about the manufacture and use of each. To THE Teacher. — A number of lessons may be given to the con- sideration of the following products; or one may be assigned to each pupil to study and to report to the class all he can find out about it from personal observation, from inquiry of those who know about it, or from newspapers or books in the library. Consider each article, its method of manufacture, and its various uses: Hides, horns, tallow, hoofs, hair, glue, gelatine, neat's foot oil, celluloid, bones, fertilizers, etc. LESSON XXXIII RANGES AND THE NATIONAL FORESTS 1. In what part of the United States are the great ranges? 2. What is their chief use to man? What plants grow on them? FIFTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 165 3. Which of these plants furnish food for cattle, horses, and sheep ? 4. What plants are these animals liable to destroy ? 5. What are forest reserves, or national forests ? 6. What is the object of the government in taking charge of the great forest regions of the west and restricting lumbering, grazing, etc. ? 7. How is grass affected by over-grazing ? Large tracts of the best grazing lands have been made as barren as a desert by over-grazing. 8. How does the eating of all the grass influence the growth and scattering of seeds for another crop ? 9. Why is there little or no grass in a footpath? What effect will the tramping of the feet of large herds have upon the growth of all kinds of grass? 10. If the grass, growing in the midst of a young forest, is eaten off too closely, what harm will the animals do to the young trees if allowed to remain there? 11. In what way is a grown forest sometimes destroyed through the carelessness of herders or campers ? 12. Tell of great forest fires of which you have heard. How do you think such fires are started? Note. — Large forests of timber, whose value could hardly be told, have been burned, through leaving a camp fire smouldering, or by drop- ping a lighted match or cigar among dry leaves or grass. Railroads, houses, and even towns in or near these forests also have been destroyed by these fires. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota particularly have suffered from this cause. 13. What precautions are now taken to prevent forest fires ? 14. How have these fires influenced the supply and price of lumber in the United States? 15. What do you know of the duties of forest rangers? l66 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 1 6. What punishment is given to those who start forest fires, or break the regulations made by the government to prevent them? 17. Will over-grazing do any damage besides killing young trees and destroying the pasturage ? 18. How do plants influence the flow of water down the watersheds that supply our mountain streams and rivers ? 19. In case of a heavy rainfall, or a rapid thaw of snow piled away in the mountains, how will the flow down a naked slope compare with that of one down a slope covered with grass and leaves and shrubs ? 20. In which case would a destructive result be most probable ? In which case would most soil be washed away and silt carried down? 2 1 . What damage is sometimes done by floods ? 22. What damage is often done to reservoirs and canals made for irrigation by the silt that is brought into them in the time of high waters? 23. Can you think of any other reasons why grazing on public lands should be properly regulated ? 24. Should it be stopped entirely? What would be the effect upon our supply of beef, wool, and other products of the live stock industry ? 25. Why will reasonable grazing do little harm ? LESSON XXXIV HUNTING AND TRAPPING I What animals are hunted for sport in your vicinity? 2. Are any hunted because they are harmful to man ? FIFTH GRADE— WTNTFR WORK 1(^7 3. Name the principal game animals. Make a list of them. 4. Discuss each one, considering the following points: (a) What is its food? (b) When and where does it rear its young? (c) Is its flesh good for food? (d) Is it harmful or useful to man? (e) Is it numerous or scarce? (f) What are its habits ? (g) How is it killed or trapped ? (h) Is it a good thing to kill such animals ? 5. Describe methods of hunting bears. What means is commonly used to kill them? What are the bear's methods of defense? What is the food of the bear? Is its flesh good for food? What danger is there in hunting these animals? What harm do they do ? Ought they to be killed ? 6. Consider in like manner how to hunt the deer, wolf, fox, rabbit, goose, turkey, duck, grouse, quail, and other game animals. 7. Describe the bow and arrow, spear, sling, shotgun, rifle, and how each is used in hunting and what care and pre- cautions should be taken in its use. 8. What animals are often secured by trapping ? 9. Describe traps suitable to catch mice, rats, beavers, wolves, bears, birds, fishes, etc. Make a trap to catch some animal found in your vicinity. 10. Consider the habits of the animals mentioned and how and where traps are set to catch them. 11. Describe snares for catching birds. What birds may be caught in this way ? Make a bird snare. 12. Should any animal be killed simply for sport ? ^ 13. What evidence do animals show that life is dear to them ? I 4. What useful animals are often killed " just for fun r P" 1 68 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 15. What animals have almost disappeared because of this cruel habit of man ? 16. Why are there game laws to control and restrict the killing of certain animals? 17. Why is a bounty paid for killing certain animals? Mention animals that are protected by law, and some that the law seeks to destroy. Give a reason for the provisions of the law in each case. 18. What do you know about old time methods of hunting and trapping? LESSON XXXV FISH AND FISHING 1. Mention all the fishes you know that are found in the local streams. Make a Hst of them. Describe each. 2. Which of these are native? Have any of them been imported and placed in the streams ? 3. Visit the fish market and learn the names of the fishes offered for sale and where they come from. 4. Which come from the ocean? Which from rivers? Which from lakes? 5. Are any fish found in Great Salt Lake ? Why not ? 6. What foods do various fishes eat? Tell the food eaten by each kind of fish named on your list. 7. Are all kinds of fish suitable for food? Which kinds do you prefer? 8. What do you know of the habits of fishes ? How do they get their food? 9. How do they increase? FIFTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 169 Note. — If possible, visit a fish hatchery and see the spawn and young fish in various stages of growth. In a natural state the female fish will swim up stream or to a safe quiet place and there deposit her eggs, usually in great numbers. She then goes away and probably will never see one of her own offspring. When the young is first hatched, it is kept alive on the extra food contained in the egg from which it came until it grows large enough to hunt food for itself. 10. Give a reason for the shape of the fish. How many fins has it? Name each fin and tell how it is used. 11. How do fish escape from their enemies? Are any protected by their color? 12. Did you ever try to hold a live fish in your hands? Why is it so slippery? Of what use are its scales? 13. Tell how a fish swims. How does it rise or sink at will in the water? 14. Mention different methods of catching fish. Describe how fish are caught with a hook and line. What is used as bait ? When a fish "bites," how is it landed? 15. How is a net used in catching fish? Describe a seine and how it is used. 16. Have you ever been on a fishing trip? If so, de- scribe it. 17. Describe a fish trap. How are the salmon caught that are used in the large canneries of Columbia River? i'ituiu. i>\' A. < . ^tlOlU Trout Fishing 170 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 20. Describe the great cod fisheries. 21. Are any kinds of fish protected by law? In what way ? Why ? Tell what you can find out about the fish laws of your state. 22. Should dynamite or other explosive be used in killing fish? Why? 23. How do fish breathe? What are their organs of breathing called? 24 At live fish shows, why is a stream of water made to flow rapidly into the fish tank ? 25. In what ways are fish useful to man ? 26. How does the government aid in keeping our streams and lakes supplied with the best kinds of fish ? LESSON XXXVI SHELLFISH 1. Obtain, for study, samples of shellfish such as the clam, oyster, crab, lobster, crawfish, snails, shrimp, etc. 2. Which of the samples obtained are fit for food? Which are not? 3. Which move about? How do they move? Which cannot move about? 4. Compare their different coverings as to shape, hardness, size, thickness, color, structure, and uses. 5. Which shellfish have the color of seaweeds? of sand? Why ? 6. Which have the hardest, strongest coverings ? Why ? 7. Which shells are made up of two parts? How are they joined? FIFTH GRADE— WINTER WORK 171 8. Which shellfish live in salt water? Which are found in fresh water? 9. Tell how each is protected from its enemies ? 10. As shellfish increase in size, which cast their shell and which increase the size of their shell ? 