JAN. 21.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 303

for a few minutes. What do you notice? Repeat the same experiment
with a similar leaf, placed face downwards. Observe again. From which
side of the leaf does evaporation take place?

[To show the existence of air.] Invert wide-mouthed bottle or tumb-
ler full of water in water; invert another bottle or tumbler, apparently
empty, below mouth of first. What passes from second to first bottle?
Burn a candle in a lamp-glass with narrow top (i) with lower end open;
(ii) with lower end closed. What happens in each case? Test the gas
left in tube with lime-water. Also blow or breathe into lime-water.

Put two healthy young growing plants through split corks into bottles
so that the roots dip into water; in one case allow free access of air, in the
other shut off the air by sealing the cork with melted candle-grease. Ob-
serve the difference after a few days. Repeat the experiment, using
garden-soil instead of water, and pouring the melted grease over the
surface of the soil in one of the pots or bottles. Observe again. What
do the roots require besides water?

Grow young seedlings of corn on damp paper. Mark the longest root-
let very carefully with a fine camel's-hair brush with India ink or purple
ink by lines, say, ¼ in. apart, beginning at the tip. Keep the plants
moist and warm, and notice which of the ¼ in. intervals increase in length,
and which remain the same. Where is the growing point of the root?

Keep some of the growing seedlings or young plants without water;
water others very occasionally; others, regularly; and to others again
give large quantities of water, keeping the soil always completely
saturated. Note the difference in growth after the lapse of, say, a fort-
night. [The pots in which the seedlings are grown should be numbered,
and a diary of all that is done should be kept.]

Observe the forms of the leaves of several plants. Note the veins. Is
there a midrib, or are the veins parallel? Note the upper and under sur-
faces. How are the leaves placed on the plant?

Examine various buds. Note the bud-scales. Watch the growth of
the buds; how do they grow? (By lengthening the distance between
successive leaves.) Note the “eyes” of the potato; plant several “sets”
of potatoes; also slips of geranium, heliotrope, leaf of begonia, &c.; like-
wise crocus-bulbs, iris, &c. Watch their growth. Note the rootlets, root-
hairs, &c.

Rear various plants, those named above or others; place some of
them in the school windows. Turn the pots round from time to time;
do any of the leaves or stems turn round towards the light? Put
some plants in a dark place, and others in the light; after a few days
note the differences.

Take several young plants or seedlings—sow-thistle, oat, wheat, carrot,
bean. Note the kinds of roots. Is there one main root, or are there
several fibrous roots?

Note parts of flowers, several kinds of flowers; leaves, their veins, &c.;
fruits; seeds and seed-vessels.

Take young saplings of oak or other trees. Cut the stem horizontally
and vertically. Note inner and outer bark; sap-wood, heart-wood, and
in some cases the pith.

Identify the chief wild plants found in the neighbourhood, including
the chief weeds; the chief plants in cultivation in the district, including
grasses; also the chief forest and orchard trees. Remark where possible
their roots, buds, branches, flowers, fruit, seeds, &c.

Let the children keep diaries of phenomena within their observation:
the date of sowing of various crops, of the appearance of the wheat, &c.,
above the ground; the dates of the appearance of buds of various kinds
on trees.

Note the yield of various kinds of crops. Grow different varieties of
wheat in different soils. Try varieties of other farm plants. Grow
specimens of different grasses, &c. Note length of time from sowing to
the various stages of the growth up to seeding.

Pour some water on dry sand hollowed out into a cup-shape; pour
some water in like manner upon dry clay, then upon clay that has become
saturated with moisture.

Take some garden-soil which has been dried as before. Crush it
carefully, and sift it through muslin. Note what is left in the muslin.
(Small stones and pieces of vegetable-stems.) Wash the sifted soil with
pure water, pouring off the muddy water carefully into a bucket, after
allowing the remainder to settle. Wash again and again until clear water
only comes off. Examine what is left behind, and what has settled in
the vessel into which the muddy water has been poured. (Clay.) What
is left behind in the other vessels? (Sand.) What does the garden-soil
contain?

Repeat the experiments with the subsoil.