_Note._ In any or all of these exercises pupils may get the subject matter from this pamphlet and from bulletins referred to in it. They may make note on paper of what they wish to say and speak from these notes. If the time for preparation be very short the points may be copied and read directly. Let each exercise be very short.
1. Announcement of outlines of contests in school or home gardening, corn growing, or other work the school may be planning, and the premiums offered for the contests and exhibits next fall.
2. Some pupils may tell of several benefits of trees and forests, or five pupils may stand together and each tell of one important benefit.
3. Have a pupil describe how to test seed corn by the individual ear method.
4. Have two pupils tell of the two types of insect moths, each telling how to control such insects.
5. Have a boy tell of three or four things necessary to improve the home lawn. (See U. S. Bulletin 248)
6. Have three pupils stand and each take one part
(_a_) Use of vines to beautify the grounds at school or home, naming some vines to use in certain places
Few people ever think of a forest as a place to store water. Who would think that "the woods" hold water as well as a mill pond or a reservoir! But they do, although we cannot see the water they hold, except, perhaps, as a pool here and there; and yet this is one of the most important functions that a forest can perform.
All of us have noticed in walking through the woods how soft and springy the ground is. A thick carpet of leaves, twigs, and decayed wood covers the earth, sometimes to a depth of several feet. It is very porous, and it absorbs water like a sponge. When storms come and rain falls in torrents, it does not beat directly upon the ground under the trees because the raindrops first strike the leaves and branches above. The water then trickles gently down and soaks into the leafy carpet. If the forest is extensive a very large quantity of water is absorbed--enough to prevent floods except in extraordinarily long periods of rain. Gradually through the weeks and months that follow the absorbed water oozes out of low places as "springs," and it dashes merrily away in little brooks that continue to form creeks and rivers which flow peacefully and steadily out to sea.