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16T0RE-5TODY QEl/lEH

I Devoted Primarily to all Scientific Studies

of Nature in Elementary Schools

Vol. 14 No. 1 JANUARY, 1918

One year (nine issues) $1.00

Whole No. 114
15c per copy

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE

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Books are Worth-while Gifts

THE PET BOOK

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A book Ml of unique nature-lore about the little
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Library buckram binding, $2.00; postpaid $2.15.

NATURE SONGS AND STORIES

CATHERINE CREIGHTON

Beautiful pictures, clever little stories and eighteen
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Study to little folks. Special illustrations by Fuertes,
Anna C. Stryke and Verne Morton. 76 pages 75c;
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HOW TO KNOW THE BUTTERFLIES

JOHN HENRY COMSTOCK and
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A Manual of the butterflies of the eastern part of
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TREES AT LEISURE

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A tree lover's tribute to her favorites of the field
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A book that will be treasured by all out door lovers.
Beautifully illustrated. Postpaid 50c

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

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Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY
REVIEW

Volume XIV, 1918

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

SECRETARY-EDITOR

Cornell University

Published by

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, N. Y.

*4-

£ «3

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14 January, 1918 No. 1

The Thirteen-Striped Spermophile, or Striped Gopher

E. Lawrence Palmer. Ph.D.
Professor in Biological Sciences, Iowa State Teachers' College

Any one who has lived in the prairie region of the middle west
cannot help but be familiar with these animated ten pins. One
does not need to spend hours in search of material for nature-study
here for as he goes walking or riding through the prairie country
these "now-you-see-me, now-you-don't" animals make up a con-
spicuous part of the landscape. With ears pressed close to the
rounded head, with body erect and fore paws so small as to be
inconspicuous, these animals stand perfectly stiff and rigid at the
approach of any thing unfamiliar. There seems to be a dead line
somewhere, however, because all of a sudden there is a sharp
whistle and the approaching enemy sees only a scurrying brown
form or nothing at all.

The writer had an excellent opportunity to observe these animals
on the campus of the Iowa State Teachers' College at Cedar Falls,
Iowa. Here, they manage to hold their own in spite of small
boys who snare them, learned professors who poison them and a
large coterie of cats which are protected by the ever present
janitor who can see nothing of good in "just gophers." In spite of
all of these handicaps, the campus has each year managed to boast
a family or two of these interesting animals. Last summer, a
family took up its headquarters under the sidewalk just outside
my office. About two thousand people must have passed this
animal home at least once or twice even- school day of the summer
term and yet but few stopped to acquaint themselves with any of
the interesting habits of its occupants. Most of the people passed
by without a thought, never noticing the round head with close
cropped ears and bright eyes peeking at them from the edge of the
concrete a few feet away. The animals became so tame that one
could approach within ten feet without great difficulty and I have

1

2 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

seen groups of people pass by twenty feet away without alarming
the animals sufficiently to scare them into their burrows.

These spermophiles remind an easterner very much of the chip-
munk he used to chase through brush piles in the wood-lot. They
are larger animals, however, and prefer a land covered with a good
hard sod to the leaves and clutter of the forest floor. They are at
least an inch and a half longer than their chipmunk relative and
their habit of standing erect makes them appear much longer than
the eleven inches which is their maximum length. Their backs are
so characteristic that scientists have given the species the name of
tridecemlineatus to signify the thirteen stripes which they bear.
These stripes are not exactly continuous but consist of dirty yellow
bands alternating with broader dark brown or chestnut bands, the
darker bands being dotted by a row of light spots which tend to run
together towards the head. The under parts are uniformly dull
yellow brown, becoming white at the chin. The tail, which one
remembers because of the animal's habit of giving it a defiant flip
on disappearing into the burrow, is yellowish in the center and sur-
rounded by a band of yellow tipped black hairs.

Along early in April, the first spermophiles appear on the campus
but usually they are so few in number that they do not attract
attention. We are told that the male deserts his family on the
arrival of the young and it is certain that during May and early
June there was little evidence that the burrow under the walk was
inhabited. I had almost come to the conclusion that the campus
cat had discovered the family but about the last week in June I
discovered the mother and her young. I doubt if the mother had
been confined to the burrow as much as my observations would
indicate, but I know that I was unaware of the presence of the
animals for some time. Cloudy weather is not favored by the
gophers and, as we had this quite commonly, they were not out as
much as one would have wished.

We are told by E. T. Seton that there are usually nine in a litter.
I know that I have seen six young at one time and am not averse to
believing that there may have been more. Life evidently begins
in earnest for the young gophers as soon as they are able to see the
world. Almost any time of day when the sun is shining we could
see them out busily gathering up elm fruits and other foods.
I remember one evening particularly when the little family was
entertaining a bunch of students. The gophers are usually seen

palmer] THE THIRTEEN-STRIPED SPERMOPHILE 3

only during the daytime but it had rained all that morning and it
was not until late afternoon that the grass was dry . The work day
apparently was being stretched to the limit because it was quite
dusk before they ceased their activities. Unfortunately, these
activities were being interfered with by students who were amusing
themselves watching the heads pop in and out of the entrances to
the burrows. Almost invariably, the old one would appear first to
see if the coast was clear . If not scared, she would be followed by
the others who came out of the hole each stopping just as he was
about half way out to be convinced personally that the coast was
clear On being satisfied as to his own safety, each would scurry
off a few steps through the grass, stop and then go on a short dis-
tance. When all had gotten out and away from the hole someone
would scare them and then the two-inch entrance to the burrow
would certainly be busy for awhile. Hunger or excessive energy,
however, could not keep all of this life underground long and within
less than a minute by the watch, sometimes, the whole show would
start again.

The food of these spermophiles has been the subject of quite a
bit of investigation and, as is often the case, the first verdict which
man pronounced against this wild thing was rather unjust. Boun-
ties have been placed on them in different states because they were
known to eat grain. They did and still do eat grain but Vernon
Bailey in Bulletin 4 U. S. Dept. of Agr., 1893 and E. A. Beal in
Bull. No. 6, Iowa Exp. Station, 1889 both come to the same con-
clusion that the grain destroyed is well paid for by the cutworms,
grasshoppers and even mice which they destroy. Unfortunately,
young birds are as acceptable as injurious forms of life. Wheat
and other cultivated grains are taken as food but it has been found
that seeds of bind-weed, wild sunflower and pigweed are also taken.
It seems to be a rather remarkable fact that the animal matter in
the food is eaten immediately and only plant matter or that which
will not spoil is carried away to be laid up for use when food is not
so abundant. Bailey showed this by pointing out that the cheek
pouches usually contained plant matter while the stomachs con-
tained food which could not be successfully stored. The striped
spermophile is considered a quite successful fighter and apparently
does not hesitate to attack and kill mice as well as smaller forms of
animal life. At the hands of its enemies it shares no better fate
itself for it is considered legitimate food by hawks, cats and other

4 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

animals of prey. Those which are fortunate enough to escape a
violent death retire to their burrows sometime in September.
They close the entrances of their home and retire for a rest of over
half a year. In view of the fact that they are deprived of what is
to some the most pleasant part of the year, it is little wonder that
they must live an excessively active life while they can. The food
which supports them during their period of greatest activity is
largely injurious to man's interest. Aren't they entitled to a little
wholesome grain to satisfy their hunger in the early spring when
other food is scarce ?

The little family which I had watched with so much pleasure was
successfully broken up by the campus cat. I arrived one day just
in time to see the last of the young ones caught as it came up out
of its burrow to see if everything was safe. In looking up some
references in connection with this article, I was glad to learn that
these squirrels are often infected with internal parasites which are
also parasitic and very often fatal to cats. If those which lived
outside my window were so infected I feel that at least they did not
live in vain. I only wish that they might have died early enough
to save the myrtle warbler, the young rose-breasted grosbeak and a
number of robins which I saw meet their fate at the claws of their
common enemy.

An Animated Ten-pin

Animal Tracks

Robert W. Hegxer

The University of Michigan

The suspicious nature of wild animals and their keen senses of
sight, smell and hearing make it difficult under ordinary circum-
stances to study them in their native haunts. Everyone is familiar
with the fact that a much larger number of birds are heard than
are seen by bird students and that an approximate idea of the bird
life of a locality can best be obtained by noting the number and
kinds of bird songs as well as by observing the birds themselves.
The fur-bearing quadrupeds (mammals) are even more difficult to
find and since they do not sing and seldom make any sound at all
some other method must be sought by means of which their num-
bers and kinds may be estimated. The solution of this problem
lies in the study of animal tracks, and just as the songs of birds add
to our enjoyment while in the fields and woods so the study of
animal tracks contribute to the pleasure that we may derive from
trips afield.

An animal track may be defined as the imprint of the foot of an
animal in the snow or ground. When a number of tracks follow
each other in succession they form what we may call a trail. Snow
is by far the best medium for the making of animal tracks. Next
in importance are wet sand, clay, and mud. The tracks are of
course only temporary since the melting of the snow or an addi-
tional covering of snow sooner or later destroys or hides them.
Tracks made in clay or mud last longer unless they are washed out
by rain. Impressions made in light, dry snow may disappear in a
few hours and like the daily newspaper must be read the day they
are made if they are to be of any value. On the other hand, the
tracks of a deer in wet snow may last for weeks or even months and
are comparable to our weekly or monthly journals. The best time
to study tracks is therefore in the winter after a fresh fall of snow.
In the summer the banks of lakes, ponds or streams should be fre-
quented especially after a rain, thus insuring fresh, clear tracks-
Signs are also of importance in determining the character of the
fauna in any region since bear logs, blazed trees, bearer stumps,
and the excrement of animals serve to indicate the presence of
many species just as certainly as if the animals that made them
had actually been seen. In fact a science has grown up from the
study of animal excrement known as scatology.

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The identification of the track requires a knowledge of the size
of the foot, kind of foot, methods of locomotion, and habits of the
different species. Mammals may be divided into three groups
according to their methods of walking. Most of the quadrupeds
walk on their toes with the heel raised from the ground and are
called digitigrade (Latin digitus, finger or toe + gradi, walk).
Others like the bear and man walk on the whole sole of the foot
with the heel touching the ground; mammals of this type are
called plantigrade (Latin planta, sole + gradi, walk). The third
group contains the hoofed animals like the horses and cattle.
These mammals walk upon their hoofs and are called unguligrade
(Latin ungula, hoof -f- gradi, walk). Many animals have feet that
are similar in shape but differ in size; those of the weasel for
example are about one inch in length whereas those of the wolverine
are five inches long. If we know this and carry a ruler with us
into the field the task of identification is not so great. If the
medium is favorable each toe leaves its own imprint as well as each
claw and we are thus enabled to learn how many toes the animal
possessed, a fact of some importance since the number in different
species is often different and the number may even differ on the
front and hind feet of a single individual. The claw marks are
indicators of the direction in which the animal was moving. The
illustrations show the tracks bf a few common species of mammals
and indicate how distinctive they really are. These illustrations
were copied from figures in Brunner's book on "Tracks and Track-
ing" with the permission of the Outing Co. It is extremely diffi-
cult, however, to distinguish between the tracks of certain species
whose feet and methods of locomotion are similar, or between the
males, females and young of a single species but difficulties of this
sort are. welcomed by the field naturalist since their solution is just
so much more pleasant.

The tracks of a single individual differ according to the method of
locomotion while they were being made. The three common
methods are walking, trotting and galloping. This fact also adds
to the problems involved in the study of this subject.

After the tracks have been identified we may go further in our
explorations and attempt to discover what the individual that made
the track was doing and what its mood was when the tracks were
made. Long distances between the impressions indicate that the
animal was moving rapidly. Speed most often indicates fear and

hegxer] ANIMAL TRACKS 9

slower progress expresses caution. Anger is shown by marks on
either side or behind caused by the waving of the tail and dislike
when for example a fox hesitates to cross the trail made by a human
being. These and many other facts may be learned by a study of
animal tracks — a study that can be heartily recommended as being
of extraordinary interest and one that will test to the fullest any-
one's interpretative ability. The following references are to books
and articles from which further information may be obtained.

i. Tracks and Tracking, by Josef Brunner, pp. XII + 219, 1909. Outing
Publishing Company, New York.

2. Life Histories of Northern Animals, by E. T. Seton. 2 vols., 1009.
C. Scribners' Sons, N. Y.

3. Reading the Snow, by R. S. Spears in The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 102,
Dec., 1908, pp. 791-796.

4. Animal Stories Told by the Snow by Dugmore, A. R., in Country Life in
America, vol. 5., Dec. 1903, pp. 117-121.

To The Deer Mouse

By William Prixdle Alexander

Trim and lithesome, mite of fawn and white,

All fawn above and, purest white below,

A haunter of the bitter winter night

With great, soft eyes of jet that peek and peer,

And pinkish feet, that punctuate the snow

With hieroglyphics, tortuous and queer, —

Four pinkish feet, together with a tail

That scrawl his name where e'er he leaves his trail.

His shell-like ears must needs be very keen
When he by night would sport about and prowl
Beneath the snow-beladened evergreen:
In the nocturnal stillness of the wood
There lurks perchance some burly, bogy owl
That fain would sup, and find him very good :
But our pert mousie hies him from his nest,
With nimble feet and wondrous hearing blest.

Somewhere his home with nuts is amply stored
And snug it is with fur and fiber lined,
A tree his citadel, and he the lord
Chirps loud and clear, as though his heart would sing
A song, defying cold, and winter wind.
With no small cheer, until returning Spring
Shall bid him welcome to the wildwood gloam,
A wee, glad mouse, secure and free to roam.

Flying Squirrel

10

Mercury

William Trelease
Professor of Botany, University of Illinois

It was a May afternoon. I had been watching the bees on the
huckleberry bells. As I loitered home from the woods, I ran across
the boy in the case : a boy of ten, who had never before spent a
spring in the real country. To-day he was standing by the bars
of a rail fence with another boy, a few years older than he, appar-
ently thinking of nothing out of the ordinary. As I came up and
spoke to them while getting through the fence he said, quite
casually, "Papa, I've got a surprise for you at the house." The
story of Sputs, the red squirrel, was fresh in my mind (but that's
another story) — and, thinking that I understood, I said that we
would go right up and look at it. "It's the bestest surprise on
Earth," he added, and I knew that I didn't understand.

So I was introduced to Mercury, young but full grown and too
little accustomed to our crude ways to be handled without gloves.
And so he continued for three weeks and I had begun to think that
I should never establish relations with him, until one day he came
down from the portiere rod to get a nut out of my hand and I
found that though he scolded and bit, he no longer bit to hurt, but
tugged and scratched and mouthed a finger as a kitten does a hand.

Neither the city boy nor the country boy had ever seen this shy
little type of body before : the one, because it lives in the woods ;
the other because it is abroad at night and sleeps through the day
when it can. The story of the disco very was an interesting one.
Boylike, they had kicked against a dead birch stub; the older boy
had seen a dry leaf float away from it, and the younger boy had
said that that sort of leaf must be a flying squirrel though he had
never seen one before.

How for a time Mercury lived in a gauze-covered fish globe'
how he traveled a thousand miles in a pint jar with perfection top,
carried in a coat pocket, taking his outing in the sleeper to the
terror of the porter; and how he came to own a coat room and to
shake down his bed where he pleased — in pocket, hat or bonnet;
these are chapters that do not need to be written. But it is differ-
ent with his daytime doings, for then his home was a side pocket
of my coat, and his chair at dinner the handkerchief pocket of the
same coat, out of which he put his little arms and gracefully ate

11

12 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

what was given him. And for a whole semester he assisted in a
laboratory, sometimes in one and sometimes in the other of his
pockets, making the transit so tactfully that never a pair of eyes
except my own saw him until one day, — searching in my pocket for
some acorns for a demonstration, forgetful of him, I woke him from
a nap to the belief that his storehouse was being robbed : No class
could be expected to be oblivious to the alarmclock protest that
issued from the pocket under those circumstances, nor to the
whiskers, the bead-like eyes, and the little round ears that came
into evidence at the mouth of the pocket. And in this way
Mercury came into recognition as a regular attendant at a great
University, — -always mannerly except once when he found a senate
meeting tiresome and had to be taken to the bur oak trees for
consolations.

Have you admired the graceful little adjuncts chained to the
subjects of Copley's portraits? Mercury never wore a chain.
Yet I've not doubt that he would have been happier in a squirrel
way if he had never left the woods.

Is such a surprise worth a trip to the woods — many trips to the
woods — carefully planned trips to the woods?

"A flying squirrel's nest and young on Emerson's hatchet path, south of
Walden, on hilltop, in a covered hollow in a small old stump, covered with
fallen leaves and a portion of the stump; nest apparently of dry grass. Saw
three young run out after the mother and up a slender oak. The young half-
grown, very tender looking and weak-tailed, yet one climbed quite to the top of
the oak twenty-five feet high, though feebly, claws must be very sharp and
early developed. The mother rested quite near, on a small projecting stub
big as a pipe-stem, curled crosswise on it. They have a more rounded head
and snout than our other squirrels. The young in danger of being picked off
by hawks." — Thoreau's Journal.

The Odoriferous Skunk

By William E. Rixgle

Professor of Nature-Study, Kansas State Manual Training Normal

Should one wish to engage in a novel business that offers reason-
ably good returns, one would do well to consider the advantages of
skunk farming. There is always a market for the animal's beauti-
fully marked fur. Furthermore, some experimenters have been so
bold as to report that its flesh is sweet and tender. But buyers of
meats have their prejudices.

There are a few skunk farms in New England. Maine probably
sends more skunk furs to market than any other state, its annual
fall and winter output being between 100,000 and 200,000 furs.
After they are dressed at Philadelphia, many of them are shipped
to Paris, where they are sold to the dainty Parisienne as "monkey
skins." When they are offered to the retail trade in this country,
the buyers are frequently assured they are getting Alaska sable.
The sum paid annually to trappers for the furs is estimated at
$3,000,000. These men gain a further revenue by selling the
skunk's bodies, for the bodies yield an oil that is used in making
certain liniments.

The beauty of the fur lies in its contrasts of glossy black and
clear white. The white bands and spots are variously arranged but
the commonest arrangement is a frontal stripe and two broad stripes
on the sides of the back. Because of its fur, the animal is very
conspicuous when it ventures forth by day.

There are few farmer boys who have not known the excitement
of trapping and hunting skunks. It is a winter enterprise which
the prospective possession of a few dollars of spending money
makes very attractive.

The trapping of one skunk is usually evidence of the proximity
of a whole den of the odorous animals. It is the digging out of this
den that occasions the excitement. All the dogs on the farm and
usually the neighbor's dogs as well, are rallied to the work. The
boys put on their old clothes and rally forth, club in hand.

The scene at the burrow is better imagined than described.
There are plenty of opportunities for genuine daring. If the dogs
cannot reach the skunks, the boys must punch them out with long
sticks. The operation is carried on in an atmosphere that is
stiflingly perfumed. And the intrepid youths are indeed fortunate

13

14 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

if they are not struck by a liquid volley from the skunk's artillery.
The dogs are usually as plucky and stoical as the boys.

Inetrment of Clothes

Such an expedition is apt to yield four or five skunk furs. But
it is also apt to be followed by the burial of old coats and trousers
and by the boys being forbidden to appear at table for several
meals.

More than one rural swain while on his way to visit his "best
girl" has met a skunk and been obliged to return home sorrowing.
More than one jauntily clad young man from the city, espying a
skunk for the first time, has drawn near to ascertain what manner
of beast it was and has repented in solitude.

The skunk is unique in its means of defense. Its almost over-
whelmingly fetid discharge is dreaded alike by men and animals.
Yet the liquid that is so malodorous is innocent in appearance,
being of a clear amber. The skunk can throw that liquid for a
distance of fifteen feet and its acrid odor is perceptible for more
than a mile. Clothing denied by it can never, as a rule, be wholly
purified.

The skunk is always ready against sudden attack. Nor is it
true, as some believe, that one discharge prevents an immediate
repetition. Moreover, one would be foolhardy to put to the test
the statement that is sometimes made that holding the animal by
the tail prevents the discharge. The liquid is not, however, dan-
gerous to the eyesight, as one sometimes hears.

One authority gravely makes this recommendation : "The best
method of dispatching a skunk in a steel trap so as not to defile
the fur with the odor is to approach near enough to strike the ani-
mal a quick blow across the back, thus paralyzing the hind parts
and preventing the discharge." This may be good enough advice
but it sounds suspiciously like that to the effect that the best way
to catch certain birds is to put salt on their tails.

A person who has served as a target for a skunk may get rid of
the odor by washing the affected areas of the skin with chloride of
lime or gasoline. The best means of cleansing garments is to wash
them in gasoline or benzine, then expose them to the sun and wind.

But the skunk's unpleasant trick of tainting the air has brought
him into an ill repute he does not deserve. People forget he

rixgle] THE ODORIFEROUS SKUNK 15

employs it for self-protection only, never by way of aggression.
The fact is, he is a valuable animal and merits consideration.

Even- farmer ought to keep at least one skunk. His granaries
and barns would not be infested then by rats and mice. The large
loss these rodents cause would be wholly stopped, for they have no
more relentless enemy than the skunk. If the skunk chances to
take up its abode in a barn, it will, if not disturbed, remain there
until everyr rat and mouse is devoured.

Nor does this mean that the barn will be pervaded meantime by
the animal's odor. In all probability, its presence will never be
perceptible to the nostrils. It will rarely be seen, for that matter,
for it sleeps through the day and gains its food by night.

If the farmer should object to having a stray skunk about, it is
entirely practicable for him to take and tame the young ones of a
litter. They make pretty pets, are cleanly in their habits, and do
not emit their stench unless provoked.

Chooses Diet of Rats and Mice
But its liking for a diet of rats and mice only begins to tell the
worth of the skunk to the farmer. It preys upon a number of other
pests that trouble him the most. Grasshoppers, beetles and their
larvae, the white grubs that in so many parts of the country destroy
lawns and meadows, tomato worms, tobacco worms, ground
squirrels and pocket gophers, are staples on his bill of fare. The
army worm knows no worse enemy. When grasshoppers are
abundant, it makes them its chief food. Other things the skunk
likes to eat, but which do not concern the farmer so much, are
reptiles, crickets, earthworms, crayfish and centipedes.

It is true that the skunk sometimes feasts on chicken. But
minks and weasels are generally to blame for that which is laid at
the door of the skunk. They only suck the blood of their victims.
Then the skunk happens along, begins to feed on the flesh, and is
caught in the act by the owner of the hen roost. The common
skunk cannot climb a roost and most members of the species do not
know the taste of chicken flesh. But in instances to the contrary,
"the skunk," according to one observer, "more than balances his
debt for corn and chickens by his destruction of obnoxious vermin."
The word "skunk" is a contraction of "seganku," which was the
name the Indians gave the animal. The skunk is a member of the
weasel family and is found in North America only, although there

16 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

is a somewhat similar animal, called the "zoril," in South Africa.
and another in Egypt. Ten species of the skunk have been dis-
tinguished. It is a misnomer to call it a polecat, for the real pole-
cat is an European animal resembling the ferret and preying on
poultry.

There are from five to seven skunks in a litter, which, in the
northern states, is born in May. The family remains together for
about a year. Through the severest months it hibernates in its
burrow. Two or three families often live together, it seems, for as
many as twenty skunks have been taken from one burrow.

The dens are sometimes of the skunks' own making and some-
times those abandoned by other animals. Skunks often excavate
dens in ordinary soil, but if they can find a natural cavity among
the rocks, they promptly take possession. They sometimes make
their abode under houses or even in a house in some obscure nook,
being attracted by the warmth of the building.

In summer the skunk leaves its burrow at sunset and busies
itself catching grasshoppers and beetles until dark. Then it is
obliged to rely upon its senses of smell and hearing to locate its
prey. These are so keen it can detect beetles and larvae in the
soil.

The skunk itself is the most silent of animals. The only sound
naturalists have heard it make is a low, impatient grunting, which
has been compared to the sound produced by beating one's hands
with a whisk broom.

Take Frequent Baths
Skunks are frequent bathers, but they always prefer shallow
water. They never swim unless obliged to. One marked trait of
this much abused little animal is its almost feminine curiosity.
This curiosity frequently leads it into predicaments that would
mean death for any creature less well equipped defensively. And,
despite its enemy, man, it is unsuspecting and lacking in cunning.
This accounts for the large number trapped. Since it is prac-
tically immune from the attacks of other animals, it leads a
comparatively easy life, moves about in a leisurely manner and,
like many men, takes on fat and loses its agility when the heyday
of youth is past.

The baby elephant is ringing the bell for dinner

A Trip to the Zoo

Fortunately for the relaxation of our tense race, a circus occa-
sionally comes to town. The grown-ups must take the children to
see the animals. So there is a day of jollification for both big and
little, as they laugh at the pranks of the monkey or feed peanuts to
the elephants. But there is always a many ringed circus, that calls
us all too soon from these most interesting creatures.

More fortunate is the city possessing a large Zoo, where as far as
possible, the animals live, as in their natural haunts, rearing their
young. Most fortunate of all is the adult, who can go with the
kiddies day after day to such a zoo.

It is the aim of Dr. C. L. Edwards, Nature-Study Director of the
Lcs Angeles City Schools, to give each of the one hundred fifty-
two schools of the city, an opportunity for a day with the Zoo
animals. Including the third through the eighth grades, a group
of twenty representatives, of those most interested in Nature-
Study is chosen. One of the assistant supervisors has charge of
these for the day. Off with their lunches, it is a happy group that
boards the street car.

A most happy condition exists in our city, for, within two blocks
are found the entrances to the Ostrich, Alligator and Selig Animal
Farms; while across the street is a City Park. The two former
ones are visited in the forenoon, the lunch hour spent in the park
and the afternoon in the Zoo.

17

18

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

The life history of the Ostrich
becomes real; when the indi-
vidual child can hold the heavy
egg containing about the con-
tents of three and a half dozens
of hens' eggs; when he can see
the growing chick breaking the
shell in the incubator; when
he can watch the ostriches from
the one day old baby to adult
birds over forty years of age.

Here begins one of the studies
that will be carried through the
day's lesson — that "of protec-
tive coloring. It is nowhere
shown more plainly than in the
down on the chick's back. This
resembles a tuft of dried grass,
rendering the maternally un-
protected young ostriches al-
most unperceivable to enemies.
In the adult, too, as the female
sits on her eggs during the
cooler hours of the day, the
drab blends with the coloring
of her desert surroundings;
while the black plumage of the male, incubating at night is his
protection.

Not only the habits of eating, fighting and nesting, but the com-
mercial value of the bird is considered. The child learns why
there is a difference between wearing bird wings and ostrich
plumes on a hat. He sees the stubs of the quills, where the wing
plumes have been cut shortly before moulting time — never pulled,
and thus injuring the bird.

The attendant rides astride and drives a mature bird, showing
the great strength of the legs for running, since the wings are
undeveloped for flight.

It is a draw which is the more fascinating to the children, the
Ostrich or the Alligator Farms. In the latter the reptiles are com-
pared with the big birds. Here is another life history study, from

The male ostrich and nest in sand
Alligators sunning themselves

A TRIP TO THE ZOO

19

the egg in the slow process
of incubation in decaying
vegetation, to the slug-
gish monsters of two
hundred years of age.

In alcohol, there are
different stages of the
embryo of the alligator
showing its relation to the
bird. Here the scales on
the ostrich legs are re-
called. The mode of life,
lung breathing, long
hibernation under water,
inactivity on land, cana-
balistic tendency and
fighting characteristics
are all too interesting to
be easily forgotten by the
child. Here also, the
practical side is touched
upon in the use of the
tanned hides.

This intensified study
of the life histories is a
fitting introduction to the
Zoo, where the study of
protective coloring is con-
tinued and the work of
classification begun.

We first visit the curi-
ous giraffe — curious in
form and in mind. In their silent way, they show their interest in
the children by always coming to meet them. According to the
keeper, after the hoisting near, of a large American flag, one of the
giraffes kept so closely watching the floating emblem, he did not
eat for two days.

The spotted body of the giraffe, with the long neck and legs,
affords an excellent example of protection and adaptation in
Nature. The two fingers and two toes with wrist and heel raised

With spread arms the giraffe bends to reach the

child's hand

The deer with antlers in velvet

The camel with her two weeks' old baby

20 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

far from the ground, the knoblike horns and lack of incisors on the
upper jaw, place these elongated animals in the cattle family.

As we pass on, the class observe the other animals belonging to
this cattle group, the deer, wapiti sacred cattle, llamas and camels
with special adaptations for their varied modes of life.

The several species of deer and the wapiti give a review of our
lessons in school on the deer tribe. We have found them in all
stages; the adult male with his branched antlers, then in the
process of moulting, and later the velvet stages of growth of the new
antlers. The spotted fawn, from a day old to a yearling, has com-
pleted the life story of the deer family.

The comparison of the camel of Asia and the dromedary of Africa
with their habits and use, affords interesting study. Many children
have been positive of the seven stomachs of the camel. Where do
some texts get the extra four? One so-called stomach is a pouch
for carrying the food, until the animal at leisure, regurgitates it for
grinding, whence it goes direct to the digesting stomach. The
third has a pitted wall in which the water is carried, each pit being
covered with a thin membrane to retain the water.

In the dog family there are several breeds including the Eskimo
dog. The coyote and wolf are compared with the domesticated
varieties and then we understand the origin of the latter. Both
wild and tame species in this family give evidence of close relation-
ship in their bark, general movements and structure of limbs.

The elephants are so attractive we linger with the huge creatures
as long as we have a peanut left; for that trunk with its forty
thousand muscles stretches out so pleadingly. But it behooves
us not to keep him waiting too long, else his prolonged upper lip and
nose bend back into his mouth only to be extended with a shower
bath for his ungenerous visitors.

We pause to watch the bears as they roll in the sprinkling water
or wash their hands in the basin near by, but only long enough to
see their clumsy efforts at walking and note the reason why.
These are the first animals we have found walking upon the palm
of the hand and sole of the foot.

But hurry on we must, for the monkey gibberish is calling loudly
for the wares in the bulging pockets approaching. Here the pro-
longed laughter begins, and who can say it isn't time well spent
laughing at the antics of these peculiar woodland dwellers. There
are monkeys of all species from the Ringtails, the Cebus and

A TRIP TO THE ZOO

21

Spiders, of the New
World, to the Rhesus,
Mandrils and Hamimans
of the Old World.

Nothing but the roaring
from the lions and tigers
could drag away the class.
The smell of meat has set
the big cats raging, as
their feeding hour ap-
proaches. The cat family
is represented by some
thirty members from the
New and Old World . We
compare the American
Mountain Lion or puma
with the Asiatic and
African lions and the
jaguar with the leopards.
The general characteris-
tics of the fireside tabby
are traced in the cushion-
like pads on the five
fingers and four toes, the
crouching habit, the fond-
ness for petting and in the
loud miau. We have
found the ancestors of
our domestic cat, the
Egyptians being the first
to make them hearthside
pets.

But of all the wonderful
birds seen, we have said
nothing, the graceful
dancing cranes, exquisite
pheasants, parrots, eagles,
hawks, ducks and geese; but we have taken note of these. A
closer comparative study is made of the American ostrich or rhea
and the Australian ostrich or emu with the big African one. We

Mother's darling
The emu, resting
Getting acquainted Stanley Cranes of Africa

22 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

invariably find some resting, showing that, while only the toes are
used in walking, .the whole foot is used in sitting.

In talking about limb structure, the kangaroo is most helpful.
When walking slowly, he uses the entire foot, his short arms aiding
in his leap frog like jump ; but in rapid running he steps on only
the toes, making an upright posture.

The greatest delight of the Zoo is the babies whether completing
the circle in the cattle, cat, dog or monkey families. There have
been the young of many species, ranging from a day to a year old.
Two little tigers, deserted by their caged mother, were adopted by
a big boarhound, the mother of only ten in her own brood. We
were happy that one fought the fight for life and won. The care
and devotion, shown by most of the wild mothers, are beautiful to
see, and lasting impressions of the wonder of life cannot be erased.

So we go home with a better understanding of and broader
sympathy for the wild life. Teasing is absolutely prohibited, and
the only offenders of the law had to be shut up, those beautiful
African cranes that followed the children about to pick at their toes.

At three-thirty, the tired but happy children take the car, to
live the Zoo trip over again on the morrow, as they tell their
experiences to the classmates remaining at school.

The Winter Sleepers

Editha S. Campbell
Erie, Pa.

While the snow comes drifting down spreading a blanket of
white over the bare brown earth, our footsteps are hushed, the very-
air is still, except when the wild wind blows. But why this warm
blanket and quiet? It is Mother Nature's sleeping time for many
of her children.

It was not always thus. Away back in the dim past of our
world's life history, from the animals point of view, the world was a
much better place to live in. The climate was mild, the vegetation
luxuriant, there was always something to eat.

The early, early rodent ancestors of our Chipmunks and Squirrels
had no need of a furry coat. But some day a slight chill came into
the air, and gradually oh ! so gradually, covering eons of time, that

Campbell] THE WINTER SLEEPERS 23

chill grew and entering its descendants' bodies, the Great-Guiding
Force slowly, oh ! so slowly provided, as the chill grew, a furry coat
and a broader tail, until when the Great-Ice Age came, our little
friends were prepared ; and those of their relatives who did not care
to meet the chilling blasts moved South, coming back only as the
ages passed and the great ice sheet receded and once more the
balmy air of the tropics prevailed. As we come down the ages the
light-coated relatives migrated three times, while our furry friends
who had lingered on the edge of the ice-sheet adapted themselves
gradually to the chill and temperate warmth until now they stay
with us when the summer sun shines and winter winds blow.

The ancestors of our orchestral insects never having adapted
themselves to those cold ages, stayed in the tropics and the
temperate climates of the old later Tertiary and now when the cold
is only of a few months' duration and the feeding grounds are bare
what better gradual adaptation than just to sleep during that time
tucked away under the blanket of a clod of earth or a bunch of
leaves ?

The flowers have finished their life work, their seeds are nestled
either at home or on foreign ground. With no nectar to sip, the
Butterflies are gone or have hidden away and fallen asleep. The
Moths' "youth" children are quiescent for the winter in their
marvellous home, undergoing the most wonderful change in all the
creative changes of life.

The table of delectable eating is bare for the snakes, the frogs,
the woodchucks, and so many more, that in their warm winter
homes they must sleep that sleep that the law of adaptation has
provided. •

The bumble-bees have given up their lives leaving only their
young queens for the long winter sleep, while the honey-bee workers
are resting in their hives and feeding upon their stores of honey.

So the buds and seeds wrapped in their blankets and tucked in
their cradles are waiting for the warm sunshine of spring to begin
their work of beauty and sen-ice.

So as the night brings the quiet for our slumbers, now is the time
of the year when our thoughts are uplifted by the sleeping wonders
about us.

The Snake : An Animal Deserving Class-Room Study

By Gayne T. K. Norton

How much, if any, of the lamentably small portion of time given
over to classroom nature-study is devoted to herpetology I do not
presume to know; but, judging from more than two dozen educa-
tional journals which reach my table monthly, I should say it was
almost nil. I ask the question: Why?

My present deep interest in reptiles and amphibians is compara-
tively few years old. Until my proper introduction, I, in common
with I venture to say 95 out of 100 people, killed, or avoided in a
state of semi-terror, every snake chanced upon. A girl of twelve
made me familiar with a few of the most interesting snake facts
and I held a snake in my hand for the first time. A mental house-
cleaning and readjustment ensued. Innate repugnance was
partly overcome by study.

I dug hard; I forced myself to handle and catch, and become
acquainted with, every specimen I could find — and you have my
word for it, the reptile house in the New York Zoological Park is a
fertile place for such study — until my fear turned to respect. I
realized that there were thousands of injurious animals still alive
because of the few dozen snakes I had killed. I found what has
proven to be, to me, the most interesting of all Nature's life-phases.
I write much of my interest; I talk it constantly, observing the
effects. Thus, my interest and observation prompt the question.
In all the magazines I see, besides all the reviews and files examined,
the snake seldom appears in any guise; never have I seen it men-
tioned as appearing in the school-room — not only an added reason
for its classroom debut, but a proof of the greater necessity thereof.
Various individuals and organizations, including the Government,
are putting forward snake-conservation propaganda with seemingly
small effect. Would not the best method be, and there is economic
need for a method, to stop, or diminish, the killing by child
instruction?

Almost every bit of Nature that can be brought into a classroom,
and much that can not, has been, is being, or will be studied by
pupils of all ages. No matter what branch of natural history
receives attention the study is decidedly worth while and the time
spent well expended, but, dare I say that 25 per cent, of the speci-
mens receiving consideration are of less actual value to child and
community than snakes? The snake deserves a much higher

24

Norton] THE SXAKE 25

ranking than is granted it even by teachers. It has many advan-
tages for classroom study completely lacking in other live things.

I shall not touch upon the snake as an economically valuable
animal directly; reasons for conserving this "emotionally neutral
or unfriendly helper of man" are certainly sufficiently understood;
they do not need re-statement here; nor shall I, for the sake of
giving, mention life-histories. I wish to deal only with the snake
from the classroom, nature-study period standpoint.

The age at which children might begin this study is a matter to
be determined by the teacher; experience and present classes
should be indicators. It might be wise to inform parents of the
proposed study; this should be done with tact, emphasizing the
perfect safety strongly, then urging the necessity. The earlier the
age at which the child "learns" the snake, the more snakes will be
spared. Incidentally, children talk of their school work, such a
"horror" topic would receive more than the usual mouth-to-mouth
advertising; conservation would be carried on in this way, and
education spread. Then, too, the quicker a child can recognize a
venomous reptile on sight, the better; but statistics show the
poison danger to be inconsiderable. There are other advantages in
early study also, but they hardly need recounting. Here, as in
other branches of organized nature-study, grading would be used
and of course a single specimen would do for all grades.

It is not proposed to bring a venomous snake into the classroom
for study. But the study of the Elapine and Crotaline snakes, the
two families to which the seventeen species of poisonous snakes
found in the United States belong, should be studied, by compari-
son, early. This feature and the economic value are of equal
importance, for in many communities, New York city for example,
the presence of dangerous snakes in the near-surrounding country,
often popular picnic grounds, is not suspected. In the little snake
instruction I have attempted (solely to adults) I always treated:
"How to know the dangerous snakes, "first. But this is up to the
teacher, besides geographical location may dictate a policy; it is
out of my domain to suggest a course; I trust I have not already
treaded upon any toes.

Now that it has been decided (?) to give the snake its turn in the
classroom, the first consideration is a cage. A simple box of
smoothed, half inch boards 9 x 9 x 30 inches (a boy with a couple
of soap boxes should do the trick) will suffice, providing it has a

26 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

close-fitting glass front that may be easily raised or lowered. The
cage needs no fittings save a small, shallow water dish. A little
testing will show at what part of the room the best light will be had
on the interior with the lowered glass. But it need not remain
absolutely stationary. A strong light is not necessary. Sunlight
will be appreciated by the snake. Temperature should be as even
as possible; precautions should be taken to safe-guard the snake
against extreme cold, though it will survive successfully a rather
wide temperature range.

It goes without saying that the cage should be cleaned daily.
This is not a long, arduous or unpleasant task, in fact, the teacher
may turn it to his, or her, advantage: The chances are that
timidity will be felt by some of the pupils at first; however, a
"courageous" boy will not only be glad of a chance to become a
"hero" and so accomplish the desired end, but his action will help
other pupils to overcome their fears. Later, some sort of a
Johnnie's-turn-today-and-Willie's-turn-tomorrow system may be
devised. The snake will not suffer by the Saturday and Sunday
closing. Fresh water should be supplied daily, the usual amount
increased each Friday evening.

Feeding may present the only problem, but this is unlikely. It
is most probable that snakes kept for such purposes will readily
eat and do well in captivity. The specimen will take food twice
or three times a week ; Monday, Wednesday and Friday it may be
offered. The engulfing process will be found most interesting and
instructive. At first the feeding had best be done early or late,
without an audience until the new home is adopted. Small
rodents, toads and frogs will make an excellent diet for almost any
snake, but they must be offered alive. The boy snake-food-catcher
is sure to be another "hero." Here another natural history topic
seldom met with in schools is brought to the front. It will be seen,
and can be pointedly explained, why certain animals (rodents) are
pests and why the snake is a friend by his eating them. Should the
specimen refuse food it will do well for an indefinite period anyway.
After snake acquaintance is made through the first specimen, very
likely it will be changed for one of another species, and so on as long
as the neighborhood species hold out.

Almost any variety of snake, with the exception of the species of
the two families mentioned, will serve as captive specimens for
study equally well. If possible a snake with strong or unique

Norton] THE SNAKE 27

habits or characteristics — though all are really such — may be a
trifle better, for interest may be more quickly aroused. For
examples : the king is immune to Crotaline poison ; the pine, and
others of course, is very valuable economically; the indigo, or
gopher, is beautiful and an even better "pet" than the king; the
hog-nose, snakes, often called and mistaken for some imaginary
species of deadly "adder," have a habit of play-possum; the milk,
that never had anything to do with such a drink; or one of the
"faker" snakes that "mimic" the marking and coloration of the
Elaps. But these points, if not already known, may be gleaned
with a few hours reading. The Reptile Book, by R. L. Ditmars, is
an excellent authority. If none of the above species seem avail-
able and only "black" and "garter" snakes are seen, select one of
the latter. The "garters" are more satisfactory in captivity.
The "black" may act disagreeable.

Perhaps some readers have been asking: "But how are the
specimens to be procured?" Well, they might be purchased,
though in any but an extremely congested center this is unneces-
sary. Even at that, right among us there are often snakes.
Central Park, in New York City, has its quota of perfectly good
"wild" snakes. It would be much better, cheaper and more
exciting to collect and "tame" your own specimens.

Go into a field, thicket or woods on a bright day and there you
will find him, sunbathing, investigating the dried-up brook bottom,
on a log in the swamp or a bush at its side, among the clover, by the
brook, drinking perhaps, almost anywhere in pursuit of a toad, or at
the foot of a bush. But you must see with the eyes of a sea-gull,
unless the surprise is mutual, and tread so quietly that the cricket
by the path will not stop his fiddling (I have been able to do this
but twice out of many trials). I think of nothing more exciting
than looking for snakes. And how many more there are than we
had supposed!

You surely can recognize the dangerous snakes, if there are any
in your "hunting ground." By the way, what is the dangerous
snake nearest you? If you can not recognize them, I'd wait until
I'd learned.

The innocuous snakes can be taken with perfect safety with the
hands, providing you can approach near enough. But if dubious,
heavy boots and leggins with thick clothes and gloves may be
worn, while a long-handled, short -forked stick (for pinning the

28 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

reptile to the ground) can be carried — a good idea for so untimely
escape is -prevented — or even a pole with a noose. Then you may
further encumber yourself with a gun of some description, speci-
men bags and the cage, and so hinder your movements and reduce
the chances for a capture. But no matter what the garments or
e quipment, no fun will be poked if it be known you are going snake
hunting. I know !

If any are interested in the ideas suggested and would care to
correspond, I should be pleased to give any further general or
specific information wished within my power. I am quite sure
any questions asked will be answered, for the reptile curator of the
New York Zoological Society is interested in this phase of snake-
education and will, if need be, gladly assist me.

Snakes soon adapt themselves to confinement, though they will
probably resent capture, and can be handled with perfect safety.
They will appreciate, or seem to, careful aid during the skinning
process. Handling, except right after food has been taken, will
enliven them.

The Little Brown Creeper

Altho I'm a bird, I give you my word,

That seldom you'll know me to fly.
For I have a notion about locomotion,

The Little Brown Creeper am I.

Dear little Brown Creeper am I.

Beginning below, I search as I go

The trunk and the limb of a tree
For a fly or a slug or a beetle or bug,

They're better than candy for me,

Far better than candy for me.

When people are nigh, I am apt to be shy,
And say to myself, "I will hide."
Continue my creeping by carefully keeping
Away on the opposite side.

Yet sometimes I peek, while I play hide and seek,

If you're nice, I shall wish to see you,
I'll make a faint sound and come quite around,

And creep like a mouse — in full view,

Very much like a mouse — to your view.

(Author not known.)

An Animal Oddity

Howard C. Brown
Pres. Califor Naturalist Club, Charles City, Iowa

There are a great many queer combinations among animals.
Indeed it seems as though we have only to suggest some visionary
form, and we find it represented by some living creature. No, we
need not even go back to past ages. We have them in the modern
age, — the tapir, the elephant, the giraffe, the quagga, etc. But by
means of zoological parks, and circuses these creatures have been
displayed to many, and their habits learned. This is all necessary,
but I fear that in the study of these animals we have quite for-
gotten and neglected the American animals some of which may be
just as odd, and whose habits may even prove more interesting,
because they are American.

Did you ever stop to think of the possibilities of an American
zoo? I have read of an insect zoo, but did you ever hear of a zoo
of mice, rats, bats, lizards, etc. ? Strange as it may seem a great
many people neglect the members of the animal kingdom, but
above all, it seems to me that bats are some of the least understood
animals of America. And by least understood I mean that fewer
people know their habits, species, and food than those of any other
animal. Now of course, when we consider the many microscopic
animals, this is not true; but let us pass by them, and get to the
animals according to popular belief in a truer sense.

I heard of a gentlemen who once had a bat as a pet, and I heard
of some of the things he discovered concerning it. Sometime ago,
however, I was presented with a live bat, given me for a specimen.
He was a beautiful little fellow, with a grey back, and chattering
pearly teeth; and I fear, thought this world's hands were too rough
for so delicate a creature.

I regarded this as a rare opportunity, and determined to keep
my bat alive to note his habits. The next day I transferred him
into a better home and placing a fly on the end of a stick, I held it
toward him. He chattered, and shook his head, giving me a warn-
ing by his terrible threats. And why shouldn't he ? For, man who
had taken his freedom, was his greatest enemy. He shook and
quivered when he heard a human voice. Finally after several
trials he grabbed the fly from the stick, and in an up and down
motion of his head, swallowed it.

29

30 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

Gradually he became accustomed to my hand, until finally I was
able to stroke him lightly, without his showing any fear. He
gained confidence in me, and when he heard my call, he would
clamber down the sides of the box, and come to meet my stick.
For one meal, he ate twenty-five flies.

I tried feeding him meat, and various other foods but he ate, to
my knowledge, nothing but flies and one mayfly. The latter, it
took him sometime to devour, and the process was accompanied
with the usual nodding of the head. As he ate, you could see his
sharp teeth cutting the food. He seemed to prefer live flies, but he
ate them even after the rigor mortis had set in. He seemed to
enjoy being stroked carefully. But he was so quick, before I
realized what he was doing, he would clamber down the sides of the
box and be pushing his head up on the other side. His walk was
not particularly slow, and when he drank, he climbed up over
the pan.

I found out a great deal about him, but my pet died all too soon.
I suppose the lack of exercise had a great deal to do with his death,
but I believe that if a proper place could be provided, this one of
America's animal oddities could be studied and better understood
and fewer people would wish to destroy it.

After all, the preservation of our wild life and the balance of
nature is our chief object in studying these things by means of zoos
and personal pets. And let us hope for the day when the super-
stitions, fears and dread of these beautiful and interesting little
animals shall vanish forever.

A Song

Paul Tewksbury

Life's not the same since she left me —
The skies are not bright as they were;

The flowers all are faded and sickly —
They seem to have bloomed but for her.

The birds sing no more in the garden
In vain did I ask them to stay;

And even our little canary

Has been silent since she went away.

Humane Education Made Compulsory in
New York State

The following very stringent law has passed the New York State
Legislature making it obligatory to teach the children in the Public
Schools the humane treatment of animals. The Editor of the
Nature-Study Review realizing fully that most teachers have
given little attention to this subject as a part of the school curricu-
lum will try to do her share by writing and publishing in the
Re\ iew each month for the coming year, a carefully planned lesson
for each week which will cover the points demanded by the law.

Laws of New York. — By Authority
Chap. 210
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to instruction in
the elementary schools in the humane treatment of animals and
birds.

Became a law April iq, 1017, with the approval of the Governor.
Passed, three-fifths being present

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as folic

Section 3. Such chapter is hereby amended by inserting therein
a new article, to be article twenty-six-b, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 26-B

Section 700. Instruction in the Humane Treatment of
Animals and Birds

Section 700. Instruction in the humane treatment of animals and
birds. The officer, board or commission authorized or required to
prescribe courses of instruction shall cause instruction to be given
in even- elementary school under state control or supported wholly
or partly by public money of the state, in the humane treatment
and protection of animals and birds and the importance of the part
they play in the economy of nature. Such instruction shall be for
such period of time during each school year as the board of regents
may prescribe and may be joined with work in literature, reading,
language, nature-study or ethnology. Such weekly instruction

31

32 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

may be divided into two or more periods. A school district shall
not be entitled to participate in the public school money on account
of any school or the attendance at any school subject to the pro-
visions of this section, if the instruction required hereby is not
given therein. The commissioner of education shall, pursuant to
this act, cause the consideration of the humane treatment of
animals and birds to be included in the program of teachers'
institutes.

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

State of New York I

Office of the Secretary of State, j

I have compared the preceding with the original law on file in
this office, and do hereby certify that the same is a correct tran-
script therefrom and of the whole of said original law.

Francis M. Hugo,
Secretary of State.

The Duty of the Humane Society Toward Compul-
sory Humane Education

By Stella J. Preston
Chairman New York State Humane Education Committee

It is with the deepest sense of gratification that The New York
State Humane Education Committee announces that compulsory
humane education is now a regular feature of the curriculum of the
elementary schools in this State; it being known as Chapter 210
of the Laws of 191 7.

The old adage, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't
make him drink," is particularly applicable to this case. The
mere passing of a law does not make sure its enforcement. This is
where the duty of every humane society begins. The writer
wishes heartily that the word "compulsory" could be entirely
eliminated, because an enforced task is never a pleasant one.
Yet, this seems to be a stern necessity. To make the law effective
it must have that force behind it. It has been so since the begin-
ning of time. The law commands a respect which no moral
suasion will inspire. Many instances may be cited where humane
education has been enforced for such length of time as some

DUTY OF H UMA NE SOCIE TY 33

organization or interested person was behind it; but as soon as
that impetus was withdrawn, the subject was gradually crowded
out or forgotten altogether. After a painstaking survey extending
over many years, it was this fact that convinced the author of the
bill of its necessity. Active live interest, on the part of humani-
tarians combined with the effective arm of the law, should make
New York State the leader in humane educational matters.

Let us consider some of the means by which humane societies
may make this law a pleasant feature of the school work — ways
by which the teacher often burdened with duties far beyond her
strength, may see in this a possible help — an inspiration — a
broader vision. It is a recognized fact that in many of our schools
some form of ethical instruction is a daily part of the school life;
either by the methods adopted by those who believe that children
should be taught kindness and justice, through the medium of
kindness to animals, or in some other manner, but it was to make a
common practice of teaching humanity that this law was passed.

As a well known educator expresses it: "It is making common
justice a common practice. Humaneness is nothing more or less
than justice, and as justice is an invisible quality, there can be but
one kind for all creatures. It aims to encourage good thoughts and
feelings and the actual performance of kind acts, and offers many
golden opportunities for such expression. When the pupil grasps
all that this means, then he himself becomes a humane instructor."
It is by this method also that the teacher is reached. Find in her
that invisible something which spells humaneness and all who
come under her influence are unconsciously bettered.

What inspires workers who are striving to prevent cruelty to
little children and helpless animals? Humaneness. What is the
spirit which builds hospitals and charitable institutions ? Humane-
ness. What is behind all the great effort that is being expended
on our Red Cross? Humaneness. And greatest of all, what is
the motive with which our country is entering upon this greatest of
all conflicts the world has ever known? The supreme act of
humaneness.

Why then is it not the duty of even* teacher in every school, in
even,T state, in every country, to make this invisible quality so
much a part of the life of even- child, that the generations to come
shall be a greater, and a stronger, and a more humane people, and
world kindness as well as world peace shall be a reality and not a

34 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

dream. But, you must bring the realization of this to the teacher,
who possibly in her busy life, may not have glimpsed it. Visit
your superintendent of schools, calling his attention to the statute,
and seek his co-operation. Through him reach the school princi-
pals and the teachers, and call to their attention the great possi-
bilities of this subject. Co-operation should be the keynote of
your efforts. No teacher will fail to appreciate a sincere desire to
help, and an intelligent co-operation with her to secure the greatest
benefit to the child.

The law reads: "Such instruction shall be for such period of
time during each school year as the Board of Regents may pre-
scribe and may be joined with work in literature, reading, language,
nature-study or ethnology. Such weekly instruction may be
divided into two or more periods."

What a broad scope this gives the teacher — First consider litera-
ture— how many stories and poems there are, that by their charac-
ter develop the sense of sympathy and justice. The same may be
said of reading and language — what a choice there is in reading to
select from, stories which teach breadth of interest and sympathy
toward all creation, both human and dumb, and in language —
what a variety of subjects for story-telling, composition or essay
writing, subjects that will bring out all the broader vision of a
child's mind, and a breadth of sympathy ranging from the lowest to
the highest form of life. Then comes the correlation with nature-
study and ethnology — studies of animal life and human life.
Many educators feel that humane education is applied nature-
study, and it is true, that in nature-study there are many oppor
tunities for its application. It is because animals make up a large
part of the child's every day environment, that teaching kindness
to animals seems the most natural and simple method of developing
the character of the child. It fosters the spirit of protection toward
something helpless and weak. While studying the nature and
habits of the animal creation, the teacher may specialize upon the
uses, the sufferings, and the rights of those same animals; not
simply confine herself to the antennae or vertebrae of the subject.
"This may require a change of heart greater than a change of
program. ' ' Ethnology — a subject for advanced pupils — the science
of the races and families of man — here may come a practical
application of the Golden Rule; one's duty toward one's neighbor,
and the large economic problems which are engrossing the world.

DUTY OF HUMANE SOCIETY 35

But you will hear from the teacher: "Am I expected to fulfill all
of this huge contract ? Am I to be parent, spiritual adviser, as well
as teacher of the three R's

There is no question regarding the fact that the proper place for
the moral development of the child is first in the home, then the
church, but unfortunately parents are often wholly or partially
neglectful of the principles of right conduct. Then the responsi-
bility falls upon the State. It has been aptly said that it is as
impossible to teach a pupil to play a piano by ear, as to teach
humane education by any set of rules. The nature of the subject
makes it impracticable to limit it to any formal scheme. The
teacher must be imbued with the spirit of the task — that invisible
something which we call humaneness, and be sufficiently interested
and intuitive to devise ways of expressing that humaneness to her
pupils. Then, and then only, will the spirit of the lesson emanate
from her to them, and as a superintendent of a school where this
has been successfully demonstrated says : "It becomes the strong-
est and most vital of all the forces in the school." Again, we come
to the duty of humane societies — to so present this matter to the
schools that it shall not be a subject new and strange, but that it
may slip into the school life without friction or controversy.

It is an encouraging fact that in no school where this subject
has been intelligently treated, has it proved a failure. Lack of
interest and co-operation on the part of those who should be
responsible for its success, is the usual cause for its failure. Such
expressions of approval as: "I wish you to know how successful
the humane training has been in our school," — "I feel that this
training will in time decrease very materially the sum total of
suffering in the world." — "The work of our school is easily adjusted
to meet the demands of humane instruction." — "Of all the topics in
our curriculum, I consider this the most important." — are con-
clusive evidence that when the methods employed are practical
and attractive, the results are all that we would desire.

New York State has upon the statutes as good and effective a
law as any in the country. The fact that the length of time required
for the teaching of the subject shall be prescribed by the Board of
Regents is a measure of strength rather than weakness. Again, it
is the spirit not the letter of the law we wish to impress upon the
school people; not the number of minutes per week. When this
spirit of humaneness once permeates the school, the benefit will

36 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

not be figured by time, but by results. The clause stating that:
"A school district shall not be entitled to participate in the public
school money, if the instruction hereby is not given therein," gives
the necessary force to the law. Let us hope the penalty may never
be applied.

And so it is your duty now; to acquaint the schools in your
respective locality with the nature of the law; to aid in every
possible way by your interest, your means, your example, your
character in the enforcement of the law. Visit the schools, offer
prizes, distribute literature, give talks, and above all, let that
invisible quality, humaneness, so illuminate your lives and charac-
ter, that it will envelop the teacher, who in turn will so grasp the
great opportunities and the ethical value of the subject, that she
will in turn impart its principles to her pupils. "Rome was not
built in a day." We cannot hope that everything will be accom-
plished the first year, but never were humane societies confronted
with a graver responsibility than this their duty toward the com-
pulsory humane education law.

Pets in the Trenches

A war correspondent tells us : "Of the pets the dog is by far the
more numerous and popular. There are goats and cats and
canaries and various species of mascot, but the dog becomes more a
part of the life than any of the others. Many a subaltern or com-
pany commander has gone "over the top" into battle with his dog
leaping and barking happily beside him. Scores of dogs have been
killed beside their masters, and hundreds wounded. In the fighting
about Mametz during the great push on the Somme a Red Cross
searching party came upon a pathetic little group composed of a
subaltern, his dog, four private soldiers, just as they had sprawled
to their death in a burst of machine gun fire."

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, J1.00 per year (nine issues) . Canadian postage,
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

Trrmortflnt Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
X111r'ul la-m wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisemedts should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, X. X. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Revised should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

THE NBW YEAR

Who among us shall dare to give to our friends this year, the gay
and joyous greetings that have fallen so readially from our lips in
times past in wishing "A Happy New Year!" And yet there has
never been a season in the lifetime of this generation when the
heart so deeply and sincerely wished for every- one a happy new
year. But now, however fervently the heart may wish it, the head
crushes back the expression by the thought. "How can the new
year be happy with the whole world at grips in the deadliest and
crudest war known to the history of our planet r"

No, the wishing "A Happy New Year" can be but a hollow
expression weighed down as we are by anxiety and the conviction
that happiness is not likely to be a general possession anywhere
during 1918.

Therefore, let us change the form of our greeting this year and
say, "May the New Year afford you new opportunity to serve
humanity ; and may it bring you the desire to serve, the faith that
right will triumph and the strength to endure to the end."

THE NATURALIST IN TRAINING CAMP

We have always maintained that an intimacy with Nature and
an interest in her ways will ever prove a resource for entertainment
and give a sense of companionship under whatever circumstances
that life may impose. The following extract from a letter from
Mr. Chester H. Menke is given as evidence of this. Mr. Menke is
known to many readers of The Review as Instructor in Nature-
Study at Cornell; he is now at Camp Sherman at Chillicothe, Ohio.

37

38 TEACHERS' CORNER

"And as I go marching along on these wonderful autumn days
I think I get more from them than a great many of the men whose
only pleasure in life is of a physical nature. I love to watch the
spider go by with his silken sails unfurled to the clear and steady
breeze of Indian summer. And if perchance one loses hold and
alights upon the hat of the individual in front of me, I love to watch
him try all sides of the hat, to fix the direction of the breeze and
when at last he has succeeded, after many seemingly unnecessary
movements, he raises himself on his front legs as high as possible,
tries his muscles and with one last effort jumps into the breeze and
goes floating away with only a few silken threads, as stately and
with the ease of Aphrodite herself. In the meantime, the com-
mand, "squads right !" has been given and I find myself eyed doubt-
fully by officer or squad leader, and again I come back to earth to
do that which is most primitive."

Teachers' Corner

If we only could now and then pry open the heads of our pupils and find all
that is stored there as the direct results of our teaching we would undoubtedly
put on sack-cloth and take to some other profession with mortification and
celerity. Occasionally we gain a glimpse of what we have really taught and
find it so far afield from what we thought we had taught that we can only gasp
and wonder. Fortunate is the teacher who can retain a sense of humor under
this ordeal. The Editor remembers well once upon a time she lectured to a
very respectful and attentive class at Chautauqua, N. Y. One item in her
theme was the clever device for escape used by the caterpillar that forms the
spindle-shaped gall in the stem of the golden-rod. She warmed up to her sub-
ject and felt truly eloquent and the class responded with enthusiasm. Later in
the day, during a field trip, this gall was found and its wise occupant and his
skill in making beveled edges to his exit door were shown to the pupils at which
one exclaimed incredulously, "Isn't that wonderful! What Mrs. Comstock
told us is really so, isn't it!"

A nature-study and biology teacher somewhere in America has sent in the
following casket of jewels culled from the free expressions of her pupils regard-
ing their observations and conclusions in the wide domain of nature. It is
needless to add that this teacher has a keen sense of humor: —

"Organic matter is when you have something the matter with your organs."

"Five devices by which seeds are scattered are wind, water, explosion, torn
up, taken out, and thrown away."

"The peculiars of an insect are some of them bring diseases, others destroy
food, suck the blood, spoil the flowers, lay eggs and kill babies."

"The grasshopper, when he walks, he either jumps or hops."

"The jaws of a grasshopper move east and west."

"A larva is an unfinished animal."

"The flower is to show what a plant can do."

News Notes

CALIFORNIA

The California Blue Bulletin begins with the slogan, "The World must be
made safe for Democracy" and follows with some excellent advice to school
boys from the Secretaries, War and Navy, General Wood and the Postmaster
GeneraL

Secretary Baker says: "The most useful thing a high school boy can do is
to finish his course, because the nation in the next years will need all the
trained men it can find."

Secretary Daniels says: "Boys too young for military service now should
be studying and training when practicable so that when they become of age
they will be better trained if called upon to serve than their elder brothers
were."

General Wood says: "Every boy should finish his school course. We
shall secure more men under the draft than we can arm at the present time."

Postmaster General Burleson says: "It is of vital importance that there be
no 'slackers' in education. The completion of the high school and college
courses is well-nigh imperative at this juncture of our entry into world affairs.
Nothing except the country's call in the defense of liberty should prevent it."

[CONNECTICUT

The Hartford Bird Club is one of the most active in the United States. The
following items as to the work accomplished by it are extracts from a letter
from Arthur G. Powers, Secretary of the club:

Our club is confined almost entirely to bird study, although, as a matter of
fact, we usually have talks from persons interested in other lines of nature-
study at infrequent periods. As a matter of fact, the whole study of nature
in itself is so closely interwoven it is rather hard to select any one element for
the sake of study without in some measure overlapping into some other
element.

It might be interesting to you to know that we have had Mr. Louis Agassiz
Fuertes, lecture to our club, and that we are to have Mr. Dallas Lore Sharpe
lecture to us in connection with which Mr. W. B. Gillette, the artist, is to
exhibit some of his water colors of birds, fishes, etc. We have from twenty
five to one hundred on each of our outing trips, or field trips, no matter what
the weather, and I should say we have an average attendance at our evening
meetings of one hundred, which would seem to indicate that bird study in this
locality was a popular and lasting pursuit, for we have been organized now
since 1909 and at no time during that period have we had any more members
than at the present time.

We have a bird sanctuary of 2500 acres in the suburbs of Hartford, which is
posted by the State Fish and Game Commission, and on which the club has
erected 140 or more bird houses of their own styles and makes. We have also
erected feeding trays, planted wild shrubs and seed which might induce birds
to remain within its borders, and have not only catered to the birds themselves

39

40 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

but also to the inmates of two tuberculosis sanitoriums located within its
borders, as well as the inmates of the Connecticut Home for Crippled Children
also located there.

Our club was prime mover in the formation of a federation of bird and nature
clubs in Connecticut, on which we have been working for four years and which
was organized at Fairfield, Conn., in May of this year, at which were repre-
sented some twenty odd societies in the state interested in similar studies, and
by 350 people. This organization is known as the Connecticut Federation of
Bird and Nature Clubs.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Please note your expiration date and send in
your renewals promptly.

Owing to the increased cost of paper and print-
ing, also to the fact that The Nature-Study Re-
view has not raised its subscription price, we will
print only enough magazines each month to cover
the subscription list and its normal increase.

A blue check on the wrapper indicates that
your subscription expires with this number.

The "Bluebird" by W. P. Alexander that appeared in the Bird Number of
The Nature-Study Review has been reprinted in the "Poets of the Future,"
A College Anthology for 1916-17 published by the Stratford Co., Boston.

The beautiful picture of the California Quail used to illustrate Mrs. Siniman's
story in the December Nature-Study Review was made from a photograph,
taken from the living bird by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. Through a mistake no
credit was given with the picture.

THE BOOK SHELF {f

Field Book of American Trees and Shrubs, F. Schuyler Mathews. G. P.

Putnam's Sons. 465 pages. $2.00, bound in cloth; $2.50, bound^in full

flexible leather.

Field Book of American Wild Flowers, revised and enlarged, twenty-second

printing. Field Book of American Wild Birds and their Music, fifteenth

printing, by the same author and publisher and sold for the same price

Mr. Mathews has long been known to the lover of out-door life; in fact he

was the first writer in Xature-Study in America to give us popular information

in regard to the familiar trees, plants and animals. He is always reliable, and

writes most interestingly and with his skilled and artistic hand, pictures for us

what he describes. His drawings are accurate and truly illustrative.

In 1902 appeared his Field-book of American Wild Flowers and the Editor
has already worn out two copies of this admirable little book. It is just the
size to slip into the pocket, it is very fully illustrated and it gives what so few
of the identification books give, — interesting and important facts about the
habits of plants. And while there are in this volume 24 attractive, colored
illustrations, yet these are no more useful than the pen and ink illustrations
which are as near perfection in the matter of specific characteristics as is possi-
ble for an artist to make.

In 1904 followed a volume of similar size, — The Fieldbook of Wild Birds and
their Music. This is a serious attempt to transcribe the songs of birds.
Unfortunately the writer is not a musician, and also has never yet found an
instrument with sufficient bird-like tone to play the notes in any adequate
manner. But the book has been of great use for there are 38 colored plates and
half as may illustrations in black and white, and the accounts of bird habits are
excellent. Moreover, there is one lesson that the book teaches to even the
most unmusical and this is the great variety of songs the individual of a species
develops, a fact often ignored.

The Fieldbook of American Trees and Shrubs, which has recently appeared,
is in many ways the most ambitious volume of the series, since it covers the
more common trees of the Pacific Coast. However, it is essentially a book
adapted to the United States east of the Rockies. The strong point in Mr.
Mathews descriptions is that he tells us tersely those things which we most
desire to know about a species. This is especially true, in this volume, of those
trees with which he is personally familiar. Mr. Mathews shows his courage
by describing 69 species of Crataegus and his most valuable contribution to the
separation of the species of Hawthorns are his very graphic pen pictures of the
leaves and fruits. (The writer always secretly believed that the Creator

41

42 NATURE-.STUDY REVIEW [14:1— Jan., 1918

int ended theHawthorns to show that He could create a species in which no two
individuals need be alike.) Mr. Mathews has dealt in a like masterly manner
with the many puzzling species of Willows.

The volume is superbly illustrated; it contains 16 full-page illustrations in
water color and 50 in green crayon, all showing the characteristic forms of trees.
However, of far more importance in identifying species, are the pen drawings of
leaves and fruits of which there are a very large number and which will demon-
strate again to an admiring public Mr. Mathews' accuracy and skill as a
natural history artist. At the end of the volume are 36 pages of maps showing
in a graphic manner the distribution of tree species. Following these are maps
showing the lands of the U. S. almost exlucively in private hands, one showing
the altitudes in the U. S. ; one showing the geological structure as a foundation
for a character of different soils; one showing the soil characters and others
showing the mean temperatures of the U. S. in January and July. The book
begins with a key for the identifications of species by the leaves and ends with a
key for the identification of the trees by the character of the bark, the latter
being helped by 1 8 photographic illustrations. The size of the book which is
4 by 7 by 1 inches is most convenient for carrying on field excursions and there
is a vast amount of information packed into its small compass, and fits it in
every respect to be what it is "Special Edition for Members of the American
Forestry Association."

Message No. 3 — Courage. Message No. 4 — Little Lights, published TheTrotty
Veck Messengers. Saranac Lake, New York. Single copies not for sale
Two copies, 25c. Ten copies, $1.00.

Again there comes to us messages from these brave young men who are in
temporary exile while gaining health from tuberculosis. These two booklets
are overflowing in the courage and cheer. Nothing could be more helpful, sent
as a New Year's Greeting to friends, than one of these books, especially this
year when we all need fresh courage : "Remember the steam kettle — tho' up to
its neck in hot water it continues to sing." "The world moves from West to
East. Trotty says if you do not like it get on the moon: it goes the other
way." "Evil thoughts like green apples upset the whole system."

By all means send for some of these booklets and pass them around —
They will help!

ANNUAL MEETING NUMBER

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»T^ ^T^ ^T^ ^T^. ^T^ ^T^. ^T^ ^T^ ^T^ ^T^ ^T^ ^T^ ^T^ ^T^ ^*T^. ^T^

NPBE-JTOW QEVlEU

% Devoted Primarily to all Scientific Studies

of Nature in Elementary Schools

Vol. 14 No. 2 FEBRUARY, 1918

One year (nine issues) $1.00

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE

AMERICAN NATU1I
TODY

Whole No. 115
15c per copy

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Books are Worth-while Gifts

THE PET BOOK

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A book full of unique nature-lore about the little
brothers and sisters of the field and hedge and tree
and burrow, their tricks and traits. Frontispiece in
color by Fuertes. 310 pages plus 117 full-page plates.
Library buckram binding, $2.00; postpaid $2.15.

(On the recommended School Library list of Wisconsin.)

NATURE SONGS AND STORIES

CATHERINE CREIGHTON

Beautiful pictures, clever little stories and eighteen
"singable" songs are here used to present Nature-
Study to little folks. Special illustrations by Fuertes,
Anna C. Stryke and Verne Morton. 76 pages 75c;
postpaid 80c.

HOW TO KNOW THE BUTTERFLIES

JOHN HENRY COMSTOCK and
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A Manual of the butterflies of the eastern part of

the United States. 45 colored plates, 50 other illus-
trations.

320 pages. $2.50. Postpaid $2.70

TREES AT LEISURE

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A tree lover's tribute to her favorites of the field
and woodland during their season of winter rest.
A book that will be treasured by all out door lovers.
Beautifully illustrated. Postpaid 50c

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, New York

Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol.14 February, 1918 Mo. 2

The Humanistic Element in Education

L. H. Bailey

President's Address at Annual Meeting

[The speaker explained that he had discussed "The Science Element in
Education" before the Central Association of Science and Mathematics
Teachers at Columbus, Ohio, November 30. He stated his point of view in
that address: We are born to Things and to Phenomena. The regulated
knowledge of Things and Phenomena is Science. As we depend on Things and
Phenomena, so is the science of them essential; and what is essential is neces-
sarily educational, if we are to live rationally. We are in error in supposing
that there is a necessary educational line between "humanities" and "science,"
and we perpetuate error and hinder progress by the liberal use of these and
other catch- words. We are misled by our phrases. In the present address the
speaker sought still further to break down the prejudices between what may
be called the old-line and the new-line subjects. A full abstract will be found
in School Science and Mathematics, and an extract in School and Socie'y, for
December 29.]

We are born to People. Probably our first acquired knowledge
is of father and mother. Human forms impress us so early that
we never know that we never knew them. Brother, sister, family,
the gradually enlarging circle of those of whom the child is "not
afraid," make up the early experience. Soon the child begins to
have consciousness of the many people, the strange people, those
who quickly come and go, those on the street, in wagons, standing
on the corners, waiting at the big places. The world is full of
folks.

Soon the individuals begin to separate from the crowd. Faces
become so familiar that the child names them and identifies them.
Each one is unlike every other one. The child says that some
persons are "funny."

Yet the moving crowd of human beings is the great fact of life.
It is the great fact of the earth. These beings are gregarious.
They move in long lines. They swarm in great masses. They
colonize themselves in tense confusions that we call cities. Now
and then one being separates itself and lives apart. That one is
queer, clearly an aberrance. Most of us come back to the crowd

43

44 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

as the meteor seeks the earth. Even when we are separate we
talk in terms of the crowd. To go alone is unusual. When we go
by ourselves we write a book about it.

What I mean to say is that human beings express habit and
habitat, as do other animals. We are so accustomed to the habits
that we think of them only to approve or to criticize. Yet essen-
tially the habits of John Smith the Man are as interesting in them-
selves as are those of Lobo the Wolf, Black Beauty the Horse, or
the Cat that Walked by its Wild Lone. But we fail to observe
John Smith objectively.

As there are laws of the Pack and laws of the Jungle, so are there
laws of the Camp of Homo. At first the laws of the Pack and the
Jungle and the Camp were probably much the same; but the
Camp became crafty, self-willed, and it made weapons against the
others. These weapons it turned also against the Other Camp.
The Camp has come a long journey since then, but it has carried
its weapons all the way.

The Camp found Speech and Handicraft. It found Importance,
and set down its thoughts on stone and ivory and bones. It found
Paper. Then it kept Records. Then did Literature begin. And
in due time Men knew that they were Men, and wrote down the
joy they had in thinking.

They thought about themselves and about Beings of another
world; and so great and important were these Beings that Man
fashioned them in his own image and endowed them with his own
qualities. So Man began to speculate, and to weave a vast web of
fancy about himself and the Stars and the Things He Does Not
Know. This web we call Literature, Philosophy, Art, Religion, —
what you will.

And in due time Man came to be curious about the Things-
Around-Him. He pried into them. He looked into crevices in
rocks, ran his fingers along the seams of wood, found new metals,
counted the eggs in a thousand nests, unravelled the flowers,
searched for the alchemy, explored every wonder, enciphered the
universe in formula and symbol. At some point in this long
process he wrote down what he saw on papyrus or pieces of paper;
then was Science born.

Very exact is Observation and very direct and true are Results.
But these are first observations and first results. When we look
again we begin to doubt. When we make a Conclusion we

bailey] HUMANISTIC ELEMENT IX EDUCATION 45

immediately set about to show that it is not true. They still say
that there are "exact sciences;" if there are such, they must be
those not founded on observation and experiment. I heard a man
expound for an hour, with floods of numerals. He said that he
had "proved" something. I do not know what it was.

So the deeper we settle into Science the more do we discuss and
explain, which means only that we are trying dimly to understand.
And the scientist becomes an hypothecist. To-day the plant-
breeder is a mathematician, the zoologist is a speculator, and the
geologist is a seer. And it endeth in Literature, Philosophy, Art,
Religion, — what you will.

And it came to pass that men said one way was the best way and
other men said their way was the best. And one man called his
way Humanistic and the other called his way Scientific; and
straightway they made much trouble for themselves.

One day we may forget distinctions that do not distinguish, and
we may devote most of our energy to doing our piece of work well
and to making ourselves to be as little children that we may teach
simply and easily and directly.

Perhaps it would be impertinent, but I do not see how we can
ever understand human beings or know what their habits mean or
judge them fairly unless we observe them impartially and objec-
tively. Now we judge them by ourselves. We think of them
mostly as bearing "conduct" rather than as exhibiting characteris-
tics. Never can we realize the brotherhood of man till we divest
ourselves of prejudgment (which is prejudice), of assumed stand-
ards of ethics, and study human beings impersonally. Medicine
could make no progress till it passed the idea of demons, of control
by extra-terrestrial agencies, special providencies, and judgments
for sin. Our actions and habits issue from causes and they follow
courses which may be understood. We do not understand them
by sitting in judgment, although by that means we may protect
society. The new penology has its root here. We begin to see
that conduct has a rational basis.

All the "humanities" in education are worth as much as the
"sciences" in the training of the young, if there are as good teach-
ers, with as good facilities, to teach the one as the other. All these
subjects are organized out of the human mind; the same quest of
truth is in them all ; the same integrity of thought may characterize

46 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

them all. It is not true that a subject is useful in education in
proportion as it can be applied in the affairs of life. It is not true
that any subject is even relatively useless because it cannot be
"applied."

Man is as much a part of nature as is a pigeon or a trillium. Did
not Huxley write on man's place in nature? It is an incomplete
nature-study that eliminates man from its range. What we now
need above all else in nature-study is a good procedure on the
observation of human beings.

If man is part in nature, if he has had a progressive evolution,
then his habits and also his institutions are but parts of his natural
history. Tradition itself is a phase of the natural history of the
race, and becomes an essential part in any worth-while study
of the race. These traditions express themselves as well in what
we call science as in what we call classics. They are expressions of
our development within our environment and in contact with our
fellows. Against all this background, the discussion of the relative
importance of the humanities and the sciences seems trivial and
empty. These historic separations should now be forgotten, as
against the common interests of mankind.

Always have I tried to present to you the wholeness of nature-
study. From the first I have stood against the exclusive observa-
tion and study of the objects counted as "practical." This is not
because I am opposed to the practical and the applied in education,
but because such narrowing of the subject presents a wrong and
restricted view of nature. In whatever the child takes up, I have
wanted it to see the animal or the plant or the situation as a whole,
and as part of its environment, and not merely as yielding certain
products or benefits.

The interest in itself and its right to live, — this is the reason for
the study of any living object, whether a frog, a cabbage, a horse,
or a human being.

So should I be careful that nature-study does not degenerate
into a study of attributes. In at least one State a law compels
instruction in the elementary grades "in .the humane treatment of
animals and birds." The humane interest in "animals and birds"
results naturally from a knowledge of them. The teaching of
humane natural-history subjects as a detached and literary exercise
is both weak education and insufficient morals. It is like teaching
the odor of the rose.

bailey] HUMANISTIC ELEMENT IN EDUCATION 47

It is the unfortunate impediment against nature-study, in the
estimation of many persons, that it fits only partially into the
regulated schemes of education so much prized at the present.
Pressed into these patterns it loses much of its freedom. Situa-
tions in nature are unfortunately disregardful of a syllabus and
unconcerned of "credits." Even our nature-study writers are
likely to take the attitude that nature-study must be so regularized
as to allow it to be handled uniformly in all schools by all teachers.
We are verily obsessed of uniformity, as if it had merit in itself.
By this dominated uniformity we withhold the best teachers, dis-
courage the mutations that make for progress, and stand in the
way of leadership. I think we should encourage departures.

It is possible, I am convinced, to apply enacted law to education
for the purpose of safeguarding public funds and establishing an
institution for the advancement of all the people at the same time
that we allow the development of the full personality and initiative
of strong teachers. Good system and method are much to be
encouraged if they are in the nature of tested educational programs,
founded on what we hope will some day be the science of education.
This is very different from implanted governmental orders and
insistence on the mere machinery of operation. Our law-made
education, paper projects, and office regulation force our work into
the plane of uniform mediocrity. All uniformity is mediocre.

I do not care to have nature-study similarly or equally taught in
all schools. I hope something better for it than this. We are
now in the grip of an artificial standardized system, matching well
with the present theory of civilization. In due time, however, we
shall return to the old conception of teaching, which is the principle
of discipleship.

What, then, is my plea this morning? This only: that human
beings are prime subjects for nature-study; that the old distinc-
tions between the humanities and the sciences, represented in many
catch-words, are essentially false; that nature-study stands for the
spirit rather than for the form, and is to that extent a saving grace
in the dominated systems of the day. I would make nature-study
contribute to brotherhood. Nature is not an organized and classi-
fied procedure, as are the institutions of human affairs: the
ultimate truth in nature is not yet discovered in statutory
educational svstems.

Science and Nature-Study

S. C. SCHMUCKER
Department of Biological Sciences, State Normal School, West Chester, Pa.

There seems to be room for almost perennial misunderstanding
between the teacher of nature-study and the scientist. But there
has come an interesting alteration in recent years in the attitude
of the scientist to the teacher of nature-study. At first the
scientist looked upon the nature teacher, when he thought of him
at all, as just within the range of his contempt, and when a certain
noted public man of very versatile mind and considerable experience
coined the term "nature fakir" to apply to the author of a series of
stories, the purport of which he had not really caught, the scientific
world backed up the cry and anyone who studied animals without
using the microscope and without chasing them through analytical
keys, and tacking the Latin names to them, became from that time
on a nature fakir. Even so good a student of nature as John
Burroughs fell into the same error, and did not realize that anyone
whose aims and methods were not his own could have honest or
honorable purpose in the work he did.

Of recent years the attitude of the scientist has had a distinct
change. If he pays any attention to the nature teacher it is a very-
patronizing attention, and he shows his entire willingness to rob
himself of a portion of his leisure in order that he may uplift this
poor nature teacher, and bring him into proper connection with
the scientific world. It is this latter attitude which is the one
fraught with danger for nature-study. Until the scientist is broad
enough to realize the aims and purposes of nature-study and ceases
to look upon it as the first step towards university training, he
never will be a good guide to the teacher of nature. He may be
an entirely good source of scientific information, and on this
account be valuable, but the mind of the teacher must transmute
the material gained from the scientist, and often eliminate the
major portion of it completely, transforming the rest before it will
at all serve as material for nature teaching, though it may form a
splendid background in the mind of the teacher who knows how
to transmute it. Dean Bailey got the distinction marvelously
many years ago when he said in substance that when we are think-
ing particularly of the subject we are studying, and are organizing

48

schmucker] SCIEXCE AND NATURE-STUDY 49

our teaching with reference to that subject, we are teaching science.
But when we teach about these things with our thought chiefly
upon the child, his capacities, the nature of his mind, the nature
of his interests, then we are teaching nature-study.

When the great wave of modern biology swept over England,
stimulated by Darwin's "Origin of Species," Professor Huxley
determined that the elementary schools must gain the advantage
of this new teaching, and therefore he made or caused to be made a
series of science primers. The completeness with which they have
dropped out of the field, their constant presence in second hand
book stores, and entire absence from the stores that sell new
books, tells the tale of a scientist of earnestness and power who
mistook his field when he tried to do this. He had the idea that
elementary science meant the general principles of a science in
simple words. He forgot that after all, it is not the words that are
hard to understand in a science, it is the ideas. Mastery of terms
is comparatively a simple matter, and requires no great brains, but
the mastery of fundamental principles is a vastly different thing.
Any immature mind studying and handling fundamental principles
may say them quite as roundly as the scientist, but it is a quality he
shares with the victrola record. He can say back things that have
been said to him.

Agassiz on this side of the ocean, was filled with the same noble
design, and started a series of little guides to science teaching.
These were better than Huxley's primers. A few of the numbers
were rather good for their purpose. But when Alpheus Hyatt
wrote his little book in this series, which he characteristically called
"Insecta," he put together the most complete cemetery of dry
bones of knowledge it has ever been my misfortune to look into.