11. Are any of their shells used by man? If so, for what purpose ? 12. What kinds of shellfish are most common in your vicinity ? What can you say of their numbers ? 13. Are any of them harmful to man ? 14. Which are cultivated by man ? 15. What food do they eat and how do they contrive to get it? 16. Make a special study of the oyster and give an account of its life's history; how it is cultivated by man, and the dif- ferent ways in which it is used. 17. Collect the shells of as many shellfish as you can and group them into classes according to their shape and structure. LESSON XXXVII BUILDING STONES 1. Mention all the building stones that you know. Bring to school samples of the different kinds. 2. Learn to recognize them at sight; where they arc obtained, the properties that make them valuable, and the different uses to which they are put. 3. Describe sandstone. Why is it so called? Examine it with a lens. Where is it obtained? Is it easily worked? Does it have a cleavage that makes it easy to split into regular 172 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES shapes ? Will it receive a polish ? In what colors is it found ? Is it durable? How can you tell? Mention buildings in which sandstone is used. What parts of a building may be made of sandstone? 4. Answer similar questions about other common stones used in buildings, such as granite, limestone, marble, onyx, etc. 5. Visit a stone yard and learn how great stones are cut into smaller ones and into various shapes, and how they are surfaced and polished. 6. If possible, visit also a stone quarry and see how great mountains of stone are split into large blocks to be shipped to stone yards or to buildings that are being erected. 7. What stones are used chiefly for ornaments ? 8. Name such as will receive a high polish. 9. Which owe their value to their beautiful markings ? LESSON XXXVIII PROPERTIES OF MINERALS To THE Teacher. — Throughout the year the pupils should be en- couraged to procure samples of as many different kinds of minerals as possible; these should be preserved in a suitable cabinet. Every mineral taught should be taught with the aid of a sample of it, and the work suggested here should be modified according to the minerals on hand with which to illustrate it. 1. Name at sight each mineral specimen at hand. 2. Put into groups those that seem to resemble each other in structure and looks. 3. What is one of the first qualities we think of as be- FIFTH GRADE— WrXTr:R WORK 173 Ionizing to minerals? Whence comes the common com- parison " as hard as a rock ? " 4. Are all minerals equally hard ? Test samples. 5. Arrange the samples according to their hardness. Which is the hardest sample ? Which is the softest ? 6. Mention other minerals you may know that are hard; that are soft. 7. How should each of these be classed as to, its degree of hardness — chalk, glass, soapstone, shale, marble, talc, limestone, brimstone, emery, lead, steel, etc.? 8. Which of these minerals are very hard ? Which are very soft? Note. — Minerals are divided into ten degrees of hardness, the diamond being the hardest. Chalk and talc can be scratched easily with the fin- ger nail and are said to be very soft. Five degrees of hardness will serve our purpose; very hard, hard, medium, soft, and very soft. 9. Classify the samples into these five groups, as best you can. 10. What difTerence do you notice in the weight of miner- als ? What minerals are very heavy ? Which are light ? 11. Arrange the samples into five groups according to their weight, as you can best judge them. 12. What minerals are valuable because they are hard? because they are soft ? because they are heavy ? because they are hght? 13. Mention minerals that are black, white, blue, gray. What other colors are seen in minerals ? 14. What use is made of colors found in minerals ? 15. What paints are colored with mineral pigments ? 16. What minerals are clear or transparent ? 1 7 . Which are not quite clear or translucent ? T74 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 1 8. Which are opaque and allow no light to pass through them? 19. What property gives glass its chief value? Can you think of other minerals that are valuable because of their action with hght? 20. What minerals are tough ? Which are brittle ? How do these properties add to the value of certain minerals ? 21. Which can be hammered into thin layers? State uses of this property? 22. Which can be drawn into wire? What metals are useful on this account? 23. What minerals will bend and spring back into their former position ? How is elasticity useful in minerals ? 24. Make a list of all the properties of minerals that you have learned. LESSON XXXIX ORES AND SMELTING 1. Collect samples of ores'— iron, lead, copper, silver, gold, etc. Examine them and note their color, weight, and general appearance. 2. Learn to tell at sight the probable chief metal contained in each sample. 3. What color indicates the presence of iron in ore? What color indicates copper ? lead and silver ? 4. What effect has great heat upon many common minerals ? 5. Have you seen glass melted in the stove? Where do the clinkers found in the furnace grate come from ? 6. What stones in nature show the action of fire ? Examine FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 175 samples of lava, porphyry, pumice stone, etc., and compare them with sandstone, shale, etc. Experiment i. — Heat a small, thin piece of limestone in the flame of an alcohol lamp. Note the change produced in color, structure, etc. Experiment 2.— Pulverize a piece of galena; mix with it a small quan- tity of bicarbonate of soda, and put the mixture into a shallow cavity in a piece of charcoal. Melt it with the flame of an alcohol lamp and a blow pipe, and a piece of lead may be obtained. 7. How are ores melted on a large scale and the metals taken out? 8. If possible, visit a foundry and see how iron is melted and cast; or, better still, visit a smelter where ores are melted and the metals are separated from them. FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK LESSON XL A PROBLEM IN GARDENING To THE Teacher. — As early as the weather will permit, have the pu- pils prepare a portion of the school garden for the planting of radishes. A good problem for the class to solve is how to raise radishes for the market most profitably. Consult seed catalogues. 1. What are the chief elements for success in raising radishes for the market? 2. How does the price of early radishes compare with that of late ones? 3. What qualities in radishes make them most salable? Consider size, shape, color, flavor, firmness, etc. 176 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 4. Describe the varieties of radishes that you know about. 5. Does one variety mature more quickly than another ? 6. What would be the advantage of planting a variety which matured early? 7. What seed will produce the greatest crop on a given amount of ground? What peculiarities of growth will pro- duce this ? Consider size of root and size of leaves. Experiment. — To determine which of all the varieties offered for sale is best for the early market, and for the later trade, procure seeds of many varieties and plant them in parallel rows, marking properly each row. One end of each row may be planted deep and the other shallow. About three weeks later, if the weather is favorable, the lesson may be resumed. Consider then the following questions: 8. Which variety has matured in the shortest time ? Which has taken the longest time? 9. Which has the finest flavor ? 10. Which takes the least space and therefore produces most radishes in a row^? 11. Which variety is firm and crisp and which is pithy? 12. Which has the most attractive shape ? color ? 13. Which variety will produce most crops in the year ? 14. What radish is best for a market garden ? 15. Keep a careful record of each variety planted and learn its good and bad points. If possible, put this knowl- edge to account by raising a crop for market or home use. LESSON XLI CAUSES OF SEASONS I. Point to where the sun rises now; to where it sets. FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 177 2. Where did it rise at Christmas time? Where did it set then ? 3. By pointing with the finger, trace the sun's daily path through the sky in September when school began; at Christmas time; at the present time. 4. What gradual north and south movement has the sun? 5. When did the sun reach its southern limit? When will it reach its northern limit? How long does it take the sun to go from one limit to the other ? 6. Compare the length of the sun's daily path through the sky in the winter and in the summer. Compare the length of days in these two seasons; the length of nights; the length of the noon shadow. 7. Since the sun stands still and the earth revolves on its axis and in an orbit around the sun, what must be the condi- tions to make the sun seem to rise and set daily and to move north and south during the year? 8. What other things seem to move, but do not? Recall how things look outside when you are in a car moving rapidly. When on a boat leaving the pier, what motion does the pier seem to have? 9. In what direction is this motion always as compared with your real motion? What is its rate as compared with yours ? 