is one of the first trees to wake up and open its little blossoms.

Many plants do not live through the winter. Each spring a new plant grows from the little seed. Very soon we see it blossom. When it is fall and the cooler weather drives away the summer, the seeds are ripe and the first frosts kill the mother plant. In warm countries plants sleep during the dry season. If summer is the dry season, then they grow in the winter. Such a country is green and beautiful in winter. In summer the ground becomes dry and the whole world seems dead.

There are many animals that crawl into their holes and go to sleep when fall comes. They do not move until spring wakes them. The first warm day brings them out of their winter home. The earth, the water and the air are full of life, where a little time before everything seemed dead.

Every plant and every animal is suited to the place in which you find it living. If you carry an animal or plant away from its home you must give it a home much like the old one. If you do not it will die. The animals in the cold north cannot stand the heat of the south. A plant which is used to having a great deal of water will not live where there is little

water.

The birds do not stay in one place through the

year. When winter comes they go toward the south. In the spring they return to their northern homes where they make their nests and raise the young birds.

People do not move back and forth as the seasons change. They put on warmer clothing for the winter and store up food to eat. Some animals do the same. Their hair grows longer and thicker and thus they are protected from the cold.

QUESTIONS.

Mention some trees that drop their leaves in the fall.
What trees keep their leaves through the whole year?
Mention some plants that die in the fall.

Do you know any plants that never rest?

What makes the plant begin to grow in the spring?
What is the sap? Where do the roots get it?

Can the tree grow when the ground is dry?

What effect does frost have upon the garden plants?

Do you know any animals that store up food for the winter?

What does the bear do when winter comes?

Did you ever find a snake or a lizard in its winter home?

did it act when you disturbed it?

Find a lizard some cold morning and place it in the sun, what it will do.

How

and see

What time of the year do you see the wild ducks and geese?
What becomes of the birds in the winter?

THREE FORMS OF WATER.

We have seen that water is necessary to the life of plants and animals. Now let us try to find out something about the properties of water.

There are three different forms which water takes. Each is very unlike the others. They are so unlike that if we had not seen one change into another we should hardly believe that they were different forms of the same thing.

There is first the common form. You all know this one, it is the water which we drink.

It

If we go far enough in any direction we come to water. forms all the streams and lakes as well as the great oceans. There is more water than anything else upon the surface of our earth.

Water is a liquid.

By liquid we mean something that can be poured. We take a cup of water and pour it into a basin. it into a basin. It takes the shape of the hollow in the dish that holds it. A solid does not

act in this way. It keeps its shape.

Water is not the only liquid. There are many others. We have many substances which form solids at the ordinary temperature, but if they are

placed in a very hot place they become liquid. The heavy mineral we call lead is a solid. It is useful in making water pipes and shot. If we heat lead it melts easily and becomes a liquid. It can then be poured like water.

There is another form of water called steam or vapor. When water is heated it changes to steam. The particles of water forming the steam are so small that if you could look into an engine boiler you could not see them. When the steam comes out of the engine into the cool air the little particles run together and form others large enough so that they can be seen. Now we have a dense white cloud about the engine.

When water is changed to steam it takes up very much more room than it did before. Each of the tiny particles of water in the steam is very warm. It wants lots of room. Each one pushes against his neighbors as hard as he can. This is why the lid of the tea-kettle jumps up and down.

When steam is shut up tight we can make it work for us. The little particles push with such strength that they can make the wheels of a heavy engine turn around, and draw a long line of loaded

cars.

There are tiny water particles all about us in the air. They are invisible except when they turn