The truth of the matter is that if we are to teach nature-study
where it is commonly taught, that is, in the first four grades of the
school life, where we are compelled to choose between a good
teacher of children, and a good scientist, we can trust more securely
the teacher than the scientist. Her good sense will guide her into
the selection of the facts in nature around about her, better than
his good sense will guide him in an understanding of the mind
which is to take his work. Of course, the ideal condition is gained
when we can have a teacher who is both the skilled handler of
young children, and the trained scientist, but such a combination
is exceedingly rare. I think I only know of two people who really

50 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

approach it, and I know of no one who ideally attains it. The
most common approach to the ideal is secured when in a school
where there is good pedagogical training, the students also are
trained in nature-study under someone who has had distinct
scientific training. Accordingly, the people who are directing the
teaching of nature-study in the public schools, and the people who
are teaching, in our normal schools and universities, the students
who are later to teach nature-study, should have good scientific
training.

Even in cases like this, the scientist who has constantly in mind
the upper portals of scientific knowledge, and is constantly think-
ing of a student as facing towards these portals and hoping fondly
to reach them, will hit wide of the mark when it comes to nature-
study. Nature-study is not a first step to cytology and morphol-
ogy, or to the systematic study of any group of animals or plants.
Nature-study is, on the other hand, a step towards a full and
appreciative sense of the meaning of ones environment in every-day
life. Of the students who begin nature-study, not one in five
hundred will ever study zoology even beyond the most elementary
text book, but all of them are going to live in contact at least with
a few animals and plants, even though they live in cities and their
contact is confined chiefly to such things as they find in parks or
while on the infrequent summer vacation. But the majority of
them will live in daily contact with trees and grass, with birds and
flowers, and with the domestic animals at least. A familiar
knowledge of the most obvious and most immediately interesting
things concerning these creatures will give to the life of the man
who lives amongst them an added richness which is the finest fruit
of contact with nature.

On the other hand, the ease with which even good college stu-
dents forget within a few years most of what they gain from any
one of the higher branches, unless they continue the cultivation of
that branch either as a necessity of their business or as a relaxation,
is evidence enough not of the worthlessness of these things, for all
earnest, faithful study is good, but it should show us how useless
it is to make the ideas which are brought out only by the most
elaborate study the conscious goal of the beginnings of contact
and appreciation of nature.

Another of the thorough and kindly aims of the scientist is to
do with reasonable thoroughness and completeness whatever he

schmucker] SCIENCE AND NATURE-STUDY 51

does. Hence the almost certain criticism which he will make
against nature-study, that it is too scrappy, too unsystematized,
that it gets nowhere. As a matter of fact the mind of the child is
scrappy, unsystematized, and gets not very far in its earlier years.
And while the child is in these years, and this means until he has
reached the stage of his grammar school life, thoroughness is
foreign to him, and when attempted simply makes of school life
drudgery. Thoroughness comes with the years of reason and
training, and conscious attention. And these are not yet, with
the child.

I trust I am not misunderstood in this matter. I have not the
faintest trace of the scorn for the scientist which the scientist
commonly visits on the nature teacher. I marvel and admire the
thoroughness of many of my scientific friends, and I wish everyone,
if it were possible, could have in his training a part of this thorough-
ness. The mass of detailed information which some men carry
concerning obscure matters, unknown almost to the entire world
outside of themselves is to me marvelous, and I often long to know
some field of knowledge as some of my friends know theirs. But
my lot has been cast in other lines, and those lines have so fully
occupied my time, that there is for me no possibility of the inten-
sive study of any one line.

No teacher can have too much knowledge, providing he-does not
lose his perspective and knows which of his knowledge to use which
is appropriate to the event which has called it out. Certain it is
that the student of zoology who comes to teach nature to children
may himself have what knowledge he can gain of the internal
structure of an animal, but he must practically leave all of it out
of his nature-study teaching. I have even come to doubt whether
it is good nature work to kill, dry and mount insects, and am quite
sure that the shooting and stuffing of birds is not nature-study.
The more children can see all of these creatures alive and active in
their own environment, the more nearly they will approach true
nature-study.

The aspect of things which is best worth while is that of life
relations, the study of birds in the field and the wood as they
gather their food, as they woo their mates, as they build their nests
and rear their young, these and other studies like them make the
best nature work for children. To watch the insects on the
flowers, to find the seeds carried by wind or animal, to see the tall-

52 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

ness of the grass with its straight leaves and the flatness of the
plantain with its round leaves, to find the big leaves of trees on the
ends only of the branches, and the whole of the tree to be full of
leaves when the foliage is finely divided, to see the trees growing
heavy on the lighted side and lighter on the dark side, to see
forest trees growing without limbs, and trees growing long limbs,
close to the ground in the open field — these are the things which
for the ordinary student are distinctly worth while.

There is one other matter which I feel the scientist has never
properly understood. There is no reason whatever, in teaching
children, why we should not personify annuals and flowers and
represent them as talking. The only necessity is that they should
say the right things.

Children will not grow into misconceptions from this teaching.
They will not grow up with the idea that the animals have all our
powers of language only we do not understand them. The
growth of the child's mind into that of the adult will give them the
power of correction. What was perfectly legitimate teaching for
the child would later be foolishness. But we must be very careful
not to teach the uncolored truth to little children, or it will fail of
their comprehension and the whole impression will completely
fade away.

I was standing one day years ago in the hall of the Library of
Congress in Washington and talking with an artist about the deco-
rations of that remarkable building. I said to him, "The whole
thing looks to me altogether too gaudy. There is too much red
and too much gold about it all for me." His reply astonished me.
"You think these paintings are made for to-day. These paintings
are made to last for centuries, and if they were toned into softness
of harmony to-day, they would fade into utter flatness after a
while. Now they seem to you crude, but in a few years they will
sink into a rich fullness of color which they will then maintain as
long almost as this building can stand." Time has already
justified this artist. Already these colors are blending. The
garishness of their first effect has past away and an even richness is
rapidly taking its place.

Just such must be our teaching of children. There must be
over emphasis, there must be heightened coloring, but these will
fade and will sink to their proper places, leaving for the future
possession of the grown mind the full and rich effect.

The Spirit of Nature-Study

Cora A. Smith
Erie, Pa.

These are days when every teacher is thinking: "What is the
relation of my work to this great onward leap of the nations? Is
mv work vital in the lives of the men and women of to-morrow?"
And the nature-study teacher, most of all, perhaps, is compelled to
think of the eternal verities, with the part they play in human
affairs, in order to satisfy herself that she is essential to the welfare
of the community.

Teachers have been recently called by Dr. Finley the "Army of
Future Defense," and we are assured that education is the greatest
work of the nation even now, paradox as it may seem. If this be
true, what is the part of nature-study in the greatest work of the
nation ?

By "The Spirit of Nature-Study" we mean the deep, under-
lying motive in the soul of one who loves to direct children to
first-hand acquaintance with the common things of nature. This
motive finds a counterpart in the mind of the child, who longs to
know all things. And the child goes on its way rejoicing in knowl-
edge of the hows and whys. The spirit is the same in teacher and
pupil. In fact, it is the spirit of nature herself. "The wind blow-
eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: So is every one
that is born of the spirit." We like to think that the spirit of a
child naturalist is one and the same with that of the world-famous
scientist who gathers facts and draws conclusions. The child
follows the clues of the birds and wild-flowers and draws his own
conclusions.

But is it true that to be able to bring children into contact with
the truths of nature, is to help mould this great Army of Future
Defense? Will contact with nature's truths fit future citizens for
the new and glorious epoch, so valiantly won by American man-
hood, at so great a sacrifice? The Army of Future Defense is
going to continue fighting for the brotherhood of man. Its
soldiers are going to be filled more and more with the spirit of Him
who said "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." And
just as in the present crisis, among the first to respond to the call

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54 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

of their country have been the youths of our colleges and schools,
trained in the history of human events and willing to fight for an
ideal, so in this future army, the soldiers will be equipped with
knowledge of the wonderful ways and means of nature, and of
man's place in nature. But they will also know that the struggle
for existence has already been won by Love over Might, by spirit
over body, of which our present enemies are woefully ignorant,
even though they have penetrated nature's cold, material facts.

Nature-study teachers are at last coming into their own. No
longer do we hear ironical expressions about "the nature-study
fad," or fictitious anecdotes about the teacher, herself. We are
now part of a rational scheme of education. Critics are beginning
to realize that they are missing something. They who have
scoffed and resisted have found themselves in the condition of a
small boy of my acquaintance who was anxious to learn to read,
just because a little neighbor girl, younger than he, could read well.
He labored faithfully. Sometimes, when she was reading, it
seemed as though he could not endure to have her do it so well.
Finally, one day he threw his book on the floor, crying, "It's no
use. I'll never catch up with Martha, because when I catch up
with her, she won't be there."

The children and their teachers are marching right along, and
with enthusiasm. Vagueness is a thing of the past, thanks to our
leaders. Teachers are learning that to teach a nature-study lesson
is merely to see the thing the child is interested in, to talk about
it and enjoy it with the child, allowing freedom that comes with
the enjoyment. In fact, we might say that to teach nature-study
is to humanize science, giving it the warmth of the child's interest.
It is to create a background against which lives may be built with
knowledge of the Divine plan.

The gift of the love of nature has been bestowed upon us all.
It is akin to the touch of the Infinite. Little children, being near
the source, possess it in large measure. To the nature-study
teacher is given the privilege of keeping it alive and of causing it to
take root and grow, making life sweeter and deeper for untold
thousands.

The Correlation of Nature-Study in the Platoon School

Julia Shourek
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Much has been said concerning the economic possibilities of a
platoon school which has been used with much success to relieve
congestion in over crowded districts. A school designed for the
accommodation of a certain number of pupils can, under this
system of specialized work, care for a group of nearly twice the
size with the added advantage of having each branch better taught
than could be possible in the traditional school. The possibilities
of correlation under this system are great. The fact that these
schools are located in congested sections makes the possibilities of
nature-study seem rather small, and yet it is under such a system
that nature-study may have the broadest possible interpretation
and correlation. At the McKelvy school where this system is
being used, the Nature-Study department forms a centre from
which much other work radiates. A corps of three teachers is
employed one for the first and second grades, one for the third,
fourth and low fifth, and one for the grades above.

Throughout the work runs a definite plan so that the work of
the intermediate grades is based on that done in the primary and
the work of the grammar grades, which in the seventh and eighth
years takes the form of general science, is based on the foundation
laid down in the intermediate grades. The nature-study work
with very- little exception is limited by local conditions. The pets
and pests of the household, the trees on the streets, the weeds in
the vacant lots, the insects injurious and beneficial, and the plants
of conservatory and garden as well as the shrubbery from the
school grounds form the basis of much of the work.

The work of the primary teacher combines art and music with
the nature-study. The daily forty-five minute Nature-Study
periods were found too long for the little children and the correla-
tion has proved very successful. Each subject has been helped
by the combination. How many times do our primary children
sing songs of dandelions, butterflies or maple trees and realize
nothing from the song except the rhythm ? But if the mpale tree
is seen on a trip to the reservoir or to some other point of interest,
if its leaves, bark, size and shape are discussed, if free hand cutting

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56 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

of leaves make a part of the art work, with color added and the
leaves pasted on a bare branch form a splash of color for a gloomy
corner — then a song of the glory of the golden crimson leaves of
the maple tree mean something to the singer. A rather good
example of this occurred when an eighth grade was studying the
heavens. A girl remarked "We sang a song in the fourth grade
which never meant any thing to me before but now I understand
it." The words of the song were repeated:

The man in the moon who sails in the sky

Is a most courageous skipper,
But he made a mistake when he tried to take

A drink of milk from the dipper.
He dipped it into the milky way,
And slowly, cautiously filled it;
But the little bear howled,
And the great bear growled
And frightened him till he spilled it.

Every child in that class had had the song in the fourth grade
and not one had ever understood a word of it before.

The flower study in the primary grades are later used in the
drawing or painting lessons or may be personified in a little play.
The "Flower Babies" as the spring flowers were called in a recent
pageant were all personified by first and second grade children.

The animals studied are permitted the freedom of the class room
and furnish models for embryonic Michael Angelos who model
them in clay. Their queer pranks are retold in the form of oral
composition or are the subjects for exercises in paper cutting.
Guinea pigs, a duck, a ground hog, a dog, pigeons, and a sheep
have each had their place on the program and each has been the
incentive for song or story and each has posed as a model for work
in the art classes.

In the intermediate grades the work is a little more fully nature
work with the other activities growing out of it. The animals
studied are classified as to their characteristics as fur bearing
animals, animals that hibernate, those that make good pets and
so on. The trees of the district are studied and charts made of
their fruit and leaves; the life histories of the common insects are
worked out and their economic values discussed, and field trips are
taken and the weeds studied. Each fall the jimson weed causes
trouble among small children in congested sections. Last fall a
study of its dangers was made and a campaign was conducted to

shourek] NATURE-STUDY IN PLATOON SCHOOL 57

eradicate it in our section, a civic activity which very nearly wiped
out the pernicious weed in our neighborhood.

Much reference material is brought from the Carnegie library
by this group and the children are trained to find for themselves
the subject matter dealing with the work in hand. Such material
is later read aloud for the benefit of the rest of the class. This
work has acquainted the pupils with many books and is teaching
them how best to use the library. When good illustrations are
found they are often copied on the board by a child who has a gift
for drawing and many a boy who has no real liking for the regular
work of the school finds a place where his love for drawing has a
definite value.

A most interesting project was worked out by these children
this fall in connection with the movement for food conservation.
Two classes studied wheat and the cereals which might be substi-
tuted in this country so that the wheat might be sent abroad;
another group made a series of food charts showing what substitute
might be used to save the fats, sugar, meat and wheat. A third
group brought materials for an exhibit while the fourth made up an
illustrated booklet to go with and explain the exhibit. This work
involved a study of foods their values and sources and included
nuts, fruits, grains, fats, sugar and meats.

The work proved fascinating and the exhibit was interesting as
well as instructive. It has been borrowed by the Carnegie library
and is to be used in the branch libraries for furthering the work of
conservation.

Such work involves much correlation. Language, spelling and
oral expression are the chief studies concerned but arithmetic and
reading are used to some extent. The making of artistic chart
illustrations for compositions, and blackboard drawing bring in the
art work while the assignments from the library teach a use and
an appreciation of books. Many stories suggested by the various
kinds of work are recommended and in this way the children
become acquainted with literature.

The garden work is done in the fifth and sixth grades. What
better correlation could one wish than that which is developed
between the garden and the school ? Arithmetic is involved in the
measuring of the garden, in its planning, in the ordering of seeds;
and again in the final estimate of the amount and the value of the
crops. Manual training cooperates in the making of garden pegs,

58 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

the building of tool racks, plant supports, seed flats and animal
houses. At the present time a tool house with concrete floor and
foundation as well as a concrete runway for rabbit and guinea pigs
is being built by the eighth grade boys. This project has furnished
material for problems in volume, surface and proportion.

The garden furnishes material for composition which of course
also involves spelling ; it furnishes both form and color for the art
work. This fall all garden products taken after September first
were turned over to the domestic science department where they
were canned or dried for use during the winter. The work created
such an enthusiasm that even boys had canning classes. Nearly
three hundred jars of vegetables were put up from the garden.
This work was in line with efforts made for the conservation of
summer fruits and vegetables.

In the sewing work where fabrics are used the study is made of
textiles. The garden classes planted flax and cotton in order to
study the fibers. Our cotton crop was a failure but we had cotton
bolls from Augusta and we have raised a sheep for the study of the
sheep itself as well as its wool.

Geography is the study most commonly correlated with nature-
study. Many times nature-study is geography. Winds, seasons,
forms of land and water, sedimentation, and erosion — all these are
phases of nature-study. When animals are studied in the nature-
study department the characteristics of the various animal families
are established and the fauna of the various countries studied in
geography means more to the child than merely a page of illustra-
tions. Work done on plants does the same for the flora besides
laying a foundation for the study of botany later.

In the grammar grades we take up general science which is,
in most cases, merely a more systematic form of nature-study.
Here we aim to have the child see nature as a great organized power
which contributes to our progress and happiness. I have found
some difficulty in making a definite outline to follow in these
grades. I know the range I wish to cover but find that if the
subject in hand seems to be of the child's own choosing a greater
interest is manifested and better work done. Each class is asked
at the beginning of the term what they wish to take up as the
foundation of the term's work. Naturally the studies are based
upon some work previously done.

Oil, gas and coal have proved a very popular topic; this of course

shourek] NATURE-STUDY IN PLATOON SCHOOL 59

necessitates a slight study in geology, and considerable work in
geography besides creating a very definite correlation with the
kitchen whether at home or at school. A class which wanted to
know what happened to the food we eat has made a study of the
types of food, has analyzed a piece of bread, studied yeast and
baking powder and their actions as leavens and has thus made an
acquaintance with the lowest types of plants, and has had an
introduction into the chemical action of gases. In connection
with this study, we have been able to bring in much work on the
care of the teeth.

And so the work goes on. A lesson in nature-study which
does not function in some other branch is almost an impossibility.
Even- effort is made to make the nature-study department a
clearing house for the questions which arise in the other classes.
Even- subject then, which is taught in the platoon school, finds
some material for correlation in nature-study and each one can
be used for the expression of some of the great truths of nature
which is after all the heritage of the child.

Eternity's Stair

James G. Xeedham

I have not long to live;
How shall I spend my davs?

How shall I seek from out life's maze
The profitable ways?
If I could take my toll of wealth

Would I but fear to lose it?
If I could gain my meed of power

Would I have time to use it?
If fame, or high command were mine

Would I be wise to choose it?

The rills run to the sea;
The leaf shines in the sun;

The earth is full of flowers and bees —
Of these I am but one;
If a sweet flowers- glade is mine

I must not then abuse it;
If a contented hive is mine

I must not then confuse it:
Xo: I must love, and work, and give;

Who saves his life must lose it.

Some Mechanical Aids in Nature-Study

William Gould Vinal

The Rhode Island Normal School

That there should be artificial devices for teaching nature-study
ideas seems rather contradictory. The writer fully realizes that
mechanical aids are powerless to educate but believes them to be
convenient tools for the skilled workman. A large supply of
nature-study machinery, therefore is not to be confused with
progress.

Originality is not claimed for the following schemes. Some are
inherited with various changes from past instructors while others
are the sum and epitome of several years of experience. Such well
known contrivances as the germination box with sloping glass
front to exhibit root characters are not included in this article.
Stories and anecdotes to illuminate certain points, as in the case of
the noted scientist who made the difference between the terms
specie and species clear by saying that specie is something with
which biologists have little to do, are left for a separate sketch.

General Aids

i. Aquaria. The salt water aquarium should be used to a
greater extent. Sea-salt may be purchased or obtained by
evaporation of sea water. Sea lettuce (Ulva) may be floated on
the surface by means of corks. Do not over-populate the jar.

A metal plug with a pin-hole bore, placed in the opening of the
faucet, makes a fine stream which is excellent for a ration.

2. Blackboard. Linoleum, framed and reenforced at the back,
makes an excellent blackboard.

Wires stretched along the top of the blackboard and also five or
six inches above the ledge are very serviceable. The latter is
convenient for holding pictures on the sill. The pictures can be
placed there or removed very quickly without injury by patent
fasteners.

Frames the size of the blackboard sections, covered with cloth,
can rest upon the sill and be attached at the top by means of screw
eyes. These are useful for pinning on clippings, announcements,
etc. They are also handy for exhibitions. Fall fruits look very
attractive when pinned upon them.

(M)

vixal]

MECHANICAL AIDS IN NATURE-STUDY

61

3. Calendars.
form:

The spring calendar is made in the following

WASHINGTON COUNTY

PROVI-
DE XCE.
Etc.

Birds

Trees

Flowers

Other Signs

Birds

Name

Date

Xest

Young

Flowers

Leaves

Xame

Date

Date

Sign

Xame

Date

Xame| Date

Xame| Date

Since our girls come from all parts of the state we are able to
have a competition by counties and by classes. The observations
are written upon a blank form, as :

Name of collector Class

Object Date

County City or Town Locality

Remarks

These slips are dropped into a box made after the fashion of a
letter box. Each day the observations are entered upon the
calendar. The first blue bird reported in Providence County is
credited to that county and to the class of which that student is a
member. The class records are kept distinct by using a different
colored ink for each class. In graded schools the competition
might be by districts, between classes, or between the boys and
girls. The whole thing can be taken charge of by the pupils.

The numbers upon the monthly calendars may often be used in
nature-study, as in labeling specimens for identification. I ahvavs
save each sheet as I remove it.

4. Examinations. Examinations which invite cramming have
no place in nature-study. The true test of knowledge of trans-
planting, making cuttings, grafting apple trees, etc., is in the suc-
cess of doing the thing. Unlike most examinations the nature-
study test means obsercation at the beginning rather than a written
paper at the end of the course, as — Note the direction in which the
"leaders" (Top shoots) bend on the pine trees of the vicinitv.
How account for this? Rather than, — What did John Smith
write about the trees in his first chapter?

There are three forms of examinations which I commonly use in
Xature-study : (1). The five minute quiz. Questions are asked
to test whether pupils have worked out the assignment. (2). The
Identification test. The identification of flowers, shells, etc. The
point of view in this test is different from other subjects in that it

62 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW . [14:2— Feb., 1918

is to show what one knows rather than to find out what they
(cannot ?) stuff in for the occasion. This is shown by writing of two
lines of figures on the board, the top line for instance representing
the number of shells and the lower line respresenting the number
in the class recognizing io shells, n shells, etc. Each pupil is thus
able to see how he stands with the average, the lowest, and the
highest of the class. To facilitate the mechanics of these two tests
I have slips of printed paper with twenty lined spaces which are
numbered as:

etc.

The questions require one or two-word answers. By holding
the papers beside a correct copy the mistakes are soon noticed.
(3). Power to do. In this type of examination the questions may
be answered by the use of notes and text. Suppose the class has
studied the seeds and seedlings of the bean, squash and corn. To
test the power gained in this study the pupils may be given peas
and pea seedlings, to work out independently without suggestions.
It is not knowledge but the use of knowledge that is power.
5. The making ar.d uses of a hectograph.

(1). Obtain a rectangular tin about an inch deep and an inch

larger, each way, than the paper to be used.
(2). Measure the pan with water to see how much material
is needed. (3 oz. powdered gelatine, and \]/2 lb.
glycerine) to }4 pt. of water is sufficient for a hecto-
graph g x 1 2 inches in size.
(3). The proportions are 6 oz. of ground white glue to one pt.
of glycerine. (Gelatine may be substituted for glue.
It does better work but does not last as long.)
a. Add a little hot water to the glue and dissolve in a
double boiler to prevent the glue from burning.

b. When thoroughly dissolved add the glycerine.

c. A few drops of carbolic acid will prevent the pad from

moulding.

d . If too soft, melt and add more glue.

e. If too hard, melt and add more glycerine.

f. If there are bubbles on the surface, prick with a pin.

VIN'AL]

MECHANICAL AIDS IN NATURE-STUDY

63

(4). If surface becomes rough set in moderately warm place,

as on the radiator. Pan must be level.
(5). Make writing or drawings with hectograph ink, and a

heavy pen on hard paper. Make a broad line.
(6). Allow ink to dry. Do not use a blotter.
(7). Dip a sponge in cold water. Press nearly dry. Moisten

surface of the pad.
(8). Place written sheet of paper, face downward on pad.
Smooth paper with hand so that all parts stick to the
pad.
(9). Leave paper on pad for about three minutes and then
gently remove.
(10). Moisten the pad again.

(11). Place a sheet of hard paper on inked surface and smooth
, it as in original copy.

(12). Remove the paper carefully and repeat the process as

many times as desired.
(13). If the pad is covered with strips of paper to the edge of
the writing the paper used in copying can be more
easily removed.
(14). When through copying, wipe the surface with a sponge
dipped in slightly-warmed water.
The uses of the hectograph pad are too well known to dwell
upon. Test slips, blanks for calendar observations, outline draw-
ings of birds, shells, etc., are useful for identification sheets, for
coloring, etc.

7. Material.

(1). Shoe boxes labeled on the end, arranged alphabetically,
and stacked as in shoe stores, make a systematic arrangement for
storing dry material such as: seeds, varieties of corn, leaf stems
of the horse-chestnut, bayberries, etc. This material lasts year
after year and is one of the best nature libraries. Anything that
does not pay rent by being useful at least once a year should be
delegated to the waste basket.

(2). Mounted birds, preserved specimens, etc., are numbered
and a corresponding number is placed on the shelf so that whenever
they are taken for class work or as loan material they may be
returned to their particular niche.

8. Pictures.

Picture study does not take the place of field work. The

64 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

highest inspiration comes from seeing the actual place or object.
Pictures necessarily take the foreground when speaking of the
Big Trees of California and the scenes of the Yosemite Valley.
Such important lessons as the Enemies of the Forest, and Uses of
the Forest, are made effective by pictures. The Forest Service has
a traveling photograph exhibit to be loaned to schools. Pictures
of beautiful yards and country homes, taken from such magazines
as Country Life in America, form an important part in the lesson
on landscape gardening. The pupils are given a list of things that
show good taste in ornamenting a front yard. They are then
asked to pick out the desirable effects and arrangements that are
illustrated in the pictures. These pictures are classified and placed
in drawers or filed vertically in cabinets.

o. Plasticine. This material plays an important part in
nature-study. Not many years ago I felt that a drawing wa$ the
only sure test that a pupil had seen what he had been studying.
In many cases the plasticine has supplanted the drawing. I find
that the pupils get a clearer notion of the bean embryo when
they make an enlarged model. Plasticine also has the advantage
of being in different colors and it can be used several times. The
colors are of especial value in showing the annual rings in a tree and
how they would look in quartered sections and in other cuts.

Permanent models for the school room may be made out of
papier mache. Soak small bits of newspaper in water for two or
three days. Stir this mixture until it becomes a thick mass.
Varnish or shellac the model after it has dried. The salt and flour
model may be made by mixing two parts of common salt to one of
flour and then add water slowly until it resembles wet sand. Work
this mixture on a smooth board. Varnish or shellac after it has
thoroughly dried. Under the present war conditions it is better
not to make the salt and flour model. Cement flower pots and
bird houses furnish interesting lessons in construction.

6. Maps. I find that maps of regions over which we go on
certain field trips are most serviceable. On bird trips, for example,
the class marks out the swamps, fields, scrub land, etc. Others
mark the location in which we observe the red-winged blackbird,
the meadow-lark, the towhee, etc. After a few trips they are able
to draw certain conclusions and make predictions as to the places
where they would expect to find certain species. The best map for
this purpose is the enlarged contour map. It can be made from

vinal] MECHANICAL AIDS IX XATURE-STUDY 65

the government topographical map. It can be enlarged by use of
the pantograph or by dividing the original into small squares with
pencil lines and then copying the map onto a chart with larger
squares. The latter method is more accurate.

10. Quotations. I have these printed in large type upon card-
board. They are displayed at various times during the year.
These cards should be changed frequently. Such pithy state-
ments as follow are used for the Normal School classes :

"Our children have as much right to be taught to read a roadside
as a book." — Slogan of the Sacramento Playground Commission.

"Nature-study is the alphabet of agriculture." — From a Nature
Study Review circular.

"Nature-study is the fundamental basis for the conservation of
our natural resources." — From a Nature-Study Review circular.

Quotations from the poets are also displayed according to the
season, as:

"The wee willow pussies are climbing the trees."

"By the flowing river the alder catkins swing." — Celia Thaxter

"The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee." — Emersox.

ii. Sand Box Gardening. I consider this the most valuable
nature-study equipment that I have. Its use is unlimited.

(i). Individual Projects. The box may be divided by cross
strings for individual gardening. Each garden is then about 6x8
inches in size. Slips of the geranium, etc., may be rooted and
transplanted to a pot for Christmas; a series of seedlings may be
raised for study; tree seedlings may be raised for Arbor Day;
privet cuttings can be started for a hedge; a class exchange of
valuable grape cuttings, etc., to be started for early spring; the
raising of orange seedlings and the cotton seeds are interesting and
suggestive.

(2). Community Pro] ects. In this case the strings are removed
and groups of students work out certain social and community
ideas. All sorts of resources are brought out in this work. Trees
may be represented by small bush}- twigs which have been covered
with a sticky substance and dipped into a box of finely cut green
paper. Evergreens may be represented by small twigs of cedar.
Green meadows and lawns may be represented by sawdust colored
with a green dye. In representing an ideal lawn real grass seed
gives a good effect. Tree seeds may be planted to raise miniature
shade trees. Color the sawdust with a brown dye to show plowed

66 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

ground. Use white beach sand for roads. A mirror makes a clear
lake with reflecting surface. Glass over a blue surface gives the
effect of a large sheet of water. Animals may be represented by-
plasticine models. Use cardboard for buildings. Such equipment
may be used to illustrate many things, as : The yards of a tidy
family and of an untidy family ; a railroad station with well-kept
grounds; a practical school ground that is beautiful ; a miniature
rockery, etc.

(3). Forestry. For teaching the value of a forest the Forestry
Bureau has suggested some such scheme as this: Make a fairly
good sized sand-hill. Cover one side with moss to represent the
leaf mould beneath the forest. Use twigs of cedar, etc., for the
forest. Pour water from a watering-pot onto the hill and note
that erosion takes place on the side that has been deforestated.
The rapid run off not only washes away the rich soil but would
cause floods. These conditions are unfavorable to navigation and
to manufacturing. Some of the readers may be interested in two
other methods of raising plants, perhaps more of a novel than a
practical idea. The wandering Jew may be grown in a test tube of
water tied to the curtain string. Cotton batting stuffed loosely
in the mouth of the tube will prevent too rapid evaporation of the
water. Conch-shell flower pots give an interesting variety to the
window-shelf. The use of the egg shell for seedlings is described
in Comstock's Handbook of Nature-Study.

12. Written Papers. Nature-study is one subject which may
serve to extend the period of the child's writing and drawing
because he enjoys it. One method of killing this natural pleasure
is to spread red ink on poorly constructed sentences and mis-
spelled words, and to point out defects in the drawings. I mention
this for fear of the misuse of the following scheme. In the concen-
trated curriculum of the normal school, especially with city bred
girls who have had no nature work, and many of whom never saw
a "pollywog" or "mushrat" I have hesitated in altogether carry-
ing out what seems ideal. To facilitate the correction of labora-
tory work I have a series of rubber stamps which read: Make
lines definite ; label all parts; follow directions, etc. I give them
a copy of the rubber stamp readings in the beginning and tell them
that my experience has shown the following mistakes so common
that I have had rubber stamps made to save time in correcting
papers. A few periods result in the almost total disappearance of

inal MECHANICAL AIDS IN SATIRE-STUDY 67

these common mistakes. Having once attained a certain standard
the pupil is then ready to show originality with a just pride.

Specific Aids
i. Birds.

a. The mounted specimen is perhaps one of the first class-room
aids that one thinks of in bird-study. There are many accessory
objects that may be used. For instance, besides a series of
mounted woodpeckers we have : a portion of a dead limb split to
show where the grub entered the tree and the hole made by the
woodpecker when obtaining his breakfast ; an old portion of a trunk
to show the abandoned home of the downy woodpecker; a section
of the trunk of a white birch to show the drillings of the sap-
sucker; a piece of wood in which the California woodpecker stored
some acorns. By exchanging with a school in Maine we expect to
obtain specimens to show the work of the pileated woodpecker, etc.
These are the tools for a live lesson on woodpeckers.

b. Audubon Charts. Realizing the risk of breaking two funda-
mental laws in teaching nature-study, one to study nature afield
and the other to avoid drill, I believe that a great deal can be
obtained from quick, brief drills with these charts. Besides
pointing to the birds for the class to name in unison the teacher
ma}- take a book and cover up individual birds and have members
of the class describe them. Try the common ones, as — the robin.
What is the color of his breast ? Where is there white on him etc?
This will bring out surprising results for both the teacher and the
pupil. Have a pupil face the back of the room and describe the
goldfinch.

c. Outlines of the birds made on the hectograph may be colored
with crayons. All the sparrows might be drawn on one sheet.
Outlines of the birds may also be made by tracing around card-
board patterns.

d. Field-work. Besides the contour map the pupil finds it
interesting to have a list of the common birds of the vicinity and
check off what he saw or heard on the trip. These records are
placed on file for comparison with other records.

2. Fish. The way a fish rises and sinks in the water is well
illustrated by the Cartesian Diver which is explained in any
Physic's text-book.

68 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

3. Plants for the Class Room.

The "Fern Dish," so-called, may be any glass dish with a glass
top. On the bottom are placed various mosses, ferns, partridge
berry, possibly a pitcher plant, and other bog members. The bog
is then saturated with water. The moisture evaporates, collects
on the glass cover and falls back into the swamp. New plants
spring up from the seeds that were in the moss. The "fern dish"
presents an interesting center and requires little care.

The following list was worked out by a girl in the Senior nature-
study class: — Miss Susie Cooper of Newport, R. I. :

Plants suitable for sunny places

1. Geraniums: old plants or cuttings.

2. Petunia: stalks of old plant cut nearly to ground, plant
potted, put in cool place to sprout, then in window.

3 . Pineapple : grown by breaking top from pineapple, putting
the top in water or sand until rooted.

4. Jerusalem Cherry (Solanum Melvim) decorative.

5 . Plants from seed.

Marigold, "Dwarf French." Bloom after 5 or 6 weeks.
Sweet Pea, "Earliest of All." Bloom after 10 weeks.
Sweet Alyssum. Bloom after 6 or 8 weeks.
Candytuft.

Lobelia : Plant seeds in spring, excellent for borders of gardens
of window-boxes. Transplant strongest of seedlings.

6. Beet, Carrot, Parsley: Ornamental as well as useful.
I. Plants requiring a medium light {north, east or west windows).

1. Begonia, rubra: bloom for several years; new plants or
cuttings.

2. Abutilon: bloom when quite small.

3. Pandanus: decorative foliage.

4. Coleus: decorative foliage.

5. Sedum, stonecrop.

6. English and German ivys, wandering jew. Suitable for
edges of window boxes, or training branches over wire.

7 . Cyclamen ; bloom best if not kept in very warm place.

8. Cactus.

9. Ferns: dwarf ones preferable.

10. Dracaena: ornamental.

11. Pepromia: ornamental.

vinal] MECHANICAL AIDS IN NATURE-STUDY 69

12. Primula: Obconica and Chinese. Sow seeds in spring,
blossom by December.

III. Wild flowers suitable for sun or shade.

i . Jack-in- the-pulpit. Bulbs or corms taken up in fall, potted,
placed in window, bloom by Christmas.

2. Mullein: common weed in America. Ornamental plant in
England, called American velvet plant.

3. Columbine, violet, taken up in fall, bloom during winter.
If wild plants are frozen once, bloom better.

4. Evergreen plants: beautiful window box. Juniper, cedars,
pine, arbor vita?, cypress. Use young plants.

IV. Plants growing in a weak light {corners of rooms, halls, etc.)

1. Rubber plants. When frozen, cut back until white sap
appears. Keep end bandaged until healed.

2. Aspidistra, "Iron plant."

3. Palms.

V. Bidbs.

Bloom from Christmas until Easter.

Plant in early fall, put in cool dark place (corner in cellar or
trench in ground), cover with soil ; remain there 6 to 10 weeks, then
bring to light.

Suitable varieties: Daffodils, tulips, Roman hyacinths,
narcissus, crocuses, jonquils.

For growing in pebbles and water: Chinese lilies, paper white
narcissus.

VI. Soil.

From woods if possible, or a mixture of common soil, loam and
leaf mold.

4. Seeds.

Mounting seeds for class use is well described in Farmers'
Bulletin 58c .

I usually save old paper bags to take in my pocket when out in
the fields. One is thus always equipped to gather seeds, etc.,
which he may wish for class work.

5. Trees.

a. Cross section of a large tree. This is important to show the
time that it has taken our large trees to grow. Important histori-
cal dates of the vicinity may be pinned onto the section to show
the size of the tree at corresponding times. This makes an
interesting correlated lesson.

70 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

b. Tree surgery and dentistry. A very practical collection of
specimens may be obtained for this work by sawing off dead stubs,
unpainted wounds which have started to decay, wounds which
have partially healed, and those that have healed entirely. Pic-
tures of these specimens and the method of teaching may be found
in the Rhode Island Arbor Day Booklet for 191 7.

c. Blocks of wood. Pine and oak blocks cut and polished to
show the annual rings, silver grain, etc., give a good basis for
understanding wood structure.

d. Evergreens. Obtain a pane of clear window glass of the size
desired and a piece of stout cardboard of the same dimensions.
On the cardboard place a thin layer of cotton batting. Arrange
the evergreens on the cotton in a definite order and place calendar
numbers beside them. Place the pane of glass over them and hold
the various parts in place by fastening them in a picture frame or
by passe-partout binding. This will always be ready for use.

e. A blank for tree observations may be obtained from the
Bureau of Plant Industry by sending for form 219.

f . The following is a key for the trees in winter. Similar
ones may be worked out for birds, flowers, insects, etc. Pupils are
not expected to learn the differences for examination but this form
is a convenient way for teachers to identify specimens brought in.
The natural way to learn any new vocabulary is through use and
should the teacher develop an interest in trees in her students she
will eventually find that she is acquiring a large fund of information
for herself. In a. list of this kind it is taken for granted that the
teacher knows a maple tree, etc., but is not sure of the species.

Rhode Island Normal School

Winter Tree List

Locality Class

Date Total

Yew Family

*Ginkgo: not evergreen; spurs; leaf scars far apart.
Pine Family

White Pine: 5 leaves in a bundle; cone scales thin.

Pitch Pine : 3 leaves in a bundle ; scales thick, spine.
*Red Pine : 2 leaves in a bundle, slender, flexible.

vinal] MECHANICAL AIDS IN NATURE-STUDY 71

Austrian Pine: 2 leaves in a bundle, stiff, thick.
*Scotch Pine: 2 leaves in a bundle; cones point backwards.

American Larch: deciduous; spurs; cone ^', few scales.
♦European Larch: many leaves in cluster; cone 1", many scales.

Black Spruce : cone nearly spherical, persistent.
♦Norway Spruce : cone more than 3 '; leaves all around stem.

Hemlock: leaves 2 ranked, whitened beneath, flattened.

White Cedar : leaves awk-like ; globular cone ; swamps.

* Arbor Vitas: 2 ranked spray; small tree; hedges.
Red Cedar: bluish berry; dry hills; red heart-wood.
Juniper: berry axillary; leaves prickly pointed, 3 in whorl.

Willow Family

Yellow Willow : yellow twig.
♦Weeping Willow : drooping branches; ornamental.

* White Poplar; retains whitish green bark; woolly twigs.
American Aspen : buds, reddish slightly sticky, appressed.
Large-toothed Aspen : buds downy, small.

*Balm of Gilead : fragrant buds, resinous, large.
♦Carolina Poplar: light yellow twigs; appressed buds.
*Lombardy Poplar: sharply up-curved branches.
Walnut Family

Butternut: terminal bud longer than broad; brown pith.

Black Walnut: nut spherical, 4 celled; pale buff pith.

Shag-bark Hickory: white, thin shelled nut; shaggy bark.

Mockernut: brown, thick shelled nut; smooth ridges.

Pignut: nut nearly spherical, thick shell; slightly shaggy.

Bitternut: thin shell; superposed buds, yellow, dotted.
Birch Family

Hop Hornbeam: fruit like hop; flaky bark.

American Hornbeam : twisted appearance to bark.

Black Birch: dark bark, not peeling, aromatic.

Yellow Birch: yellow bark, peeling, aromatic.

American Canoe Birch : white bark, papery layers.

Gray Birch : dingy, gray bark, not papery.

Speckled Alder: cone-like catkins, lateral, erect.

Smooth Alder: cone-like catkins, terminal, erect.
Beech Family

American Beech : bluish gray bark ; long buds; dead leaves.

Chestnut : burs; 2 ranked buds, oblique to leaf scar.

72 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

White Oak : young branches not peeling ; large buds.

Swamp White Oak: young branches scaly.

Chestnut Oak: bark not flaky, round ridged; cup thin.

Red Oak : rusty hairs apex bud ; large flat cup ; flat flutings.

Pin Oak : smooth, continuous trunk ; saucer cup ; low grounds.

Scarlet Oak : bark gray, red inside; cup conical base.

Black Oak: bark gray, yellow inside; buds pale, woolly.

Scrub Oak: shrub; sterile ground; smooth bark; many acorns.
Nettle Family

Slippery Elm : inner bark mucilaginous, rough gray twigs.

American Elm : drooping branches ; whitish layers of bark.

Hackberry : drupe; chambered pith; galls; bark ridged, warts.
*White Mulberry: many small branches, cut twig milky.
*Red Mulberry: darker twigs; dark margined bud-scales.
Magnolia Family

Tulip Tree: fruiting cones; winged seeds; twigs curve up.
Laurel Family

Sassafras; twigs aromatic, green, mucilaginous.
Witch Ha/el Family

Witch Hazel: fruit 2 chambered capsule; flowers in fall.
*Sweet Gum: fruit cluster spherical, spiny; corky ridges.
Plane Tree Family

Buttonwood: upper trunk white areas; no terminal bud.
Rose Family

Shad Bush : long narrow buds ; berry -like fruit ; diseased.

English Hawthorne : unbranched thorns ; drupe-like pome.

Wild Black Cherry : develops scaly bark ; lenticels lengthened.
- Choke Cherry: smooth bark; lenticels do not elongate.

Wild Red Cherry : many small terminal buds ; recent clearings.

Pulse Family

Honey Locust : branched thorns ; smooth buds.
Common Locust: paired thorns; downy buds.
*Kentucky Coffee Tree : narrow ridged bark ; stout twigs.
*Redbud ; shrub ; flower buds on old growth ; ornamental.
Quassia Family

*Ailanthus : seed in centre of wing ; solitary buds.
Cashew Family

Staghorn Sumach: velvet hairs; red berries.

vinal] MECHANICAL AIDS IX MATURE-STUDY 73

Smooth Sumach : smooth twigs ; red berries.
Poison Sumach: terminal bud; white berries; swamps.
Maple Family

Rock Maple : twigs fork ; keys persist ; bud sharp, many scales.
White Maple: flaky bark; collateral buds; twigs curve up.
Red Maple: red twigs; collateral buds; usually swamps.
*Norway Maple : ridged bark; red, hairy buds; leaf-scars meet.
*Sycamore Maple: flaky bark; green buds; leaf -scars not meet.
*B ox Elder: green twigs; downy buds; leaf-scars V-shaped.
Soapberry Family

*Horse Chestnut : large twigs, leaf -scars and sticky buds.
Lixdex Family

*Linden : buds bright, 2-3 scales show ; twigs flat, zigzag.
Dogwood Family

Flowering Dogwood: opposite leaf -scars; large flower buds.
Tupelo: horizontal branches; pith partitioned; lowlands.
Olive Family

White Ash : leaf -scars concave; ridged bark.
Red Ash : downy twigs; upper margin leaf-scar not concave.
Black Ash: scaly bark; black buds.
Bigxonia Family
*Catalpa : three leaf-scars at node; bundle scars meet.

*Commonly cultivated.

Tansy

Arthur Ketchim

When by the roadsides, in the sun,
I see the tansy's gold aj d green,
I know that there in other days
Hearthstone and love and life have been.

There is no need of other sign
To mark the years of labor spent;
For all the dream, for all the hope,
The tansy stands as monument.

In green oblivion the home

Is blotted out, and by the gray

Worn fence that marked its garden ground

The bitter tansy flowers are gay.

The Opportunity for Research in the Problems of
Teaching Nature-Study

Elliot R. Downing

We are in the midst of a rapid reorganization of the school
curriculum — a reorganization based on a newly acquired body of
facts regarding the essential elements in primary school subjects.
The educator interested in the elementary school situation is
investigating in a scientific way what knowledge of spelling, reading
and arithmetic is needed by the average pupil. He is securing the
necessary facts on which to base his conclusions by listing the most
frequently used words in commercial letters, by a careful study of
the literature the child naturally reads at a given age, by determin-
ing the various commercial processes that involve skill in the use of
numbers. There is universal insistence that subject matter which
serves no definite need of the child shall be eliminated from the
course.

When it has been determined that a given list of words is needed,
a certain reading vacabulary, some definite skill in number work,
then the educator of this new scientific type, is undertaking studies
to enable him to grade this material according to difficulty, basing
his conclusions, not on casual opinion, but on carefully conducted
experiment. So there are being developed "scales of hardness" for
spelling, reading, writing, etc. We know by careful trial what,
children of a given grade, may be expected to do with certain
materials, what problems in arithmetic, what exercises in language
belong in the upper grades, what in the lower ; even more definitely,
the scales distinguish second grade capacity from third grade, fourth
from fifth.

Furthermore, the modern educator is testing out various methods
of presentation of subject matter to determine which is the most
effective and is only content when he can measure the comparative
results in mathematical terms that carry conviction not to himself
alone but to the fraternity at large. Do spelling lessons with
words in columns better facilitate learning than those in which words
are underscored in the context ? Do written or oral problems most
promptly give ability to add with accuracy? What unnecessary
movements are made in learning to write and how may they best
be eliminated? These are types of the problems that are being

74

downing] PROBLEMS OF TEACHING NATURE-STUDY 75

attacked and solved by the accumulation of facts to serve as a
basis for the correct conclusions.

It is time for the teacher of nature-study and elemental-}- science
to be up and doing along similar lines. In fact it is surprising that
the teacher of science, saturated, supposedly with the scientific
method, should not have been a pioneer with this method, in the
attack on the problems of the organization and proper presentation
of elementary school subjects, nature-study in particular. But as
yet little has been done. There have been some studies of child-
dren's interests in nature materials1, studies of children's percep-
tions,2 and of reasoning ability when dealing with science data,3
some investigations of the relative value of different types of
presentation4 but only enough has been accomplished to show how
great a territory there is to explore, how fertile a field of research
lies at our very doors.

Let me illustrate my meaning in the concrete. Insect study
forms a large part of the usual course of study prescribed for nature
work (25%, on an average, of the animal work in nine courses of
study analyzed is devoted to the insects). What do grade children
need to know regarding insects, using the term need in no narrow
sense? Can we settle this question on a fact basis? Broach the
problem in a group of nature-study teachers and you will elicit a
variety of personal opinions but few facts that will serve as a basis
of settlement. The average teacher, even the one who is laboring
with the problem of organizing a course of study, is quite surprised
that anything besides personal opinion is expected; it requires
some time to convince her that such a problem must be settled
scientifically on a basis of fact if we are ever going to reach sure
foundations in our nature-study instruction.

Again, suppose it is agreed that it is desirable to teach children
how plants manufacture their foods or that heat expands most
substances. In which grade are the pupils capable of grasping
these ideas and comprehending the experiments needed for demon-

■Xatlre-Study Review, Vol. 8, No. 8, p. 289; Vol. 8, Xo. 9, p. 334;
Vol. 9, Xo. 6, p. 150.

"The General Value of Visual Sense Training in Children, Chang Ping]Wang,
Warwick ft York; Children's Perceptions, W. H. Winch, Warwick & York.

3Xotes on Child Study, E. L. Thorndyke, The Macmillan Co.

^Teaching Elementary Science in Elementary Schools, J. E. Mayman,
Publication Xo. 1 \, D.^pt. of Education, Division of Reference and Research,
The City of Xew York.

76 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

stration. To get at the facts that will settle such problems tests
must be skillfully made on hundreds of pupils. That they can not
be settled off hand on the basis of the teacher's general experience
the author has demonstrated to his own satisfaction. Some thirty
specimens of snail shells (Polygyra) belonging to several clearly
marked species were given to pupils with the instruction to "put
all the shells that are alike in one pile, having as many piles as there
are different kinds of shells." Lower grade children accomplished
the task with a very much smaller percentage of error than did
high school freshmen. In another test a small glass flask was used
which had fitted into its mouth a rubber cork through which
passed a tight fitting open glass tube. The lower end of the tube
dipped below the surface of some red liquid covering the bottom of
the flask a half inch deep. When the flask is held by the pupil so
its bulb is well covered by the hand, the heat expands the air the
pressure of which on the surface of the liquid causes the latter to
rise in the tube. The pupil is asked to tell what happens and why
it happens. Eighty-four per cent, of the seventh grade pupils
tested explained the phenomenon correctly, but only forty-one per
cent, of the college freshmen. Such unexplained and apparently
incongruous results simply indicate that the problem of fitting
nature-study and elementary science to the pupils' ability is no
small task.

If science is a mass of generalizations organized on the basis of
experience, then it is important that the individual should be
brought to a grasp of the important generalizations as speedily as
possible, equipped to use them and possibly to add to them. Do
we spend too much time in merely accumulating sense impressions,
in acquiring unrelated percepts? What range of information is
already in the mind of the average child in a given grade? It
would pay us to find out by carefully conducted surveys that we
may know at what stage we may proceed to generalize on the basis
of the children's experience rather than repeat what the pupils
have already sensed. It is fairly evident from the well-nigh
universal statement of the content of nature-study courses in terms
of things rather than in ideas that the nature-study teacher is
more concerned with accumulating experience than with reaching
generalizations. This statement is not a criticism but a challenge.
We do not know the ground on which we stand and here is another
opportunity for investigation. We must know the content of

downing] PROBLEMS OF TEACHING NATURE-STUDY 77

children's minds, see what concepts are clear, what material there
is present at an}- level of the school course to serve as a basis for
the organization of new generalizations, before we can proceed wisely
with our course of study. We need extensive range of information
tests.

Enough has been given here to make it clear that we who are
interested in effective science teaching in the public schools have
a number of scientific problems of the first magnitude to settle if
we ever reach correct conclusions on a basis of fact regarding
children's needs, ability to comprehend and interest in nature-study
material or the best methods of presentation. Fortunately such
investigations can be carried on without adding very materially to
the teachers daily tasks. She can include in her regular work tests
that will help to get at the necessary data and even small contribu-
tions will be gratefully received for the field is so large and so little
has been done.

February

L. H. Bailey

February !

The land is in the grasp of winter; and yet

A change is stealing over it

Like a breath of far expectancy

On plowland, marsh and hill;

The sun is higher and lingers at the night

As if reluctant to be gone;

A new blue is in the sky;

The grip of the hard hand begins to relax

And here and there the fingers of the frost let go;

There is an impression of warmth in the thin haze ;

The cattle stand longer in the farmyard;

Soft moist colors rise imperceptibly in the woods:

Now and then a new lustre is on the evergreens.

The brown and yellow willows show themselves along the water-courses

And the fire of the osier begins to kindle in the swamps;

We almost look backward to the dead of winter

And almost onward to the rush of the grass —

We look everywhere!

Betwixt the rigid dead-nights of the year

And the raucous flux of breaking spring,
February lays its faint suggestion here

And we stand and watch for everything.

Humane Education

There can be but one safe foundation as a basis for the humane
treatment of any creature and that is a thorough understanding of
its life, its adaptations and its needs. It will be the special effort
of the editor in her attempts to aid the teachers of New York State,
who must hereafter take up this work, to build up in the child's
mind a rational treatment based upon an intelligent understanding
of the habits of the animal or bird.

While the editor has very little use indeed as a teacher for the
categorical question and answer method of teaching, she has found
that this method is in many ways more explicit than any other and
she trusts to the ability of the teacher to make the following lesson
interesting and vital.

HUMANE TREATMENT OF PIGEONS

Lesson I — How the Pigeons Should be Housed and Why

(Q.) Why must the pigeon-house be mice and rat proof?

(Ans.) Because these eat the food which the pigeons should
have. The rats also destroy the eggs and young pigeons.

(Q.) How can the house be made secure against mice and rats?

(Ans.) The walls may be interlined with wire netting, or it may
be placed upon pillars or posts which have shelving zinc caps so
that the rats cannot climb over and reach the house.

(Q.) Why should the pigeon house be placed on well-drained
soil?

(Ans.) Because when the soil is watersoaked the pigeons become
unhealthy from walking around in the mud.

(Q.) Why should the openings face toward the south?

(Ans.) Because this lets the sun in in winter and in general
there are fewer storms and winds that come from the south than
from other directions. Pigeon houses need to be well ventilated
and open to the sunshine to ward off disease.

(Q.) Why should the roof of the pigeon house be water tight?

(Ans.) A leaky roof makes the nests damp and unhealthful.

(Q.) Describe the best kind of a pigeon house and make work-
ing drawings of this house.

The following pigeon house is advised by Mr. J. C. Long; it will
accommodate twenty-five pairs of birds. The house is eight ft.

78

HUMANE EDUCATION 79

square on the ground plan, four ft. high at the back, and six ft. high
at the front, the roof to pitch from the front backward. The floor
is tight, and the whole house is supported on piers or posts a foot
high from the ground, and capped with zinc projecting downwards
to prevent entrance of rats. The roof may be made of rough
boards covered with felt roofing paper, or it may be shingled. In
any case, it must be rain-proof. The door for the entrance of the
caretaker is placed at one end of the house near the front. Along
the front of the house is a window, with eight panes of glass, each
pane being 8 x 10 inches. The bottom of the window should be 18
inches above the floor. The window-sill on the inside should be
widened by adding a board a foot wide, so the birds may get a sun-
bath, which is very necessary to their health. On either side the
window is an exit of 6 x 6 inches, with rounded top, and an alight-
ing board six inches wide on the outside, and also on the inside of
each exit. There should be four rows of nests at the back. The
nest compartments should be made of shelves a foot wide and spaced
a foot apart. These shelves should be paritioned with narrow
boards into spaces a foot wide. The shelves should be removable
so that they may be taken out to be cleaned if necessary. The
house is really kept much cleaner if nesting bowls are used. These
bowls are made for the purpose, and are sold by the makers of
floral potter}- for green-houses. However, they are necessary only
when squab-raising is planned. There should be five rows of nests
along the side.

(Q.) Why must there be an alighting board in front of each
nest?

(Ans.) Because when the birds are nesting, the mate has to sit
close to the sitter so as to encourage and keep her from getting
lonesome.

(Q.) How must the inside walls be treated'

(Ans.) Whitewashed with lime to which carbolic acid is added
in proportion of one teaspoonful of acid to two gallons of wash.

(Q) . What does this do ?

(Ans.) Kills lice and disease germs.

(Q) . What should be put on the floor ?

(Ans.) Sand, sawdust, or chaff.

(Q.) How often should it be cleaned out and replaced?

(Ans.) As often as it gets foul.

80 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:2— Feb., 1918

(Q.) Why should leaf stems of tobacco be given the pigeons for
nest building material?

(A.) Because tobacco kills the bird lice.

Lesson II — A Pigeon Gymnasium or "Fly"

(Q.) Why do we need a place like this?

(Ans.) If we keep many pigeons we must give them a chance
for exercise, where they may be confined if necessary and yet
allowed freedom.

Make a working drawing of a Fly or Gymnasium for pigeons.
This is not necessary if the pigeons are allowed to fly about the
country freely; but it is always a good thing to have in case it is
desirable to confine the birds. To prepare the ground for the fly,
mark out a space in front of the house 8 feet wide, or just the width
of the house, and 14 feet long. Take out all the earth for a depth
of four inches, and fill the place excavated with clean sand and
place at the corners four 2x3 inch hemlock posts, eight feet above
ground. These posts should be held in place by 1 x 4 inch boards,
nailed to the top and connecting them. One board should be
nailed about mid-way the height of the post, and another along the
bottom. Space the middle board so that chicken wire four feet
wide may be used for the bottom section, and that three feet wide
for the upper section. On the inside of the board, at the middle of
the post, should be a walking board six inches wide, on which the
bird may take exercise. There should be a wire gate at the side
and of course the fly should be covered with chicken wire.

Lesson III — Food for the Pigeons

(Q). What grain do we ordinarily feed pigeons?

(Ans.) Red wheat, small Canada peas, buckwheat, hulled oats,
Kaffir corn and millet.

(Q.) Why should we not feed pigeons wheat this year?

(Ans.) Because wheat is needed to keep alive the starving
peoples of Europe.

(Q.) Why should we feed pigeons neither barley or rye?

(Ans.) The awns of these grains are likely to choke the birds.

(Q.) Why should pigeons have access to salt and plenty of fresh
water ?

(Ans.) Both are necessary to their health.

HUMANE ED U CAT I 81

(Q.) Why should not large-kernelled corn be fed'

(Ans.) It will choke the birds.

(Q.) Why should we give them green food?

(Ans.) This is necessary to their health just as salads and fruits
are good for our health.

(Q.) What sort of green food should we give them?

(Ans.) Lettuce, onion tops, and other tender vegetable leaves.

(Q.) How many times a day should the pigeons be fed?

(Ans.) Twice a day, or their food should be given through a
hopper.

(Q.) Describe a hopper and make a working drawing of one.

To make a feed hopper take two boards two feet long and twelve
inches wide and one-half inch thick. Take two pieces of the same
boards ten inches wide at the top and two inches wide at the bottom
and nail them at the ends of the boards making a V-shaped trough
with a two-inch slit in the bottom. Place below this a trough six
inches wide and two inches deep with standards at the ends.
Fasten the hopper above the trough with its narrow bottom about
one and one-half inches above the bottom of the trough. The
hopper should have a hinged cover, to prevent the wasting of the
food. Wires about two inches apart should extend from the edge
of the trough to the sides of the hopper. Food may be placed in
this hopper and it will fall below into the trough as fast as it is
eaten out. ,

Several of these filled hoppers and troughs should be placed
where the pigeons have access to them. Care should be taken that
mice do not get into the food; placing the hopper upon a plat-
form supported on a zinc-covered post is one way to accomplish
this.

(Q.) Why should we keep pans of cracked oyster shell or gravel
and finely ground charcoal where the pigeons can always have
access to them ?

(A.) They need such materials to enable them to digest their
food.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, {1.00 per year (nine issues). Canadian postage,
10 cents extra: foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

T-rn-nortflTlt Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
■llll.p'-'l W***l wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisemedts should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, N. Y. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be Revised should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN NATURE-
STUDY SOCIETY

Whoever went to Pittsburgh to attend the scientific meetings
held there during the holidays, showed that he had the courage of
his convictions and willingness for sacrifice; for in the history of
the present generation, the hardships of travel have never been so
great as during the last month. Undoubtedly this fact and the
extra expense of a journey this year, when ordinary expenses are so
increased, resulted in a decreased attendance at the meetings.

The Nature-Study Society meeting was no exception ; there was
a small attendance but the addresses were of a high order and the
business accomplished was considerable. Moreover the sense of
companionship in an important work and the exhcange of ideas
among teachers taking up the work at varying angles were ex-
tremely good for all who were present.

The meeting was convened in a room in Carnegie Museum at
10:30 a. m., January 27th. President L. H. Bailey, having been
detained by late trains, was not present and Dr. Elliot R. Downing
was made chairman for the day. Officers were then elected.

Dr. S. C. Schmucker was elected president, and retiring President
L. H. Bailey was elected to fill the vacancy in the Board of Direc-
tors, occasioned by Dr. Schmucker's retirement. C. M. Goethe of
Sacramento, California, Wm. E. Ringle, Professor of Nature-Study
in the Kansas State Manual Training Normal School, Dr. Elliot R.
Downing of Chicago, A. L. Matthews of Utah, and Alice J. Patter-
son of Normal, Illinois, were elected vice-presidents. J. Andrew
Drushel, C. H. Robinson, G. H. Trafton, and R. E. Wager were
re-elected directors. Mrs. Susan Sipe Albertis of the Women's

82

EDITORAL 83

Normal School, Washington, D. C, was elected editor of the
garden department of the Nature -Study Review.

Besides the addresses on the program which are published in this
number of the Review, there were informal discussions of several
interesting subjects. Among them, the Humane Law enacted by
the New York State legislature, and its probable effect upon nature-
study ; and the more important matter, the action of the Conserva-
tion Department of the Federation of Women's Clubs, in insisting
as a war measure looking to future production, that nature-study
should have an equal place with other required studies in public
schools. This discussion was initiated by a resolution forwarded to
the Nature-Study Society by Mrs. John Dickinson Sherman :

Resolved, That the Federation of Women's Clubs hereby endorse
the effort of the Conservation Department of the General Federa-
tion of Women's Clubs to have a comprehensive study of the
objects of nature in the outdoor world made a formal part of the
public school course, to rank with arithmetic, English and history,
and for which the pupils will receive full credit.

As a result of a discussion of this resolution the following resolu-
tion was passed to be forwarded to Mrs. Sherman.

The American Nature-Study Society at its annual meeting at
Pittsburgh, Pa., December 27th, 191 7, expressed itself thoroughly
in sympathy with the movement suggested in the resolution, passed
by the Federation of Women's Clubs; for it has been the object of
this Society since its beginning, fourteen years ago, to further "all
scientific studies of nature in elementary schools." The Society
will therefore willingly cooperate with the Federated Women's
Club in any way it can to achieve this end.

A bill before the United States Senate for promoting improve-
ment in rural education, and a bill before the House of Representa-
tives, requiring the Commissioner of Education to devise methods
and promote plans for the elimination of adult illiteracy were read,
and the Society expressed itself as heartily commending these bills
and offering cooperation in securing their passage.

The afternoon session ended with an informal talk by Miss
Emma Davis of Pittsburgh upon her methods of conducting nature-
study; this talk was full of inspiration and suggestions and Miss
Davis has promised to write parts of it for future numbers of the
Review. One of the very pleasing events of the meeting was
finding Mr. M. J. Walter, who has been quite ill, sufficiently
recovered to be present and give us the aid of his advice.

A Cedar Wax-Wing's nest fastened in the collar
box and the box mounted on a card, with the picture of
the bird in color and a short account written by a Third
Grade pupil of Mr. Alfred Emerson.

84

Teachers' Corner

During midwinter we always experience a sense of alienation from the active
life of the fields and woods. Almost all the creatures are so very busy sleeping,
tucked away out of sight, that it seems quite impossible to get at them; and
if jwe were to get at them we must surely fail to awaken them. There are just
a few of the hardier birds and animals that vivify our snow landscape; and we
are so glad to see them that we express our cordial welcome in feeding stations
and other protective devices to encourage them.

However, there are several things that we may do in nature study in winter
that will bring us nearer to the life which "murmurs and glistens" in June.
One of these is a careful study of the bird nests which are so easily found and
collected from the leafless trees. Mr. Alfred Emerson, Jr., who has been most
successful in his nature-study teaching with young children, has devised a
special method of mounting and studying these nests. He found that fastening
the nest upon cardboard for exhibit was a difficult proceeding and usually
resulted in injury to its structure; therefore he invented the plan of mounting
the nest in a shallow box. He sought a haberdasher's establishment and
procured empty collar boxes which were just the size needed. The nest was
fastened into the box and the box was easily and firmly fastened to the corner
of the piece of card board. An outline of the bird that made the nest was
colored in crayon and mounted beside the nest, and a short account of the bird
and nest was written and mounted below. Since every child chose a different
species of bird to thus illustrate, the final exhibit was most instructive, interest-
ing and attractive.

The chief obstacle in the study of winter nests is the lack of information on
the part of pupils and teachers as to the kind of bird that made the nest. The
best way to meet this obstacle is to encourage the children to note the
vicinity of certain birds during the nesting season and after the leaves are
off the trees look there for their nests. The following species are easily
observed: robin, catbird, song-sparrow, chippy, yellow warbler, phebe, king-
bird, and wood pewee. The nests of the vireos and orioles are so characteris-
tic that they may be identified when found.

Mr. Emerson has promised to write for The Review a full account of his
methods of studying winter nests.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Please note your expiration date and send in
your renewals promptly.

Owing to the increased cost of paper and print-
ing, also to the fact that The Nature-Study Re-
view has not raised its subscription price, we will
print only enough magazines each month to cover
the subscription list and its normal increase.

A blue check on the wrapper indicates that
your subscription expires with this number.

So

|TME BOOK SHELF ^

Human Physiology. A text-book for High Schools and Colleges. By Percy G.
Stiles, Assistant Professor of Physiology in Harvard University and
Instructor in Physiology and Personal Hygiene in the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Boston. i2mo. of 405 pages, illustrated.
Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Company, 1916. Cloth
$1.50 net.
Professor Stiles has given us another admirable text book quite up to the
standard of his Nutritional Physiology, and The Nervous System and its Con-
servation. This volume on Human Physiology is one in which we may study
ourselves and find interesting reading on every page. Professor Stiles has the
unusual gift of writing entertainingly without sacrificing clearness or concise-
ness. The book begins with the right sort of a dedication: "To My Father,
Edmund Ely Stiles, a Dauntless Optimist," and there follows a few pages of
practical suggestions to the teacher. This is followed by chapters giving an
outlook over the field and a brief discussion of plants and animals. After the
chapters given to the usual subjects in human physiology, there follow import-
ant and interesting chapters on metabolism, the excretions, the requisites of
diet, the hygiene of nutrition, the maintenance of the body temperature and
internal secretions. The book is truly educational, — it teaches in a simple,
straightforward and interesting manner what the human body is, what it is
for, and how to manage it.

Our Dooryard Friends. Sara V. Prueser. Published by The Platform, the
Lyceum and Chautauqua magazines, Steinway Hall, Chicago. 204 pages.

This is one of the intimate friendly books written about our common birds.
It is chatty and pleasing in style and puts the reader in the proper frame of
mind to observe for himself the interesting performances of his dooryard friends.
The volume includes notes on the habits of more than thirty bird species and
here and there gives a chapter evincing deep feeling and appreciation of the
changing beauty of the seasons. The author made her observations in the
region of the Maumee River and in her preface states, "Little less than a cen-
tury ago, Henry Rix bought a tract of land for which he paid the government
$1.25 per acre. It is on this old tract, a part of the original Northwest Terri-
tory, from which nearly all the observations, reported in this volume, have
been made.

In writing these sketches, my purpose has been to interest both young and
old in the life and beauty of the out-of-doors. And in endeavoring to do this,
no effort has been made to contribute anything to science but I merely tried to
tell the truth as I saw it. If others in their observations of out-door life should
verify these truths the writer's happiness will be all the greater."

86

THE BOOK SHELF 87

This pleasing and helpful little book is well illustrated and has an interesting
introduction by Brand Whitlock.

Exercise and Review Book in Biology. By J. G. Blaisdell. World Book Co.,
Yonkers, N. Y., 1917.

Pages 152, of which 10 are devoted to introductory exercises (mainly
chemistrv), 36, 19, and 32 pages to animal, human and plant biology, respec-
tively, 10 are left blank for additional exercises, and 36 are devoted to reviewing.
There is a single 8* x 10' page provided for the record of each laboratory
exercise, and the materials, procedure and form of the record are in general
fully prescribed. A few figures are included. These are mainly of apparatus
to be set up, tho some are outline structural drawings, ready to be labelled.
Two outlines for field work are slipped in under Review Exercises at the end,
for observations, one on animals and the other on plants in nature. These
two are better than nothing at all.

The book is an attempt to promote efficiency in the teaching of high school
biology by means of a complete and perfectly definite program of work for the
pupil from the beginning to the end of the course. In subject matter it is
entirely orthodox at the present time. The work outlined is excellent and
practical; it is time saving rather than time serving. But one may doubt
the adequacy of many of these pages to contain the work that a bright pupil
will do on some of the subjects assigned, and the five bird studies offered under
Animal Biology provide for no more advanced work on birds than many nature
study pupils will have done in the lower school grades.

This program, like that of most high school books in biology, is drawn up for
city conditions, and entirely neglects the wealth of biological opportunity that
is available in country places. Immense city high school classes may doubtless
be more easily handled by such aids, and kept moving forward in lock step
from registration up to the Regents' Examination, which is becoming, alas,
ever more the chief end and aim of school life. It may be doubted whether
from such a cast iron mould there will be turned out those having greater
interest in biology, or better ability to deal with biological problems. If this
new vehicle be used by the teacher as a wheelbarrow to help along with his
burdens, rather than as an omnibus to get inside and to stay inside, then its
use may be productive of excellent results. J. G. X.

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"Testing new plans and policies."

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"Helping your salesmen."

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Devoted Primarily to all Scientific Studies
of Nature in Elementarv Schools

Vol. 14 No. 3 MARCH, 1918

One year (nine issues) $1.00

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE

AMEMCAN NATURE
STUDY SOCIETY

Whole No. 116
15c per copy

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SIZING UP THE CROP

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Library buckram binding, $2.00; postpaid $2.15.

(On the recommended School Library list of Wisconsin.)

NATURE SONGS AND STORIES

CATHERINE CREIGHTON

Beautiful pictures, clever little stories and eighteen
"singable" songs are here used to present Nature-
Study to little folks. Special illustrations by Fuertes,
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HOW TO KNOW THE BUTTERFLIES

JOHN HENRY COMSTOCK and
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320 pages. $2.50. Postpaid $2.70

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ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A tree lover's tribute to her favorites of the field
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A book that will be treasured by all out door lovers.
Beautifully illustrated. Postpaid 50c

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, New York

Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14 March, 1918 Xo. 3

School Gardening — A Force in Civic Training

Florenxe G. Billig
State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas

We hear a great deal in these days about the "Town Beautiful."
Gradually through the potent influence of magazines and interest
in sanitation, the delight in well kept homes and lawns has grown
until what was formerly the individual's pride in the yard and
garden, has become a matter of general interest and civic pride
in beautifying the town in general. No greater influence in
inculcating this civic pride has made itself felt than that coming
from the schools where gardening has gradually come to hold a
fixed place in the school curriculum.

A class in school gardening is a group of girls and boys working
as a community. Each child is responsible for his own success
and at the same time must help to meet the problems which are
of vital importance to the group as a whole. Thus, the children
receive their first lesson in co-operation.

For example, the general plan of the school garden must be
such that the arrangement will be advantageous to each individual
and at the same time present a pleasing general appearance to the
eye. To make this possible, those children cultivating tall and
coarse-growing plants should select plots in the back of the field.
The garden beds should extend in a north and south direction
in order that the best light and sun relations will be furnished
to the plants. Proper drainage must be arranged satisfactorily
to each gardener, in such a way as not to interfere with the plans
of the others. The rights of each member of the group must
be respected in every question that may arise.

This co-operative spirit is further emphasized in the planting
and care of the gardens. It is the duty of each young gardener
to keep his paths free from weeds and debris, to allow no weeds
which will be disagreeable to his neighbors to go to seed and to

89

90 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

avoid over-reaching the limits of his garden which would mean an
encroachment on the public highway. Trespassing is considered
a violation of the law, To understand fully what is meant by
trespassing, the municipal or city ordinance concerning the penalty
of trespassing are studied. In this way the children are brought
into contact with civic law.

A sense of responsibility for the success of his work is stimulated
in each worker. He is able to put a value on himself and on his
work; to recognize the relation of cause and effect, that as a
gardener hoes and plants, and weeds, so will he reap. Thrift
and responsibility are further emphasized in the care of garden
implements. Spades, hoes and rakes not carefully cleaned will
rust thus causing loss of time and an unnecessary expenditure of
energy in getting them back into working condition. One experi-
ence is sufficient to teach a thrifty girl of boy the handicap and
actual loss of time resulting from careless handling or neglect of
his tools. While it may be sometimes necessary to share tools
with a neighbor, the borrower should feel responsible for returning
them promptly and in good condition as soon as he is through with
them.

Again, gardening tends to promote the right attitude toward
work in general. The children work side by side not merely to
learn to hoe, to rake, or to pull weeds but to hoe, rake or pull weeds
as a necessary means to grow strong healthy plants that will
produce profitable results; results that are tangible and easily
recognized in the profusion of color and abundant fruitfulness.

This out-of-door exercise and close contact it brings with the
physical forces of the earth develops strong, healthy-minded boys
and girls which is the first requisite to good citizenship.

However, gardening should not be regarded as simply a part
of the school routine; as something the child is obligated to do to
make a grade. It should be carried on as a business undertaking.
To do this, it is necessary to make a study of the methods of
renting practiced in the community in which the work is being
done. In the case of our own school, the ground and implements
are furnished by the school. The child furnishes the labor and
seeds, which can be secured free of charge by writing to the
Department of Agriculture, and receives one-half of the produce,
the other half, or its equivalent, going to the school fund for the
purchase of new garden equipment.

billig] SCHOOL GARDEXIXG 91

When the vegetables are ready for use, the markets are studied
in order that each child will learn the best way of preparing his
products for sale and what to expect for them. It is just that he
should receive the same price for his goods that the city merchant
does, providing his products are of the same quality. In order
to secure this price, the vegetables must be cleaned, arranged,
and delivered to the home of the consumer in good condition.
To earn- on this work effectively, a school market should be estab-
lished. In this way. these young gardeners are getting their
first business training and a careful reckoning of the loss and gain
involved. Thus again, he has received a lesson in business thrift
and enterprise. And when he has deposited his surplus money
in the School Savings Bank, which in our own school has been
established in connection with the arithmetic work, he has received
his third lesson in business economy.

But to make school gardening really worth while, it must
extend into the life of the community. The home surroundings
should be more attractive as a result of the work at school. Thus
the school garden has served its first purpose in the development
of civic pride. To encourage this, the eighth-grade girls in our
school have home flower gardens. This home work is carried on
as regular school work during school hours. Careful consideration
is given to the spot to be decorated and the type of plant best
suited to it. The aim of each girl is to beautify her own home
surroundings. In this connection, she will be governed by the
same principles, that governed her school gardening. She must
take into consideration the yards of her neighbors and co-operate
with them in securing the greatest beauty to the greatest number.

In the same way, the boys should be encouraged to secure
vacant lots and go into gardening for financial gain. The plots
in the school garden are not large enough for great financial
returns but serve as a laboratory where the child learns to do his
work in the best and most economical manner, thus receiving
training not only for work on a larger scale, but also for his place
in the business life of the community at large.

To make school gardening the highest success possible, the
co-operation of the various school departments is necessary.
In the manual training department, the children make the germi-
nating boxes and stakes and keep the garden tools in repair.

92

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

In the arithmetic class, they learn to keep their accounts accu-
rately, determine their financial status, and deposit their money
in the Bank. In the English class, reports of the work may be
written for the school paper.

School gardening, by its very nature, cannot be separated from
civic training but must go hand in hand with it. It not only gives
opportunity for the development of the mental, physical and
social side of a child but in the training it affords in co-operation,
in the recognition of the rights of others, in arousing the sense of
personal responsibility, and in cultivating habits of activity and
painstaking care to say nothing of the business training before
mentioned, and moreover, it insures a development of civic pride
in the "Town Beautiful" which is coming more and rr. ore to be an
important factor in the success of town life. It affords the child
vital training in citizenship.

The Woodlawn School Gardens, Portland, Ori;<m

Nature-Study for the City Child

Anna Allex Wright
Ithaca X. Y.

It is in the grammar schools of our large cities that there is the
greatest need for work in nature-study. Furthermore, it is the
child in the crowded sections of the city that most needs this help
in his life. The country child has the beauties of nature always
around him, and he who wants to know can readily find means of
learning about the buttercups or the fringed gentian, the sheep or
the cows, the bluebird or the chickadee. The city child sees so
little of such life, and this little so superficially amidst the noise
and clamor, that he is likely to grow up without a thought on
these matters, and, in fact, with real thoughts on but very few
subjects.

Our parks are few, widely separated, poorly located for school
purposes, and often appropriated for public buildings. Our
open spaces, once grass- covered, have become either sites for
monuments or concrete passage-ways. Especially is this true
in the crowded sections where a park could best accomplish the
most. The open lots, when they. do occur, are so badly beaten
by passing workmen and the baseball enthusiasts that almost
nothing can grow. The school grounds are gravel; the trees
are few; the flowers fewer; and in most places hardly a "weed",
dare show its head. No open vista or distant sky line here — just
street cars, telegraph poles, and grocery wagons.

Let us broaden this outlook: Comparatively few city children
know what such common things as toads and grasshoppers are.
It is rather pathetic to see those who want to watch them, catch
them in some distant "vacant lot" and cany the grasshoppers
home in a jelly glass or the toads in a paper bag (with unlooked
for effect on the bag). Something is fundamentally wrong,
when the old fashioned aquarium, changed into a terra-aquarium —
with water, fish and a turtle in one side and in the other large
ferns — elicits the remark, "It looks like somebody was dead."
Did the aquarium look like a coffin or was the most intimate
knowledge of plants gleaned from funerals? It would be hard
to say just why the childish mind associated thsse things, but
such was the condition — a rather dampening one to the teacher's
ardor.

93

94 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

Then, again, one feels the unconscious longing of the children
when, taking them into the country, a little girl holds up a flower
and says, "See how pretty it smells," or taken even to the park,
she says in a shocked voice as she pulls the teacher's dress, "She's
stepping on the grass." How much such little incidents tell to
one ready to understand them. The "tin-can lot" and the water
in the gutter are such poor substitutes for the glories of the woods,
the meadow and the brook in all their springtime gladness. Can
we expect the child who has grown up with the need of always
closing his eyes to his surroundings to open them understandingly
to admire the beauty of the country? The most it can mean to
many city boys is an open space in which to play ball without
being chased by a "cop", or a shady nook in which to read. Can
we expect these boys to hear the small voices of nature? And
yet, we owe it to the generation growing up in our cities, to give
them an appreciative sense of their dependence upon the country,
and thus to give them a better understanding of their own sur-
roundings. Sardines do not always live in flat tins, nor do peas
grow in the cans on the grocer's shelf, and yet that is the only
form in which many of our city children see them.

Let us change all this. We must furnish some beautiful sur-
roundings; and then, with objects related to the child's every-day
experiences, thrown into an imitation of their native surroundings,
lead him to associate these common things with their whole
life history, the pop-corn in the bag with the plants in the field;
the house mouse with its relative, the field mouse; the fish in the
market with the fish in the schoolroom; the fish as food with
the living, breathing animal in its native brook or lake.

Education must be a process of directed growth. It must make
the mind not a memoranda of facts, but the instrument of a
personality that appreciates and understands his daily surround-
ings. It is in this deepening and broadening of the understanding
that natural science offers a powerful weapon. Picture two busi-
ness men halted on a busy thoroughfare. The one scowls and
mutters. For him there is but one thing in life — business — always
business, and this is now hindered. The other looks around him
at the enforced delay and thinks, "The buds on that old maple
tree are surely swelling ; it will soon be in blossom." Which one
lives up to his own personality? The first is what even our

wright] NATURE-STUDY FOR THE CITY CHILD 95

best systems of education tend to produce — an efficient bit of
machinery that will fit into some particular place and whirl
madly with the whole.

We must ask ourselves, why this is true. Is it not because
there is never time for either teacher or pupils to take a look at the
whole? All is a mad hurry to keep up with the system. The
fundamental three R's have become six or eight. The teacher
must now be an expert in modeling, an artist with pencil and
brush, a musician, must be receptive to the latest ideas in phonetics
or the newest system of writing. By the end of the day she feels
as if she had been managing a vaudeville performance or a three-
ring circus. Her personality cannot but become subservient to all
these, whereas the personality should be dominant, for it is
personalities that we would train.

Facing such facts as these, dare we advocate the addition of
another subject— nature-study. Yes! Most emphatically, yes;
for it will lessen the burden, not add to it, change the point of
view, and make all knowledge come from a point touching the
life of the child. As already shown, this work arouses the powers
of observation and awakens an appreciation of surroundings.
In addition, there is no other instrument as powerful to develop
individual-personality. The type seen in the second man in the
incident is the kind we would train our children to become — awake
to their surroundings, keen and alert to all forces acting around
them, and their minds receptive to many ideas. It is hard
for children to recognize that the improvement of an opportunity
is gain to themselves. It is so much easier to sit back with mouths
open and have only sugar-coated facts poured in. But such facts
do not seem to them to be a part of their own lives, or in any
particular related to them. Knowledge to become a part of their
lives, must be linked with their own observations. It is right
here that nature-study will prove a great help, for it will change
the whole aspect of our educational system. There is no better
means for training children to observe and then to digest their obser-
vations than in the natural objects around all of us : for the country
child, the babbling brook or the fiery oriole — nature undisturbed;
for the city child, the fish of the market or wharf, the fruits or
nuts of the store — natural objects in the commercial world.
Experience as a citv teacher convinces me that we must use this

96 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

substitute for the instrument ready to the hand of the country
teacher. But in our enthusiasm for the neglected commercial
field we must appreciate that the purpose of its use is twofold,
first for its own intrinsic value, but also as a stepping-stone to
knowledge of the real things of the surrounding country. Such
work gives us a new point of view in our study of the brook, the
birds, or the animals of the country when the time arrives for
looking at them. It gives us a new method of attack, supplies
a supplementary phase to what is commonly elaborated as nature-
study work. It furnishes a connecting link between such nature-
study work and the conditions known to the average city child.
Thus to go from the known to the unknown is the only way we
can lead the city child to make the life of the country a part of
his own broader life.

Most of our children do not know how to see what is around
them. Any unusual object in action such as a run-away horse
will of course arouse their interest and excite them, but the "set-
ting" might as well be absent. There is always so much going on,
so many changes taking place that they never look at one thing
long. Little children must be taught either by their parents or
by older children to play; shall we wonder that their powers of
observation must be trained in other directions as well ?

We are branching out and coming to appreciate the good of
"trade schools" in teaching the children how to gain a livelihood,
and some chance of choosing a more or less congenial one. Do
we teach them how to live the broadest life possible while earning
their livelihood? Let us help them get all possible pleasure from
the surroundings they must see daily!

It is with the common things of daily experience that we must
begin on our nature work — clouds or sunshine, curbstone or
cobblestone, sidewalk or gravel of the playground, water supply
or furnace coal, flies or ants, peanuts or popcorn. Have these
things great innate interest ? Perhaps not in the present isolated
form, but in their natural surroundings each filled an important
place. It is our part to furnish these associations, to imitate a
more natural state than the streets in our crowded sections will
offer us. Let us do this in our schools. We need all possible
help in this task.

wright] NATURE-STUDY FOR THE CITY CHILD 97

Come into the room especially arranged for the natural-history
study. Here the things around them are made parts of the lives
of the children. It is preeminently "their" room. It is a big
room with large, low windows. Along one side is a bay with light
from above and close-set windows — a small conservatory. Here
are many potted plants and vines, hardy vines like smilax at one
end, plant boxes to raise seedlings for the garden or lettuce in
winter. In one tray are carnation cuttings made by the children
or primulas they have repotted.