10. What movement of ours would make it seem to us that the sun, moon, and stars move from east to west ? Experiment.— VdiSS a wire through the center of an apple, an orange, or any sphere to represent the earth, and revoh-e it in the sunshine. Imagine the people to be as small accordingly as the globe is; show how sunrise and sunset are made to appear to them as the sun's motion. lyS NATURE STUDY BY GRADES In a similar way, while turning it rapidly on its axis, make the apple, pass horizontally around a globe standing on the desk to represent the sun. Let the axis slant in one direction, so as to make the sun seem to be overhead in the northern hemisphere at one place, and overhead in the southern hemisphere on the opposite side of the sun. Repeat the experiment a number of times with the earth's axis in various positions, — vertical, horizontal, and at different angles, and tell what effect each position would have upon the distribution of light and heat on the surface of the earth. 11. Show by the experiment what would be the effect if the north pole pointed directly toward the sun all the time. What would be the condition at the north pole ? at the south pole? at the equator ? 12. If the axis were vertical, how would it affect the seasons ? 13. The axis always points toward the north star or is bent over 23^ degrees from the perpendicular. How does this give us four seasons in this country? How does this divide the earth into zones? 14. Explain the apparent movement of the sun northward and southward every year. LESSON XLII TRANSPORTATION— ITS EVOLUTION 1. Why do we need to move things from one place to another ? 2. What do we use in doing this work on land? over water? over snow? FIFTH GRADE— SPRINO WORK lyg 3. What peoples have the poorest means of transporta- tion ? Describe how the Ihdians move their things; how loads are carried in China; in South America. 4. What animals aid man in carrying burdens? Make a list of as many as you can think of and tell how each does its work. Which are adapted to carry loads over dangerous mountain paths? over frozen snows of the north? over the hot and dry desert? in the temperate climes? Give reasons in each case. 5. What things have been invented to aid man in carrying loads ? 6. What things have been invented to aid animals in moving freight? 7. How does steam aid us in transportation on land? on water ? 8. What other powers aid man in this labor ? 9. Explain how each of the following vehicles enables man to carry more freight or passengers; the litter, the wheel- barrow, the cart, the wagon, the sled, the boat. What advantages has each to make work easier? 10. What peoples have only trails and footpaths on which to travel? 1 1 . How do good roads affect transportation ? 12. Tell how good roads are made and paid for. Con- sider the laying out of roads, the grading, turnpiking, gravel- ing, and paving of roads, in both country and city. 13. Why are steel roads needed for cars? How are they made? 14. Compare modern roads and means of transportation with those of olden times, and trace the steps in improving them. I So NATURE STUDY BY GRADES LESSON XLIII TRANSPORTATION— THE LEVER To THE Teacher. — The simple mechanical powers can be taught children much better in connection with devices wherein they are used than in an abstract way; and since the children are interested in the vehicles of transportation, the study of this subject will serve the double purpose of teaching a most important human activity and the first principles of mechanics. Experiment. — Make of wood a small, three-sided prism to be used as a pivot, or fulcrum; and a thin, smooth strip of wood for a lever, which should be marked off in inches. A common ruler or yardstick will do. Balance the lever over the fulcrum and, using small nails or flattened buckshot for weights, work out the following problems: 1. When equal weights are placed at equal distances from the fulcrum and on opposite sides of it, how does the lever act? 2. When they are placed at unequal distances from the fulcrum, how does the lever act? Which end rises? Why? 3. If unequal weights are placed at equal distances from the fulcrum, how does the lever act ? Why ? 4. Can you place unequal weights where they will balance each other on the lever? Compare the difference in the weights and the distances from the fulcrum and see if there is any relation between them. 5. Where will one weight, six inches from the fulcrum, balance two similar weights on the opposite side of the fulcrum ? Where will it balance three similar weights ? 6. Experiment in balancing different weights at different distances until a relation, or law, is discovered between the weights and their distances from the fulcrum. FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK i8i 7. If a small weight is to balance a large one, what must be their relative distance from the fulcrum ? Note. — The distance from the fulcrum to either weight is called an arm of the lever. In using a lever to do work, the power takes the place of one of the weights and its distance to the fulcrum is csilkdihe power- arm. The other arm is called the weight-arm. 8. Where have you seen levers used to do work ? Describe levers and the work that you have seen them do. 9. How much weight can a man raise with a lever six feet long by putting one end of it under a heavy stone and resting the lever over a fulcrum one foot from that end and bearing down 150 pounds at the other end ? 10. Find all the levers you can in a wheelbarrow; a cart; a wagon. 1 1 . Find the fulcrum in each case. 12. Explain how each lever found is an advantage. 13. If the length of the power-arm be increased, what etTect will this have upon the amount of weight it can lift? If it be made shorter, what will be the effect ? 14. If the weight-arm be shortened, what will be the effect ? If it be made longer, what will be the result? To THE Teacher. — The exact law of equilibrium of the lever need not. be given in this grade, since children are not exact in thought or action, but they should work with the lever and weights until the great principle is discovered. When they can grasp and use it, teach tlicm that the Power times the Power-arm equals the Weight times the Weight- arm. LESSON XLIV TRANSPORTATION— THE LEVER (Continued) Experiment. — Balance equal weights placed on the lever on opposite sides of the fulcrum. Move the lever up and down and measure care- 1 82 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES fully the vertical distance through which the weights move. How do they compare ? Repeat the experiment using unequal weights. 1. If one weight 14 inches from the fulcrum balances two weights 7 inches from it on the opposite side, through how much distance will the latter move when the former is raised 4 inches ? 6 inches ? When lowered 2 inches ? 2. In problem 9 in the last lesson, through how much space will the power-arm have to move to lift the stone 2 inches ? 3. When unequal weights, balanced on the lever, are made to move up and down, which weight always passes through the greater distance, the lighter or the heavier ? 4. When one weight balances another twice as heavy, how does the distance it moves compare with that of the ether ? 5. When it is three times as heavy, how do the distances compare ? Find the results by testing with the lever. 6. Continue to experiment with the lever and weights until the relation between the distance covered by the power and weight is discovered and understood. 7. When the power-arm is longer than the weight-arm, what is gained by using the lever ? What is lost ? Prove it. 8. When the weight-arm is the longer, what is lost ? What is gained ? Prove it by using the lever and weights, letting one weight represent the power. 9. How does this relation, or law, compare with the one learned in the last lesson? 10. Tell of a lever you have seen used to gain power, i. e. where a litde power moved a great weight or did greater work. j.i. Tell of a lever that you have seen used to gain time, i. e. FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 183 where the power moved through only a small distance in making the weight move through a greater distance. 12. In using a wheelbarrow, which is gained, power or time? 13. In using a pitchfork, which moves through the greater distance, the power or the weight ? 14. In pressing on the pedal of a bicycle, what is gained? 15. In using an oar in moving a boat, what is gained ? 16. In "setting" the brake on a wagon, is power or time gained ? 17. Think of other levers that gain pow^r. Mention also others that are used to gain time at the loss of power. LESSON XLV TRANSPORTATION— KINDS OF LEVERS 1. Is the fulcrum in all levers between the weight and the power ? Give examples, if not. 2. Locate the fulcrum, the power, and the weight-arm in the following levers : a wheelbarrow^ a pitch-fork, a pedal of a sewing machine, a bicycle, an oar, a wagon tongue, a carriage brake, a windlass, a capstan, a hammer, in drawing a nail, in driving a nail, a crow-bar. A lever having the fulcrum between the weight and power, like the one you have been using, is called a lever of the first class. 