Excerpt from Nature Studies on the Farm, Soils and Plants No boy or girl who has always lived in the country will need to be introduced to plants, as though they were strangers; but I want you not only to be acquainted with corn and cotton, with fruits and flowers, but also to know the way in which they grow, as well as something of the soil from which they get their food, of the roots that secure it, the leaves that digest it, and the fruit where the food is so largely used. And I particularly want you to learn these lessons about plants very largely from the plants themselves. Therefore this book is to be read and not studied, as would be the case were it a geography or a spelling book. I can tell you in the book a few things that it is well to know, but the plant can tell you a great many more things that are both interesting and useful. I believe that the potato plant can tell boys things that will almost make them enjoy hoeing potatoes! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.