In the center of the bay stands the "terra-aquarium." This is a
large aquarium with low sides, divided into land and water por-
tions. In the water is a little rock landing on which is a turtle,
and in the water are several fish. On the land side are some wild
ferns, a few wintergreen plants with their bright berries, and "one
berries" too. In one corner is a hepatica plant with its dark red
leaves and woolly buds ready to open in the early spring. Here
are butterfly crysalids, little red salamanders hiding under the moss
and perhaps a large spotted one. Here are some small toads and
frogs. We have a covering of screening to put over this when need
rises. In the spring time we have a jar of frogs' eggs.

In front of the windows on the other side of the room is a
window seat, and hanging there is a hanging basket or a bird cage.
In one corner is a case of models of various fruits and real ones
whenever possible, not merely edible ones like peanuts, nuts,
apples, pears, and berries, but those of various trees and smaller
plants as well; maple, elm, horse chestnut, poplar, or even the
"cheeses" of the mallow. On the charts at one side are pictures
of many common vegetables showing howr they grow — cabbages,
potatoes, onions, carrots; charts of trees showing their shape,
leaves, flowers and fruit; or charts of the humble as well as the
more pretentious plants, the dandelion and tansy. On the wall are
many pictures of animals. On the small blackboard there is drawn
a frieze of tulips, or pine needles, a panel of autumn leaves or snow-
flakes, according to the season. Here we have collections, to
the joy of every boy, of stones, flowers or insects. On the shelves
of the low bookcases, are nature books and science books to furnish
answers to the many questions. Then, too, we have a lantern.

What an Eden this is, you exclaim ! What an inspiration to all
who enter! But it is all worth wThile ! This room acts also as the

98 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

center of supply for the whole school or some collections may serve
many schools. Why not have a "loan" museum in connection
with the library? Lantern slides may well serve large sections,
why not other things as well ? Each room always has something
from this central supply and can get something different whenever
desired. Here all plants can be gathered and cared for during
vacations. This one room can have extra heat for zero nights.
Both these elements are so discouraging at present to ambitious
teachers. Of course for all this there is a director, who can give
lessons or help any teacher in preparation. Her greatest work
is as helper.

Would you like to stay a while and watch the children working
at their tables? While you are here, some child may come in
with flies for the turtle. Would you be surprised if it were one
of "your own" most troublesome boys, coming in quietly and say-
ing in a suppressed voice, "Miss , I got a fly for the turtle?"

He will be very careful, for he wants to see the turtle snap at the

fly. Miss smiles understandingly, for she has seen this

happen many times. She knows that this boy will watch the
turtle enjoy his meal, all unconscious that here is something that
carries him out of himself and away from his usual teasing ways.
He is too busy to be "bad" here.

The director, Miss , can give her thought and energy

to the care of all these interesting things, for this is her work.
She is a "special teacher," trained in the various sciences, and more
than that she is one with so deep a love for all of them that to hear
her say, "See the flowers on that elm tree," is to look with interest
at an object up to this time "merely a tree." Not alone in the care
of her special room is she a help, but in having charge of the school
garden or in the planting of bulbs. Besides this, she is one with
authority, who can co-operate with the park officers. When the
gardens in our park systems are prepared for winter, many plants
are destroyed that would make very attractive flower boxes in
our schools. Often in the re-arrangements of beds, shrubs are
taken out that would be given to the schools were there any
definite person in charge to give them attention. Here we have
a great field for the correlation of our city parks and schools.

How much richness we can thus add to the lives of the children.
We would lay the foundation for a much deeper appreciation of

wkight] NATURE-STUDY FOR THE CITY CHILD 99

everything in life. How closely we must always be associated
with these first great principles. What a delight to have a love
for them. All would not care equally for the work, but why
should we want them to? We do not want all cut by the same
pattern. And at present this is what we do in trying to press
each child into the common mould. All would gain something,
though for some it would be indirect. Here is greater chance
for individual expression. Here is an additional opportunity
to watch the children show their natural tendencies, and so aid
in guiding them. Let us give the children an occasional chance
to browse, for it is then that the much desired personality has a
chance to develop. The city boy who will grow up wishing to go
"back to the farm" will have a chance to gain a few ideas to fit
him for such a step. Furthermore, the language of these sur-
roundings will reach those who speak no English. Here they
will see real living objects and want to know about them.

Many of the best lessons will go on without a word spoken by
the teacher. When this is over, the time will be ripe for the regular
lesson. Many things the children can observe and will observe
when directed, but other things must be told them. The teacher
must have a wealth of knowledge even when she gives but a few
facts, and this knowledge must be a part of herself. This was
impressed on me in trying to give a fish lesson to a group of second
grade children. We had the fish in the center of our little group.
Then followed the volley of questions on my part. How does it
swim? How does it turn around"" How does it breathe? How
does it eat? What does it eat? Why does it live in water?
Then came the thought, what else is there to see? Perhaps the
children learned a little in that lesson. As a teacher, I learned a
great deal. The vital part of that lesson could not be expressed
in questions and answers. Was that fish a living, breathing,
essential part of the lives of those children, or was it merely an
object of curiosity set up in a glass dish for the children to observe
and, in a figurative way, pick to pieces? The best part came
while the children were watching and asking the questions them-
selves. As a teacher I gained an interesting and educational
keynote from the explanations the children gave each other.
Sometimes the lessons will be very short. When one has but
little material, don't wear that little out, stretching it to cover

100 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

a certain period. Many a valuable lesson will often be merely
incidental.

A trip to the grocery store will furnish material for many
interesting lessons. Which side up did the turnips grow? What
part of the carrot plant do we eat? Why do these plants have
fleshy roots? What part of the plant is the potato? Do you
know that peanuts are like pea pods, growing underground?
Why are there so many seeds within a fig and how are they ar-
ranged? Where do bananas and pineapples grow? What do they
look like in their native surroundings? Why don't they grow in
our yards?

Is there a fish market near by? Why does the halibut have
both eyes on one side of his head? Why do they scrape fish
before eating them? What use are these scales to the fish?
Are these fish like the ones in our school room? Do bullheads
have scales? What is the difference between oysters and clams?
Where do they live? In our nature room we have means of
finding answers to all these questions and many more.

What a wealth of suggestive material we "city folk" have at
hand. We may have no nearby brook or meadow, but we have
many other things instead. We do not have them in the natural
beauty of their native state, but we must try to associate that with
them, and to do this so closely that our interest avoids the stamp
of superficiality. This is the field for nature-study in our city
schools.

This work will bring unmeasured joy to the teacher.

My Garden

Marion McFadden (Age 8)

I have a little garden

Down by an apple tree.
'Tis cared for by God in Heaven,

As well as little me.
There are many others like it,

But none so dear to me
As my tiny little garden,

Behind the Academy.

Nature Study and the School Garden

Katharine L. Koehler
Hyde Park, Cincinnati, Ohio

It is an acknowledged and much deplored fact that nature study
is either very unsystematically taught or is neglected entirely
by the majority of teachers in our elementary schools.

That nature study could be made a highly valuable subject
of the curriculum is undoubtedly true. The usual course of
study does not make the appeal to the thoughtful teacher nor to
the average class that the richness of concrete material around us
would warrant. The fault is with the poor organization of the
material and lack of suggestions of vital projects to present to
the children.

To make nature study vital to the children it must function
in their every day lives and bring such a wealth of interesting
experiences it will rather deepen that aesthetic appreciation so
earnestly defended by nature-study enthusiasts.

In a recent number of the Teachers College Record (March, 19 17)
an article by Maurice A. Bigelow states very strongly the aims
and purposes of science in the modern school. These same
purposes should dominate the nature-study of the first six grades
as well as the science of the upper grades and of the high schools.
Mr. Bigelow says:

"The modern school, which aims to fit the life of the average
intelligent citizen, must soon meet the demand for applied science,
for science that fits life. That must be applied science in the
largest sense of the word 'applied', namely, science that presents
the great facts and leading ideas which touch human life in its
combined economic, industrial, hygienic, intellectual and aesthetic
outlook * * * Every topic, every lesson, and even- sub-
division of a lesson should be planned with reference to these two
questions : 'Are the available facts in this case clearly of interest,
are they applicable, are they significant in the life of the average
citizen?' 'Are the materials selected, arranged, and presented
with reference to the most efficient teaching of science to the
particular pupils at hand?' Upon the affirmative answer to
these two questions will depend the fate of science as the claimant
for a very prominent place in the curriculum of the modern
school that surely is to come."

101

102 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

On this basis why not reconstruct a course for nature-study
worthy of all the enthusiastic effort we can command from children
who are working on a project very vital to them. The following
are some suggestions for such a course.

SCHOOL GARDENS FOR SUBURBAN SCHOOLS

To counteract the discouragements of a neglected school garden
during the summer months, when weeds grow rampant and
harvests are ungathered, why not start a garden for the nearest
neighbor instead of planting one at school ? If done painstakingly
and thoroughly, and left in good condition in June, the owner
might consider it a fair bargain if the garden truck belongs to
him in payment for his accommodation. Radishes, onions,
and lettuce are about the only products maturing before school
closes, but children should also know how to grow beans, potatoes,
tomatoes, corn, beets, carrots, and other vegetables as well.
The garden should be large enough to plant several different
vegetables and enough of each to really count in the way of food
for an average-sized family. Perhaps the children might have
the radishes, onions, and lettuce in payment for their own labors.
Or, if the garden were on the school grounds, could it not be made
worth while for some neighbor to care for it during the summer
and have the garden truck for his own use ?

Home gardens should be encouraged by all means, but so often
the home garden reflects the meager planting of the school garden.
To in a measure prevent this result, the school garden should be
a model of efficiency in every way possible.

So much for the vegetable garden ; but when you stop to consider
the small proportion of one's own grounds devoted to vegetables
and so much larger proportion devoted to lawn, shrubbery,
flowers, and trees, we know that our school garden supplies only
a part of that education so needed in the life of the average citizen.
A knowledge of how to care for a lawn, beautify it, and appreciate
landscape gardening either at home or in the parks is another
important phase of gardening.

The ideal school garden should be large enough to include a
lawn, shrubbery, trees, gravel walks, flowers a bird bath, bird
boxes, perhaps a pond for gold fish and water lillies, and a place
for pets for the younger children. Enclose the entire garden

koehler] NATURE-STUDY AND SCHOOL GARDEN 103

with a neat looking fence and high shrubs just within to keep the
garden private, a place in which to entertain visitors, to have
outdoor plays, festivals, special games, a place to work in, to
beautify, to enjoy, to watch the ways of the birds and all other
living things cared for there by the children.

PLANNING A SCHOOL GARDEN

The plans for the garden should be the children's work; they
should visit various places, in and near the city that are examples
of landscape gardening, to get suggestions; they should study
such magazines as The Country Gentleman, Country Life in America,
The Garden Magazine, garden catalogues, as well as practical
books on gardening; they should plan how to keep the garden
blooming from early spring until late fall and learn to group flowers
for color effects and for plants that bloom at different periods.
They should study the enemies of the garden as well as its friends.
What are the friendly birds and insects; how do they help us,
and how can we help them ? What are the enemies of our garden
and how can we best get rid of them ? This will necessitate series
of lessons on various weeds to see why they are so sturdy, their
harm and how to get rid of them ; or, what birds can we be likely
to attract? Why do we want them' How can we keep them
happy in our garden? There will also be series of lessons on
helpful insects and how they help, a study of their life cycle to see
how and when we can best destroy those that are injurious.

Such a garden would include a study of soils, drainage, and plants
adapted to that particular environment, reasons for cultivation of
soil, conservation of moisture, etc., all for the purpose of producing
the best results in that particular place. It would include familiar-
ity with many garden flowers, annuals as well as perennials,
shrubs and trees, through selecting and cultivating suitable ones
for the school garden. A small greenhouse with potting bench,
transplanting facilities, indoor sprouting and forcing of early
plants would extend greatly the opportunities for nature-study.

One progressive course of study suggests that each class choose
a class tree to study. This tree studied in its different phases,
characteristic shape, fruits, leaves, stages of growth and seasonal
changes will make excellent art studies for decorating booklets,
making class posters, calendars, and programs for different class

104 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

activities. This should be a tree either in the school garden,
nearby park or neighborhood.

Each class should have its pets to care for. All these various
lines of work and many more beside, are the outgrowth of the one
big school project — that of making and keeping up the school
garden. This one big problem will socialize the work of the entire
school, foster a splendid spirit of co-operation, and will supply
a motive for nearly all the nature-study, both practical and
aesthetic, anyone might wish to have.

Courses of study containing interesting projects for applied
nature-study are the Baltimore County Course of Study, and that
of the University Elementary School, Chicago. In the Special
Course of Study Number of the Nature-Study Review, March
1915, there are many good problems suggested for the children,
but there is no big project including many problems necessary
for the working out of the whole.

The project in a course of study should be the most prominent
item and should dominate the entire organization of material
and be so represented that he who runs may read.

Science in the modern school has really made more advances
than nature-study. To make either a success, much enthusiasm
and hard work are needed; but they pay abundantly for all the
energy expended.

Child's Song

Thomas Moore

I have a garden of my own,

Shining with flowers of every hue;
I love it dearly while alone,

But I shall love it more with you.
And there the golden bees shall crone,

In summer time at break of morn,
And wake us with their busy hum

Around the Sika's fragrant thorn.

I have a fawn from Aden's land,

On leafy buds and berries nurst,
And you shall feed him from your hand,

Though he may start with fear at first,
And I will lead you where he lies

For shelter in the noontide heat;
And you may touch his sleepy eyes

And feel his little silvery feet.

Members of a Garden Club

School Garden Clubs in Crowded
New York City Schools

Anna M. Hill
St Mary's Park,;The Bronx, X. V

Three years ago in the early spring circulars were sent to many
schools by the School Garden Association suggesting the formation
of garden clubs among the pupils, the planting and care of plants
during subsequent growth to be classroom or home interest.

In P. S. 121 Manhattan, on the east side, in a tenement and
pushcart section, only about fifty children responded the first
year. However, owing to a carefully planned exhibit of these
few plants the first June, the number of pupils who joined the
club and had plants to enter the next year, increased to about five
hundred.

Many teachers had little or no knowledge of the kinds of seeds
best adapted for this work, and the lack of this information
called forth the carefully selected list of suitable seeds and the
actual cost to a school of 48 classes, which fist is appended to this
article.

The seeds and soil were furnished to the children. They brought
in a wide and motley assortment of receptacles, boxes, cans,
jars, etc. Each teacher took the work of planting as a class
exercise in nature-study.

105

106 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

The matter of choosing a name for each club was taken up in
all seriousness by the little foreigners, and many and varied were
the titles.

All plants were to be cared for at home and brought to school
to be exhibited on a special day appointed by a committee of
teachers, who also served as judges. The foreign visitors showed
great interest, many of them able to communicate with principal
and teachers only by gestures.

In the lower Bronx, at P. S. 30, over one thousand pupils
exhibited their carefully nutured plants last June.

Most of these were grown and tended at home but some class-
room plants, cared for by faithful monitors, were also entered in
the exhibition. The clubs in the different classes, chose their
own colors and schemes for preparing the plants for exhibition,
showing good taste and ingenuity in preparation. Every class,
visited this display. Our illustration shows the interest of a first
year class in one part of the exhibit.

Some of the older boys had prepared two barrels by perforating
at six inch spaces the upper half of each. In one of these barrels,
filled with good soil were placed about 35 strawberry plants,
and in the second, a subnormal class planted climbing nastur-
tiums.

Both of these were in prime condition when the exhibition was
held, ripe strawberries hanging around one barrel, and the other
festooned with vines of beautiful blooms.

A class of 50 first year boys started an eggshell garden. Two
roasting pans at 10 cents each, filled with wet sand, held the shells.
After these shells had been filled with good soil, each boy planted
a pea seed, and wrote his initials on his eggshell. When the vines
grew quite tall they were supported by splints and several plants
not only blossomed but bore pods of peas.

One fifth year boy who evidently had a bent for landscape
gardening, laid out a center bed, paths and side plots, all outlined
with agates, in a three inch by two inch box. At one end of the
box, on the level of the path he drilled a hole and inserted an
umbrella ferule, below which he hung a small can to catch the
overflow of water. He was willing to take no risks of having his
seeds drowned out.

shlfeldt CHILDREN AND THE HOME GARDEN 107

Before spring growth begins, get a sod of earth large enough
to fill a meat pan and place it in a sunny window, keeping it
well watered. Ere long you will see things sprouting, and will
have the pleasure of trying to identify the various plants.

Remember, Darwin grew 82 different varieties of plants from
a ball of mud taken from the foot of a partridge.

Your own fernball may be made by packing a few fern roots
from the woods with moss, tying it in the form of a ball, and
suspending it in a light place, not real sunny. Every day dip this
in water and you will enjoy the result.

These few suggestions may help some teachers and pupils
to love and turn to nature-study as many of our greatest men and
women did.

Children and the Home Garden Movement

By Dr. R. W. Shlfeldt
Washington, D. C.

There has recently been put on foot in Washington a very wide
and well-organized movement, making for the encouragement of
its citizens, in the use of their small house gardens — such as may
have them — for the purpose of raising table vegetables, either
for home consumption or for sale. The object is an economic
one, in that the living may be better, and the family pass well fed
and cared for through the present stage of senseless high prices
for food.

In size these gardens run from ten to twenty feet to half an
acre or more ; and it is truly remarkable how far even a small one
will go towards keeping an ordinary family in vegetables for the
table — that is, if it be properly planted, managed, and due care
is taken of it. Quite recently the public schools have taken
up this matter, and the children in all grades are being carefully
instructed in the horticulture of the home garden. Thev are
making, as a rule, a great success of it, and it is very gratifying
to note the interest children of all ages are taking in it. Miss
Susan B. Sipe. who has an important department in one of the
largest of Washington's public schools, gave the classes, numbering
some 200 children, a talk on this subject on the second of April,
191 7. at which, by invitation, the writer was present.

108 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

Her talk was beautifully illustrated by appropriate slides.
All the various departments of elementary gardening were touched
upon, special stress being laid upon the proper way to lay a garden
out; what to plant, and when and how; the use of tools; friends
and pests; costs and profits, and the rest. On the screen were
thrown many pictures showing children at work in home and
school gardens; many kinds of flowers and vegetables; the tools
used; birds, toads, and other friends of the gardener. During
the hour or more consumed in giving this lesson, Miss Sipe
constantly put questions to the classes on the subject under
consideration, and it was encouraging to note the children's
interest in it, as well as the prompt and intelligent answers given —
the average age of her hearers apparently being about twelve
years or rather less. Miss Sipe kindly handed me for publication
in the present connection two compositions by children of that
school on home garden topics. The young writers are each about
ten years of age, and the papers have not a little to commend
them. They show very well the attention they give to the subjects
brought before them, and the admirable methods adopted to
impart knowledge. These compositions are as follows:

Testing the Soil

If you think your soil is sour or acid, but are not positive, you
can find out very easily by using blue litmus paper.

I am sure of this, because we experimented at school by putting
a piece of blue litmus paper in a bottle of acid, which immediately
turned it red.

We know that acid turns blue litmus paper red, so we can easily
test our own soil.

You must take a saucer of the soil that you are going to plant
in and add enough water to make it muddy, then put a piece of
litmus paper in it. If it turns red, you may be positive that your
soil is acid or sour.

Since most plants will only thrive in sweet soil, we must find
what remedy we need.

We had another experiment showing how to sweeten soil. Can
you guess what it is? It certainly is a treat to the soil.

Well, since you can't guess I will have to tell you. Sprinkle
a little lime over the soil.

shifeldt] CHILD REX AXD THE HOME GARDEN 109

Since you have put the lime on put the piece of red litmus
paper into the lime soil and it will turn back to its same color, blue.

It will take a pound of lime to even- forty square feet to sweeten
the soil of your garden.

March 29. Catherine Gray.

Nature's Soil Mixers

Mother Earth always knows a way for man to be helped. I am
going to tell a way she has provided for us. In school the other
day Miss Sipe brought us a jar half filled with sand and its equiva-
lent in leaf mould on top of it. Then, without mixing the two,
we put quite a good many earth worms in it.

We wanted to see what would happen, so we covered it with
heavy paper, so that no light — just air — could get to the worms,
for we know that they will work only in the dark. This we watered
every day. In about three days we began to notice that the soils
were being mixed. Why — what do you think? — those little
earth worms had mixed that soil — all by themselves. This is
one way that Mother Earth helps man.

March 28, 191 7. Hazel Christ.

During the middle of April lectures will be given to these
classes on birds, reptiles, insects, and so on, that are useful or
otherwise to the home garden.

Enough cannot be said in favor of this addition to the teachings
of our public schools. If properly conducted and presented it
has everything in its favor and is entirely bereft of all disadvan-
tages. It leads to healthful exercise out-of-doors; it instructs
children in elementary biology, botany, and horticultural pursuits,
and above all it makes for training in the gentle art of correct
observation.

"March! March! March! They will hurry

Forth at the wild bugle sound;
Blossoms and birds in a flurry,

Fluttering all over the ground.
Hang out your flags, birch and willow !

Shake out your red tassels, Larch!
Up, blades of grass, from your pillow!

Hear who is calling you — March!"

— Lucy Larcom.

Cottonwoods or Carolina Poplars

A Study of Shade Trees for Grades Seven and Eight

Fannie Ragland
Oxford, Ohio

Tree Study References

i. Familiar Trees and Their Leaves, F. Schuyler Mathews, D. Appleton
& Co., New York.

2. A Guide to Trees, Alice Lounsberry, Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York.

3. Handbook to Nature Study, Anna Botsford Comstock, Comstock
Publishing Co., Ithaca, New York.

4. North American Trees, Nathanial Lord Britton, Henry Holt & Co.

5. Our Native Trees, Harriett Keeler, Charles Scribner's Sons.

6. The Tree Book, Julia Ellen Rogers, The Nature Library, Doubleday
Page & Co.

110

raglaxd] STUDY FOR GRADE SEVEN AXD EIGHT 111

7. Trees in Winter, Albert Francis Blackeslee, and Chester Deacon Jarvis,
The Macmillan Co.

8. The Pruning of Our Ornamental Trees, Bruce Fink, Revised from the
proceedings of the Iowa Park and Forestry Association for the Year 1904,
pages 71-84-

9. Practical Tree Surgery, J. Franklin Collins, Yearbook of the Department
of Agriculture, 1913.

10. Transplanting, Vernon H. Davis, Extension Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 8,
Agricultural College, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

1 1 . Shade Trees in Town and Cities, William Solotaroff, John Wiley and
Sons, New York.

Note: References 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 1 1 are most helpful in working out
this course of study.

/A man buys a lot at the edge of Oxford. It is a lot one hundred
feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet deep. There are no
shade trees on the lot.

Problem : How can this man provide shade for his lot so as to
make it most valuable twenty years from now ?

1 . What trees shall he plant ?

(Let the children make suggestions. If they suggest the elm
then the question.)

1. Why plant the elm? Why not? Ref. 5, pp. 233-240.

Ref. 6, pp. 230-233.
Ref. 11, pp. 38-41.

(If they suggest that the elm is pretty, makes good shade, is
strong, etc., the following questions arise.)

1 . Why do you think the elm a beautiful tree in the fall ? spring?
winter? summer?

2 . What reasons have you for believing it to be a strong tree ?

3. What kind of shade does it give?

4. What care does it require?

5. How rapidly does it grow?

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of planting
the elm on this lot ?

*Conclusion: Solotariff says, "No other tree combines such
strength with so much grace." Because of its beauty, strength,
and abundant shade it is a great favorite. The elm is beautiful
at all seasons of the year. "In summer it rises like a great foun-
tain of green." "Ever}- chink is filled with a leaf." In autumn
these leaves turn brown or a golden yellow. In winter we can
appreciate the beauty of its arching limbs, pendulous branches,

*In substance children should reach the conclusions suggested.

112 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

and feathery twigs as they are outlined against the sky. Many
people miss the beauty of the elm in blossom. In the early spring
the reddish brown blossoms appear. Then the elm seems to be
enclosed by a purple haze. Unlike most shade trees the elm
requires little or no pruning. Its strength has been immortalized
by Holmes in his "Wonderful One Hoss Shay."

On the other hand the elm grows slowly. It has more insect
enemies than most any other shade tree. In the east it is many
times killed by the tussock moth and the elm leaf beetle. The
elms of this vicinity have not been bothered, but many people
hesitate to plant the elm because of its devastation in other sections
of the country.

(Someone suggests the poplar and others object at once stating
that the council of Oxford has recently passed an ordinance
ordering all poplars to be cut down. This raises the question.)

2. Why have the councilmen of Oxford ordered all poplars
to be cut down?

(Children suggest that the rootlets fill the sewers, the tree is
ugly, dirty, and requires great care, therefore the following
questions) :

Ref. 6, p. 147. Ref. 11; pp. 22-27.

1 . What damage have the roots of the poplars done in Oxford ?

2 . Why is the poplar called a dirty tree ?

3. Why must it be pruned carefully?

4. Why do you think it ugly?

2 . Why not choose the poplar for this lot ?

Conclusion : ' In the first place there is in Oxford an ordinance
against it, because its rootlets find the slightest crevice in the sewer
pipe and fill it in no time. The roots also raise flagstones and
crack concrete walks. It os also very dirty and needr *nuch
pruning. It is dirty from April until late in the fall. Flowers
fall in April, cottony seeds fly about in May, and the leaves fall
from June until late in the fall. The wood is so brittle chat a
slight gust of wind brings twigs and limbs to the ground at any
season of the year. The tree requires continued pruning to cause
it to spread. In fact the poplar is attractive only when young.
If untouched it grows tall ; if headed in it is unsightly with its large
trunk and small top.

With questions similar to the above and references given
the following conclusions can be reached.

ragland] STUDY FOR GRADES SEVEN AND EIGHT 113

3. Silver Maple. Ref. 5, pp. 73-77-

Ref. 6, pp. 371-372.
Ref. 11, pp.19-22.

Conclusion: The Silver Maple is attractive when young.
It is symmetrical in outline. Its finely cut leaves hang on such
long and slender stems that they sway with the breeze, showing
the whiteness of their under surface. In the fall the leaves are
a pale or brilliant yellow and scarlet. It grows so rapidly and
easily that it is often spoken of as a lazy man's tree. In some
communities it is bothered by the tussock moth, bag worm,
cottony maple scale, and leopard moth, but in this community
it escapes any great damage from insects.

On the other hand the wood of the maple is brittle and weak.
The branches shoot out at an angle that makes it impossible for
them to sustain their own weight when large. The breaking of
the limbs cause work, and worst of all the rough ends decay
earning disease to the heart of the tree.

4. Sugar Maple Ref. 5, pp. 66-72.

Ref. 6, pp. 374.

Ref. 11, pp. 16-18.
Conclusion: The hard or sugar maple furnishes shade slowly.
But it is a clean, hardy, and erect tree. It grows well in the shade
and so prospers in the midst of the more rapidly growing trees.
In this community it is practically free from insect pests. It is
in other words a tree to be depended upon. Added to these
qualities it is attractive. When young its full leafy head is often
a pure oval. The foliage is always dense, and in the fall it glows
in yellow, orange, and red.

5. Locust Ref. 5 pp. 97-102.

Ref. 6, pp. 339-341-
Ref. 11, pp. 56-58.
Conclusion : As a shade tree the locust has little to commend it,
except its rapid growth, beautiful flowers, and in early spring its
attractive foliage. It is angular in form, its branches are brittle,
its foliage short lived, and its pods persistent. Many of the locusts
of this community are killed by the locust borer. It is no uncom-
mon thing to find the locusts partly dead.

6. Linden Ref. 5, pp. 26-30.

Ref. 6, pp. 394-396.
Ref. 11, pp. 34-36-

114 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

Conclusion: The large and abundant foliage of the linden
makes it a very good shade tree. It is a vigorous grower and often
lives to be quite old. The graceful outline of the linden makes
it attractive in winter as well as summer. The linden is at its
best before midsummer, for after that time the leaves grow coarse
turn brown and fall. It is free from insect pests here but in most
places it is so injured by them that it is considered undesirable.

7. Catalpa Speciosa Ref. 6, pp. 447.

Ref. 11, pp. 56.
Conclusion : It is one of the most rapid of the rapidly growing
trees. It has a rather compact head. It seems rather hardy,
and until recently it has been free from insect pests in Oxford.
This last year it has been bothered by the catalpa sphinx. These
in turn were so affected by parasites that the second generation
did little harm.

8. Sycamore Ref. 5, pp. 265-268.

Ref. 6, 279-281.

Ref. 11, pp. 44-47.
Conclusion: The sycamore is hardy and bears transplanting.
The shade of the sycamore is never dense for its head lacks com-
pactness. The sycamore is not beautiful. It may be said to
be picturesque rather than beautiful. The sycamore is sometimes
subject to a disease that attacks the leaves, causing them to grow
brown and shrivel up. This seems true of some sycamores of
this community. Many of the sycamores grow too large for the
average lawn.

9. White Ash Ref. 3, pp. 774-777.

Ref. 6, pp. 432-433-
Ref. 11, pp. 49-5i-
Conclusion : The ash grows much more slowly than the catalpa,
poplar, locust, and soft maple, but it remains straight and sym-
metrical long after they are ragged. In the summer it is pleasing
to look at for its leaves are so attractive. While not compact
it furnishes abundant shade. It is not very clean in the fall for
it sheds its leaflets first and then its leaf stems. It is free from
insects in this community.

10. Pine Ref. 3, pp. 789-794.

Ref. 5, pp. 443-448.
Ref. 6, pp. 23-26.

ragland] STUDY FOR GR.ADES SEVEN AXD EIGHT 115

Conclusion: The pine is one of the slow growers. It is an
ornamental rather than a shade tree. As such it is very attractive
when young. Most pines become very ragged after a few years.
This is especially true where snow, ice, and sleet storms are
frequent. Even though ragged some of the pines are very pic-
turesque.

Xote: If in the midst of the discussion some child says, "I do not know
the elm" the following procedure can be used in the study of some elm trees
of the vicinity.

How know the elm ?

What kind of a leaf has the elm ?

How know the elm by its shape?

Conclusion : The elm may be easily recognized by its leaf and
its triangular outline. Sometimes the trunk soon divides into
from two to three main branches, which rise with an easy and
gradual curve, become horizontal, and many times pendulous,
giving to the elm the Etruscan vase form. At other times the
trunks are tall and the branches form a bush at the top, not unlike
the feather duster. The elm leaf is an egg shaped leaf two or three
inches long. It is known chiefly by its lopsidedness.

(A similar procedure can be used for any tree which the children
do not know.)

i . Repeated : From all that we have said of these shade trees
which would you select for this lot ?

Let children make suggestions. From these suggestions raise
the question:

ii. Shall we plant slow or rapidly growing trees?

i. Which are the rapidly growing trees?

2. What are the advantages of the rapidly growing trees?

3. Disadvantages?

Partial conclusion: The rapidly growing trees are brittle
and easily broken. They are dirty trees, the poplar being especi-
ally undesirable for this reason. The catalpa and locusts are
bothered by insects in this community. Unless rapid shade is
very much desired the fast growing trees are to be avoided.

4. Which are the slow growers?

5. What advantages have the slow growers?

Partial conclusion: On the whole the slow growers, the hard
maple, the elm, the ash, the linden, the sycamore, and the pine
are hardy and clean. In this community they are fairly free

116 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

from insect pests. They remain symmetrical long after the rapidly
growing trees are ragged and unsightly.

ii. Repeated: What would be your recommendation for
this lot, slow or rapid growers?

Conclusion: A combination of slow and rapid growers is best.
They can be arranged so that the rapid growers can be removed
early leaving the slow growers to furnish permanent shade.

i2. Which of the fast growing trees shall we select?

13. Which of the slow growers shall we select?

1 . Repeated : Which of the common shade trees shall he plant ?
From data already gathered the children will probably come

to the following conclusions:

A combination of hard and soft maple so arranged that the
soft maples can be removed as soon as damaged, will make a
valuable lot.

If the parasites succeed in conquering the catalpa sphinx the
catalpa would probably be more valuable than the soft maple
because it will furnish shade quicker.

The ash is also a valuable tree.

Aside from the danger from insect pests the elm and linden are
most valuable for permanent shade.

2 . Suppose the owner decides to plant the hard maple and the
catalpa speciosa how shall he do it?

1. How select the trees ? Ref. 7, p. 102.

Ref. 10, p. 5.

Ref. 11, pp. 82-84, 87.

1. Where shall he get the trees?

From the woods or the nursery ?
From what nursery?

2 . What kind of trees shall he select ?

What age?
What size?
What kind of top and roots shall the trees have ?

2. When plant the trees? Ref. 7, pp. 106-107.

Ref. 10, p. 5.

3. How have in good shape for planting?

Ref. 7, pp. 102-104.
Ref. 10, pp. 5-6, 8-9.

raglaxd] STUDY FOR GRADES SEVEN AND EIGHT 117

i. How care for the tree until planted?
2. How offset the decrease in food supply caused by the
loss of roots'

4. How plant?

1. How prepare the soil for planting?

Ref. 7, pp. 105-106.
Ref. 10, pp. 7-8.

2. How set the tree out? Ref. 7, pp. 107-108.

Ref. 10, pp. 9-1 1.

Ref. 11, pp. 90-93-95-
How keep the tree vertical ?
How fill in the dirt ?

2. How then shall he provide hard maple and catalpa for his
yard ?

Conclusion: When buying shade trees go to the local nursery
and select from trees one to three years old. Select a tree with
compact root system and large top for the age of the tree. Puddle
or heel trees in until planted. Before planting prune all mangled
roots, and also the top in proportion to the loss of roots and the
age of the tree; the older the tree and the greater the loss of
roots the more the top should be pruned. Prepare the soil for
planting by plowing deeply and subsoiling whenever practicable.
Dig holes large enough to make the roots comfortable. When not
practicable to plow prepare larger holes and mix fine well rotted
manure with the soil. Set trees out in the spring in preference
to the fall, that they may have a good start before winter. Set
the trees out at about the same depth at which it grew in the
nursery. First fill hole to the required height with well prepared
top soil. Place tree in hole with roots in their natural position.
Keep tree vertical with a stake. Sift surface soil around the roots.
Throw a little soil in at a time, pack this well before throwing in
more. The last should be thrown in loosely to act as a mulch.

3. How care for these shade trees?

During the late summer the man notices that some of his
two or three year old trees are dying what could be the cause?
The ground may be too dry.

The ground may be damp but the trees may not be
getting enough food.

118 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

If the ground is too dry :

i. -How water these trees? Ref. n, pp. 107-109.

1. When water?

2 . How much water shall he give the trees ?

3 . How water so that roots will get the water ?

IV. How then shall he care for these trees by watering them?

Conclusion: For trees two to four years old give twenty to
twenty-five gallons of water every week or ten days. Make
around the tree a basin as large as the crown of the tree. The
basin should slope from the tree to the outer edge of the basin
which should be about eight inches deep. Pour water into this
trench slowly. To keep this water about the roots, fill in basin
with loose dirt and keep dirt loose.

If trees are not getting enough food :

2. How see that trees get food? Ref. 7, pp. 11 4-1 16.

Ref. 11, pp. 109-110.

1. What food does the tree need?

2 . In what condition must soil be to make it possible for
tree to get food?

3. How give tree more food?

2. Repeated.

Conclusion: Improve the soil, either by spreading stable
manure over the ground in the fall and raking it off in the spring,
or by an application of the dressing suggested in reference 7 page
115 or the one suggested in reference 11 page no. These appli-
cations will not only supply food but they will also make the soil
porous so that the trees can more easily get the food.

Some of the trees were planted near the street. The trees are
now fifteen years old and the lower limbs annoy people who pass
along the street.

3. How cut limbs- off? Ref. 7, pp. 1 16-123.

Ref. 8, pp. 1-12.
Ref. 9, pp. 169-17 1.
Ref. 11, pp. 1 10-135.

1. Which shall be cut off?

2. When prune?

ragland] STUDY FOR GRADES SEYE.X AXD EIGHT 119

3. How cut off these limbs?
What tools shall be used ?
Where make the cuts ?
How make the cuts?
4. How treat the wounds'

3. Repeated.

Conclusion : If the tree is less than twenty feet high prune to
one-half the height. If larger prune all limbs from ten to twelve
feet above the ground. A saw with narrow but strong blade
and pruning shears are said to be the best tools. When branch
to be cut is more than an inch in diameter make two cuts one
about a foot from the trunk and the other one close to the shoulder.
Paint wound with coal tar that has been heated to the boiling
point for twenty or thirty minutes.

In Oxford very little damage is done by smoke and none from
gas. but many trees are severely damaged by overhead wires,
regrading, horses, and improper use of guy ropes by contractors.
Individual cases are cited and questions 4, 5, 6, and 7. are raised
in any order which seems best.

4. How protect from horses? Ref. 7, pp. 129-132.

Ref. 11, pp. 155-158.
Conclusion: Protect from horses by providing hitching
posts, putting up signs, "Do not Hitch Here," passing city ordin-
ances forbidding men to tie animals to the trees, but best of all
by providing all street trees with suitable guards.

5. How protect from overhead wires?

Ref. 7. pp. 125-127.

Ref. 11, pp. 146-148.
Conclusion : The most effective way to protect from overhead
wires is to have ordinances passed requiring all public utilities
to lay underground wires. Where this cannot be done it is best
not to plant where damage is sure to come from overhead wires.
Trees already planted can be protected by denying to companies
the privilege of attaching wires to trees and insisting, wherever
possible that the devise suggested in reference 11 page 148 be
used for passing wires through trees.

6. How see that no damage is done by guy wires?

Ref. 7, pp. 127.
Ref. 11, pp. 155.

120 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

Conclusion: Wooden strips should be placed between wires
or ropes and the tree.

7. How protect when regrading? Ref. 7, pp. 127-128.

Ref. 11, pp. 153-154-

Conclusion: Protect shade trees during regrading by placing
wells around them when fills are made, or leaving a mound around
them when soil is removed.

Since the hard maple, soft maple, ash, lindens, and the catalpa
speciosa have been damaged but little by insects and disease
we have not considered the question of their control in connection
with this problem. This year we noticed how the parasites
were controlling the second generation of the catalpa sphinx
which for the first time bothered the catalpas of Oxford.

A stray horse wandered into this man's lot, grazed for a time,
and then commenced to gnaw a hard maple. The owner did
not notice the tree until it had commenced to decay.

9. What can he do for this decaying maple?

Ref. 7, pp. 139-143.
Ref. 9, pp. 166-183.
Ref. 11, pp. 218-229.

1 . How remove the decayed parts ?

2. How treat the cavity?

3 . How fill the cavity ?

1. With what should the cavity be filled?

2. How put the cement into the cavity?

3 . How finish the filling ?

How treat this decaying tree?

Conclusion: Treat decayed tree by removing all decayed
parts, making the opening as narrow as possible. Sterilize cavity
with a copper sulphate solution. Water proof by covering with
molten coal-tar. Fill with concrete made of one part cement,
two parts sand, four parts crushed stone, and enough water to
make the mixture settle well into all crevices. Finish with a
mixture of one part cement, two parts sand, and water to form a
mortar. The filling must stop at a depth equal to the thickness
of the bark, the surface of the filling should be convex.

'Good little Bossy!*

Photo by Verne Morton

Humane Education

The Proper Care of a Calf
Pet calves were the special joy of the editor during her child-
hood; their big wondering, blue eyes, their playful awkward
jumping on stiff wide-spread legs, their manner of shaking their
tails to express laughter and many other of their calfish ways
afforded the keenest pleasure. Many a time have my shoes and
dress received an involuntary bath when I was teaching a calf
to drink, my arm bared and my fingers placed seductively in its
mouth to encourage it to drink the milk in the pail, when a sudden
bunt of the head given instinctively to cause a flow of milk in its
mother's udder, upset my pail and my patience as well. But the
innocent and grieved air the culprit invariable assumed as it
tried to get its nose into the spilled milk always condoned the
accident.

121

122 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

Housing and Shelter: There are more things necessary to a
calf's comfort than some people seem to think, first as to its pen
or stall which should be thickly bedded with straw ; a top dressing
of fresh straw should be added each day and the whole floor should
be thoroughly cleaned whenever it becomes damp and filthy.
There should be windows to give plenty of light and there should
be good ventilation but there should not be a draught as a calf
is likely to suffer from the effect of draughts; above all, the floor
of the pen should be dry and on a foundation and not simply laid
upon the ground as I have too often seen.

For summer shelter there may be a shed provided in one corner
of a field of grass or clover ; this need not be elaborate but should be
upon well drained ground and afford protection from rain and sun.

Food for the Calf: The first food of the calf should be its
mother's milk, since this cleanses its digestive tract; if this cannot
be fed, an ounce or two of castor oil should be given before it
is fed for the first time. If the calf gets its food from its mother
it should have three meals a day until three weeks old. If raised
by hand, it should be fed on warm (not hot but lukewarm) sweet
milk three times a day; this milk should be whole for a few days
and then gradually it may be skimmed until completely skimmed
milk is given. The feeding periods should be regular; this is of
utmost importance.

From six to eight pounds of milk per day should be given
during the first week; a pound should be added to this daily
ration every week until the food is changed; not more than ten
pounds should- be given any day. When a month old only skim i
milk should be given; when two or three weeks old a little grain
may be added by throwing a handful into the pail after the milk
has been drunk. After it has learned to eat grain it should be
given a feed box and when it is six weeks old it ought to be able
to eat each day a pound of mixture consisting of three parts corn
meal, three parts ground oats, three parts wheat bran, one part
linseed meal. Let the calf have a chance to nibble at clover hay
and it will soon add this to its ration.

Water should not be given until the calf is two months old and
then it should have constant excess to clear cool water.

The Care of the Calf: If strong and healthy, the calf needs fresh
air and exercise, so there should be a large yard adjoining its
stable in which it can run about. Its manger should be kept

drushel; NOTE OX VITALITY OF SEED CORX 123

clean, and the pail from which it is fed should be scalded everyday.

It is much easier to teach a calf to eat if it is not allowed to take
its food from its mother after the first meal. If it is troubled with
looseness of the bowels, less food should be given for a day or two.
If troubled with lice, crude petroleum should be rubbed along the
backbone, and underneath just where the legs join the body.

To Remove the Horns of the Young Calf: As soon as the young
horn can be felt by the hand, it should be removed; the hair should
be clipped from around it, then take a stick of potash, carefully
wrapped, so that it will not burn the fingers, dip in water and rub
it upon the tip of the young horn until the skin begins to loosen
and becomes red. Be very* careful not to touch the skin surrounding
the horn with the potash. This need not be applied but once.

A Note on the Vitality of Seed Corn Six Years old

J. Andrew Drushel
Harris Teachers College, St. Louis

In the autumn of 191 1 the writer selected three ears of Improved
Learning corn from a field grown by B. B. Weaver, Mt. Hope, Ohio.
After removing the husk these ears were brought to St. Louis
and kept in a drawer under ordinary laboratory conditions at
Harris Teachers College. A test in March, 1912, showed germinat-
ing qualities better than 90 per cent.

On March 24, 191 7, 172 dry grains were planted in a wooden box
(inside dimensions 20 in. by 13 in. by 2^/2 in.) of saw dust which
had previously been thoroughly soaked. This box was kept for
ten days on the gravel floor of one of the college greenhouses with
the temperature ranging from 65 to 70 degrees Fahr.

On April 4th the box was removed to the laboratory, at which
time 99 strong plants had appeared. Between April 4th and 12th
thirteen more appeared, making a total of 112 strong plants,
65 per cent, of the number of grains planted.

On May 4th these plants were removed and the saw dust was
examined revealing sixty grains which either failed to germinate
or to produce vigorous plants. In the light of the above it would
appear that corn growers might more profitably gather enough
seed corn for several years when the season is favorable to the
production of corn with good germinating qualities than depend
entirely on the corn produced from season to season.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except. June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, Si.oo per year (nine issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra; foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

T-r»Tnr)t"tjint Please note date of expiration of ycur subscription on the label of the
IIH^JvH Lctli I wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co. ,* Ithaca, N. Y. Manuscripts for Publication and Books to be revised should be sent to
the Editor.

Editorial

WAR AND THE SCHOOL GARDEN

Late in December a seedsman sent a large stock of bulbs left
on his hands from the fall sale to one of the schools in Washington —
too late for outdoor planting. Feeling that some use should be
made of them, classes of children were commandeered to plant
them for indoor blooming. While the children planted the
teacher talked of the beauty wrapped in the bulbs and the pleasure
they were preparing for later days. "But I should like it so much
better" said a boy, "if I were working for the soldiers."

War has its effect 'on every activity. The school garden this
season should take on the nature of the war garden. A garden
for food production to assist the great army at home is strictly
"working for the soldiers." Fewer bulbs were for sale last fall
and the number of purchasers greatly reduced. Tulip and
hyacinth borders, in consequence will be missed in many school
gardens. Beds of annuals will occupy less space. To a degree
this is correct teaching, for children should realize that every
penny spent unnecessarily is an aid to the enemy; every penny
saved is an aid to liberty and that all labor should directly lead
toward winning the cause for which we have enlisted. However,
with all the vacant lots at schools' disposal it is both extreme
and unnecessary to change a lawn into a potato patch or to destroy
the perennial garden — the garden of old friends, that has taken
so long to become established — in order to raise a few additional
cabbages.

124

EDITORIAL

125

The space cultivated by any group of children can be better
utilized by the elimination of all paths but the main ones. School
gardens laid out in the early days of the movement have the
individual plots separated by paths a foot and a half to two feet
wide. By omitting these more area for production and a more
businesslike garden are secured. The class becomes a closer
working unit, more easily controlled.

Experimenting should have little place in a school garden during
these times of stress. Crops that are known to be the best local
ones; that mature quickly; yield abundantly and are cultivated
with ease should be selected. Avoid planting crops that have
little food value.

Radishes have always been popular in the past. They bring
quick results which children always want, but they occupy much
space that could be used for root crops of greater food value.
Use them this year but sparingly to mark the rows for beets and
carrots and encourage the use of the tops for greens. No waste
should be countenanced. The school garden should be a model
for the neighboring home gardens not only in thrift and economy
of planting but in canning and drying excess products

In the final it all means harder work and greater sacrifice on
the teacher's part but it is a form of service that stands on an
equal footing with other forms of service the women of the country
are so self-sacrificingly engaged in.

Susan Sipe Alburtis.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS

Please note your expiration date and send in
your renewals promptly.

Owing to the increased cost of paper and print-
ing, also to the fact that The Nature-Studp Re-
view has not raised its subscription price, we will
print only enough magazines eaco month to cover
the subscription list and its normal increase.

A blue check on the wrapper indicates that
your subscription expires with this number.

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It

A Bird Calendar illustrated in color by the pupils in a
Rural School, New Bath, New York

126

The Teachers' Corner

It is time to be planning for the bird and flower calendars, for these are
great incentives to observation of bird and plant life. There are many types
of bird calendars and I should like to suggest that this year you try a separate
one each for March, April and May. I would suggest as a foundation for
the calendar of each month, a piece of card board a foot wide and perhaps
1 8 inches long. At the top paste on a picture which will represent the month
in some manner; for March there should be a snow scene, for April, a land-
scape with rain descending upon it from some quarter while May should show
an orchard in blossom. These pictures may be cut from illustrated magazines,
or preferably originals in water-color or colored crayons by the pupils in the
school. There might be a competition in the drawing class, the best ones to
be selected for the calendars. Below the picture should be two or three sheets
of lined quarto paper; each sheet should be divided into four columns, the
first for the name of the bird, the second which should be a narrow column
contains the date; the third tells where seen and the fourth by whom. If
the same bird is seen by two or three pupils on the same day a "ditto" may
be placed below the name of the bird and the date made by the first one who
made the record.

However many birds may have been seen in March, they should be recorded
again in the April and May calendars if they are seen during those months;
this will stimulate the children to keep on the alert and it gives them practice
in recognizing species.

If no appropriate picture can be found for the heading of the calendars
a picture of a bird may be used or the stanza of poetry which will represent
the month.

We have seen some very interesting calendars on larger sheets of card-
board, the record in the middle and a border of bird pictures made by the
children. These were colored with crayon or water color and were probably
copied from some bird books. Outlines of birds might be colored and then
cut out and pasted on the sides of the calendar.

The flower calendars should cover the months of April and May; they may
be ornamented with pictures of flowers drawn from nature by the pupils.

The original of the bird calendar shown on the opposite page contained
several sheets of card board — illustrated in color — and was made by the pupils
of Miss Jennie Schofield's School near Bath, X. Y. Miss Schofield's pupils
have won the first prize for bird calendars for two years at the Cornell Farmer's
Week Exhibit of Rural School Work.

127

News Notes

CALIFORNIA

The following letter fully illustrates the power of an idea when accompanied
by the service of an enthusiast. If Mr. Goethe keeps on, California will not
possess an unread roadside or nature book. Why cannot other states have
a Nature-Study League opening up nature's secrets to all the people by means
of the newspapers?

Sacramento, Cal., 1-5-16.
To the Members of the California Nature-Study League:

Someone has said that none of us know how far our influence may extend.
We have an example of this in the work of our "Nature-Study League."
Some of our members spent the summer vacation in Glacier National Park.
One of them was interested in the alpine flora. He had difficulty in obtaining
literature, although otherwise practically every arrangement had been made
for the convenience of visitors. This League member wrote President Hill
of the Great Northern Railway Company, which controls the Glacier Park
Hotels. He told President Hill o the work of our League to awaken a wider
interest in Nature-Study books. He asked if small nature-study libraries
might not be provided at each of their hotels and chalets, also at their tepee
camps, offering to make a contribution toward the fund if the Railroad Com-
pany would undertake the work.

The following is quoted from President Hill's reply: "We will adopt your
suggestion and see that the camps are supplied with suitable works on the
Montana Rockies." This happened because of the work of our League.
It shows how our influence may extend into unexpected quarters. Is not the
idea of small summer nature-study libraries worth further thought? Possibly
we may see the time when every summer resort in California will have its
Nature-Study Library at the very spots where such rich material is at hand.

Another news item: The use of our bulletins in the Sacramento City
Schools, at the suggestion of Superintendent of Schools Hughes, has pointed
the way to another opportunity. Letters are being sent to each California
County Superintendent of Schools offering the League's services gratis to the
schools of each county whose Superintendent is willing to make his office the
center of distribution to such schools. Already fifteen acceptances have been
received. The stories will therefore be henceforth used in hundreds of schools.

A third news item : Last month Mrs. Goethe and I took our regular quart-
erly tramping trip. The way crossed several mountain countries. We found
the stories from The Bee printed in the rural papers. This month we are
sending an invitation to 51 additional newspapers offering them the League's
Nature-Study service free if they will print the stories leading up to calls for
Nature-Study books at the County libraries. Trusting that the close of 19 18
will show further successes,

• Very earnestly,

C. M. Goethe.
Y. Z. 9

RHODE ISLAND
Providence — The teachers of the state recently received the following
invitation from Professor Vinal of the Normal School:

TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS OF RHODE ISLAND

You are asked to render a distinctly patriotic service by co-operation in
the solving of the country's food problem. Doubtless you already have
brought into your teaching, incidental to language lessons or as a part of
general sciences, the facts of food conservation. You are now asked to pass

128

NEWS NOTES 129

on vour suggestions to your fellow teachers. To facilitate this exchange of
ideas the R. I. Science Teachers' Association has arranged for an exhibit to
be held at the Normal School, Saturday, January 12, 1918, 10:00 a.m. to
1 p.m., lectures beginning at 11:20. Teachers, principals, and superin-
tendents should feel a professional responsibility for contributing their share
in a service that is so absolutely essential to the nation. Get an idea, place
it on a placard so that others will get it and send the exhibit to the committee
at the Normal School. %

The following speakers will give practical talks and demonstrations as to
what teachers can do in food lessons : (The first lecture will begin at 1 1 :20 a.m.

Professor P. H. Mitchell, Brown University; Mrs. Ida S. Harrington,
Home Economics Director for Rhode Island, and others.

The exhibit resulting from the hearty response by the teachers must have
been gratifying, to say nothing of showing patriotism. There were many
suggestions for teaching topics relating to the present food crisis. There were
charts showing food conditions at the time of the Civil War and at other
national crises; food lessons in geography ; suggestions for drawing food post-
ers; an exhibit showing that we must save for the soldiers with substitute
foods and correct combinations; Hoover lunches for the lunch box, prepared
by pupils; an exhibit of colored slides showing the foods of Narragansett Bay
that should be eaten and are not; foods that were eaten by the Indians and
the colonists but are now neglected. There were practical talks on simple
food experiments with lessons on foods. There were dialogues appropriate
for grade pupils written especially for the occasion — all relating to foods.

It must have been a most valuable exhibit and program, full of timely
suggestions. The teachers of Rhode Island are certainly very much alive.

The Rhode Island Horticultural Society has had during the present season
addresses on "Gardening for Women" by Miss Man* E. Cutter; on the "Provi-
dence County Farm Bureau and its Work," by Mr. David Elder; and on
"Small Fruits and Berries," by Mr. Wilfred Wheeler, secretary of the Massa-
chusetts Board of Agriculture.

The Providence Franklin Society is nearly 100 years old, being incorporated
in 1 823 for the purpose of interesting people in physical and natural sciences.
It meets everymonth in Rhode Island Hall, Brown University. All interested
are invited to attend and to bring specimens. On January 23d the subject
was, "Fossils Flora of Rhode Island" by Miss Marion Weston, and on Feb.
6th, "Recent Flora of Rhode Island," by Miss Eda Round.

The following announcement makes you know that Rhode Island is one
of earth's pleasant spots and that you would like to belong to this club:

RHODE ISLAND FIELD NATURALISTS CLUB

On Saturday evening, January 26th, 1918, at eight o'clock, the usual
January Meeting of the Club will be held in the Lecture Room of the Provi-
dence Public Library. Short business meeting.

Instead of a formal lecture as in past years, we are to have a number of
short talks by some of our members, as follows: "Experiences of a Natural-
ist," William G. Vinal; "Bird Banding," Harry S. Hathaway; "Hunting
Tigers in Rhode Island Jungles," Dr. E. E. Calder; "Jogging the Memory"
(illustrated), Prof. J. Franklin Collins.

130

NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W

[14:3— Mar., 191S

You will see this is to be an extraordinary meeting. You will miss a treat
if you are not there. Willis E. Chandler, President.

Martin Bowe, Secretary.

Special Request: Will you kindly bring to this meeting a written suggestion
for one trip to be taken next season?

Miss Schofield's School

NEW YORK

Bath. In the rural school at Unionville, three miles from Bath, some genuine
nature-study is being done under the direction of Miss Jennie Schofield. The
twenty -one boys and girls are doing things.

They have learned to recognize trees by their leaves so that on a recent
trip some of them could write down the names of as many as 29 out of 32 as
fast as their teacher pointed them out. No one above the first grade knew less
than 12. They have made leaf collections for themselves and for the school,
and are now learning identification of leafless trees, besides making a thorough
study of the Norway Pine.

In their school herbarium they have over 60 wild flowers and weeds which
they have collected during the noon hours, and pressed and labelled. Their
collection of weed and other seeds they have placed in small bottles to be
mounted and labelled with name, name of pupil, and grade.

The boys have built a terrarium in which they watched caterpillars spinning
their cocoons, or burying themselves in the ground.

Their aquarium has contained all the fall, a tadpole which had developed
its hind legs, and two black-nosed dace, caught in his hands by a little boy
at a nearby brook. The dace and the tadpole had lived happily together for
more than five weeks, the fish nearly doubling in size on a diet of fish food.
A recent cold snap in the weather cracked the glass of the aquarium, so the
boys decided to release the inhabitants.

THE BOOK SHELF

Around the Year in the Garden. Frederick Frye Rockwell. The Macmillan
Company. 350 pages. Illustrated. Si-75-

The author says in his foreword that this book is designed for the busy man
or woman whose spare time available for gardening is limited, and who,
consequently, is interested in utilizing even* hour to the best purpose.

The book begins in an engaging manner by getting people to thinking about
their gardens in January. Nothing is so fascinating to the gardener as plan-
ning the spring and summer work. This and getting tools ready and ordering
seeds, occupy January. February brings a definite plan of this year's gardens,
— vegetable and flower, and starting seeds in the greenhouse and planning
fertilizer for the soil. Mr. Rockwell's plan for March must be for a more
Southern climate than ours but might be used for April, — for he begins plant-
ing out of doors in this month. However, he plans definite work for each week
— including planting, cultivating, weeding, spraying for insect and fungus pests
mulching for the dry weather, summer pruning, and tells which week of
which month we are liable to have to look after a special crop. There are
specific directions for planting and care of all the plants grown in the flower
and vegetable gardens. Directions are given for building a hot bed and cold
frame, and various ways suggested in which concrete may be used to help in
gardening. Methods of tree doctoring are described, — also the making of
winter window gardens. Around the Year in the Garden is certainly a most
complete and helpful manual.

The Strawberry in North America. S. W. Fletcher, Professor of Horticulture
at The Pennsylvania State College. 227 pp. with 26 illustrations.
Published by the Macmillan Co. $1.50.
This book completes a survey of the strawberry as grown in North America,
dealing mainly with the origin and history of the North American type
Modern cultural methods are presented in a companion volume, "Strawberry
Growing." The book is divided into six chapters; the first taking up the
early history of the fruit beginning with strawberries in the colonial days;
the wild strawberries of Virginia, New England and the West and gives the
first steps in the domestication of the wild strawberry. It then goes on to the
beginning of garden culture and the beginning of commercial culture near
Boston and New York speaking of the yield and the prices at that time. Then
the introduction of the Hovey strawberry, its origin, first novelty and its
unsatisfactory results. The extention of the commercial culture from 1838-
1854.

131

132 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918

The next chapter takes up the rise of commercial strawberry growing
beginning with the introduction of the Wilson, its origin, immediate popularity-
good points and objectionable features; also its competitors, the Crescent
and Sharpless. Contrasting methods of culture; field culture at Cincinnati,
market garden at Pittsburgh and the special cultural methods such as hot-
beds and strawberry mounds. The improvement in transportation facilities:
extention of railroads, ventilator cars and introduction of the refrigerator cars.
One section of this chapter is given up to the early history of some of the older
strawberry districts, such as New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and another
chapter gives a specially interesting history of the experiences in pollination
of the blossom. Then follows a chapter very interesting and complete upon
the origin and botany of the strawberry, another on the Desirable Characters
in a Variety, and a last and most important one on breeding. Professor
Fletcher has given us in this volume an interesting straightforward and compre-
hensive account of the history and cultivation of this favorite fruit.

A Textbook on Botany for Colleges. Part II. By William F. Ganong, Pro-
fessor of Botany in Smith College. Published by The Macmillan Com-
pany.

While Part I of the author's text deals with "The Structures and Functions
of Plants," Part II is devoted to "The Kinds and Relationships of Plants."
Plants are here considered (i) in the light of their evolutionary kinships and
(2) in relation to their ecological habits. Somewhat less than half of the book
is necessarily concerned with Algae and Fungi as in these groups are found
much evidence as to the origin of the higher forms. Those groups of Fungi
which produce diseases of plants are briefly but clearly discussed and fully
illustrated as their economic importance demands.

In considering the Spermatophyta, both Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons
are treated under three series, — A. Primitive; B. Differentiated; C. Specia-
lized, as well as according to their taxonomy. The last chapter treats of the
Ecological classification of plants.

As one might expect, Professor Ganong's text is delightful for its clearness,
its conciseness and scholarly simplicity, resulting from his long experience and
well known interest in the teaching side of botanical science.

M. E. H.

FISH NUMBER
5f <S> • t?J *5* A *5* • *5> <5> • • & tifr tifr tSf

Devoted Primarily to all Scientific Studies
of Nature in Elementary Schools

Vol. 14 No. 4 APRIL, 1918

One year (nine issues) $1.00

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF

AMEMCAN MAT
STU©¥ S0CH

Whole No. 117
15c per copy

9

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<5; t5f t5> t5> i5; *•> tSf t3; tS> tSt tSt tS* tSt tSt tSt tS*

A Silver Fin Shiner

Photo from living specimen by G. C. Embody

Books are Worth-while Gifts

THE PET BOOK

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A book full of unique nature-lore about the little
brothers and sisters of the field and hedge and tree
and burrow, their tricks and traits. Frontispiece in
color by Fuertes. 310 pages plus 117 full-page plates.
Library buckram binding, $2.00; postpaid $2.15.

(On the recommended School Library list of Wisconsin.)

NATURE SONGS AND STORIES

CATHERINE CREIGHTON

Beautiful pictures, clever little stories and eighteen
"singable" songs are here used to present Nature-
Study to little folks. Special illustrations by Fuertes,
Anna C. Stryke and Verne Morton. 76 pages 75c;
postpaid 80c.

HOW TO KNOW THE BUTTERFLIES

JOHN HENRY COMSTOCK and
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A Manual of the butterflies of the eastern part of
the United States. 45 colored plates, 50 other illus-
trations.

320 pages. $2.50. Postpaid $2.70

TREES AT LEISURE

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A tree lover's tribute to her favorites of the field
and woodland during their season of winter rest
A book that will be treasured by all out door lovers.
Beautifully illustrated. Postpaid 50c

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, New York

Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14 April, 1918 No. 4

A Fish Pond for the Farm Boy

James G. Xeedham

Here is a home enterprise that I can commend to any one who
has a place for it, and that I especially commend to the farm boy.
It is a home fish-pond, to be made, like the home garden, a perman-
ent part of the farm equipment — a place to raise things, a source
of choice products for the table, and a place for pleasant recreation.
Especially at the present time do I commend the home fish-pond ;
for the boy who will establish and carefully manage one may
accomplish all these good ends:

i . He may add to the food supply. Probably there is no equal
area of the farm that will yield so much good food as will the por-
tion included in a good fish-pond, or that, when once established,
will yield it with so little labor.

2. He may make money; for the products of the fish-pond,
fresh from the water, are more than ordinarily salable.

3 . He may add to the beauty and to the market value of his
home place; for there is nothing in nature more beautiful than a
clean pond with attractive shore lines, its mirroring surface
reflecting tree and cloud and sky. Then, too, a pond may best be
put where it will eliminate a swale or boggy place that has been
both an eyesore and a breeding place for mosquitoes.

4. He may find new means of recreation; for a fish-pond,
besides being a good place in which to fish, may be made a good
place in which to swim in summer, or on which to skate in winter.

5 . He may become a leader and a pioneer in a new enterprise,
that is now in its infancy, and that is destined to be widespread in
the future.

Not everybody can have a fish-pond, because more water is
necessary than some farms have to spare; but many farms have
permanent streams with good water running away all the time.

133

134

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

House

m

0 o

3 O

3 O

> 0

f>ASTORfe.'

H ' &>4 WW

In the low swale by the streamside — not in the bed of the stream —
is the place to make the pond, and preferably near the house for
convenience in giving it the necessary attention. Considerable
labor is required for the making of a pond, but fortunately this
work needs to be done but once. Fortunately, also, in these days
of labor shortage, the best time for doing it is the dry season follow-
ing harvest, the
slack time on the
farm. A few days
work with men
and teams using
plow and scraper
will do it. Of
course, the boy
will have to be
helped with this
heavy work; but
any farmer should
be willing to give
his boy this start.
The home fish-
pond is managed
like the home
poultry-yard ;
hence, it must be
so built as to be always under control. An outlet from the bottom
of it must be provided, so that it may be entirely drained when
necessary ; and the intake from the stream must be so constructed
that the pond will not receive the silt and floating trash from
floods. The accompanying plan suggests a suitable arrangement.
If I were giving a boy specific instructions for making a pond, I
would say that the necessary order of procedure is the following:
i. First, construct the pond basin. Scrape out on the side
next the stream sufficient earth to make overflow of flood waters
impossible, else silt will fill the basin up again. Scrape the rich
black muck out over the edges to level up the bordering lowlands
making of them all dry and productive soil. Deepen the center
well below danger of freezing. Leave the banks gently sloping.
If the bottom is too soft to drive a team across, hitch a cable to the
scraper and use a few pulleys. A gasoline engine and a hoist with

A Farm Fish-pond. Dotted lines indicate contours of
the slope going down from the house. D is a cup-
shaped elevation of the pond bottom for retaining a
little water into which live fish may be dipped
when draining off the pond. B is a clump of birch
trees, planted here for the sake of their reflection.
W is willows on the embankment furnishing a little
shade. L is a bed of water lilies.

A FISH POND FOR THE FARM BOY

135

quick return, such as is used for filling the barn with hay, will make
shorter work of the excavating.

2. Then construct inlet and outlet, as already suggested.
Specific directions and plans may be found in Dr. G. C. Embody's
bulletin on The Farm Fish-Pond, a copy of which may be had on
application to the New York State College of Agriculture at Ithaca.

3 . Then let the water en-
ter through proper screens,

• so as to have no fishes in
the pond except such as you
want to raise.

4. Then plant the pond
with suitable aquatic vege-
tation, and do not intro-
duce the fish until you
have provided something
for them to eat. Like
chickens, fishes require food.
The common pond weeds,
such as grow in any sub-
merged meadow in shoals of
lakes and natural ponds,
are most valuable. You
may easily get plants for
stocking by hauling them
out of such shoals on a loop
of barbed wire drawn slowly
through the water. Plant
the sprays of pond weed
singly all over the pond bot-
tom. This may be quickly

done by pressing a handful of stiff clay about the base of each
stem before throwing it into the water; it will then sink to the
bottom and take root there. In a few weeks the pond weeds will
be found to shelter an extensive population of small crustaceans
and insects suitable for food of fishes.

Plant also a few of our beautiful native flowering plants, such as
water lilies, pikerel-weeds, and forget-me-nots, at the edge for
ornament. Plant willows on the bank to hold it against future
washing of the stream, and to give partial shade.

The ruffled pond- weed: one of the most
useful and ornamental of submerged
water plants.

136 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

5. Finally, when everything is ready, put in the fishes. Use
small fishes of nearly uniform size. National and state fish com-
missions stand ready to supply these on application, and to give
advice as to the kinds best adapted to different localities.

6. Go out and catch your fish, first giving them time to grow to
table size, keeping, the while, an eye on the pond to see that every-
thing is working properly. The water should be always clear and
sparkling by reason of the oxygen continually liberated from the
pond weeds. The water meadows should grow dense and full of
forage. If pond-scums grow extensively, add a few alga-eating
fish, like goldfishes or golden shiners, to keep them down. Once
properly set agoing there is little to do with such a pond as this
except to catch your fish; and the methods you use in catching
them will vary much according as you do it for business or for
sport.

DR. SHUFELDT, A TRUE PATRIOT

At his own request, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt has been returned to the active
list of the Medical Corps of the Regular Army, and has been detailed to the
Army Medical Museum, in Washington. Although Dr. Shufeldt is deeply
interested in his research work, he feels that now is the time when his country
needs the aid of every man and so he has cheerfully given his services.

Fig. 21. The Blind Angler. See page 140.

The Physiognomy of Fishes

R. W. Shufeldt, M.D.

A part of a paper read before the Aquarium Society of Washington, D. C.

When we employ the terms physiognomy in its restricted
sense, it is taken simply to mean the art of character-reading
in man through a study of what his facial features indicate.
It is further defined as the art of ascertaining the general charac-
teristic qualities, mental as well as temperamental, of a person
through similar observations. Some of the researchers in this
field still further extend the domain of physiognomy, including
in it character-reading in mankind through a study of not only
facial indications, but of the entire body as well, both in health
and disease; when at rest or in motion, and when hfe is extinct.
It also refers to fortune-telling from the face, and finally to the
configuration of any object, even including a landscape. These
last two definitions do not concern us here; and the way the term
is usually defined in our best lexicons fails to come up to what the
legitimate scope of physiognomy really is.

In the first place, if what it represents to us, either in face or
form, is correctly interpreted, and the ascertained facts systemati-
cally recorded, it ceases to be mere art, and unquestionably
passes into the realm of the anatomical and physiological sciences.
More than this, it should, fn its application, be taken to include
not only the representatives of our own species, but of all other
animals, as far down the scale as to include those that exhibit
any characters or movements of the face and body, which indicate
to the mind of the observer, their meaning in the individual
exhibiting them. Meanness of character; viciousness of temper,
cowardice, hate, sympathy, and numerous other characteristics
and emotions, are as distinctly indicated, when well pronounced
in the face of an ape, or a dog, as in most men and women. This
being the case, animal physiognomy should be defined as the
science of determining some of the characteristics and tempera-
ments of individuals, through a study and comparison of what the
face and form presents at all times during health and disease,
and after life has become extinct. Phrenology is but a department
of physiognomy, and both have not a little in common with
comparative psychology.

137

138 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

With this in mind, and confining ourselves to the consideration
of the facial features and what they may indicate, 'it may be
pointed out that there are two principal views that can be taken
of a face — the view en face and the view en profile.

Passing for the moment to the great fish group or Pisces, we
find that representatives of every group in the system, up to
include mammals, all possess a facial part of the head, which
is very different when viewed en face from en profile. In all the
groups below mammals, however, there is little or no variation
in the facial expression, beyond what the eyes often expresses
associated with what the mouth is capable of expressing. This
is due to the fact that there is, in all these forms, an almost com-
plete absence of anything approaching muscular play and flexibility
of such facial muscles as may be present in these types.

In considering fishes, it is proposed here to ignore their phy-
siognomy as viewed en face, although being, in nearly all instances,
most important and interesting, and confine our observations
to the marvelous variations that are to be seen when we come to
compare the 12,000 or 13,000 fishes of the world now known to
science, en profile.

A very large number, if not the majority of fishes of the world's
ichthyfauna, present, upon the side view of the head, an outline,
with its included features, that may be referred to a common
type. Average examples of this may be seen in our common
black bass, in the perch, and in the various species of sunfishes
of the American rivers and streams. It is, to all intents, triangular
in shape, the base of the triangle being represented by the line
joining the first vertebra of the spine and the point immediately
below it in the ventral region, the mouth being in the anterior
angle. Sometimes the head is very deep, in which case this
angle is very obtuse; while in other species the head is more or
less narrow from above, downwards, and as a consequence this
anterior angle becomes, to a greater or less degree, acute. Further,
in the generalized head to which reference is made, the eye is of
moderate size, the gape rarely being carried posterior to that organ.
All the bones found in the side of the head are here, too, of the
simplest form, and as they occur in the group generally. No
unusual spines or other appendages are to be met with projecting
from any of these bones, — indeed, all the other structures and
characters are similarly presented in their greatest simplicity,

shlfeldt] THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF FISHES 139

as we find them in typical fish forms in the waters of the globe
everywhere.

When we come to study the heads of other fishes, however,
with this simple one in hand, it is truly astonishing to observe
the amount of variation that has taken place throughout all the
families known to us. There is no structure of this part of the
ichthyic economy which has not been powerfully altered in some
way or another. Cephalic organs have either been greatly
exaggerated, or else entirely suppressed. The skull as a whole
in not a few species has become so thoroughly distorted and
twisted that, in a few instances, it almost ceases to resemble the
head of a fish. Others have remarkable appendages attached to
the head, and these are of a great variety of kinds and forms.
One group at least, with numbers of its allies near and remote,
have the skull turned completely sidewise, with both eyes rotated
to one side. Flounders and their congeners well represent these.

Passing now to a consideration of the profile of the head in
various groups of fishes, it may be noted that, in some instances,
this configuration has been likened to the fancied resemblance
to other animal forms, or even to inanimate objects. As an
example of the former, the Sea Horse {Hippocampus hudsonius)
may be cited (Fig. 20), the anterior third of its body bearing a
certain resemblance in outline to a maneless horse in miniature;
while upon the other hand Selene vomer (Fig. 14) has also been
called in the vernacular "horse-head," the "moon-fish," and also
the "look-down"; there are no end of instances of this kind.

In many fishes the elongation of either the upper or the lower
jaw is, in the adult, a permanent feature of the face, and in not a
few instances it has its uses. Such a modification is well exempli-
fied in such forms as the Common Paddle-fish (Polyodon spatula) ;
in the well-known saw-fish (Fig. 2), and in many others; while
in such a species as any one of the Halfbeaks, as Hyporhynchus
unifasciatus (Fig. 11) it is only the lower jaw which is unduly
prolonged. Occasionally the entire face is thus produced, and a
small mouth is present at its distal extremity, as we see it in several
species of the so-called Trumpeters, the Spotted Tube-mouth
being an interesting example (Fig. 12).

Appendages of various kinds, some of them having their actual
uses, appear on the heads of no end of various species of fishes.
These appendicular structures naturally add to the character
of the profile of the form possessing them.

140 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

In the Sucking-fish or Remora the dorsal fin has been curiously
modified into an elliptical sucking-plate on top of the head and
fore part of the body. It lends to the head of this fish a very
peculiar profile, well seen in either Echeneis naucrates or the
Remora brachyptera of a related genus. Often these head append-
ages are very simple, as we find them in the Catfishes ; or they may
be more numerous and elaborate, such as they occur in the
grotesque-appearing Sea Ravens of the Atlantic Coast of America
(Hemitriplerus americanus, Fig. 17).

Examples of where these appendages may be of actual use
are to be observed in a large number of those most extraordinary
of all fishes, the small, deep-sea ones, which often live one or two
miles below the surface of the ocean. Thousands of forms occupy
that region of which we have as yet no knowledge whatever.

The late distinguished naturalist of Norway, Prof. Robert
Collett, described one of the most marvelous of these deep-sea
fishes, and my own illustration of it may be found in the Century
Dictionary. It has been named Linophryne lucifer, and was
collected off Maderia in 1007. One of its popular names is the
Torch-fish, for the reason that it bears upon its snout a little
electric torch, while back of its chin there is to be found a flexible,
whip-like little appendage, with a feathery, free end to it. This
by the aid of the aforesaid light, is used to attract small fishes,
and when these unwittingly swim about the entrance of the great
mouth and jaws of this species, he darts forward and seizes as
many as he can of them for his meal.

Another good example of this is the so-called "Blind Angler"
(Mancalius shufeldti), originally described by the late Dr. Theo. N.
Gill, and named genetically Typhlosaras shufeldti, he supposing
that the fish possessed no eyes. These organs were subsequently
discovered, however, by Mr. Todd, who figured the only specimen
of this fish at present known (Fig. 21).

Many Sharks and not a few of their allies possess very remark-
able physiognomies. In them the snout is produced forwards,
and the mouth is upon the under side, often far back as in the Cat
Shark, a deep-sea species known to science as Scylliorhinus
profundorum (Fig. 1).

Chimera affinis (Fig. 3), a species three feet long and related
to C. monstrosa, occurs in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Its head on profile might remind one of any of the fabulous beings

shufeldt]

THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF FISHES

141

PIG. 1. The Cat Fhark (Scylliorhinus profundorum). Fig. 2. Saw Fish
(two views of its beak) (Pristis peclinatus): greatly reduced as in the
cases of all the other figures. Fig. 3. Elephant Fish (Chimera affinis).
Fig. 4. Snipe Eel (Labtchtys carinatus). Fig. 5. One of the "Gulpers"
(Saccopharynx ampulla). Fig. 6. Gastroslomas biirdii, a still more
extraordinary form of gulper. Fn;. 7. Aleposomas copei. Fig. 8.
Profile of Argyropelecus olferi, the Silvery hatchet. Fig. 9. Four-eyed
Fish {Anableps dovii). Fig. 10. Blind fish from the Mammoth Cave of
Kentucky \Amblyopsis spekeus). Fig. 11. One of the Halfbeaks
(Hyporhamphus unifasciatus). Fig. 12. A Trumpeter (Anlostomis
maculatus), Florida. Fig. 13. The Marian (Holocentrus marianus).
Fig. 14. The Look-down or Moon fish (Selene vomer). Fig. 15. Gram-
micolepis brachiusculus of Poey. Fig. 16. The Porcupine fish (Diodon
hystrix). Fig. 17. A Sea Raven (Hemitriplerus americanus). Fig. 18.
One of the Stargazers (Kathetostoma albiguttj). Fig. 19. Head of a
Flounder seen from above.

of the monster order of fairy-land. They are called Elephant
fishes, but for what reason it is not said. Doctor Jordan described
the common Chimera, stating that the name was derived from a
Greek word meaning "fabulous monster, with the head of a Hon,
body of a goat, and tail of a serpent." It has a very rotund face,
the very opposite of which is seen in Fig. 4, one of the Snipe Eels
(Labichthys carinatus) of the Gulf Stream, a fish with its jaws
drawn out to almost needle-like proportions; it has allies with
equally strange-looking profiles.

Gulpers of the Atlantic deep-sea fauna almost seem to have
surrendered their title to being fishes at all, and surely the profile
of any one of them is a long ways from the typical ichthyic contour.

142 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

Saccopharynx ampulla is one species of these, and it will swallow
a fish very much larger than itself. Four species are known,
the one just named being six feet long, its tail being four times
the length of its body (Figs. 5 and 22). With even a more
capacious mouth, and an almost microscopic eye, the Gastrotonnus
bairdii is to be reckoned among the most remarkable of existing
deep-sea fishes. It was taken off the Newfoundland Banks, in
1467 fathoms of water, and it measures in length some eighteen
and a half inches, of which only six and a half inches can be claimed
by the body (Fig. 6). On the other hand, we meet with deep-sea
species with unusually small mouths, and many years ago I
described the osteology of one of these. We still have but one
specimen of it, which was purchased in the Havana markets in

Fig. 22. The Gulper {Saccopharynx nmpulla).

1872 by Prof. Philipi Poey, who named it Grammicolepis brachius-
culus (Fig. 15), impressed as he was by its short pectoral fins and
linear scales. As in other deep-sea species, it possessed very large
eyes, but not as large as we find them in such forms as Aleposomus
copei (Fig. 7), of which a specimen three and one-half inches in
length was taken in 2099 fathoms of water, or in Holocentrus
marianus (Fig. 13), a very spiny deep-sea species, with as many
bones in its skeleton as a shad. Indeed, its specific names is from a
negro word, marian, meaning "tough and bony."

Another deep-sea species with a grotesque profile is the "Silver-
hatchet" (Argyropelecus olferst, Fig. 8). This fish goes down to
the greatest depths in the daytime, and only comes to the surface
at night. It belongs in the open Atlantic fauna, and has been
taken off the coast of Norway, Brazil, and South Africa.

The matter of eyes as pertaining to the profile or lateral
physiognomy of fishes is very interesting. They often become

shufeldt] THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF FISHES 143

very large in order to gain the light to see, as in examples already
described; but where the light is permanently withdrawn the
species in time loses its eyes entirely, instances of which are to
be observed in the famous blind fishes of the Mammoth Cave of
Kentucky and elsewhere in the United States. Amblyopsts
spelaus, a colorless species, is the name of the latter form, and,
being very tenacious of life, they make most interesting species to
study in aquaria.

When we come to look into the matter of eyes, however, and the
part they play in the physiognomy of many fish, there is no
stranger form in all the world presenting itself for our considera-
tion than the American "Four-eyed fish" (Anableps dovii. Fig. 9).
This species occurs at Panama in the Canal Zone. In it the
integuments of the eye are divided into upper and lower portions
by a dark-colored, transverse band of the conjuntiva, while at
the same time the pupil is incompletely divided into two by a pair
of lobes projecting from each side of the iris. This gives the fish
two pupils in either eye, in either orbit. One of these gazes
upwards and the other lateral-wise, the first employed for water
use, and the other for objects in the air; it is a surface species
that subsists upon insect food.

Related to the Puffers we have the Porcupine fish (Diodonhystrix,
Fig. 16), and a most remarkable profile it possesses. It has a
bony coat -of -mail, from which projects scores of needle-pointed
spines of many sizes, while in its mouth it has but two teeth
surrounded by fleshy lips. These fish grow to be three feet in
length, and their bellies are moderately inflatable as in their
allies, the Puffers and Swell-fish. My collection contains a fine
skeleton of one taken in Bermuda by the collectors of the New
York Aquarium.

Vertically slit mouths are by no means confined to the deep-
sea species, for our surface Stargazers (Katltetostoma albigutta)
present the same arrangement, and their profiles are rendered
correspondingly remarkable (Fig. 18). These species have a way
of settling down in the mud or sand of the bottom until the mouth
is flush with the latter. Here thev He in wait for the small fishes
which form their food.

144

NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W [ 14 :4— April, 1918

Fig. 20 One of the Sea Horses (Hippocampus hudsonius)
See page 139.

shufeldt] THE SEA HORSE 145

WHAT DR. JORDAN SAID ABOUT A SEA HORSE

"He was a little bit of a sea horse, and his name was Hippo-
campus. He was not more than an inch long, and he had a red
stripe on the fin on his back, and his head was made of bone, and
it had a shape just like a horse's head, but he ran out to a point at
his tail, and his head and his tail were all covered with bone. He
lived in the Grand Lagoon at Pensacola in Florida, where the water
is shallow and warm and there are lots of seaweeds. So he wound
his tail around a stem of a sea- wrack and hung with his head down,
waiting to see what would happen next, and then he saw another
little sea horse hanging on another seaweed. And the other sea
horse put out a lot of little eggs, and the little eggs all lay on the
bottom of the sea at the foot of the seaweed. So Hippocampus
crawled down from the seaweed where he was and gathered up all
those little eggs, and down on the underside of his tail where the
skin is soft, he made a long slit for a pocket, then he stuffed all the
eggs into this pocket, and fastened it together, and stuck it with
some slime. So he had all the other sea horse's eggs in his own
pocket.

Then he went up on the sea- wrack again, and twisted his tail
around it, and hung there with his head down, to see what would
happen next. The sun shone down on him, and by and by the
little eggs began to hatch out, and each one of the little eggs was a
little sea pony, shaped just like a sea horse. And when he hung
there with his head down he could feel all the little sea ponies
squirming inside his pocket, and by and by they squirmed so much
that they pushed the pocket open, and then even* one crawled out
and got away from him, and he couldn't get them back, and so he
went along with them and watched them to see that nothing should
hurt them. And by and by they hung themselves all up on the
seaweeds, and they are hanging there yet. And so he crawled back
to his own piece of sea-wrack, and twisted his tail around it again,
and waited to see what would happen next. And what happened
next was just the same thing over again." — David Starr Jordan
in Fish Stories published by Henry Holt, a very interesting book
for the school library.

A View Across the Hole Showing the Weepeckets in the Distance. Wood
Holes in the Foreground.