3. Mention several levers of the first class. What is gained by levers of this class? Give illustrations. When the fulcrum is at one end, the power at the other, and 1 84 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES the weight is between them, it is a lever of the second class. 4. Name several levers of the second class. What is gained by levers of this class? When the fulcrum is at one end, the weight at the other, and the power between them, it is a lever of the third class. A Lever of the First Class A Le\^er of the Second Class A Lever of the Third Class 5. Mention several examples of this kind. What is always gained by this kind of lever ? 6. What kinds of levers are found in the following articles, and what is gained by each— a lemon squeezer, a nut- cracker, a spade in digging, sheep shears, a crank, a can opener, a tack puller? 7. If a father and a son are carrying a weight of 100 pounds between them on a pole 4 feet long, where should the weight hang so that the father will carry 75 pounds ? 8. If a bar of bullion weighing 200 pounds is placed on a FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 185 wheelbarrow i foot from the axle of the wheel, what weight will the man wheeling it have to lift, if the handles are 5 feet from the axle? 9. Mention levers found about carts, wheelbarrows, wag- ons, street cars, railroad cars, locomotives, boats, shipping, automobiles, bicycles, flying machines, etc. 10. In each case, as far as you can, tell what is gained and what is lost. LESSON XLVI TRANSPORTATION-THE WHEEL Experiment i. — Try to roll a cube and a ball down the same inclined plane. Which rolls better? Why? 1. Slowly overturn a cube. What movement do all the particles in it have to pass through in turning over ? 2. Which takes the more labor, to roll a box of goods across the floor or to wheel it across on a truck ? Why ? 3. What forms are more easily overturned than a cube? What forms are more difficult to overturn than a cube ? Ex- plain why in each case. Experiment 2. — Overturn a book lying on one cover. Overturn a book that is standing on its end. Which takes the greater labor or force? Why? Overturn a cube and a ball of about the same weight. Compare the force needed in each case. 4. How does the size of the base influence the force needed to overturn an object? 5. What forms are most stable? Why? What forms arc most unstable? Why? 6. Compare a wheel with a ball in this respect. What can you say of the size of the base of each ? 1 86 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 7. Why are wheels placed under heavy loads that are to be moved ? 8. Why should wheels so used be perfectly round? If the wheels were somewhat flattened, what would be the effect upon the amount of force needed to pull the load ? Why ? Besides going forward, the load would have what other motion ? 9. Why are car wheels removed as soon as they get a ''fiat" side? 10. Why was the invention of the wheel the most important step in the advancement of transportation ? 11. Why does a stone in front of a wheel make the load so much harder to pull? 12. Why should roads be smooth and hard ? 13. Why do steel rails reduce the power needed by the locomotive? 14. Account for the ease of motion in the "ball" bearings. Examine how a ball bearing is made. LESSON XLVII TRANSPORTATION— THE INCLINED PLANE 1. Why do men roll a heavy barrel up a plank into a wagon rather than lift it up? 2. How is the inclined plane an advantage ? 3. Give several illustrations of the use of the inclined plane. 4. What effect has it on the power to make the inclined plane very steep ? 'to make it very gentle in its slope ? FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK .87 5. Would you rather climb a steep hill or one with a gentle slope? a ladder or a stair? 6. Why do paths and roads seldom go straight up hill? 7. Why are railroads in mountainous regions so crooked? 8. Why can a man on foot climb certain mountains faster than a locomotive can ? Which could go through the greater distance in going upward? Experiment. — Make an inclined plane of two small boards hinged together at one end and separated at the other end by an adjustable support. Balance a small wagon by a weight at the opposite end of a string, which passes over a pulley, as shown in the cut. Place any given weight on the wagon and adjust the inclined plane at any desired angle. Test the amount of power needed to raise the weight by adding weights to the lower end of the string. Any change in the angle of the inclined plane will cause a corresponding change in the weights needed to balance the wagon and its load. 9. Explain the influence of the slope of the inclined plane to the pow^r needed, and to the distance the weight is raised. l88 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES Experiment with this apparatus or with similar devices un- til their principle is understood. 10. If the power used is not great, what kind of an in- clined plane must be used to lift a great weight ? While thus gaining power, what is being lost ? 11. What is the advantage gained by using the inclined plane ? Note. — The wedge is a double inclined plane and the screw is an inclined plane running spirally around an axis. Both are often used to exert great power. LESSON XLVIII TRANSPORTATION— A RAILROAD To THE Teacher. — Take the class to a railroad station and call the pupils' attention to the construction and adaptation of all things used there in transportation. No doubt some obliging ofticial or employee will gladly go with you and make needed explanations. Examine the various things mentioned in the lesson, calling especial attention to the use of levers, wheels, inclined planes, light, heat, friction, momentum, and other principles of physics, that the pupils may be able to answer the questions asked in the lesson and others that you may ask them after the visit. Several lessons may be given to this topic. 1. Cars. — Describe a common box car. State what you can of its size, openings, number of wheels, brakes, springs, couplings, capacity, uses, etc. In like manner describe a coal car, a cattle car, a refrigerator car, a coach, a sleeping car, a dining car, etc., showing their adaptation to their special uses. By means of pictures, explain the improvements that have been made in cars, and suggest what changes may yet be made for their betterment. 2. Trackage. — Explain how and why a track is graded: FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 189 Explain cuts and fills; the use of the ties; the weight and strength of the rails, and how they are fastened down. De- scribe a railroad bridge; a tunnel; the working of a switch; the use and action of signals, etc. 3. The Locomotive. — Where is the fire box? Tell which is the boiler and how^ the greatest possible amount of heat is obtained. Where is the coal supply? the water supply? A Locomotive Drawing a Passenger Train Which are the drive wheels? Why are they so large? Ex- plain the use and action of the bell, the whistle, the throttle- valve, the steam chest, the cylinder, the eccentric rods, the pilot, the cab, etc. 4. Find in the things mentioned above, 'levers, wheels, pul- leys, inclined planes, and applications of other things that you have studied. 5. Buildings.— DQ?>Q.x\hii and show the need of a waiting I go NATURE STUDY BY GRADES room, ticket office, telegraph office, bureau of information, baggage rooms, and freight houses. 6. Employees. Explain the duties and responsibilities of the engineer, fireman, conductor, brakeman, porter, yard master, train dispatcher, ticket agent, freight agent, manager, etc. 7. At what rate of speed do passenger trains run? freight trains ? 8. What are some of the dangers of railroad transportation ? 9. What precautions are taken to prevent accidents ? LESSON XLIX OUR GREAT RAILROADS 1. Mention some of the most important railroads in the United States. 2. Where are they located? Why do many of them follow rivers ? Do many of them cross mountains ? 3. What has made them important? Are there natural conditions that aid them? 4. How may one go from New York City to Chicago ? Over what roads may he go from Chicago to Omaha ? from Chicago to Kansas City? Study a good railroad map of the United States. 5. Describe three routes of crossing the continent by rail. 6. Which line first crossed the continent? Why did the government aid it? 7. Mention the most important benefit of railroads to the individual, the town, the state, the nation. Are railroads in any way a detriment? FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 191 8. Where are the great lumber regions of the United States ? 9. Locate the wheat belt, the corn belt; the cotton belt, the coal regions. Where is most manufacturing done? What states are most populous? 10. How do these things influence the building of railroads ? 11. In what part of our country' are there no railroads? Why? 12. Why were large cities formerly built near the ocean? Is this equally true now ? Why ? 13. Where are railroads needed now? What conditions must exist to get men to build railroads ? 