4. Rivers—The Mississippi. The Hudson. Canal-boat life. Little rivers and their charm. The river as a highway. River-craft (canoes, etc.).
6. Relation of Water and Human Life—Water in hygiene. Famous springs. Irrigation and forestry. The revival of the canal as an instrument of commerce. Water in literature and art.
Books to Consult—Wright: The Ice Age in America. Reclus: The Ocean. Russell: The Rivers of North America. Fuertes: Water and Public Health.
A practical paper may be prepared on the Local Water-Supply and the Danger to Health from Well-Water and Impure Ice. Have a brief paper on the Suez and Panama Canals, with illustrations of the latter. Describe the systems of locks in the Sault Sainte Marie. Consider the subject of house-boats on rivers. Have readings from Byron on the ocean; from Clough's Bothie (the idyll of swimming); from Van Dyke's Little Rivers, and from Thoreau's Walden.
IV—INSECT-LIFE
1. Beetles (Coleoptera)—Great tropical beetles. Common local varieties: ladybugs, the potato-bug. Wood-beetles and their destructiveness.
2. Ants, Bees, and Wasps—Their life-history, habits, and products. Relation to man. Readings from Lubbock, McCook, and Maeterlinck.
3. Butterflies—Life-history and transformations. Gorgeous varieties of equatorial regions. Local varieties described.
4. A Practical Knowledge of Insect-Life—For the farmer: protecting crops, animals and trees. For the town resident: care of trees and plants. For the housewife: household pests, and how to deal with them: the moth, the cockroach, etc.
Books to Consult—Comstock: Manual for the Study of Insects. Buckley: Insect Life. Holland: The Butterfly Book. Osborn: Insects Affecting Domestic Animals.