The Weepeckets

Elizabeth Dorothy Wuist, Ph.D.

Altho of no economic importance, the chain of three small
islands off Cape Cod about one-fourth of a mile from Nauschon,
one of the Elizabeth Islands, is of interest to bird lovers as the
summer home of hundreds of Terns. These little islands are
locally known as Weepecket, Wee Weepecket and Wee Wee
Weepecket. They vary in size from the largest Weepecket con-
taining ten to twelve acres to the least Weepecket with its quarter
of an acre of storm-swept sand and rocks.

To visit these islands it is best to take motor or row boat from
Woods Hole, Mass., and the most interesting time to do this is in
the early part of July for it is then that the little birds may be seen.
The only place on the journey which may offer any difficulty to the
motor or row boat is the narrows between Devil's Claw and Red
Ledge when a strong head tide is running between six and seven
knots an hour, as may be judged by the barrel buoy which tugs
at its moorings and rolls up the current before it. This point
passed safely and the minor waterway locally known as the "Gut"
or "Gutter of Cancer" crossed diagonally, the wider expanse of the
Hole is reached. Where the Hole widens into Buzzards Bay, the
old bell buoy stands guard and as it rocks to and fro it rings out
its warning with a doleful dong-dong. As there is no current out
in the Bay no further difficulties may be anticipated.

Gulls and Terns circle over head, now high, now low, or head in a
direct line for the Weepeckets, as if homeward bound from a suc-
cessful fishing trip ; others pass on their way back to the harbor to
catch the small fry that frequent the quiet waters. Suddenly a

146

wnsT] THE WEEPECKETS 147

bird will drop, plunging into the waters after an unlucky fish. As
the bird rises, its fellows are quick to note its success or failure ; if a
fish is held firmly in its bill they immediately give chase and each
attempts to snatch the fish. If it is dropped, in the bird's attempt
to escape from the pursuers, they give up the chase with cries of
seeming mockery.

Tall dark stakes with ropes stretched between them, silhouted
against the sky mark the fish traps. The tops of these posts offer
resting places where perch Gulls and Terns who seem to have
become wise as to the best fishing grounds and select these as
places of vantage from which to dive.

When the gravelly beach on the north side of Weepecket, the
largest of the three islands, is approached there is a whir of white
wings, accompanied by a din of shrill grating sounds, which seem
to carry warnings and threats, as the Terns, disturbed by the noise
of landing, rise into the air from the beach and nearby grass. The
birds do not fly away but continue to circle over head, while keep-
ing up their incessant irritating noise.

The boat anchored, one can wend his way along the sandy beach
just above tide water, always at the vortex of a whirling mass of
Terns which swoop down and utter their cries in close proximity to
one's head. By degrees the ears become accustomed to the sound
and the necessity of watching one's steps as well as the sight before
one causes the attention to be centered on the ground. Eggs are
everywhere; a broad and general estimate would indicate thous-
ands of nests containing from two to three eggs each. On the
sand, it is evident that the birds have made no attempt to construct
a nest as the eggs are in groups of twos and threes lying among the
stones. On the drift which consists of sticks, weeds, dried eel-
grass and sea weed very crude nests have been made by hollowing
cut a slight depression in the drift. The nests are scattered all
over the drift in a very precarious manner as it would seem to one
accustomed to seeing this part of the island later in the season,
when one good wave would sweep them away. However, this is
the shore least exposed to storms during the summer season. The
irregular placing of the nests with hardly a foot's space between
them requires care to avoid stepping on the eggs. When the eggs
are laid on the sand among the stones it is hard to distinguish them
frcm the stones. As one proceeds in and out among the nests, the
birds' cries become shriller. Thinking that the beach may be the

148

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

A bird with a broken wing.
A nest among, the shrubs.

Hiding.

A nest on the drift.

A young tern.

wuist] THE WEEPECKETS 149

favorite nesting place one turns his steps to the inner part of the
island which is covered with scattered bunches of low, coarse beach
grass. One soon finds that the beach is not the only inhabitated
portion of the island, in fact it seems doubtful if it is the preferred
location, but rather selected as the result of congested conditions or
inexperience on the part of younger birds. Here one finds the
small birds, apparently all of about the same age "still wearing a
ruff of down." They closely resemble little chickens and their
color blends from gray and olive-brown above to white below with
black spots scattered irregularly over the head, back and wings.
When the nests are approached they scurry away in different
directions and hide in the first place which seems to them to offer
protection. Often they thrust their little heads under a single
spear of grass and, confident that they are hidden, remain quiet
until actually touched. While the little birds are being hunted,
the frantic, screaming parent birds hover, dart and whirl almost
striking one with their wings.

Continuing across the island the ground rises gradually to an
elevation of twelve to fifteen feet, then slopes abruptly, on the
south, to a rocky coast. Altho this is the highest part of the island,
relatively fewer nests are observed as shrubs and bushes are lacking
and the coarse grass with an occasional thistle offers little protection
from the sweep of the wind. On the slope the eggs are in little
depressions or footholds in the ground. In some of these depres-
sions dried eelgrass is arranged in the form of a nest, in others the
eggs are on the bare ground.

Following along the elevation, as it gradually slopes toward the
west, the end of the island is soon reached. This is the narrowest
part of the island and consists of little more than two boulder
covered shores with a ridge of turf, eight to ten feet in width in
some places, and three to five feet in height between them. The
entire southwestern end of the island is sparcely covered with
dwarf Sumac, Bayberry and wild Roses. These shrubs vary in
height from two to three feet near the shore to five or six feet
farther inland. They doubtless afford shelter to young Terns that
have not yet learned to fly.

Here as on other parts of the island one is impressed by the large
. number of full feathered dead birds which they see. As no possible
enemy may be observed, the only animal one ever sees on the
island is a short-tailed mouse, and as the bird's plumage has prac-

150 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

tically no market value, one decides that the birds must have met
their death, either by accidents in taking flight or in attempts to
alight during storms.

Large signs, at either end of the island, warn the public that the
birds are protected by law and a reward is offered for the detection
of anyone molesting them.

Wee Weepecket, the second island in the chain lies about two
hundred to three hundred from the first island. Approaching it
from the east side it has the appearance of a high plateau with
wind-swept and spray-worn mud banks capped by a layer of
thick sod. This relatively level summit, eight to ten feet above
water level, slopes at an angle of sixty to seventy degrees down to
fringe of boulders, which nowhere offer a sandy beach as a landing
place. It is necessary to anchor the boat among the rocks, and
make one's way without some difficulties over the slippery, wet
rocks, in many cases covered by Fucus andAscophyllum, to land.
After climbing over the outer row of boulders an elevated mass of
gravel thrown up by the action of the waves is reached. Here one
does not receive as noisy a reception as they did on the Weepecket,
for the reason that fewer Terns nest here and many of these doubt-
less frightened by the cries and behavior of their companions on the
other island had already taken flight or joined their neighbors in
an attempt to drive off the common enemy. No nests are to be
found on the shore, doubtless, on account of the unhospitable con-
ditions existing there.

The top of the island is clothed by coarse beach grass with a few
scattered Bayberry shrubs. Here nests are found but they are
less numerous as the small size of the island and its level top offers
little or no protection from the winds which sweep this region.

The third and smallest of the three islands Wee Wee Weepecket,
lies about one hundred feet distant from the second island. It has
the same general appearance and offers the same difficulties of
approach. It contains only about one-fourth of an acre of land
and its surface is even more exposed to the sweep of the storms.
There is little of interest on this island as very few Terns nest here.
As one embarks and steers his course toward the harbor, the
Weepeckets lie in grim shadow behind. The shrill cries of the
Terns gradually die away in the distance, while the quiet lapping
of the water affords a restful change.

The Salmon

Jay R. Traver
Willoughby, Ohio

'With slender rod, and line, and reel,
And feather-fly with sting of steel,
Whipping the brooks down sunlit glades,
Wading the streams in woodland shades,
I come to the trouter's paradise;
The flashing fins leap twice or thrice;
Then idle on this grey bowlder lie
Mv crinkled line and colored fly,
While in the foam-flecked, glassy pool
The shy trout lurk secure and cool."

I think that Izaac Walton would have liked to go fishing with
Trowbridge, "to the trouter's paradise." Certain it is that trout-
fishing is fine sport, but more exciting game may be found that
belongs to the same family as the trout, and is fully as well-known
— the salmon.

Especially on the Pacific Coast salmon-fishing is carried on on
an enormous scale by the canneries. Of course for their purposes
nets are of more value than the hook and line, but for a true fisher-
man "the feather-fly with sting of steel" stands second to none.
The salmon may often be induced to snap at the line during their
spring or fall runs up the rivers and creeks and a big salmon is
exciting sport.

During the spring floods and again in the fall the runs of the
salmon occur. The full-grown fish come in from the ocean at these
times, apparently irresistibly drawn by the currents of fresh water
which sweep out from the flooded rivers. Great numbers of luck-
less salmon are caught in nets near the mouths of rivers at this
time. It is almost a tradition that salmon return for spawning to
the river in which they themselves were hatched, but rather recent
investigations tend to prove that there are absolutely no good
grounds for such a belief. It is true that a marked salmon may
return to the same river, but then again it may never be seen there
again. The reason for salmon returning to their own rivers, when
they do thus return, may well be attributed to the fact that the
salmon when in the ocean never wander far from shore, and when
the call of spawning season comes it may find them actually nearer
to the river where they were spawned than to any other. At any
rate, the salmon come in from the sea, apparently attracted by the

151

152 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

cold, fresh water in the rivers, and seeming anxious to remain in
this cold water.

They reach the mouths of the rivers, and here dally for some
time, as though at play, and not yet filled with any serious purpose.
This seeming play is accounted for in this way. The general body
of the fish is built in such a manner that the fish can progress most
easily with its head against the current, and it is in this position
that the salmon are found in their progress up the rivers. But in
the mouths of the rivers are two conflicting currents, the ebb tide
and the flood tide. When the tide ebbs out the fish journey against
the current up the river, but before they have gone far the full tide
overtakes them, and obeying the instinct to head against the cur-
rent, they face about again toward the sea. Each day they pro-
gress a little farther up the river, and finally get above the point
reached by the tides from the ocean.

When they finally really start up the river, their progress is
much faster. Salmon on the way to the spawning grounds do not
feed. Many investigations show that the pyloric orifice of the
stomach shrinks decidedly, so that the fish cannot feed. More-
over, in the males, both the premarillaries and the tip of the lower
jaw have been gradually more and more prolonged, till the jaws
either shut from side to side like a pair of shears or else the mouth
cannot be closed at all. While salmon will occasionally take bait
or flies at this stage of their journey, it does not seem to be because
they are hungry, but rather because the bobbing object irritates
them to a point of recklessness. Should you see the salmon now,
you certainly would hardly recognize it as the same fish that was
sporting about in the ocean a few short months ago. In the males
the peculiar changes in the jaws occur, while the teeth on the tongue
and vomer often disappear entirely ; the body becomes compressed,
and deeper at the shoulders; a distinct hump is formed at the
shoulders; the scales disappear, giving place to a spongy growth of
skin; the color changes to black and red or blotched. The flesh
of both sexes is now inclined to be streaked or very pale pink, owing
to the loss of oil. This is true more especially of the salmon of the
fall running:. As the spawning season approaches, the females also
change much in appearance. They lose their silvery color, become
more slimy, the scales on the back sink into the flesh. These
changes in both male and female are due to the growth of the repro-
ductive organs. It is probable that these organs are not far
developed when the salmon first enter the river mouths.

traver] THE SALMON 153

Now that the actual journey has begun, the salmon seem to be
in feverish haste to reach their goal. We can only guess as to
whether they know where and what it is, and our opinion is that
they do not know . We do not yet know enough about the impulses
caused by instinct, as we term most animal behavior, to say how
much the salmon know of the reasons for their strange migrations.
'At any rate, migrate up the rivers they do, and are not to be
stopped by possible obstacles in their path. The stories of the
marvellous leaps of the salmon are very familiar. Even quite
high falls the fish manage to leap — that is, the strongest do. This
seems to be another case of the survival of the fittest, and the con-
tinuation of the race through the medium of its strongest individ-
uals. The salmon may fail many times in their leaping, but per-
severe bravely ,even when bruised and torn on the rocks, so that
finally a goodly number work their way further up toward the
headwaters of the river.

The salmon, who have now overcome all obstacles ascend to the
headwaters, where, in the gravel beds, beneath the cold, swift -
running spring water, the eggs are laid. The male excavates a
hole in the gravel beneath rapid water, at a depth of one to four feet.
After the eggs are deposited, the hole is covered again with the
gravel. The adult salmon then start to descend the stream, tail,
foremost. During their trip up the river most of them have been
bruised or cut, their fins and tail broken, and their strength nearly
exhausted. Parasitic worms enter their gills, fungi begin to grow
on the wounded flesh, and it is now positively stated that all the
salmon die after spawning, long before they reach the ocean again.
Quoting from Jordan: — "In the Yukon, a few ascend to Caribou
Crossing and Lake Bennet 2,250 miles. At these great distances,
when the fish have reached the spawning grounds, besides the usual
changes of the breeding season their bodies are covered with bruises
on which patches the white fungus develops. The fins become
multilated, their eyes are often injured or destroyed, parasitic
worms gather in their gills, they become extremely emaciated,
their flesh becomes white from the loss of oil, and as soon as the
spawning act is accomplished, and sometimes before, all of them
die."

The young salmon hatch in 120 to 180 days. When hatched,
the young start for the shore. In the deep water are a great
number of enemies who love to gobble up baby salmon when

154 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

chance affords. Near the shore there are fewer enemies, and better
chances of obtaining nourishment. Dragonfly larvae, beetles, even
young trout feed upon the very tiny baby salmon now. The
salmon themselves feed on spawn of snails, shellfish, gnats, and
other small insects. As they become larger they in turn feed upon
the dragonfly larvae, the trout and the beetles. When about three
inches in length, they are known as "parr." When the young pan-
have attained a still greater size, they are termed " smelt." These
smelt seem to feel dissatisfied with their surroundings, and begin to
float downstream, perhaps in company with adult salmon that
have spawned. The smelts at any rate pass down the river and
finally enter the ocean. The salt water seems to make them
extremely hungry, and they soon become entirely accustomed to
their new surroundings. They live quite far down in the water,
but probably at no great distance from the river mouths. When
about three months old, weighing about five pounds, the young
salmon are known as "grilce." A salmon becomes an adult in
about three years. Although year-old grilce do enter the rivers to
spawn, most of the runs consist of the adult fish.

There are five varieties of the Pacific salmon, the blueback, the
dog salmon, the silver, the humpback, and the quinnat or king
salmon. Of these, the king salmon, called also the chinook, is the
most valuable. The salmon canneries on the Pacific Coast thrive
enormously, and canned salmon is well known everywhere. ' ' In
mid ocean, the great American canned salmon is often the best and
only fish afloat. In the jungles of the Far East, in the frontier
bazaar of the enterprising Chinese trader, it 'bobs up serenely' to
greet and cheer the lonesome white man who is far from home and
meat markets. Even in the wilds of Borneo its name is known and
repeated, and he who goes beyond the last empty salmon-tin, truly
goes beyond the pale of civilization. The diffusion of knowledge
among men is not much greater than the diffusion of canned salmon
and the farther Americans travel from home, the more they rejoice
that it follows the flag."

There are also Atlantic salmon, not so often heard of nor of so
much value commercially. Of these Atlantic salmon, the Ouaniche
is perhaps best known. These are truly fresh -water fish at the
present time, and are often termed 'land-locked salmon.' They
are perhaps the gamiest of any fish of the tribe of salmon. Van
Dyke speaks of them thus: "But the prince of the pool was the

traver] THE SALMON 155

fighting Ouananiche, the little salmon of St. John. Here let me
chant thy praise, thou noblest and most high-minded fish, the
cleanest feeder, the merriest liver, the loftiest jumper and the
bravest warrior of all creatures that swim! . . . The old
salmon of the sea who begat thee long ago in these inland waters
became a backslider, descending again to the ocean and grew gross
and heavy with coarse feeding. But thou, unsalted salmon of the
foaming floods, not landlocked as men call thee, but choosing of
thine own free will to dwell on a loftier level in the pure, swift
current of a living stream, hath grown in grace and risen to a better
life." All fishermen love a gamey fish, and the Ouananiche is
certainlv that.

No tale of fishes or fishing would be complete without further
mention of Izaac Walton and his august and learned opinion on
such subjects. So at the last let us turn to him for an all-inclusive,
brief description of salmon.

"The Salmon is accounted the King of fresh water fishes, and is
ever bred in rivers relating to the sea; yet so high, or far from it, as
admits of no tincture of salt, or brackishness. First, you shall
observe that usually he stays not long in a place, as Trouts will, but
as I said, covets still to go nearer the spring-head. And lastly, I
am to borrow so much of your promised patience, as to tell you
that the Trout or Salmon, being in season, have at their first
taking out of the water, which continues through life, their bodies
adorned the one with such red spots and the other with such black
or blackish spots, as give them such an addition of natural beauty
as, I think, was never given to any woman by the artificial paint
or patches in which they so much pride themselves."

Fish Fighting

The Siamese have cultivated a breed of fighting fishes. These little
duelists are not two inches long but they are full of grit. When in an amiable
frame of mind the fighting fish is dull colored but the moment he sees his foe
his fins and whole body shine with mettalic colors that are fairly dazzling.
He first sizes up his enemy and then darts at him trying to damage his side
or tail fins. Two will often fight until exhausted but still keep at it; and it is
sometimes difficult to part them. Often a sum equal to thirty or forty dollars
is bet upon a favorite fighting fish. A very interesting account of this fish
is given in the January number of Aquatic Life.

A Method of Fish Study For Beginners

G. C. Embody
Professor in Charge of Fish Culture at Cornell University

During the past summer it was learned that only a very few
members of a certain class for teachers of nature-study had ever
studied fishes. Two principal reasons were implied in the answers
to the question as to why this was so. First, specimens were
difficult to obtain and exhibit at the desired time, and second, the
names of even the common fishes were unknown and the keys were
too technical to be useful for beginners.

With reference to the first, it may be said that almost any
permanent stream or pond will yield a sufficient number of fishes
to start with. One need only to go after them with a hand net and
pail or in the absence of such an inclination, that boy, who is always
awaiting an excuse to go afishing, may be put to good use. Four or
five common fishes such as the horned dace, sucker, bullhead and
sunfish will serve to acquaint one with the different characters
upon which identification is based and when these are briefly
described in notebook there will be acquired a fair foundation for
continuing the work with the aid of keys.

In the nature-study work with which the writer has been
identified, fishes have come in for their share of attention with
other animals. It has been customary to use in the beginning just
the forms mentioned above, for they are quite generally distributed
throughout the northern states from the Mississippi River eastward
and they are easily identified after study by means of pictures to be
found in several good books on fishes. When classes were small
they were taken to the brook or pond and the various members
assisted in the capture of specimens which were studied immediately
in glass jars of water. In the case of large classes, it was necessary
to obtain specimens beforehand and to exhibit them in battery jar
or rectangular aquaria. Ten different kinds of fishes distributed
in as many aquaria gave ample opportunity for forty students
working at one time and by duplicating certain aquaria, a much
larger number was accommodated.

The plan of study consisted of three parts as follows :
i. Pointing out the recognition characters in the horned dace
and comparing with them those exemplified in the sucker, bullhead

156

embody] A METHOD OF FISH STUDY FOR BECIXXERS 157

and sunfish. This was accomplished by well directed questions
and with living specimens before the student.

2. Recording in notebook brief descriptions of the characters
exhibited by about ten different kinds of fishes. Here also living
specimens in aquaria were before the student and the work done
was largely individual although closely supervised by the teacher.

3. Classifying the fishes studied and working out individual
tables or keys for same.

An outline that has been found useful in recording the observa-
tions in part two, is reproduced here as properly filled out for the
horned dace. This may likewise form the basis of the question-
naire in part one. It should be noted that in describing recognition
characters one need only to underscore the particular term which
applies to the species in hand thus reducing the amount of writing
to a minimum.

FIELD NOTES OX FISHES

Outline
Name of Fish Horned Dace. Date Aug. 2, 1916.

See picture, page Waters visited Cascadilla Cr.

(Underscore the words applying to the particular apecies at hand.)

Where seen: small brook, creek, river, pond, lake

1. Kind of water: cold spring, warm; clear or roily; rapids or pool; in
vegetation or barren places .

2. Kind of bottom: mud, sand, gravel or rocks.
Body. Form: compressed or cylindrical.

Head. i. Form: compressed, depressed, conical.

2. Barbels or feelers: present, absent, minute.

3. Teeth: long and sharp, short and in pads, absent.

4. Operculum: with or without scales.

5. Cheek: with or without scales.

6. Mouth: terminal, subterminal; sub-superior; inferior.

7. Premaxillary bone: movable forward, or fixed.

8. Gill membranes: free or joined to isthmus.

158 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

Fins. i. Dorsal: equal to or shorter than anal fin where joined to body;
single, or partly or wholly divided;
soft rays only or both spines and soft rays; •
dorsal fin formula. D 7 or 8.

2. Adipose fin: present or absent ; free or joined to tail fin.

3. Caudal or tail fin: sketch its shape accurately.

4. Pectorals: armed with a spine or soft rays only.

5. Ventrals or pelvics: abdominal or thoracic in position.
Lateral Line: continuous, broken or absent; straight, curves upward or

downward.

Scales: large, medium, minute, wanting; smooth or rough. (To determ-
ine them, pass finger over side of body from tail towards head).
Color and Markings.

[ back Dusky.

1 . General ground color \ sides Bluish iridescence

{ under parts Silvery.

J location Sides 1 In young of both

2. Longitudinal stripes <{ extent Cheek to tail \ sexes

[ color Black j

[ location

3. Vertical bars \ extent None.

[ color

4. Spots, blotches, mottlings, brilliant coloration..

Location and color Black blotch in front lower angle of dorsal fin.

Sex Differences.

1. Pearl organs on male. Where? On head at breeding time only.

2. Conspicuous colors or markings on male. Where? Reddish on under

fins and belly at breeding time.
Food consists of what?

Aquatic insects, small crayfish, young fishes and occasionally algae.
Eggs. Where are they deposited?

In a depression in gravel shoals running water.
Does this fish guard eggs and young?
No parental care.
Miscellaneous.

In order to illustrate the third part of the program — classification
and key building — let us suppose that we have outlines filled out
for the following:

Horned Dace Brook Trout

Black-nose Dace Sunfish

Sucker Yellow Perch

Catfish Stickleback

embody] A METHOD OF FISH STUDY FOR BEGIXXERS

159

160 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

We may begin by directing the student to arrange the fishes in
two columns, one containing those in which the ventral fins are
abdominal in position and the other those where the ventral fins are
thoracic. Thus:

A. Ventral fins abdominal AA. Ventral fins thoracic

Horned Dace Stickleback

Black-nose Dace Yellow Perch

Sucker Sunfish

Catfish
Brook Trout

The fishes under A may be further sub-divided by the presence
or absence of an adipose fin :

B. Adipose fin present BB. Adipose absent

Catfish Horned Dace

Brook Trout Black-nose Dace

Sucker

The catfish may be separated from the brook trout as follows:

C. Barbels or feelers present, pectoral fin with spine, scales absent.
Catfish.

CC. Barbels absent, pectoral without spine, scales present but minute.
Brook Trout.

In like manner we may divide and sub-divide the successive
groups until we have finally separated each species from every other
and then arranging the different headings in commonly accepted
form, a key similar to the following is likely to result:
A. Ventral fins abdominal
B. Adipose fin present

C. Barbels present, pectoral fin with spine, scales absent. Catfish.
CC. Barbels absent, pectoral without spine, scales minute. Brook
Trout.
BB. Adipose absent

D. Mouth terminal, a black blotch in the lower front angle of the
dorsal fin. Horned Dace.
DD. Mouth subterminal, dorsal without black blotch, conspicuous
lateral stripe, passing through eye and tip of snout. Black-
nose Dace.
DDD. Mouth inferior. Sucker.
AA. Ventral fins thoracic.

E. Dorsal preceded by four or more free spines, ventrals reduced
to a single spine each. Stickleback.
EE. Spines in dorsal all joined with a membrane.

F. Dorsal wholly divided into two fins — Yellow Perch.
FF. Dorsal notched but not wholly divided, body deep about
equal to one-half the length. Sunfish.

sherwood] AN AUGUST DAY DUEL 161

The writer has found that the building of individual keys inter-
ests even beginners. Since it constitutes one very definite purpose
for note taking, it has a tendency to inspire greater accuracy in the
latter. After learning to recognize a few of the common species,
one may turn with greater pleasure to the study of habits and the
conditions under which the various forms live. Identification will
be the more certain and accordingly the field observations having to
do fish with activities will have the greater value.

An August Day Duel

Helen Lee Sherwood
New York City

NE warm August afternoon a thread-waisted mud
dauber was very busy collecting spiders for her
larvae when they should hatch from the eggs she
was laying. She was a graceful, slender wasp
with a long thread-like waist, and in the sunlight
her armoured body was of a bright metallic blue.
She had been building a nest of five, long, deli-
cate columns of gray mud, placed side by side like the pipes of
an organ and finely etched where each layer of mud had dried.
It had taken long, long hours and many trips back and forth
to the clay-bottomed pond some hundred feet from the hay
mow on one of whose rafters the nest was built, but the little
wasp had enjoyed her swift flights in sunlight and her skillful
architectural work. She had rejoiced to see how quickly each bit
of clay or mud had helped to lengthen the wonderful cells she built.
Now it was late in the day and three cells were filled with spiders
that she had caught and stung. In each finished cell there were
ten or more little spiders, some dead and some only paralyzed,
packed tightly together, and on one of these in each cell was a tiny
wasp egg. The mother had closed each cell as she laid an egg, and
in two or three days a tiny, blind, white grub would hatch and
begin to grow very fast as it ate one after another of the juicy
spiders around it. When they were gone and the baby wasp had
grown large and strong it would spin a soft cocoon all around itself
and spend the long winter sleeping, as a pupa. In the spring a
limp, little wasp with a soft body and helpless wings would break

162

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

its way out of the mud cradle, dry its wings in the sunshine, and fly
away without ever having seen its mother.

The wasp had finished the fourth of her cells and had stored it
with two spiders, but she must find many more to fill it. The sun
was very warm and she flew slowly. Through her strange com-
pound eyes she saw green, sunny things and bright flowers, and
many insects flying by. She was flying low and watching for
spiders, when she came close to the steps of a porch. She could
not see the house nor the porch nor even all of the steps, but her
many eyes showed her a vast, dark place and white wood. She

flew quickly toward it,
under the lowest step.
There would be spiders
here, no doubt, said
the strange instinct
that had taught her all
she knew of wasp life.
It was this silent, hid-
den instinct that had
taught her to use so
deftly her fine, sharp
mandibles and long,
thread-like fore-legs
and to build the exqui-
site clay tubes where
she had laid her eggs. And the same secret thing that she trusted
though she had never seen it, was bidding her store spiders in each
wasp cradle, though I think she never knew the winter was coming
nor even, perhaps, that her little grubs would be hungry. She
worked and worked joyfully — but perhaps she never asked or
guessed why!

So she flew under the step — and was stopped, with a shiver, in
mid air by threads she had failed to see, or to feel with her quick
antennas. The threads were almost too fine to see in the shadow,
but were sticky and clinging. She shuddered with a deadly
instinctive fear, and pushed with all the strength of her wings and
legs, but the threads clung more closely and tightened and en-
tangled themselves in the fine hairs on her legs. Then the whole
wheel web shivered as a shadow dropped from beneath the step, and
the wasp felt two swift, sure, thread-like legs tickling the tips of her
own legs.

a.

d.

A mud-dauber and her nests, with cells cut open
showing a, larva full grown; b, cocoon; c,
young larva feeding on its spider-meat and d,
an empty cell.

SHERWOOD

.4 .V .4 VG VST DAY D VEL 163

If you had been watching just then, you would have seized and
killed the little, cruel brown spider that danced in her web on six
of her eight legs and seemed to be tickling her horrified victim with
her fore-legs just for the demon-like joy of teasing her. You
would have had to look carefully to see the elf thread she was
pulling from a tiny opening beneath her abdomen and weaving
with magic speed from one to another and another of the wasp's
struggling feet. In a second or so the wasp found all six bound
together in a clinging mesh of thread, finer than the very hairs on
her body but woven so it could never break! She had been twist-
ing her thin, long "waist" with all her strength in her efforts to
reach the Spider with the sting-armed tip of her abdomen, and
now she gave the most violent, desperate twist of all. But the
nimble Arachnid was suddenly tickling the top of her thorax!
Then she had gone, running like a brown shadow up the web to the
step. She stopped and pressed the under side of her body firmly
against the step at the opening where the thread unraveled. Thus
fastening the thread from the wasp's thorax to the roof over her
web, she hung, thoughtfully watching, while her victim t wasted
and jerked, tangling herself more hopelessly and wasting her
strength.

In another moment the tired wasp felt her thorax being tickled
and then her wings. She jerked them desperately, but one little
hind wing was already tied to the net that bound her legs. She
twisted her abdomen but the spider's instinct told where her
enemy's weapon was, and she stayed out of its reach, spinning more
nimbly than the goddess, Arachne, had ever spun till the wasp's
wings were caught and tied. Then, fastening a second thread to
the thorax, she ran up to the web's roof, holding it tight. Here she
drew it up till it pulled the wasp up slightly, and fastened it to the
step. As the wasp struggled in a nearly hopeless and very tired
manner she tangled her delicate wings and legs more completely.
Gan we ever know whether her insect memory flitted back to her
half filled cell, when her wings were no longer free to take her there?
She would have flown home at once if she had been suddenly freed,
and perhaps she would have caught and taken the spider with her,
but would her instinct ever remind her of something she could
not do?

When the brown shadow fell down again it danced about her
head for an instant, tightened the threads on her wings and legs,

164 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

and then grew suddenly bold and tickled the top of her abdomen.
The spider was skillful in her boldness, too, for she danced and
tickled so quickly from top to bottom and from side to side of the
wasp's writhing abdomen that the sting could never take aim.
Soon only the tip with its sting was left unbound, and the spider
fastened a thread to the front of the abdomen, drawing her victim
up farther as she ran up her web. Down she dropped again and
caught the wasp's head with a thread, pulled her up and fastened
the thread to the step, and then dropped down again to repeat her
trick.

The wasp could not resign her life even when she was hanging
high up at the top of the web, with her legs, wings, body and head
entangled in meshes of clinging silk. She struggled feebly without
ceasing and a deadly shiver of pain ran through every part of her as
the eager spider pierced a soft place in her neck. The spider sat
for a long while slowly sucking the life juices from her prisoner, as
if with an evil joy in the wasp's writhings as she died. Do you
think the instinct that had taught her so well how to capture this
dangerous creature much larger and stronger than herself, heigh-
tened her cruel joy by reminding her what the wasp had come
flying hither in search of?

War and Nature

John Price Jones

Assistant Director, in Charge, Press Bureau Liberty Loan Committee
(Written exclusively for the Nature-Study Review)

While the horrors of the world war precipitated by ruthless
ambition have shocked Americans of all classes, to none have the
devastations been brought home with such poignancy as to nature
lovers. The appalling loss of life must overshadow all else, but
to the outrages committed upon mankind have been added
destruction of Nature that has been fiendish.

To most of us who have enjoyed the intimacies of Nature,
the thoughts of the mutilations and the desecrations she has
suffered at the hands of those who have attacked her deliberately
and maliciously must arouse deep disgust and determination to
do all in our power to end these conditions as soon as possible.
There is only one way that they can be stopped. The war to

jones] WAR AND NATURE— AX APPEAL 165

end war must be prosecuted with new vigor. America must hasten
to make the world sweet as well as safe for the peoples of the earth.

To do this requires money — huge sums of money such as almost
stagger the imagination. They must be furnished, and they will
be furnished.

It may seem strange to readers of The Nature-Study Review
that we should be discussing war in the columns of this publica-
tion. It is only one of many anomalies caused by the conflagra-
tion started by those who have shown a positive hatred of all that is
beautiful in nature and in Art as well as in mankind. But we feel
that we have reason. To study and to admire nature in these
coming days when she appears in her most charming garb, is
to be saddened by the obtrusion of the vision of whole country-
sides laid in waste, of shrines of nature-lovers in all parts of the
world violated or obliterated.

It is for this reason that we urge every reader to work earnestly
and faithfully for the success of the Third Liberty Loan. It
may be necessary for some of us to forego the trips planned and
anticipated for twelve months in order to subscribe liberally to
the loan. Let us make the sacrifice rather than fall short of our
full duty and privilege. Fortunately, we can consider many
interesting aspects of nature without going far afield. We shall
be happier and more satisfied in our work if we enter upon it with
the knowledge that we have helped our country, and in helping
her, have helped the cause of humanity, by modifying our plans.

It is not sufficient that we should wish this war to end. It
will not end because some of us wish it to end. We have to
work to bring about a permanent peace, and the harder we work,
the sooner our wishes shall become accomplished fact.

At every gathering of nature-lovers this matter of subscribing
to the Third Liberty Loan should be made subject of discussion
and mutual encouragement. Where two or three are gathered
together let the spirit of emulation be fostered. Men who are
not interested in those things which are our particular study and
happiness have taken off their coats and are working night and
day in preparation for the campaign. It would be a cause for
shame if we lagged behind in the cause.

Humane Education

The Proper Treatment for Goldfish

The best place to keep goldfish is in a balanced aquarium. To
make this, place at the bottom of the aquarium a layer of sand;
in this we plant any water weeds we find living entirely beneath the
surface, placing a few small stones upon them so as to hold them
fast. Now place a sheet of paper over them and pour in water
gently until the aquarium is nearly full; then remove the paper
which was used to prevent the uprooting of the plants while the
water was being poured in. In such an aquarium the oxygen given
off by the plants keeps the water pure so that it does not need to be
changed. The aquarium should not be kept in the strong sunlight
or its sides will become covered with a green slime which is a low
form of vegetation.

For cleaning this aquarium we should have a glass pipette
long enough to reach the bottom. The Acton Electric Co., 1133
Broadway, New York, have devised an aquarium vacuum cleaner
which is very efficient. Frog tadpoles introduced into this
balanced aquarium prove helpful in keeping down the growth of
low vegetation.

The ordinary fish globe is not fit for an aquarium because its
curved sides allow but a small portion of the surface of the water
to come in contact with the air if it is filled to the brim. Often
goldfish die of suffocation when kept in these globes. If a globe
must be used it never should be filled more than half full and thus
leave as large an area of the surface of the water as possible in con-
tact with the air.

If a balanced aquarium is not used the water should be changed
at least three times a week. In changing the fish, remove them by
hand or with dip-net to a pan of water while the aquarium is being
emptied cleaned and refilled. Care should be taken that the water
in the pan and the fresh water in the aquarium should be as nearly
as possible the same temperature as that from which the fish were
removed.

If practicable the aquarium should be set near a north or an east
window : a window-shade should be used to regulate the light so
that in the summer the aquarium does not become heated by direct
sunlight. In winter the fish should have all the sunlight possible
in our northern climate.

168

TREATMENT FOR GOLDFISH— HUMANE EDUCATION 167

How to Feed Goldfish.- — Often goldfish die from overfeeding.
They should be fed once a day in the morning at a regular hour;
be careful and feed only what the fish will eat since waste food
contaminates the water. The excreta of the fish should be dark
colored and brownish or greenish; if it is whitish or yellowish the
fish are being overfed and should not be fed again for two days.

The food for goldfish is of two kinds, animal and vegetable ; there
are many good standard animal foods which should be fed in small
quantities. The goldfish are essentially vegetable feeders and
vermicelli, oatmeal or rice wafer should be given with the other.
Bread of any sort that has yeast in it should never be given to
goldfish. ' •

Common pond snails, the young of water beetles, dragon flies,
water boatmen, crayfish, salamanders, newts and turtles should not
be kept in an aquarium with goldfish. Shiners, dace, and suckers
if not too large, are safe companions of the goldfish.

If the colors of the goldfish fade and they lose appetite they are
probable suffering from suffocation. A fish showing these symp-
toms should be put into fresh water to which has been added a
teaspoonful of salt. It should be kept in a warm situation and
given no food for a few days. Small quantities of food should be
given when the feeding is commenced.

Questions

i. How can an aquarium be made so that the water will keep fresh
without changing it?

2. What gas is it that plants give off that keeps the water fresh?

3. Describe how to make a permanent aquarium.

4. Why should the aquarium not be kept in strong sunlight?

5. If a permanent aquarium is not used how often should the water
be changed? Why do the fish suffocate in stale water?

6. Why are fish likely to suffocate in the ordinary fish-globe? How does
a goldfish look when it is suffering from suffocation? What do you do to save
a fish in this condition?

7. In changing the water in an aquarium, why should the fresh water
be the same temperature as that from which the fish was taken?

8. How often and how much should goldfish be fed?

9. What other water creatures may be kept in the aquarium with gold-
fish without harm to them? What ones will surely harm the goldfish?

Isaak Walton.

168

THE

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age 10 cents extra; foreign postage. 25 cents extra.

▼ j. a Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the

lllip 0l laJll wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comslock Publishing
Co.. Ithaca. .Y. Y. Manuscripts for Publications and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial
Isaak Walton

Through the dust of changing centuries, there has trickled down
to us of the present day a brook of purest water, — sometimes
meandering and doubling upon itself in level green meadows and
sometimes dashing over rocks and plunging over falls. From this
brook many a soul has quaffed a refreshing drink and has paused to
watch the graceful creatures that lived within its depths and has
listened to the throstle singing above it. It is a stream that has
gained as the years passed on and has lost none of its waters or its
freshness. It is the stream on whose banks wandered the man
whom we lovingly call "Old Isaak Walton," — old because he is
eternally young and always a happy and charming companion.

That the opportunity for thought and close companionship with
nature were among the chief attractions that angling possessed for
Isaak Walton no reader of the " Compleat Angler" can doubt. He
says : "It remains yet unresolved whether the happiness of a man
in this world doth consist more in contemplation or action. Con-
cerning which two opinions I shall forbear to add a third by
declaring my own, and rest myself contented in telling you, that
both these meet together, and do most properly belong to the most
honest, ingenious, quiet, and harmless art of angling. And first
I tell you what some have observed, and I have found to be a real
truth, that the very sitting by the riverside is not only the quietest
and fittest place of contemplation, but will invite an angler to it."
Isaak Walton was born in 1593 and died in 1683. If we glance
over the history of England covered by the period of his life, we
find it began during the last years of Elizabeth's reign and ended

169

170 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

during the last years of the reign of Charles II. These pages of
history reek with bloody wars, black intrigue, religious persecution,
rebellion, horrors of the plague, and the stern excitements of regi-
cide. These national tribulations find no mention in the serene,
sweet, sunny pages of Walton; pages on which no shadows rest
save those made by the foliage of trees or the pinions of a hawk
climbing his skyward spiral above green English meadows. In
Walton's book the sea was never made for armadas and ships
seeking conquest of new countries and vast riches ; nor yet for the
Mayflower and religious freedom do his blue waters roll. But
rather for ships that shall bring or carry the art of Italy and the
learning of Livy and Tully; and above all does he prize the seas
because of the teeming life in them and says: "The waters are
Nature's storehouse, in which she locks up her wonders." And
adds: "An ingenious Spaniard says that rivers and the inhabi-
tants of the water element were made for wise men to contemplate,
and fools to pass by without consideration."

It is only by thus considering the history of his country during
Walton's life, and contrasting its turmoil with the serenity of his
spirit that we can understand him fully. We are told that he was
persecuted for religious and political opinions and that he felt
deeply and lived keenly with his times; so we come to understand
that it was from sheer self-preservation that he turned his back
upon the struggle and bitterness of civil strife, and turned his face
toward nature and his art of angling, which made him forget that
earth was less than paradise.

"Any other brooks in any other shire would have served just
as well, save, that but one brook, at one time, could have had its
Isaak Walton. But the beauty he disclosed was not that of
brooks and woods. It was the delight of restfulness, the charm
of the open mind, the mind of him who is not in a hurry, who
envies not and hates not, who hath no fever in his blood, and asks
for nothing which life and sunshine may not freely give."

— David Starr Jordan.

Teacher's Corner

The goldfish seems to be made especially for the teacher to use in demon-
strating the fish's wonderful adaptations to a life in water.

First of all we look at the shape of the fish. Looked at from above it is
wedge-shaped or rounded in front ; looked at from the side the shape is a smooth
oval. Thus its form in every way is adapted for moving through the water
swiftly. A little exercise to prove this might be as follows: Cut a model of a
fish from a piece of shingle or a thin piece of wood, submerge it by holding it
down, and then move it lengthwise and crosswise; even a little child can see
the effect of this experiment. Next we note the fish's covering, which is an
armor of scales as smooth as glass, overlapping like shingles on a roof; they are
directed backward and thus by the smoothness of these scales the fish is
enabled to move more swiftly through the water.

Dorsal f i

Qhil fi

Cill e*v«r
'Pe«t©*al fin

(GiUof«aUg

Ventral fir

Goldfish with the parts named.
This figure should be copied on the blackboard for reference.

The next point of observation naturally is how does the fish move? Why
does it not have legs and arms like ours? The answer is that no man, however
expert in swimming, can swim so rapidly as a fish. The fish's fins are specially
adapted to drive it swiftly through the water. The goldfish has seven fins:
One pair just back of the gill openings, which morphologically represents our
arms or the front legs of an animal — these are called the pectoral fins; below
and back of them is another pair of fins which may be compared to our legs or
the hind legs of an animal, and are called ventral fins; along the back is a fin
that may be raised or flattened at will — it is called the dorsal fin; the fish's
tail is the tail fin, and on the lower side just in front of the tail is the anal fin.

The reason we take any interest in all these seven fins of the fish is because
they help the fish to move and therefore we are as interested in them as we are
in a bird's wings. The dorsal fin, when lifted, can be twisted to one side or the
other. This helps to steer the fish just as the rudder helps to steer the boat.
The anal fin on the lower side helps in a similar manner. The tail fin is the
propeller. It is pushed first this way and than that against the water and thus
sends the fish forward. The two pairs of fins help the fish to keep its balance

171

172 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

and also help it somewhat in its movements. The children enjoy watching the
fish in the water and will soon make observations on the way the fins are used.
A common mistake is a belief that a fish is somehow able to dissolve water
into its elements hydrogen and oxygen, and thus get the oxygen to breathe; this
is not possible and the fish breathes the air which is mixed with the water ; the
fish like ourselves breathes air and thus gets its oxygen but the fish cannot
breath air unless it is mixed with water. In breathing, the fish constantly
opens and shuts the mouth thus taking the water which flows over the gills and
out through the gill slits.

Lesson on a Goldfish

i . What is the shape of a fish when seen from above? Where is the widest
part? What is its shape seen from the side? In how many ways is the shape
of the fish adapted for moving through the water?

2. Study the covering of the fish. In which direction do the scales seem to
overlap? Of what use to the fish are the scales? Note a line which extends
from the upper part of the gill opening, along the side to the tail.

3. How many fins has the fish? Make sketch of the goldfish with all its
fins and name them from the diagram on the blackboard.

4. Which pair corresponds to our arms? Which to our legs?

5. Describe the pectoral fins. How are they used? How do the ventral
fins assist the fish when simming? Study the dorsal fin. How many spines
has it? How many soft rays are there in it?

6. Study the anal fin. Has it any spines in front? How many rays has it?
How is this fin used when the fish is swimming?

7. With what fin does the fish push itself through the water? Are the rays
of the tail fin spiny or soft in character?

8. Watch the goldfish swim and describe the action of all the fins while it
is in motion. In what position are the fins when the fish is at rest?

9. Note carefully the eyes of the fish. Can you see the nostrils? Describe
the mouth of the fish.

10. Is the mouth kept always in motion? Note a wide opening along the
sides of the head behind the gill cover. Does the gill cover move with the
movement of the mouth? How does a fish breathe?

"Go with me down by the stream,
Haunt of bass and purple bream ;
Feel the pleasure, keen and sweet,
When the cool waves lap your feet ;
Catch the breath of moss and mould,
Hear the grosbeak's whistle bold;
See the heron all alone
Mid stream on a slippery stone,
Or on some decaying log,
Spearing snail or water-frog ;
See the shoals of sun-perch shine
Among the pebbles smooth and fine,
Whilst the sprawling turtles swim
In the eddies cool and dim!"

Maurice Thompson.

News and Notes

CALIFORNIA

Fom California Xature-Study League, care of C. M. Goethe, 720 Capital
National Bank Bldg., Sacramento.

{Reprint from Sacramento Bee)

The pussy willows, the first harbingers of spring, are here. Numbers of
children are to be seen returning from the places where the willows grow,
carrying the branches which they enjoy placing in sunny windows, so as to
watch the catkins burst into bloom.

The willow was to the California Indian what the bamboo is to the primitive
Japanese and the cocoanut palm to the natives of the Spice Islands. Just as
the bamboo thatch is used in Japan and cocoanut palm thatch in the huts in
the jungles, so the Indians used the willow branches as a thatch for their sum-
mer houses. The willow twigs were used in basket making. A part of the
wood was utilized for tinder, for the Indians, of course, had no matches. The
wood was used for arrows, also for fishnets. The inner bark was woven into
rope and into cloth. It was also made into a kind of tobacco. The leaves,
also the bark, were utilized medicinally.

The whites, too, have not been indifferent to the willow's value. Along the
canals of Holland, willow twigs are harvested for basket making as regularly
each year as is the grain that is ground by the broad-armed Dutch windmills.

All California children should look forward to the blooming of the willow
catkins. They should learn to know the willow pine-cone gall, and other galls
made by insects, who also find use for the willow. There are three very well
known varieties of willow trees through California, and several others not quite
so common. Those who love the storm blown Sierran Peaks are always happy
when they find the tiny Arctic willow, that has crept down the snowclad range
from the land of polar bears and Eskimo. This tiny willow, evolved to survive
in the most severe climates, is hardly taller than the length of a man's finger.
Yet it bears catkins just as perfect as the trees of the warm California valleys.

Parents and teachers interested in instructing children how to read a road-
side as they would a book can find a simple way of distinguishing between the
willows in "Trees of California," by Dr. Jepson, of the University of California.
This book can be had through most of the 2141 branches of the County Libra-
ries of California.

ILLINOIS

Miss Alice Jean Patterson of Normal, gives the following cheering item:
You may be interested to know that our Children's Garden Club did better
work than ever this year. We had at the close of the year 337 members, who
brought displays, either flowers, vegetables, or canned goods, for the exhibit
on Garden Day. Sixty-three handed in itemized reports of expenditures,
receipts, and profits. The profits netted $592.93.

173

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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

PENNSYLVANIA

North East. The North East Nature Club is preserving its vitality during
the winter, as indicated by the following suggestions from Mr. Cushman:

Nature Notes

Our Nature Club has donated a moth book, by Holland, to the public
library. This is a companion to the butterfly book by the same author that
was added to the library some time ago. The illustrations in both are colored
to nature. The Holland insect books rank high.

Now is the time to take down your bird houses, renovate them and make
any needed repairs. Should vermin be found in any of them, as is quite likely
to be the case, put them in a tight box or barrel and smudge them with sulphur
fumes. Then lay them away out of reach of English sparrows until spring.
Bluebirds will be the first to need them. They come soon after the first robins.

The stately and beautiful grackle, commonly known as crow blackbird, is
gettingjmto ill repute here. They go in great flocks and can make short work
with a tree of cherries. I know of several instances here this year where they
came in great flocks and took two or three bushels in that many days from
people who had but one tree — literally skinned the trees; took all they had.
The law lists them as game birds, and provides that they may be shot in Octo-
ber and November. A queer law, for they are not here then ; have gone south.
The law allows of their being killed at any time by a land-owner, on his premises
if detected in the act of destroying the young or eggs of other birds, of pulling
corn, or of taking fruit; but for various reasons that does not fill the bill.
They belong in the category with the English sparrow, and deserve no favors
at our hands. Conservation and economy call for a great reduction in their
number.

SAVE

WS.S.

WAR SAVINGS STAMPS

ISSUED BY THE

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT

SERVE

jmem %n

|THE BOOK SHELF

Field Book of Insects. Frank E. Lutz, Ph.D. 509 pages with about 800
illustrations, many in color. G. P. Putnam's Sons. Price, $2.50.

The Putnam's have added another attractive volume to their Field Book
series, and which is perhaps the most ambitious of them all since it covers a field
so large as to seem discouraging at first sight. However, Dr. Lutz has done
his work well and has made a felicitous choice of insects to describe in his book.
Dr. Lutz is a curator in the American Museum and has had much correspon-
dence about insects with the laiety and has therefore been able to judge well
of the kinds of insects that they find interesting. The plan of the book is like
that of the Field Book of American Wild Flowers; it is plentifully illustrated
by Mrs. E. L. Beutenmuller whose pen drawirtgs are graphic and accurate.
The colored plates are very attractive and well done. On a page in the near
vicinity of its picture is a description of the insect and its habits. Dr. Lutz
writes in an attractive style and makes his subject interesting. The book has
many keys to families but we venture to say these will not be used much by the
untrained naturalist. The great value of the book to the public are the
graphic and condensed descriptions, the pictures and the size which permits
it to be carried in the pocket. The volume is a valuable addition to
popular entomological literature.

The Third and Fourth Generation. Elliot R. Downing. 164 pages. The Uni-
versity of Chicago Press. Price $1.00.

The young people of this day and generation certainly have a chance to walk
with eyes open avoiding pitfalls. This compact little volume by an eminent
scientist and teacher has been written especially for young people and is
intended to be used in the Sunday Schools and the public schools. In it are
given in simple and understandable terms the scientific facts regarding eugenics.
As Dr. Downing so well says in his introduction: "This book is intended pri-
marily for young people. They can most readily break wTay from the whims
and prejudices of the past and adopt a new set of ideas as adequate grounds for
new habits. They live only in this sicentific age when we have an increasing
respect for facts, reason on them to correct conclusions, and base on them our
sense of duty. They are practical optimists, and what seems an impossible
dream of the visionary to an older generation, hide-bound by preconceived
notions and social tradition, comes to be, for valorous youth, a simple accom-
plishment dictated by good sense."

The following topics are discussed in separate chapters: Some famous
racers and the problems they suggest ; male and female ; some laws of heredity ;

175

176 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918

man a creator; the visible basis of heredity; some apparent exceptions; are
acquired modifications heritable? the inheritance of human characters,
physical and mental ; the practical problem of human heredity. At the end of
each chapter are questions which will lead the pupil to make his own deduc-
tions from the facts given.

We confess that we have lingered the longest over a chart on which is
tabulated the pedigree of Alix, a famous race horse. This is a most graphic
representation of the fact that "Blood will tell." A very valuable list of
references for further reading is given at the end of the book. We predict
a useful and successful future for this important little volume.

Fresh-water Biology, by Henry B. Ward and George C. Whipple, with the
collaboration of a staff of specialists. J. Wiley & Sons, New York City.
$6.oo.

Among the recent books dealing with the plant and animal life there is none
more welcome to the student of nature than this uoo paged, richly illustrated
volume upon the life of pond, lake and stream. By its means most of the
smaller freshwater plants and animals of this country may readily be deter-
mined. The first few chapters deal with general biological factors. Following
these are twenty-seven chapters upon bacteria, algae, larger aquatic plants,
protozoans, sponges, hydrozoans, free living and parasitic worms, rotifers,
crustaceans, mites, insects, bryozoans, mollusks, and fish. A sixteen page
chapter on "Technical and Sanitary Problems," the junior editor's contribu-
tion, completes the volume. In each chapter, descriptions of special methods
of collecting, preserving, and studying the organisms of the group considered,
are given, followed by a key for the determination of the genera and in many
cases, species. The descriptions are concise and the illustrations, though
simple, are adequate. Each chapter has been written by a well-known special-
ist, twenty-five collaborators having assisted the editors in their work, thus
rendering the production far more authoritative than if written by one individ-
ual. The treatment is conservative in the matter of scientific names: in a
number of instances we note that an old and well established term is used in
preference to one which is in strict conformity with the usages of the inter-
national code of nomenclature. This, however, in the opinion of the reviewer,
is commendable, in a general work of this kind. The bibliographies following
the chapters, though confessedly brief and incomplete, are for the most part
well selected. Considering the vast field that is covered and the number of
collaborators, the work is quite uniform in its manner of presentation.

Judged by its title alone it would appear that this book duplicates in sub-
stance, that of Needham & Lloyd "The Life of Inland Waters" reviewed in
these pages in 191 6. A comparison, however, shows that this is not the case,
the earlier work is upon the natural history of the life in fresh water, while the
present volume is primarily designed for the identification of the various
organisms found there. The former emphasizes the ecologic, the latter the
systematic side. Both should find a place on the reference shelves of the
nature-study teacher. To the student of aquatic life they are quite indis-
pensable. O. A. J.

THE BOOK SHELF 177

Goldfish Varieties and Tropical Aquarium Fishes by Wm. T. Innes — Innes &
Sons, Philadelphia. 80, 246 pp. Illustrated.

While this is a book about aquarium fishes, it contains a vast amount of
practical information of value to a teacher or to one who has an aquarium of
any sort. Such chapter headings as "The Freshwater Aquarium," "Terraria
and Aqua-Terraria," "Fish Foods," "The Microscope in Aquarium Work,"
"Plants for the Aquarium and Pond" indicate sources of much good and useful
freshwater biology, while the last three chapters on "The Construction of
Aquaria, Tanks, etc.", "Aquarium Appliances," and "Forty Dont's" are
exceedingly practical. All are very clear in statement and excellently illus-
trated. It is a beautiful and helpful book that ought to find a place on the
shelves of all good school libraries. J. G. X.

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Please note your expiration date and send in
your renewals promptly.

Owing to the increased cost of paper and print-
ing, also to the fact that The Nature-Study Re-
view has not raised its subscription price, we will
print only enough magazines each month to cover
the subscription list and its normal increase.

A blue check on the wrapper indicates that
your subscription expires with this number.

Outline of Nature-Study

The Nature-Study Review for March, 1915, is an especially
valuable number for your teachers, and teachers in training to have.
It contains the full detailed course on Nature-Study as given in the
Mankato Normal School (80 pages indexed). It gives a detailed outline
by topics and problems arranged according to grades and season.

This is the completest outline of nature-study ever published.

This number should be in the library of every school and in the hands
of every teacher.

While this is a double number we are making the prices as low as
possible. Single copy, 25c, ten or more, 18c each. Place your order
early.

THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

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A PROMINENT SCIENTIST

wrote : "I want to say that I subscribed to AQUATIC LIFE thinking
it was just a paper for the aquarium fancier, but it is a good deal bet-
ter than that. It is valuable to the aquarist, but it contains much of
general interest in relation to aquatic biology, and it seems to me to
have capabilities of further development in that direction. We refer
many of our correspondents to your magazine."

AQUATIC LIFE commends itself to teachers because it is devoted
primarily to the study of forms of life that lend themselves to observa-
tion in the home or school aquarium. The publisher will be glad to
send a free specimen copy on request. Yearly subscription, one dollar.

AQUATIC LIFE

542 East Girard Avenue Philadelphia, Penna.

The Guide to Nature

Edited by EDWARD F. BIGELOW

A Monthly Magazine from the Naturalist's Point of View.
An interchange of observations by students and lovers of nature.
Nature is good in the school, because it is good anywhere for all people.

Subscription $1 a year.
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Single copy 10c.

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of Nature in Elementary Schools

Vol. 14 No. 5 MAY. 1918

One year (nine issues) $1.00

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Books are Worth-while Gifts

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A book full of unique nature-lore about the little
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and burrow, their tricks and traits. Frontispiece in
color by Fuertes. 310 pages plus 117 full-page plates.
Library buckram binding , $2.00; postpaid $2.15.

(On the recommended School Library list of Wisconsin.)

NATURE SONGS AND STORIES

CATHERINE CREIGHTON

Beautiful pictures, clever little stories and eighteen
"singable" songs are here used to present Nature-
Study to little folks. Special illustrations by Fuertes,
Anna C. Stryke and Verne Morton. 76 pages 75c;
postpaid 80c.

HOW TO KNOW THE BUTTERFLIES

JOHN HENRY COMSTOCK and
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A Manual of the butterflies of the eastern part of
the United States. 45 colored plates, 50 other illus-
trations.

320 pages. $2.50. Postpaid- $2.70

TREES AT LEISURE

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A tree lover's tribute to her favorites of the field
and woodland during their season of winter rest.
A book that will be treasured by all out door lovers.
Beautifully illustrated. Postpaid 50c

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, New York

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THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14 May, 1918 No. 5

Rufus, the Red King

Anna C. Stryke
Claremont, California.

In these days we are hearing more and more of the part which
dogs are taking in rescue work. And what a noble work it is!
There is a Dog Hero whose story I must tell because, although
he has done no rescuing in the war zone, his career merits as much
praise as that of any of the Red Cross dogs. Indeed, until within
the past year or two, I doubt whether there was another dog
anywhere with so many human lives to his credit, unless it be the
St. Bernards of the Alps.

For six months of last year it was my privilege to be his com-
panion. How I wish that you might have shared my pleasure.
You would have loved him, as I did, from the moment when his paw
met my hand in formal acknowledgment of his master's introduc-
tion. As is usual with presentations, I was not quite sure of
his name. Upon asking him to reassure me he answered, with a
two-syllable bark, that his name was "Rufus", just as his master
had said. The friendship thus established continued until I
was obliged to take leave of him when I left Pasadena, which is
his home. I hope, however, to see him many times before we
leave California.

His master insisted that he is "just dog", by which, of course,
he meant that he is the very finest dog in the world. I learned
afterwards that he is a Siberian bloodhound. If you never have
seen this kind of dog I can help you only by describing Rufus,
for he is the only Siberian bloodhound that I ever knew. He
wears a thick coat of burnished red, showing, in front, an expanse
of white vest. He has the nose of an English bloodhound,
making him keen on the scent, while his "facial expression"
reflects all the intelligence and lovable disposition of the St.
Bernard. This is his story and that of his master.

179

180 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

In the southwestern part of our country there is a great stretch
of arid land, of which most of us know little except that it is
called the Great American Desert or the "American Sahara".
There are over two hundred thousand square miles of this sun-
shine, drought, shifting sand, and purple mist, all of it immensely
rich in minerals, alkali products, marbles, and semi-precious
stones. Small wonder that men are lured into the heart of it!
Though it is crossed here and there by railroads and much of
it is quite well-known and well-traveled, on the other hand there are
great unknown out-of-the-way stretches (for instance, the Cali-
fornia Death Valley, that most arid of all spots, yet beautiful
beyond all powers of description) which are rich in every variety
of wealth except the mainstay of life in these desert wastes — water.
It is with these especially dangerous places that our story deals.

The terrors of this country are many. Once in it, there are
hardships always to endure — the merciless blistering sun, suffocat-
ing blinding sandstorms, the ever present menace of "side-winders"
and other poisonous things, the danger of drinkng poisoned
water or of having none at all, for of water there is little. What
there is is scattered in wells or "tanks" from thirty-five to fifty
miles apart. Much of this scanty supply is unfit for use — poisoned
by saturation with strong alkali or contaminated by snakes,
lizards, kangaroo-mice or coyotes which may have fallen into it.
Many a thirst-crazed man has reached such a water-hole only
to die from drinking from it. It was after many years of coming
upon grim evidences of suffering and particularly after a terrible
experience of being without water for three days and two nights
and then being rescued by his own dog that Lou Wescott Beck,
prospector and mining engineer* dedicated himself and his dog
to the work of rescue which has won for him the name of "The
Good Samaritan of Death Valley". For sixteen years he spent
many months of the year prospecting in this "Land that God
Forgot", but always turning aside to give aid wherever and
whenever it was needed. The later years of his life were devoted
entirely to rescue work, the fascination of prospecting having
lost itself in the more humanitarian interest. Each spring
found the master and his chosen companion wandering into the
silent places to direct travellers, alleviate suffering and rescue
the dying. This is how it happens that my Dog Hero has a
record of having saved thirty-two men who were in the last stages

stryke] RUFUS, THE RED KIXG 181

of desert delirium; and, as if that were not enough, there are
records of three hundred and thirty-four men, lost, out of provi-
sions, without water, and doomed to the terrible desert death,
who were revived with water and food carried to them by Rufus;
later they were located by his master and taken to his camp where
they were fitted out with the things necessary to proceed on their
journey.

On these expeditions Rufus wore high laced elkskin boots
to protect his feet from the blistering sand. Sometimes too he
wore "goggles". Strapped across his back were the saddle-bags
containing dog biscuit for his own sustenance, a little food for
rescue work, two canteens holding about six quarts of water,
and, fastened to his breast strap, a small case bearing the mark
of the Red Cross. In it were restoratives, a hypodermic needle
and other "First Aid" articles.

I wish that I might picture such a rescue as Mr. Beck recounted.
Much of the picture would, I fear, be too horrible. I must leave
it to your imagination, which I assure you can serve you but
poorly. Picture then man and dog, alone on some barren rocky
prominence, looking out over limitless stretches of parched
desolate waste. All about them is a deathlike stillness. From
out of nowhere there comes a black speck, looming larger and
larger against the blazing sky. The speck becomes a bird — large,
black and ugly. With a precision bom of purpose it flies to a
definite spot on the sun-baked sand, then rises in circles to a
tremendous height, and, without warning, swoops down again
to earth. More specks appear, turn into birds, and join their
comrades. With impatience they await the coming feast. The
sight is a familiar one to the silent companions. At a word
from the master Rufus is off in the direction of the flock of buz-
zards, even as they alight on their prey. The man following,
as fast as may be, sees the birds rise, swoop, rise and fly off.
The first step in the rescue is accomplished. Perhaps the poor
unfortunate may yet be able to avail himself of the aid which
the dog brings in in his saddle-bags. If not, then he must wait
until the master reaches them. With unseeing eyes, parched and
bleeding lips and swollen tongue the man knows nothing until
the red sun, slipping down behind the dark buttes, leaves a cool
breath in its wake and relief for the three weary ones. Perhaps
they were far from their camp when the signs of distress caught

182 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

their attention. The victim can not be moved, may perhaps
be only half conscious. Rufus is relieved of his load which is
placed within reach of the sufferer, then, tying the dog to the
still form, in order to keep off the coyotes or the buzzards which
might return, the Good Samaritan goes back to camp for supplies
or, perhaps, to a mining camp for a stretcher and more aid.
Weeks afterwards the stranger has only the scars where the buz-
zards tore into his flesh to remind him of his experience, but
could he ever forget Rufus?

This then was their chosen work and the manner of its accom-
plishment, with variations in the urgency of the needs. Some-
times it was a barefoot Indian that they found, a victim of that
deadliest of American reptiles — the "side-winder", or horned
rattle snake. Perhaps it was not too late to administer an antidote
with the hypodermic needle. Always there was someone who
needed help.

The rescue work was really divided into two parts, first, that of
patrolling the desolate expanse of country and rescuing unfortu-
nate travellers or prospectors from the terrors of the desert death,
by administering to their needs, and second, that of erecting
signs indicating trails and water-holes, thus preventing suffering.
Such signs which, by the way, bore the Boy Scout emblem, for
Mr. Beck was a Scout Master, were paid for from the proceeds
of the winter lecture tours.

In July, 191 7, Lou Wescott Beck passed into the Valley of the
Shadow, a victim of his hard life on the desert. His death was
probably the indirect result of having taken a few swallows from
a contaminated water-hole. He had been without water for
thirty-one hours and came upon the "well" at three o'clock in
the morning. Knowing that it had been good when he last visited
the spot he drank without waiting for Rufus to test it. (Rufus,
with his keen scent, was an expert in these matters.) But the dog
refused to drink when it was offered to him. Prompt action
saved Mr. Beck's life but it was the beginning of a long siege of
ill-health, to which he finally succumbed. He left his companion
of the past twelve years alone save for Mrs. Beck and the friends
which the dog made by reason of his wonderful record. For
weeks he was wretched and ill but, though his work is finished,
for he could no longer endure desert hardships, even if he had
another master, his indomitable spirit and the kindness of those

mayxard] MISTAKES IX TEACH I XG 183

about him have made him content. When I last saw him, when
on a visit to Pasadena, he romped with me like a puppy, but his
eyes will never lose that expression of having seen many sad
sights and having suffered untold miseries. Yet, I assure you
that he can be the jolliest kind of companion, as I learned during
the many weeks when we were together.

What would you give to hold such a proud record as that of
my Dog Hero, "Rufus, the Red King"?

Unfortunate Mistakes in the Teaching of Nature-Study

Edith Clark Mayxard

Philadelphia, Pa.

May I make an especial appeal to the newly graduated college
students who attempt to teach nature-study to children in the
lower grades, so often their point of view is wrong? The following
incident will illustrate my meaning: A little girl of eight, who
has accompanied me on some of my field trips, sat beside me in
the car yesterday. Hardly had she settled herself before she

began, "Oh Mrs. M ! We had for our nature-study lesson

this week a turtle. Miss chloroformed it for us and

showed us how, after it was dead, the heart still beat for seven
hours. I didn't like it." I never like to criticise another teacher's
work, but I could not resist acknowledging that I, too, "did not
like it."

Such a lesson speaks for itself. If the young teacher (I infer
she is young and fresh from a biological laboratory) had
only stopped to think she would have realized her mistake.
The beating of the turtle's heart after death is an interesting
phenomenon, but its demonstration has no place in a nature-
study class room of little children. The killing of the animal
was a serious mistake. The sensitive, sympathetic child would
suffer, while to others the killing of other animals to see possibly
similar results would undoubtedly suggest itself.

Contrast the effect upon children of such a lesson with one
which might so easily have been given at this season. Our birds
have begun their spring migration. The alders and willows
have put out their attractive catkins, while the red maple blos-
soms can easily be found. If these children had only been allowed
to study nature out-of-doors, under normal conditions, not one
of them would have made the comment "I do not like it."

The Sweet Brier Rose

Mae Cresswell
Cedar Falls, Iowa

^kffi T is a warm balmy afternoon in late May.
A brisk shower has just passed over.
The sun sends his slanting rays under
the dripping foliage of trees and shrubs
turning the raindrops that cling to the
tips of the leaves into jewels of every hue.
Walks are shiny, paths slippery and
roads splashy. A soft breeze wafts a
rich odor to greet you that cannot be
mistaken for any other. It is as charac-
teristic as a mint and belongs to this sort
of an afternoon as much as does the
many tinted bow now fading in the east.

The delightful odor must remain unnamed until you are acquainted

with the sweet briar.

"Wild rose, sweet brier, eglantine,
All these pretty names are mine,
And a scent in every leaf is mine,
And a leaf for all is mine,
And the scent — oh that's divine!
Happy sweet and pungent fine,
Pure as dew and pick'd as wine."

— Leigh Hunt.

The sweet brier Rosa rubiginosa is a native of Europe. Spencer
speaks of it, Chaucer mentions it and Shakespeare with his keen
perception of the natural world notes its perfume. It was brought
to America by our liberty loving forefathers and naturalized
beside the doorways of their homes. It went with them on their
westward march, a cherished bit of the old home life. From
the dooryard it escaped to make beautiful the waste and neglected
places. Rich soil and care are not necessary for its happiness.
Its sweetness arises from beside the cottage door, beneath my
lady's casement window or across the pasture path.

The bush grows several lithe canes that attain a height of five
or six feet then curve over as if afraid we would miss them if they
grew higher. The canes are usually overlaid with a reddish

184

cresswell] THE SWEET BRIAR ROSE 185

tint and quite thickly set with reddish backward pointing thorns.
Canes and thorns become brown on the old wood, while on the
young growth they are green.

The leaves are pinnately compound, having three to seven
leaflets, and somewhat small in comparison with other roses.
The margin is finely and doubly serrate. The upper leaf surface
is deep green and the lower somewhat paler. The stipules are
small and clasping. Thus far these rose leaves appear like any
other but the instant they are touched one is conscious of the
sweet brier perfume. The under surfaces of the leaves, the
calyxes and youngest stems are found to be thickly set with rusty
colored hairs. These hairs are the resinous glands which give
this rose its characteristic odor. Moisture seems to intensify the
perfume. At least it is always richer after a rain or on a dewy
morning.

Early June is its flowering time. Clusters of buds with long
green calyx lobes twisted over their precious contents appear
on the swaying branchlets. The pointed lobes roll back and
display a dainty five petaled sea-shell tinted rose about one inch
across. For them to be larger would break the symmetry of
the rose bush since the leaves are small too. Tradition says
they were once white as shown by this verse, —

"As erst in Eden's blissful bowers
Young Eve surveyed her countless flowers,
An opening rose of purest white
She marked with eye that beamed delight.
Its leaves she kissed, and straight it drew
From beauty's lips the vermil hue."

The rose petals are heart shaped on the margin and do not over-
lap each other. The stamens are many and of a pale yellow hue
and the fuzzy stigmas sit in a huddled group in the center. Some
have said that this rose flower has no perfume. Be the attraction
perfume or tint, honey bees and bumble bees lose no time in
visiting it. Sweet brier does not put her nectar down in forbidding
wells where only the favored few may sip, but offers it freely to
all who wish to partake. Flies and beetles join the buzzing horde
around the sweet brier. The rose family usually matures anthers
and stigmas at the same time, but the anthers turn outward
so the insect visitor touches the stigmas first. Bumble bee
tumbles into the rose's slight cup and waddles awkwardly over the

186 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

stigmas poking her long tongue among the stamens for the nectar
at the base of the petals; honey bee flies in with more grace and
selects her place to sip with more care but brings just as surely
her contribution of pollen from the last rose visited to rub off
on the fuzzy stigmas.

The bees have paid their debts to the rose, and pink petals are
no longer of use so off they tumble. The stigmas were only
doorways through which the pollen grains went to the tiny seeds
inside the calyx. Now the whole business of these seeds is to
grow. This they do throughout the summer and by October
are hard bony white seeds. The calyx too is changed. It has
become an urn-shaped vessel one-half to three-fourths inch in
diameter and of a hue to match the autumn. "The scarlet
berries tell where bloomed the sweet wild rose" says Whittier.
The leaves too assume exquisite tints of crimson and maroon
before being swept away by November's gales. But the wind
does not take the scarlet rose hips. They remain to remind one
of flaming jewels as they swing above the snowclad world. The
birds have many a winter feast off the pulpy urns and scatter
the seeds afar. Cedar wax-wings seem to get most enjoyment from
this dainty treat.

Some classify this rose among the undesirable plants, but one
who knew this flower in the home of his childhood can but say
with Thomas Warton, —

"Ever after summer shower
When the bright sun's returning power,
With laughing beam has chased the storm,
And cheer'd reviving Nature's form,
By sweet brier hedges bathed in dew,
Let me my wholesome pathe pursue."

The Meadow Lark

"Fine, clear, dazzling morning, the sun an hour high, the air just tart enough.
What a stamp in advance my whole day receives from the song of that meadow
lark perched on a fence stake twenty rods distant! Two or three liquid-simple
notes, repeated at intervals, full of careless happiness and hope. With its peculiar
shimmering slow progress and rapid noiseless action of the wings, it flies on a way ,
lights on another stake, and so on to another, shimmering and singing many minute
lights on another stake, and so on to another, shimmering and singing many
minutes." — Walt Whitman.

An Outline for a Study of the Potato

William Gould Vinal

The Rhode Island Norma] School

(The so-called Irish potato, Solatium tuberosum, and not the Sweet Potato
which belongs to the Morning-glory family.)

I. Historical Facts

For account of origin of the potato, read De Candolle's "Origin
of Cultivated Plants," pp. 45-53.

Probably native of Chile, South America. Cultivated by
Indians at time of discovery of America. A similar vegetable is
eaten by natives of South Africa. Belongs to nightshade family,
therefore once thought to be poisonous. First introduced into
Europe 1 580-1 585 by Spaniards. Sir Walter Raleigh introduced
"Virginian potatoes" into County Cork, Ireland, about 1584.
"Potatoes are of less note than horse-radish, — beets." — Bradley,.
1 7 19. "Plant your potatoes in your worst ground." — John
Evelyn. Parmentier (1737-1813) a noted chemist, popularized
it in France. Potato soup is known as "potage Parmentier"
in his honor. Probably introduced into the United States toward
end. of 1 6th century (Virginia and North Carolina)

Frederick the Great succeeded in introducing it into Prussia.

Louis XVI and Queen Elizabeth wore potato blossoms to help
popularize it. Grown in European flower gardens in 1 7th century.
Called Irish potato because used so generally in Ireland. Potato
blight caused famine in Ireland in 1846.

II. Nature Lesson
A. Subject Matter far Teacher. An ordinary stem, as a geranium,
has buds and leaves. A potato is also a stem. The projections
in each "eye" are buds and near the center of the "eye-brow"
may be found a tiny scale which is an undeveloped leaf. This
rudimentary leaf is seen best in new potatoes. One could imagine
a branch of a geranium converted into a potato by reducing the
leaves and storing a great deal of starch in the stem. If this
modified geranium was then placed underground it would give
up its green color due to the absence of sunlight. The stem of
the potato is large on account of its vast amount of stored food
and the leaves have degenerated because the stem is underground.

ls7

188 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

In early spring, the "seed potatoes" are cut into pieces, each
piece having an eye. These are planted in furrows and covered
with soil. The bud soon sends out a sprout and from the base of
this stem appear small roots. The sprout grows above ground
and sends out ash-shaped leaves. The soil is usually drawn around
the young plants with a hoe and this forms the "hill". This
practice is not good as it drains moisture away from the potato.
The leaves take carbon dioxide from the air; water and mineral
substances from the soil by means of the roots ; and, in the presence
of sunlight, warmth and leaf -green, manufacture a liquid nourish-
ment. In the meantime, underground branches have started
from the base of the sprout which look very much like the roots
but are slightly larger. These underground branches receive
the sweetish food, which is manufactured by the leaves, and begin
to enlarge at their ends into potatoes. The food is stored in the
potato in the form of starch.

The blossoms do not usually produce fruit. This is because it
has not depended upon seed but has been reproduced by man in the
way just described. In colonial days, the "seed-balls" or
"potato-balls" were quite abundant. After the blossoms fall
off, the plant above the ground withers and dies. The potatoes
are now said to be "ripe" and are dug with a hoe or potato digger.
On large, level farms the potatoes are dug by machines. When
the potatoes are harvested they are stored in bins in the cellar or
in a dark room where it is warm enough not to freeze the buds,
and cold and dark enough to keep the sprouts from starting.
In the spring, sprouts start from the eye of some of the potatoes.
The sprouts grow very rapidly, taking the nourishment out of the
potato until it becomes wrinkled and unfit to eat.

B. Method of Procedure. Aim: Appreciation of common
things and how plants reproduce. Preparation for intelligent
and appreciative interest in potato growing in the spring.

Have pupils plant potatoes in a box containing sandy soil.
Keep warm and moist. Watch how they grow. Take one up at
different intervals to show changes. Draw different stages.
Describe the changes. Keep a diary. Review parts of a typical
stem using geranium as example. Have someone draw geranium
on board to show stem, leaf, and buds.

Lead pupils to find some parts in a potato. Make drawing of
potato beside sketch of geranium. Connect same parts with

vinal] AN OUTLINE FOR STUDYING THE POTATO 189

A potato is a stem
.-Stem—--,

Bud U--

Leaf

I. Sprouting

Potato

II. Roots
forming

5™_5^^ Flower enlarged

Section
of ball

Potato ball
III. Mature plant

A Portion of Chart for Study of the Potato

190 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

dotted lines. Lead class to infer that the potato is a stem. Have
pupils reason out: Why leaf is reduced? Show class a potato
which has been exposed to sunlight and one that has been in the
dark. How account for difference in color? Conclusion: The
potato is an enlarged underground stem.

Apply a weak solution of iodine to the cut surface of a potato.
Observe results. Iodine colors starch blue. Infer that starch
has been stored in the potato or underground stem.

About a month before this lesson remove the skin from a
potato and weigh. Leave in a warm place. Pupils now observe
changes in size and weight. Lead class to infer that its loss in
size and weight is due to evaporation of water. The composition
of potato is 78.3 per cent water, 18 per cent starch, 2.2 per cent
protein, 1.0 per cent ash, and 0.1 per cent fat. Show by diagram
about how much of a potato is water and how much starch.

Show class a potato which has sprouts upon it. How does it
differ from a potato without sprouts? (Wrinkled). Why? New
growth eating the starch which was stored in it. Infer that starch
is stored in the potato as nourishment for new plants. Note
that sprouts are long white stems with small white leaves. Why
white? Why long stems? Why small leaves? Leave specimen
exposed to light and observe changes. Why are potatoes with
sprouts not desirable for the table?

Pupil dig up a piece of potato which has been planted. From
what does the sprout start? From what do the roots come?
Do the shoots or roots start first ? In what direction do the roots
go? Why? Why should the earth be kept loose about the
growing plants?"

Teach class why potato has large leaves above ground. Show
flowers. Show "seed-balls". These should be collected the
year before and preserved in formalin in a small bottle. Explain
law of disuse. When the potatoes are ripe the parts above ground
wither and die. Why? (They have served their function.)

If possible show a potato plant with the new potatoes. Have
class review by giving life history of this plant. A diagram may
be substituted if the plant is not available.

III. Potato Gardening
A. Organizing Club. Send to the U. S. Department of Agri-
culture and to the State Agricultural College for all literature
related to the Potato Club Work.

vinal] AN OUTLINE FOR STUDYING THE POTATO 191

Farmers' Bulletins 35, 91, 295, 324, 386, 407 and 410 and
Bureau of Plant Industry Circular No. 113 are especially valuable.

Let pupils take home cards showing requirements for potato
club work. Obtain permission of parents for children to join
the club and so far as possible for land. The "landless" children
should be given opportunities in the school garden, in window-
box gardening, and in experimental work.

B. Steps in Gardening. Select an open unshaded area. Rich
sandy loam is best. Drive a stake in four corners of proposed
garden and connect with string. Spade up garden for depth of
eight inches. Rake until surface is fine and level. Fertilize
with street sweepings or buy fertilizer from a seed store. Mix
well with soil. Select a well known variety that grows best in the
neighborhood. Throw out any diseased potatoes. Mix one-
half pint of formalin to 15 gallons of water. Put potatoes in
solution for two hours and then dry them. This prevents scab
disease. Cut potatoes lengthwise into quarters, each piece
having two or three eyes. Plant four inches deep and about a
foot apart in rows. The rows should be a foot apart unless it is
possible to cultivate with a horse and harrow. Hoe once a week
to keep top soil fine and to prevent weeds. Keep this up until
the plants shade the whole ground. Spray with Paris green as
soon as the potato-beetle is seen. Add Bordeaux Mixture when
plants are eight inches high to prevent disease. Mix one-fourth
pound Paris green, one-half pound lime to 25 gallons of water.
Dig potatoes as soon as tops are dead. Keep potatoes from each
plant separate Do not allow them to be exposed to the light.
The best hills have a large number of potatoes which are uniform
in size. Select seed potatoes from these hills for the next season.
Separate the remaining potatoes into marketable potatoes and
culls. The culls include all small and injured potatoes. Sell or
store in a dark place.

C. Suggestive Records for Booklet.

Name Street and number

Date Grade

Size of garden feet by feet.

Description of soil:

Calendar: Prepared soil ; planted ; sprouts

appeared above ground ; first flower ; matured

(tops died) ; harvested

192

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

Accounts

Expense

Date

Income

Amount sold or used

Market price per bus.

Preparation of garden,
hours at io cents . .

Planting potatoes, hrs.

Cultivation at

Date Hours
Spraying mixtures. . .

Spraying at i o cents . .

Date Kinds of Spray

Hours
Harvesting, hrs. at ioc
Rent of land

Amount on hand

Total cost

1

Value of crop ....

D. Other Garden Facts. In 1889 there were 889 varieties.
New varieties are obtained from seed. Some varieties never
produce fruit; others do not even blossom.

Two crops are grown in one year on the same land in the South.

1 900-1 9 10. The average acre yield in United States was less
than 93 bushels.

1900-1910. Average acre yield in Germany and Great Britain
200 bushels.

E. H. Grubb, "Potato King" of Colorado, produces 600 bushels
per acre. Earl of Roseberry, Potato wizard of Scotland, 2000
bushels per acre! Germany yields one-fourth of the world's crop.
We consume 3^2 bushels per person a year in the United States.
We import about one-fourth of potatoes used in United States.
There is no garden crop for which spraying is so necessary as for
the potato crop.

The best potatoes are about 12 ounces, somewhat cylindrical,
shallow-eyed, and white in color.

E. Pictures. Collect pictures as well as specimens to show
varieties, diseases, different characteristics, machinery for culti-
vation, and methods of caring for the crop. These may be
arranged in the booklets. Obtain Millet's "The Angelus",
"The Potato Gatherers", and "Going to Work".

vinal] AN OUTLINE FOR STUDYING THE POTATO 193

IV. Uses of the Potato

A. In the Home. The potato stands next to wheat as an im-
portant food crop in the western countries.

Potato Starch. The making of starch is both valuable and
interesting. Grate potatoes into a dish of water. The starch
granules settle on the bottom of the dish. Keep rinsing with
water until the starch is white and clean. Send for Recipes for
the use of the Potatoes and Home-made Potato Starch, Form O-7,
to the States Relations Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Boiled Potatoes. Most economical to boil in jackets. If pared,
place in cold water to prevent coloring. If of uniform size they
are done at the same time. Place in hot water instead of cold —
will not be soggy. Salt added to water makes the potatoes more
tasty. Drain off water.

Baked Potatoes. More wholesome than boiled potatoes. Place
in a hot oven until soft. Break skin to let out the steam.

B. Commercial Uses. Denatured alcohol; sizing for paper;
thickening colors in calico printing; glucose.

V. The Potato-Beetle

Aim : To know the life history and means of protection of the
potato-beetle in order to exterminate it. Teach when needed.

Place the larvae of the potato-beetle on a potted potato plant
which may be kept in a breeding cage.

In what way are the larvae injurious to the plant ? How might
we attack the insect in this stage? Handle the larvae and note
the odor left on the hands. Would birds enjoy eating the larvae ?
Why? (A distasteful secretion protects them from birds). Of
what advantage are the bright colors of the larvae to itself?
(A warning to birds). The larvae change into the pupal stage
beneath the ground. How would fall plowing help destroy this
pest ? In what way would rotation of crops help this problem ?