14. How may the discovery of rich mines of gold or silver influence the building of railroads? Can you give an example of this? 15. Since the war with Spain, why are great companies building lines to the Pacific Coast? LESSON L PLANT PROPAGATION— GERMINATION Experiment. — Plant a variety of seeds in damp sawdust and watch them germinate and grow, noting carefully each step in their develop- ment. 1. What is the most common way of getting new plants? 2. Make a list of plants you know that grow from seeds. Which live only one year ? Which live many years ? 3. What are the conditions necessary for plants to grow from seeds and mature? Recall the work done on Germina- tion (See Book I, page 113). 192 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 4. Prove that moisture is necessary to germination. What care is taken of stored wheat, corn, and other grains to keep them from sprouting? Wheat stored in the dry climate of Egypt has kept 2,000 years in good condition. 5. Prove that warmth is necessary to germination. Why do seeds, planted too early in the spring, sometimes rot in the ground ? What kinds may be planted earliest ? 6. Why will a late damp spring or an early dry one cause a poor crop? 7. Do germinating seeds require air ? Experiment. — Drop some beans, wheat, or other common seeds into a bottle of water and set the bottle in a warm window for a week or more. Compare the results with seeds sovv^n in moist sawdust or dirt. 8. How does air get mixed with soil? When the water in damp soil evaporates, what takes its place ? 9. Do crops usually thrive in soil that is always very damp ? Why ? Give examples that you have seen. 10. Why is it a good thing for plants that rain is not continuous, keeping the ground wet all the time ? 11. What kind of soil is best when there is too much moisture, sandy or clayey soil ? Why ? 12. Describe each change that takes place in most seeds as they germinate and grow, and account for it. LESSON LI PLANT PROPAGATION— CUTTINGS Experiment i. — Cut a slip from a geranium, a coleus, a carnation, a poplar, a currant, a willow, a rose, a privet, a grape, an oleander, or FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 193 from any other common plant, and set them out in good moist soil. Keep the soil in good condition and watch and record what takes place with the slips. If the woody slips are too old, they may not grow. This may be told by their looks, and by giving them a quick bend. If they do not break, they may be too young: if they are brittle and splinter, they may be loo old: but if they break and hang by the bark, they are in projtr con- dition. Cuttings having buds should be three or four inches long and be plan- ted so as to leave at least one bud above the ground, and two beneath the surface. Those having joints, as the carnation, should be planted so as to have at least two joints below the surface. If the cuttings have leaves, pull most of them off. Why? 1. Which of the cuttings sprout first? which are slowest? 2. Which cuttings will not grow in this way at all ? 3. What plants are commonly grown from cuttings ? 4. Would these plants grow as well from seeds? Will they mature and bear flowers or fruit as soon from the seed as from the cuttings? Experiment 2.— Take some leaves of a cactus or rex begonia and cover them partly with damp soil— especially the part where the leaf is broken off. Note what takes place. Try leaves of many kinds. 5. What plants may be propagated from their leaves? 6. Is this method ever used in the garden or green- house ? 7. Does nature ever produce new plants from leaves ? 8. Do such plants as grow from leaves generally produce seeds ? Experiment 3.— Completely cover with good soil some potato eyes; some onion sets; a few roots of raspberry, blackberry, and asparagus plants. Keep them in favorable conditions and note any changes that they undergo. 9. What plants send up sprouts from their roots ? 194 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 10. Do any of them depend upon this method alone to produce new plants? 1 1 . Man uses this method with what plants ? Why ? Experiment 4. — Select a long, slender, branch of a Virginia creeper, grapevine, rosebush or other common shrub growing near the school, and bend it down to the ground and carefully cover a section of it with three or four inches of soil. Leave a foot or more of the end of the branch above the ground and do not cut the branch from the parent plant. 12. What takes place at the buried portion? When may the branch be cut from the parent stem without killing the new plant? 13. This method of layering has what advantage over simply putting slips or cuttings in the ground to grow ? Why ? 14. What plants have you seen produced by layering them ? 15. Observe all common wild plants and find out how each one produces its new plants. 16. Make a list of plants that follow each method observed, and find out which method is most common and which is most rare. 1 7. Are there still other ways of growing new plants ? Experiment 5. — Many cuttings will grow if simply placed in a bottle of water, in which case the roots may be plainly seen as they develop. When they become large enough to sustain the plants, they may be trans- planted into pots or into the school garden. Obtain in this way some flowering plants for the school. LESSON LII PLANT PROPAGATION— BUDDING Field Lesson. — Visit a nursery and see how young trees are produced, cared for, and transplanted into orchards. FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 195 1 . What fruit trees are grown from seeds ? 2. What trees and shrubs are grown from cuttings? Hav- you ever seen green fence posts, set in moist soil, grow into trees ? 3. Can you recognize the different varieties of young trees in a nursery as readily as when they are older ? 4. Name and describe the fruit trees that you readily recognize. 5. Can an orchardist, in buying young trees, always tell whether they are the particular variety he wants or not? Why is it necessary that he should be sure what variety of fruit each tree will produce ? 6. Do trees grown from seeds generally produce the same variety as the seeds planted ? Why ? 7. Are the trees and shrubs grown from cuttings always of the same variety as the cuttings used ? 8. What does the nurseryman do to make sure that the fruit of any given tree will be the desired kind ? Note. — The variety is determined by the bud rather than by the root or stem. The nurseryman, therefore, takes buds from an old tree, whose variety is known, and "buds" or "grafts" into the seedling tree. "Budding" is usually done when the seedling is only a year old, but grafting may be done at almost any age. 9. What is the chief thing to secure the growth of the bud in its new home ? Why must the sap of the young twig be made to circulate in the new bud ? 10. When the new bud begins to grow, how may its growth be forced? 11. Why, in the nursery, are the young trees budded so near the ground? , 12. What two advantages arc secured by culling off ihc 196 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES (' h. 'U Steps in Budding young tree just above the new bud as soon as the latter is big enough ? Experiment. — Although in the temperate zone, August is, perhaps, the best month to bud young trees, yet with care the young buds may be made to grow early in the spring while the sap is flowing freely. Bring twigs to the class and practice in cut- ting and placing buds of any kind until you are familiar with the process. Then bud young twigs of any tree that may be grow- ing near the school, using buds of some other variety of the same tree. 13. How are straw- berries propagated ? 14. H o w does spearmint reproduce itself? 15. Describe how the successive crops (a) twig having suitable buds to use; (b) method of cut- of alfalfa grOW. ting off the bud; (c) how the bark is cut; (d) how the ^ tt i J bark is opened; (e) inserting the bud; (/) the bud in place; i5. HOW lOng QOeS ig) the bud properly wrapped. the banana tree live and how does it produce young plants? 17. What plants may be reproduced in more ways than one ? Make a list of all that you know. FIFTH GRADK— SPRING WORK 197 18. How may several kinds of fruit or llowcrs be made to grow on the same plant? LESSON LIII GRAFTING 4 1,11 I. In spite of all the care of the nurserymen in budding the young trees, in almost every large orchard there will be a few trees that, when ma- ture, will not bear fruit true to name. What remedy can you think of for this con- dition ? 2. Why not dig up the old trees and plant young ones of the desired kind in their places ? 3. Now that the bark is too thick and hard to "bud" the old trees, can you think of any other way in which the sap of the tree may be made to mingle with the sap of a twig of another tree that bears buds of the variety desired? Experiment.— Saw off a limb of a tree and split the stump down the center, making a crack about three inches long(6). Cut two scions, each having several buds and trim one end of each into the shape of a long, slim wedge (a). Insert these into the crack in such a position (b) that the sap layer of each scion shall coincide with the sap layers on the two sides of the stump (d), so as to secure a circulation of sap between f)'!l Steps dj Tongue Grafting (a) the two branches to be joined; (b) a tongue cut in each; (c) how fitted together; {d) method of wrapping. 