axils of which come the buds (eyes). The following delightful experiment
has been recommended to me.

In a growing potato plant, direct upwards one of the low shoots and
surround it with a little cylinder of stiff carpet paper, stuffed with
sphagnum and loam. Cut away the other tuber-disposed shoots as they
appear. The enclosed shoot develops into a tuber which stands more or less
vertical, and the scales become pretty little leaves. Removing the paper,
the tuber and leaves become green, and the latter enlarge a little. A
better illustration of the way in which organs adapt themselves to their
conditions, and of the meaning of morphology, could hardly be found.

_Gray's First Lessons_. Sect. v, 65-88. _How Plants Grow_. Chap. I, 83-90.

IV.

BUDS AND BRANCHES.

1. There is an astonishing amount to be learned from naked branches,
and, if pursued in the right way, the study will be found exceedingly
interesting. Professor Beal, in his pamphlet on the New Botany,[1] says:--

"Before the first lesson, each pupil is furnished or told where to procure
some specimen for study. If it is winter, and flowers or growing plants
cannot be had, give each a branch of a tree or shrub; this branch may be
two feet long. The examination of these is made during the usual time for
preparing lessons, and not while the class is before the teacher. For the
first recitation each is to tell what he has discovered. The specimens are
not in sight during the recitation. In learning the lesson, books are not
used; for, if they are used, no books will contain a quarter of what the
pupil may see for himself. If there is time, each member of the class is
allowed a chance to mention anything not named by any of the rest. The
teacher may suggest a few other points for study. The pupils are not told
what they can see for themselves. An effort is made to keep them working
after something which they have not yet discovered. If two members
disagree on any point, on the next day, after further study, they are
requested to bring in all the proofs they can to sustain their different
conclusions. For a second lesson, the students review the first lesson,
and report on a branch of a tree of another species which they have
studied as before. Now they notice any point of difference or of
similarity. In like manner new branches are studied and new comparisons
made. For this purpose, naked branches of our species of elms, maples,
ashes, oaks, basswood,