Study the adult. Feed the insect on raw potato. Note whether
the adult has sucking or biting mouth parts. (Biting mouth
parts). Does the adult or the young larva have the greatest
appetite? Compare the size of the legs with those of the ground
beetle? (Smaller). What does this indicate? (Depends more
on wings for locomotion). In what way does this suggest the
need of co-operation amongst farmers of a neighborhood? (If
each one does not kill these pests they will soon infect clean areas).

194 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

Describe the feet. (Claws and pads). Use? (Crawling and
clinging) . How many pairs of wings does this insect have ? (Two) .
Note which wings are used in flying? (Inner). In what way
are they adapted for flying? (Light and gauzy). Describe the
outer wings. (Hard and shell-like). What do you infer is their
use? (Protection to delicate under- wings) . Pick up a beetle
and note how it "plays possum." When one brushes against a
potato plant the adult insects drop to the ground and "play
possum". What is the advantage of this habit? Hold the insect
rather firmly. What is another method of protection? (Acrid
secretion) .

The orange colored eggs are laid on the underside of the leaves.
Advantage?

The potato-beetle was a native of Colorado where it lived on
a wild plant of the nightshade family.

VI. Conservation of Moisture
This lesson should precede the cultivation of the potato crop.
Experiment i. Devise a rack to hold four lamp chimneys in
a vertical position. Tie a piece of cloth over the bottom of each
and fill within three inches of the top with gravel, sand, clay, and
loam, respectively. Pour the same amount of water into each
chimney and note the time it takes each soil to absorb the water.
Which allows the water to pass through most quickly? Which
soil should we add to a garden that loses its moisture too rapidly ?
What soil should we mix with garden soil that does not absorb
water readily? The force which causes the moisture to go down-
ward is called gravity. In heavy soils plant potatoes about
three inches deep and in light loose soil four to five inches deep.
Why?

Experiment 2. Pack the soils in the lamp chimneys rather
firmly and add a loose dry layer of the same kind of soil on top.
Let the lower ends of the chimneys in a pan of water. Note the
rate at which the water passes upward in each soil. Compare
the rate at which the moisture passes upward in the packed soil
and in the loose surface soil. This upward movement of the
water is due to capillary attraction. Which would you expect
to be more important for the plant, gravitational water or capil-
lary water? This experiment shows how tillage will conserve
capillary water. Explain. The surface layer is called a mulch

vixal] AN OUTLINE FOR STUDYING THE POTATO 195

and this practice is known as dry farming in the west. If it
were not for saving of the moisture they could not farm in dry
regions.

Experiment 3. Place soil in a tray. Pack the surface firmly
on one side and leave a loose surface on the other. Incline the
tray slightly and pour water on gently from a watering pot.
In which case does the water soak in and in which case does it
run off the soil? Lead class to infer that a second reason for
keeping a mulch is to absorb the rainfall.

The sun bakes the soil after a rain forming a hard surface.
What effect would this have on evaporation of the water? (Has-
tens). What would be the relation of such a surface to the next
rainfall? (Water would run off and not soak in). Give two
reasons for hoeing the garden after a rain. Tillage to conserve
soil moisture is really more important than tillage to kill weeds.

Experiment 4. Place the same weight of wet sand in two trays
of the same size. Arrange soil in one so that it is made up of
parallel ridges and keep the contents of the other tray flat. These
two trays illustrate two methods of cultivating potatoes, one is
called the ridged system or "hilling-up" potatoes and the other
is known as the flat method. Weigh occasionally to see which is
losing the moisture more rapidly. (The flat method exposes less
surface soil and therefore conserves the moisture.) Should we
"hill-up" potatoes or use the flat method in a dry region? In a
region which has a great deal of rainfall ?

The Blind Angler

The picture shows this amazing fish right-side up and we beg its and Dr.
Schufeldt's pardon that we after much deliberation displayed it wrong
side up in the April number of The Nature-Study Review.

Viscount Bryce on Nature-Study

M. A. BlGELOW

Teachers College, Columbia University

My attention has been called to a strong statement in favor
of nature-study in an article on the "Worth of Ancient Literature
to the Modern World," which Viscount Bryce wrote for The Fort-
nightly Review, of April, 191 7 and which has now been reprinted
by the General Education Board. I quote as follows:

"What sorts of capacities and of attainments go to make a
truly educated man, with keen and flexible faculties, ample stores
of knowledge, and the power of drawing pleasure from the exer-
cise of his faculties in turning to account the knowledge he has
accumulated? How should the mental training fitted to produce
such capacities begin?

"First of all by teaching him how to observe and by making
him enjoy the habit of observation. The attention of the child
should from the earliest years be directed to external nature.
His observation should be alert, and it should be exact.

"Along with this he should learn how to use language, to know
the precise differences between the meanings of various words
apparently similar, to be able to convey accurately what he wishes
to say. This goes with the habit of observation, which can be
made exact only by the use in description of exact terms. In
training the child to observe constantly and accurately and to use
language precisely, two things are being given which are the
foundation of mental vigor — curiosity, i.e., the desire to know —
and the habit of thinking. And in knowing how to use words
one begins to learn — it is among the most important parts of
knowledge— how to be the master and not the slave of words.
The difference between the dull child and the intelligent child
appears from very early years in the power of seeing and the power
of describing: and that which at twelve years of age seems to
be dullness is often due merely to neglect. The child has not
been encouraged to observe or to describe or to reflect.

"Once the Love of Knowledge and the enjoyment in exercising
the mind have been formed, the first and most critical stage .in
education has been successfully passed. What remains is to
supply the mind with knowledge, while further developing the
desire to acquire more knowledge."

196

girard] 'TWAS AT CHRISTENING TIME 197

It is obvious that Viscount Bryce's reference to observation
directed to external nature means what here in America we call
nature-study. It is also interesting to note that he believes
that such observations "should be alert and be exact." It has
often been lamented by leading educators that much of our
nature-study has failed in these two requirements. It is also
interesting to note that Mr. Bryce would have the child learn
to use language along with observation, and that observations
should be described in exact terms. This is exactly along the
line that some of our leading nature-study workers have always
advocated as a correlation between nature-study and language
work. In short it seems to me that the two paragraphs quoted
are very suggestive of how nature-study should be conducted
so as to develop the habit of observation, description, and reflec-
tion concerning the common things of nature.

'Twas at Christening Time
HorE H. Girard

LL flowers were in bloom ; wherever they

could grow, they grew.

The world-garden was full of sweet

fragrance and splendor, because it was the

fulness of Time. The sun shone, and birds

sang, sang, sang!

As the wonderful, lone Gardener passed

in and out among them, to name them, he
tenderly touched a petal, a stem, a leaf, even a stalk as they turned
their beautiful heads toward the light that he might better see
them.

Some were tall and stately, and held their heads fittingly high;
some stooped and blushed almost unseen, but the great Artist
found them; some clung or leaned and modestly showed then-
colors and delicate lineaments; some in mellow hues or strong
tints stayed just mid-way and laughed because they were alive
and could help to make the world lovely, and everybody happy;
and their Friend smiled with them for joy; still others grew
gracefully and luxuriantly on the ground, weaving and inter-
weaving a soft carpet for His feet.

198 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

Oh, it was a gorgeous sight, a great rejoicing, a glorious naming!
All the world was a-stir at this baptismal. Rare was the look on
the Master's face.

The rose, the daisy, the blue-bell, the pansy; the buttercup,
the lily, and the others were named. The Gardener still moving
noiselessly in and out among them, always recognizing each in
its exquisite life time glory, was about to turn away, when he heard
a timid little voice, that came from the brink of a brooklet, say
"Forget me not; I have no name." And as the great Teacher
looked down over the edge of the bank, he saw growing in among
some soft moss and grasses, a lovely little light blue flower, reach-
ing out over the rock to the Light. As He stooped to touch it,
he said: "It shall be Forget-me-not. Your name is 'Forget-me
not' ' '- — and the little flow'ret reached up higher and said : ' 'Thank
you, and I will forget Thee not."

The gentle breeze that flitted everywhere, everywhere, caressing
the Master, lightly fluttering his robe and kissing the cheeks of
the blossoms, said that it heard each flower in the garden say, as
it nodded its pretty head, "I will forget Thee not! I will forget
Thee not, Christ-man!"

And to this day, the true forget-me-not plant chooses the banks
of streamlets, or moist shady places where to grow and send into
the world its beautiful little forget-me-not blue flow'rets.

When to the flowers — so beautiful

The Father gave a name,
Back came a little blue-eyed one

(All timidly it came)
And standing at the Father's feet,

And gazing in His face —
It said in low and trembling tones, *

With sweet and gentle grace,
"Dear God, the name Thou gavest me

Alas! I have forgot."
Then kindly looked the Father down

And said, "Forget-me-not."

Author unknown.

The Blue Violet

Adexa K. Burt
Lake George, X. Y.

"Here she is again, the dear,
Sweetest vestal of the year,
In her little purple hood,
Brightening the lonesome wood.

We who something worn with care,
Take the road, find unaware
Joy that heartens, hope that thrills."
— Margaret Songster.

All through the ages our ancestors have rejoiced at the appear-
ance of this little blue hooded dainty, and who of us now has
not had his heart gladdened at some time or another by a glimpse
of some fresh green nook in early May where —

"purple violets lurk,
With all the lovely children of the shade?"

"Ion" is the Greek name for the violet and is reputed to have
been bestowed on it because, when Jupiter had metamorphosed
Io into a white heifer, he caused sweet violets to spring from the
earth in order to present her with herbage worthy of her.

Some etymologists trace the Greek name Ion to la, the daughter
of Midas, who was betrothed to Atys and transformed by Diana
into a violet to conceal her from Phoebus. Along with other
flowers the violet was assigned by the ancients to Venus. It is
said that Proserpine was gathering violets as well as narcissus
when she was seized by Pluto. The Athenians more especially
affected the violet; everywhere throughout the city of Athens
they set up engraven tablets with the name and preferred for
themselves above all other names that of "Athens crowned with
Violets."

The blue violet has been and surely is the best-beloved as well
as the best known of our early wild flowers, and it seems as if no
other flower were so suggestive of the dawning year, so associated
with the days when life is full of promise. Its message is always
the same, "Spring is here" and our winter worries and regrets
become like May violets which bud and blossom like the rest.

199

200

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

It is at this time of year in which we seem to have a desire for

something more than common gain.

Although I be-
lieve that more
than a hundred
species of violets
have been record-
ed, only about
thirty are found
in our country ;
of these perhaps
twenty are native
and flourish in the
Northeastern
states. Unfortu-
nately we have no
strongly sweet-

scented species,
none

,', . . sweeter than
the lids of Juno's
eyes

Or Cytherea's breath,

as Shakespeare
found the English
blossom.

Our own very
dear, Viola pal-
metto, which refers
to the shape of the
leaf, palmate leav-
ed or lobed, variety
cucullata, the com-
mon blue violet, is a humble bit of4color which does not disdain to
brighten up our dooryards or pastures; it likes human company,
but is also familiar on roadsides, woods, meadows and in fields,
far away from the sound of man covering hollows and hillocks in
such purple crowds that :

The Common Blue Violet Growing in a Pasture
Photo ty Verne Morton

burt] THE BLUE VIOLET 201

"One might guess,
A storm of blossoms had fallen there,
And covered the ground with sweet excess."

But we will always find the finer forms of this little flower in cool,
shady dells, where the moss clings on the stones and the water
trickles over the rocks; here each little flower will be, —

"Fair as a star, when only one
is shining in the sky."

The blue violet doesn't seek gaudy rose bowers or gardens to
show its beauty, it is perfectly content by the poorest homes
arrayed in modest tints. I think it could teach us all a lesson in
humility.

The flower is distributed from Maine to Georgia in the east
and extends westward to Minnesota and Arkansas.

The violet grows about twelve inches high, it has a fleshy,
thickened rootstock which begins its work before the snow goes
off the ground, and if we were to uncover the ground from its
leaves and snow in March, we should find the violet leaves well
on their way. The profusion of blossoms however, comes in
April and May. This fleshy rootstock stores food all during the
summer, so in the early spring the plant does not have to make
a supply of food, but can put forth leaves and flowers to get the
sunlight before many of the other plants around it, have thought
about waking up. When the complete summer foliage is out the
violet might have no chance whatever with the sunlight.

The leaves and flowers are borne on stalks which all appear to
rise from the ground or from rootstocks creeping along the ground,
thus it is known as the stemless species. The first leaves are
likely to be heart shaped with the sides rolled inward resembling
those of Meadow violet, but the later ones have margins divided
into many lobes; they are radical and long petioled with a broad
sinus.

The irregular flowers of Viola palmala are borne solitarily on a
single scape, in color they are deep or a pale violet blue rarely ever
white,

"I know blue modest violets,
Gleaming with dew at morn —
I know the place you came from,
And the way that you were born!

202 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

When God cut holes in heaven,

The holes the stars look through
He let the scraps fall down to earth, —

The little scraps are you."

And who of us that have seen a patch of these flowers can doubt
this origin ? There are five, green sepals extended into ears at the
base, the blue petals are of the same number, with one pair above,
another pair, one at each side, and a broad, lower petal. This
species is called a bearded species which means it has a fringe
of hairs on the inside of the petals toward the base. These beards
on the spurred, lower petal and the two side petals give the bees
a foothold when they turn head downward, as some must, to seek
nectar and also forms an arch over the door of a throat leading to
the nectary. This downward attitude of the bees enables them
to receive pollen which is dusted on their abdomens when they
jar the flower at a point nearest their pollen collecting hairs.
The fringe is very useful too, in brushing off new pollen from
visitors.

The nectary is situated in the spur which is formed by the
lower petal projecting backwards; in order to reach the treasure
which is at the rearmost point — the insect must thrust it's tongue
through a little door guarded by five anthers and a pistil. The
insect thus becomes laden with pollen and carries it from flower
to flower.

Possibly more than one observer has noted how abundant
may be the blue blossoms, "they may fairly carpet the earth,"
but there is no corresponding production of seed. When one
comes to think of it there are never very many seeds on the
Blue Violet, for it appears that this profusion of blue blossoms
is largely for show and not for use, and that when the plant
really wants to mature some seeds, it puts forth half buried under
the leaves and grass and next to the ground some whitish flowers
which never open nor develop petals, but are fertilized in the
bud and are exceedingly fruitful. These peculiar, whitish buds
are on curved peduncles an inch long. A dissection of one of these
buds reveals a miniature flower, furnished with a good stigma
and well developed anthers. These are produced throughout
the entire summer and are called cleistogamous flowers, meaning
fertilized in the bud. Here is no expensive glitter of petals,
no unnecessary pollen to be wasted by improvident insects.

bcrt] THE BLUE VIOLET 203

Dame Nature has evidently constructed these flowers after the
strictest economy. It is with seeds made in this way that our
blue violet maintains herself in so many lands and despite great
hardships. The little seed pods are three lobed, each one of these
lobes dividing lengthwise with a double row of seeds within.
To scatter the seeds each lobe curls back and expels her load.

There are many different species of violets all belonging to the
same family Viola, and they frequent quite different locations,
short stemmed, long stemmed and sweet odored, all variations and
kinds. We would hardly recognize the blue violet's yellow and
white sisters as even being members of the same family except
for their general shape and parts. The long spurred violet is
very interesting, with faint, lavender colored petals which are
finely marked with dark, hair-like lines showing the bees where the
precious nectar is hidden.

Every spring when I was a little girl I looked forward with
anticipation to a trip in my grandmother's orchard on the farm
where I could gather violets. These were the first flowers I
came to know and my heart was broken if this annual spring trip
was prevented. I always took large bunches home and had lots
of fun fixing them in bowls of water. The next dav at school
wa played "rooster" and often would be made to stay after school.
I hardly think our teacher could have heard of nature-study.

In the winter one of our florist's choicest and most expensive
bouquets is of violets; and whose face doesn't beam when they
open a purple, square looking hat box and find a bunch of these
precious flowers, whether one is old or young! The florist some-
times places in the middle of this bouquet a tea rose or two, but
to me this always seemed superfluous — the violet needs no outside
adornment.

By ancient writers, the violet is frequently mentioned, and
its name came to be applied indiscriminately to all sweet scented
blossoms. In eastern countries the violet is still a favorite flower
and a sherbet flavored with its blossoms is a common drink.

It is said Mahomet preferred the flower to all others and once
remarked, "The excellence of the extract of violets above all
other extracts is as the excellence of me above all the rest of the
creation: it is cold in summer and hot in winter."

At the floral games instituted at Toulouse in the early part of
the fourteenth century, the prize awarded to the author of the best

204 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

political composition was a golden violet. The fair founder of
these games whilst undergoing a weary imprisonment sent her
chosen flower, the violet, to her knight that he might wear the
emblem of her constancy and thus the flower became a symbol
of faithfulness. It has now come to embody two more virtues
those of love and modesty. The violet — "stands first with most,
but always with the lover."

The Romans, also were extremely partial to the violet and
cultivated it largely in their gardens. A favorite beverage of
theirs was a wine made from the flower.

It was formerly believed in England that when violets and roses
flourished in autumn, there would be some epidemic in the ensuing
year. In Worcest ;rshire, the safety of the farmers' young broods
of chickens and ducks is thought to be sadly endangered by any-
one taking less than a handful of violets and primroses into his
house. Pliny had so high an opinion of the medicinal virtues of
the violet as to assert that a garland of violets worn about the
head prevented headache or dizziness. However absurd we
may think these superstitions in our time, nevertheless we must
sympathize with the ancient's use and reverence for the flower.

Not only with the ancients has the violet won distinction,
because it is and has always been in high favor with the French,
and is now the recognized badge of the Imperial party, having
become identified with the Bonapartists during Napoleon the
First's exile at Elba. What very interesting tales of the violet
ancestors might we know, were we but versed in flower language.

In the time of Charles II, a conserve called "violet-sugar" or
"violet-plate" was recommended by physicians to consumptive
patients. Even in our own war times it might be well, should we
look into food conservation in this way Who knows, but that
in a few years "violet sugar" may be a daily sweetmeat.

The violet more than most flowers has impinged upon the
imagination of the poets. They have loved them and sung in
varied strains of their fragrance and lowliness; however, blue violets
will go on living their own lives in their own way, maintaining
their modest beauty, quite unmindful of the' poets.

"The violet in her greenwood bower,

Where birchen boughs with Hazel mingle,
May boast itself the fairest flower
In glen or copse or forest dingle."

— Sir Walter Scott.

Birds in a Florida Jungle
Phyllis Summers
Ames, Iowa

With field glasses and bird book I started for the so called
"Florida Jungle," which in wild life does not much resemble
Kipling's jungle but is just a dense woods with an abundance of
undergrowth. I have never seen a wild cat nor even a rattle
snake in these woods, but I do not doubt the latter are there
and I have even heard of wild cats in Florida. But this jungle
is a place where lichen and moss spring up in a night and birds
are to be found in their glory.

It was bird hunting that I went on this particular morning.
There had been a rumor of a "new bird" about the place — some
reports saying that it was strikingly marked with orange — others
that the bright color was red. I had had a tantalizing glimpse
of the bird myself and was determined to have another view, if
possible.

I found a small cleared place and sat down to wait. The first
sign of animal life I saw was my study for the morning. The
"new bird" came creeping out from under the palmettoes, looked
around and, unconcerned by its visitor, began scratching for worms.
Almost immediately it was followed by another. They did not
seem to notice me until I turned to the "Field Key" in my bird
book, and then they both disappeared under the brush but con-
tinued to give their call as they rustled the dead leaves about in
their search for breakfast. I had gotten a splendid view of the
birds but because of my exaltation over the beauty of them as a
whole, I had failed to get any specific details. However with the
idea of a black head and breast with red sides I began to study
my book in hopes of finding a name for our new friend. I had
hardly made a beginning when I heard a slight x-ustle among
the branches and looking up I saw a bright yellow bird flitting
about the palmettoes. It flew over and lighted on an upright
stick which was not more than two feet from me. It was a small
bird of the most vivid yellow and across its eye was a streak of
jet black. It tipped its head and looked at me as though to say
"I'm not afraid of you," and then darted away as quicklv as it
had come. But another was playing nearby and a cardinal
was scolding in a neighboring bush and yes, there came one of

205

206 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

my yet unnamed birds from under the brush again. Though
beautiful it was no such flame of color as the cardinal, and what
had seemed a bright red before now by contrast faded into almost
a brown. It was about the size of the cardinal and similar in
shape. As it hurried back under cover it almost ran into a covey
of quail which I could barely see through the dense underbrush.
A call from a woodpecker made me look up but instead of the
woodpecker that had given the warning I saw a large hawk
circling overhead. All was quiet until he disappeared in the
distance and then almost immediately the birds began to hop in
sight and the entertainment began again.

For an hour I watched the actors as they made "their exits
and their entrances," never missing their cue and never leaving
an empty stage. Overhead the orchestra seemed to put a finish-
ing touch to the scene. When was such music ever heard before !
No other than the mocking bird could be "playing" so many tunes.
I wanted to get a glimpse of this bird of song, not that I thought
this was any camouflage music. No one could have doubted
that it was the real thing. However, he stayed well out of sight
in the tops of the trees. But the red bird's crest had fallen and
he was now singing in jealous rivalry of the unseen songster.
A butcher bird at my other side was performing in the air, giving
vent to the funniest antics, hovering over the same spot, then
darting one way and then the other. Down to the ground he
swooped and up again. His wings were going rapidly but he
remained in the same spot as though standing in the air — then
down again, a slight struggle on the ground and away he flew
with a good sized lizard. I thought, "What a meal!" and then
realizing it must be dinner time, I left the land of birds and went
home wondering if there was ever a more wonderful place than a
Florida jungle. That night I named the new comer, — Towhee.

What cheer!

What cheer!
That is the cardinal grosbeak's way,
With his sooty face and his coat so red;
Too shrill, too red, too loud and gay
(Top-knotted like a Jay),
Too crude for the critical eye and ear!
In a wild plum-thicket of Tennessee
He flung a challenge out to me.

— Maurice Thompson in "To an English Nightingale."

A good portrait of a bumblebee

Photo by L. Wendell

The Bumblebee and the Garden Flowers

Not the bluebird with his sweet song and the promise of blue
skies on his wing is more welcome to my sight in Spring than is the
vision of a great queen bumblebee flying low over the faintly
green sod prospecting for a site for her summer nest. Around
and around she flies, buzzing happily but anxiously stopping now
and then to explore some likely opening only to reject it and go on
house-hunting. It is certainly hard times when a queen has to
go house-hunting, but she doesn't mind unless perchance she meets
some foolish ignorant boy who proceeds to hunt her with a stick,
not knowing that by so doing he is damaging his own crops,
especially his melon, pumpkin, and clover crops. If Fate slaught-
ered all folks who do foolish things there would have been in the
past large casualties among country boys who kill bumblebees.

The big queen is not old if she is big. She was born late last
summer and she has had a hard time living through the cold
winter in some protected place where she went to sleep like a
wise woodchuck, and forgot her troubles until the spring sun
warmed her back to life.

207

208 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

What the bumblebee queen usually wants to find is the deserted
nest of a field mouse which she. will proceed to lease forthwith —
since it gives her just the kind of a house she likes. But if she
does not find it she will accommodate herself somewhere else.
She sometimes takes a rotting fence rail and one year one of our
ambitious queens hunted higher and took possession of a tile
nest in which we fondly hoped a pair of chickadees would set up
house keeping.

After she has found a place to live, she starts straightway to
making loaves of bread; a bread that would suit Mr. Hoover
because it is made entirely of substitutes. For flour she gathers
pollen from the early flowers and for mixing she uses some nectar.
It is a sweet bread that she molds into a big irregular loaf. But
this bread isn't for her own selfish uses — it is food for the family
that is to be. For when she gets a loaf large enough, she lays an
egg here and another one there upon it. Then she gathers more
pollen, a hard and taxing toil for such a big clumsy bee and makes
more sweet bread and upon it lays more eggs.

The youngster that hatches from one of these eggs is a little
creamy white bee grub, looking as little like her queen mother as
an angleworm looks like an oriole; but she is her mother's true
daughter just the same and a knowing one too — for she at once
begins eating the bee bread and makes a little cave for herself
by eating all that she digs, just as a boy would make a cave in a
sponge cake if it were as large as a house. By and by she has
eaten her fill and shed her skin several times like all young insects,
and has reached her full growth. Then she spins about herself,
from her own little spindle which is very near her mouth, the most
beautiful and delicate silken blanket that ever covered an insect;
and rolled snugly in this she takes a long rest while her legs and
wings are growing. After a week or so she sheds her pupa skin
and crawls out, a damp but perfect bumblebee. She is not so
large as her queen mother and that is well, for she has a special
business to accomplish. All the eggs laid by the queen in the
spring hatch into daughters, because daughters are needed to
help in getting the food and caring for the young bees; the chief
work being the gathering of pollen and nectar and making many
loaves of bee-bread, because the bumblebee babies can take care
of themselves if they only have a loaf of sweet bread to burrow
in. After her eldest daughters takes the responsibilities of getting

THE BUMBLEBEE AXD THE GARDEN FLOWERS 209

the food, the queen mother does not do any work but devotes
her time to laying eggs so that the colony will be large and strong.

Late in the summer two things happen in the bumblebee nest.
First, so many bees have made caves in bee bread that the nest is
full of these cells each one lined with a silk blanket and the busy
bee daughters, feeling in "their bones" or somewhere else that
autumn and frosts are coming commence filling these empty
bee grub caves with honey and sealing them up with as much
satisfaction as a woman cans plums and peaches. The reason
the bumblebee comb is so irregular instead of being beautifully
six-sided cells like that of the honey bee is that the bumblebee
grubs in burrowing into the bee-bread just go "even.- which way."
Who but a bumblebee anyway would think of storing her honey
in a grub-cradle!

The other thing of importance that happens is that the eggs
which the queen lays late in the season hatch into sons and those
daughters whose business it will be to be queens next year. The
sons are queer helpless chaps. They are better off than the drones
of the honeybee because their tongues are long enough so that
they can get nectar from flowers; but they have no stings. Or
at least the ones we had experience with as children hadn't any.
We knew them, or one species of them, for they had white faces
instead of black faces like their sisters; and our bravery in catching
one of these fellows in our hands was the wonder of our fellows
who knew naught of his droneship's incapacity as a fighter.
But these sons are given to making excursions and during some
of these journeyings they find some queen of their species for a
mate. But though the drones come back to the nest and the
honey their sisters have stored there, they and their sisters suc-
cumb to the cold of winter and only the queens are strong enough
to survive.

The bumblebee is of greater interest to us because of her work in
carrying pollen for the flowers in our gardens. It seems as if the
flowers await anxiously her coming. Watch her working in the
iris, foxglove, lady's slipper, hollyhocks, larkspur, monk's hood,
canterbury bells. But especially watch her work in the melon,
cucumber and pumpkin blossoms. For there would never be
a cucumber or melon orpumpkin for our table if it were not for
bees and especially the bumblebees.

210

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 14:5— May, 1918

When we are in the garden and see bumblebees visiting our
flowers, let us note the following things : A bee visits for a period
of time the same species of flowers and does not go from one kind
to another. If she did, she would not be carrying the right kind
of pollen to serve her flower friends. Some flowers she enters
back up and some, back down; in either case notice where she
becomes dusted with pollen and how her furry covering is fitted
for brushing and holding pollen. Then notice the shape and
positions of the floral parts and see that the part of her which
becomes dusted with pollen comes in contact with the stigma
of the next flower she visits. Note where she probes for nectar
and how many times in one flower. See her, when she is
thoroughly dusted with pollen, stop and clean up by combing out
the pollen with her middle legs and packing it in her pollen baskets
which are on her hind legs.

fe

ly^rniiJl'-^p

-Vv^

A New Spring Song

William Prindle Alexander

Sing a song of silvery Spring

Just at winter's going,
Golden forces entering

And a little snowing,
Ere a sprout has ventured out

On the Southern stretches,
And the rill, upon the hill

Its changing picture etches.

Sing a song of willow row-
Decked with catkin furry,

While the drift is still below

Where swelling streamlets hurry ;

When the skies, hint Paradise
Of coming rapture vernal,

And in his heart man feels a part
Of all that is eternal !

Alexander] A NEW SPRING SONG 211

Sing a song of Marigolds

Bright as burnished metal,
Treasure that some fairy folds

In each shining petal;
In the marsh, when winds are harsh

And fitful rains are sweeping,
They bloom apace, with laughing face

While violets are sleeping!

Sing a song of Mayflowers

In the month of sweetness,
Blooming ere the gay flowers

Mark the years completeness;
Then up! and seek, in woodland bleak

Their half-celestial cluster,
That might endow, fair Flora's brow

With wreath of matchless luster.

Sing a song of bluebird

Herald of the play-time,
When the world anew-stirred

Revels in the May-time;
Then to be out, and roam about

The world's wide fairy palace,
For mead and elm is wonder-realm

Full strange as that of Alice!

Sing a song of buttercup,

Waving grass and <i
Gorgeous wings that flutter up

Leisurely, and lazy ;
Magic dye of butterfly,

Song of bee and cricket.
With sweet idyll, of birds that trill

And nest in every thicket.

Sing a song of th' human heart

Waiting for the healing,
When the sluggish pulse will start

Anew, with Springtime stealing
In with balm and morning calm

O'er all the sunless places,
And rapture thrilled, the world is filled

With joy and sunny faces'

What Became of the Tadpoles?

W. E. RlNGLE
Manual Training Normal School, Pittsburg, Kansas

This is the sad story of a family of tadpoles — tadpoles that never
became frogs. Their curiosity or perhaps it was their appetites,
got the better of their discretion.

The writer was the foster father of this family It was a large
one, for he and his classes in nature-study had placed about 10,000
frog's eggs in an aquarium in the classroom so the appearance in
the world of the funny little creatures might be observed from
day to day. They hatched out by the thousands in due time
and afforded everybody much amusement. Even several days
after hatching they were not much larger than a "wiggle-tail."

It was about this time that the writer, while strolling in Lincoln
Park near the Normal, noticed a water plant floating in the creek.
It was a bladderwort, a plant found more frequently in the streams
of the northern states than in Kansas. He pulled it out and car-
ried it to the classroom, where he placed it in the aquarium that
contained the tadpoles. He regarded it as a lucky find, for it
would aerate the water and do away with the necessity of changing
it frequently.

A peculiarity of the plant was that on its stem, one at the base
of each asparagus-like leaf, were unnumbered balloon shaped
appendages, not more than one-eighth of an inch in diameter.
Into each "balloon" was a small circular opening and this opening
was surrounded by bristles. The "balloons" were pea green and
semi-transparent .

A few days later some one noticed there were not as many
tadpoles in the aquarium as there had been. Their disappearance
was a mystery, for it was quite certain no one had removed them.
And, what was queerer still, the number of the tadpoles continued
to diminish until it looked as though there would be none left.

The Balloons Turned Black
Meanwhile the balloons on the water plant were turning black.
This was taken as a sign that they were getting ripe. One was
cut open to see what further change accompanied ripening.
The knife revealed inside the balloon the disintegrating body
of one of the vanished tadpoles. It had become the victim of
the bladderwort. Other balloons were cut into and nearly all

212

ringle]

WHAT BECAME OF THE TADPOLES?

213

proved to contain a tadpole. The plant placed in the aquarium
for the benefit of the tadpoles was devouring them.

Exa-
mination
of the bal-
loons show-
ed that their
orifices were
large enough
to admit
the baby
tadpoles.
As they en-
ered a trap-
door that
had stood
ajar swung
further back
to admit
them. But
once inside,
the tadpole
was a prison-
er without
chance of
release .
Even- move
made it only
served to
close the
door more
t i g h t 1 y .
There the
tiny crea-
tures re- The Common Bladderwort
mained until From "Life of Inland Waters"
lack of air or of food caused their death.

A black tadpole within a nearly transparent balloon had caused
the appendage itself to appear black. As the tadpole decomposed,
its tissues were absorbed by the walls of the balloon to serve as

214

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

food for the plant. When the balloon had extracted from the
little animal all the nutriment there was to be had, it shriveled up
and fell from the stem. It thus served as a coffin for the minute
bones of the victim.

Why the tadpoles should have entered the balloons was not
wholly clear. They may have .expected to find food within.
Perhaps the spherical cavities seemed to them to offer a cosy
retreat. The bristles around the doors evidently had not deterred
them. These bristles appeared to have as their function the
warding off of larger animals.

The strange thing, from the point of science, was that the

bladderwort should have fed
on vertebrates. Dr. C. F.
Hodge, the famous naturalist
connected with the University
of Oregon, was lecturing at the
school when the incident oc-
curred. After verifying all
the details, he stated that it
seemed to add a fact to the
sum total of knowledge regard-
ing plants that feed on animals.
In all his years of study and
research, he said, he had never
found or heard of a plant that
would make vertebrates its
food.

Why not Mosquito
Catcher?
There are about 500 species
of plants that capture and
devour animals, generally in a
in a manner more or less simi-
lar to that here described. But
these animals are, for the most

Diagram of Traps of Bladderwort

From "Life of Inland Waters"
A . — A bladder seen from lower side- B. — A section
of a bladder showing valve at v; xyz, epidermal hairs

parts insects. The carnivorous plants are therefore generally known
as "insectivorous plants." Their other prey are nearly microscopic
crustaceans of various kinds, such as the cyclops and daphnia.
Among the better known insectivorous plants are the sundew, the
pitcher plant, and Venus' fly-trap.

ROBisox] BIRD PROJECTS WITH DRAWINGS 215

It would seem that the bladderwort (utricularia) might offer
a means for combating the mosquito. Why should it not attract
and devour the larva of the mosquito just as it does the tadpole?
If it does, one way of ridding a community of mosquitoes, it
appears, would be to propagate the bladderwort in its streams
and pools.

The bladderwort does not withstand the frozen waters of
winter. But. through a curious series of events, enough of the
plant survives to give rise to new plants the following spring.
At the approach of cold weather the leaves on the ends of the
stems enlarge to form spherical buds. The other leaves and the
stems die. Water then replaces the air that had filled the cavities
of the plant and buoyed it up. It sinks in and in doing so draws
the "winter buds," as they are called, to the warmer water at the
bottom. When spring comes, these buds elongate, break loose
from the dead stem, and rise to near the surface. There they
quickly put oat two rows of lateral branches, on which the balloons
soon develop, and the new plants begin to feed in their turn on
the tinv water animals that swarm on the sunnv surface.

Bird Projects With Outline Drawings
C. H. Robisox

Montclair (X. J.) State Xormal School

A number of inquiries have been received as to methods of using the
separate plates of the Comstock bird note-books. The following article
describes the plan used in one normal school with the students fitting them-
selves for teaching. — Ed.)

In our normal school, the "bird book" is one of a list of some
25 or 30 projects, from which students in the nature-study depart-
ment are expected to choose a number to be completed. This
number is variable, the better the work the fewer projects required
for the specified total of points. Each project is graded from
six up to ten points. An attempt is made to equalize the require-
ments so that, on an average, each project will make about the
same demands on the student's time.

Students usually combine the making of the bird book with
work in the manual arts department. Sometimes it furnishes
the motive for cover designing; again instruction in various kinds

216 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

of stitching and binding grow out of the needs for the bird book.
Sometimes the nature-study department furnishes the paper,
sometimes the students are thrown on their own resources. This
year we are giving out "mist gray" paper for mounting and "steel
gray" heavier material for the covers.

The loose Comstock plates are colored and mounted by any one
of several methods. Both crayons and water-colors are used,
although the general testimony of the students is that better
results are obtained in less time with the water-colors. As a
guide to coloring, we recommend the specimens in our museum
cases and colored pictures. In the latter case the warning is
given to compare the colors of the picture with those of the
specimens. Many of our students use the A. W. Mumford
pictures, 536 South Clark street, Chicago, or the leaflets of the
National Association of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway,
New York. The former cost two cents and the latter three cents.
Students are directed to look up and write out the data on a small
number of items, as, family (common name of), time of arrival
(in the case of migrants), food and economic importance, song,
place and nature of nest, other points worthy of note or of inter-
est to children. We avoid stressing eggs as suggestive of undesir-
able inquiries in the field and we pay little attention to range
because of its lack of relation to local study. Students are urged
to include appropriate poems and any printed matter, as clippings,
Aubudon leaflets, etc We have sometimes required or suggested
a color sketch of the nest, either from one of our specimens or
from such a source as Dugmore's Bird Homes.

Data from a large number of our normal school students show
that each plate requires from 15 to 30 minutes to color, averaging
not far from 20 minutes Such a "book" as that just described
requires from four to eight hours when five birds are taken.
Few hours may indicate either talent, speed, or slovenliness.
The longer time may be due to pains, mistakes, extra features,
and either exhaustive or fruitless library work. If pupils are
expected to do only two or three extensive pieces of work, ten
birds is a better number. Where the instructor wishes the
handwork projects to be more diversified, five birds are all that
may be reasonably expected.

In a school with a large number of sections, or for that matter,
in any school, it is desirable to have a number of different com-

robison]

BIRD PROJECTS WITH DRAWINGS

217

binations Each combination should be fairly representative
of the birds that children commonly see and of the different
important types, as (i) thrush, (2) seed eater, (3) purely or largely
insect eater, (4) winter resident, (5) miscellaneous. From the
loose plates listed as in stock, the following six combinations
have been worked out, all of which can be obtained in the Aububon
leaflets. By combining 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, we get com-
binations of ten, each having a woodpecker and a member of the
starling family. By substituting the phoebe, recently added to
the Audubon list, and the swallows, for something in the first
two large combinations, each of the three would have a bird that
catches its insect food while on the wing. Humming bird may
be substituted for kinglet, in No. 3-(?)

Xo. 1
Robin

Indigo bunting
Meadowlark
Chickadee
Redheaded wood-
pecker

No. 5

Brown thrasher
House sparrow
Red-winged black-
bird
Nuthatch
Flicker

Xo. 2
Wren
Goldfinch

Rose-breasted gros-
beak
Cedar Waxwing
Bobwhite

Xo. 6

Catbird
Song sparrow
Cardinal grosbeak
Kingbird
Redstart

Xo. 3 No. 4

Bluebird Wood thrush

Chippy Bobolink

Baltimore oriole Blue Jay

Kinglets Scarlet tanager

Downy wood- Cuckoo
pecker

Xo. 7 (not found in Audubon
pictures)
Brown creeper

Junco (or substitute either

Red-eyed of these two for others
viero in combination Xo. 7)

Maryland yel- Yellow-throated
low-throat vireo

Sapsucker Kingfisher

For the kindergartners, we have picked out two sets of ten
each, including most of the common and brightly colored birds,
and especially those associated with children's poems and songs.

In planning to do color work with birds, we have several alter-
natives. Drawings may be made from mounted specimens.
This is work properly belonging to the art department and has
not given good results. Characteristics of beaks and feet in
relation to the environment and food may be approached in
some other way. Coloring a bird in outline according to a
picture of the same size, shape, and posture is only practice in
applying pigments. Adapting the color to the outline from a
mounted bird or from a picture of a bird in a different position
is at least one level above mere copy work. In this respect the
Comstock bird plates have the advantage of calling for a little

218

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

more mental effort than the Audubon Society outlines intended
for little children. The Audubon pictures, however, with their
excellent backgrounds, serve as very good models and are more
easily handled than pictures found in books.

This sketch would hardly be complete if mention were not made
of another use that may be made of these plates, that of using
them after coloring for cut-out work of various sorts. The cut-
outs may be mounted in book form or pinned to the top rail of
the blackboard. They may be stuck on various parts of a tree
drawn in colors on the blackboard. By providing pasteboard
backing and little flaps for insertion in slits, they may be perched
on the trunk, branches or in the green foliage of trees drawn on
large sheets of heavy paper. The tree itself may be part of the
regular tree work of the nature-study.

Three Wild Plants Needing Protection

Three reprints of articles by Miss Britton published in the Journal of the
New York Botanical Garden have been received. These three flowers are the
fringed gentian, the liver-leaf or hepatica and the bloodroot. Each is exqui-
sitely illustrated in color and Mrs. Britton befriends us all when she befriends
these flowers. We should all h elp preserve them and keep them safe for the
sake of future generations.

SAVE

WS.S.

"WAR SAVINGS STAMPS
ISSUED BY THE

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT

SERVE

Jay Traver

Did you ever know that flowers had treasure-
boxes ? When I was a little girl I had a treasure-
box, and what do you suppose I kept in it ?
Bright-colored bits of broken dishes and tiny
pieces of colored glass. But the flower has better things than
that. It has many tiny seeds in its box. Here is the poppy
that Lester brought us this morning. We notice its bright
scarlet petals first. But look at the little green box just below
the bright petals. That is where the poppy keeps its treasures.
Let us play that the poppy wall tell us a story about them:

Once upon a time I was a little, tiny, hard, brown seed. One
day someone planted me in the moist warm, earth and before
long I began to grow. First I sent two little leaves up into the
sunshine, and then more leaves grew, and more. Don't you
think my leaves are pretty ? They helped me to get my food too —
some day I'll tell you more about that. Then after a while my
blossoms began to grow. At first they were buds — just like this
one here. See how the stem above the bud bends over. And
see how carefully I wrapped up the baby bud in its soft green
blankets — just as carefully as mother wraps up Baby Brother.
When it was big enough the stem became straighter and the
blankets fell off, so the bud could spread out into a flower, with its
pretty red petal dress. But you will have to watch very closely
and be up early in the morning if you want to see the blankets
fall off. Perhaps tomorrow morning you will see how it is done.
Why do you suppose my blossoms wear such pretty dresses?
Perhaps you can find that out too, if you watch near a poppy bed?
By and by, when the sun begins to feel warm, along comes Mrs.

219

220 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

Bee, looking for her breakfast. She sees the new scarlet dress
on my blossom, and she knows that means there is something
there for her to eat. Mrs. Bee does a kindness for me too. Do
you see these little yellow specks on my stamens? My sister,
Polly Poppy, lives just across the way, and she has some yellow
pollen just like mine. We are always anxious to exchange pollen,
because it makes our seeds grow better and bigger to have pollen
from some of our sister poppies. Mrs. Bee does this for us, be-
cause she gets pollen from my blossom on her back when she is
getting her breakfast (no nectary in poppies). But at the same
time she leaves me some pollen from Polly Poppy, whom she has
just visited. So you see the real reason why I put such pretty
petals on my flowers, and have the pollen ready for Mrs. Bee.
It is just to make my seeds grow in my treasure-box.

So when the seeds are ready to grow, the scarlet flower petals
are not needed any longer, and fall to the ground. Now the little
seeds are growing fast inside their little green box, and I am very
happy. When they are all ripe and ready to go out in the world
to make new poppy plants by and by, what do you think happens ?
Look at a green treasure-box. See how the edges are scalloped.
Here is a ripe brown treasure-box. Do you see what has happened ?
The little partitions beneath the scallops have fallen back, leaving
holes all along the upper edge of the treasure-box. Some day
when the wind is blowing, go out in the garden and see what is
happening to some of my sister's treasure-boxes. See how the
stalk sways back and forth — and suddenly, out pops a seed!
It is just like a salt-and-pepper shaker, isn't it? Only the grains
of salt or pepper are really, truly poppy seeds. Perhaps next
summer some of them may be in your garden, and grow into tall
plants with many leaves and flowers and treasure-boxes, just as I
did this year. Then you can watch them grow, and see if their
story is like mine.

Once a man who loved children very much, wrote a pretty
goodnight song about poppies. The man's name was Eugene
Field, and this is the song he wrote :

''The Rockaby Lady from Hushaby Street

Comes stealing; comes creeping;
The poppies they hang from her head to her feet,
And each hath a dream that is tiny and fleet —
She bringeth her poppies to you, my sweet,

When she findeth you sleeping!"

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN-
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, $1.00 per year (nine issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra; foreign postage, 25 cents extra.

JxY\T\nrfarit Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
i-IlipUI LctllL wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, X. Y. Manuscripts for Publications and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

VACATION*. WAR, AND NATURE-STUDY

The question uppermost in the minds of many of us is, "How
can we have a real vacation when deep in our inner consciousness
is the harrowing fact that our boys are fighting in France!"
Many of us, it is true, will take no vacation but devote that time
to needed work for a world that seems to demand our utmost
efforts. However, there are many who, in order to do the hard
work of the year, must have the physical and mental benefit
of a real vacation; and while it is true that in these perturbing
days anything that does not contribute to the right solution of
the great struggle in which the world is engaged, seems trivial
yet if we are to do our part we must keep ourselves fit both physi-
cally and mentally.

Now of all times, when cares and anxieties weigh heavily upon
us we have greater need for the rest wiaich comes only from a
complete change in the course of our thoughts; and this diversion
is often attained most easily by going to the fields and woods;
and the more intelligently we view the things which we see there,
the more complete will be our recuperation. As was said long
ago, "There is a great difference between the person who in the
fields sees many flowers and the ones who sees many a flower."

For all these reasons we feel like urging all of those who can, to
take up some special study out of doors this summer. Begin with
and master as far as possible a study of the birds, or the trees,
or the butteflies, or the ferns, or the flowers of the woodlands,
or fields of the locality in which you are staying; or make a
thorough survey of a brook or a pond with their surrounding

221

222 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 1918

and included life Take up something definite by which, through
the interest inevitably developed, you will be led on to farther
study, and in the meantime you will forget your cares and the war.
You may feel that it is selfish and exclaim, "Have we any right
to forget about the war for even an hour?" 'In answering this
objection we should like to repeat a few earnest words said to us
by Charlotte Kellogg the author of The Women of Belgium and
the one American woman who went to Belgium officially connected
with the American relief work; in response to the question as
to how she endured the strain she said, "It was only by doing
the common things, — performing the little ordinary duties and
talking about them as usual, which made us for the moment
forget the horror of it all, that we gained the strength to go on
and endure all that we must witness and perform the tasks awaiting
our hands."

THE EDITOR NOT ALWAYS A PROPHET

At the beginning of the year, believing that we knew what
contributors to The Nature-Study Review would like to write
about, especially after they had received a hint, we announced
with cheerful assurance the topics for each issue of The Review
for a year. On the whole it worked well and the next year's
topics are already announced and many good contributions are
already in the proper pigeon-holes of the editorial desk.

This May number was to be given over to the garden flowers, their
visitors, and a detailed study of that most useful garden product,
the potato. Alas! no one seemed inspired to write about garden
flowers; but Professor ^Vinal, always a live wire in the nature-
study field, saved the day by sending in the best study of the potato
that we have ever seen. However, so many valuable articles
about other topics have been contributed that the May number is
undoubtedly far more interesting than if the editorial plans had
been carried out. After all, being a sure prophet must be very
monotonous indeed; the only prophet that could find life interest-
ing must be the one who has to keep a keen eye on events and note
what percent, of his prophecies come to pass.

The Teachers' Corner

The potato is of such great importance at the present crisis in the world's
history that it should be a topic for a nature-study lesson in every school
in the land. Professor Vinal's admirable outline will prove an inspiration
to all teachers of nature-study and gardening. For the lower grades — when
the teacher cannot take up the more thorough study of this useful tuber — we
suggest the following observation lessons:

The Plant

A spray of leaves from a potato plant for each pupil and if obtainable the
teacher may have some of its cultivated or weed relatives such as the tomato
or the egg-plant for comparison.

i . Is the plant really a vine as it is often called?

2. Is the stem round or angular, smooth or rough, hairy or prickley?

3. Do the leaves grow opposite each other on the stem or alternately?

4. Are the leaves simple or compound?

5. Are the leaflets of about the same size or regular as to their number?

6. Are the stems and leaves soft and juicy or woody and fibrous?

The Flower and Fruit
A spray of potato blossoms. Seed-balls are very rare of late years but an
occasional one may be found and studied.

1. What are the color of the blossoms?

2. How are the flowers arranged in the clusters, in a spike or many branched?

3. Describe the parts of the flower; how many sepals form the calyx? Has
the corolla separate petals? How many stamens are there and how are they
placed?

4. Is the flower fragrant?

5. What color and shape is the flower?

6. When cut open how many seed-cells are found within?

7. What is the shape of the seeds and are they many or few?

8. Is the fruit pleasant to the taste?

The Tuber
One or two potatoes for each pupil, preferably of different varieties — long,
globular, and with different colored skins.

1. Where does the potato grow?

2. Has the potato a smooth surface like an apple?

3. Are the "eyes" distributed regularly on its surface or scattered hap-
hazard?

4. Where are the eyes most numerous, on sides, near the stem, or at the
opposite end?

5. Is the skin thin and paper-like, or rough and netted?

6. Where do the sprouts start when the potato begins to grow?

7. Are any rootlets attached to the potato as to beets and turnips?

8. Of what is the flesh of the potato mostly composed?

223

A Civic Biology. George W. Hunter. 432 pp., illustrated. American Book
Company.

"Boys have different biological interests from girls, and children in rural
schools wish to study different topics from those in congested districts in large
communities. The time has come when we must frankly recognize these
interests, and adapt the content of our courses." So says the author in his
preface; but, unfortunately, he adapts his course not to boys apart, nor to
girls apart, but to "boys and girls living in an urban community." Therefore,
some things that have hitherto been little in evidence in high school courses
in biology, garbage cans, and sleeping porches, Petri dishes, test tubes and
hypodermics, etc., loom large in this book, and three of the four portraits
shown in the concluding chapter on "some great names in Biology" are those
of Jenner, Pasteur, and Koch.

It is a good book, clearly written, well printed, well illustrated. It is above
all else practical. It is intended to teach city pupils, rather than to teach
biology. Terminology is reduced to an absolute minimum; as, for example,
when the claws of a bee's foot may not be called claws, but are referred to as
the "tiny hooks at the end" (p. 29).

Fortunately, though wild nature is eliminated from this book, there are a
few things left in it to remind the youthful urbanite that his means of liveli-
hood are still derived from Mother Earth. J. G. N.

The Apple. Albert E. Wilkinson. 492 pages. Ginn & Company. Price $2.

The author has attempted to bring order out of chaos of the great mass of
literature dealing with the many and varied phases of apple-growing. He
has endeavored to prepare a single volume "that would present in a logical
manner the most essential of the recent practical ideas and methods" of the
successful cultivation of this most important fruit. There are thirty-eight
chapters in the book, of which the first deals With the selection of the site of
an orchard and the last with the varieties which are desirable to plant. Be-
tween these extremes there are chapters dealing with "orchard heating,"
"planting," "fertilizing," "cultivation," "irrigation and drainage," "insects,"
"diseases," "spraying," "packing," "grading," "marketing," "renovating
neglected orchards," "propagation" and other subjects. Certainly the list
of subjects discussed cover the essential features of apple-growing and the
information seems to be of a practical nature.

The chapter on insects is of special interest to the writer. The author has
given a readable account of such notable pests of the apple as the codling

224

THE BOOK SHELF 225

moth, the round-headed and flat-headed borers, the San Jose scale, the gypsy
and brown-tail moths, the plum curculio and others. The illustrations are
attractive and well chosen.

Some of the recommendations of control are hardly up-to-date. For
example, it is not necessary to add milk-of-lime to arsenate of lead to prevent
burning. The great advantage of arsenate of lead is that it contains less than
.75 per cent of soluble arsenic and does not burn the foliage of the apple.

The Next Generation. Frances Gulick Jewett, Ginn & Co. 228 pp., illus-
trated. $1.
That the destiny of future generations lies in the hands of the men and
women, the boys and girls of to-day, that they may lengthen or shorten, bless
or curse their lives by what they know and by the way they put their knowl-
edge to use is the theme of this little book. It is possible, we read to learn
many facts about life itself and about what controls it. Science says "Human
beings will be safer when people know the facts and are influenced by them."
Teachers say, "Give us the facts and we will pass them on to the boys and
girls we teach." The author says in effect, "Here is a book which gives these
facts. By subject-matter and manner of presentation this book strongly
recommends itself for the desired purpose. The main fact of evolution, how
all life is influenced and molded by the three fates, heredity, environment and
personal choice or will, is comprehensively and authoritatively stated. Ana-
tomy, embryology, geology, geography and the experiments of man in breeding
new varieties and species of plants and animals are called upon to give evidence
of the fact and manner of evolution. How the life of every organism, be it
plant, fish, bird, man, is passed on from one generation to the next by bits of
protoplasm called germ cells is clearly told. We are made to see what happens
when this stream of life becomes contaminated by alcohol, by nicotine, by
disease due primarily to wrong living and spread through carelessness and
ignorance. What happens is physical, mental and moral debility, blindness,
deformity, idiocy, death. The way of safety from these evils is pointed out.
Cleanliness, protection by law, right environment and good parentage are
necessary to race improvement. But the greatest of these is good parentage.
"The history of the human race proves that right parentage is the noblest
gift which one generation may offer to another." The author urges that each
generation take the laws of inheritance into account, pass on the best it has
received and let its worst inheritance die with itself. This book deals well
with a vital subject. Teachers will find here the facts of life for which they
have been asking, and they are presented so clearly, logically, simply and
interestingly that children may assimilate them with ease.

X. H.

The Pruning Manual. L. H. Bailey. MacMillan Co. Price $2.00.

This is the eighteenth edition of Professor Bailey's well-known book on the
practice and principles of pruning fruit trees and vines. This new edition
includes also a discussion of the comparatively modern practice of tree-surgery
with special reference to the treatment of shade and street-trees.

226 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:5— May, 191 8

Since the manual was first written considerable careful experimental data
have been accumulated mainly through the work of the experiment stations.
This has necessitated a revision and restatement of some of the principles
expressed in the original book written over twenty years ago. The text is thus
brought abreast of the latest results of research and investigation on the subject
of pruning.

The work covers the subject in a broad, comprehensive manner as indicated
by the titles of some of the chapters: The philosophy or rationale of pruning;
the fruit-bud; the wounds and how they heal; the mending of trees; the
principles of pruning ; some special modes of training ; American grape-train-
ing— general sketch, et. al.

The author divides the whole subject into (1) the fundamentals and (2) the
incidentals. The fundamentals deal with the underlying principles or the
philosophy of pruning while the incidentals treat more or less of specific method
and practices of pruning. The author has no cherished methods of pruning
trees. He gives no didactic rules of his own for shaping a tree. His attitude
of mind toward the subject is shown when he says "A good part of the value of
pruning lies in the conforming of the plant to regularity of shape and stature,
making it convenient for the harvesting of the crop, rendering the plantation
easy of tillage, and spraying and meeting the wishes of the grower."

Like all of Professor Bailey's writings, the pruning book is fascinating in
style and in manner of presenting the subject matter and, although one may
not be a horticulturist, yet after reading the book one feels as though the grow-
ing and pruning of a vine or tree would be the most interesting thing in the
world. G. W. H.

The Child's Food Garden. With a Few Suggestions for Floral Culture, by
Van Evrie Kilpatrick, President of the School Garden Association of
America. The first volume in the School Garden Series, edited by
John W. Ritchie. Cloth. Illustrated. 48 cents. World Book Com-
pany, Publishers, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.
We have always wondered why some one did not write a real child's garden
book; and now Dr. Kilpatrick has done this very thing. It is an attractive
little book, well illustrated and containing the simplest and plainest directions
possible for planting and care of common vegetable and a few flowers. Part I
is devoted to the preparation of the soil and care of the plants with directions
for thinning, transplanting, harvesting, marketing and accounting. Part II
gives information about the common vegetable, when to plant and how to care
for each kind. Part III discusses the planting and care of a few common
flowers. Part IV tells of the work that should be done by the gardener each
month of the year. Part V gives methods of canning, drying and storing
vegetables. Part VI contains information concerning a few fungus and insect
enemies of plants. The book finishes with a very important appendix which
gives a frost map for spring and fall. A time table for planting vegetables and
flowers. A table for canning and drying vegetables and a list of searching
questions that will test the child's knowledge of gardening. Professor Kil-
patrick has given us a very valuable little book that should be in the hands of
every child gardener in America this spring.

AUTUMN FLOWER NUMBER

Vol. 14 No. 6 SEPTEMBER. 1918 Wl

One year (nine issues) $1.00. Ijc per^rtSpy j

Books are Worth-while Gifts

THE PET BOOK

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A book full of unique nature-lore about the little
brothers and sisters of the field and hedge and tree
and burrow, their tricks and traits. Frontispiece in
color by Fuertes. 310 pages plus 117 full-page plates.
Library buckram binding, $2.00; postpaid $2.15.

(On the recommended School Library list of Wisconsin.)

NATURE SONGS AND STORIES

CATHERINE CREIGHTON

Beautiful pictures, clever little stories and eighteen
"singable" songs are here used to present Nature-
Study to little folks. Special illustrations by Fuertes,
Anna C. Stryke and Verne Morton. 76 pages 75c;
postpaid 80c.

HOW TO KNOW THE BUTTERFLIES

JOHN HENRY COMSTOCK and
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A Manual of the butterflies of the eastern part of
the United States. 45 colored plates, 50 other illus-
trations.

320 pages. $2.50. Postpaid $2.70

TREES AT LEISURE

ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

A tree lover's tribute to her favorites of the field
and woodland during their season of winter rest.
A book that will be treasured by all out door lovers.
Beautifully illustrated. Postpaid 50c

THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.

Ithaca, New York

Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14

September, 1918

Xo. 6

The Sunflower

Margurite Hess

Lyons Falls, X. Y.

' ' Eagle of Flowers ! I see thee stand ,

And on the sun's noon-glory gaze;
With eye like his thy lids expand

And fringe their dish with golden rays:
Though fixed on earth, in darkness rooted three,

Light is thy element, thy dwelling air."

HE sunflower, or Helianthus, is named
from helio, the sun, and anthos, a
flower, from the belief that the flowers
turned their faces toward the sun.

I am sure we all feel that there are
few brighter, more sun-loving flowers
than these . The plants grow from four
to fourteen feet high, the stems being
rough and hairy, the leaves large,
usually alternate, petioled and varying in size and character. And
the whole plant is characterized by its large, showy yellow flowers.
All the sunflowers grow well in any common garden soil, most of
them being easily raised from seed, while many readily form
hybrids. Many species, however, are better adapted for the wild
garden — but to combine size, hardiness, and luxuriant bloom, one
must sometimes put up with coarseness.

The sunflower is not a single flower but a large head or family of
flowers living together, each little flower having its own work to do.
There are two kinds of flowers in this head or family. The most
showy ones are found on the. outer edge and are called the ray
flowers or banner petals. The rest of the flowers are more numer-
ous and because they form a large disk in the center of the flower
family are called disk flowers. They are also sometimes called
tubular flowers as they are somew-hat tube-like in shape. Each
one of the little ray and disk flowers is called a floret.

227

228 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

The ray flowers have neither stamens nor pistils. Their only-
reason for existence is to make the head more conspicuous so as to
attract the insects. At the base of the ray flower is a seedlike
portion, which is a mere pretense. There can never be seed as it
has no stigma connected with it to bring pollen, neither does it
have stamens or tubular corolla.

The disk flowers, whose duty it is to set seed, have corolla, five
stamens, and a pistil with a two-cleft stigma. The calyx consists
of two or more layers of thin deciduous scales.

The Flowers of the Sunflower-head Enlarged

i . A floret of the sunflower in the bud-stage as it appears at the center of the sunflower.
Note the protecting bract at the right.

2. A floret in earliest stage of blossoming.

3. A floret in the latest stage of bloom with the parts named.

4. A ray or banner-flower.

Let's go out into the garden and watch carefully for a few days
one of these glowing heads. First notice the florets next to the
ray flowers. The pollen is pushed out from the anther cases and
lifted above the corolla tube, so that the pollen grains can be
scattered. It is the growing pistil which pushes the pollen out.
Perhaps the next day we go out we find that in a few more rings
next these and nearer the center the same thing has happened, and
so on, each day the ring of florets approaching nearer the center.
Finally the pistil pushes up its style so that it stands above the end
of the corolla tube. The style is divided into two slender parts
which at first are closed up so the pollen cannot touch the stigma

hess] THE SUNFLOWER 239

on the inner surface. Later the parts curve outward. When the
head has partly blossomed you can see the ring of ray flowers, then
a ring of disk flowers, fully open with pistils projecting above the
corolla tube, next a ring of disk flowers only partly open and in the
center of the head are disk flowers not opened at all. I have seen
sunflowers, in fact I now have some in my room, and it is the first
of December, from which the banner petals have fallen, the outer
rings of disk florets have gone to seed, the seeds are ripening and
falling off, while the central disk flowers are still in bloom.

Bees and other insects are the frequent visitors of the sunflower.
They crawl over the flowers and the bees drag the pollen from the
open florets where the pistil is closed, to florets where the pistil is
open. Since the pistils and stamens do not ripen at the same time,
the pollen from one floret must go to the pistil of another floret, as
it cannot get to its own. Taking the pollen from one flower to
another is called cross pollination. This is good for the plant as it
gives vigor to the life in the seeds.

During our few days study of this beautiful head of gold we
learned other things besides its blossoming and fertilization. We
learned that the flower itself does not turn with and toward the sun
as many poets express and as St. Francis de Sales tells us in the
following quotation: "The sunflowers not only rejoice at the
sight of the sun, but follow with loving fidelity the attraction of its
rays, gazing at it and turning toward it from its rising to its
setting," a sentiment repeated by Moore when he sang,

"The sunflower turns on her God when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose."

But we found that during the period of growth the leaves, as well
as the growing stem are very sensitive to light. On sunny days
the leaves on the growing end of the stem are drawn somewhat
together so that they form a rosette. This rosette faces the sun
when rising, the growing stem does also as this aids in bringing the
upper surfaces of the leaves to face the sun through the day.
Light has a great influence on the leaves. When the leaves are
crowded you will notice each takes a certain position so as to
receive light. The leaf does not take this position of itself alone,
but is caused to do so by the light. The leaves open to the sun are
larger and a brighter green than those in the shade. WTe all know
it is necessary for the leaves to have light in order to cam- on
photosynthesis .

230

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

The Sunflower

Next to the ray-flowers are the florets in last stages cf blossoming with stigmas
protruding; next within arc rows in the earlier stage with pollen burst-
ing from anther-tubes, while at center are the unopened buds.

hess] THE SUNFLOWER 231

The sunflower was held in reverence by people of past ages. In
the mythology of the ancient Peruvians, it occupied an important
place, and was employed as a mystic decoration in ancient Mexican
sculpture. Like the Lotus of the East, it is equally a sacred and an
artistic emblem figuring in the symbolism of Mexico and Peru,
where the Spaniards found it rearing its aspiring stalk in the fields,
and serving in the temples as a sign and decoration, the sun-god's
officiating hand; maidens wearing upon their breasts representa-
tions of the sacred flower in beaten gold. In the unfortunate
Cathedral at Rheims they formed the aureoles of both the Virgin
and St. John, the flowers turning toward the figure of Christ on the
cross as toward their true sun.

We find Gerard the great English botanist of the sixteenth cen-
tury, a great enthusiast over this great flower of gold. He said,
"The Indian Sun or the golden floure of Peru is a plant of such
stature and talnesse that in one summer being sown of seede in
Aprill, it hath risen up to the height of fourteen foot in my garden,
where one floure was in weight three pounds and two ounces and
crosse overthwart the floure by measure sixteen inches broad.
The stalkes are upright and straight, of the bignesse of a strong
man's arme, beset with large leaves ever to the top of the stalke
cometh forth for the most part one floure, yet many times there
spring out sucking buds which come to no perfection; this great
floure is in shape like to the cammonil floure, beset around about
with a aple or border of goodly yellow leaves in shape like the
leaves of the floures of white lillies; the middle part whereof is
made as it were of unshorn velvet or some curious cloth wrought
with the needle ; which brave worke if you do thorowly, view and
marke well, it seemeth to be an innumerable sort of small floures,
resembling the nose or nozell of a candle-stick, broken from the
foot thereof; from which small nozell sweat eth forth excellent fine
and cleere turpentine, in sight, substance, savour, and taste. The
whole plant in like manner being broken, smelleth of turpentine;
when the plant groweth to maturitie, the floures fal away, in place
whereof appeareth the seed, blacke, and large, much like the seed
of Gourds, set as though a cunning workeman had of purpose placed
them in very good order, much like the honiecombes of Bees : the
root is white and compact of many strings."

232 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

The Poets have written much of the Sunflower. The following

are a few of these tributes :

"Miles and miles of golden green
Where the sunflowers blow
In a solid glow." — Robert Browning.

"The sunflower, thinking 'twas for him foul shame
To nap by daylight, strove to excuse the blame;
It was not sleep that made him nod, he said,
But too great weight and largeness of his head." — Cowley.

"With zealous step he climbs the upland lawn,
And bows in homage to the rising dawn;
Imbibes with eagle eye the golden ray,
And watches as it moves the oib of day. — Darwin.

"Unloved the sunflower, shining fair,
Ray round with flowers her disk of red." — Tennyson.

Two Different View Points

Edith Clark Maynard

Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr, Pa.

One warm morning in August, accompanied by our host's faith-
ful dog, I strolled down to the hotel garden.

First potatoes, then corn we passed, and finally came to a field of
five thousand cabbages. Over the cabbages, in the bright sun-
shine, were fluttering many white "cabbage butterflies" seeking
the very best leaves upon which to lay their eggs.

The depredations of the greedy green caterpillars were only too
evident.

The whole scene recalled a conversation I had had with a teacher
a few weeks before. She was supposed to teach nature-study. In
speaking of her work she had said with enthusiasm, "I like to teach
the life history of a butterfly because it paragraphs so well in
English. Three stages in the life history, three complete para-
graphs. You see?" Had she been with us that morning I
wondered if any thought of English construction could have come
between her and the scene before us.

Azolla

G. H. Bretxall

State Normal School
LaCrosse, Wis.

C2 OMETIMES one runs across the most
exquisite beauty in the most unlooked for
places. A swamp is generally considered
to be a most undesirable thing and much
more of an eyesore than a place of beaut v.
But those that have learned to know the
swamp have found it to be full of sur-
prises in the way of corners of unusual
attractiveness. They have found it, dur-
ing the summer, to be an ever changing panorama, each scene seem-
ing more pleasing than the one before, till fall comes and the cardinal
flower with its plume of flaming red ushers in the grand finale.

Much of the swamp vegetation is little known and the water
ferns are so inconspicuous a part of this vegetation that one
scarcely takes them into consideration; yet even these may minis-
ter to the pleasure of our walks. The Azolla which is perhaps the
rarest of the water ferns may help make one of the most interesting
and beautiful of our plant associations. This little plant which is
in the form of a delicately branched frond of about an half inch in
length and width floats on the surface of the water. It lives on the
ponds which are shrunken lagoons and from the years we have
watched it seems to appear every two years. Its history and where
it stays during its two years absence is imperfectly known. But it
must be in some form or stage of growth in the bottom of the pond.
It must be getting ready for its appearance above. When it appears
it is green and its dark greenness gives a pleasing contrast to other
plants of lighter green. Its depth of color would catch the eye of
an artist as well as that of the botanist or nature lover. Later in
the summer it turns a rich red. The pond which is covered with
the Azolla gradually changes through a series of hues from green
to red. As it usually takes the whole pond it presents at this time
a beautiful stretch of radiant red.

It is now that we get a rare beauty of the swamp in its fullness.
Not only do we have the beauty of the plant itself, its delicacy and
its color, but we have the contrast with the surrounding green and

233

234 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

this is what is so striking. We have here on a magnificent scale
what the florist tries to get ; such a combination of color and green
as will be both artistic and delightful. The Azolla with its sur-
roundings, however, rivals the florist's combinations. Beside
there is the light and shade, the sunshine and shadow which the
florist cannot get and the artist cannot copy.

These features came surprisingly to view one summer morning in
late August of 1916. The Azolla of that year covered luxuriantly
the ponds in the river bottoms of Minnesota opposite La Crosse,
Wisconsin. Passing along the causeway which runs through the
swamp I saw what was perhaps the prettiest piece of scenery I
have ever seen. It was about seven-thirty in the morning and the
slanting rays of the sun gave the right kind of light for the view.
In the foreground was the Azolla, covering the pond with its
brilliant red. On the further side of this pond, which was quite a
large one, the Arrow Leaf gave the green contrast. Above and
back of these stood the Cattails with a darker shade of green. As
a background to all this stood the willows with their shades of
green. The blue sky above, the different greens and the red,
lighted by the morning sunlight made a combination of color and
form I have not seen equalled. It was at once both exquisitely
beautiful and magnificent. The Azolla has its beauty but the
Azolla in its setting has the more beauty.

The ferns are always loved for their beauty. The water ferns
when looked for may also minister to our tastes.

Notice

As a part of certain investigations now being carried on by the
Department of Biology of the Western Illinois State Normal
School at Macomb, Illinois, two hundred fifty young birds were
marked during the past summer. A small white celluloid ring was
placed upon the right leg of each bird. Most of the birds are robins
but several other migratory species are included in the list. All
were reared upon, or within one block, of the campus. It is hoped
that some data concerning the movements and habits of the young
birds after leaving the nest and during next year may be obtained.
If anyone who observes a bird marked as indicated above will let
us know, it will be very helpful to us. Address any communica-
tions to C. W. Hudelson, Macomb, Illinois.

The Goldenrod

George H. Russell

Winthrop, X. Y.

Goldenrod is one of the most
common and perhaps in the rural
districts the most unappreciated
flowers of our country. Because
we have seen it all our lives, little
have we realized the beauty and
value which this flower possesses
and is offering to us everyday of
its blooming.

It nods and becks to us with
a happy good morning, for it is
always up in the morning before
we are, no matter how we may
try to be the "earlier bird." For
it wants to shine and glitter in
the sunlight all it possibly can, as
in this way it reveals its glowing
beauty. So in at least this one
respect, we may look at it as
human for we, all of us, though we may never admit it, endeavor to
avail ourselves of every opportunity to manifest our goodness to
our friends. We are not always as fortunate as this flower though,
for its beauty lies very near the surface, and under the sun's rays,
beams forth radiantly.

I would aim to persuade my friends to recognize this pretty
flower and give it the attention and credit long due. For its eager
efforts to attract us are often, yes usually, in vain. Many of us
will arise on a beautiful sunshiny -morning with a very apparent
ill-feeling toward even-thing. A grouch is the common name for
this unhappy and unnecessary state. We will not notice nature's
beauty when we go out doors and so look with disdain upon our
true friends the goldenrods, who are welcoming us. However, they
are never discouraged or made angry, and the next morning the
same flower will nod to us and act just as friendly as if nothing
had happened. Unfortunately the eyes of many are closed to these

235

I

236 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

beauties and will never recognize these friends, no matter if they
keep nodding all their lives.

A little poem by Carrie W. Bronson brings out this friendly
manner of the Goldenrod.

LADY GOLDENROD

O, pretty Lady Goldenrod,

I'm glad you've come to town!
I saw you standing by the gate,

All in your yellow gown.
No one was with me, and I thought

You might be lonely, too;
And so I took my card-case

And came to visit you.
You're fond of company, I know;

You smile so at the sun,
And when the winds go romping past,

You bow to everyone.
How you should ever know them all,

I'm sure I cannot tell;
But when I come again, I hope

You'll know me just as well.

The goldenrod belongs to the composite family which is the
largest of all botanical families, as it contains one-tenth of all
known species of flowering plants. About 8o species of this plant
are native to the United States, 42 of which are found in the north-
eastern states. Many of these are difficult to identify.

Sometimes it is tall and straight, a poplar among flowers, a true
rod of gold. Again, it is a graceful falling fountain of color, or a
long, wavy, showy plume. Graceful or stiff it is a flower to be
proud of — a true "nationaP' flower, strictly indigenous. We may
understand its worth when we try to imagine what our fields, road-
sides and woods would be if bereft of its cheer. Certainly our
American autumn would lose one chief element of beauty.

Goldenrod predicts the coming of the fall and winter. A poem

by Margaret Deland illustrates this relation to the season :

O Rod of gold!

O swaying sceptre of the year

Now frost and cold

Show winter near,

And shivering leaves grow brown and sere.

The bleak hillside

And marshy waste of yellow reeds,

And meadows wide

Where frosted weeds

Shake on the damp wind light-winged seeds

Are decked with thee, —

The lingering summer's latest grace

And sovereignty.

rcssell] THE GOLDENROD 237

Each wind-swept space

Waves thy red gold in Winter's face —

He strives each star.

In stormy pride to lay full low;

And when thy bar

Resists his blow,

Will crown thee with a puff of snow!

During the early summer, green stems arising from the perennial
roots spring up everywhere. Towards the last of July and first of
August , flecks of yellow appear on the tips of branches. This plant
is one of bright and generous bloom. It lights up the dark swamp
with spots of glowing gold — fringes roadsides with tassels of inimi-
table grace — dots open woods with miniature circles of golden
beauty. It is very common in open fields and is present every-
where except at seashores. No ground is so hard and dry as to
forbid it. Because of this, it has been argued that the Goldenrod
has a just and fitting claim to be considered our national emblem.

The goldenrods have two distinct kinds of leaves. One is called
a feather veined leaf and the other a three-ribbed leaf. All of the
goldenrods therefore can be divided into two groups, distinguished
apart by the kind of leaf. Beyond this leaf difference, there are
other distinguishing characteristics of the plants, in relation to the
flowers and the plant stems.

One species follows another so that we have some from early
August till late autumn. The species which I have chosen is the
Solidago Canadensis, the Canadian goldenrod and it is so plentiful
that it is also called the "Common goldenrod." It begins to bloom
about the middle of August and continues through September.
It is very abundant and widely distributed being common almost
everywhere especially in copse borders, on roadsides and in dry
situations.

This species is often quite variable. It has a tall, stout, round,
leafy stem from three to six feet in height. It is rough-downy or
hairy to the touch and of a light yellowish gray color. Usually it
has slightly toothed leaves, with those near the top almost tooth-
less. They are triple-ribbed, rough above and a trifle wooly
beneath. They taper to a point at either end, are quite long and
narrow, the color being a deep green.

The flower heads are small, so that in order to attract the atten-
tion of insects, they are set closely together along the stem, giving
a mass of color. These flower clusters spread with graceful curves
in an ample plume sometimes one-sided. They grow on the curving

238 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 14:6— Sept., 1918

branchlets on the top of the stalk. The flower heads are small and
golden yellow, consisting of both ray and disc flowers. There are
from 5 to 1 5 short rays.

The central tubular florets are perfect, and are cross-fertilized
by many insects of many orders, chief among which are bees,
butterflies and the beelike flies. The disc flowers, only, have
stamens with pollen while the banner flowers have no pollen but
only a pistil. The pistils of the disc flowers are within the pollen
tube and push their way up thru,' pushing out the pollen at the top.
Small insects quickly dislodge it, then elongation continues and the
top of the two parted pistil begins to protrude and finally expands
its tips, disclosing at the center the stigmatic surface, which has
until now been protected by close contact. The pollen is scattered
to the stigmas of neighboring flowers and cross fertilization results.

The flower heads set closely together along the stem

The banner flowers closely arranged give a wonderful mass of color
and attract insects thus. The flowers furnish an abundance of
nectar for all.

This species propagates both by seeds and by rootstocks. The
seeds are provided with pappus, and are scattered about by the wind
in November and December. The flowers never close up except
when forming their seeds. This species also has creeping under-
ground stems which are perennial and from these spring up new
plants.

The goldenrods are weeds of course, but are not very troublesome
like the wild carrot and daisy. On the other hand they are widely
noted for their beauty and withcut them the roadsides and open
fields would not be nearly as pleasant and enjoyable to the passers-
by as they now are. They cannot be cultivated; at least florists
have been successful with only a few species.

In the country around my home, the goldenrods are very
abundant, especially along roadsides. Many time I have driven
along sandy roads on days so hot that everything would have a

russell] THE GOLDEXROD 239

withered and drooping look but not so the goldenrod. It would
stand there proudly trying to show its golden plumes and produce a
fresh appearance — although the bright yellow was greatly dimmed
by many coats of dust from the highway near by. It would never
give in, but would wait patiently until a friendly breeze or a wel-
come shower should come to its rescue and remove the dusty warm
burden from its countenance. To see the change in these flowers
after a rain, with their newly awakened bloom teaches one' the
lesson that to remain patient and to put on the best appearance
possible under unpleasant conditions will in time bring good results.

The literature on the goldenrod is very abundant. It offers a
very good theme for poets, especially the nature loving poets and
we have many interesting and pleasing lines about it in our nature
books today.

In "Little Folks Lyrics" Sherman speaks of the autumn as being
the evening of the year which comes just before the winter's night.
He tells of the goldenrod which lights up the roadsides in the even-
ing just as do street lights and greets the butterflies and bees as they
are returning from distant meadows. Finally the frost comes with
darkness and puts the torches out. The proud manner of this
flower is illustrated in some lines written by H. H. Jackson :

Four oak leaves vivid green,

Hung low among the ferns, and parted wide,

While purple aster stars, close side by side,

Like faces peered between.

Like maiden faces set

In vine-wreathed window, waiting shy and glad.

For joys whose dim, mysterious promise had

But promise been, as yet.

And, like proud lovers bent,

In regal courtesy, as kings might woo,

Tall Goldenrods, bareheaded in the dew,

Above the Asteis leant.

Ah, me! Lands will be lit

With every autumn's blaze of Goldenrod,

And purple Asters everywhere will nod

And bend and wave and flit.

There are many other fine poems, attractively written but I will
close with just one more which gives a fine description of a Septem-
ber day. It was written by Mary Clemmer Ames :

"I am alone with nature. The autumn dandelion

With the soft September day; Beside the roadwav burns;

The^ lifting hills above me, Above the lichened boulders

With goldenrod are gay. Quiver the plumed ferns.

Across the fields of ether The cream-white silk of the milkweed

Flit butterflies at play ; Floats from its sea-green t. od;

And cones of garnet sumac Frcm out the mossv rock-seams

Glow down the country way." Flashes the goldenrod.

Notes on Fruit of Mountain Magnolia

N. M. Grier
St. Louis, Mo.

The writer's attention was called to a curiously misshapen fruit
cone from a mountain magnolia (Magnolia acuminata L.). Inves-
tigation showed that the original tree, as well as others in the
vicinity, bore a large quantity of similar ones. It will be remem-
bered that the fruit of this species superficially resembles some
of the larger, and more cylindrical pine cones, and is ordinarily
three or four inches in length. The abnormal fruits, for their part,
were lumpy in appearance, unsymmetrical in development, cork-
screw in shape, or otherwise twisted about their long axis, some
resembling the head of a bird in shape, and all shorter.

With the view of ascertaining the probable cause of this abnormal
development, the writer made dissections of a number of cones.
No sign of insect injury, or parasitic growth was found, but on the
other hand, there was observed to be differences in the size of the
fleshy follicles composing them, accounted for by the size of the
seeds within them. The abnormal fruits contained numerous
ovules which had evidently never been fertilized, and the corre-
sponding portion of the cone showed signs of atrophy. The seeds in
this fruit are described as being distributed one or two in each
carpel; two seeds were noted, but in half of the cases examined,
•one had never developed. These cases were interesting since
there seemed to be plenty of opportunity for cross-pollination.
It was apparently clear then that the distortion of the fruits was
due primarily to want of complete pollination resulting in an
uneven distribution of maturing seeds throughout the cone. The
development of the seeds producing the mechanical force requisite.

240

The Mountain Lake
Harold Gordon Hawkins

At dusk I stand beside a silent lake

While shadows fall and surrounding woods partake

Of all the mystery and grandeur of the night.

Ah truly it is a glorious sight

To watch the sun's last radiance die

In darkling waters, while the sky

Is radiant with glorious colorings.

Softly, sweetly, a tiny woodthrush sings

Her evening hymn; the woodland rings

In fullness of the sound melodiously,

While in the blackening lake all somberly

The fir trees watch the undulating forms

That are their doubles in the shadowy depth below.

And now begin faint rustlings in the wood

And all about this place where I have stood

The last hour past. The gathering gloom

Is startled by the bullfrog's gutteral boom

From his nightly seat by the plashing water's edge,

While at the hilltop on a rocky ledge

Outlined in silhouette, an antlered deer

Stands gracefully and shows no sign of fear.

But now the blush of day receding fast

In the western sky leaves me alone at last

With night and her myriad stars,

While on the lake in shimmering bars

Diana's splendor shines and I

Am lost in silent contemplation of the scene.

241

Studying Butterflies

Amanda Zesch
Senior Student in Harris Teachers College, St. Louis

The study of the metamorphosis of butterflies should begin with
the egg. The student can collect eggs on walks through the woods,
and sometimes even from plants in backyard gardens. The collec-
tor can easily distinguish the eggs of butterflies from those of other
insects by remembering that butterflies' eggs are laid singly on the
underside of the leaf and are often iridescent. Sometimes the
collector, will be so fortunate as to see the butterfly deposit her
egg, and in this case there will be no chance for a mistake to occur.
In gathering the eggs the student should take with him the whole
branch upon which the eggs have been laid, and later place them in
a receptacle. It is best to place the eggs in a dish or cage suitable
for rearing the caterpillars. Cages consisting of little wooden
frames covered with wire netting and set over boxes of damp earth
or sand, large lamp chimneys set on flower pots of damp earth or
sand and covered with a piece of glass, or dishes two or three inches
high covered with a piece of glass, may be used. If a cage or flower
pot is used, the end of the branch should be stuck into the sand, the
branch being turned so as to give the best position for observation ;
if a dish is used, £he branch should be merely laid in the bottom.
If the observer does not know the age of the eggs, it is advisable to
keep fresh plant food in the receptacle so that, when the eggs hatch,
the young will have fresh food at hand. For this purpose, the
same species of plant as that upon which the eggs have been found
should be used.

When the caterpillars hatch, it is absolutely necessary to observe
these laws: first, the homes must be kept clean; second, a con-
stant supply of fresh food must be on hand ; and third, the cater-
pillar must not come in contact with the direct sunlight. If the
student follows these laws, he will have no trouble in rearing the
caterpillars. To clean their homes, the student should turn over
the dishes on paper to remove the contents, should rinse and dry
them thoroughly, and should then put in a new supply of fresh
food. This should be done at least once a day. To return the
caterpillar to his clean home, it is best to put the branch upon which
he is resting back into the dish; all unnecessary leaves should
be removed from the branch, and the twig should be placed in such

242

zesch] STUD VI XG BUTTERFLIES 243

a position as will enable the caterpillar to get fresh food. This
will avoid unnecessary handling of the caterpillar. When the
caterpillar is nearly full grown, he should t>2 furnished with some
support, such as a stick, to which he can attach himself. When the
caterpillar has changed into the chrysalis, it is best, if he has been
kept in a shallow dish, to remove the chrysalis and support to a
larger receptacle so that, when the butterfly emerges, he will have
room to spread his wings.