98 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES them. The severed ends of both the stump and the scions should then* be covered with grafting wax (c) to prevent their drying before growth is established. Steps in Cleft Grafting 4. What is the great advantage of grafting ? 5. Why do grafts grow more rapidly than twigs on other branches of the same tree ? than seedlings ? 6. When the grafts are large enough, why should the other limbs be sawed off? Note. — Usually in grafting, scions are inserted into more than one limb, and on different sides of the tree in order that the tree may be well balanced when the scions grow and the other limbs are cut off. LESSON LIV CHIEF CROPS OF THE UNITED STATES To THE Teacher. — In teaching the influences of physical conditions upon crops and their consequent distribution, the work should corre- late closely with geography, A knowledge of the nature of plants and FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 199 of the climate and conditions that they recjuire will aid the jnipils greatly in remembering where various ones are found; if, at the same time, they are taught the influence of position and surface conditions that determine climate, etc. 1. Mention plants that need much water. Make a list of these. 2. Name some desert or arid region plants. 3. Compare in a general way their size, growth, appearance, etc. 4. What plants require long, warm, summers to develop them ? 5. What plants will develop in a short, cool summer ? 6. How long does it take wheat to mature ? corn ? sugar cane ? cotton ? How does this influence their ]jlace of greatest growth ? Note. — A little flower growing near the snow line in the Rocky Mountains will sprout, blossom, develop, seed and scatter the seed, wither up,, and die within the short space of six weeks, its summer. In the tropics, plants of similar size take almost a year to do this work. 7. What plants thrive best in sandy soil? clayey soil? 8. What kind of soil do most plants seem to like best ? 9. What parts of the United States are warm and moist? What crops thrive best there ? 10. What parts are dry and hot? What crops grow there? 11. What conditions of climate and soil do the following important crops require: wheat, corn, cotton, sugar, cane, tobacco, rice, cranberries, apples, grapes, etc. ? 12. Where, in the United States, does each of these crops thrive best and why ? 13. Where, in .the United States, are oranges raised? Why? 200 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 14. What fruits are raised in the north ? Why ? 15. What influence does weather have upon crops in any locality ? If the spring is late and cold and damp, how will it affect the crops ? If it is early and hot and dry, what effect will it have upon them ? 16. Where is sandy soil most frequently found? Where do we find gravel ? clay ? 17. Tell if the soil influences plant growth in any degree. r LESSON LV PLANT STRUGGLES— WIND Note. — One of the most interesting and instructive things to study is the behavior of plants when placed in unfavorable and dangerous conditions. The efforts that they put forth to save themselves from destruction are often ingenious and sometimes almost pathetic. These struggles can be seen almost any time and anywhere among plants. Some of their enemies may be only accidental or special, while others are permanent, and their means of protection will be special or perma- nent to correspond. Study the behavior of plants under different cir- cumstances and learn to explain what you see. 1. What great good is done the plant by the wind? Recall the work of the wind in scattering the seeds of plants. 2. What habits have plants that are calculated to make the wind serve them? 3. If winds are too strong, what harm do they often do to plants? Tell of trees and fruit, hay and grain, etc., that you have seen injured by the wind. 4: How do trees guard against being uprooted ? 5. Is it an advantage that the tall poplar tree bends before a strong wind? Why? FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 20i 6. If the wind blows strongly and from the same direction, what will be its effect upon the shape of trees ? Do you know of any trees whose shape has been changed by the wind ? Can they withstand the force of the wind now better than before their shape had changed? 7. How are orchards and forests often injured by strong winds or hurricanes? 8. Describe the structure of trees as adapted to withstand the force of the wind. Consider the shape and size of the trunk, the arrangement of the branches, the strength of the roots, etc., and any special provision you may have seen. ODE TO THE WEST WIND O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing. Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou. Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the spring shall blow Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odors plain and hill: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere: Destroyer and preserver; hear, Oh hear! 202 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES II Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion, Loose clouds like earth's decapng leaves are shed, Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread On the blue surface of thine airy surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith's height. The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, Veiled with all thy congregated might Of vapors, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: Oh hear! — Shelley. LESSON LVI PLANT STRUGGLES— DROUGHT A Field Lesson. — After the spring rains have ceased and the dry, hot, weather begins, study any nearby patch of weeds and note how they act as their supply of moisture grows less. 1 . Count the number of weeds growdng on a square yard. 2. Note which are large and thrifty and which are small and weakly. Account for these differences as far as you can. 3. Compare these weeds with others near by and account for any marked difference between them. 4. What are the first signs of suffering for water ? FIFTH GRADE -SrRlXc; WoRR 20; 5. Why do the leaves curl? Does this economize water? Explain. 6. Why do some dry and drop ofT, if the drought continues ? Experiment, i. — Make a small hole in the center of a piece of paper or card- board and cut a slit from the hole to the edge. Place this around the stem of any potted plant, and invert over it a glass jar as shown in the illustration. If placed in the sunshine, the water given off from the leaves of the plant as vapor will, in a short time, begin to collect on the inside of the jar. No moisture can come from the soil through the cardboard, so all of it must come from the plant. 7. Which weeds die first, the strong or the weak ones? Why? 8. Which survive the longer ? Why ? Consider the size of the plants; the depth reached by their roots; the number of plants near them that helped to use up the moisture; and the difference in soil if there be any. 9. Is the death of the weaker an advantage to the stronger ? If so, why? 10. Is it an advantage to the species that some get a good start and become strong and deep-rooted before the dry season comes? Explain. 11. What does this fact mean in the broad iicld of nature? Would it be well for every plant of the same kind to be equal in size and endurance? 12. As it is now, w^hich plants furnish most of the seeds that get scattered and grow, the strong ones or the weak? Experiment 2.— Supply water regularly to a portion of the plants that are dpng for thirst and describe the results. 204 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 13. Do they entirely overcome the effects of the drought? '14. Do they produce as many seeds and as large in size as though they had suffered no drought ? 15. What advantage have irrigated crops in this respect over those that depend upon rain for their moisture ? Note. — One reason for the richer flavor of fruits raised in the arid regions, where they are irrigated regularly, over those raised where they depend upon rain, is that the growth of the former is never interrupt- ed by drought, while the latter is retarded quite often and the fruit never fully recovers from the effect. 16. What is the effect of missing one's "watering turn" upon an irrigated farm ? 17. Collect samples of plants for the school cabinet that will illustrate the effects of drought and abundance of water upon their growth. 18. How do plants that inhabit the arid regions permanently economize moisture? Are their leaves as numerous and as large as those growing in the humid regions? LESSON LVII PLANT STRUGGLES— NEIGHBORS 1. Why do we "weed "a garden? In what ways do weeds injure cultivated plants? 2. Why are crops of sugar beets " thinned ?" At what age is this work done? Why? 3. Why is only half as much seed grain sown upon a dry farm as upon one that is irrigated in the arid regions ? 4. Why are orchard trees thinned by pruning ? 5. Do plants generally thrive as well in dense groups as in more scattered conditions? FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 205 6. What conditions will aid plants in growing in dense communities ? 