What do the last two stanzas tell us? Do you think the poet wishes the potato, the rye, the orchard, and the wheat to be spoiled? What does he mean? Why do you think corn is the most useful thing the farmer raises?

Ask your teacher to read this poem aloud. As she does so, try to see the pictures suggested.

Harvesting

Tell what is done with wheat when it is ripe. Tell when it is harvested. Tell what is done with potatoes. Tell what is done with apples. Tell other things the farmers put away for winter.

Plan two or three sentences about one of these topics, and speak them plainly and clearly to the class.

Read the stanza from The Corn Song that you like best. Copy this stanza. Begin each line with a capital letter.

Dictation Capitals

Capitals are used for the name of any lifeless object or animal when it is thought of as a person; as, Autumn in the first stanza of The Corn Song, and as Mr. Crow in the following section.

Read the following paragraph. Notice the capitals, the periods, and the question mark. When this paragraph is dictated try to write it perfectly.

Have you ever seen a scarecrow? When the farmer plants his grain the crows are likely to eat it up. To keep Mr. Crow away the farmer puts up a scarecrow.

It is a

Tell

Tell where the nut trees grow in your neighborhood. Tell some fun you have had in gathering nuts. what animals like nuts.

Plan sentences on one of these topics. Stand up straight, look at your classmates, and speak distinctly.

1 Adapted from Speaking and Writing English, by Bernard M. Sheridan, Benjamin H. Sanborn and Company, Publishers. With permission.

Picture Study

Look closely at the picture of the children gathering nuts. Tell a story about these children. Bring the squirrel into your story. After you have thought over your story, stand and tell it to the class.

Review of The Corn Song

Recite from memory as much of The Corn Song as you can. Write the second stanza from dictation.

Apostrophe

In the first stanza of The Corn Song notice the word farmer's. To show that the wintry hoard belongs to the farmer the apostrophe (') and s are added to the word farmer. Look at the fourth, fifth, and eighth stanzas for other words that express ownership or possession. "The girl's dress," "Tom's pencil," "Mr. Brown's horse" also express possession.

Write short sentences in which you use the following words to express possession:

dog bird

sister

brother

Mary

horse

Use an apostrophe and s after a name word to express

possession.

VI. PROTECTION OF THE FORESTS

The Value of Forests

Read the following paragraph thoughtfully:

Forests not only make a country beautiful, but they help protect it from floods and droughts. The leaves from the forest make a thick pad that absorbs a great deal of rainfall, and allows it to seep slowly into the earth. Without this pad of leaves the water runs rapidly into the streams and swells them until they overflow their banks, and so cause destructive floods. Then again, if the forests are cut down, the earth has no protection from the leaves. It soon becomes dry and hard, so that all the little springs are dried up. Then comes a drought when the crops fail, and people suffer from lack of food. Both China and Palestine used to be rich, productive countries, but since their forests have been destroyed, they have lost their richest possession. Now they often have droughts and floods. A Talk about Forests

Tell how the forests help to prevent floods and droughts. Tell other ways in which forests benefit a country. Tell what may be done to protect our forests. Tell how fires damage forests. Tell how these fires may be prevented. Why is it necessary to be careful about starting and leaving a fire in the woods? What may children do to protect our forests?

Select one of the above topics and prepare to speak two or three sentences about it.