So far everything that has been said has dealt with the care of
the caterpillar; next the mode of observation must be considered.
For the most systematic study, regular intervals for observation
must be decided upon from the very beginning, and all observa-
tions, with their dates, should be carefully recorded. These
observations can be made only by close, prolonged study of the
specimens; the observer must always bear in mind that it takes
time and sharp eyes to see the very slight changes which sometimes
occur in nature. Oftentimes sketches, diagrams, and photographs
will be of great assistance. For observations I have found the
following outline of great assistance. This outline gives the points
which should be observed during the study.

i -i Egg stage.

1-2 Placing on food plant .
i -3 Conspicuousness .
2-3 Side of leaf upon which it is placed.
3-3 Kind of plant upon which it is placed.
2-2 Size.
3-2 Shape.
4-2 Iridescence.

5-2 Changes in color during development.
6-2 Escape of caterpillar.
1-3 Mode.
1-3 Place.

3-3 Eating of egg shell.
2-1 Caterpillar stage.
1-2 Shape.

1-3 General outline.
2-3 Armory.

1-4 Osmateria.
2-4 Spines.
3-4 Hairs.
3-3 Value in protection.

244 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

2-2 Color.

3-2

i-3

Changes.

1-4 In species of same age.

2-4 In stages of metamorphosis.

2-3

Arrangement.

3-3

Value in protection.

Structure.

i-3

Head.

1-4 Eyes.

1-5 Simple.

2-5 Compound.

2-4 Mouth-mandibles.

2-3

Segments.

1-4. Number.

2-4 Flexibility.

3-3

Legs.

1-4 Kinds.

1-5 True legs.

2-5 Pro-legs.

2-4 Number.

3-4 Position.

4-4 Use.

4-3 Spiracles.
4-2 Changes.

1-3 Intermediate moults.

1-4 Time — relation between intervals.
2-4 Process.
3-4 Use of silken pad.
4-4 Changes produced by moulting.
2-3 Final moult to chrysalis.

1-4 Preparation inwardly.
2-4 Preparation outwardly.
1-5 Girdling of silk.
2-5 Mode of final moult.
3-5 Attachment of end into silk pad.
3-4 Comparisons.

1-5 Between chrysalis immediately after

moult and half hour later.
2-5 Between size of caterpillar and size of
chrysalis.

zesch] STUDYING BUTTERFLIES 245

3-5 Between size of butterfly and size of
chrysalis.
3-1 Chrysalis stage.
1-2 Size.
2-2 Shape.

1-3 General outline.
2-3 Evidences of
1-4 Proboscis.
2-4 Legs.
3-4 Antennae.
4-4 Wings.
5-4 Segments.
6-4 Spiracles.
3-3 Protection.
4-3 Changes.

1 -4 Changes when touched .

2 -4 Final change to butternty .

1-5 Means of escape.

2-5 Condition on escaping.

1-6 Comparison with dry adult form
2-6 Method of drying.
1-7 Means
2-7 Length of time.
4-1 Adult butterfly.
1-2 Color.
2-2 Shape.

1-3 Head.

1-4 Eyes — especially the compound.
2-4 Proboscis — use.
3-4 Antennae.
1-5 Use.
2-5 Shape.
2-3 Thorax.

1-4 Wings.
2-4 Legs.

1-5 Size.
2-5 Structure.
3-5 Number.
3-3 Abdomen.

246

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

The eggs of the black swallow-
tail butterfly, enlarged.

My first experience in this study was
with the black swallow-tail, Papilio
aster ias. I found the eggs on the
parsley plants in our garden. They
were most beautiful specimens, in
their bluish iridescence resembling
little opals rather than the eggs of
insects. I placed the little treasures
in a dish, which I covered with a piece
of glass. For two days I watched
them, and at the end of the second
day I observed a black speck on one
of the eggs. I examined it with my
lens, and. there I saw one of the won-
ders of my life: a tiny wiggling
creature eating a hole in the egg shell
so that it might escape from its prison. Soon the hole was large
enough ; the little caterpillar then placed its true legs on the out-
side of its prison, and with these as a support pulled out the rest
of its body. With its little, but powerful, mandibles it began
eating the egg shell, but soon stopped as if the task were too
difficult. Soon it began wandering about looking for food. I
pushed a fresh parsley leaf near it; it soon discovered it, crawled
upon it, and began to eat the tender parts of the leaf.

It was a pretty little creature in its black dress, with a white belt
across the middle of its body, and black spines tipped with orange.
It did not keep this dress very long, but exchanged it for one of
light green striped with black, in which were rich orange dots.
This change was brought about on the seventeenth day by the third
moult. I was neither fortunate enough to observe its first moult
which occurred on the third day ; nor its second which occurred on
the ninth day ; but I did observe the third. I watched it eagerly as
the little pad of silk was spun, as the skin broke behind the neck,
and as the little mask came off its face, and as it wiggled itself out
of the remaining skin, which it left behind in a shriveled mass. At
first the face was a plain green, but, in a few minutes, faint stripes
began to appear, and at the end of the second hour the stripes on
its face were as black as those upon the rest of its body. A fourth
moulting occurred on the twenty-fourth day.

ZESCH

5 T I'D YING B UTTER FLIES

247

The life of the little creature was marked by system; there was
little variation in its routine of feeding, resting, and moulting.
Even its feeding was done by system; every- leaf was eaten in the
same fashion, and never a bit was wasted.

On the twenty-ninth day a change came over it; it was no
longer the easy-going caterpillar. It became restless, it refused to
eat. It emptied the alimentary canal, and in even.- way it looked
as if it were ill. It wandered here and there and was in a great
hurry to get nowhere. At last it stopped on the side of the stem,
and remained quiet for a short time. It then moved its head to one
side and attached a silken thread ; it next spun a long thread, and

Caterpillar of Black Swallowtail in two stages of growth.

attached it to the other side of the branch, thus forming a loop
which it swung over its body. Back and forth it swung the thread,
making the fastening more secure. Little did it seem to realize
that, if it did not secure it tightly, death must follow. How care-
fully and consciously would we have done an act from which life
or death might result! For twenty-four hours it hung there
motionless till the fifth and final moulting occurred; this seemed
to be the most difficult of all the moultings. After a while it suc-
ceeded in freeing itself from the skin ; and now appeared the light
green chrysalis dotted with gold. For nine days it hung there
motionless, showing signs of life only when touched. On the
tenth day the light green chrysalis darkened, and in the afternoon
a large black creature emerged. Its wings were moist and crumpled
and seemed too heavv for it to carrv. It constantlv moved them

248

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

back and forth and soon made attempts to fly. The wings
gradually straightened and dried. At last the insect showed all its
beauty; it was no longer the dark, ugly thing that emerged from
the chrysalis, but a black, velvet butterfly, the beautiful black
swallow-tail. It was a most perfect specimen. After watching
it for a while, I opened the receptacle and made my much admired
prisoner free. Away it flew to continue a life history which has
been unvaried for ages.

From observations such as these the nature-lover derives much
enjoyment as well as a knowledge of some of the many wonders
which nature holds for him.

Black swallow-tail butterfly

Over the fblds where the brown quails whistle,
Over the ferns where the rabbits lie,

Floats the tremulous down of a> thistle.
Is it the soul of a butterfly?

— T. W. Higginson.

Asters

Eda G. Miller
Wilkesbarre, Pa.

'Behold! the maize fields set their pennons free,

In this rich golden ending of the year;
And asters bloom upon the sunny lea,

Smiling as sweet as May, though leaves turn sere."

— John Stuart Thompson.

OITERIXG up by every roadside, in fields
and woodlands, may be seen the goldenrods
and dainty asters nodding and smiling at one
another from early August until late October.
And right royal emblems they make for the
fall of the year, a season of maturity and
harvest. Both groups are in their prime of
bloom from the middle of September to the
middle of October, and it is during that
time that a drive along a country road bordered with the soft white
and deep purple bloom of asters touched with splashes of sunny
goldenrod, presents a picture not easily surpassed. It is a sight
that makes one exclaim with Longfellow, — "With what a glory
comes and goes the year."

Both groups of flowers belong to the Composite, the largest of
the plant families, and both have very diversified forms and habits.
Gray's manual lists seventy-seven species of widely different forms,
varying in size, color and also as to habitat. You find asters
bordering the woodland paths, along the roadsides, on the hillsides
and in the low swamp lands. You find them on the hig moun-
tains and if you visit the seashore you will find them growing
there. They differ widely as to shape of leaf. Some have long
slender leaves, others shorter, lance-shaped leaves that clasp the
stem, while still others have heart-shaped leaves on long, slender
petioles. In fact it is mainly by the shape of the leaf plus the
arrangement of the flower heads and their color that the different
species are distinguished. The number of ray flowers is quite
constant for a species, so that also helps in classification.

As is the case of all the Compositae, what appears to be a single
flower is in reality a host of tiny florets packed closely together on a
flat receptacle or disk. In the aster, this flower head, as all the
florets together are called, is surrounded at the disk by an involucre

249

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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept. 1918

of bracts, and is composed of two kinds of flowers. Those in the
center, called disk flowers are very small and have a five-lobed
tubular corolla fringed at the base with short white hairs. They
are sometimes bright yellow and sometimes orange red to purple
in color. They contain a pistil and five stamens. Surrounding
this central disk are the showy banner flowers whose corollas have
been prolonged into long tubes split down one side, making them
look like long banners. These are colored white, pink, pale
lavender to deep purple according to the species, and give to the
flower heads the peculiar star-like appearance that inspired the
scientists of old to call the flower "aster" which means a star.

I, an aster flower-head enlarged; 2, a disk-flower; 3, a banner-flower

Let us examine a disk-flower and see what provision the plant
makes for fertilization. In the center of the flower-head we find
the little flowers closed up tight, the tips of the five pointed corolla
tube meeting at the center. They look like little pentangular balls.
Towards the outer edge we find flowers at different stages of devel-
opment, those in full bloom at the outermost edge. Here we see
the aster's trick to prevent self-fertilization.

The anthers are joined into a tube but the filaments are separate
and fastened to the corolla. The anthers split open lengthwise on
the inside of the tube. The pistil is two-branched and provided
with sweeping hairs like a duster. It pushes up through the
stamen-tube after the pollen is ripe and brushes the pollen out
before it, so that early in the morning, before the insects have
arrived, we can see little circles of pollen piled up around each
little floret of the aster head. The branches of the pistil do not
spread apart and expose the stigmatic surface until they have grown

miller] ASTERS 251

well up above the stamen tube and out of reach of the pollen of its
own flower. After it has done this the pistil is ready for the friendly
insect, laden with foreign pollen grains to brush against it in its
eager search for the nectar that lies in the bottom of the flower cups.
Such is the mechanism of all asters for securing cross-fertilization.
This probably does not insure against fertilization from the same
flower-head but by all indications it does prevent self-fertilization
of a single floret.

It is a hard task indeed, even for a botanist to know all species
of asters by name. Perhaps the most popular and the one most
easily recognized is the large purple aster or Xew England aster.
Aster Xovae-Angliae, as Mr. Gray calls it. It grows so tall and
stately that it attracts the attention of even the disinterested way-
farer. It is the tallest of the asters, sometimes reaching a height of
seven or eight feet. The stem is very stout, reddish in color and
covered with fine bristly hairs. Its leaves are lance-shaped, rather
thin, slightly hairy and clasp the stem at the base almost encircling
it. The flower-heads are very numerous and clustered at the top
of the stem and tips of branches. Each one is large, being nearly
two inches broad. The disks are orange-yellow changing to
reddish brown with age. The ray-flowers, forty to sixty in number
are very long and usually colored a very deep purple. It is a
singularly handsome aster, with its fine free gesture, as stately as
a queen.

Simply because its petals are purple, it has been called the widow

of flowers. A poet has carried this idea out in a poem entitled "The

Asters and the Goldenrod."

"Right wealthy is the Goldenrod,
A very Croesus he;
The widowed, weeping Asters came,
To crave his charity.

He gave them each a piece of gold,

Yellow and round and bright,
They clasped it in their purple robes,

And beamed their deep delight.

Then Goldenrod with stately nod,

And glowing features cried,
Come every fall, and with you all

My gold will I divide!"

All the sunny cheer that the autumn fields give us seems generally
to be ascribed to the goldenrod, and the aster is made the symbol
of the sadder tone of the season :

252 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

"Yet o'er one corner wildness still held sway,
And there, I always felt a shadow lay,
In that strange spot pale purple asters came,
When earth wore gorgeous colors on her breast,
And fields were ripe, and autumn's flood of flame
From scarlet maples swept from east and west
They bore no wealth of royal purple bloom,
But seemed meet products of great Nature's gloom.
Perhaps even such bright lands may need to see
The purple asters of despondency."

— Wentworth H. Eaton.

The New England Aster is found wherever there is moist soil, in
fields, meadows, roadsides and waste places. It was once culti-
vated in Europe on account of its beauty, but has escaped and is
now locally naturalized there. In spite of the name, the plant is
more common in the middle western states than in New England.
Though possessing a color generally associated with shadows and
gloom, the graceful purple aster to me is as a beautiful lady with
heart of gold giving cheer and comfort to every passer-by.

Deo Volente

Wm. Prindle Alexander

When the great Chemist Death shall once prepare

The final draught for me, and straight undo

This atom dwelling, all beyond repair,

And I the guest, am hurried unaware

Into the realm of elements anew,

'Mid rolling worlds, and tracts of endless blue;

Shall I return to where my passions burned

Of old, and where my every fibre sang

When in the cycles I again am turned

To something conscious of a joy or pang?

Or will forever silently be urned

The dreams of Now, and truths I sought unlearned?

I would implore my future state to be

Here in my joyfilled, carefilled Arcady!

The Founder of a City

Helex Lee Sherwood
New York City

I

A ROYAL WEDDING

Under a flat stone in the garden there was great excitement one
sunny morning in late August, for a marvellous wedding was about
to take place. If you had walked between the rows of autumn
flowers of royal gold and purple and the ripe melons and egg-plant,
or under the loaded apple trees you would not have noticed, proba-
bly, the little, flat, gray stone at the foot of one of the trees. But if
you had chanced to sit down near it you could never have guessed
what was happening beneath it, nor have heard the quick, nimble
steps of thousands of tiny feet and the little insect voices. You
have never heard of so grand an occasion as this was to be, nor of so
strange a wedding — of all the royal brides and grooms in the garden !

Under the stone there was a great city of ants, with well built
streets leading downward to galleries and chambers of all sizes and
shapes. Some of them were used for nurseries — fitted with hun-
dreds of baby ants. Others were built around dandelion or grass
roots where herds of snowy or green ant cows were stabled and
pastured. There were secret pathways winding to hidden places
of retreat ; and on the surface of the ground beneath the stone, the
entrances to the city from the vast world outside were guarded
and concealed by pillars and barriers, and watched by tiny sen-
tinels with quivering antennae that caught the scent of every
breath. There was no lonely spot in all the city ; the tiny brown
ants were always passing back and forth with quick steps full of
eager energy. It was a wonderful energy, which only a few of us
possess who live in human cities. It was a ceaseless and untiring
spirit, enduring hunger and danger and weariness for the sake of
the ant children who would grow up to keep this city living and to
go out and build new cities under other stones in the garden.

As soon as the sun had warmed the stone a little on this morning
one of the princesses of the city came hurrying from a hidden room
to the top, as if she knew it was her wedding day. She was a
beautiful creature three times as large as the worker ants of the
city. From the tip of her forehead to the sting on the end of her

253

254 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

round abdomen she was three-eights of an inch long. The workers
who were passing up and down the city streets were nearly blind,
although they walked so swiftly. They each had two compound
eyes and three tiny simple ones, but they could see only dim lights
and shadows. It was with their delicate antennae that they
smelled and felt their way about as they worked. But the Princess
had eyes that could see! There was another thing she has, of
which she was proudest of all. It was much better than a crown.
On her high shoulders she bore four wings of magic, silvery gauze
with fine brown veins making a delicate pattern. The tiny second
pair were hidden beneath the first, which reached beyond her body
as they lay folded on her back. The workers had never had such
wings although they were her sisters, for they were not royal.
They had always had to run along the earth and climb up the
grass blades and flower stalks in search of food, but she could fly !

The Princess could wait no longer to go for the first time out of
the city gate, and to use her eyes and wings. She hurried along the
widest street, scarcely meeting anyone, until she came near the
entrance. Here were groups of guards and road makers, the latter
hurrying excitedly about making the street wider. The Princess
was very angry on being seized by two of her legs and dragged
gently back to a place where four workers were standing. They
escorted her to the royal chamber from which she had escaped.
Here she found twenty-five of her winged sisters and ten little
winged brothers hurrying about and being washed and combed and
fed by swarms of excited waiitng maids and pages. Your eyes
would have to be very sharp to have seen the tiny tongues with
which they cleaned the smooth, hard bodies and thin wings of their
charges. All the princesses were very large and their bodies were
round and strong with the food which the eager, half -starved work-
ers had been bringing home to them for many weeks. The princes
were no bigger than their pages but they had wings, too. They
were slim and graceful and quick of motion.

Early in the afternoon the Princess who had tried to escape was
on the broad street by the entrance, again. Now the street was
crowded and the whole city seemed full of holiday gaiety. Behind
her were all her princess sisters and the ten princes, with hundreds of
attendants, and every street at the top of the city was seething
with ants. The Princess at the front ran back and forth feverishly.
Could she have known what a glorious thing was soon to happen to

sherwood] THE FOUNDER OF A CITY 255

her, or was it only an instinctive passion that she did not under-
stand? All at once something made her rush ahead, followed by
all the other royal children. Perhaps the mysterious ant instinct
made some sign or rang a curious wedding bell that was heard in
every city of little brown ants throughout the garden. For as the
Princess rushed from under the stone other winged brown ants
came running out from beneath other stones; each one at eager to
see and fly as she was.

She stopped, with the bright yellow light in her eyes — as her
brothers and sisters hurried out. A little breeze came and her
wings seemed to spread themselves. She was flying up and away
in the sunlight, and the earth was green and purple and golden!
The sunny air was filling her body with its lightness and she flew
faster and higher, seeing nothing but yellow light. Suddenly she
felt a swift thing brush her body as it flew by — and she was in the
midst of a swarm of flying ants, with wings that flashed with rain-
bow colors.

They flew and flew for hours above the garden, drinking the sun-
lit air. After a long while a lithe little Prince with sparkling wings
flew close to the Princess and touched her lightly and stayed beside
her as they went on. The ant swarm became smaller as some grew
tired and flew to the ground. When there were scarcely any left
the Prince and Princess fluttered down together, full of love for
each other and of the sun's breath. They reached the brown
earth and rested under a grass blade. Their wedding was over
and the tiny Prince had poured his life into a sacred sac in the body
of his Queen. As she watched him crawl away to a dark hiding
place perhaps her wild joy left her, — or else her instinct did not
tell her that her little King's life was of no more use and he would
never dance about nor fly or even eat, again. He had given her all
the energy he had, to keep for the many years she was to live, and
in a few days or weeks he would die. When the Queen had rested
thoughtfully for a while she slowly walked away, under the grass
blades and flowers.

Her instinct led her on and on over the rough earth, and stones,
and once she was almost caught by a cruel spider who hung in her
web across the Queen's path. The sunshine grew fainter and less
warm, and the bright colors seemed to fade a little. It was quite
dark and cool when she crept under some leaves close to the stalk
of a rose bush, folded her wings, and lay very still. Her wedding

256 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:C— Sept., 1918

day was over and she was a Queen. How shall we ever know what
went through her ant -mind that night ? Did she think and dream
joyously of the day of freedom she has spent flying in the golden
sunlight, and of her beautiful little lover ; or did she remember how
he had left her with a precious gift and how wearily she had wan-
dered through the garden? Perhaps she felt afraid and lonely
without her brothers and sisters, and the nurses and waiting maids
who had taken royal care of her ever since she was born.

II
WINTER IN A CELL

In the morning, when the warmth came again, the Queen
wakened and crawled to the edge of the leaf. The yellow light had
come back to the garden but her wings did not eagerly spread
themselves and lift her up. They were limp and weak. No little
worker ants came running up to feed her honey-dew from their
own hungry mouths. But, for the first time in her life she was not
hungry. It was with a stern determination that she walked out
from her hiding place and set forth again. Before long she stopped
by a second rose bush and smelled the earth around it with her
antennas. Close to the base of the bush she found a stone half
hidden beneath the grass, and she smelled and felt of it carefully.
Then she began to dip the earth away.

She had never before used her fine, sharp-toothed mandibles but
she went about her work with a craftsman's skill. She scratched
the earth a little with her delicate fore-legs and then, opening her
mandibles like a pair of saw-toothed tongs, seized bits of loose
earth, rolled them into tiny pellets, and carried them away. Then
she closed the tongs tightly to form a pointed trowel with which
she began to scoop out a tunnel. She worked ceaselessly all the
morning, never stopping for breath. There were hard sand grains
and pebbles on which she dulled her delicate little tools, and tangled
grass roots got in her way. She caught the tip of a wing on one of
them and tore it half off, but she scarcely seemed to know it.

At last she found herself in a little, dark chamber not much bigger
than she was, but safely concealed beneath the stone and having
skilfully smoothed walls of warm earth. Her work was almost
finished and she stopped to survey it. The little cell seemed perfect
as she felt it over with her antennas, and after a moment she

sherwoodJ THE FOUNDER OF A CITY

crawled to the opening. She rubbed her torn wings in a curious
manner against the walls and jerked her shoulders, until one wing
after another fell off, as if they had come unhooked. She looked
at them in a satisfied way, with no sign of regret. She was ful-
filling her instinct and the law of all queen ants. Then, with her
worn and partly broken mandibles, she closed the tunnel leading to
the sunlight and the bright garden and settled down in her tiny
cell.

Here the young Queen spent the winter alone, in the dark,
without food or water or fresh air; while many tiny eggs were
forming and growing in her abdomen, fed by the fat she had stored
up before her wedding and by her wing muscles which she was
absorbing. During those long months perhaps she thought of her
little King who had crawled away to die after their glorious wed-
ding, or of her discarded bridal wings, — but I think she was only
half awake, peacefully waiting for spring.

Ill
DWARF CHILDREN"

When the spring came and the earth in the garden was warmed
by the sun until the sap began to flow up from the roots and tiny,
new grass blades shot up and unrolled, — the Queen seemed to come
to life, too, and she paced up and down her cell. A few days later
she laid a cluster of white eggs making, altogether, a pile no bigger,
than a large pin head. She looked at them with great pride and
licked them with her delicate tongue, and all day long she watched
them. Sometimes she would turn them over and wash the dirt
from each one, or earn- them gently to another part of the cell.
As the days went by the Queen grew thinner, but she never
stopped caring for her eggs.

By the end of two weeks each tiny, oblong egg broke open and in
place of the little white pile there were thirty white ant grubs, each
one almost too small for you to notice. They were blind and with-
out legs; but they had mouths and hard little black jaws at the
pointed end of their long, ringed bodies, and their heads were
always wriggling hungrily. Their soft, white bodies were supplied
with tiny clumps of bristles and hooks. The Queen was very
proud on the day when her first ant babies were born. Each grub
had to be washed and brushed and carried about, and at the same
time thev must be fed constantlv. This was the most wonderful

258 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

thing of all, for their mother had eaten nothing since she flew away
from her city, and yet she fed each grub from her lips on food which
her nurses had stored in her body half a year ago ! It was a sweet
ant milk, which the grubs ate hungrily and wanted more and more
often as they grew. The Queen mother became thinner and
thinner, but she delighted in watching her babies grow larger an
fatter and more lively every day.

In three weeks each one was nearly an eighth of an inch long
and the Queen's instinct told her that it was time to stop feeding
them and put them to sleep. She loosened the warm earth on the
floor of the cell and half covered a grub with tiny grains of it.
Then the little blind creature who had neither hands not feet began
doing a marvelous thing. It drew from its mouth a silk thread
so fine that you could not have seen it, and slowly waving its head
in every direction and curling its body back and forth, it proceeded
to weave a silk cradle all around itself. It fastened some threads
to the grains of earth, at first, to make a framework on which to
weave, and before long it was enclosed and hidden within a little
oblong cocoon of soft, tan-colored silk. Before it had finished, the
Queen had half buried many of her other babies, and they had
begun their cradle weaving. There were a few who were still
hungry and these the mother kept feeding.

As each cocoon was finished the Queen carefully took away the
grains of earth and washed it and carried it to one corner of the cell.
By the end of the next day all her children were sleeping in a neat
little pile where she had placed them; every now and then she
would look them over and brush or wash them off, and then she
would lie near them, half alseep. She was almost exhausted,
nevertheless, for the two weeks that they slept she watched them
and did not eat.

One day when she was washing the cradles one of them moved a
little. She gently bit a tiny hole in one end, and a soft, limp
antenna appeared. She made the hole larger with the help of
eager little mandibles inside, and there crawled out a ver tiny,
pale yellow, wingless ant. She greeted her mother joyously with
her quivering antennae and the Queen kissed and washed her soft,
pale body. Though her mother was a Queen and her father had
been a King, she was a worker who could never have wings or a
wedding. She was also a little drawf, smaller than the workers
in her mother's city; but her Queen mother was wonderfully

SHERWOOD

THE FOUNDER OF A CITY

259

proud of her as the tiny creature ran gleefully about on her six
new legs.

In a short time more than half of the babies had wakened and
were growing strong and hard and darker brown as they ran up
and down the cell, stroked each other with their antennae, and let
their Queen mother wash them. They were all dwarfs and workers
with quick, eager little feet and slim bodies. It was time for them
to begin their long lives of work and hunger. Their instinct taught
them to make a passage-way from the cell to the open air, and some
went off in the sunshine in search of food while others guarded and
tended their worn out mother.

When one came in with excited sounds and gestures five of her
sisters hurried with her to the end of the opening, and there was
the huge, sleeping pupa of some beetle. They dragged it eagerly
into the cell, and, cutting through its hard skin, went running to
their starving mother with juicy morsels and crops full of insect
blood which they fed to her. No feast she had ever eaten could
have tasted half as good as this first one which her children brought
to her after more than half a year of toil and fasting !

The stone by the rose bush was not disturbed by the gardener or
the snow storms and rain. If you had chanced to sit near it ten
years after the Queen hid beneath it you might have noticed groups
of busy brown ants passing back and forth from under it. A great
city had grown up there, with the old Queen for its ruler. She had
never gone out into the garden again, but had been cared for and
fed and protected loyally by thousands of her children, as she laid
eggs year after year. Her first, drawf children had died, but she
was still strong. Even.- August at that curious hour when some
ant bell must have rung in the garden and all her royal children
flew away, perhaps her old body was quickened by a swift, sudden
memory of a flight in the sunlight with her sparkling King!

The Gentian

Katharine Coville Woodburn , .

Washington, D. C.

AVE YOU ever been walking in the country in
late September and early October? It seems
indeed, as if another year were brought to an
end — even the staunch goldenrods and asters
have become nothing but fuzzy balls of pappus
and dry leaves. We have given up all hopes of
anything new blossoming and have just begun
to ponder on the evanescence of all kinds of
life . And then suddenly we chance upon this —
" — promise set 'mid fading," and the sequence
of the seasons takes on a new meaning, and life is
cheered by this plucky little Gentian. Bryant
expressed our feelings in his lines "To the Fringed Gentian."

"Thou blossom bright with autumn dew,
And covered with the heavens own blue,
That openest when the quiet light
Succeeds the dim and frosty night.

Thou comest not when violets lean

O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen,

Or columbines, in purple dressed

Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest.

Thou waitest late and comest alone,
When woods are bare and birds are flown,
And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near his end.

Then dost thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky,
Blue — blue — as if the sky let fall,
A flower from its cerulean wall.

I would that thus, when I shall see
The hour of death draw near to me,
Hopes, blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart."

The two best known Gentians are the closed or blind gentian and
the fringed gentian.

The closed gentian gives the impression of an imperfect or
incomplete flower, a flower checked in its development before it
had reached the stage of opening its blue and white petals. The
tall stiff plant is scarcely graceful. Its beauty lies in the hue of the

260

coville] THE GENTIAN 261

flowers, which is similar to the "Heaven's own blue" of the fringed
gentian. The deep tinted flowers are firmly closed as though to
protect the delicate reproductive organs within from the sharp
touches of the late year. In this way also the precious nectar is
guarded from pilfering wanderers. The large conspicuous blue or
blue and white flowers remain apparently closed. At the tip of
the flower are five short lobes which overlap leaving no opening —
an ant could not pass. It would seem that it must be self-pollenated
and we should wonder why the flower had developed so elaborately.
But the bumble-bee can tell you better. She knows the secret
combination which opens the portals of the flower. She visits the
young flower, forces her way in where he can see white against the
light blue background. And through this medium the gentian is
cross-fertilized.

Sarah Day has a sweet conception of the closed gentian :

"Dame Nature lisped one day

To these closed buds some secret fair,
Then given earnest charge that they

Should keep her council with all care;
For ever since, they seem to say

Through pursed up lips — each purple bell —
Whate'er we hold of rich and rare,

We'll never tell, no never tell!"

It is always a temptation to gather gentians when we find them
but it is a temptation which should be resisted, for not only does
the spirit of their loveliness escape with imprisonment outside of
their natural environment, but this beautiful flower is fast becom-
ing extinct.

The gentians are found in shady places, along the banks of
streams, though not in the water, but where tufted grasses are
watered by threading springs that ooze up drop by drop and keep
its roots moist. Our search for the plant is always attended by the
charm of uncertainty, for being an annual, with seeds easily brushed
away it often changes its haunts from year to year. So that it is
quite a treat to find among the grasses one of these heaven-sent
spots of azure.

The gentian is sometimes grown commercially. So bitter and
tonic an element is contained in the roots that people have used it
as a substitute for quinine. Through the mountains of the
South the gentians are indiscriminately called Sawson's Snakeroot
and the decoctions from them are taken in great doses as a remedy
for dyspepsia and are favorably regarded as powerful tonics for

262 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918

invigorating the system. It is used for horses also and made into
powders. The negroes really believe it will cure snake bites.

The fringed gentian is the more beautiful of the flowers. It has
not only the wondrous gentian blue which Thoreau describes as
"such a dark blue! surpassing that of the male blackbird's back."
but the open fringed petals add exceeding delicacy and grace to its
splendor of color.

If the season has been a mild one we shall find perhaps a few
blossoms lingering into November but the plant is probably
blighted by a severe frost, although Miss Emily Dickinson's little
poem forces another opinion:

"But just before the snows
There came a purple creature
That ravished all the hill ;
And summer hid her forehead,
And mockery was still.
The frosts (?) her condition
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North evoked it
' ' ' Creator ! Shall I bloom ? ' "

The Deep Woods in September

Eva Marian Provost

Into the solemn mystery
One enters with softened tread ;
No shaft of gold from opulent sun
May shimmer down thru tall trees dim.
No murmur of wind to listening leaves,
E'en phrasing of birds is stilled.
But flash! along the twilight way,
The aster lifts a beauteous ray;
A star from heaven in earth ta'en root.
Dogwood spreads its berries blue
Orchid gleams upon our view
In velvet leaf and lip of pearl
Toadstool eerie with cap for faerie
From soft brown mold looks through.
Fanciful ferns 'gainst gray rock leaned
Bunch berry in scarlet dreamed.
The soul of the wood in ecstasy stood
And shared with me its hour
Of peace and joy and rich content
On God's world of quiet power.

The Queer Performance of a Nuthatch

Mrs. Viola F. Richards
S. Deerfield, Mass.

Up under the eaves, on the south side of our barn is a bird-box
which was made by hollowing out a short length of decayed oak
log, boring an entrance hole, and putting on pieces of board for roof
and floor.

During the winter, white-breasted nuthatches used this box as
a store-house, and were frequently seen carrying in food, or bring-
ing it out. That they used it also for a lodging place at night is
very likely, as it is a habit of white-breasts to occupy such
quarters.

One day early in April I chanced to look up at this bird-box, and
my attention was attracted by the peculiar actions of a nuthatch
which was. moving rapidly about on the box, swinging her head
from side to side, in what I took to be an endeavor to rid herself of
a feather which appeared to be caught in her bill.

While I watched, she flew away, minus the feather, and I
experienced a feeling of relief in her behalf.

In a few minutes I discovered her back again, going through the
same performance.

With my curiosity now thoroughly aroused, I ran for my bird-
glass, and watching through it, I found that the bird was actually
sweeping her house all over, outside.

Back and forth over the top — paying careful attention to the
corners and edges — and up and down the sides she ran, continually
moving her head from side to side, with the white feather broom
in her bill. Once she lost her hold on the feather, and it floated
downward, but before it had gone far, she darted down, deftly
caught it and resumed her work.

After several minutes of this activity, she was apparently satis-
fied with the result of her efforts and flew away.

The wind blew furiously, that day, and the air was full of flying
dirt, but Mrs. Nuthatch must have been blissfully unconscious of
the time and labor she was wasting. However, we judged that a
subsequent inspection of the box caused her dissatisfaction, for
next day she was seen doing her cleaning all over again.

Later, a pair of nuthatches nested in the box and raised two
broods of young birds.

263

How to Study Ants in the Schoolroom

Very interesting stories may be read in the observation cage.
To make this ant nest we must have two pieces of window-glass,
ten inches square ; a sheet of tin, eleven inches square ; a piece of
plank, one and one-fourth inches thick, twenty inches long and at
least sixteen inches wide; a sheet of tin, or two thin, flat boards,
five by ten inches in size.

Take the plank and on the upper side, a short distance from the
edge, cut a deep furrow. This furrow is to be filled with water, as
a moat, to keep the ants imprisoned. It is necessary, therefore,
that the plank should have no knot holes, and that it be painted
thoroughly to keep it from checking. Take the sheet of tin eleven
inches square, and make it into a tray by turning up the edges
three-eighths of an inch. Place this tray in the middle of the
plank. Place within the tray one pane of glass. Lay around the
edges of this glass four strips of wood about half an inch wide and
a little thicker than the height of the ants which are to live in the
nest ; burnt matches serve very well for this. Cover the glass with
a thin layer of fine earth. Take the remaining pane of glass and
cut a triangular piece off of one corner, then place the pane on top
of the other, resting upon the pieces of wood around the sides.
The cover of the nest may be two pieces of tin, with handles soldered
at the centers, or two boards with screw-eyes or knobs at the
centers, with which to lift them. There should be a piece of blotter
or of very thin sponge, introduced into the nest between the two
panes of glass, in a position where it may be reached with a pipette,
without removing the upper glass, for it must be kept always damp.

To establish a colony of ants in this nest we should proceed as
follows: Take a two quart glass fruit jar and a garden trowel.
Armed with these we visit some pasture or meadow near by, and
find under some stone, a colony of ants which have plenty of eggs
and larvae. We scoop up carefully eggs, ants, dirt and all and
place them in the jar, being as careful as possible not to injure the
little creatures. While digging, we must search carefully for the
queen, which is a larger ant and is sometimes thus found. But if
we have plenty of eggs, larvae and pupae, the ants will become very
contented in their new nest while taking care of them. After we
have taken all the ants desirable, we place the cover on the jar, and
thus carry them to the Lubbock nest and carefully empty the

264

HOW TO STUDY AXTS IX THE SCHOOLROOM

20 >

contents of the jar on top of the cover of the nest. Of course the
furrow around the plank has been filled with water, so the strag-
glers cannot escape. The ants will soon find the way into the nest
through the cut corner of the upper pane of glass, and will transfer
their larvae to it because it is dark there. After they are in the
nest, which should be within two or three hours, we remove the
dirt on the covers, and the nest is ready for observation. But,
since light disturbs the little prisoners, only one cover should be
removed at a time and then for short periods.

Photo by Harry H. Knight

A Lubbock Ant's Xest with One-half the Cover Lifted

THE

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Editorial

AN IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD

At the meeting of the General Federation of Women's Clubs,
held at Hot Springs, Arkansas, in May, the following resolution was
adopted :

Whereas, the boys and girls of today particularly need those
studies that will develop individuality, strength of character and
human sympathy ; and

Whereas, one of the greatest aids in securing this result is a
comprehensive study of outdoor nature and the natural resources
of the land ; and

Whereas, it is our belief that such study should be recognized as
one of the serious subjects in the curriculm of the elementary
school and that credit should be given as for other recognized
subjects, be it

Resolved: That the General Federation of Women's Clubs
express to the United States Commissioner of Education its belief
in the value of such work, urge upon him to take definite steps
toward formulating plans for putting the subject before the school
authorities and guarantee to him its support in arousing public
opinion.

The adoption of this important measure is largely due to the
influence of Mrs. John Dickinson Sherman, well known throughout
the United States as an authority and teacher of parliamentary
law; she is a woman who believes in making her ideals realities, —
with her to believe means to act. Her whole-hearted sympathy
with the nature-study movement is a result of her observations on

266

EDITORIAL 2<57

the education of children rather than from her own great love of
the out-of-doors. Aside from nature-study as an educational
factor, she believes with some of the rest of us that the future
agricultural development of our country depends upon a fundamen-
tal interest in the land and all that grows and lives thereon, and
this can best be attained in childhood. In her opinion nature-study
in the public schools is a war measure.

Dr. Elliot R. Downing attended the meeting and addressed the
Federation, pointing out the importance of elementary science in
our public schools. His address was the potent influence in bring-
ing about the passing of this resolution.

The Federation of Woman's Clubs is a far teaching organization
and if it will earnestly support the resolutions which it has passed,
we may hope for a very needed reform in our public school cur-
ricula, and the results will be of the most vital consequence to our
nation. — as Professor L. H. Bailey has said:

"If the farmer as he trudges down the corn rows under the June
sun sees only clods, and weeds, and corn, he leads an empty and a
barren life. But if he knows of the work of the moisture in air and
soil, of the use of air to root and leaf, of the mysterious chemistry of
the sunbeam, of the vital forces in the growing plant, of the bacteria
in the soil liberating its elements of fertility; if he sees the relation
of all these natural forces to his own work; if he knows of the
hundreds of commercial products obtained from his corn or the
animals that it fattens; he then realizes that he is no mere toiler;
he is marshaling the hosts of the universe, and upon the skill of his
generalship depends the life of nations."

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Teachers' Corner

How to Study a Composite Flower

Many plants have their flowers set close together to make a mass of color,
like the geraniums or the clovers. But there are other plants where the
flowers of one flower-head act like the members of a family, those at the center
doing a certain kind of work for the production of seed, and those around the
edges doing another kind of work. The sunflower, goldenrod, asters, daisies,
cone-flower, and many other common flowers have their blossoms arranged in
this way. Before any of the wild-flower members of this family are studied, the
lesson on the garden sunflower should be given.

1 . Note that what you call the flower consists of many flowers set together
like a beautiful mosaic. Those at the center are called disk-flowers; those
around the edges banner or ray-flowers.

2 . Note that the flowers around the edges have differently shaped corollas
than those at the center. How do they differ? Why should these be called
the banner flowers? Why should they be called the rayflowers? How many
banner flowers are there in the flower family you are studying? How are the
banners arranged to make the flower-head more attractive? Cut off or pull
out all the banner-flowers and see how the flower-head looks. What do the
banner-flowers hold out their banners for? Is it to attract us or the insects?
Has the banner-flower any stigma or stamens?

3. Study the flowers at the center. Are they open, or are they unfolded,
buds? Can you make a sketch of how they are arranged? Are any of the
florets open? What is the shape and the color of the corolla? Can you see the
stamen-tubes pushing out from some? What color are the stamen-tubes?
Can you see the two-parted stigmas in others? What color is the pollen. Do
the florets at the center or at the outside of the disk open first? When they
first open, do you see the stamen- tube or the stigma?

4. The flower-heads are protected before they open with overlapping bracts.
As the flower-head opens, these bracts are pushed back beneath it. Describe
the shape of these bracts. Are they set in regular, overlapping rows? Are
they rough or smooth? Do they end bluntly, with a short point, with a long
point, with a spine, or a hook? How do the bracts act when the flower family
goes to sleep? Do they remain after the seeds are ripened?

5. Take a flower-head apart, and examine the florets. Can you see what
part of the floret will be the seed? Is there a fringe of pappus above it? If so,
what will this be on the seed?

6. Study the ripe seeds. How are they scattered? Do they have balloons?
Is the balloon close to the seed? Is it fastened to all parts of it?

21 IN

THE BOOK SHELF

Our Trees, How to Know Them. Arthur J. Emerson and Clarence M. Weed,
new revised edition, 295 pages, 149 illustrations. J. P. Lippincott.
$3.50 net.
For several years the editor has used this book with great satisfaction when
studying trees with her nature-study classes; it has the great advantage of
showing the leaves, blossoms, and the fruit of each tree approximately natural
size, and the form of the tree reduced, all made from photographs taken directly
from the natural objects, a full page plate being devoted to each tree species.
The text is clear, interesting, and to the point. In this new revised edition
about twenty pages of new material have been added and eleven extra illus-
trations. It is a beautiful, useful and attractive volume and is a very- practical
aid to one who wishes to become acquainted with our native trees.

The New Voter. Charles Willis Thompson. 349 pages. G. P. Putnam &
Sons. $1.50.
To the beginning voter, of which there will be many in New York State this
fall, this volume will prove most enlightening. It is not merely a manual of
civil government; in every chapter there is a keen discussion by two women,
the husband of one, a politician and a Washington correspondent, the women
asking the questions and the men replying according to their experience and
ability. Every one of the twenty-eight chapters makes interesting and racy
reading, being full to the brim of just the information which the new voter needs
concerning the different departments of our government, and how they are
actually, not theoretically, carried on. The book is certainly well fitted to do
what its author hopes for in the Foreword: "This book is written for those
who being new to the ballot wish to do their part to make politics good instead
of bad." It is a volume that should be read carefully by every woman voter in
this state before the 4th of November.

209

CHOOSING A SCHOOL 7*
Sargent's Handbook of American Private Schools

:-: :-: A GUIDE BOOK FOR PARENTS :-: :-:

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4th Edition, 1918. Round Corners, 700 pages, $2.50.
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THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14 October, 1918 No. 7

The Gray Squirrel

Anna Bristol
Ovid, X. Y.

The gray squirrels range from Florida to southeastern Penn-
sylvania, Hudson Valley, Indiana and Missouri. Where they
are protected they will make their homes in the midst of any
bustling community in some hollow log or tree. Here they will
live and raise their families and lay up stores for winter, perfectly
indifferent to the noise and crowds around them. When they
live in the woods they must forever be on the alert to guard their
hidden stores from the thieving red squirrels and ever keep listen-
ing for the fox's footsteps on the leaves or the distant scream of a
hawk. The red -shouldered hawks are dangerous enemies and
their hunting hours correspond exactly with the gray squirrel's
working hours.

Often half a dozen or more squirrels will occupy the same
hole and although the old males are apt to be unpleasantly ugly
and tyrannical, the family seems to get along pretty well on the
whole.

Gray squirrels warn each other of danger with a kind of flat,
rasping bark, finally prolonged into a whining snarl, distinctly
audible for an eighth of a mile or more. It is heard oftenest
directly after a rain. The red squirrel is popularly supposed
to drive away the gray variety and probably does to a certain
extent, for he is pretty sure to attack the other on sight and gener-
ally comes out ahead, although an actual hand-to-hand tussle
is of rare occurrence; the encounter generally consists of ill-
natured bickerings at a distance of ten inches or more, terminating
in the retreat of the larger of the combatants. It is said, though,
that the gray squirrel when fairly cornered will usually succeed
in putting the other to flight.

The numbers of gray squirrels have so decreased that in the
last century and a half there has not occurred one of those great

271

272 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

squirrel migrations so common in the United States during the
time of early settlers. Guided by some impulse, great hordes
of squirrels congregated and marched across the country. The
climatic conditions and food supply along the way lengthened
or shortened these migrations. As the squirrels pushed blindly
forward thousands perished by the way, and the survivors gradu-
ally spread over a great territory, until lost in the vast wilderness.
Years might elapse before another great migration would occur
over the same route, but there were the lesser migrations, caused
by the failure of nuts in certain sections. So destructive were
. these migrations that we find on the statute books of many states
rewards offered for each gray squirrel killed. The gray squirrel
does not lay up such quantities of winter stores as does the chip-
munk because he does not hibernate. However, like most of
our other squirrels he has the habit of digging holes and hiding a
nut here and there. It is probably his acute sense of smell more
than memory that guides him to find these store places, hidden
under the snow.

Dr. C. Hart Merriman says that gray squirrels are very fond
of music, and that it affects them in a pleasant manner. They
seem almost spellbound, and will sit bolt upright, inclining
the head to one side, listening, meanwhile letting the forepaws
hang listlessly over the breast, and turning the head around in a
bewildered sort of way, and assuming a most idiotic expression.

The gray squirrel is rather sensitive to weather conditions
and regulates his movements a good deal in accordance to the
season. In summer he comes out early in the morning, spending
the greater part of the day in concealment, to appear again for
a few hours late in the afternoon. As the weather grows cooler
in the autumn, he rises later in the morning and curtails his
midday nap, so that after the first of November or thereabouts,
the best time to find him is between ten o'clock and noon.

Gray squirrels are found in the hard woods, preferably hickories.
Neither the hickories, chestnuts or beeches can be depended on
to bear every year so that the gray squirrel population often
drifts from one locality to another, assembling wherever food
is most abundant and collecting all the nuts available, storing
them in hollow trees and stumps.

When the nuts are finally all gathered, the gray squirrel spends
most of his time indoors, coming out to enjoy the sunshine or to

BRISTOL

THE GRAY SQUIRREL 273

bring some of his scattered hidden treasures to the home tree.
In the winter often whole weeks go "by without his poking his
head out.

These squirrels sometimes make their nests in the branches
of trees. While the leaves are still on the trees they cut off twigs
and earn- them to some convenient notch. To watch them
construct the nest is very confusing. It seems as though they
simply scramble over the mass, packing and entangling it together;
there seems to be no special entrance ; they just push their way
into the center and escape wherever it is easiest to part the twigs.

The bushv tail serves as a balance and also as a parachute
to this great leaper. When one falls, the legs are spread far
apart and the loose skin over the ribs is stretched and flattened
out. It would seem only a step from that condition to the para-
chute of the flying squirrel. The tail is also an object of great
pride to the owner, as is shown by the abashed demeanor of the
little animal when a portion of his brush is lost. Hiawatha gives
him the name of Adjidaumo because of his frisky' tail in the air :

"And the squirrel, Adjidaumo
Frisked and chattered very gaily,
Toiled and tugged with Hiawatha
Till the labor was completed.
Then said Hiawatha to him,
'O, my little friend, the squirrel,
Bravely have you toiled to help me;
Take the thanks of Hiawatha.
And the name which now he gives you ;
For hereafter and forever
Boys shall call you Adjidaumo,
Tail-in-the-air the boys shall call you.' "

The first litter of young is seen in March in the warmer parts
of the country and later in the more northern states. Mating
is for only one season and during the time before the baby squirrels
arrive the mother usually expels the male squirrel from the nest.
The young are blind and helpless and remain in the nest for a
month when they begin to awkwardly scramble about their door-
way. At this age they have some very pretty little ways. Their
chief characteristic is inquisitiveness. The world is so fine and
new and there are so many wonderful things to see ! Sometimes
they will seem to clasp each other around the neck with their
arms and will often scratch and stroke one another.

Gradually the young gain strength and confidence and it is
then one can see how the liveliness of the young can surpass even

274

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

Bristol] THE GRAY SQUIRREL 275

the tireless activity of the older squirrels. Both old and young
are exceedingly found of play and will often spring up from the
ground as if in a high jumping match and turn regular somersaults
in the grass. Sometimes they will catch hold of a branch hanging
down almost to the ground and swing back and forth like boys
who find a long grape vine in the woods.

No animal is more motherly than one of these parent squirrels
and she takes great pride in the instruction of her nearly grown
brood and no other squirrel is allowed to interfere in any way.
She is very patient and will keep encouraging her youngsters
gently.

The gray squirrel is not greatly in demand as a pet. He is so
mischievious and tries his strong teeth on everything and damages
things too much. He is not an affectionate animal. He will
climb upon your shoulder and look for sweets but never curl up
in your lap just for the pleasure of your companionship. He has
not even monkey-like tricks with which to amuse you, nor a
melodious voice to please your ear. His place is free in the great
tree tops where he has room for his acrobatic feats, and where he
can find a boon companion in every wind that blows.

"There can be no objection to the poetic interpretation of
nature. It is essential only that the observation be correct and
the inference reasonable, and that we allow it only at proper
times. In teaching science we may confine ourselves to scien-
tific formulas, but in teaching nature wc may admit the spirit as
well as the letter."

"The child should be set at those things that are within its
own sphere and within the range of its powers. Much so-called
nature-study teaching is merely telling the child what some man
has found out."

"Thoroughness consists only in seeing something accurately
and understanding what it means. We can never know all that
there is to be learned about any subject."

"One is not superficial merely because he does not delve deep
into subject-matter. He should try to be accurate as far as he
goes."

— L. H. Bailey.

The Beech

Phebe Bird

Its beautiful trunk alone is sufficient to identify the beech.
No other tree is so smooth and round, and the quaker gray bark
is unmistakable ; it is often dappled in varying shades, but always
gray and never marred by seams or corrugations. The bark is
thin, hard, and closely knit, being less than a half-inch in thickness
even on large trees. The slender, wide-spreading branches are
also round and smooth and graceful but darker in color than the
trunk, while the numberless small branches and twigs are darker
still, those of the past season's growth being a glossy reddish
brown.

The leaf -scars are alternate, but often the leaves themselves
cling to the tree till late in the winter and can be studied nearly
as well as in their summer greenness. They are very thin, smooth
and silken, oblong, pointed, with very short stems, and stand
out horizontally from the twig, so that it is no wonder that the
beech in summer is the best of shelter, both in sun and shower;
for its shade is very dense and it yields more slowly to the penetra-
tion of the rain than any other tree. The veins spring straight
from the mid-rib to the small sharp teeth at the edge of the leaf.
In spite of their delicate fineness the leaves are very strong and
firm.

Often the four-lobed spiny burs cling to the twigs till late in
the winter, and still show where the bases of the two triangular
nuts rested.

The winter buds show just above the ring of leaf-scars, or
the leaves themselves if they still remain. They are long, slim,
smooth and pointed, their many scales very tightly folded, shining
like silk, and of a lighter brown than the twig which bears them.
Like all the rest of the tree they have an expression of delicacy
and strength combined.

In the spring, the scales of the leaf-buds lengthen as they
unfold and drop away, each leaving a tiny scar at the base of
the shoot like the thread on a little screw. Within, each leaf
has a pair of scales to protect it and these do not fall away till the
leaf is grown but cling to the stem like brown needles. The new
leaves are softly fuzzy on the ribs and under surface and seem to

276

bird]

THE BEECH

277

The beech wears the crest of its nobility woven into
the hues of its firm smooth bark.

278 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

have a fine fringe of hairs at the edge, but as they attain full size
they become smooth and fine, like silk.

The blossoms of the beech appear in late April and May, the
staminate ones growing below the leaves at the base of the new
shoots and hanging in little balls of bloom on long slender stems.
The pistillate flowers are on stiff, little stems near the ends of
the twigs in the axils of the uppermost leaves. These are always
in twos with triple parted, outstretched stigmas waiting to catch
the pollen blown from the soft fuzzy dangling balls below. When
the pollen is shed the staminate blossoms fall off, but the twin
pistillate flowers grow into twin nuts protected by a spiny sheath
and are little and brown, three-cornered and sweet and very
"good to eat."

The very name of the beech family means "good for food"
and is derived from the Greek verb to eat. The wild folk of the
wood know the tree for a friend. In our northern forests its
leaves furnish forage for the deer even in the winter and its fruit
or "mast" helps them to grow fat in autumn; and the squirrels,
mice, partridges, and jays are almost equally dependent upon it.
The black bear loves the beech-mast and gorges himself eagerly
before tucking himself away to sleep through the winter. "Beech-
nut bacon" is said to be the best of all and droves of pigs are
still turned into the beech forests of the Southwest where the
tree is said to reach its tallest and finest growth. In Europe the
sweet, three-cornered nuts are used for food and an oil is pressed
from them for table use.

Beech wood is hard and heavy and durable under water, there-
fore, it is used for piles and for foundation timbers in damp places.
It also makes an excellent fuel. Furniture, shoe-lasts and the
wooden parts of tools are turned from the heart -wood.

" Let poets sing of their leafy trees
When the tides of summer fancies swell
And rock their thoughts, as a tropic breeze
Rocks the bee in a lily's bell;
But give me a harp whose ring is sharp
Tuned for November melodies,
That I may roam the bleak hills alone
And sing of the grey and leafless trees."

C. P. Crunch.

The Child That Needs a Nature-Study Teacher

" Good-f or-Nothing Little Me"
Frances Shaw

O, good-for-nothing little me,

My stuns I cannot do,

I'd love to please Miss Jones, you see,

I always smile when she looks at me,
* * *

There's a tiny bird in the apple tree
It's blue, it's blue, it's blue.

My Mother'll be so 'shamed of me

Why ever, I can't think,

I left my hat at home you see

And my curls are mussed as mussed can be,

* * *

There's something else in the apple treee,
It's pink, it's pink, it's pink.

The page ? It's something — thirty-three,

I guess mine isn't right

I was drawing elves in my book, you see,

I couldn't hear when you spoke to me,

* * *

There's a cloud just over the apple tree
It's white, it's white, it's white.

I'm just as sorry as I can be,
I'm 'fraid you'll have to scold,
I learned the little poem, you see,

Instead of the words that begin with "t,"

* * *

There's a wonderful light in the apple tree,
It's gold, it's gold, it's gold.

Poor little good-for-nothing little me,

I've got to turn my back,

To shut them out and away from me,

Those lovely things in the apple tree,

* * *

And the mark that she has given me,
It's black, it's black, it's black.
279

The Strange Cliff Dwellers

Peter Antony Mattli
Uri, Switzerland — now a volunteer in the American Army

There is a certain valley in the Alps of Switzerland, a strip of
land surrounded by a chain of mountains; and one of these
mountains forms a wall, which makes a sheer drop of some 1500 ft.
to the fields below. Now this wall has been rent apart from top
to bottom by some prehistoric convulsion or upheaval, forming
a rather narrow but very deep and dark gorge or chasm.

Some years ago this abyss used to be the home of a bird of an
enormous size, about whose identity then was a great deal of
speculation and curiosity among the folks down in the valley.
We often saw it during the summer evenings sitting up there on
the cliff. It looked, for all the world like a great dog. Sometimes
it would lift its wings, sail into space and disappear among the
mountains on the other side. People who had been near it said,
that it didn't make the least bit of noise when flying. To little
boys it represented a real terror. They feared it very much
partly on account of its weird call and partly also for the things
that folks said about it.

Many of the folks insisted that it was a giant eagle and a gaint
eagle, as all mountaineers know, is a rather serious proposition.
It has a wing spread of 10 feet or more, and is therefore consider-
ably larger than the condor, and though almost, if not entirely,
extinct now, is still held responsible for many a crime ; and accord-
ing to good authorities, it deserves the blackest of reputations.
These birds, so it is claimed, did a great deal of damage in their
day. They carried off many a lamb and many a baby goat was
lost in the mountains, never to be found again.

Not only did they carry off smaller game, but they also attacked
larger animals that were too heavy to be carried off. Their
method of singling out goats in the clefts and beating them down
with their wings is well known. It is interesting to note in this
connection that the goats know very well how to take care of
themselves and usually avoid the bird by running together, forming
into a solid bunch.

Now, of course, nobody knew for sure that the bird in the cliff
was an eagle. There were people who maintained that he was not.
They claimed that eagles do not fly noislessly, that they do not

280

mattli] THE STRAXGE CLIFF DWELLERS 281

go hunting in the evening and that the manners and tactics of this
bird were altogether different from what they had observed in eagles.

The strange bird on silent wings therefore, became the object
of considerable discussion as time went on. But however much
opinions were divided in general, on one point everybody agreed :
everybody felt that this bird was a robber and destroyer of the
very worst kind. No wonder little goats disappeared myster-
iously; cats left home never to return; and ever the mountaineer,
who at two or three different periods during that summer went
up into the higher mountains to count the lambs that in the mean-
time should have been born (we let our sheep run wild during
the summer) reported that many of them, an alarmingly great
number of them were missing; and all of these misdeeds, of course,
justly or unjustly, were put to the account of the big stranger.

Thus the interest, curiosity and anger concerning him, became
greater and greater as time went on and I felt that in the natural
course of events, sooner or later the big stranger in the cliff was
bound to get a visit from the otherwise peaceful and gentle moun-
taineers.

Fall arrived and with it the hunting season, and the hunting
season brought a lot of hunters real and otherwise; hunters who
knew the mountains by heart and were acquainted with the game
and its habits; and hunters also who were more of the pseudo
type; those perhaps who at some previous time had succeeded
in killing or secretly buying a chamois and who now felt that the
waning interest of their neighbors could only be kept alive by
an addition of new laurels. And let me add right here that
the second class of hunters invariably looked more like real
hunters than the real hunters themselves. There was a freshmen-
like touch about their appearance which might well have fooled
the most unsophisticated minds. They had new rifles, new knap-
sacks, new goggles, the most modern field glasses and their boots
were provided with iron nails and spikes ten times too big. Thev
talked continually about hunting and hunting experiences.
They had hunted, so they usually said, in the far off Tyrolean
Alps and had also been in the Sarojen mountains where the king
of all mountain game, the most rare and much prized stein-
bok (ibex) dwells. And really they hardly thought it worth
while to honor our mountain valley with their presence. May
I add, however, that most of the mountaineers knew better and
that ; I, in particular had very definite reasons for being skeptical.

282 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

To this class of hunters, the big stranger in the cliff seemed to
fill the bill and now you could hear them talk it over in the evening
in a low secret way. You could see them disappear the next
morning at day break among the cliffs that lay in the direction
of the chasm, only to come back empty handed in the evening
and then talk it over once more and drink some more beer and
wine and tell some more tales.

Thus the 1 5th of September arrived and nothing had happened
as yet to the bird. Since this day and also the following two
days were the occasion of a great celebration, the hunters suspended
operations and joined in the merry throng. That 15th of Sep-
tember was a beautiful fall day; I remember it as if it had been
yesterday. I can still hear the music float through the open
windows and I can hear the echoes of songs and the shouts of
children. Everybody was gay and happy; young folks danced
and older folks talked and so far as the hunters were concerned,
why — they really felt themselves a part of the event.

I, myself, was out among the rocks on the mountainside watch-
ing a couple of marmots build their winter home and carry in
the hay necessary for the bedding. Now, as I watched them
from behind a ledge (for they are very shy) I happened to
glance over in the direction of the big chasm on the other side
of the valley and the more I looked there, the more ambitious
and restless I became. I saw myself climb up among the cliffs —
surely I could easily make it ! I would leave my shoes at home —
climbing being easier without shoes. But what would my father
say! No, I wouldn't do it, — having been expressly forbidden
to use the rifle in any place except down in the valley. Still why
shouldn't I do it, and who would know it? Weren't they all
happy and, anyway, who would tell !

The more I thought of it the more tempting the proposition
became, and so after some time, being a boy of slow but abrupt
decision, I suddenly left my place (scaring the poor marmots
almost to death) I climbed down the incline, trotted over to our
house where the folks were dancing merrily, took the rifle and
left, unnoticed, by the side door.

The climbing was somewhat tedious but using a roundabout
way I finally reached the edge of that chasm from the upper side.
I first looked down into it from the top and was impressed by
the gush of air that struck my face; I then climbed down on

mattli] THE STRANGE CLIFF DWELLERS 283

that same side to the next shelf sortie fifty feet below, where
several mountain pines were, and there I found abundant proof
to justify even our worst suspicions. Bones of all kinds were
lying pell mell along the edge of the abyss. There were wings
of partridges and ptarmigan, tails of cats, legs of rabbits with
both skin and flesh on and an inumerable number of feathers
of all kinds.

I looked down into the chasm but failed to see any thing indicat-
ing the robber's presence. I listened for some time and heard
nothing but the music that came floating up from the valley below.

I now proceeded to climb to the shelf below, which I knew
from a previous survey was the last one, the rock from others
having fallen down. That shelf indeed was vary narrow — I
imagine it was hardly four feet broad but instead of dropping
down like the edge of a table, it became inclined like a steep
roof, the whole incline being formed by a somewhat coarse granite.

I hadn't even reached that shelf when I heard the well known
sound; but to my surprise it didn't come from the gorge at all,
but seemed to have its source right under that inclined rock-
shelf, which to my great regret concealed the depth and conse-
quently also the bird below. Aj;ain I heard the call and this
time quite distinctly. I became all excited, forgot precautions
and everything else and began sliding down in a sitting position
with the rifle over my knees and using my feet as a brake (I was
barefooted). The more I advanced the steeper the incline
became and there finally came a point when the soles of my feet
nor the seat of my pants seemed to have any seizing influence;
and I think I might have tried to stop had it not been for another
call that coaxingly came from below. This time I was mad!
I forgot the incline and the wall and the danger and just kept
on sliding down over the rock shelf and suddenly came to a
stand-still at its lowest edge, owing to a little projection about
one inch high. And then what do you think I saw — the valley?
No ! It was there but I did not see it.

I saw one thing only and that was the big bird. It was sitting
on the stump of a mountain pine, a mountain pine that had grown
in a shelf about two feet broad and about fifty or a hundred feet
below where I was.

I aimed, fired and missed. The bullet struck some feathers
out, it is true but the bird was not seriously hurt, for, slowly

284 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

and deliberately, it lifted its wings and silently it sailed away,
to my very great regret.

But what do you imagine I saw next or almost at the same time !
Why there was another bird of exactly the same kind sitting on
that very same shelf and just lifting its wings to fly away. I
lost no time nor did I fail to correct my first mistake of aiming
too high. I aimed fully two inches further down, fired and, oh
joy, down it fell, a dead and lifeless body, now striking the wall,
now falling free, now striking it again, then falling free — growing
smaller and smaller until it reached the floor of the valley when
it looked like a mere speck.

How happy I felt! Surely this was more fun yet than when I
got the marmots for the strange hunter, for this time it was my
game and I was not under obligation to keep a secret.

By the time I reached home it was night and owing to the
celebration I found a ready audience; the people looked at the
bird that hung over my shoulder, wonderingly; and many a
flattering comment was made by the mountaineers on my adven-
ture, and what boy wouldn't like such comment! But the joy
of the event was marred by jealously. That second class of
hunters, of the very type who never refused my help when I met
them in my ramblings in the more lonesome regions of the alps,
now cast ominous looks at my prize. Why, the very idea of
permitting a boy under age to mix in grown up peoples business !
He didn't even have a license and really who gave him the right
to carry a gun and endanger honest people's lives! The more
they talked the more excited they became. Their faces grew red
with anger, their voices loud and hoarse and I for my part actually
wished that I had never set eyes on the bird. You must remem-
ber that the hunters were half drunk and not at all of the gentle
type of folk.

Of course I felt deeply disappointed and crestfallen at this
ungenerous attitude; but my father said that I shouldn't worry,
because birds which had robbed the people deserved to be killed,
license or no license, and anyway even if they should tell the police,
the latter would hardly think it worth while to climb up into our
valley to investigate. Besides these comforting words of my
father I felt I had the moral support of the mountaineers who
greatly appreciated and approved of my adventure, so it came out
all right in the end and the episode has proven to be one of my
most interesting memories of my boyhood.

The Eagle Owl of Europe

(Evidently this is the bird described by Mr. Mattli in the previous
article . — Editor.)

The Great Owl or Eagle Owl, as it is often called, inhabits the
northern part of Europe, being especially common in Sweden,
Norway. Switzerland, and Russia, and being found even in some
parts of Italy and Turkey. Although seemingly exceeding the
golden eagle in dimensions, the Great Owl is in reality a very
much smaller bird, owing its apparent magnitude to its feathers
and not to its body. The length of this fine bird is rather more
than two feet, and the aspect of its outstretched wings is wonder-
fully magnificent. The general color of the Eagle Owl is brown,
mingled with a yellow tinge, and covered on the upper surface
with bars, dashes, and streaks of blackish -brown. The long armed
claws are black, and the beak is also nearly black. The eyes are
of a bright radiant orange, and have a very fierce appearance
when the bird looks the spectator in the face.

The food of this Owl consists generally of grouse, partridges,
hares, and other similar game, and the bird is so powerful that it
will successfully chase even larger prey. Mr. Lloyd, in his well-
known "Field Sports," gives the following description of the
Eagle Owl as it appears in the Scandinavian forests.

"These Owls, Dr. Mellerborg assured me, will sometimes destroy
dogs. Indeed, he himself once knew an instance of the kind. He
states another 'circumstance, showing the ferocity of these birds,
which came under his notice. Two men were in the forest for the
purpose of getting berries, when one of them happening to approach
near to the nest of the Owl, she pounced on him while he was in the
act of stooping, and fixing her talons in his back, wounded him very
severely. His companion, however, was fortunately near at hand,
who, catching up a stick, lost no time in destroying the furious bird.

"Mr. Nilsson states that these Owls not infrequently engage in
combat with the eagle himself, and that they often come off vic-
torious. These powerful and voracious birds, that gentleman
remarks, occasionally kill the fawns of the stag, roebuck, and
reindeer. The largest of the birds common to the Scandinavian
forests, such as the capercali, often become their prey. The
hooting of these Owls may often be heard during the night-time
in the northern forests; the sound, which is a most melancholy
one, and which has given rise to many superstitions, is audible at
a long distance." — Extract front Wood's Living World.

285

The Oaks

Mary E. Donahue

Perm Yan, N. Y.

"I am the type of strength and steadfastness.
The man who measureth by me his might
Howe'er so fierce may prove the conflict's stress
Will ever stand un vanquished in the fight."

C. Scollard.

"The oak is the most majestic of forest trees. It has been
represented as holding the same rank among the plants of the
temperate hemispheres that the lion does among the quadrupeds,
and the eagle among birds; that is to say it is the emblem of
grandeur, strength and duration, of force that resists as a lion
is of force that acts."

— Loudon.

The oaks are divided into two classes, the white group and the
black oak group. In the white oak group, the leaves have rounded
lobes and are rough and light colored below, the wood is light
cclored, and the acorns have sweet kernels which mature in one
year, so that there are no acorns on the branches in winter. To
this class belong the white, post, bur, swamp white, chestnut,
yellow and chinquapin. Of the black oak group, the leaves are
nearly as smooth below as above and have angular lobes ending
in sharp points. The bark is dark in color. The acorns have
bitter kernels and require two years to mature, so 'that they may
be seen on the branches in winter. To this group belong the
red, scarlet, black, Spanish, pin, bear, black jack, shingle, and the
willow oaks.

There are many marked resemblances in the oak family. The
bark of every species is heavily charged with tannic acid. The
roots take hold of the earth in two ways : a strong tap root goes
down deep into the ground, and at the same time wide spreading
horizontal roots keep near the surface. The leaves vary in form.
The character of the inflorescence is the same in every species.
The stamens and pistils are separated, borne in different flowers,
but both kinds of flowers are produced on the same branch. These
appear together just when the leaves are half grown. There is
no corolla. The calyx is bell-shaped and divided into four to
six divisions. The four to six stamens have protruding filaments
and oblong two-celled anthers.

286

doxahue]

THE OAKS

K

The ovary is inferior, incompletely three-celled and inclosed
partly by a growing scaly involucre, which in time develops
into the acorn cup. The styles are usually three. There are
two ovules in each cell, but all save one fail to be nourished.
The nut is a fruit formed by the adhesion of an ovary to the calyx
and matures either the first or second year, and is always more or

Red Oak

Acron large with shallow cup

Scarlet Oak

Pine or Swamp Oak

Black or Yellow Oak-
Two types of Black Oak leaves

Shingle Oak

288

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

Spanish Oak

Water, Duck or Possum Oak

Black Jack

Grows on dry sandy soil

Bear, Barren or Scarlet Oak

Usually along coast or sandy barred

Willow Oak

DONAHUE

THE OAKS

280

less surrounded and inclosed by the cup. The acorn cup is of
woody texture made up of a large number of tiny scales which
have grown together, sometimes entirely, sometimes with free
tips. The seed fills the nut.

The oak is long lived and does not produce acorns until about
twenty years of age and requires a century to mature.

Oak wood is usually heavy, very strong, tough and coarse.
Hercules carried an oaken club. The ancients made oaks the

White Oak

Scrub Chestnut or Chinquapin Oak
Usually a shrub

Swamp White Oak Chestnut, Cow, Basket Oak Chestnut or Yellow Oak

Leaves very much like those of
the Chestnut except the lobes
are more rounded

290

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

object of love and reverence and also attributed to them the

mystic power to foretell or advise about coming events.

"It seems idolatry with some excuse
When our forefather Druids in their oaks
Imagined sanctity." — Cowper.

Bur or Mossy Cup Oak

Cup of the acorn fringed

Post Oak

Overcup Oak
Cup completely covers the acorn

donahle] THE OAKS 291

One was admonished in an approaching storm to

"Beware the oak, it draws the stroke."

It is also associated with the ash in country proverbs :

"If the oak is out before the ash,

' Twill be a summer of wet and splash ;
But if the ash is before the oak

'Twill be a summer of fire and smoke."

There are no Tecords of long life in America, but there are oaks
in England which are believed to have been old trees in the time
of William the Conqueror. Pliny mentions an oak which was
an old tree when Rome was founded and which was still living in
his time. In the United States the largest specimens are found in
the Mississippi Valley. The famous Wadsworth oak, with a
circumference of twenty-seven feet stood for many years on the
bank of the Genesee River, about a mile from Geneseo. But
this circumference is small in comparison with some of the Euro-
pean oaks. The Cowthorpe tree is seventy-eight feet in circuit
and is at least eighteen hundred years old. Another in Dorset-
shire is of equal age. In Westphalia is a hollow oak which was
a place of refuge in the troubled times in medieval history. The
great oak at Saintes in southern France, is ninety feet in girth,
and has been ascertained to be two thousand years old. It
commemorates a period which antedates the first campaign of
Julius Caesar.

Then there is the Parliament Oak, so called because it is said
that Edward I, who ruled from 12 72-1307 once held Parliament
under its branches. It is supposed to be fifteen hundred years
old.

"An unremembered Past
Broods like a presence, mid the long gray boughs

Of this old tree, which has outlived so long
The flitting generations of mankind." ^

The oak appears early to have been an object of worship among
the Celts and ancient Britons. Under the form of this tree the
Celts worshipped their god Tueb, and the Britons, Tarmawa, their
god of thunder. Boal, the Celtic god of fire, whose festival
(that of Yule) was kept at Christmas, was also worshipped under
the oak. The yule log was always of oak.

"Criminals were tried under an oak tree; the judge with the
jury, was seated under its shade, and the culprit placed in a
circle made by the chief Druid's wand. The Saxons also held

292 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

their national meetings under an oak; and the celebrated con-
ference between the Saxons and the Britons, after the invasion
of the former, was held under the oaks of Dartmoor."

"The Briton has but one native oak on which to spend his
loyalty and devotion. We have fifty kinds — All American — but
the White Oak is chief among them all."

Two Sonnets

By William Prindle Alexander

Before Dawn on Mount Buell

A Peak in the lower Adirondacks

Oh! hour full-charged with mystic sound and light,

A sanctifying hour; the art of day

Still gives no sign, and the weird spell of night

Reigns on. A prescience of the gray

Moist morn is tokened in the measured song

The wood thrush has begun, how like a bell

His ringing tones are borne, how clear and strong

They thrill the grateful calm ; a sylvan spell

Is instinct in these dew-washed wooded ways

Where scarce a leaf stirs on the mountain top : —

Yea, in this hour the peace of primal days

Seems native; lo! and now the shadows drop

Like dusky curtains, night is fairly done,

For in the east a million- petaled rose

Is blushing on the distant peaks; the sun

Too soon will come to break the deep repose

Of these majestic mountains : — truly I

Have felt a tranquil Presence potent here,

Vast as the night and silent as the sky,

Yet in this forest, Ah! how very near!

To the River of St. Johns

Great rivers flow that oft entrance the eye,

And many lordly streams my eyes have seen,

The Rhine's proud flood, the Hudson's magic sheen,

And lovely Avon, mirror of the sky.

But thou! oh river, beautiful St. Johns,

Banked by the palm, thy waves glide slowly by,

And on thy bosom, boats like stately swans

Move on, where oaks in rich reflection lie:

Draped by the pendant moss, each noble stem

Grave beauty lends to thee, Oh! mystic stream,

And hyacinths that eveywhere begem

Thy course, are mingled with thy native gleam : —

Each day flow on, thy sun-blessed charm renew,

The ancient beauty that DeLeon knew!

The White Oak

Martha Quick
Teacher in Rural Schools

The White Oak is well called "The King of Trees." It is the
noblest among the fifty species of Oaks found in America.

Since earliest time it has been regarded as a symbol of strength,
dignity and independence. Writers and poets of all ages have
found in it this quality. The Druids chose this tree as protection
for their ancestoral-fire worship. These lines of Virgil seem to
show the ancient feeling towards this tree.

"Jove's own tree
That holds the woods in awful sovereignty

The length of ages last his mighty reign
And lives of mortal men contend in vain

For in the midst of his own strength he stands;
Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands,

His shade protects the plains, his head the hill commands."

Since early childhood I have selected special trees which I have
called mine. They were to me, as playmates, or friends. Some-
times they were afar off on the horizon or across the fields in the
meadows or near by home, as the old apple tree with its friendly
humps which served as steps. The one tree which seems the
grandest and best of all is a great white oak. It stands on the
top of a high hill, looking over the slope of forest below it and across
the valley to another tree-covered slope

We wonder about the history of these great trees. We have
no record but the story which the tree tells us. This tree is
about one hundred feet tall. The branches do not come out
below the height of about fifty feet. It stands where there was
once a forest. This high branchless pole shows its early life in
the forest, how it grew upward stretching its branches toward
the light. Later when the forest was cleared away it extended
its great arms in all directions. As most oaks require a centurv
to reach maturity this particular tree must be at least two hundred
years old. It is believed that many species reach a great age,
perhaps one thousand years. The famous Charter Oak of Hart-
ford was believed to be several hundred years old.

The bark of the white oak is light gray with spots varying
to darker or white. It is scaly but not deeply fissured. The
branchlets are a light green but later become darker green and

293

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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

[14:7— Oct., 1918

finally grey. The leaves are easily distinguishable from those of
any other group of trees by their deep-rounded lobes from seven
to nine in number; the sinuses are usually deeper and more
rounded than in other oaks.

The buds form in the fall and remain on the trees all winter.
They are reddish brown, somewhat pointed. Early in May the
buds burst and slowly the leaves unfold They are first bright
red above and pale below, soft and downy as they droop from the
twigs. Soon they become silvery, .greenish white. "When
the leaves of the white oak are the size of a squirrel's ear, then it
is time to plant our corn." Thus the Indians told the Pilgrims
as they taught them to plant the corn. When the leaves are
full-grown, they are thin, bright yellow-green above, and pale
and smooth below. In the late autumn they turn a deep, rich
red and remain on the trees long after other leaves are gone.

\vd\)U$

White Oak in winter
Drawn by W. C. Baker

quick] THE WHITE OAK 295

Often on young trees they remain all winter.

When the leaves are about one-third grown the flowers appear.
The staminate or pollen-bearing flowers hang in several strings,
like beads from the twig. They are fuzzy and bright yellow.
The pistillate flowers, which are not so noticeable are borne at
the axils of the leaves.

All are familiar with the fruit of the white oak. Squirrels and
other animals are fond of their sweet kernels. I remember gather-
ing large stores to be made into cups and saucers for the play-
house. Their peculiar shape, the smooth round apex, bright
and shining which is fitted so well into a rough and scaly cup is
delightful to look at. As the oak begins to bear fruit at the age
of twenty years, many acorns are produced during its life and
fall to the ground and are left to care for themselves.

This small acorn which possesses all the strong qualities of
the mother tree does not wait to dry up or crack open as do the
hickories or walnuts. It bursts its hard shell and sends its strong
tap root deep into the ground. In spite of grass or forest litter
it will manage to grow a short stem with a few leaves the first
season while the root will go deeper and deeper thus beginning
the root system which will later form a great part of the full-
grown tree. The oak roots extend far down into the sub-soil
gathering food materials for the tree growth, while near the surface
many spread horizontally, and give the tree its strength and poise.

The Eastern white oaks grow well in many soils, it is found
chiefly in north eastern United States. Some specimens have
reached their greatest size in the Ohio Valley. This species
is fast disappearing from our forests. Its seeds are so often lost
and seedlings grow very slowly. The high value of its wood has
caused many a great oak to fall. The lumber is very strong
and durable, beautifully grained and firm. It is used for many
purposes as furniture, cars, wagons, and interior finishing. Its
bark contains a large amount of tanin which is used in the produc-
tion of leather.

The oak does not live for itself alone but is a host for a number
of species of insects. A single oak may harbor 500 different kinds,
among them many gall makers.

The Red Squirrel

Alfred Emerson
In machine gun corps U. S. Army

About the most commonly seen wild animal in our northern
rural districts is the red squirrel. This spry little adventurer is
often seen climbing trees, running along the branches and jump-
ing from one tree to another in a graceful manner. Often one
wonders how it is possible for him to be so sure of his jump,
because often he jumps upon twigs which swing way down with
his weight. Once, however, I did see a squirrel fall. As I was
walking I passed near a vine-clad building and I heard an awful
chatter in the vines far above me and I looked up just in time to
see a red squirrel fall from the gutter. I don't know how he
came to lose his balance, but in touching the ground^ he certainly
regained it remarkably quick, because all I saw was a brown streak
extending from the spot where he fell and vanishing around the
corner of the building. Some authorities claim all squirrels, in
some manner, are able to break their fall by forming a sort of
parachute of their body and tail. They have even been known to
escape enemies by volplaning to the earth. I have never noticed
this action among the red squirrels; however, connected with
this habit, the squirrel's tail forms a valuable aid by guiding him
in his flight whether it is simply jumping from one tree to another
or actually planing to the ground. The flying squirrel is, of
course, better adapted to this form of locomotion than the red
squirrel, but I doubt whether any of our squirrels would injure
themselves by attempting to jump from a too great altitude.

The red squirrels are found commonly in mixed woods of oak,
maple, hemlocks, beeches and chestnuts. Here they are always
happy, and in any season may be seen busily gathering their
food. If they come upon you unawares they often become quite
angry and will chatter and scold, moving the tail and body in
accompaniment as if the whole mind was filled with anger at the
contemplation of a thing without even any kind of a tail, interfer-
ing with them. The red squirrel does not lay up stores for the
winter in the same way as some of his cousins, the chipmunks do.
He is always about, in all weather, hunting for food, in hemlock,
pine and sumac panacles. Sometimes he will place nuts at different

296

emerson] THE RED SQUIRREL 297

parts of a tree, such as the crotch of some limb, but they never
remain there long.

The red squirrel is a great thief and often makes way with
stores collected by the chipmunks, gray squirrels, mice and blue
jays. He often robs birds' nests and does a great deal of harm
to these because of this habit.

The red squirrel nests are often in holes in trees but are also
found outside, consisting of grasses, leaves, etc. During April
the young are born and there are usually four to six in each Utter.
Few enemies disturb the red squirrel, hawks and owls being among
the worst.

In the summer the red squirrel is reddish brown. During the
year he sheds his fur twice, and in winter he is much duller and
the red is not so conspicuous. He is whitish beneath; in winter
this turns to a brownish gray.

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The Tree Friends of James Russell Lowell

Effey L. Riley
Rochester, N. Y.

James Russell Lowell had many friends. He began making
friends when a very little boy and he always kept his friends.
In college, later when he began his writing, as a professor, editor,
and diplomat, he had many friends. Among them were the
best men of the times in America and in Europe. His writing
brought him in contact with such men as Poe, Longfellow, Nathan
Hale, Hawthorne, Whittier, Story and Dr. Parsons. As a scholar
he had many friends in England and on the continent, where the
best universities paid him their highest honors.

To-day the writings of all great men are studied and searched
through in the most careful manner to find out all the intimate
things concerning the lives of the authors. In the reading of
Lowell's poems one comes quite unconsciously to feel his love of
nature and to see her with his eyes. In spite of the fact that
Lowell was a man of the world with a rich full life we feel that he
is at his best when writing of those things he knew best in nature.
His whole writing is enriched more by its homely New England
background than by all his European polish. It is in the familiar
New England woods that Lowell found his best friends. He
writes of the trees

"These were my earliest friends and latest too"

He calls to them

"O never unsympathizing trees."

Or he says he is —

"A willing convert of the trees."

He knew his trees too, as one can only know those things that are

best loved.

"No distant tree but by his shape was known,
Or, near at hand by leaf or bark alone."

One of Lowell's earliest poems, which he inscribed to his mother

was about the old chestnut tree that stood beside his home at

Elm wood, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Under this tree he played

when a boy, and one feels that he is refering to it again in his

"To the Dandelion."

"The sight of trees calls back the robins song
Who, from the dark old tree
Beside the door, sang clearly all day long."

298

riley] TREE FRIENDS OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 299

He knew his friends in all moods, seasons and places, a study
of his descriptive words clearly brings this out ; sudh examples
as follow will illustrate a few. 'Bleak pines ;' 'Wind vexed woods ;'
'filmy trees;' 'wooded shores;' 'like a strong oak;' 'the poplars
shiver;' 'pine trees moan;' 'elm trees heavy shadow;' 'elm leaves
dark and dewy;' 'where, at their shades shy aspens look*. There
are countless others, even.- page of his poems, with the exception
of the Biglow Papers, yield some example.

Each tree is for him quite distinct, they are quite as separate

and with as much character as his human friends. The oaks

are no more just oaks than Smiths are just Smiths. They are

swamp oaks, red, white or scrub each with definite characteristics

setting them off from others of their family.

"The swamp oak with his royal purple on."