7. Why are wild plants thicker on a ditch bank than on an open, dryer piece of ground? 8. Is it profitable to plant a garden or to set out shrubs in an orchard where the trees are so large as to shade the ground ? 9. Tell how different plants that you have seen continue to live in crowded places. Experiment. — Select some common plant, as the dandelion, to study in relation to its neighbors, and report your observations to the class. 10. Describe its conduct on the lawn and how it escapes the lawn mower, and succeeds in developing its seeds and getting them scattered. 11. Tell how differently it acts in a meadow, in a field of alfalfa, or when surrounded by tall neighbors. 12. Observe and report upon how other plants adapt themselves to their surroundings. 13. What is the shape of a tree growing near the wall of a building ? How do clumps of trees influence the shape of one another ? 14. Is the undergrowth as dense in the woods where the fohage of the trees is dense as where it is open ? 15. Do the same wild plants always grow in the same places or do they change from year to year? 16. Does nature ever rotate her crops as the farmer does? 17. Have you ever seen one community of plants run out another? How did it do it? 18. Why will dandelions run out lawn grass ? 19. What advantages have weeds in a garden over the crops planted there? 2o6 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 20* Explain the difference between a well cultivated and a neglected garden. LESSON LVIII PLANT STRUGGLES— CLIMATE I. What fruits grow in southern countries that will not grow here? Make a list of them. ' 2. What other trees or plants will grow there but not here ? 3. What crops are raised here but not in countries far north of us? Make a hst of them. 4. Why will not all these plants grow everywhere ? 5. When do our latest frosts occur in the spring? When do our earliest ones come in the fall ? Examine your Meteorolog- ical Records or the Weather Bureau reports. 7. How long a summer have our plants to develop their seeds without injury from frosts? 8. Can plants that require a longer time thrive in this latitude? Why? 9. How do the annual plants contrive to pass the cold winters, and produce like plants from year to year ? 10. Are any of the seeds of wild annual plants here injured by the cold and wet? Are any of the seeds of the cultivated plants injured in that way? II. What seeds are injured by freezing? Which are not? 12. How do the biennial plants manage to endure the rigors of our winters? 13. What precautions do plants take to escape being injured by winter weather? FIFTH GRADE— SPRING WORK 207 14. Should a late frost in the spring kill the bursting buds on a tree, what would be the results ? 15. How do the trees and other plants of the far north adapt themselves to the cold climate there? (Recall lessons 15 and 16, on evergreen and deciduous trees, pages 29 and 31- 16. Make a list of plants that grow in each of the zones. LESSON LIX PLANT STRUGGLES— ANIMALS 1. When the top of the grass is eaten off by animals, does it usually die? 2. Does mowing down weeds generally kill them ? 3. What effect upon the grass has mowing the lawn? Experiment. — Cut off the stems of several weeds and other plants at different distances from the roots and find out by the actual test where each kind must be cut to kill it. Also note the effort to survive when cut off above the fatal point. 4. In hoeing the garden, what use can we make of this knowledge ? 5. When the central seed stock is eaten or cut off, why are others produced on the side? 6. When is this habit useful to man ? When is it harmful to him? 7. How does this habit of plants affect the ranges ? 8. Why will a herd of sheep destroy the grass on the range more quickly than a herd of cattle will? Which cats off the grass lower? Why? 2o8 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 9. At what point must most weeds be cut off to kill them? 10. Why do some weeds have to be plowed under to be destroyed ? 11. In what ways do plants keep animals from eating them? 1 2 . What plants have spines ? Of what use are they ? 13. What plants have a foul odor ? a bad taste? 14. Do any plants use color in any way to protect themselves or their seeds from injury ? 15. Why have most unripe fruits a green color and a bad taste ? 16. Is the smooth skin of the apple, the fuzzy skin of the peach, the bony rind of the squash, a protection from any animal that would harm the seeds within ? 17. Find how other plants are protected from the attacks of animals. :** C#r' SUPPLEMENTARY READING ^ This grading, which is simply suggestive, represents the earliest years in which these books can be read to advantage. GEOGRAPHY YEAR 5 Carpenter's Geographical Reader — North America .... |o.6o 5 Geographical Reader — South America 60 6 Geographical Reader — Europe 7° 6 Geographical Reader — Asia 60 6 Geographical Reader — Australia, Our Colonies, and Other Islands of the Sea 60 6 Geographical Reader — Africa 60 1 Dutton's Fishing and Hunting (World at Work Series) . . .30 2 In Field and Pasture (World at Work Series) 35 5 Guyot Geographical Reader (Pratt) 60 4 Krout's Alice's Visit to the Hawaiian Islands 45 4 Two Girls in China 45 3 Long's Home Geography 2.5 4 MacClintock's The Philippines 4° 3 Payne's Geographical Nature Studies 25 2 Schwartz's Five Little Strangers 4° 2 Shaw's Big People and Little People of Other Lands ... .30 NATURE STUDY 3 Abbott's A Boy on a Farm (Johnson) 45 3 Bartlett's Animals at Home 45 I Beebe and Kingsley's First Year Nature Reader 35 3 Bradish's Stories of Country Life . 4° 4 Dana's Plants and Their Children 65 5 Holder's Half Hours with the Lower Animals 60 5 Half Hours with Fishes, Reptiles, and Birds 60 4 Stories of Animal Life 6° 3 Kelly's Short Stories of Our Shy Neighbors 5° 3 Monteith's Some Useful Animals 5° 3 Familiar Animals and Their Wild Kindred 50 4 Living Creatures of Water, Land, and Air 50 6 Popular Science Reader 75 5 Needham's Outdoor Studies 4° 3 Pyle's Stories of Humble Friends 5° 3 Stokes's Ten Common Trees 4° 5 Walker's Our Birds and Their Nestlings 60 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Cai) HICKS'S CHAMPION SPELLING BOOK By WARREN E. HICKS, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Cleveland, Ohio Complete, $0.25 - Part One, $0.18 - Part Two, ^0.18 THIS book embodies the method that enabled the pupils in the Cleveland schools after two years to win the Na- tional Education Association Spelling Contest of 1908. ^ By this method a spelling lesson of ten words is given each day from the spoken vocabulary of the pupil. Of these ten words two are selected for intensive study, and in the spelling book are made prominent in both position and type at the head of each day's lessons, these two words being followed by the remaining eight words in smaller type. Systematic review is provided throughout the book. Each of the ten prominent words taught intensively in a week is listed as a subordinate word in the next two weeks; included in a written spelling contest at the end of eight weeks ; again in the annual contest at the end of the year ; and again as a subordinate word in the following year's work; — used five times in all within two years. ^ The Champion Spelling Book consists of a series of lessons arranged as above for six school years, from the third to the eighth, inclusive. It presents about 1,200 words each year, and teaches 3 i 2 of them with especial clearness and intensity. It also includes occasional supplementary exercises which serve as aids in teaching sounds, vowels, homonyms, rules of spell- ing, abbreviated forms, suffixes, prefixes, the use of hyphens, plurals, dictation work, and word building. The words have been selected from lists, supplied by grade teachers of Cleve- land schools, of words ordinarily misspelled by the pupils of their respective grades. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (3&) STEADMANS' WRITING Muscular Movement 8 Pads — one for each year — each containing 40 sheets, 80 pages, or 3J.3 times as much as the ordinary copybook. - Price, each, i 5 cents. STEADMANS' Graded Lessons in Writing train the child to maintain a truly healthful position, and to use the large muscles of the upper arm and shoulder as the motive power in writing. As the ability to write automatic- ally is acquired, a correct sitting habit is inculcated; stoop- ing over the desk, cramping the lung space, bringing the eyes so close to the paper that they are permanently injured, be- come impossible. The child is no longer subjected to the harmful tendencies of former days. *jjThis system teaches the child to write a good, characteristic hand that will remain with him through life. The course is presented in eight pads. Each pad is a complete cycle, covering the work for an entire year, and containing forty sheets, eighty pages, three and one-third times as much as a copybook. Each page presents a central idea, around which the lesson is constructed. The drills constitute a ser- ies of graded, specialized, physical culture exercises. These exercises are so devised and arranged that the pupils are led, by easy gradations, from the simplest forms and letters to the more complex. Each drill is based upon the movement re- quired to form the letter or letters under consideration during that particular wTiting lesson. ^The work is simplicity itself. It teaches an easy, graceful style of free handwriting with full play for the writer's indi- viduality. It requires no extra exercise books, no teacher's manual, no blank pads, and no additional paper. Any teacher can teach it with ease without further assistance, and any child will find no difficulty in performing it successfully, and in acquiring a handwriting that is legible, rapid, and automatic. