Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study Part 48

The following are common in most parts of Ontario: squirrel-corn, Dutchman's breeches, blue cohosh, dog's-tooth violet, water-parsnip, catnip, and mallow. In each study observe the following points:

1. Description of leaves and flowers for identification.

2. Storing of food in underground parts.

3. Time of flowering. (Pupils of this Form should keep a flower calendar.)

4. Description of fruit and seeds and how these are scattered.

5. Their location, and the character of the soil where found.

Encourage the pupils to transplant a specimen of each from the woods to the school or home garden. Moist humus soil and partial shade are the best conditions for the growth of these wild wood flowers. Review the type lessons given already for Primary cla.s.ses and apply the information thus gained to the observational study of the varieties of flowers named above.

PLANTING OF TREES, SHRUBS, AND HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS IN HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS

This work should be the outcome of the plans made in the winter. If each pupil does a little toward the carrying out of the scheme of planting, the grounds will soon be wonderfully improved. The teacher should guard against over-planting and arrange for the care of the shrubs and flowers during the summer holidays.

New varieties of herbaceous perennials, grown from seed planted the previous summer or procured from homes in the vicinity, should be introduced. As most herbaceous perennials become too thick after a few years, it is necessary to keep digging some out year by year, dividing and resetting them, and fertilizing the ground.

Native trees and shrubs should be placed so as to obscure undesirable views, such as closets and outbuildings, rough fences, or bare walls.

This principle in planting should be observed in the case of trees.

Evergreen trees are particularly desirable as screens and shelters from cold winds. No planting should be done, on the other hand, that would shut out a good view of the school or obscure a beautiful landscape. Too frequently unused corners of the school ground are covered with weeds.

Prevent this by putting trees there and also shrubs. Keep all centres open, and let the trees, shrubs, and flowering perennials be ma.s.sed about the corners and along the sides. The informal method of planting is to be preferred to formal planting of designs. The Public School Inspector will provide a copy of a departmental circular on the _Improvement of School Grounds_, which should be carefully studied by every teacher.

SHADE TREES

Consider suitable varieties to plant for shade and for ornamental effects. White elm, hard and soft maple, white birch, pines, and spruces are among the best. Elms and maples are excellent trees for roadside or street planting, and should be about forty feet apart. Spruces and pines may be planted five or six feet apart along the north and west, to act as a wind break. Otherwise, evergreens are best when planted in triangular clumps. White birch is particularly ornamental against a dark background of evergreens. Specimen trees of horse-chestnut, beech, ash, and hickory are also desirable.

TRANSPLANTING

The best time for transplanting trees is in the autumn after the leaves have fallen, or in the spring before the buds have opened.

In planting a tree, the following points should be observed:

1. Preserve as much of the root system as possible, and trim off all broken or bruised portions.

2. Do not expose the roots to sun or wind while out of the ground. This is especially important in transplanting evergreens.

3. Reduce the top of the tree sufficiently to balance with the reduced root system.

4. Set the tree a few inches deeper than it was before transplanting.

5. Pack the best top soil closely about the roots, so as to exclude all air s.p.a.ces, since these tend to dry the delicate roots.

6. If the ground is very dry, water should be used in planting; otherwise it is of no advantage. Water the trees thoroughly once a week in dry weather during the first season.

7. After planting, put a mulch or covering of fine straw, gra.s.s, or chips for two or three feet around the tree; or establish a soil mulch and keep down the gra.s.s by frequent cultivation. Gra.s.s roots dry out the soil.

8. In the case of deciduous trees, have the lowest limbs at least seven feet from the ground. Evergreens, however, should never be trimmed, but should have their branches right from the ground up--this uninterrupted pyramid form is one of their chief beauties.

ANIMAL STUDIES

SCALE INSECTS

SAN JOSe SCALE

Certain districts in Ontario and especially those bordering on Lake Erie have suffered from the ravages of this scale on apple, peach, pear, and other orchard trees. A hand lens should be used in studying these insects, observations being carried on from May to September.

Carefully examine the fruits and twigs of orchard trees for evidences of the presence of the scale, and learn to identify it and to recognize the damages resulting from its attacks.

Observe the almost circular flat scale of a grayish colour and having a minute point projecting upward at its centre. The young insects which emerge from underneath these scales in the spring crawl around for a time, then become stationary, and each one secretes a scale under which it matures. The mature males have two wings but the mature females are wingless. Note the withering of fruit and twigs due to the insects'

attacks and the minute openings in the skin of the twig, made by the insertion of the sucking mouth parts.

Describe to the pupils how the insect was transported from j.a.pan to America and how it is now spread on nursery stock. Give a brief account of its destructiveness in the orchards of Ess.e.x and Kent.

(Consult _Bulletin No. 153, Common Insects Affecting Fruit Trees and Fungus Diseases Affecting Fruit Trees_. Bethune & Jarvis, Department of Agriculture, Toronto, free.)

OYSTER-Sh.e.l.l BARK-LOUSE

This is very common throughout the Province on apple and pear trees.

Observe the unhealthy appearance of the leaves of the infested trees, the inferior quality of the fruit, and the gray scales shaped like tiny oyster-sh.e.l.ls.

The means of destroying these pests should be discussed. The Bulletins named above give detailed information in reference to spraying and fumigation.

CUTWORMS

(Consult _Bulletin 52_, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa.)

Cutworms are the larvae of medium-sized brown moths that fly at night.

There are many species of cutworms, all of which are destructive to some forms of plants or gra.s.ses, grains, and vegetables.

The larvae are rather thick, naked, worm-like forms. They burrow into the ground, but emerge at night to feed by cutting through the stems of tender plants or by feeding upon the leaves. For the most effective method of dealing with these refer to what is said on "Combating Garden Pests", Form II.

When a field is known to be infested with cutworms, it is a good plan to spread poisoned clover or cabbage leaves over the ground before the seed is planted.

WHITE GRUBS

White grubs are large, fat, white larvae of June beetles. These beetles are the well-known large, brown, clumsy beetles that blunder into the house at night in May or June and drop with a thud upon the floor.

Three years are spent in the larval form, the grubs living underground and feeding on the roots of plants, especially the roots of grains and gra.s.ses.

Since they are found chiefly in fields recently ploughed from gra.s.s, they may be held in check by rotation of crops and by fall ploughing, which exposes the larvae to the winter frosts.

In May or June, when the adults are feeding on the foliage of fruit and shade trees, spraying the trees with London purple is quite effective for destroying the beetles before they have laid their eggs among the roots of the gra.s.s.

Hogs destroy many larvae by rooting in the soil to find them for food.

CRAYFISH