"The red oak, softer grained yields all for lost
And with his crumpled foliage stiff and dry.
After the first betrayal of the frost,
Rebuffs the kiss of the relenting si-:

The trees most often mentioned are, birch, pine, fir, hemlock,
maples, button wood, chestnuts, cedars, lindens, elm, willows,
poplars, aspens, apple and sumach; all of them are found com-
monly in New England woods. It seems a little strange that no
mention is made of the larch tree. Lowell must have known the
larch as it is found in New England. His good friend Longfellow
uses it in his poems. Maybe Lowell disliked it as Wordsworth
did and simply failed to mention it either way out of kindness
to the tree family as a whole.

Many of the trees Lowel has treated with separately as Words-
worth did so many of the flowers Lowell has written poems on
several separate trees describing their moods, habits and character.
These are found under the titles of "The Oak,'' Th Birch,"
"The Maple," "To a Pine Tree." In other cases he has used a
tree to cam- out some analogy such as in his poem "Tree Growth
of the Legend" he shows how a legend grows as does a pine tree
from a small slender shoot to full grown.

'So, pine-tree, the legend grew strong-limbed and tall* %
Later in the same poem he writes

'Yes, the pine is the mother of legends;'
Another time when asked to write a poem for the iooth anniver-
sary of Washington's taking command of the American army at

300 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

Cambridge, Mass., 3d July 1775, he calls his poem "Under the
Old Elm" for he says

"What landmark is so congenial as a tree."

And he uses the old elm under which Washington stood

'Beneath our consecrated elm
A century ago he stood,'

to illustrate all the passing history as a mark and starting place.

Maybe Lowell best expresses his love for trees in "Under the

Willows." Who can doubt his feeling when they read,

'I care not how men trace their ancestry,
To ape or Adam; let them please their whim;
But I in June am midway to believe
A tree among my far progenitors,
Such sympathy is mine with all the race,
Such mutual recognition vaguely sweet
There is between us. Surely there are times
When they consent to own me their kin,
And condescend to me, and call me cousin,
Murmuring faint lullabies of eldest time
Forgotten, and yet dumbly felt with thrills
Moving the lips, though fruitless of all words.'

Or speaking of them quite as friends again —

'And I have many a life long leafy friend
Never estranged nor careful of my soul,
That knows I hate the axe, and welcomes me
Within his tent as if I were a bird
Or other free companion of the earth,'

Such examples of his intimate feeling and knowledge are found

throughout his poems.

Some descriptions of trees bring quite definite pictures to

mind and we can see as Lowell saw, as he wrote, the very trees

in their native surroundings. The following word picture of

the birch is a vivid example,

"The birch, most shy and lady-like of trees
Her poverty, as best she may retrieves
And hints at her forgone gentilities
With some saved relic of her wealth of leaves."

It is interesting to note the use of pronouns "her" for a birch,
slender and white, but for a gnarled old oak it's "he" or "his."
Other descriptions are quite as intimate, his poems are full of
them. To really know and love the trees as Lowell did one must
know first the trees and then read Lowell with the trees in mind.
Then the poems have a new meaning and Lowell himself becomes
not James Russell Lowell, poet and diplomat; but the lover of
nature and all out-of-doors and above all, Lowell your friend.

The Chipmunk

Elsa Allen
Ithaca, X. Y.

There is no more beautiful little animal frisking along fences
and hedgerows and scrambling through the woods than the
chipmunk. Its fur is fine and wonderfully soft and pleasing in
color, rich shades of brown, chestnut, buff and black melting and
blending on his striped back. It has the pointed head, long
body, and short legs characteristic of the rodents to which order
of mammals it belongs. It is not a climber like its cousins the
squirrels and therefore does not need such a large bushy tail for
steering. Sometimes, however, the chipmunk runs several feet
up the trunk of a tree, especially when frightened and far away
from its burrow.

The chipmunk which we have in central New York is Tatnias
striatus but farther north it is replaced by a very similar more
light colored species, Tatnias striatus lysteri. There are numerous
species of chipmunks through western United States and in some
localities these little creatures are considered quite a nuisance
because of their damage to corn. Here in the east, however,
the chipmunk is harmless and is a most enjoyable little tenant
of our gardens. It feeds on nuts, berries and grains and frequently
will come to a feeding station and sit for quarter-hours at a
time stuffing its cheek pouches full of grain to tide over the winter.

When the cold November days set in, the chipmunk disappears
into its winter quarters beneath the ground, which it has ela-
borately made ready for hibernation. It always has an under-
ground home to which it can dart when the hawk or fox is about,
and in the fall it spends the entire time filling the burrow with
food perhaps scattered about the edges of its grassy bed or neatly
stored away in galleries above the nest.

The burrow is quite elaborate. A site under cover of a stump
or stone is usually chosen so that the entrance will be inconspicu-
ous. The door is then made just large enough for the chip-
munk's slender body to pass through but after descending a
few inches it suddenly widens and sinks perpendicularly in several
feet; it then proceeds horizontally a couple of yards, then rises
slightly to a roomy chamber carpeted with soft grass. There

301

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NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

is usually a back stairway giving a quicker, more direct access to
the outside.

The amount of earth which must be removed from such a
subterannean house is a good deal for so small an animal to
manage and one would suppose that traces of it at least would be
visible at the entrance. But not so. Every bit of it is carefully
carried away and the only way he could accomplish this is by
means of his pouches.

To such a sun -loving merry creature as the chipmunk, it must
be a great change to live in the dark earth ; but since he is entirely
terrestrial in his feeding habits it is necessary that he should
hibernate while his food supply is covered with snow.

Unlike many of the small hibernating mammals, the chipmunk
becomes only comfortably fat in the fall — his sleep is not so
profound and he frequently wakes up and partakes of his food
stores while waiting for spring.

The chipmunk is one of the first signs of spring coming, out
sometimes in March and the first one to see his little striped form
slipping along the rail may feel that winter is over.

The Eastern Chipmunk

Photo by Verne Morton

The Pig

Helen E. Murphy
Phoenix, X. Y.

HE wild hog that once roamed over Eourope, Asia,
and Africa, is the ancestor of our common domesti-
Z cated pig. It likes situations where it may wallow
in the water and mud; but it also likes to have,
close by, woods, thickets, or underbrush, to which
it can retire for rest, and also when in danger. The wild hog is ex-
tremely active and powerful ; it is fierce and dangerous, particularly
when old. Iron gray or dirty brown in color, spotted here and
there with black, it is well concealed in the underbrush, and the
thick skin covered with stiff bristly hairs is a fine protection from
thorny thickets. When excited or angry, these bristles rise and
add fury to its appearance. Twilight, night and early dawn
are its favorite times for feeding upon plants, fruits and roots,
and also for sport, for fighting and for adventure. Provided
with a bony, wedge-shaped head, a snout that is pointed and also
the seat of a highly developed sense of smell, an upper jaw armed
with slashing tusks, a neck that is long and muscular and loins
broad and strong, the wild hog is excellently adapted to look out
for itself.

Hunters of wild hogs declare that they are full of cunning and
strategy; and we must admit that the domesticated pig of today
is very clever; all it needs is a chance to give evidence of it. With
an affection that causes it to follow a person like a dog, and a
memory that he can be trained to play Yankee-doodle on a violin,
we must admit that the pig has brains. The trouble is that most
of the time it is so stuffed with fattening food that no opportunity
is given it to use his brains, except once in a while when it squeezes
through the fence, and then how vainly we strive to get it back!
Then it remembers to forget everything, especially the situation
of the hole through which it escaped.

By nature, the pig is very neat; but since it has come in contact
with civilization, it rarely gets half a chance to show this quality.
Sparsely clothed with bristles and hair, flies and other insects
bite it unmercifully, and it has to wallow in the mud to rid itself
of these pests; but this wallowing is in the nature of a mud
bath, repeated only at intervals.

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304 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

The pig has a most unique and beautiful digging apparatus
happily placed on the end of its nose, where it is backed by all
the pushing power of a stout body, and where it is directed into
operations by the aid of very keen olfactories. This is a most
efficient equipment for digging. If anything good to eat is
buried in the earth, trust to the normal pig to find it. But alas!
When a little bit of metal ring is thrust into the sensitive base of
the "rooter," this beautiful contrivance fails to operate; his
pigship is reduced to the common level of all mammalian kind,
and he is left endowed with only his appetite.

When allowed to roam in the woods, the pig lives on roots and
nuts, especially acorns and beechnuts. In the autumn it becomes
very fat. In the wild state this was evidently a provision of
nature for the hardships of winter. It is this characteristic
that makes the pig useful for food.

The domesticated pig is well fitted for locomotion on either
wet or dry soil, for the two large, hoofed toes enable it to walk
well on dry ground, and the two hind toes, smaller and higher up,
help to sustain it on marshy soil. If not too fat, the pig is a
swift runner in spite of its short legs.

We can understand a little of the pig's conversation. There
is the nasal growl when fighting and the squeal of terror; the
constant grunting meant to keep the herd together, the complain-
ing squeal of hunger, and the satisfied grunt signifying enjoyment
of food.

Today there are black pigs with white markings that have
ears standing erect; there are black pigs and white pigs with
drooping ears; chestnut pigs with drooping ears; white pigs
with erect ears; there are pigs fat and pigs lean; there are large
pigs and medium pigs and small pigs; but the original pig sagacity
may be found in them all in greater or lesser measure.

Nature-study not only educates, but it educates nature-ward; and nature
is ever our companion, whether we will or no. Even though we are deter-
mined to shut ourselves in an office, nature sends her messengers. The light,
the dark, the moon, the cloud, the rain, the wind, the falling leaf, the fly, the
bouquet, the bird, the cockroach — they are all ours.

L. H. Bailey.

The Razorback

Raymond W. Bell
Brasher Falls, X. Y.

Much may be said concerning any one of the variety of pigs
that are known to us, but in this case I will endeavor to tell
about the razorback as found in some parts of Florida. People,
there, I am told, pay about as much attention to their pork as
the Westerner does to his beef. They keep their pigs marked
as well as possible and let them run loose among the pines and
underbrush in the vicinity to obtain food and live as well as they
can.

During the daytime these lean hungry-looking animals rove
about, crawl through fences and arouse the owners of fruit groves
and sweet potato patches to a burst of anger, seldom heard of
when things are happening to suit them. If something good is
found to eat, other pigs ma}1 be drawn to the spot by the contented
grunt of their fellow. Nights are spent in some dark place where
there is plenty of material to be found to make a soft bed. I
have walked back and forth on the steps of a postoffice in middle
Florida, that was situated near the railroad station, while a
pig protested against the unusual noise overhead by emitting
numerous grunts of annoyance.

The home of this species of the pig family is anywhere within a
radius of half a mile or more from the residence of the owner.
No doubt each pig spends the night in any favorable place near
where it is roaming when darkness arrives.

The name "razorback" is a description in itself of the general
shape of the body of these animals. Indeed most of them are
so long and lean that one may see the backbone outlined under-
neath the thick skin. The legs are long and fitted for running.
The large two-hoofed toes enable the creature to walk or run
easily over dry ground, and the two hind legs, smaller but longer,
help to sustain it in marshy soil.

The most noticeable thing about one of these pigs, as a person
sees it loping away, are the large flopping ears, placed well up on
the head. In appearance the eyes are small, very bright and more
intelligent than those of many of our wild or domesticated animals.
When we try to think of an animal that has a highly developed
sense of smell we think first of the cat. But the pig has just as

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306 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

good smellers as any cat, for it is said by one trustworthy author
to be able to distinguish chaff from grain and to follow a track
almost as well as a dog. The nose or snout is a fleshy disk wthi
nostrils in it, and it is a most sensitive organ of feeling. This
organ is used for rooting up food from the ground and if the farmer
wishes to stop the pigs from doing this, he puts rings in their
noses. The "razorback" has a very long nose, strong and especi-
ally adapted for food getting.

A strange thing about the upper canines is the fact that they
curve upwards thus causing the cheeks to protrude. They are
used not only in masticating food but as a weapon in time of
danger when the enemy gets within biting distance.

The covering of the pig is a thick skin covered with sparsely
scattered hair or bristles. Indeed there are so few that they are
of little use as a protection against the cold, flies and pests of
different sorts, so the pig looks around for some cool shallow pool
or marshy place where it can immerse itself and thus become
protected from attack. The bristles are, however, a great pro-
tection against scratches, as it wanders through the underbrush.

It is very seldom that one sees a black pig among the "razor-
back" type. Usually they are or would be white in color if it
were not for the dirt that has accumulated. There being no
other color markings, this rather dirty white renders the pig
quite inconspicuous.

When aroused, the razor back shifts from low to high speed very
quickly. If not scared, these movements are heralded by a
special kind of a horn, characteristic of- the pig only, and known as
a grunt. Some people grunt but the two grunts are easily dis-
tinguishable.

I have never seen the pigs of Florida playing or showing much
pleasure, but at home especially when a new bed of shavings or
straw is being given them, pleasure is shown among the group
by a general frisking about or turning around rapidly and knocking
into each other. Indeed it is often worth the trouble to give
them extra bedding just to see them perform in this manner.
Pleasure is also shown by emitting a satisfied grunt. When out
of sight of a group of pigs but within hearing distance, it is easy
to tell the pig's mood and the condition in which he is by the tone
of voice.

burt] BAD MR. SQUIRREL 307

Of all animals, the pig is naturally the neatest, keeping its
bed clean in spite of the filthy surroundings. I do not know how
the wild hogs protect their young but in defending them, the tusks
are used to good advantage. Sometimes it is dangerous to.
attempt to take a little pig from its mother, for one is in danger
of being bitten quite badly.

When the weather is cold pigs form a bed and huddle close
together for mutual warmth and protection.

Bad Mr. Squirrel. A Story for Primary Pupils

Aden a K. Burt
Lake George, N. Y.

It was the brightest morning you ever saw and Mr. Squirrel
woke up^very early; long before you and I ever think of getting
up. He scampered out on one of the tip end branches to look
around and see if any of his friends were up too; the branch
wouldn't have held us even when we were tiny babies. He sat
there washing and rubbing his eyes to send Mr. Sandman home.

But he wasn't the only one who wanted to play in the pretty
sunshine, right below him scampering along the stonewall was
Mrs. Chipmunk with her cheeks all puffed out. She looked like
Big Brother when he had the mumps. "Good morning, Mrs.
Chipmunk," called Mr. Squirrel, "and what are you doing up so
early?" "Oh, I am very busy gathering all kinds of good nuts
for my family to eat this winter. You see I keep my food away
down under the earth in a big room and when I wake up in the
winter, I don't have to come out in the cold and snow like you
to get my breakfast, it is right before me, Mr. Squirrel. Be-
sides, I have to be up before the little children come to school or
they will fill their pockets with my nuts for their teacher."

"Oh, I store up my food too," said Mr. Squirrel, "but not all
in one place under the earth like you. I keep mine in attics
way up here in the trees. In the winter when I get hungry I
come out and go to my little attics and eat ; I don't mind the cold
at all."

"Did you see that little boy here last night with that big,
big gun," said Mrs. Chipmunk. "Oh, yes I did," said Mr.
Squirrel, "and I sat just as still, curled up in a little ball on that

308 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

big branch over there. He walked right under me and never saw
me. I should think he would have seen you, Mrs. Chipmunk,
with all the little black stripes on your back." "But," Mrs.
.Chipmunk said, "I sat behind that big rock over there and the boy
didn't see me either."

Naughty boy! None of my little boys in this room are ever
going to frighten Mr. Squirrel and Mrs. Chipmunk so much, I
know.

Mrs. Chipmunk ran off with her cheeks full of goodies behind
the rocks while Mr. Squirrel rubbing his face watched her dis-
appear.

"My!" thought Mr. Squirrel, "I must get my breakfast. I
wonder if Mrs. Chipmunk will make a little pile of those nuts
outside of her home before she takes them all inside. Ha! Ha!
I'll just go and see," he thought. With a few jumps he was
down from the tree and following Mrs. Chipmunk. Sure enough,
there was the little pile outside her home, all ready to take inside.
Mr. Squirrel hid behind the rock and watched Mrs. Chipmunk
take the nuts out of the little baskets in her cheeks, put them down
and the run off for some more. Bad Mr. Squirrel ran to the pile
and, making several trips, stole enough for his and his brother's
breakfast. He doesn't have baskets like Mrs. Chipmunk to
carry his food in and so he uses his teeth. Wouldn't his mother
have spanked him if she knew? But they tasted as good to him
as candy does to us when Mother says, "No! No!"

When Mrs. Chipmunk came back and saw her pile of nuts
nearly gone, she chattered and scolded for a long time, but Mr.
Squirrel was afraid of what she would say and had run far away.

We didn't see what Mrs. Chipmunk did to bad Mr. Squirrel
but I guess he never stole from her pile of nuts again.

Begin

"Persons hesitate, fearing that they will make a mistake. A teacher

asked me the other day where he should begin with nature work. He had

been considering the matter for two or three years, he said, but did not

know how to undertake it. I replied, Begin! Head end, tail end, in the

middle — but Begin! There are two essential epochs in any enterprise — to

begin, and to get done."

L. H. Bailey.

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Editorial

THE NATURALIST IN CAMP

The soldier who is a naturalist certainly has a very important
advantage over his less favored comrades. Most of our soldiers,
so recently peaceful citizens following their various walks in
life, find little in their new environment which interested them
before they entered the army; even their recreations to a great
degree, belong to a new order and a different world. Not so the
Naturalist! During any leisure he may have that gives him
even an hour away from barracks, he finds the same interesting
world that he has always known and loved, and a place where he
is at once at home. Even though he find in field and wood many
new acquaintances among the plants and animals, yet each extends
to him a friendly greeting and a pressing invitation to stay as
long as possible and to come again soon.

Much evidence bearing on this fact has come to the Editor
who has had many pupils and student friends who have changed
the vasculum for the rifle, the insect-net for the Browning gun,
or have been transformed from bird-students into bird-men.
Soldiers from the North find much that interests them in the
fauna and flora in the environment of Southern camps. One
writes of studying the cotton, and another of the birds he had
never seen before. One student in horticulture, and well fitted
for eminence in that field, writes home with enthusiasm of the
flowers he has found blooming in France. These letters prove
most perturbing to the Censor, who being entirely ignorant of
botany and the Latin language, found in the impressive scientific

309

310 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:7— Oct., 1918

names of the plants a spy code, until he was convinced of the
legitimacy of this nomenclature. An aviator, wherever he happens
to alight, at once begins to hunt for insects belonging to a certain
family, upon which he is the highest authority.

There is a free-masonry among nature lovers; they seem to
find each other in the cantonments. One of the former assistant
teachers in the Cornell Nature-Study classes writes from a southern
camp enthusiastically of finding six entomologists and seven
naturalists among his fellow machine gunners.

Thus we may know that a love of nature and a comradeship
once established with her, always a spiritual asset, is especially so
to the soldier. One boy, soon to attain the age for enrollnemt,
said last summer, "I am learning the names of the large stars
and the chief constellations and their places in the heavens so
that when I am in camp I can find friends I knew at home every
time I look up into the skies at night."

To the naturalist this earth and the heavens above are as a
continued story on open pages, and all he has to do is to stop and
read another chapter, wherever he may be. Mother Nature
keeps in close touch with her child, wherever he may wander,
and especially if he is a soldier.

"And when the way seems long,
Or his courage begins to fail,
She sings a more wonderful song,
Or tells a more wonderful tale."

"If one is to be happy, he must be in sympathy with common things. He
must live in harmony with his environment. One cannot be happy yonder
nor to-morrow: he is happy here and now, or never. Our stock of knowledge
of common things should be great. Few of us can travel. We must know
the things at home.

Nature-love tends toward naturalness, and toward simplicity of living. It
tends country-ward. One word from the fields is worth two from the city.
* God made the country. ' "

L. H. Bailey.

Teachers' Corner

The whole object of a tree is to develop its fruit, therefore much
stress should be placed upon the fact when teaching about the
nuts which interest children as much as they do squirrels in the
autumn.

Each kind of nut is protected differently from any other,
and is different in form, and each has its own way of finding a
place where it can plant itself and grow successfully. The follow-
ing are suggestions for studying the more common nuts.

The Chestnut

Where on the branch is the bur borne? How does the green
chestnut bur look? Why is this prickly exterior beneficial to the
fruit? Does the bur open easily when green? What causes the
chestnut bur to open? Into how many lobes does it open?
Describe an open bur outside and in.

Where in the bur are the chestnuts set? How many in one
bur? How can you tell by the shape of the chestnut whether
it grew as a twin or single in a bur? Are there ever three in a bur?
If so, what shape is the middle one? Do the burs fall when the
chestnuts are ripe?

Take a single chestnut. Describe its shape and color. What
is the mark on its large end? Describe the coloring and covering
of the tip. Open the shell and note the lining. Describe how the
meat is finally protected. Can you see where the germ is? Plant
a chestnut and watch it grow.

The Hickory Nut
Describe the outer husk of the nut. Into how many sections
does it open? Does it cling to the nut and fall with it to the
ground? Is the nut angled and pointed, or is it roundish and
without angles? Is the kernel sweet or bitter?

The Acorns
Describe the acorns which grow on your oak. Has the acorn
a stem, or is it set directly on the twig. How much of the acorn
does the cup cover? Are the scales on the cup fine or coarse?
Is the cup rounded inwards at its rim? What is the length of
the acorn including the cup? The diameter? Are there acorns
on your oak in winter? If so, why5 Is the kernel of the acorn
sweet or bitter5 Plant an acorn and watch it sprout.

311

THE BOOK SHELF

Billy the Boy Naturalist. Wm. A. Murrill, Assistant Director of the N. Y.
t Botanical Garden. Published by the author. Bronxwood Park, New

York City. 252 pp. Many illustrations. $1.50.
I This little volume of nature stories and observations must be autobiographi-
cal, since they are the actual experiences of the boyhood of one living close
to nature's vast storehouse of teeming life. Each account is distinct and
complete in itself, and deals with many animals and plants portraying in a
true and accurate manner the happenings on farms in Virginia and Tenenssee.
The incidents are written in a manner attractive to children, and reveal
what good times and great stores of knowledge awaits the boy or girl brought
upon a farm, and makes one understand how such children become bigger
and stronger and get far more of what is worth while out of life.

Since the stories are not connected they are well fitted to be read separately
as bed-time stories, and they touch upon many matters which lead to further
consideration, and at the end many questions may be asked, as a means for
stimulating deeper investigations into nature's ways. The illustrations are
many and attractive. Billy the Boy Naturalist is a most desirable addition
to the juvenile library.

Our Palace Wonderful. Rev. Frederick A. Houck, D. B. Hanson & Sons,
Chicago. 178 pp., illustrated. $1.00. Third Edition.

Few people who devote their lives to the study of the natural sciences,
fail to gain, as their knowledge grows, a greater reverence for the Creator of
the Universe. This may be all the more true because they rarely speak about
it. However, Father Houck believes it is well worth speaking about and
in this truly religious little volume he discusses the reasons why the more
we study our world the greater must be our appreciation of the wisdom and
the love of God. He says the aim of this little treatise is "rather to confirm
the believer than to convert the unbeliever."

The first chapters are given to the discussion of the agnostic, the materialis-
tic and the pantheistic theories of the origin of the Universe, and leaves none
of them a leg to stand upon. The bulk of the book is used in illustrating
how a study of the minerals, the stars and the plants leads to the conclusion
that they all postulate a Creator. A chapter is given to "Man, the Sovereign
Tenant" of this world palace wonderful. Father Houck shows his own
gentle character and beautiful faith in arguing for the thesis, "Man, the Object
of God's Loving Providence in this World is Destined for Eternal Happiness
in the Next World." — and continues the revelation of himself in the chapter,
"The Study of Creation begets Charity." The author of the Palace Beautiful
is a religious man who loves his fellow men and feels at one with the whole
wonderful universe.

312

NATURE -STUDY IX THE RURAL SCHOOLS

PPI5E-5TODY 5E\/iEVI

% Devoted Primarily to all Scientific Studies

of Nature in Elementary Schools

Vol.14 No. 8 NOVEMBER, 1918

Whole No. 121

One year mine issues) ?1 00. 15c per copy
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE

American Nature-Study Society

Some of Our Lists
Agriculture
An. Morphology
AlgjE & Fungi
Birds & Their Food
General Botany
Entomology
Evolution
Native Ferns
Nature Study
Plant Ecology
Plant Morphology
Play Grounds
Portraits
Public Parks
Trees & Forests
Wild Flowers

Lantern Slides

-AND -

Projection Apparatus

30 SETS ON 30 SUBJECTS
100.000 OF OUR SLIDES IN USE

Educational Slides Our Specialty

Send for descriptive lists. If you will send
your name and official positon, and state the
subject in which you are interested, we will
place your name on our mailing list and send
you literature from time to time.

PROJECTION FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS AND LECTURERS
Is a booklet of 76 pages containing descriptive lists of slides and appa-
ratus and it will be sent to teachers and lecturers who make the request,
giving name and official position plainly written. Please refer to this ad,

Conrad Slide and Projection Co.

4028 JACKSON BOULEVARD, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Kindly mention The NaTURB-Stuoy Review when replying to advertisements

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14 November, 191S No. 8

The Story of the Little Red Schoolhouse

Editha S. Campbell
Erie, Pa.

Once upon a time there was a little red school house, built
of red brick. And fifty years had passed over its shingled roof.
The one room was drab — as near as one could tell, — drab like
the school-life of the children who had come and gone through
the one brown door for all those years.

Teachers had come and teachers had gone, some bringing
light and joy to the old four walls and interest in the 'readin',
'ritin' and 'rithmetic, the children were required to learn.

The community was made up of hard-working plodding farmers,
not very prosperous, and like the rest of us, until shown a more
profitable way — each was treading in the old, old path.

We all know how little of outside interest comes into the life
of the country man, woman and child. Now in the opinion of
the writer, the very best of everything, books, lectures, and lecture-
slides should be taken to the country. City people have their
libraries, art-galleries, good amusements, so many, many things
to waken their minds and educate them.

There was one member of the community who having become
interested in the school and the need and hunger for good reading,
began to work and plan and soon a little circulating library was
established. The librarian of a city library- and her assistant
were most kind in helping out the private books which had formed
the library nucleus. The hunger grew, fathers and mothers
sent for books, and the number of books was increased from a
hundred to almost two hundred. This work was intended for
special attention after the school session; but the teachers of
that winter were open to new interests, so on the day of the
establishment of the open book-case, the last period was given
over to reading and a story hour was started. The stories were

313

314

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

14:8— Nov., 1918

selected from the best of all literatures; as the work grew, these
became more and more Nature and Science stories. Soon a
Baloptican lantern was purchased by the interested one and
rental slides from Philadelphia and Harrisburg were procured,
and some subject slides purchased outright. Of course the slides

The old red schoolhouse

were placed, lecture given and points of interest on the screen
pointed out, all by the one person. But what cared they! We
were like a big family and the "one woman" appointment has
never been noticed. Mothers tried to come the days of a special
story or a slide exhibition. Their interest was intense and their
gratitude almost pathetic. Right here let me say, never read
a lecture. Prepare yourself with material from your own search-
ing, as well as the material which will come with the slides. "It

Campbell] THE LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE 315

takes too much time" you say. Of course it does; and it may
take you from work you like better, but it will be the best invest-
ment of time and money you can make. And if you have a child,
take that child along and let it enter into the work, which will
prove a big developer.

Corn clubs were being started all over the country, so four years
ago one was organized in this little red school house. Three
bovs entered, but as only one father would give the one-fourth
acre required, only one boy had won the ten ears of corn, and of
course had all of the premium. Ethically there should be no
prize, but ethics sometimes must come second and the dollars
and cents must speak first. What happened next spring? The
inevitable. Five boys made their fathers see there was "money"
in seed testing and proper planting and care; and thirteen girls
enrolled in a garden club. The premium money was raised to
twenty dollars, and a compound microscope purchased, that
we might study the soil, root-hairs, water impurities and the
almost invisible destroying insects. The two clubs met once a
month with the Farm Agent, during the summer and all that
was injurious and beneficial to corn and vegetables was discussed.

That summer we had a canning demonstration by one of the
State College girls, to which came not only the Garden Club girls
bur the women of the community.

In the Fall there was held at the County Court House an
exhibit of farm produce and domestic science from the country,
entered by girls and boys from eight to eighteen. Our two clubs
entered and also boys who did not belong to the corn club.
They carried off fourteen prizes amounting to forty dollars and
seventy-five cents. One boy received ninety-nine points on
potatoes, losing the hundredth as an exhibit point only. Includ-
ing their own round up of twenty dollars, the community boys
and girls had made sixty dollars and seventy-five cents. The
father of the boy who won ninety-nine points on potatoes and
who could not be persuaded to give up ground required, the
following spring, not only gave up one-fourth acre for corn to
one boy, but one-eighth acre for potatoes to the second and
allowed the third to join the poultry club. The fathers were
beginning to see "it paid." That summer twenty-three boys
and girls were working in corn, potato, poultry and canning clubs
and the premiums grew. This money was still furnished bv one

316 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

individual because the fathers in giving up the acreage were feeling
they were doing their share. The time will come, however, when
they themselves will suggest raising the premium money among
themselves, but the advance must be made step by step.

Two good farm papers were placed on the reading table and th.^
boys encouraged to take them home, incidentally interesting the
fathers. A big point was added in giving out little account books
in which the pupils were required to keep an accurate account of
all expenses, sales, and time spent in work, using the wage scale
set by our State College. These accounts were to count for two
points in the round up.

Last winter the Poultry Club worked for the output of eggs,
trying to learn that proper care, feeding and housing will influence
the laying. This Spring when the Government put out a call
for more farmers to keep bees, we added a Bee Club, using for
our text-book Mrs. Comstock's own interesting book on "How to
Keep Bees," and which one girl who is expecting to teach wanted
to know if she "couldn't own."

Community meetings were held evenings, with an attendance
from fifty to seventy-five.

Two years ago two of the men of the district bought formalda-
hyde for oat smut, and this spring seven bought lime for their
fields which they had never done before.

This Spring two cases of insects, one hundred specimens each,
one of the injurious and one of the beneficial, were hung on the
wall of the school room, and also two empty cases into which
pupils are to put their own economic collection and make up the
life histories as far as possible. Charts of the Insects and their
bird control were printed and given to each club member, and
now are to be added circular directions for the spray controls and
times for spraying.

During August of this year on the spur of the moment it was
decided to exhibit at the County Exposition. The women entered
their canned fruits and vegetables, illustrating their cold pack
demonstrations, and dried fruits and vegetables to illustrate
the bulletin put out asking the housewife to conserve by the (hying
of foodstuffs. I think I can safely say the premiums did not enter
their minds ; they were animated by the spirit to pass on the good
things they had learned. They were even careful not to duplicate,
but to have as great a variety as possible. One of the men entered

CAMPBELL;

THE LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOVSE

31;

geese, winning one first and three second premiums and the women
with their cannings and vegetables won premiums amounting to
fifty-six dollars and twenty-five cents.

Now what became of the little red school house? Why it
simply couldn't stay "little". Two years ago it evolved into a
school building worthy of any city, with the best working plan
for a small school building I have yet to see. A splendid basement,
two rooms downstairs, an auditorum and library room upstairs.
The best of plain oak desks and chairs for the teachers and adjust-
able desks and seats for the children. A very busy science teacher
from the City High School put his best efforts and time in making
it complete.

The ccmmunity is awake, and if any are "sleepy" they will not
be so long. The one Big Hope growing from all this is, that the
boys and girls will want to stay on the farm, instead of drifting
into the excitements of the city. Stay where their big work can
be done and learn that to co-operate with the great creating forces
of nature is a work almost sublime.

nm

m

WM

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M' '^y-

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BalS&M

The new schoolhouse

The Consolidation of Rural Schools

W. Clement Moore
New Egypt, N. J.

In the administration of rural schools lies a problem worthy of
the best skill, the best thought and the most careful attention
that can be given to its solution. In America, our greatest
opportunity to accomplish real results, lies not so much within
the well-built and artistically decorated walls of the million dollar
high school of the city, as it does within the less pretentious and
often sadly neglected appearing rural school.

But it happens that at least fifty per cent, of the superintendents
supervising principals and supervisors of the country in general,
have control over one or more rural schools in addition to the
supervision of the town and small city schools -»- county superin-
tendents especially have this double problem of advocating plans,
methods and suggestions for the government and betternemt of
both rural and city schools. It follows naturally that board mem-
bers of the same localities will be called upon for decisions relating
to both problems. A discussion, therefore, of the status of the
rural school in America, might prove both interesting and of
practical benefit to all concerned.

There are just two ways of solving the problem :
One method is to dispense with the small rural school and trans-
port all of the children to a central consolidated school where better
instruction may be given and the children may have the advantage
of better light, better heat and better general equipment, besides
more expert supervision.

The other plan is to conserve the natural resources of the district
in which the school happens to be located, and bring to it, the
best teaching ability, the best equipment, good books for library
use, decorations, ample playground material, a course of study
adapted to the needs of the locality and a neat, warm modern
school-building even if it happens to be only a one room affair.
Some superintendents have already solved the problem by
using both methods — O. J. Kern for instance, in his work in
Winnebago County, Illinois, has not only brought about the build-
ing of consolidated schools but has remodeled the old rural schools
and rebuilt them so that in many cases the conditions surrounding

318

moore] THE CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 319

the rural schools in his county are to be preferred to many which
exist around much more costly city schools.

If the rural school is isolated, and transportation to a union-
graded school should prove too expensive, then the improvement
of the rural school as it is, is the problem for solution, but wherever
two or more one or two-room schools may be closed and a new
consolidated school built with convenient reach of both districts,
then public sentiment should be at once directed along that line.

Objections will arise, of course, but they can be overcome
through the exercise of wisdom, diplomacy and good judgment.
You must as a superintendent or board member advocating such a
change, know the facts in favor of consolidation, the benefits
to be obtained and something of actual saving financially if such
can be brought about. You must also use diplomacy in your
method of attacking different persons and principles, and when
you have won any point, judgment must be used in its execution.

It is a fact that the little rural schools must have each then-
own equipment, their own buildings, heating plants, etc. The
cost of supplying all of these separately and in groups is much
greater than the combined cost would be if applied to one building.
Again these schools generally, are intended to provide the first
eight grades of elementary instruction. In the one-room the
eight grades are being taught by one teacher — there is an average
from one to four or five pupils in each grade — each grade must
have its supply of text-books, pencils, supplies, etc. There is
eight times the demand made on the teacher's time in the one-room
school, that there is in the consolidated graded school providing
a grade to each teacher — and consequently each pupil in the
rural school received one-eighth of the time that could be given
him by the teacher in the consolidated school. All of the above
are prominent points in favor of consolidation.

No doubt you have all read what Assistant Secretary of Agri-
culture W. M. Hays has to say about the rural school in one of
his bulletins, but I am going to present just a portion of it as
follows :

"While in the city the improvements have been in the direction of
fine, highly equipped buildings, libraries, and apparatus for
instruction in science and in some cases in the mechanic arts and
home economics, the efforts of the rural districts have been
directed toward increasing the number of school houses at the

320 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

expense of the size of the district and the quality of the school
buildings and equipment, until the contrast between the city and
rural education has been painful. The time for an inward struggle
to throw aside the old, though it be one of our dearest institutions,
has come, and one community after another will now respond to
to the spirit of the times."

"All who have a clear knowledge of the facts regarding rural
school consolidation realize that a large percentage of our rural
schools are to be consolidated into larger units, at once providing
better conditions for instruction in the general studies and making
it possible to add much that relates to the vocations of farming
and home-making. In the United States there have been
over six hundred successful experiments at complete con-
solidation OF RURAL SCHOOLS, AND PRACTICALLY NO FAILURES."

No superintendent should lose sight of the fact that his newly
consolidated school is not to be a city school in any sense of the
word, but simply a larger unit in rural education, the children
nor their needs, neither of them, have been changed in the least by
the transformation from the lowly roadside school to the fine new
brick building — nor should the course of study be changed to
any great degree. Give them things which will teach them to
love, revere and manage the farm better. Give them work
that will employ the hands as well as the mind for a part of the
day, and the aim of the rural consolidated school will not be lost.

In America today, we have 300,000 little rural schools, and at
least 200,000 of them might be united into 30,000 consolidated
rural schools, to the complete advantage of the whole country.
Such is the importance of the problem of consolidation.

The advantages of the method are obvious. The fusion of a
number of small districts into a larger administrative unit furnishes
a stable and extensive basis for financing the school and thereby
makes for higher efficiency. The larger number of children
assembled at a centrally located school makes possible graded
classes and a better division of the school day. Studies can be
introduced which require special equipment and teachers specially
trained in agriculture, home economics, manual training, music,
drawing, etc., all of which are, as a rule, unattainable in rural
schools.

moore] THE CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 321

In closing, a few practical hints in regards to methods of working
up an interest for consolidation in your locality, may be acceptable.

First, enlist the staunch support of the local newspaper or
newspapers of your town or county. Clip or write for them each
week for several months before you even mention consolidation
for your district, all of the material you can get favoring consolida-
tion. Tell the editors your plans, but no others. When the
time comes for you to make a public announcement, then have
the editors give you all the space possible and solicit for publica-
tions and favorable opinions of prominent men of your locality.

Next get from the department of agriculture and department
of education at Washington, and from your home state, all of the
free printed matter that you can get, and distribute that among
those who are interested or opposed either.

Another good preliminary plan is to secure the aid of a dozen
or more influential men and women and have them speak well of
it to others wherever and whenever you can.

Gather data from the little schools which will give you accurate,
convincing facts regarding the following points in each school:
school, salaries, fuel, heating, janitor, repairs, books, supplies,
and to the above add any other special items of expense. Then
find the total annual expense of conducting each school, and the
total for all of the schools, then make an estimate of the cost of
transporting the pupils to the proposed new school and the expense
of conducting that school on the improved plan. It will not be a
difficult matter for a convincing speaker to make plain the saving
in cost and time, and the gain to the community and its children.
The day of voting should be preceded by a day or evening of
special lectures in favor of the proposition. The result should be
a favorable one.

"I find sweet peace in the depth of autumn woods,
Where grow the ragged ferns and roughened moss;

The naked, silent trees have taught me this, —
The loss of beauty is not always loss."

— Elizabeth Stoddard.

The Nature-Study Situation in Kansas for 1917-18

Florence G. Billig
Supervisor of Elementary Science, State Normal School Emporia, Kansas

To secure some definite information concerning the nature-
study situation in the state of Kansas, a questionaire was sent to
each superintendent of schools in cities with a population of
fifteen hundred or more and to the persons in charge of the nature-
study work in the three state normal schools.

From the one hundred letters sent out, seventy-one replies
were received. The replies were from towns ranging in size as
follows :

Thirteen replies from towns with a population of over 10,000.

Twelve replies from towns with a population ranging from
4,000 to 10,000.

Twelve replies from towns with a population ranging from 2,500
to 4,000.

Thirty-one replies from towns with a population ranging from
1,500 to 2,500.

Three replies from state normal schools.

It is obvious, then, that approximately sixty per cent of the
data from this investigation was furnished by superintendents of
schools with a population ranging from fifteen hundred to four
thousand.

Chart I gives the data received from the seventy-one replies.
Chart II shows the same information in graphic form. 83.09
per cent of the schools reporting, teach nature-study while 16.91
per cent do not teach it. 28.81 per cent of those schools teaching
nature-study use an organized course of study. 67.79 Per cent
of the schools teaching nature-study have no organized course or
leave the work to the individuality of the teacher. Two schools
are organizing courses of study.

Charts III and IV show the extent to which nature-study is
correlated with the other studies taught. 25.42 per cent of the
schools teaching nature-study do not teach it as a separate subject
with a definite place on the program but teach it in connection
with other school work. Sixty-four schools report physiology
taught as a separate study.

By a study of charts V and VI, it is noted that about 81.35 per
cent of the schools reporting the teaching of nature-study teach

322

billig] NATURE-STUDY SITUATION IX KANSAS 323

it in the first four grades, that 62.71 per cent teach it in grades
one through six, while 44.06 per cent teach it in all of the eight
grades.

The amount of time per week given to nature-study varies
from no regular period to five hours. An average of sixty- ^ight
minutes per week is given to the work by those schools reporting
the time given to nature-study.

The preceding information is correct, in so far as the data
received from the replies to my questionaire are correct. It
is, however, not conclusive, but it is interesting for the reason
that it gives definite information concerning the nature-study
situation in Kansas during the school year 1017-1018.

While interesting, the value of the above information would
be increased by a discussion of the work that is Deing carried on
by the various schools in the state

The Elementary Training and Junior High Schools of the
Training Department of the Kansas State Normal School are
doing some definite work along this line. We are not certain
that we are attacking the problem in the best manner, though
some excellent results make us feel that we are at least headed in
the right direction.

The aim of our schools is to prepare boys and girls to live well
and to occupy intelligently their places in society in general.
One need only to study the world's advancement to learn that
progress is everywhere concerned with a knowledge and utiliza-
tion of nature. In consideration of these points, nature-study
and elementary science cannot be omitted but must necessarily
hold an important place in the school curriculum.

In the training department of the Kansas State Normal School,
a flexible, tentatively organized course of study is used. This
course does little more than show the large projects on which the
various grades will work. Many of the most valuable problems
arise unexpectedly and cannot be included in an outline of study
for similar situations may not arise the second time.

The work in the kindergarten and primary grades is largely
based on nature. The children come to school alive with nature
experiences for they have been living an out-of-door life. Nature
experiences, then, serve as one of the connecting links between
the home and school.

324 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

In the intermediate grades and the junior high school, the nature
work and geography are so closely related that they go hand in
hand. In grades four, five and six, the six hours a week given
to the two subjects are divided equally between the geography
and the nature-study classes. In the seventh grade, geography
study predominates, receiving five hours a week. During this
year, the nature-study work is continued in its close relation to
geography but the emphasis is particularly on geography the
definite study of which closes in this grade. In the eighth grades,
predominance is given to elementary science which is followed
by general science in the ninth grade.

The physiology and hygiene work is considered a part of the
nature-study and elementary science course. The personal
hygiene phase is studied in close relation with the physical training
department which has the equipment and the desired atmosphere
for accomplishing the best results. The experimental phases of
hygiene are emphasized in the science class. In the "Health and
Clean Up" committee, the children make and establish means for
enforcing rules regarding personal and room cleanliness.

To carry out projects which are undertaken, correlation in a
broad sense of the term is essential. To solve the problems
involved, help from all departments is necessary. For example,
in the garden project, many subjects are concerned. The cata-
logues from the various seed houses and the seeds from the govern-
ment are secured as a result of letters written in the English
classes. In the manual training classes, the germinating boxes
and stakes for the garden are made and the hoes and rakes are
kept in repair. In the arithmetic classes, the pupils are taught
the best way to keep accurate accounts from which they are able
to give definite results as to gain or loss resulting from their
undertaking. In the domestic science classes, the best methods
of preparation of vegetables for the table and preserving or
storing for the winter, are studied. The pupils discuss the value
of the garden products. They learn to recognize quickly the
qualities desired when buying vegetables. Many of the vegetables
grown in the school gardens are sold to the classes in cooking.
The location, soil, moisture and drainage of the gardens concerns
the geography class.

The garden work closely unites the school and the community.
The school garden serves only as a laboratory where boys and

BiLLiG] NATURE-STUDY SITUATION IX KAXSAS 325

girls learn the principles of gardening which are applied in their
home gardens. The community market reserves a section for the
use of children where products from the school and home gardens
may be sold.

This correlation is brought about by the child, who, when working
on his project feels the need of help from the various sources.
It is he who after careful study states his problems and seeks
assistance from the different departments which gladly co-operate
with him.

This correlation is prominent in all projects undertaken. The
extent to which it is felt in the school and carried out in the com-
munity at large varies with the nature of the project undertaken.

It is evident, then, that our elementary school curriculum
cannot longer consist of many separate subjects each of which is
developed from the point of view of a specialist for the advance-
ment of his own subject but must be a unit with a strong central
purpose. Each study serving as a necessary part of the success-
ful carrying out of the aim ; each study remaining in the curriculum
because it is an instrument or tool with which the school cannot
dispense if the boys and girls are to become socially and economi-
cally efficient men and women in the community in which they
are living.

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS REPORTING

To Questionaire 71

Teaching Nature-Study 59

Not teaching Nature-Study 12

Organized course 17

Unorganized course 40

Organizing course 2

Correlating Nature-Study with some study 15

Teaching Nature-Study in grades 1-8 26

Teaching Nature-Study (only) in grades 1-6 11

Teaching Nature-Study (only) in grades 1-4 11

Teaching Nature-Study throughout the year 29

Teaching Nature-Study spring and fall 1

Supervisor of Nature-Study 5

Chart I. The Xature-Study situation in Kansas; based on data received

from 71 schools

326 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS CORRELATING NATURE-STUDY WITH

Other studies 15

Language 4

Language and drawing 1

Language, drawing and geography 1

Language and geography 3

Geography 1

Geography and drawing 1

Drawing 2

Study not given 2

Chart III. The extent to which Nature-Study is correlated with other studies

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS REPORTING TEACHING NATURE-STUDY

In grades 59

Only in grades 1-4 11

Only in grades 1-6 11

In grades 1-8 '. 26

In grades 1-4 48

In grades 1-6 37

But not indicating grade 11

Chart V. Grades in which Nature-Study is taught

Riley's Gift of Bird Song

Anxie Smith Xixmax
Peoria, 111.

October seventh, the anniversary
of the birth of the children's poet,
James Whitcomb Riley, is a day of
interest in the school curricula, for
on that day children in all the
schools, pause in restive mood, to
enjoy the poet's songs of nature's
recurring pleasures ; the gift of flower
and sunset cloud; of bird and blue
expanse of water.

The poems of Riley awaken with-
in the hearts of children a greater
love for nature, for life, for birds
and all growing things. To Riley,
nature was the very epitome of all
that is harmonious in life. His verses
of bird song, of sunshine-sky, of rip-
pling waters attune all attributes
of nature that make for enjoyment,
such attributes as truth, love, faith, appreciation and inspiration.

"With head uncovered has he stood,
Hearing the spirit of the wood
Hearing aright the Master speak
In trill of bird. . . ."

On days that are dreary, we may listen to the worded songs of

the feathered friends that Riley has listened to and believed

in. . . "the songs that nature sings — in every bird that

twitters."

"There's the song of the lark, when the skies are clear,
And the song of the thrush, when the skies are gray."

"And in and out when the eaves drip rain,
The swallows are twittering ceaselessly."

If there is to be found bird song in the rain, then there is laughter
and chatter and melody when the golden sunshine is even.- where,
in woods, in fields and pastures green. Riley has said that —
"The robin pipes when the sun is here"
:V27

"The flash of the red bird's
wings"

328 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

and it is Riley who bids you to sing with "every bird on every

bough,"

"Sing! every living loving thing —
Sing any song, and any how
But Sing, Sing, Sing!"

In the poem the "Song O' Cheer", Riley tells of the hearing of

cooing mournful notes of birds — that are not to be echoed by

the heart.

". . . Whipperwills and doves says I
H'aint over cheery critters,"

There is laughter in the sunshine and the gay whistling of the
birds and for the cheer giving critters, he gives Old Bob White
and the Pee-Wees and the chattering of the blackbirds.

"Old Bob White

Whistles his name in high delight

And whirrs away".

"Pee-wees' singing, to express
My opinion's second class
Yet you'll hear 'em more er less;
Sapsucks gittin' down to biz,
Weedin' out the lonesomeness.

"Mr. Bluejay, full o' sass
In them base ball clothes o' his"

Oh, the naughtiness of the birds as they scold and boss and beg

in Riley's verse of bird song.

"The flicker on the fence-rail 'pears to jest spit on his wings
And roll up his feathers, by the sassy way he sings:"

"You can hear the blackbirds jawin' as they foller up the plow."

"Ketch a shadder down below,
And lookin' up to find the crow —
Er a hawk, away up there
'Pearantly froze in the air."

The haunts of the birds are every where and the eye can take
delight in Riley's flight of birds, in the moving bits of color, of
which he gives word pictures.

"Watch the swallers skootin' past
Bout as purt as you could ast
Er the Bob-white raise and whiz
Where some other's whistle is."

"Where the 'red-heads' hopped awry
And the buzzard 'raised' in the 'clearing' sky."

"And through the lush glooms of the thicket
The flash of the red bird's wings."

ninman] RILEY'S GIFT OF BIRD SONG 329

"And the humming bird, that hung
Like a jewel among
The tilted honey suckle horns."

Listen to Riley in his songs of nature, catch the spirit of the

woods

"When the meader-lark is wingin'
Round you, and the woods is ringin'
With the beautifullest singin'

and find with Riley the thicket where the red bird is, or thorn
and thistle over which quail, with whirs and whistle, whizz;
look for the redbreast and the blue bird on the blooming bough
and while the robin sings let the heart — "sing like a medder-
lark — All day long" on October 7, Riley's Day among children.

A Country Schoolhouse

'Twuz so las' Sabbath arter meetin' time,

Findin' my feelins' wouldn't noways rhyme

With nobody's, but off the handle flew

An' took things from an east-wind pint of vi

I started off to lose me in the hills

Where the pines be, up back o' Siah's mills.

Pines, if you're blue, are the best friends I know,

They mope and sigh an' sheer your feelin's so, —

They hush the ground beneath so, tu, I swan.

You half forgit you've got a body on.

There's a small schoolhouse there where four roads meet,

The door-steps hollered out by little feet,

An' side-posts carved with names whose owners grew

To great men, some on 'em, an' deacons tu;

'Taint used no longer, coz the town has got

A high school, where they teach the Lord knows wot :

Three story larnin' is poplar now; I guess

We thriv' as wal on jes' two stories less,

For it strikes me ther's sech a thing as sinnin'

By overloadin' children's underpinnin' ;

Wal, here it wuz I larned my A B C,

An' it's a kind o' favorite spot with me."

James Russell Lowell in The Bigelow Papers.

330

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

Young Foxes

A Story Told by a Fox

Martha E. Quick

Ithaca, X. Y.

(This story was written to make more vivid to the children of a Rural School
the habits of a fox which they had been able to observe.)

Here on the top of Bald Mountain is my home whence I have
escaped from my many menacing foes. Wild under-brush is all
about me, while high above my head towers the rocks and crags.
What an ideal place in which to spend the rest of my days. Before
I lie down in some snug corner beneath the rocks, I will go to the
top of yonder jutting rock and look once more over the wide
expanse of country- that stretches below.

How well I know and love all the thickets, the gently sloping
fields with warm sandy knolls, the deep wooded slopes beyond,
the narrow brook winding slowly along. I know, too, the ones
who live in those large scattered shapes nestled among some trees
where the smoke curls slowly upward. Yonder the cows and
sheep are comfortably grazing in the pasture while many of my
brothers, both friends and foes, which I cannot see are learning
their lessons of the wild.

The first place which I remember was a warm cozy nest where
I lay and slept most of the time. My four soft brothers and sisters
lay cuddled close around me while near us lay the great furry
mother who gave us plenty of warm milk. As I began to use
my eyes and look about, I saw that this dark hollow was not all
of the world. I saw the great light space from which my mother
appeared and disappeared often -being gone for hours at a time.
I began to scramble about but my slim little legs would not carry
me far. At last one day we followed our mother through the
great space. How surprised I was to see the great world which
now spread below me. At first I shrank back afraid, but after
a little coaxing I slunk around the juniper bush near the mouth
of the den out into the broad sunlight. I saw there the warm
sandy knoll with one or two low bushes near at hand. Far below
I saw the tall trees and the brook far beyond.

Our mother stretched herself comfortably a little way below
and smiled good-naturedly at her five yellow fuzzy children.
I suddenly felt very happy and playful and sprang toward her
trying to tell her how happy I was. All my brothers and sisters

331

332 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

began to play and scramble about her. How we liked to pounce
and tumble upon her great furry back, but she often gave us a
cuff with her strong paw which sent us rolling over and over.
Then we would rush at each other chewing and snarling until
we tired ourselves out. When the sun began to send long shadows
from the tall trees we scampered back into our den. We longed
to come out and every morning as soon as the sun was warm
we followed our sleepy mother out upon the warm knoll. What
delicious feasts Father Fox brought us after his long nightly
hunts. We played with the young field mice he brought hanging
like a fringe from his mouth. One day we had the best dinner of
chicken after which Father Fox told us of the queer human beings
who lived far down in the valley, how they hated the wild creatures
and were always ready to kill them if they could. He told us
of the many good things which we might get to eat but how careful
we must be or a dinner might cost our life. After the story I
felt like a very wise fox and made up my mind that no human
being should kill me although I would like to see them.

One morning I heard a strange noise down in the valley. My
mother rose at once in alarm. Quickly she called her children
and with a strange feeling of fear we crept far back into the den.
We waited long but father never came to bring us the good dinner
he had promised. That night our mother did not lie down with
us but above our heads under the edge of rock where our father
slept we heard the loud sad wail of despair.

The next day mother was gone for a long time. We grew very
hungry and unhappy. At last she came bringing a fringe of field
mice. I began to wonder when I could go out into the world
and find food for myself. Toward dusk I went with my mother
for my first lesson in hunting the small wild creatures of the woods.
How soon I learned the faint squeak of the field mouse or traced
his path by the wavy line of tall grasses. How proud I felt as I
pounced with my strong jaws upon the helpless creature.

After a few lessons I went out alone, for then I knew no fear.
Once I surprised a rabbit dozing on the sunny side of a clump
of briars. I sprang after him as he disappeared among the briars
and here learned my first hard lesson. The briars were sharp
and blinding and kept me from springing ahead. The clever
rabbit escaped easily while my poor head and eyes were burning
from the prickles of the briars. I soon found that the other wild

quick] -4 STORY TOLD BY A FOX 333

creatures knew the foxes ways and they had ways of their own
which I must learn.

While mother was away on her long hunting trips we kept
well out of sight, but on sunny afternoons when she lay basking
in the sun near the opening of the den, we felt more safe and
roamed about along the top of the bank or along the edge of the
thicket. One afternoon when the sky was clear a strange shadow
swept over the bank. Just then I heard a sharp note of warning
from below. I plunged quickly into the juniper bush. The
shadow seemed to fall about me and the next instant I saw the
limp helpless form of my brother carried away by this great winged
creature. For a long time after that I never failed to keep a
sharp watch upon the great blue curtain which stretched over my
head.

I soon learned that there were enemies on even,- side and I
understood my life must be one of struggle. So the spring months
passed and I grew larger and stronger. I became acquainted
with the country about me and often stole away through the woods
to the spot where I might see the farmhouses below. I liked to
watch these strange beings of whom my mother told me many
wonderful tales. I knew that my mother did not bring the savory
chicken or turkey from these farm houses near at hand but always
went over the opposite hill into the next valley where they would
never suspect her whereabouts.

As I grew more and more skillful I planned my nightly hunts
for myself. I was thinking as I trotted along on a certain moon-
light night of what a fine hunter I had become. "Lets see, last
night I hunted in the pine woods, tonight, I'll cross the brook and
go down the edge of the pasture to the corner of the corn
field. There will surely be some silly rabbits playing about
in the moonlight, then I will go down to the big West meadow
after mice. There are always plenty there. If I dont' get any
mice I will spy around that chicken coop at Deacon Smiths.
Perhaps I'll see if any of Old Henry's young turkeys are roosting
in the orchard. I saw them wandering about there yesterday.
How good one of those would taste, or a fine young chicken. I
believe I will not go down to the meadows for mice but straight
to the farmhouse. I have never tried to catch a turkey or chicken
but how proud my mother will be when I bring her one in such a
short time." I know the men will all be asleep and nothing will

334 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

trouble me. I crept up back of the old barn through the orchard
but did not find the turkeys. I went into the barnyard and then
I heard a few faint cackles near by in another building. I thought
I would go in through a nice little hole which I found. So in I
went, but "O silly fox" down came the door! I tried in every way
to get out, I did not care about the chickens, but they became
frightened and made a great deal of noise. What could I do?
Just then the dog began to bark near by and I knew that I was
caught. Shortly after, the farmer came and opened the door.
He was so surprised to see me that I might have escaped if I
had moved quickly. But I had lost all power to run and felt
very weak and powerless. The farmer grabbed me by the neck
and though I scrambled and bit at him furiously he carried me
out and put a cold hard band about my neck and left me in a
dark ill-smelling place. How I chewed and pulled at the chain
but soon found it of no use. I knew that I was in the power of
those dreadful beings. I could not sleep but feeling very unhappy
I curled down with my tail around me and thought how terrible
my life had become. If I had only followed my mother's advice!

The next morning I heard shouts and the cry "A fox, a fox,"
outside and three children opened the door and came into the
stable. How they jumped and screamed with delight! The boy
came toward me but I showed my white teeth at him and he did
not dare to touch me. I quaked with fear but soon saw that they
did not wish to hurt me. One of them brought me some strange
looking white stuff and threw it down close beside me. I would
not even smell of it but tried to hide myself among the straw which
they had thrown in.

They went away but soon returned to take me. They pulled
and pulled on the chain trying to make me follow them but I held
back, digging my little claws into the floor. My head seemed
almost bursting but I would not move one inch. Then some one
took me by the back of the neck and carried me out into the sun-
light. I did not try to fight now. I was so frightened, I thought
I would surely be killed. They put me in a little house with
plenty of stuff for a bed and with the strong band still about my
neck, I slunk into the darkest corner and there stayed all the day.
I wondered if my mother at home would miss me. If she did she
would not come to this farmhouse for I heard the dog barking
not far away. How lonely and miserable I felt! but still I was

quick] .4 STORY TOLL) BY A FOX 335

glad to be alive and planned that some time I would escape from
this cruel band and fly back to the forest. That night when all
was still I crept out into the moonlight and looked about me, I
saw the farmhouse just below surrounded by trees and on the
opposite side the house in which I had been caught. I could not
help the sad, short, loud, sudden wail which seemed to tell how
mournful I felt. — I barked many times and tugged harder than
ever at the chain but not an answering cry or sound did I hear.
I was alone with these strange human beings and I must learn to
live with them.

The next morning the children brought me a pan of water and
some food. They pushed it far into the little house and after
they had gone I stole up to smell of it. But the water was so
clear and my poor throat was so dry that I must have a drink.
I could not eat the food. But that night I grew so hungry that
I did taste it and found it very good and it made me feel so much
happier that I decided to eat hereafter. Every day the children
came to see me many times. They brought me much to eat
but I would not eat while anyone was near. By this time I began
to peep out of doors and watch the strange things which happened
about me. I saw many chickens walking about not even noticing
me but later coming close to me. I watched them and thought
of a plan to catch one. I left some of my breakfast scattered about
the door of the house and very soon an old hen came to help
herself. How surprised she was when I sprang at her just grab-
bing a mouthful of feathers. The chickens never seemed to
learn better and I often fooled them like this; but found myself
jerked back by the strong chain.

I began to rather like the children who brought me food. I
ceased to bite and snarl so when they touched me. They did
not harm me and after many weeks I knew them as well as some
of my first friends. When I felt good-natured I would sleep on
the top of a box in the sun and there the children often petted me
and rubbed my head. But if I happened to be thinking of my
far away home in the forest I would not let them touch me but
would hide in the corner of the house. The children often un-
chained me and now I followed where they wanted me to go
for my legs were so stiff and tired I was only too glad to use them.
Sometimes they chained me to one of the apple trees and what a
good time I had circling round and round or jumping up into the

336 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

low branches! All this time I kept growing until now I looked
like a grown up fox. I began to be very proud of my fine bushy
tail and my eyes seemed to grow brighter every day. One day
toward fall I heard the children talking about me. "Let's allow
him to go," they said. We do not want to keep him always.
We must go to school now." My heart bounded with joy and
what a good fox I was. One day when the children were gone
the farmer put me into a sack and put me into his wagon. I was
carried far. I did not know where I was going or what would
become of me. At last he opened the sack and I skipped out.
I saw a wooded bank not far away and wondered if I could ever
reach it. Yes, my legs would carry me and how happy I was.
I bounded away and soon entered the friendly patch of under-
brush. I looked back and wondered which life would be the best.
After looking about for awhile I saw that I was not far from my
old home on the sandy bank. Would my mother still be waiting
for me? But alas when I reached the den I found it in ruins.
As soon as my legs grew stronger, I roamed about searching
for a new home. I must not stay on this side of the valley for
many hunters must have heard of my freedom. I would live
and learn to overpower every foe which foxes may have. I knew
so many things which other foxes did not, that I was able to
defend myself and live happily. Before winter came I found a
snug warm place for a den on the south side of this hill. At first
the snow was terrifying but soon I found it an aid in finding the
whereabouts of my enemies. Many a time I obtained my food
only through a hard struggle as in the chase for a rabbit or a
partridge. When the great ice froze the swamp and brook
and creasted the white fields I had a hard time hunting, but some
foolish wood mouse, or often a dead crow, if nothing else, was to
be had. If I felt the pinch of famine I did not mind, for I was
free. So the seasons passed and many an adventure came into
my life. Twice I was followed by the dogs, but how I enjoyed
the chase ! I would stretch myself and soon leave them far behind.
I knew many tricks and ways by which I fooled my followers.
I often laughed from some sunny rock while dogs and men puzzled
gravely over my trail. I could tell you many stories of tricks
which only a fox can know but I do not wish to tire you. So I
have grown to be a wise old fox and now must lie down to rest.

Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufddt

The Study of Moths and Butterflies as a Recreation

Christi>tc T. Acker
Camden, X. J.

One day in early fall as I was walking with my daughter, who
is seven years old, out State Street to the outskirts of Camden,
X. J., we came to the bridge over Cooper River. When that
bridge is crossed we are in the country — a long stretch of meadow
bounded on one side by the Delaware River and on the other by a
farm, Coxie's Pond and fields of many kinds of wild flowers.
On a willow tree we found a very large cocoon. Like Pasteur
when he called on Fabre to get some silk-worm cocoons, we did
not know what we had, nor that there was a live pupa inside.
We brought it home and placed it over a picture in the living room.
We enjoyed looking at it and wondered what it could be, never
taking the trouble to find out. The first week in April as I was
passing through the room in which the cocoon had wintered, I
saw what I thought the most beautiful creature in existence.
I shall never forget the thrill of joy in beholding my first Cecropia.
It fired me with wonder and awe to think that such things could
exist so close to us and we so uninformed. It inspired me with a
desire for knowledge of things out-of-doors, and I shall now try
to tell of things I have seen and found within a few minutes' walk
of mv home.

337

338

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

In many walks I am accompanied by my daughter Eleanor
and her friend, Anna, of the same age. All of us have home-made
nets. Eleanor's is quite wonderful in size. She says the little
butterflies escape when she uses a smaller net. It measures
eighteen inches across, and is about two feet in depth. Anna's
is smaller, only measuring twelve inches across and one-and-a-half
feet in depth, mine being regulation size and pattern and is ten
inches wide and eighteen inches deep. We take a pint fruit jar
converted into a cyanide jar, a bottle of chloroform and a cigar
box in which to carry our specimens after they are dead.

Eleanor captures a kitten in her butterfly net

The first summer in my eagerness and ignorance I gathered
everything that could fly, that is, those things that were not
too quick for me. In a field of Joe Pye weeds (Eupatorium
purpureum), Monarch butterflies (Anosia plexippus) abound.
We gathered them by dozens and discovered later that many of
them were Viceroys (Basilarchia disippus), the imitators of the
Monarchs. This is said to be one of the most pronounced cases
of mimicry in our fauna. The Monarchs are bitter to the taste
of birds, consequently they are not bothered by them. The male
has a peculiar odor coming from a little scent-bag on the under
wing, the purpose of which is said to attract the female. The
Viceroys are very fragile and dainty and have followed the Mon-
archs for so long that they have become very much like them in

ackerj STUDY OF MOTHS AXD BUTTERFLIES 339

appearance and habits. The Monarchs migrate in enormous
numbers in the late fall. Great swarms of them have been seen
flying south. When I was a child, I remember one October
in Cape May, picking up butterflies by handfuls. They were
Monarchs migrating and were overtaken by a storm which blew
them into the ocean. When their wings were wet they could not
fh\ In places the strand was red with them. I picked up all
I could earn.' and took them to the house where I was staying.
Thinking they were dead I placed them in a shoe box without a
cover and went out to play. When I came back •the people in
the house were nearly frantic with the annoyance of butterflies
lighting on their heads and hands and flying all around them.
The room was a beautiful sight. I pleaded to have them remain
but out thev had to go. I counted sixty-two that flew out of one
window — how many went out of the other openings I do not
know.

Just across the road from the Joe Pye patch is a farm where
many strange things grow. We gave it the name of "The Drug
Farm" because of the many strange things that are raised there
and so many things that smell like a drug store. There were
plenty of cabbages and cabbage butterflies, (Pieris protodice
and Pieris rapae), Common Sulphurs (Colias philodice), which
is sometimes called "The Puddle-butterfly". Among them the
females were frequently albinos. There were a few aberrations
in both families, particularly among the sulphurs. In the "Com-
mon Whites", as the cabbage butterflies are sometimes called,
a very delicate shade of yellow could be found, sometimes on the
forewings, again in the hindwings, and sometimes a little on both
wings. These little insects were so numerous that the children
amused themselves by seeing how many they could get in their
nets before emptying them. They frequently had fifteen or
eighteen at one time.

There was something new every day. In the tomato patch
there were queer little tomatoes shaped like an egg, though not
so large and of a paler shade of red than our tomatoes and very
numerous. On these vines we found a larva, or caterpillar, of
the Tomato moth (Protoparce sexta). Each day we went to
look at the "worm" until it disappeared. In our ignorance again
we accused the farmer of killing it. A few days after a happy
thought came to us to dig and see if the larva had buried to go

340

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

into the pupal state. It had. We found a queer pupa case
resembling a pitchsr. The tongue case was separate, thus giving
it the appearance of the handle of a pitcher. It is a Hawk Moth,

so nam 3d because of its
swift flight. Unlike other
cocoon makers it has a well
developed tongue and has
frequently been seen at
dusk hovering around the
flowers like a humming bird
sipping honey. Were it not for the little Braconids, parasites
of this moth larva, there would be so many insects that our
own food supply would be endangered.

Why is it that when we go without our nets we always see
something unusually desirable ? One day while at Red Hill Park,
Camden, we saw an aberration of a Vanessa antiopa, one with the
yellow band extending almost to the body. Dr. Holland tells
us there are but three known specimens among collectors. I

The pupa of the common tomato
sphinx caterpillar

The moth of the sphinx caterpillar which
feeds on tomato

nearly fell into Cooper River trying to catch it in my hat, but
even though I failed to make a capture, I felt lucky to have only
one wet foot for we were a long way from home. The Vanessa,
or Mourning Cloak, is a very common butterfly in its ordinary
form as it is found all over the temperate zone. It is a medium
sized insect with an expanse of two-and-a-quarter to three-and-a-
quarter inches. The wings on the upper side are generally some
shade of black or brown, marked with a deep red, yellow or orange

acker] STUDY OF MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES 341

band on the outer margin of the wings. It is very timid. If
one approaches, it makes believe it is dead, probably paralyzed
with fear, and can be picked up in the fingers and thrown around.
I have wondered if this is a means of protection for it is most
unusual. They are the first butterflies to wake up in the spring,
coming forth from their sleeping quarters on the sunny side of a
fence, or an old tree, or some warm nook, early in March. I have
heard reports of them being seen in February but have never
had the pleasure of seeing them before March. They make
charming little pets in the house during the winter and are easily
kept. They thrive on a diet of sugar and water, or a piece of
apple dipped in water sweetened with sugar or honey. It is a
great imitator, hence its great numbers. "When at rest it folds
its wings, which are mottled, over its back and becomes quite
inconspicuous as it imitates its surroundings. The male is said
to be a musician, emitting musical sounds when he goes courting.
I have never heard it but I like to think it is so — it makes a
pretty fairy-like story.

Another butterfly that always gives me much pleasure is
Hunter's butterfly (Pyrameis huntera). The under part of its
wings is beautifully marbled in brown and gray, the fore wings
have an exquisite spot of lemon or old rose which is completely
concealed when the insect is at rest. In fact it is difficult to
distinguish it from the silvery grey bark of the trees upon which
it rests. Naturalists call this protective coloring. It has a wing
expanse of about two inches. There is a very- close relative, the
Painted Lady (Pyrameis cardui). The two butterflies are marked
much alike but are readily distinguished by the large round
spots on the under wings of the P. huntera. The larva of the
Painted lady feeds on thistles, marshmallow, everlasting and
hollyhock, while the P. cardui feeds on the everlasting.

Among the prettiest of the medium-sized butterflies is the
Buckeye (Junonia coenia). It is quite unique in its markings.
The large spots on the wings suggest peacock-eyes. They are
a swift low-flying insect, darting about quickly and are ever ready
for a quarrel. Their ill-nature is directed toward other species.
They dash at passing butterflies and fight them away.

The butterfly that I have found most difficult to capture is the
Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio turnus). The tops of the highest trees
are their favorite spots. I chased one at Collingswood, at intervals

342 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

for several days before I finally found it on a low bush at rest.
I threw stones up in the air because I had read that would some-
times make them come down. The more* stones I threw the higher
it flew, — and the faster. I counted four bushes I . ran into the
first day I tried to capture one. After that I lost count and patience
too. It is a large yellow butterfly with black stripes on its wings.
It has a wing expanse of three to five inches. Dr. Holland terms
it the "Lordly Turnus". In the south it is diamorphic, that is
having two forms in the female sex. These were at one time
thought to be different species until a test was made. The eggs
procured from a yellow female produced black females and vice
versa.

A very common butterfly here is the Eastern Swallowtail
(Papilio asterias). The larva is often found on parsley, fennel
and related plants. It can easily be detected by the strong odor
of fennel it emits when approached; a means of defense. I can
always trace one to its hiding place by the odor. The perfect
insect is subject to considerable variation.

In the yard of a mill along Cooper River there are some Ailan-
thus trees which were completely defoliated by the larva of the
Philosamia Cynthia. I used to pass that way frequently, look
up at those trees and shiver, — for I will confess I used to be afraid
of "worms" — then look again thoroughly fascinated. The
larva always seemed to feed on the under side of the leaves.
I am not afraid now for I know the insects. They are perfectly
harmless. People who have not made an acquaintance with them
have many wrong ideas about them. Last summer someone
found a "Hickory Horn Devil" and took it to the Academy of
Natural Sciences, gleefully thinking he had discovered the cause of
infantile paralysis. The Citheronia regalis, or "Hickory Horn
Devil," is truly a fierce looking fellow. The big white spots
on his sides, outlined on top with black and the big horns on the
head are truly fear-inspiring and it would be easy to think him
guilty of any sin. But how unjust ! It is a thoroughly harmless
and innocent insect, but like a full-blooded bulldog, so ugly that
it is beautiful.

To go back to the Cynthias, they are the makers of the strongest
silk among all the silk-worms. Some scientists claim they are
the makers of our future silk supply. As yet there is no satisfac-
tory machine for carding the silk. The Cynthia moth is a native

acker] STUDY OF MOTHS AXD BUTTERFLIES 343

of China. It is one of our most beautiful moths. The wings are
brown in color, just dusted with yellow. The tips of the forewings
have a beautiful lavender color. In the centre of each wing
there is a translucent crescent spot.

The Samia Cecropia is the largest of the silkworm moths in this
part of the country. A number of cocoons gathered during the
first year of my search for them produced most beautiful insects —
the largest having a wing expanse of six and one-half inches.

I have spent much time looking around honeysuckle vines for a
day-flying moth, the Eight-spotted Forester (Alypiaoctomaculata).
For a long time I was not successful. The first one I ever saw
was sent to me by a friend who captured it on a grapevine. The
little brown banded caterpillars that are such a pest to honey-
suckle and grapevines are the larva of this very beautiful little
black velvety moth, which has a spot of lemon on each wing.

The first Silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus tityrus) I ever
saw was brought to me by my daughter's playmate, Anna M.
Her mother found it on a rose bush in her yard and caught it in
her hand. Anna brought it to me on a saucer covered with a
tumbler. Her happiness was contagious. Why not ? Dr. Scud-
der tells us that it is the only American insect that attracted the
special notice of Agassiz. Its movements are very active and I
marvel that it could be captured without a net. It has dark
brown wings, the forewings being marked irregularly with yellow
bands across the middle. The under wings have an irregularly
shaped marking of a large silvery white spot.

There is a great incentive to hunt for butterflies for they are
found wherever plant life is suited to the nourishment of the
caterpillars. Some are found on tops of high mountains where
an Arctic climate prevails. The number of species of butterflies
and the number of species of birds are very nearly the same.
Nature lovers find beauty, inspiration and health in the big out-
of-doors. What can offer more real pleasure than a day out-of-
doors, drinking in the beauties of nature and filling the lungs
with pure, fresh air? But one soon tires if there is not some object
in view, something to hold the thoughts, something to pursue.
The entomologist on his out-door trips always finds much to
attract his attention and inspiration to go on, and best of all a
reward for his industry.

The Country Girl's Creed

Jessie Field
In charge of the Neighborhood Club Dept. of Farmers' wife, U. S. Dept. Agr.

I am glad I live in the country. I love its beauty and its
spirit. I rejoice in the things I can do as a country girl for my
home and my neighborhood.

I believe I can share in the beauty around me ; in the fragrance
of the orchards in spring, in the weight of the ripe wheat at harvest,
in the morning songs of birds and in the glow of the sunset on the
far horizon. I want to express this beauty in my own life as
naturally and happily as the wild rose blooms by the roadside.

l"believe I can have a part in the courageous spirit of the country.
This spirit has entered into the brook in our pasture. The stones
placed in its way call forth its strength and add to its strength
a song. It dwells in the tender plants as they burst the seed cases
that imprison them and push through the dark earth to the light.
It sounds in the nestling notes of the meadowlark. With this cour-
ageous spirit I, too, can face the hard things of life with gladness.

I believe there is much I can do in my country home. Thru
studying the best way to do my everyday work I can find joy
in common tasks done well. Thru loving comradeship I can help
bring into my home the happiness and peace that are always so
near us in God's out-of-door world. Thru such a home I can help
make real to all who pass that way their highest ideals of country
life.

I believe my love and loyalty for my country home should
reach out in service to that larger home that we call our neighbor-
hood. I would join with the people who live there in true friendli-
ness. I would whole-heartedly give my best to further all that
is being done for a better community. I would have all that I
think and say and do, help to unite country people near and far
in that great Kingdom of Love for Neighbors which the Master
came to establish — the Master who knew and cared for country
ways and country folks.

M4

Nature-Study in The Rural Schools

Extracts from letters from Rural School Teachers to Edward M. Tuttle,

Professor of Rural Education at Cornell University

Published in the Current Cornell Rural School Leaflet

"I have learned that the more we can find to do for nature-study
or any of the agricultural or home making pursuits, the better
the work in the other subjects becomes. As yet the community
has shown little interest in the work done by the school, for only
one family in the district shows any interest in the school anyway.
I think we can wake the rest up later after the work gets out of
the pioneer stage a little more."

"My nature-study class is held in the last fifteen minutes before
noon, and the whole school is included. I found this subject
difficult to grade, so all learn from one another and from Mother
Nature all together. This class is usually a conversation period,
but nature-study is not confined entirely to this time, for we
discuss a subject whenever it is brought up whether that be during
recess or drawing class. If any one has anything to prepare
before class it is usually I, but I also try to ask questions or suggest
a topic that will lead the pupils to find out something for them-
selves before the next recitation.

We often take a trip afield. And where can nature be studied
to better advantage? This need not be a hilarious expedition
with nature farthest from the children's minds. If a little fore-
thought and care be used by the teacher, it can prove most helpful."

"I am convinced that nature-study is one of the greatest helps in
discipline. Through nature-study you have something with which
to keep the pupils always busy, as there is always something
more they wish to find out about, and this keeps them out of
mischief. I believe in it because it has helped me to reach children
when everything else has failed, because it acquaints them with
nature, which every day presents some new and interesting fact.

I have no prescribed outline that I follow. I tried that and
failed. I always use the object itself if possible. I try to
arouse the pupils' interest so that they are anxious to learn more.
We use text-books only when unable to find out from nature

345

346 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

herself. It makes the other work more interesting. In fact
every lesson becomes a nature-study lesson more or less.

The season guides me somewhat as to the right time to take up a
subject. When some special interest has been manifested in
anything, it is a good time to take up that subject. Only experi-
ence has taught me the right way to present a subject. You must
study conditions and the attitude of your pupils. Feel your way
and proceed carefully or your efforts are lost. I have failed when
I have required lessons studied from books."

"I am a great lover of nature myself, and I naturally delight in
teaching little children to love her. I think that nature-study
has had and will have more to do in forming good, clean lives
for the men and women of tomorrow than any other subject ever
taught in the common schools. It is also helping to solve the
problem of keeping the boy on the farm. The farmer of the future
will have a greater knowledge of the wonders of the great out-of-
doors than his parents had. He will have time when plowing or
doing other work on the farm to examine weeds, insects, birds,
and other natural objects, and will stop to think whether or not
they ars injurious.

As to the right time to take up the topic — whenever specimens
are brought in, is the time to discuss them-. If a question is
asked on some nature-study or agricultural problem, it should be
answered at once if possible. It should certainly not be shoved
entirely aside. In this case the interest of questioner and listeners
may be lost. In my school, if something is brought in with which
we are not familiar, we search for all information we can find on
the subject. All other school work is improved because of this.
If called from their work to observe perhaps a bird feeding on some
near-by tree, the children return to their other work with keener
minds."

"I teach the lesson by asking questions and supplementing
answers by explanation. Whenever we can, we find our answer
from the specimen. On many succeeding days I ask who remem-
bers that special plant or bird or insect and what they can tell
about it. There is always great interest. I believe that the
person who compels pupils to learn long descriptions of natural
objects or who reads pages of uninteresting description to them,

XATURE-STUDY IN THE RURAL SCHOOLS 347

will not get interest, and that in this way the very object of this
work, to encourage love of the out-of-doors, will be defeated.

We have a few minutes a day on our program for nature-study,
but we are a very busy school and do not find it possible to have
this every day. We have two kinds of nature-study lessons,
the ones that come at the regular time with the specimens prev-
iously brought to the classroom, and those that come when we
interrupt our program to learn about something of present interest.

One day just as we finished an English class, one of the boys
saw several birds in the school yard. According to our custom
the boy told me about the birds, and all the pupils passed quietly
to the windows. There on the ground outside were eighteen
slate-colored juncos. Many of my smaller pupils had never seen a
junco so we had a splendid lesson. This spring four or five blue-
birds came to the young trees near the school windows, and we
took this occasion for a study of the bluebird, for we had been
watching for the bluebird for two weeks. Among the things of
interest in our schoolroom just now are several branches of trees
having egg clusters of the apple-tree tent caterpillar and several
strange kinds of cocoons, all of which we are watching develop.

We have enjoyed all our school work very much, finding so
much interest in all our nature work that it is not easy to tell
what thing in nature had been most interesting. I wish to say for
the benefit of teachers who may find this letter too optimistic
that we have had the same hard work and routine and discourage-
ments that come to other schools. I believe that a little well done
will be an inspiration to both teacher and pupils. Any teacher
who is not much interested in this work will find new interest
and a new depth of vision to her own life if she will make ever so
small a gift of whole-hearted time to it."

"I have found that through the study of nature we become
acquainted with the real child and at the same time form a bond of
friendship between pupil, teacher, and parents, which is very
essential.

On the way to school and when we reach school, the children
and I talk about the topics that they themselves have given me.
I often direct them to books and ways of finding more about the
topic under discussion; then we sometimes wait a couple of days
so that they may look up facts before we take up the topic more

348 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

fully again. Whenever it is possible, we learn from observation.
The other day while talking about the robin, the question arose
as to whether both birds or just the mother bird sat on the eggs.
Some already knew, but those who did not are going to try to
find out from observing the robin. In this same way we take up
many topics."

"The people had an idea that nature-study was all humbug,
and were rather skeptical about it, last year especially. But when
we began the study of rations and weeds, they changed their
minds. I must tell you of an incident that happened this fall.
We were in my father's meadow identifying weeds, and the children
were writing about them in their tablets. An old gentleman drove
along the road, stopped, and cried, "Hey, kids, where's your
teacher?" I went down to see what he wanted, and he asked me
what nonsense we were up to. I explained to him, and he said
that I couldn't fool him, he knew very well that the kids didn't
care about the weeds, but only waited till my back was turned to
play with each other. Well my back was turned, but the children
kept on with their work, and soon moved to another weed. We
could hear their excited chorus of "Here's some chickweed!"
"What are you talking about! That's purslane!" and so on.
The old gentleman was very much surprised, but said that he
guessed that children had changed some since he was a boy. 1
don't think they have, do you?"

"I realize now that pupils will not learn nature-study unless they
are interested and have the object at hand or are acquainted with
it in some way or other. I used to teach it as I did other lessons
and at stated periods, but found that my pupils never seemed
to know anything about what I taught. Now I find that they
usually know more than I do. Nature-study does not become
monotonous if it is varied by drawing and writing in place of
talking.

Books used after the child has found out what he can by him-
self about the subject, prove most interesting to him and tell him
many things to which he would pay little attention if read before.
I do not think that we can give a lesson from a book on nature-
study and expect a child to remember as he would learn and
remember from nature specimens, nor is it so broadening."

NAT CREST I'D Y IX THE RURAL SCHOOLS 349

A Terrarium in a Rural School

350 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

"The study of nature brings the school and the home closer
together. In nearly all cases the parents feel that the children
are learning something worth while, something that will always
be theirs and that will help to make them useful men and women."

"The first nature-study we did this fall was on leaves. On
Columbus Day the children all wanted to come to school so we
took a good share of that day for an organized field trip. We
started out with paper and pencils, and each child old enough
to write put down the names of trees as I pointed them out.
We saw thirty -two different kinds, fruit, roadside, field, and forest
trees. One boy thirteen years of age knew twenty-nine, another,
twenty-seven, two, twenty -five, and so on. Only a few knew
less than twelve. One boy eight years old knew twenty-one.
I have never gone on a trip with children before that was so success-
ful. Of course, we pointed out important characteristics as we
identified the trees. The boy who was most disinclined to take
pencil and paper has asked to do the same thing again. I think
that we shall, too, when the leaves are all gone and again when
they are budding in the spring, but we shall go in different direc-
tions from the school.