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (41) MILNE'S PROGRESSIVE ARITHMETICS By WILLIAM J. MILNE, Ph.D., LL.D., President of New York State Normal College, Albany, N. Y. THREE BOOK SERIES First Book $0.35 Second Book 40 Third Book 45 TWO BOOK SERIES First Book $o-3S Complete Book . . . .65 IN these series the best modern methods of instruction have been combined with those older features which gave the author's previous arithmetics such marvelous popularity. ^ Built upon a definite pedagogical plan, these books teach the processes of arithmietic in such a way as to develop the reasoning faculties, and tc train the power of rapid, accurate, and skillful manipulation of numbers. The inductive method is applied, leading the pupils to discover truths for them- selves ; but it is supplemented by model solutions and careful explanations of each step. ^ Each new topic is first carefully developed, and then en- forced by sufficient practice to fix it thoroughly in the mind. The problems, which have been framed with the greatest care, relate to a wide range of subjects drawn from modern life and industries. Reviews in various forms are a marked feature. Usefulness is the keynote. ^ In the First and Second Books the amount of work that may be accomplished in a half year is taken as the unit of classification, and the various subjects are treated topically, each being preceded by a brief resume of the concepts already acquired. In the Third Book the purely topical method is used in order to give the pupil a coherent knowledge oi' each subject. The Complete Book covers the work usually given to pupils during the last four years of school. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (57) MAXWELL'S NEW GRAMMARS By WILLIAM H. MAXWELL, Ph.D., LL.D. Superintendent of Schools, City of New York Elementary Grammar . . ^0.40 School Grammar . . $0.60 THE ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR presents in very small space all the grammar usually taught in elemen- tary schools. ^ It gives the pupil an insight into the general forms in which thought is expressed, and enables him to see the meaning oi complicated sentences. The explanatory matter is made clear by the use of simple language, by the elimination of unnecessary technical terms, and by the frequent introduction of illustrative sentences. The definitions are simple and pre- cise. The exercises are abundant and peculiarly ingenious. A novel device for parsing and analysis permits these two subjects to be combined in one exercise for purposes ot drill. ^The SCHOOL GRAMMAR contains everything needed by students in upper grammar grades and secondary schools. It covers fully the requirements of the Syllabus in English issued by the New York State Education Department. ^The book treats of grammar only, and presents many exercises which call for considerable reflection on the mean- ing of the expressions to be analyzed. Throughout, stress is laid on the broader distinctions of thought and expression. The common errors of written and spoken language are so classified as to make it comparatively easy for pupils to detect and correct them through the application of the rules of grammar. The book ends with an historical sketch ot the English language, an article on the formation of words, and a hst of equivalent terms employed by other grammari- ans. The full index makes the volume useful for reference. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (78) RODDY'S GEOGRAPHIES By JUSTIN RODDY, M.S., Department of Geography, First Pennsylvania State Normal School, Millersville, Pa. Elementary Geography . $0.50 Complete Geography )I.OO THIS ** information" series meets a distinct demand for new geographies which are thoroughly up to date, and adapted for general use, rather than for a particular use in a highly specialized and organized ideal system. While not too technical and scientific, it includes sufficient physio- graphic information for the needs of most teachers. ^ An adequate amount of material is included in each book to meet the requirements of those grades forwhich it is designed. This matter is presented so simply that the pupil can readily understand it, and so logically that it can easily be taught by the average teacher. ^ The simplicity of the older methods of teaching this subject is combined with just so much of the modern scientific methods of presentation as is thoroughly adapted to elementary grades. Only enough physiography is included to develop the funda- mental relations of geography, and to animate and freshen the study, without overloading it in this direction. ^ The physical maps of the grand divisions are drawn to the same scale, thus enabling the pupil to form correct concepts of the relative size of countries. The political and more de- tailed maps are not mere skeletons, giving only the names which are required by the text, but are full enough to serve all ordinary purposes for reference. In addition, they show the principal railroads and canals, the head of navigation on all important rivers, and the standard divisions of time. ^ The illustrations are new and fresh, reproduced mostly from photographs collected from all parts of the world. Formal map studies or questions accompany each map, direct- ing attention to the most important features. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (no) WEBSTER'S SCHOOL DICTIONARIES Revised Editions T HESE Dictionaries have been thoroughly revised, entirely reset, and made to conform to that great stand- ard authority — Webster's International Dictionary. WEBSTER'S PRIMARY SCHOOL DICTION- ARY ^0.48 Containing over 20,000 words and meanings, with over 400 illustrations. WEBSTER'S COMMON SCHOOL DICTION- ARY $0.72 Containing over 25,000 words and meanings, with over 500 illustrations. WEBSTER'S HIGH SCHOOL DICTIONARY, $0.98 Containing about 37,000 words and definitions, and an appendix giving a pronouncing vocabulary of Biblical, Classical, Mythological, Historical, and Geographical proper names, with over 800 illustrations. WEBSTER'S ACADEMIC DICTIONARY Cloth, ^1.50; Indexed ^1.80 Half Calf, $2.'/^; Indexed 3- 00 Abridged directly from the International Dictionary, and giving the orthography, pronunciations, definitions, and synonyms of about 60,000 words in common use, with an appendix containing various useful tables, with over 800 illustrations. SPECIAL EDITIONS Webster's Countinghouse Dictionary. Sheep, Indexed $2.40 Webster's Handy Dictionary 15 Webster's Pocket Dictionary 5 7 The same. Roan, Flexible 69 The same. Roan, Tucks 78 The same. Morocco, Indexed ... .90 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (104) DAVISON'S HUMAN BODY AND HEALTH By ALVIN DAVISON, M.S., A.M., Ph.D., Professor or Biology in Lafayette College. Intermediate Book . $0.50 Advanced Book . $0.80 THE object of these books is to promote health and pre- vent disease ; and at the same time to do it in such a way as will appeal to the interest of boys and girls, and fix in their minds the essentials of right living. They are books of real service, which teach mainly the lessons of health- ful, sanitary living, and the prevention of disease, which do not waste time on the names of bones and organs, which furnish information that everyone ought to know, and which are both practical in their application and interesting in their presentation. ^ These books make clear: ^ That the teaching of physiology in our schools can be made more vital and serviceable to humanity. ^ That anatomy and physiology are of little value to young people, unless they help them to practice in their daily lives the teachings of hygiene and sanitation. ^ That both personal and public health can be improved by teaching certain basal truths, thus decreasing the death rate, now so large from a general ignorance of common diseases. ^ That such instruction should show how these diseases, colds, pneumonia, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, diphtheria, and malaria are contracted and how they can be prevented. ^ That the foundation for much of the illness in later life is laid by the boy and girl during school years, and that in- struction which helps the pupils to understand the care of the body, and the true value of fresh air, proper food, exercise, and cleanliness, will add much to the wealth of a nation and the happiness of its people. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (•53) North Carolina State University Libraries QH53 .C93 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES A TEXT-BOOK FOR LOWER S02775144 F