here
other things are growing, it may find the peculiar food it wants
sufficiently abundant, for not all plants absorb just the same things
from the soil.

[Illustration: THE SHEDDING OF VARIOUS KINDS OF SEEDS]

Looking at the dried bean and pea-pods in the fall of the year, we shall
find nearly all of them twisted. And looking over the other plants of
the fields and hedges, we see how much trouble has been taken to enable
the seeds to go out in the world and find new growing-places. Some seeds
are snapped out, as the touch-me-nots and witch-hazels; some are
supplied with flat wing-like surfaces to be borne by the wind, as the
maple-keys and elm seeds; some have bristles or down upon which to float
in the air, as the lilies, dandelions, and lettuces; some have hooks by
which to attach themselves to the coats of passing animals; and others
have yet other devices for getting to pastures new. The whole subject of
how seeds travel about the world is very interesting, and collecting
these wanderers and watching their habits will afford a rich summer's
entertainment.

Thus the child learns a thousand interesting things about the plant
life,--among them, but not in any way prominent, the phenomena which are
connected with the reproduction of the plant. This work can all be done
before the child is eight years old, and in many cases it can be done
much earlier, at least so far as inculcating the most essential truths
is concerned. Many details will slip away in time, but if the work is
thoroughly done the great primal truths of living things will stay, and
as the child's life unfolds, they will illuminate it in certain
directions.

According to the age and opportunities of the child his information
about the plant can be enlarged. The plant's method of breathing can be
explained to one who knows something about the composition of the air,
and of the use which the human body makes of the oxygen. The child who
can understand it will be greatly interested to know that the plant uses
the oxygen of the air, and returns carbon dioxide to it as a waste,
essentially as his own body does. He should also know that the plant
breathes very little in comparison to the animal, consequently it does
not greatly affect the air, taking out but little oxygen and returning
to it but little carbon dioxide.

The plant's method of taking nourishment from air and soil is also very
interesting. It is only the green parts of the plant that can tak