The terrarium was made to fit a window sill. The two long
sides of the glass, the ends and the cover of wire netting. It
contains about three inches of good soil. In one end is a sunken
dish for water. We sow grass seed as soon as school opens in the
fall, and it grows all winter.

At various times we have had snakes, toads, tree toads, turtles,
lizards, beetles, katydids, cicadas, June bugs, dragon flies."

The calendar sparkles with days that have brought
Some prize that was longed for, some good that was sought :
High deeds happen daily, wide truths grow more clear —
"Each day is the best of somebody's year."

Priscilla Leonard

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IX
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June. July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society. $1.00 per year (rune issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra; foreign postage, 20 cents extra.

Tixvnrvrtnnt Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
impurioXll wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comstock Publishing
Co., Ithaca, X. V. Manuscripts for Publications and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

The Rural School

There is much discussion these days about the inefficiency of
the Rural Schools as compared with the graded schools of the
village and city ; much talk of the low wages given to the rural
teacher and of the hopelessness of expecting efficiency under the
circumstances. In many states special ways for improving
these schools have been devised by the State Departments of
Education such as the District Superintendent system in New
York.

We have never quite agreed with the general verdict against
the Rural School for the very good reason that having received
our early education in this venerable institution we have nsver
underestimated its value.

There have always been in the Rural School certain conditions
ideal for the best education, — the two most important being
opportunity for initiative on the part of both teacher and pupil.
What mattered it to us if we had four teachers with no special
powers of initiative when the fifth one had so much that we sped
along the path of learning for four terms through the impetus
which she had imparted to our own powers of initiative ! We
never talk to the pupils in the graded schools about their studies
without thinking of the blissfully free way we graded ourselves
in those old days. We "went into" our fifth reader, the highest
in school, when we were eight years old; and we did "go into it"
with a will, for reading then was as it has ever been since a joy
and a resource ; and at the age of nine we were struggling.zealously

351

352 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

and proudly with slate-full examples in compound fractions;
and having committed to memory all the rules, we finished English
grammar once for all at the advanced age of eleven. All of
which achievements would convict us through the words of our
own mouth — in the opinion of a modern pedagogue.

However, one great fundamental fact remains: Our lessons
were a pleasure because there was no limit put upon our achieve-
ments,— there was no reason why "we should not arrive as fast
as we could get there." Thus it was that we did not grow in
graded sections but waved our shooting branches in any direction
where we found sunshine and a chance.

What a long line of teachers they were, and how they stand
fast in memory! Almost all of them were admirable for some
qualities which child hero-worship found worthy; and there
were heroes among them too! Could we ever forget the young
man who taking the shawl which he wore instead of an
overcoat, from his own back hsld it before the faces of four of us
little folk and thus walked backward through a fierce blizzard
a quarter of a mile to the nearest farmhouse, meanwhile freezing
both his hands ! There was an artist among them too, who taught
us to love the beautiful in nature, she being the most beautiful
creation of all. There were orators and poets who taught us to
speak and to read what had been written in our literature; and
there were those who reached out into science and taught us to
reverence the stars.

The old school house itself we loved although it was not a
beautiful structure. It stood on the crest of a hill so high that
sometimes the clouds came down and played with us ; and from its-
windows we could overlook broad valleys on three sides, and
thirty miles away along the horizon was blue Lake Erie studded
with white dots which we knew were sailing ships. To be sure,
the benches and desks bore the escutcheons of the former occu-
pants but we liked them all the better for that; ours had on it
M. E. B. the initials of a rosy-cheeked sweet faced "big girl"
who graced the place only a year or so after our advent; she was
wont to wear a broad leghorn hat trimmed with blue ribbon a
long piece of which was fastened to the front of the band, its-
free end being held in the hand of the fair wearer to keep the hat
from being swept off by the wind, — a coquettish device that en-

EDITORIAL 353

hanced our admiration for the young lady and made the M. E. B.
on the desk a starting point for dreams.

All of this was in a school of half a century ago; but our faith
is still pinned fast to the Rural School. It was only last month
that an enterprising and efficient District Superintendent invited
us to a meeting of his rural teachers in Northern New York, an
experience that renewed our enthusiasm for the "district school."
The teachers present were bright faced attractive girls and women ;
they were alert and interested in all that pertained to their work
and we envied the country youngsters who came under their
instruction and influence; and we envied each of those teachers
for she was teaching in about the only place left in our wonderfully
organized educational system where she might have full oppor-
tunity for free, personal and friendly contact with her pupils
and where her individual initiative might find fullest scope.

"On the bench by the woodbox was set the water pail. Beside
it was the drinking utensil, sometimes a tin cup, sometimes a glass
tumbler, and for one while a little custard cup. It was astonish-
ing how many times a scholar could drink that custard cup full
when he made the attempt. The small boy in the front seat would
drink as much as he could hold, and then turn around and watch
the progress of the water pail to observe if any one could exceed
him. If the pail-bearer had a grudge against any particular one,
or was humorously inclined, he might snatch the cup away before
the drinker had taken more than a mouthful or two, or would give
the cup a gentle but sudden tilt that inundated the drinker in a
small way. The office of water-passer seemed to be quite desir-
able, and "May I pass the water?" was a question which required
frequent answer from the teacher. The water was brought from
the nearest neighbor's. A big boy could get it alone, but usually
two went to carry the pail. In the interregnums between the
wearing out of one pail and the getting a new one the scholars all
raced over to "Uncle Elijah's" each recess to refresh themselves
at the tub of running spring water which stood at his back door."
Clifton Johnson in The Country School.

News Notes

NEW YORK

Chautauqua Institution

In spite of war conditions the enrollment in the Natural History depart-
ment of the Summer School at Chautauqua, N. Y. was practically the same
as last year. Certainly there -was no dimunition of interest and enthusiasm.
The courses were conducted by Professor Vaughn MacCaughey of the Uni-
versity of Honolulu and by Miss Emma Davis of Johnstown.

As usual the work offered was a Course for Teachers of Nature-Study, a
Nature Lovers' Course, Bird Study and an Evolution Course. In the first
course Miss Davis emphasized the methods of presenting subject matter to
classes while in the second Professor MacCaughey stressed familiarity with
the materials of nature-study for one's own spiritual growth and pleasure.

Once a week as is her custom Miss Davis gave a demonstration lesson in
the elementary school.

The bird classes had daily field trips for ear and eye training and a short
series of indoor talks on bird life, the food, plumage, etc.

Perhaps one of the most attractive features of the department was offered
in the week-end hikes and camping trips to representative natural history
regions in the vicinity of the Lake. To equip for these the young women car-
ried with them a blanket roll and provisions for four or five meals. The
party usually left the Assembly grounds in the morning, riding, tramping and
camping by turns and returning the following afternoon. The cooking was
done in the open and at night a cheerful bonfire around which the campers
gathered for stories and readings contributed much to the enjoyment of the
trip, after which to roll in a blanket and sleep under the stars was the last
delightful experience of a day quite new to many. In this way the deep
gorge of Chautauqua Creek, the interesting old port of Barcelona on Lake Erie
and a number of other points of interest were visited.

On the whole the summer has been one of marked success and happiness.

MASSACHCSETTS

New England Federation of Natural History Societies
The fall meeting was held in Springfield at the Museum of Natural History,
September 20-21, by invitation of the Allen Bird Club. The announcement
indicated real enthusiasm and that much was accomplished. It is given below.
"Friday evening September 20, there will be a public meeting at the museum
lecture room at which there will be several addresses on the work of the
Federation, the Allen Bird Club, and other Natural History organizations
past and present, in Springfield.

"Saturday morning there will be an excursion, or several excursions, into
the country for observation and collecting and members from outside the
city are advised to come on Friday so as to be in time for these outings. It is
expected that several members of the Boston Mycological Club will be present
and assist in making a collection of mushrooms to be exhibited in the after-
noon."

354

NEWS-NOTES 355

PENNSYLVANIA

North East
Miss Laura Selkregg is now president of the Nature Club, with Mrs. M. H.
Benedict vice-president and Miss Ruth Porter secretary-treasurer. The
meetings are held at the home of Mr. L. B. Cushman and seem to be full of
interest. Mr. Cushman contributes the following on the Paper Wasp.

Nature Notes
By L. B. Cushman

Should you discover that hornets have built a paper nest under the eaves
of your house or in some other location near by, don't make a fuss and set
about devising some plan to destroy them or wreck their home, as I have
known people to do, but consider yourself fortunate, for these "wolves of the
air" feed largely on house flies and other pestiferous insects, thereby contribut-
ing directly and materially to your welfare. They rarely attack a person
unless it be in self-defense. It is a cowardly animal that would make no
effort to save its home in case of attack. Kill these hornets or drive them
away, and you give flies and other obnoxious pests a better opportunity to
increase.

If you see a hornet in early spring, you are safe to conclude it is the queen
that has weathered the storms of winter and is casting about for a place to
establish a colony for the summer. Her house will at first be small, perhaps
not more than two inches in diameter — simply big enough to accommodate
the first brood, which is never large. As the colony grows, more room is
needed for brood cells, and this is cut out from the inside. The outside is
added so that the proper thickness may be maintained.

The comb, like the rest of the nest, is made entirely of paper, as they store
no honey, and consequently need no wax. The paper is made of weathered
fiber of wood, mixed with saliva and chewed. This fiber is a wooly substance,
and is obtained from dead trees that have shed their bark, from old unpainted
buildings, from old fence rails, etc. In the fall they leave the nest, and none
but the queen survives the winter. The abandoned nest of a flourishing
colony is often a foot in diameter.

Years ago, when muzzle-loading shotguns were in use, a hunter considered
himself fortunate to find one of these nests. They thought gun wads made
of them were superior to those made of ordinary paper.

The hornet is your friend, He works for your interest even* day, and works
without pay. Preserve him as you would a toad. No one but an untrained
child or a fool would injure a toad.

CALIFORNIA

California Nature-Stuiy League
Reprints from the Sacremento Bee
From California Nature-Study League. (Care of C. M. Goethe, 720 Capital
National Bank Bldg., Sacramento.)

With vacation time near, many children throughout California are busy
making butterfly nets, looking forward to the fun of making insect collections.

356 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

They enjoy this much more when they make their own nets from a sawn broom
handle, then a bit of wire twisted into circular shape serves for the rim if a
hoop is not obtainable. This makes an excellent net frame. One and one-
half yards of butterfly netting to complete the net need be the only expense.
More children know how to make butterfly nets than understand the making
of killing bottles and of pinning blocks for the pinning specimens. Some of
the clearest information obtainable on the collection and preservation of insect
specimens is to be found in the chapters on these subjects in Dr. Comstock's
"Insect Life."

The war has taught us so much about food conservation that all America
is awake to the fact that no child's education is really complete without several
years of vacation collecting and learning the difference between beneficial
and injurious insects. One of the best books obtainable on this subject is
"Beneficial and Injurious Insects of California" by Essig.

Any one of the 2 141 branches of the California County Libraries will give
advice as to obtaining books on nature-study for the child learning to read
a roadside as he would a book.

From California Nature Study League. (Care of C. M. Goethe, 720 Capital
National Bank Bldg., Sacramento.)

Poisonous Buckeyes are Cousins to Nuts Germans Use for Food

Filtering across the Swiss border comes the report that starving, yet efficient
Germany is utilizing the food content of the horse chestnut, having found a
way to neutralize its undesirable portion.

In doing this, the Teutons are repeating California Indian history. In
times of famine the Diggers made use of the buckeye, the California cousin of
this European horse chestnut. The meat of the fruit or nut of our native
tree, if eaten, is poisonous.

The Indians, with their wonderful mastery of their environment, had, under
pressure of hunger, learned how to leach out this poison, leaving a satisfying
residue, appetizing to the famine-stricken.

The submarine and camouflage have their counterpart in the insect world.
Children exploring ponds and creeks for animals for their aquarium circus often
find a mud colored monster with an almost uncanny extension jaw. This
common dweller below the water is the larva of the dragon fly. When an
adult, it earns the name of "Swiftest of winged creatures." Then it is be-
decked with flashing sapphire, emerald or garnet. In its nursery in the mud,
however, its dress is camouflaged and is the color of the muck in which it
awaits its next meal. Children delight in watching it use its extension jaw,
which it shoots out to seize unsuspecting prey.

Every child should have an aquarium with such occupants as the larvae
of the damsel fly and of the dragon fly. One needs only a glass fruit jar, a
handful of sand, and some clear water. Children learning to read a roadside
as they would a book will find few things more interesting than such an
aquarium stocked with catches made while exploring roadside pools or creeks.
Full aquarium directions are to be found in the chapter of "Breeding Insects"
in Dr. Comstock's "Insect Life" to be had from most of the 2141 branches of
the California County Library System.

NEWS-NOTES 357

RHODE ISLAND

Camp Chequesset

The fifth season of Camp Chequesset, a "Real Camp for Real Girls" at
Wellfleet Bay, Cape Cod, has certainly been a genuine contribution to the
growing movement of making young America healthy and happy. And at
the same time there has been direct, immediate help in winning the war.
We are more and more coming to realize that in the boys and girls of this
nation lies the hope of the whole world, and that anything which develops
them, physically, mentally, and morally is essentially patriotic. That is
just what Camp Chequesset is doing.

Thirty-four girls from many parts of the country spent a happy summer
doing and learning many things which bear directly on high ideas. The camp
is conducted by Mr. W. G. Vinal, instructor in Xature Study in the Rhode
Island Normal School. Miss Alice H. Belding, Director of Physical Educa-
tion at Randolph-Macon Women's College, is also one of the camp leaders.
Mrs. Vinal is "camp mother" and gives it the home touch. She is a graduate
of the Bridgewater Normal School. There are several other leaders, including
Capt. Wm. Taylor, "Graduate of the School of Hard Knocks in Cape Cod
Bay."

The camp life is varied, including all forms of athletics, hiking, swimming,
semaphore and folk dancing. The fields and forests and sand dunes as
well as the fresh and salt water afford endless opportunity for real nature study.

The honor chart shows much interest in the activities with cups and medals
given for excellence. Miss Elizabeth Acheson of Xew Jersey, won the silver
cup for Nature-Study, which included flowers, birds, trees and shells; while
another young woman "won 18 pounds in weight and gained a ruddy hue."
Safe to say there were many competitors for the last honor.

The War Service Calendar sent to each camper recently shows that these
girls, besides knitting 70K pairs of socks, collecting sphagnum moss for the
Red Cross, and selling $300 worth of War Saving Stamps, earned $162.90
during the season to be divided between the Red Cross and little War Orphans
in France. They did it by "shouldering the hoe," picking berries, and digging
clams.

Surely this camp may well be called a Laboratory for Human Nature-Study,
the very highest kind of nature study. Long live Camp Chequesset!

The Rhode Island Field Naturalists' Club
The autumn program might well serve as a model for other clubs. Its
Itinerary and Suggestions and maxims for members makes one hungry to
belong to just such a club. And we like the service flag for Private John W.
Russell now in France. The club publishes a News Letter sent to all members
which shows the fine spirit of all who belong to it.

Itinerary

I. Sept. 7. Title Rock. Rehoboth. Leader, Miss May Merry. Mrs.

Frank Goff , hostess. Taunton car fron east end of Post Office,

1.35 P.M.

II. Sept* 14. Papoosesquaw Neck. Colt's Drive. Leader, Mrs. Harriet

P. Church. Bristol car from Union Station, 1.15 p.m.

358 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918

TIL Sept. 2i. Franklin. Ellerslie Farms Dairy. Leader, Miss Lila
Hurley. Guide Master, Hugh Henry Swanson. West Wrentham
train from Union Station, 12.15 P-M- Carry lunch. Transportation
arrangements make it necessary to notify the Leader by the 14th
if you plan to go.

IV. Sept. 28. Auburn. Insect Study. Leader, Mr. Martin Bowe.

Auburn car from Exchange Place Waiting Station, 1 .20 p.m.

V. Oct. 5. High Rock. A study of Hemlocks. Leader, Mr. Royal P.

Richardson. Meet Exchange Place Waiting Station, 1 p.m.

VI. Oct. 12. Gaspee Point. Commemorative of Columbus Day. Lead-

er, Miss Adelaide Patterson. Buttonwoods car from Union Station,
12.48 P.M.

VII. Oct. 19. Oaklawn. Geology. Leader, Miss Marion D. Weston.

Oaklawn car from Market Square, 1.30 p.m.

VIII. Oct. 26. Lincoln Woods. Juvenile Nature Study. Leader, Mr.

William G. Vinal. Bring as many children as you will look out for.
Smithfield Ave. car from east end of Post Office, 1 .15 p.m.

IX. Nov. 2. Skeeterville and Moswansicut Pond. Leader, Mrs. Alice F.

Porter. Chepachet car from Exchange Place, 12.53 p.m.

X. Nov. 9. An Autumnal Quest. Leader, Mr. Alvin N. Herrick. Meet

Market Square, 1.10 p.m.
XL Nov. 16. North Branch of the Pocasset. Minerals. Leader, Miss
Eva W. Magoon. Danielson car from Market Square, 1 p.m.

XII Nov. 23. Hundred Acre Cove. Barrington. Leader, Miss Bertha

M. Smith. Barrington train from Union Station, 1 .1 5 p.m.

XIII Nov. 30. Turn O' Chance. Leaders, Prof. J. Franklin Collins and

Willis E. Chandler. Meet at Exchange Place Waiting Station,
1.30 P.M.

Suggestions
In case of clearing weather on days when all-day trips have been cancelled,
meet at Waiting Station, Exchange Place, at 1 p.m., to plan a substitute trip.
Be prepared to review with the leader at some time during the trip what has
been noted of interest in nature study.

Courtesies to Leaders :

Keep up with the party. Follow the Leader's suggestions. Do not dis-
tract attention from explanations.

Maxims: Study nature afield. Collect outdoor records. Conserve rare
plants Protect useful birds. Spread helpful knowledge. Scatter no rubbish.

Note
In these days of uncertainties, it is wise to look out for changes in time tables.

With the Colors
Private John W. Russell
Letters or cards from his fellow Club members will be appreciated.
Address him at Headquarters Company, 327th Infantry, 82d Division,
American Expeditionary Forces.

ASTRONOMY NUMBER

Vol.14 No. 9 DECEMBER, 1918 Whole No. 1«S

One year (nine issues) $1.00. 1.5e per copy

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE

American Nature- Study Soci

Some of Our Lists
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An. Morphology
Alg^e & Fungi
Birds & Their Food
General Botany
Entomology
Evolution
Native Ferns
Nature Study
Plant Ecology
Plant Morphology
Play Grounds
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subject in which you are interested, we will
place your name on our mailing list and send
you literature from time to time.

PROJECTION FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS AND LECTURERS
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THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Vol. 14 December, 1918 No. 9

The Moon Story

Ethel Hinckley Hausmax
New Haven, Conn.

It is not many years since people believed that once upon a
time, manv millions and millions of years ago, a strange thing
happened on this earth of ours. In those remote days our earth
was not the hard, solid body that it is today, but was a larger,
softer, and much hotter mass, too hot, indeed for any sort of
life to find it comfortable to live on its surface. Great volcanoes,
scattered thickly about steamed continuously and spouted their
torrents of molten rock incessantly from out their giant craters,
and clouds of mud colored steam hung over all the land. It was
during these troubulous times that the strange thing of which I
have spoken, occurred. A huge fragment of the earth's mass
was broken off by the rapid rotation of the earth itself and was
sent steaming and twirling away into space, gradually assuming
a globular form as it went. It, too, developed volcanoes, and
was clothed with clouds of steamy vapor, and was in fact a real
daughter of our earth. But it gradually, like the earth, began
to cool, until finally, when thinking human beings began to make
their appearance on this world of ours they looked upward one
fine moonlight night and exclaimed, "Look, what a wonderful
moon!"

Perhaps this was the way in which our moon was born but
astronomers of today have a new theory. By studying certain
bodies in our heavens called nebulae they have decided that our
world was formed from such a mass in the center of which was our
sun and rapidly spiralling around it many smaller particles of
different sizes perhaps in a liquid state but at any rate in such a
condition that when a smaller particle strayed into the path of the
larger ones there was a collision and the smaller one became joined
to and increasing still more the size of the larger. So it was that
our earth and other planets including the moon were born.

359

360 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

Astronomers tell us that the moon is about one-eightieth the
size of the earth. If you were to make a trip around the earth,
in the region of the equator, and then repeat your journey again
and again for ten times you would have travelled as far as the
distance from the earth to the moon, or about 238,840 miles. We
usually say about 240,000 miles, as this is an easier number to
remember. So you see the moon is really quite far away, and yet
it is our nearest heavenly neighbor! Not a very neighborly
distance, is it, as we think of neighborly distances in our towns
and country-sides? If you were to travel on the fastest express
train, and could go a mile a minute, and never stop for any station,
or slow up for any grade, you would have to travel for 166 days
at this top speed before you reached the moon. And 166 days,
remember, is almost half a year! The moon, as you probably
already know, travels around the earth once every month, and in
a great circle, but not an exact circle. Sometimes the moon's
orbit (as this path around the earth is called) lies nearer to the
earth than at other times, and so when the moon is in this parti-
cular portion of its journey it approaches to within about 210,000
miles of us. Still this is not near enough so that we can tell the
difference by merely looking at it. It is the astronomers who
work these things out for us, using, such very, very hard problems
in mathematics, which you and I, I am afraid, would not be able
to do.

Because of its great distance from us the moon seems very small,
but I am sure that you will not think that a globe with a diameter
of a little over 2,000 miles is very small; and that is the diameter
of our moon, or in other words. the distance right through its
center from one side to the other. Just remember this when you
are next looking at the full moon, and try to imagine how very
far away it must be to look no bigger than your tennis ball. Some
of the planets (that is the heavenly bodies like our earth) have
several moons! But if there are people on such planets, these
moons seem to them no larger than many of the bright stars do
to us.

The same surface or side of the moon is turned toward us always,
so that when the moon is full we can see the Man in the Moon,
or the more beautiful Lady in the Moon, in always the same posi-
tions. This surface of the moon that is visible from the earth
contains 7,300,000 square miles. It will make these figures more

hausman] THE MOON STORY 361

interesting when I tell you that this is just a little larger than the
area of South America. Unfortunately we do not know what the
other side of the moon is like, for we havs never seen it. Isn't
that curious? See if you can twirl an apple on its stem, and keep
it, at the same time revolving about your closed fist so that the
same side of the apple is always toward your fist. If you can do
this then you will have some idea of why we earth people never
see but one side of the moon. But the moon sways a little as it
makes its monthly journey, just as though it were a little unsteady,
perhaps dizzy as it looks so far, far down at the earth, and as it
sways we see a little bit around first on one side and then on the
other. From these glimpses we judge that the unseen side is
very much like the seen.

The magical, soft, silvery moonlight, which we all enjoy so much
is the light which the moon catches from the sun and reflects
down to us on earth. For the moon itself is cold and solid and
emits no light of its own, Like a great round, rough, silver mirror
it catches what light it can and sends it earthward. If you will
look very carefully when the moon is new, that is when it is merely
a thin crescent in the western sky, you will see the faint outline
of the whole big moon! This is what has been poetically called
"the old moon in the new moon's arms." The faint outline that
we see is illuminated by the reflected light from our own earth,
or earth shine, as it was termed. For you must remember that
to the moon our earth is also a moon, and shines almost fourteen
times as brightly! If only there were people living on the moon,
just fancy what wonderful "earthlight" nights they would be able
to enjoy! How far the light rays or waves that illumine this
faint ring of the "old moon" have travelled! They have travelled
from the sun to the earth, across to the moon, and then back to
the earth again. And if I tell you that the sun is about 93 million
miles from the earth you can find out the distance which these
waves have travelled. Try and see if you can!

Of course you know that the moon does not change its shape,
but appears as a crescent, half, or full moon according to the
amount of its surface that is lighted by the sun.

As has been suggested, it would be pleasant to think of children
on the moon, and grown ups, too, all enjoying our earth shine,
but alas, we know that there can be no children there, nor flowers,
grass, trees, or life of any kind. Neither are there brooks, or

362

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

ponds, or
oceans that
we earth folk
know so well,
and would
feel so at a
loss without.
The moon is
cold, dry, and
solid, a mass
of rock, of a
grayish hue,
much like,
perhaps, a
huge lump of
dull silver. If
you will take
a pair of opera
orfieldglasses,
or a small tele-
scope and ex-
amine the sur-
face of the
moon, the dis-
torted face of
the old man,
and the beau-
tiful profile of
the lady van-
ish, and in
their places appear mountains, plains, and irregular darker
patches. This is the moon as the astronomers know it. Look
closer, and you will see that the surface is covered with multi-
tudes of little rings, some large and ragged, some small, perfect,
and smooth. These are volcano craters, and many^of them are
much larger than any that we have on our earth, some being
more than a hundred miles from side to side. The largest one
that we can boast of, measures only seven miles! The irregular
dark patches are the shadows of mountains, and it is by means
of these shadows that astronomers measure the height of the

The moon's surface seen through a telescope showing the
craters, Mercator and Campanus

haisman] THE MOOS STORY 363

mount ains that cast them. Can you think how this could be done ?
You will easily recognize the broad plains. The early observers
of the moon, in the days when telescopes were small and weak,
thought that these plains must be seas, but we know better now-
a-days. There is no water on the moon, you remember. Strange
as it may seem to you, every mountain range and crater, even-
plain and valley has a name! For the geography of that side of
the moon which we can see was known and mapped long before
the surface of our earth was studied. Why was this? Don't
you see how easy it was for the early moon geographers to map
the surface which they could see so well? To map the surface of
the earth requires years and years of travel, and the early inhabi-
tants of our world had not the great steamships, railroads, auto-
mobiles, and aeroplanes which we have to carry us rapidly over
long distances. They knew very little of the surface of the earth
on which they lived, because they had seen very little of it. But
all of them had seen all of the moon that there was to see from
where they lived, and without going any farther than, perhaps,
their front yards !

Mountains and volcanic craters on the moon tell the history
of terrific disturbances within the hot interior ages and ages ago,
far more severe than we can imagine, disturbances which sent
floods of boiling lava and showers of rock fragments and ashes out
of the craters of multitudes of huge volcanoes, while earthquakes
rocked the globe and raised the ranges of jagged mountains which
traverse the face of the moon.

Now the moon is quiet, peaceful, cold, unchanging; clothed
with no vegetation, and supporting on its rocky surface no traces
of animal life. Year after year it silently rolls on through the dark
and silent vastness of space, its chief duty seeming to be to give
to us mortals the most beautiful silvery light which we know.
The ancient alchemists sought to turn silver into gold, but the
moon, well knowing that we have the gold of sunlight in plenty
during the day, captures the gold of the sun, after it has set, and
transforms it into silver for our delight during the night.

You know that our atmosphere serves as a blanket, both to
prevent the escape of heat from the earth, and also to shield us
from too much heat from the sun. On the moon there is no atmos-
phere— that is, no air — and so you can imagine how piercingly
cold it must be when the sun is set, and on the other hand how
scorchingly hot it is underneath its direct rays!

364 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

Besides giving us light at night, the moon, like a dutiful servant,
performs for us other important services! It raises and lowers
the waters of our oceans and seas by its attraction, thus giving
to us the tides. Were it not for the cleansing wash of the rising
and falling of the water twice a day you can easily see that our
seacoasts would soon become unwholesome places through the
decay of animal and plant substances. What a valuable service
this is, to be sure ! But the moon has a helper in this task, for the
sun also aids in regulating the tides.

The forces of the attraction of the earth, as you know, is what
gives to bodies their weight. This force is called gravitation.
Now astronomers tell us that the smaller a heavenly body the less
gravitation it possesses. The gravitational force on the moon is
only one-sixth of what it is on the earth. That means that a body
weighing sixty pounds on the earth would weigh only ten pounds
on the moon ! If you could go to the moon you would weigh only
one-sixth of your present weight. What would you weigh there,
Reader? How much farther you could jump there! And think
of harnessing a Shetland pony to a great two-horse load of coal
and seeing him amble away with it as easily as if he were drawing
a basket-gig load of children to a picnic !

Truly the moon is a wonderful companion for us earth people,
for even if we cannot make a visit to it at present (and who will
say that a journey to the moon will never be possible) still it
furnishes us with the only silver light that we have, besides pre-
senting us with a wonderful landscape of mountains and volcanoes,
and doing many little tasks for us, such as I have suggested in
the matter of the tides.

The ancients regarded the moon as a symbol of steadfastness
and unchanging devotion to purpose, and to swear by the moon
has come down, almost to our own day as the custom of those who
wish to give assurance of their loyalty and fidelity.

"A globe of silver on a velvet sky
Of sable hue, rolls slowly year by year
About our earth, and ever from on high
Sends down her argent light for mortal cheer.
Oh moon, throughout our life's short span, may we
Be firm, unchanging, constant, pure, like thee!"

The Moon, A Physical Geography Lesson

Lena S. Thomas
Supervisor of Children's Gardens for the Carnegie Steel Co.
Duquesne, Pa.

Scientists have proved by photography, and observations
through powerful glasses, that the moon has no atmosphere, and
no atmosphere means no water, as well as no air. Let us consider
for a moment what effect the lack of water and air would have
on the vegetable, animal or human life of our own planet : Could
plants grow without air? That is easily shown to be impossible
by trying to grow a plant under a glass jar, from which the air
has been exhausted, the plant ceases to grow, becomes stiff and
finally dies. Do you think animals could live without air' Do
you think you yourself or any one you know could live without
air? Have you heard the story of the miserable prisoners in the
dungeon called "The Black Hole of Calcutta," who died because
they could not get air to breathe' We all know how we sleep
with our windows open nights to get good air.

We all know that neither plants, animals nor people can live
without water. So we must decide that the earth without her
atmosphere would be an impossible place to live on. For the
same reasons it is easy to see that if the moon has no atmosphere
it would be impossible that there should be any form of life there.

We can make observations on the lack of atmosphere around
the moon for ourselves with field glasses. If we observe an eclipse
of the sun by the moon or see the moon passing between the earth
and a star, we shall see that those bodies disappear sharply and
reappear abruptly; there is no gradual changing of color nor
softening of light. Scientists say this is due to the lack of any
atmosphere such as the earth has; if there were any, during an
eclipse of the sun by the moon the sun would not entirely disap-
pear but would be revealed to us by a ring of dazzling luster,
caused by the refraction of its rays by the air.

We should begin our observations of the moon through our
glasses while it is a narrow crescent, and follow it as it fills, we shall
be looking at the tops of moon mountains, which will be flooded
with light as the moon rises, leaving the lower spaces buried in
blackness; people can measure the height of these mountains
by these great shadows, which are cast across the valleys.

365

366 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

•

In the full moon these shadows are shortened and the light
places we see are the white shining rock of mountains while the
dark places are rocks of a different color. The old astronomers
gave them very fanciful names, such as the Bay of Rainbows, the
Lake of Dreams. They did not know as we do now, that all
these valleys, lake beds, or craters as they may chance to be, were
without a drop of water.

We are told and it has been proven that our atmosphere is
about 200 miles high, some parts of it being much thicker than
others because it is compressible, pressing on us, as they will teach
you in physics class, with a pressure of nearly 15 pounds to the
square inch.

A good way to realize what it is like on the moon without any
blanket of atmosphere is to know some of the things our cushion
of air does for us. If we were to climb up some exceedingly high
mountain, like Mt. Everest, or go up in an aeroplane we should
find that the farther up we went the colder it would become;
we should notice this more after we were above the clouds, for
they act as heat curtains to us, keeping in the heat that comes down
to us from the sun and acting at the same time as a screen to
protect us from its scorching rays. Many a traveler's face has
been scorched by the sun, even in those high places where the air
is so bitterly cold. We know that water in a blackened bottle,
has been boiled by the sun's rays at a height of about 1 100 feet.

Now if through our air blanket 200 miles thick, we can be
scorched by the sun, or frozen with the cold, how terrible it must
be on the moon, which has no blanket of air, and no screen of
clouds. The heat of the sun's rays is 500 degrees above zero,
and they would fall on the moon five times hotter than they do
here on the hottest day of summer when the thermometer stands
at one hundred in the shade, and horses and people fall dead from
sun-stroke. How long do you suppose they could stand the heat
on the moon? Then at night because the moon has no blanket
to keep the heat from getting away from her quickly, she cools
down to 250 degrees below zero. This is cold enough to freeze
air solid.

Here is a jar with an air pump, which I have borrowed from the
physics department, it has a bell in it suspended from a string.
Can you all hear the bell ringing ? Now one of you may use this air
pump and pump the air out of the jar ; now ring the bell. What,

thomas] THE MOON 367

cannot you hear it ringing? Well do you think it is ringing?
Why? Oh you see it shake do you? Well if you see it ringing
why don't you hear it? Yes, because there is no air in the jar.
Then it must be the air that makes us hear; if you think so let
in a little air; sure enough, now you can hear it ring! So it must
be the air that enables us to hear sound. Suppose you were on
the moon, and one of you wanted to tell the other something.
No matter how loud James should shout he could not make John
hear; he might see James' mouth move but that would be all;
James would have to make signs or write it. If all the battles
of Europe could have been fought on the moon no one would
have had shell shock from them. Even the meteors though some
of them weigh a thousand tons do not make any noise when they
fall into the moon; but they do batter its face terribly when they
strike it for the moon has no cushion of air in front of her to protect
her as the earth has.

All of us have at some time been in a darkened room, where
through some tiny space would come a ray of light which would
proceed in a straight line to some spot on the wall, where it would
make a spot. If we had a prism somewhere between that opening
into the room and that spot on the wall, anywhere along the line
of light, it would strike the prism and be thrown back or refracted,
but it would no longer be one bright spot but light scattered to
all parts of the room; and it would no longer be white, but would
show all the seven colors which we call the spectrum.

This is what our atmosphere does for us, it collects all the
rays of white light that come to us from the sun, they pass through
it and are scattered into all corners of the world and these rays
of light strike on different objects, for example, the sunlight on
the grass; and those rays which would look red or yellow or
violet, are absorbed by the plant to do work for it, and only the
green color is unused, or thrown back, refracted, to our eyes, and
we see that and call the plant green.

The moon has no atmosphere to act as a prism and diffuse and
color the sun 's rays which fall on it as a strong white light, billions
of times stronger than the little white spot you may have seen on
the wall. It is so brilliant that we could not look on it without
being blinded. We cannot look at the sun from the earth without
hurting our eyes, but a smoked glass makes it quite easy. The
atmosphere acts as a curtain something like the smoked glass.

368 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

Because the moon has no atmosphere, the stars seen from it do not
twinkle for that is caused by seeing the light through the moving
air curtain, like the little spots of dust we see dancing in the
room between us and the window, in our own houses, or out of
doors between us and the sun.

Scientists have proved that light consists of three colors, red,
yellow and blue, there being three parts of the yellow, five of the
red and eight of the blue, and these three colors make black.
Our curtain of atmosphere sifts out the other colors, and leaves
us a blue sky, but the moon having no such sifter, its skies remain
black. People who have gone up very high in the sky, where our
curtain was thinner, have noticed the sky became darker as they
went higher. So our knowledge of this fact tells us that the moon
sky must be black as ink.

There is always a shadow on the opposite side of any object
on which light falls ; but the atmosphere diffuses the light so that
on the earth the shadows are not black; but on the moon there
are no scattered permeating particles of light filling all the tiny
cracks of space to lighten up things, so there the shadows are
blacker than our blackest night, and all the moon is covered with
them except in those places on which the light falls directly.

The atmosphere is an invisible blanket wrapped around the
earth. As sometimes our blankets are made of a mixture of
materials, so sometimes our air is a mixture and carries more
water or less, according as to whether it is warm or cold. If the
day be warm and dry, as it might be in summer, water from the
oceans, lakes, rivers, ground or foliage, absorbed, is changed to
vapor, which is a mixture of the hot air and the water; as more
air is mixed in, all the water disappears in the air. We call this
evaporation. The hotter the day the faster it takes up water.

But just as our regular blankets of cotton or wool can take up
a certain amount of water and not drip, but will drip when they
have more than a certain amount of water in them ; so our blan-
ket of air can only take up about seven inches of water at any one
time, without dripping; although that air blanket is 200 miles
thick.

If the sun is very hot all the moisture that is taken up may be
carried up into the sky several miles, and spread out so thin that
it disappears as gas leaving no clouds at all. But if a current
of cold air comes rushing along from the north pole, or some other

thomas] THE MOON 369

cold place, then the water in the air condenses again and makes
clouds.

Fog and haze are clouds. The haze is where the moist air is
just a tiny bit cooled, and therefore the water is slightly condensed,
this often happens when the sun is going down. If the air becomes
still thicker, that is, has more water condensed in it, and we cannot
see things around us, we say there is a fog. Fogs are more apt
to occur where there is a good deal of dust floating in the air,
since the mixture will condense into water around these tiny bits
of dust. When the temperature of the atmosphere falls to a cer-
tain degree of coldness the air is unable to hold the moisture and
lets it go as rain. But if it gets still colder, and the air is full of
water it condenses into crystals and makes snow instead of rain.

Thus we see that the rays of the sun, before they fall on the earth
and warm it, must warm all this blanket of air that is between us
and it, and the air blanket because of the heat absorbs water and
so, our weather will van-.

But on the moon, where there is no water to be taken up by
the air and no air to take it up anyway the clouds cannot be formed
nor changed from rain clouds to snow clouds, so the weather on
the moon does not vary.

With no water inside the ground to freeze, and push the particles
of rock apart, as the water swells in freezing, the rocks would not
break up into little particles as they do on the earth, and therefore
the rocks on the moon would probably stay rocks forever, instead
of breaking up into soil, as they do on the earth, unless the meteors
batter them into pieces.

QUESTIONS ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MOON

Do you think there can be any life on the moon? Why not?

What do you think the color of the moon's sky is ? Why ?

How does our sky look before sunrise, and at sunset ? Does the
moon's sky look the same?

If you were on the moon, how do you think the sun would look?
How would the stars look? Would they look as they do from
the earth? Why? What can you tell about the shadows on the
moon ?

If we had no air on the earth would you be able to guess whether
the mountains were a long way off or close at hand' Why'

37° NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 19 18

Is the climate of the moon like ours ? How does it differ ? Why
is this difference? Could people live in such a climate?

What difference would the lack of an atmosphere make in our
own ability to hear noise? Why? Does it make any difference
on the moon ? If you were there could you hear your mother call
you to supper if you were playing in the next yard? Could you
hear the roar of a cannon if there was one discharged on the moon ?
Why?

Why do we have clouds in our sky? What makes rain and
snow ? Why is our sky blue ? Why is the moon sky black ?

How do freezing and thawing affect our rocks? Is it the same
on the moon? Could you go skating or slide down hill or make
snowballs there? How would lack of clouds and air affect the
heat and cold?

Ode to Phoebe

From The Metropolitan Magazine

Phoebe is the moon of Saturn which revolves in the opposite direction from
all the other moons of Saturn and of all the other planets.

C. S. Day, Jr.

Phoebe, Phoebe, whirling high
In our neatly plotted sky;
Listen, Phoebe, to my lay,
Won't you whirl the other way?

All the other stars are good,
And revolve the way they should ;
Only you of that bright throng
Will persist in going wrong.

Don't reply what God has said,
We have made a law instead ;
Have you never heard of this
Nebular hypothesis?

It prescribes in terms exact,
Just how every star should act;
Tells each little satellite
Where to go and whirl at night.

Disobedience incurs

Anger of astronomers,

Who, you must not think it odd,

Are more finicky than God.

So, my dear, you'd better change,
Really, we can't rearrange
All our charts from Mars to Hebe,
Just to fit a chit, like Phoebe.

First Grade Readers

A Survey and Criticism

William Gould Vixal
The Rhode Island Normal School .

ATURE-STUDY teachers will concede that
first grade readers are not supposed to be
nature readers or for nature-study. How-
ever, as the large majority of stories in
these books are about plants and animals
the books have a decided relation to nature-
study. Librarians, kindergarteners, and
literature teachers will not agree with this
article. Their experiences certainly cannot
be ignored. What position do science teachers take in regard
to first grade readers?

The following statistics were gathered from thirty-three of the
best and most used first grade readers. Over 50 per cent of the
stories in these readers are about animals. Only 33 per cent of
these animal stories are true to nature. The other 66 per cent
are either fables or personifications where the animals act and talk
as human beings. For every five animal stories there is one plant
story and one geography story, such as: — The wind, the rain,
or the Eskimo. Out of fourteen stories related to some special
day nine are devoted to Christmas, three to Thanksgiving, one to
St. Valentine's, and one to Hallowe'en. Only two books have
any biography and these honor Dupre, Millet, Abraham Lincoln,
Confucius, Washington, King Midas, and Columbus. The
other subjects consist of a little fiction, such as: — Dolly's Ride,
or Helping Father, and stories about inanimate objects, such
as : — A top, a drum, or a sled. Only four books out of the thirty-
three give any attention to our flag or to patriotism.

A study of the accompanying table will be of interest to all
naturalists. For instance: The cat is written about more than
any other animal. Out of thirty-eight cat stories fourteen are
of the fairy type (includes myths, legends, mother goose, and
fables), fourteen are about cats who talk as human beings, and
ten are true to cats and their doings. It is only fair to state that
the majority of these cat stories which cannot be classified as per-
sonifications or fables are of the following style: "See mamma.

37i

372

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

Table Showing Nature Content of Thirty-Three of the Best and
Most Used First-Grade Readers

Animals

Plants

GttOGRAPHY

a>

c

d

0

p

'J

S

u

d

V

s

s

"^

&

s

6

a

s!

if

&

4

d

«}

3

4
0

+3

Name

3

0

(£

H

Name

c

;-=

r^

Name

£

B

p

O

O

c

(-4

O

0

3

L

0

a
H

H

1

Cat

38

IO

14

14

Apple

IO

7

3

0

Snow

9

8

I

Dog

20

9

9

2

Maple tree .

5

3

2

O

Wind

8

3

5

Cow

17

9

3

5

Daisy . . : . .

4

3

I

O

Rain

7

4

3

Mouse

13

2

4

7

Dandelion . .

4

2

2

0

Frost

5

1

4

Hens

17

9

8

0

Seeds

4

3

1

O

Dutch

4

4

0

Rabbit

13

4

8

1

Seedlings . . .

4

3

1

()

Eskimo ....

4

4

0

Fox

II

1

7

3

Leaves

4

3

I

O

Sun

4

1

3

Bee

10

2

4

4

Cherries . . .

3

3

0

O

Farm

3

3

0

Horse

10

8

2

0

Orange ....

3

3

0

0

Moon

3

1 2

Pig

10

3

2

5

Pussy Wil-

Cloud

1

1 IO

low

3

3

0

0

Squirrel ....

10

3

7

0

Milkweed . .

2

2

0

0

Japan Girl .

1

1 0

Chickens . . .

9

4

S

0

Oak

2

I

I

0

Spring

1

1 0

Robin

6

4

2

0

Tulip ••

1

1

0

0

Wool

1

1 |o

Summary:

Total

True

Personification

Fairy Type

Books*

Animals ....

Plants

Geography . .
Special days .
Biography . .
Our flag

339

79

63

14

6

4

I20

57

4i

14

6

4

126

22

22

O

O

O

93°
0
0
0
0
0

33

17

18

10

2
4

*Indicates the number of books out of the 33 examined in which these kind of stories appear.
For example: The 22 personified stories about plants occurred in 17 books.

vinal] FIRST GRADE READERS 373

See kitty. Mamma, see kitty. See kitty, mamma. My kitty.
See mv kitty. See my kitty, mamma, etc." As soon as possible
these books launch out from this stage into cat-lore, — "Ding,
Dong, Bell;" the kitten-mitten episode; the Pussy Cat and the
Queen; etc. There is an intermediate stage of true stories which
is omitted. What has been said about the cat is typical of other
animals. One must conclude that the "True to Nature" stories
are of rare occurrence in first grade readers.

The child's written composition is too often a reflection of his
reader. It should be vice versa. The method of the teacher is
also influenced by the method of the readers. This influence
permeates the primary grades and the following essays written
by primary grade children represent the work of three different
teachers and three distinct methods.

i. Golde rod. "My name is goldenrod. I live by the side
of the road. I have purple aster nearby. I am dressed in yellow.
It is like the sun. My friend has a purple and yellow dress.
I have a lot of gold-dust. I come in the autumn when the trees
are turning brown and yellow. My leaves are green and narrow."
This teacher saw nothing interesting in goldenrods and had had
no scientific training. The child did not learn anything about
goldenrods. The plant was humanized. Nature is interesting
enough in itself and needs no fluffiness.

2. Nasturtium. "My flower has a green stem. My flower's
name is nasturtium. It has petals and is yellow and brown.
It smells nice. My flower grows in my garden. Bees go in it.
They make honey for us. There is some honey in the end."
This paper is a decided advance over type one. The plant has
a relation to the life of the child. Each flower fact however, is
isolated and has nothing to do with the life of the plant. Bees
do not gather honey. They gather nectar to make honey.

3 . Dandelion . ' 'The dandelion grows in the meadow and on the
lawn. The root is long so that it can get the food in the ground.
The leaves are pointed. It is called the dandelion because the
leaves are like a lion's tooth. There are many dandelions because
when the lawn mower goes over them it cuts the leaves but it
does not hurt the roots. The animals do not eat them because
they are too bitter." Although there is much that could be
improved in a second draft the results attained in this composi-
tion are very creditable. This pupil saw a relation between the

374 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 191 3

form of the plant and its life. The facts have a meaning. The
adaptation of a plant or animal to its environment should play
an important part in every story of its life. It is this form of
story that is lacking in the first grade readers.

What literary development has the child at the end of the first
year? He has had a year of exciting reading. He probably
prefers this style, but, does that make it right? Most children
prefer candy but we do not make it 50 per cent of their diet. Is
"ding dong bell" the means or is it the object of education?
Education is a process of living. The child lives with a cat that
catches mice and laps milk with its rough tongue. These every
day subjects of child life are natural, fundamental subjects. It is
sort of a "See America first" idea. Why go by the fable-route
to tell about interesting things at home?

If the child does not get true stories now, when will he? The
majority of children never will get true animal tales. The only
ones I know of, about cats, are the leaflets written for the
Humane Education Society and many of these are the "Do not
tie a tin can on the cat's tail" kind. (It would be better pedagogy
to get an interest in cats.) The writers of .real nature literature
may be counted on one's fingers. They are Bradford Torrey,
Frank Chapman, Ernest Ingersoll, Dallas Lore Sharp, Gilbert
White, Henry D. Thoreau, and John Burroughs. And, after
all, were not our great writers worth while naturalists? Emerson,
Longfellow, Whittier, and Tennyson were not nature fakirs.
What has a child in his early literature to prepare him for these
writers? Nothing. His early training prepares him to make such
books as Long's and Seton's successful. These writers tell about
animals, not as they are but as their readers like to think they are.
I well remember my bitter disappointment in the learning powers
of two pet rabbits after having read about rabbit intelligence as
"observed" by these two men. The average first grade reader
is the initiator of the appetite which enjoys nature faking, the
colored supplement of the Sunday newspaper, and shall we add,
ante-nuptial love stories, — situations remote from real life.

The existance of gullibility as to fairy stories was illustrated
in class recently. I asked how deep in the ocean are growing
plants found? The answer was rather fabulous. Questioning
brought out the information that the pupil knew it was so because
she had read about it in Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the

vixal[ FIRST GRADE READERS 375

Sea." The pupil did not know the meaning of a league but on
looking it up returned with the same amount of credulity even
though 20,000 leagues means 60,000 miles and the diameter of
the earth is about 8000 miles. Any one entertaining any doubt
as to the universal faith in such matters should question farmers
in regard to the Old Farmers' Almanac and their belief in weather
folk-lore.

The reasons given for the fairy-land route are more traditional
than real. The supporters might as well say, — "The more remote
an idea is to the life of a pupil the greater is the value of the idea".
One purpose of the fairy story is to teach a moral truth. I would
give more for one moral taught by the realities of the Boy Scout
method than for one hundred morals dramatized by the gaesous
vertebrates of fairydom. But, someone says, the children like
the poetical and rhymes. Cannot the truth be made as poetical
as the untruth ?

The fairy story trains the imagination. If a little more than
50 years ago someone had told General Grant that some of his
men would live to see the day when battles would be fought in
the air and beneath the surface of the ocean he would have smiled
increduously. His imagination could not have conceived the
things of the great war of today. These wonderful inventions
of science are due to the imagination based on realities. Study
the life of any of these great inventors and you will find them based
on realities. When the imagination wanders about unrealities
the real environment does not change. When imagination is
based on reality it accomplishes things. And so it is with the
child. His imagination should not be started on the unrealities
of life but should be allowed to start from the higher plane of
truth. This is what the child does when he uses the stick for a
horse and the chair for a boat. Fairy stories are the inventions
of adult imaginations forced upon the child and yet we inconsis-
tently feel pleased when we can say that "he no longer believes
in fairies."

Then the recapitulation argument. The literature of primitive
man was folk-lore and the childhood of the individual should paral-
lel the childhood of the race. The mother of the howling savage
stilled her papoose with a folk-lore story . Does that excuse the
modern (?) mother who awes her little one with "The boogy man
will get you" or "I will shut you up in a dark closet ?" That child

376 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

is to live in the future. He may have to perform some duty in
the dark but lacks the courage because fiction has preceded fact.
The Br'er Rabbit stories of Joel Chandler Harris are valuable
records of the folk-lore of the African Americans. They were
told by negro mammies to silence their picaninnies or to rouse
them into delight. The triumph of these imaginations over fact
in the mind of the negro has made him superstitious and awry.
That method of child discipline is not necessary or desirable.
Neither is it a prerequisite for raising rabbits. Folk-lore stories
are illustrative of old methods and are rich in material for the
mature student. I believe that they have no place in the primary
grades and above all things should never precede the true story.

As the criticism of these readers may be thought to be severe,
verbatim samples of their nonsense have been selected.

"A little bee cried, 'Buzz, Buzz,' all the way home." The author
was so impressed with the little pig and wee wee that the same
style was extended to bees and other animals.

"Can I pat the fat cat? Did the dog see the frog on a log?" Here
the writer is obessed with the phonic idea at the expense of good
sense. I am not an authority on the matter but have been taught
that can means to be able or to be competent to do something.

" 'Why, why, why!' said Goosey Loosey." This reminds me of a
friend who took great pleasure in using baby talk with his baby
girl. He would say: "De boomps want wa wa!" Translation:
Does baby want water? Cute? Yes. But, why waste time in
learning two vocabularies ? Why keep the little one in that early
confused stage of acquiring words? The aim of the parent or
teacher should be to help the child over complex places and not
to prolong the period of difficulty.

"// all the world were apple pie,
And all the sea were ink,
And all the trees were bread and cheese,
What should we have for drink."

Children read and listen to this foolishness while Hooverism
is a vital part of our existence.

"Once a cat ate a kid." Quite a fete-cham-petre for a cat.

'"Little Mouse, will you have some milkV says Mrs. Cat." How
modest as compared with the cat mentioned in the preceding
quotation. Cats are not usually so considerate with mice.

yinal] FIRST GRADE READERS 377

"Mrs. Tabby Gray told stories to ker kittens." She could also tell
interesting stories to the person who can observe closely.

"Help'. Help:" lie cried; "I am buried alive.'" This is said by a
squash seed. A squash seed must be buried alive in order to grow
into a healthy plant.

"Bees don't care about the snow
I can tell you why that's so
Once I caught a little bee
Who was much too warm for me."

Rather of a pointless point.

"And the milkweed laughed and laughed,
It laughed so long that the pod burst."

Some interesting truths about milkweed pods. Contrast, with

milkweeds that laugh, for educational value. Each pod has a

spring-like stem. When the wind blows the spring shakes the

seeds out and they are blown away. As long as the pod is green

and growing it cannot burst even though it laughed harder than

ever. When the pod stops growing it begins to dry. It then

shrinks and splits at the seam. The pod opens toward the outside

of the plant instead of toward the stem. The seeds, therefore,

are not apt to catch onto any part of the plant and they are ready

to be taken in any direction. When the pod first opens its exposes

the seed. As these seeds ripen the silk dries and becomes exposed

to the wind. As the seeds are arranged on top of each other, like

shingles, they are not distributed at one time. Some of the seeds

thus have a greater chance of being distributed at a favorable

time.

"The world is so full of a number of tthings,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."

This has become ironical. School readers in the future should
be 100 per cent democratic.

"Quack, quack, quack!" said the little duck.

This was on the day that it hatched. Little ducks do not
quack.

"But the Half-chick only laughed," and said, — "I'm off to see the
Ths sum and epitome of absurdity.

The pictures of first grade readers are fashioned after the style
of the stories. Many include such pictures as: pig crying;
kitten baking pie; hen wearing a thinking cap; wolf blowing a
house down; a fairy pulling the seed coat off a squash seedling;
kittens knitting mittens; duck with an umbrella; fly weeping;

378 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

pansy with a human face and wearing a dress. Another kind of
picture, the one that is supposed to tell the truth and does not,
is really the most mischievous. Fortunately there are not many
of them. In one reader there is a story of the mother blue bird
setting on her nest of eggs. On the opposite page is an excellent
colored plate of the blue bird. The blueness of the picture shows
it to be the male bird. The child naturally supposes that it is
the mother bird. In another book the story of the ox finding the
cross dog in the manger is illustrated by a good drawing of a cow
and a dog. Some country children know that a cow is not an ox.
Many first grade readers are beautifully illustrated and this is
rather remarkable when we consider the very low price at which
they are sold.

Suppose a child escaped the vicissitudes of a first grade reader,
and acquired the vocabulary of an (un) ordinary young citizen.
If suddenly ushered into the inner shrine of a first reader he would
meet a foreign language which for our convenience may be classi-
fied as follows :

Strange animals: Magpie, roebuck, falcon, civet, vampire,
unau, newt, ibex, dickey-birds, terrapin, yak, zebu, cockhorse, etc.

Unusual words: Slink, huffed, dillar, diddle, dickory, malt,
whey, ply, tuffet, curds, elf, pease, etc.

Baby talk: Lammie, mousie, henny, goosie, etc.

Deceased (?) words: Lambkin, prig, ye, dame, ewe, etc.

Marvellous creations: A-riddle-ma-ro, chinchopper, cherri-o,
jiggityjog, clumpety, higglety, pigglety, etc.

As reading is the main occupation of a first grader the verdict
of a rigid course of study would be quick and merciless.
The child with the vocabulary of ordinary folks must remain in
the first grade.

Conclusions regarding first grade readers from the point of
view of a naturalist :

1. True to nature stories are decidedly lacking in first grade
readers.

2. Stories about the ordinary everyday doings of animals are
missing in first grade readers.

3. First grade readers belittle the mind of the child by giving
him foolish stories, a world of hobgoblins, void of thought.

4. True nature stories are interesting enough and do not need
to be artificialized.

Alexander] ORION, THE MIGHTY HUNTER 379

5. The fairy stories of the ordinary child primer are for the
study of the mature student.

6. The true story should precede the myth.

7. The writers of first grade readers have the preconceived idea
that the unreal is a necessary preparation for literature. This
inherited custom hinders the writers from proceeding in a natural
way and so they distort the mind of the child for months with the
literary method of the savage. Should we keep the child on all
fours to be sure that he passes through that stage? Education
should help the child pass through these stages and is not a device
to keep him in them.

Orion, The Mighty Hunter

W. P. Alexander
Instructor in Apiculture in Cornell University

"Begirt with many a blazing star
Stood the great giant Algebar,
Orion, hunter of the beast!
His sword gleaming by his side
And on his arm the lion's hide
Scattered across the midnight air
The golden radiance of its hair."

Longfellow, when he wrote the above quoted
verse which is from his beautiful poem "The
Occulation of Orion" felt impelled to make an
q. , apology for he says elsewhere, speaking of its

large stars in a line composition: "Astronomically, this title is

forming the belt, incorrect. But mv observation is made from

the curved line of ,

smaller stars below the hill of song and not from that science; and

forming the sword, ^ t trust be found sufficientlv accurate for

Betelgeuse above, ,,".,.

Rigel below at the the purpose. One could hardly wish for a finer

nSht- glimpse of the mighty hunter that we are about

to discuss, than Longfellow has given us in his picturesque lines,

unless perhaps it be an actual look at him, alone in his celestial

magnificance on some crisp and frosty winter's night.

Orion is the unsurpassed master of our brilliant heavens in the

cold months when all the visible constellations vie with one another

in lavish scintillating. His belt is better known than any other

380 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

group of stars with the exception possibly of those that form the
Big Dipper.

"Those three great stars in the Giant's zone,
That glitter burnished by the frosty dark."

It is a great pleasure to watch the movements of the stars.
The children love to do so and often the interest beginning in a
nursery rhyme has led to an ardent study of the sidereal heavens
in later life. It is told that Tegner, the Swedish poet, when a
child of only five once informed his father that he thought the stars
were holes punched in the floor of heaven by God's walking stick,
through which the celestial light shone. A remarkable and
beautiful thought for so young a mind to construct. The stories
that began far back in the history of the world, in which the
stars, and constellations figured, lend a peculiar interest to the
stellar world and should be taught and often repeated to the
children in schools at an early age. With the exception of the
Bear or Dipper, few of the constellations have been named for
the young folks, and most of this world's denizens pass through
life without the ability to name a single other, than this one star
group. Manifestly this is wrong. Things so remote and yet so
familiar to all of us as the stars should not go nameless.

Orion is plainly to be seen on any clear night from October to
May. The first thing to catch our eye, if we but glance upward
in these months is the great dazzling belt of three stars that marks
the mid-regions of the giant. They have been called the Magi,
or three wise men, also the Three Marys and the Yardstick,
for they measure off just three degrees, or as we might say, a
celestial yard. The four great stars that dot off the chief figure
of Orion are remarkable for their splendor and brilliancy. These
four are Betelguese, Rigel (also called Algebar), Bellatrix and
Saiph. It is hardly to be wondered at, that the ancients saw
in this colossal parallelogram the figure of the hero of a then
popular myth; the belt and sword stars complete the likeness
with surprising exactness, and leave but little to the imagination.
With most of the constellations it is difficult to explain the names
that have been applied to them, or rather it is impossible to clearly
trace ths figure indicated by the name, such as, for instance, that
of the Archer, the Swan and Perseus : but in Orion this is not the
case, for here almost without imagination we can see the Giant,

Alexander] ORION, THE MIGHTY HUNTER 381

sword on belt, and club in hand, awaiting the rushing bull with
Aldebaran for his fiery eye.

Of the stars that appear in Orion two are of the first magnitude
and have a place that is unrivaled in a single constellation. They
are Betelguese and Rigel, the one in the right shoulder of the Giant
and the other in his left foot. Betelguese is old and his face is red ;
this, astronomers tell us, is an indication of decline, the gradual
sinking into darkness which is the ultimate fate of all stars.
Betelguese is a very beautiful object in his glow of dusky red,
tinged with orange; this is a color that stars affect when they
have reached the stellar years of discretion, and no longer scintil-
late in a mad riot of youthful exuberance and vivacity. Of course
I would not have it understood that Betelguese does not twinkle
and gleam, as becomes a star of the first magnitude, but he does so
in an intermittent fashion, now equal in regal splendor to Altair
and Aldebaran, and again relapses into a soberness, when he is
no brighter than Formalhaut or Deneb. This is not the manner
of Rigel, the magnificent companion of Betelguese in the same
rank. Marking the left foot of Orion this stellar jewel flashes his
brilliance through the night with unwavering and irrepressible
vividness. Rigel is young and his glowing condition is but the
pomp and circumstances that all youth glories in. Rigel is the
brightest star in the figure of the great hunter, he is 16 degrees
south of grand old Betelguese. "The celestial equator runs
just about half way between the two stars so that Betelguese
lies in the northern and Rigel in the southern hemisphere." When
the constellation swings proudly into view, we first sight the som-
ber red face of Betelguese, some twenty minutes later Rigel comes
dancing sprightly into the field, shaking his flashing tresses with
splendid dash and radiance.

Mythologically, Orion was the son of Neptune; the Greeks
in their picturesque way made him a warrior-giant, and the great-
est hunter in the world. Homer described him as "the tallest
and most beautiful man;" but he was proud and boastful and
made the vaunting claim that no beast on earth was so powerful
but that he could stay it ; whereupon Juno caused a great scorpion
to sting him in the foot, and thus the mighty boaster met his death.
Diana, later interceded with the Gods, who placed him in the sky
where we now see him, "opposite to the Scorpion," so that he may
take flight in the West forever when his enemy rears its loathsome
head above the eastern horizon.

3«2 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

In his celestial position, however, Orion is none the less defiant,
and still the hunter of the beast, for there he stands with club
uplifted and arm swathed with the lion's skin ready to slay the
mighty Bull, Taurus, who charging upon him, is bent on doing
to death our steadfast, fearless hero. The whole makes a magnifi-
cent picture of heroic proportions.

The antiquity of the myth of Orion can better be comprehended
perhaps, when it is stated that the constellation is called by that
name, several times in the Bible; in the Book of Job in particular
it is mentioned with the Dipper or the "Seven Stars" and the
Pleiades. Amos, also made mention of Orion Ancient and Mod-
ern poetry makes many references to the hunter of the beast.
Aratus tells how Orion "flies to the utmost end of the earth" when
the Scorpion comes. Manilius wrote :

"Near the twins behold Orion rise
His arms extended measure half the skies,
His stride no less." •

This is a very splendid touch, betraying the mighty size of the
imperishable hunter. Milton has some ringing lines, that are
full of majesty in "Paradise Lost" on this subject; and in our
time, Tennyson was tireless in his use of Orion to grace some
of the finest music he has produced in his rich and flowing verse.
The stars of Orion's belt are familiar objects indeed, and as I
stated before are better known perhaps than any other star group
of the winter sky, with the exception of the Dipper. I wish to
speak of the belt here in connection with the sword, for the two
go together, and in the latter is found the great nebula which is
as astronomers tell us, one of the most astonishingly beautiful
things to be witnessed in the sky. The belt is made up of three
brilliant stars of the second magnitude, so evenly spaced as to
command our profound admiration. They are an excellent aid
to us in finding the most majestic star of our northern latitudes,
we have but to produce a straight line extending southward in
the direction they lay, and it will meet the noble Dog Star that
the Arabs called Al Shira, The Shining One. The fact too that
Orion's belt stars measure just three degrees, is of much use to
us, for by this heavenly ell, we can make many calculations among
the stars with great ease. The curved line of stars depending
from the belt of the giant form his sword, and while the stars
that compose it are not remarkably brilliant, the third from the

Alexander] ORION, THE MIGHTY HUNTER 383

bottom is really the great nebula that is commonly called the
"fish-mouth." It has a fancied resemblance to some monster
head. The nebula is hazy even to the naksd eye. Six very
fine stars that without the aid of a telescope appear as one, lie
directly within the nebula; this gives some indication of the
vastness of this incandescent mass. It is further interesting owing
to the fact that these stars are known as Orion's trapezium from
the position they take when seen through a powerful glass. Sir
John Herschel in writing of the nebula, says that it appears as a
mass of curdling liquid, and compares it "to the breaking up of a
mackeral sky." In 1807 the wise men at Leipzig thought to spoil
the great heroic figure of the heavens by taking the belt and sword
stars and making them into a new constellation, Napoleon: we
are glad that nothing came of this.

In closing it should be stated that the Greeks held Orion to be
threatening and often hurled bitter invective at him. Many a
classic ship or fleet of war galleys that came to grief in those olden
days, met their fate because Orion frowned upon them; at least
so thought the Ancients, hence the ugly language they used in
speaking of him from time to time. But in spite of this Orion
is today as he has ever been the glory of the winter's night, when
stars are plain to see, and though we do not fear him today, we at
least stand in awe of his supreme beauty and towering, gleaming
majesty.

Starlight
Liberty Hyde Bailev

I slept night long in the starlight

Under the calm great sky
The cool of the depths was about me

As the silent hours went by.

The day had been one of dejection

It followed me on to my rest
And I took me out to the starlights

When the day went down in the west.

Often I woke from my slumber

And the silent stars were there
In passionless steadfast legions

On guard in the welkin bare.

Under the gleam of the starshine

Motionless long I lay
Knowing at last I had mastered,—

As calm and as silent as they.

— From Wind and Weather.

The Beginning of Star Study

Anna Botsford Comstock
Reprinted by request from The Nature-Study Review, Feb. -March, 1914

The study of the stars has a great fascination for children but
there have been difficulties attending the teaching of this study-
in the elementary schools.
First of all, the teachers have
found it impracticable to take
their classes out at night.
This difficulty, may be met by
showing the forms of the con-
stellations on the black-board,
and by explaining in what part
of the heavens they may be
found at an early hour in the
evening. February is a favor-
able time for beginning star
study, for early in the evening
Orion occupies the middle of
the southern skies . The study
should begin about the middle
of the month when the darkness falls early.

The first study should be of the Polar constellations. The
Big Dipper and its relation to the Pole Star forms naturally the
earliest lesson. Place the accompanying diagram (No. i) on the
board. If the lesson is given at the middle of February, the Dip-
per will be seen at seven in the evening low down in the eastern
sky with the handle extending down toward the horizon. The
teacher should have made the observation previously so as to be
sure of the exact location. During the following two or three days
questions should be asked concerning what the pupils have seen
of the Dipper. The drawing should be erased from the board
and each pupil should make a drawing for himself of the Dipper
and the Pole Star as remembered. And this drawing should not
be accepted until the proper number of stars are placed for the
bowl and the handle and the proper relation of the pointers to
the Pole Star are indicated. The following questions should be
asked to stimulate further observations :

i . Look at the Big Dipper at 6 130 in the evening and again at 8 or
8 :3c Does it keep the same position in relation to the Pole Star?

384

Diagram I. The Pole Star and the Big
and Little Dippers

comstock] THE BEGINNING OF STAR STUDY 385

2 . Is the Dipper moving up or down ?

3. Do the pointers keep pointing toward the Pole Star?

4. Does the Dipper move around the Pole Star at night? If
. so, does it move in the same direction as the hands of the clock

or in an opposite direction?

Bv answering these questions from observation, the pupils
may be taught the following facts: The Big Dipper points
with its "pointers" toward the Pole Star and to us seems to
revolve around it each twenty-four hours, but this appearance is
caused by the fact that we ourselves on the earth are revolving
from west to east. It is a little more difficult to explain that

¥

* -

- - *~ l|

V

> *

*-*

*

iagram II. Cassiopeia's
Chair

Pole Star
Little Dipper

Big Dipper

because of the movement of the earth in its orbit the Big Dipper
and all the other stars arrive at a certain point in our sky four
minutes earlier each day or about two hours earlier each month.
The explanation may seem difficult to the pupils but the facts they
should observe for themselves.

The next lesson should be on Cassiopeia's Chair and the same
plan should be followed. Place Diagram Xo. II on the board,
showing that the stars are placed to form an irregular W. Explain
that it lies on the opposite side of the Pole Star from the Dipper,
but at about the same distance from it. After two or three clear
nights the following should be given :

1. Make a diagram (Xo. II) of the Chair, the Pole Star and the
Dipper, showing how they are placed in the sky.

386 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

2. Does the Chair move around the Pole Star as does the Big
Dipper? Why did the ancients name this constellation Cas-
siopeia's Chair?

After this the Little Dipper may be shown in the same way.
The diagram is so long and wandering of the constellation, called
The Dragon, that it is rather difficult to teach it in this manner.
However, since the two stars in the Dragon's tail lie near to the
bowl of the Big Dipper and the Pole Star, perhaps the pupils
may be able to work it out partially. However, it is not an
especially important constellation.

The next lesson may be given on Orion.

m B The diagram III should be placed upon the

board and proceed as before; the location

of the constellation should be described,

and the following observations should be

called for :

^JL ■& 1 . How many stars in Orion's belt ? How

"^ many in his sword? What is the color of

y the bright star above the belt ? What is the

^ name of this star? What is the color of the

* bright star at about equal distance below

■fy the belt ? What is its name ?

^JT 2. Read the story of the myths of Orion,

Diagram III the great hunter, and write an account of it.

Orion After these studies have been made, the

b— Beteiguese following questions should be asked :

m— Beit 1. Does the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia's

5 — Sword ,

Chair ever set?

2 . Does Orion rise and set ?

3. Why do not the Big Dipper and the Chair rise and set like
Orion?

4 . If you should stand at the North Pole where would the Pole
Star appear in the skies?

5. If you were at the North Pol j would any star seem to rise
and set?

From this lesson the pupils should reason out for themselves
the following facts. It is very important for us to know the Pole
Star because the northern end of the earth's axis points toward it
and it is, therefore, situated in the heavens almost directly above
our North Pole. For those of us who live in the Northern Hemis-

comstock] THE BEGINNING OF STAR STUDY 3»7

phere the North Star never sets but is always to be seen. How-
ever, the Xorth Star does not have any more to do with the axis
of our earth than the figure on the blackboard has to do with the
pointer ; this star simply happens to lie in the direction toward
which the northern end of the earth's axis points. In the south-
ern skies there is no convenient star which lies directly above
the South Pole, so there is no South Pole Star. The Pole Star
cannot be seen from the Southern Hemisphere because of the
curvature of the earth. But if we should start on a journey from
Florida toward Baffin's Bay we should discover that each night
the Pole Star would seem to be higher in the sky, and if we
should succeed in reaching the North Pole, we should find the
Pole Star directly over our heads. And none of the stars which
we could see would rise or set but would move around us in circles
parallel to the horizon.

Since the earth is a great magnet and since the poles of the
magnet are almost coincident with the poles of the earth's axis the
magnetic needle naturally points north and south. Thus it is
that the North Star happens to be nearly in the direction toward
which the northern end of the compass needle points.

In correlating the myths which have to do with the names of
the constellations, the pupils should be made to understand that
the ancients believed almost any kind of a story about their Gods.
And since they saw these constellations in the skies night after
night they naturally connected them with the stories of their
Gods and Goddesses and thus gave them the names which we
use to this day. Two interesting little books give these myths:
"Storyland of the Stars" by Mary Pratt, American Book Com-
pany; "Stars in Song and Legend," Porter, Ginn and Company.

THE DISTANCE OF THE STARS

Although the stars are so far away from us we have learned
many things about them, and after the pupils have become familiar
with the Polar Constellations and Orion, as outlined in the pre-
ceeding lessons, it would be well to give them some idea of what a
star really is. An informal talk should cover the following points :

The scientists have three ways of finding out about the stars,
first, through the telescope, second, through the wonderful instru-
ment, the spectroscope, which can only be understood after we
study physics, and third, by mathematical calculations. Through

388 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

these agencies we know that every shining star is a great fiery sun,
and we may well believe that many of these suns have worlds
like our earth revolving about them, but a little world like ours
we could not see if it were revolving about even the nearest star.

It is very hard for us to comprehend how far away from us is
the nearest star, but astronomers have been able to measure the
distance from us to many stars, and this distance is so great that
it can only, be reckoned at the rate at which light travels, which
is 186,400 miles per second or about six trillions of miles per
year and this distance is called a light-year. It requires light
about eight minutes to reach our earth from the sun, but it requires
more than four years for light to reach us from the nearest star.
Most of the stars are so far away that we cannot measure the dis-
tance from them to us, but it is interesting to know that the light
from the Pole Star which reaches our eyes in cloudless nights may
have started on its journey almost fifty years ago, while the light
that reaches us from the interesting little group of stars called the
Pleiades, may have started on its journey before Columbus started
on his great voyage.

The stars seem always to us to keep their own places in the
heavens but they are all moving through space just as our sun
and its family are doing. However, the stars are so far away that
although one may move a million miles a day we would need to
make observations upon it for years to detect that it had moved
at all. We know that our sun and its planets are moving through
space at the rate of about 800 miles per minute.

Stars also have the'r youth, middle age, and old age. When
they are young they are composed of thin gases and shine white
or blue; as they mature the gases condense and they shine yellow,
like our sun; when the gases become still more condensed they
shine red, like Betelgeuze in Orion, which is a very, very old star,
and after a time, more years than we can even think about, these
stars grow cold and dark and become invisible to us. The spectro-
scope shows us that there are many of these vast dead suns, with
their fires out, whirling through space.

If any of us with especially good eyes were to travel from the
Northern to the Southern Polar region, we should be able to see
between six and seven thousand stars, although never more than
about two thousand at one time. With the aid of the telescope
about eight hundred thousand stars have been discovered. But

comstock] THE BEGINNING OF STAR STUDY 389

during recent years the skies have been photographed, and thus
we have a record of about thirty million stars. We usually regard
the Milky Way as a band of light across the heavens, but it is
really made up of millions of stars so far away that we cannot
see them at all. We can only see the light that comes from them.

Before the following lessons are given, the pupils should be
instructed how to draw an imaginary' line straight from one star
to another and to perceive the angle which two lines make when
they meet in a certain star. An ordinary' ruler or what is even
better, a postal card or other stiff paper with right angled corners,
may be used by holding it between the eyes and the stars to be
connected and thus make certain that the imaginary line is
straight.

Place Diagram IV as given on the blackboard, but do not add
the connecting lines until needed to enable the pupils to find the
different stars to be studied. If possible let the blackboard stand
so that its edge labelled "East" extends toward the east.

ALDEBARAN (AL-DEB-A-RAN) AND THE HYADES (HI-A-DEE7)

Above Orion, and almost in a line with the stars of his belt, is
a beautiful rosy star. It is as red as Betelgeuze and it forms the
end of the lower arm of a V-shaped constellation composed of it
and four other stars. This is Aldebaran and the constellation is
called the Hyades. These form a part of the head of the constel-
lation called by the ancients, Taurus, the Bull. Aldebaran is the
fiery eye of the mad bull. This beautiful rosy Aldebaran is a
comparatively near neighbor of ours, since it takes light only 32
years to pass from it to us. It is much larger than our sun for it
gives off about 45 times as much light.

THE PLEIADES (PLEE-I-DEES)

Up in the western sky about as far beyond Aldebaran as Alde-
baran is beyond the belt of Orion is a little misty group of stars
which seem always to have attracted the attention of people during
all the ages. This constellation is called the Pleiades. Most eyes
are only sufficient strong to count six stars in this group. Through
a glass nine stars may be distinguished. In studying this constel-
lation we can realize better than in any other the wonder which
photography have performed in revealing stars which we cannot

390 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 191S

North

-a \ „ . - '

Twins
S1 fb/h* * * Castor

Cajx//a >|» ffeiadee

» Hyades . ^

*-*

♦ \ »

\ / ^-"l"
Sinus w^ '

Diagram IV. Showing the relations to each other of The Big Dipper, Pleiades,
Hyades, Capella, Twins, Orion — and the Dog Stars

comstock] THE BEGINNING OF STAR STUDY 391

see. Sky photography shows us that there are more than three
thousand stars in this little constellation; and astronomers believe
that it is a great star system now being developed. These stars
which look so close together to us are so far apart that our own
sun and all its planets could roll between them unnoticed. It
requires several years for light to travel from one of these stars
in the Pleiades to another, and the whole constellation is so far
away from us that we cannot estimate the distance, but we know
that it takes light several hundred years to reach us from them.
The following questions should be asked:

How many stars can you see in the Pleiades 1

How many stars can you see in the Hyades? Make a sketch
of the Hyades showing Aldebaran.

THE TWO DOG STARS

Make a map of Orion on the board and extend the line X through
the belt toward the horizon. This line will reach a very brilliant
star, which is the Big Dog Star, Sirius. Then draw lines yy1
joining Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Sirius and complete the kite-shaped
figure by linsey y2 y3 which will meet in Procyon, The Little Dog
Star. The following questions should be asked after the pupils
have observed these two stars.

Which rises first, Orion or Sirius ? What color is Sirius ? Why is
Sirius called the Big Dog Star'

Is the Little Dog Star nearer to the Pole Star than Sirius?
Which is brighter, the Great Dog Star or the Little Dog Star?

Sirius is the most beautiful of the stars in our skies; it shines
with ever changing color, blue, rosy and white. Sirius is a com-
paratively young star and has a diameter about 14 times as great
as that of our own sun. It is eight and one-half light years away
from us. Perhaps no star of our sky is so celebrated in ancient
and modern literature as Sirius. Homer mentions it and it has
had a place in the poetry of the ages. Procyon, The Little Dog
Star, probably earned its name because it trots up the eastern sky
just a little ahead of the Great Dog Star, quite like a little dog
in its habits. It gives out eight times as much light as our own sun
and is only ten light years away from us. Its companion or twin
star, is not so brilliant.

Ask the pupils to join line m, drawn through the pointers of the
Dipper to the Pole Star on another line m, at right angles to this

392 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

extending from the Pole Star to Rigel. About halfway between
the Pole Star and Orion this line will pass through a brilliant
star which is called Capella. The following questions may be
asked: What color is Capella? How does this show that it
is the same age as our sun? Is Capella as near the Pole Star as
the Big Dipper ? Is it near enough so that it never sets ? Can you
see the shield shaped constellation of five stars of which Capella
is a part ? What is the name of this constellation ?

Capella comes very near belonging to the Polar constellation
since it is below the horizon only about four hours out of the
twenty-four. It is bright yellow which shows that it is about
the same composition and age as our sun. However it gives off
120 times as much light as our sun. It is 40 light years away
from us. During the evenings of March and April, in its shield-
shaped constellation which is called Auriga it is a very noticeable
feature high up in the western sky.

THE HEAVENLY TWINS

Above the Little Dog Star with its twin and in a region of the
sky where there are very few bright stars are a pair of twin stars
which are very noticeable. These stars will naturally be dis-
covered when finding Capella. To this brilliant pair of stars
the ancients gave the name of the twins, Castor and Pollux.
These were two beautiful twin boys who loved each other so
much that after they were dead they were placed in the skies
where they could always be near each other. Pollux is the
brighter of the two and is the more southward in situation. It is
a yellow star and is supposed to be in the same stage of develop-
ment as our sun, while Castor is white and is therefore, according
to the agss of the stars is young. The following questions should
be answered by the pupils from observation.

How can you tell the Heavenly Twins from the Little Dog
Star and its companions? Which pair are the brightest in the
sky? Which of the twins is the brightest star? For further study
of the constellations use "Whittaker Planisphere" to find the stars
see the "Friendly Stars" by Martin.

Notice
The Title page and Index for Vol. XIV of Nature-Study
Review will be sent in the February number.

A Lesson on Fossils

Mary E. Hill
Kennebunk, Me.

This lesson is particularly valuable in regions where there are
fossil bearing rocks, but it is by no means limited to them. Stones
have a great attraction for children, whether from some atavic
instinct inherited from the days when stones were the only weapons
and the earliest tools or because they are so common and make
pretty playthings. Whatever the reason, more stones have been
brought to me by my pupils with requests for information than
any other natural objects except insects.

The lesson was given by the writer in Central New York, in a
city whose outskirts contained numerous limestone quarries and
deposits of shale. The school museum contained specimens from
other localities, sandstone and shales bearing imprints of leaves;
limestone containing shells of brachiopods and a few trilobites.

"Stones" brought in by the children were part of the material
for the Nature-Study lesson. The lesson as taught consisted of
three parts. First the examining of the specimens of fossils and
an explanation by the teacher of the way in which fossils were made ;
second the making of the fossil impressions in clay by the pupils
as an illustration; and afterward a lesson on the part that corals
have had in making additions to the original peninsula of Florida.
This last may seem to some not very apropos but it seemed to
me a valuable lesson and*I chose to teach it in this correlation.
The geography teacher was appreciative of this lesson.

The material for the lesson then will consist of: (i) Pieces of
rock with fossils in them, limestones, shales, sandstone to be
obtained from quarries or talus slopes. (2) Small empty sea-
shells, pieces of coral, pillbugs sometimes called sowbugs, leaves
of trees, willow, apple, birch, of ferns. The dried leaves of autumn
make the best impressions.

(3) Outline maps of the United States and of Florida.

(4) Clay, modeling clay or clay from a brick-yard, or from a
local deposit. (5) A smooth surface of glass or oil-cloth or any-
thing. (6) Steel knives or smooth sticks of hard wood, for making
the portions of clay smooth .

393

394

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 191S

Plate I
Trilobites and other crustacean fossils

(Loaned by Prof. G. D. Harris)

hill] A LESSON ON FOSSILS 395

In preparation the clay is placed in a pan or bucket or large jar
and covered with a very wet cloth for twenty-four hours. Do not
wring the water out of the cloth and do not put the clay in water.
To make impression fossils, flatten out the piece of clay, making
it about half an inch thick. Smooth off the top with the knife
or wooden stick. This makes the surface of the clay smooth, like
the surface of a mud flat by the sea, where shell fossils are made
or near rivers where leaves fall or drift in and remain. Lay the
leaves on the surface of the clay with the under side of the leaf
next the clay (the under surface of the leaf makes a better impres-
sion than the upper, because the veins stand out more). Press
upon it hard with the hand, or better with a piece of glass or board.
Let the leaves remain on the clay and put away to dry. Of course
in real fossils the leaf remains and traces of its substance may
sometimes be detected with the impression.

In making shell impressions choose shells which have grooves
or ridges in order that the impressions may not be smooth and
characterless. Press the shell into the- clay and then gently pry
it out, unless it is a flat shell, or unless it is desired to represent
the imbedded fossil which is a little less like the real because it is
white. These clay fossils should also be put away to dry. If
trilobite fossils are at hand compare with the pillbug, showing
the segmented back, but noting the three areas on the trilobite
and only one on the pillbug. A crayfish or lobster, though so
much larger, will show the marks of relationship. If one of the
trilobites is in a curled up position, by touching the pillbug it can
be made to curl up in the same position which gave it its name,
I suppose. Both trilobite and pillbug are crustaceans, relatives
of the lobster, crayfish, shrimp and crab.

What a Fossil is

If we walk along the seashore and dig in the sand we find shells
and remains of sea animals, that have been buried by sand, brought
by the waves and high on the beach, drifted over by the winds.
On a mud flat we find leaves, sticks and logs brought down by the
river and deep in the mud, clams, worms and other animals, layer
after layer of mud may cover them. If the beach and mud flat
were to be raised and made into rock as earth forces have done in
the past, these shells, leaves, etc., would become fossils.

396

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

Plate II
Fossil Corals

(Loaned by Prof. G. D. Harris)

hillJ A LESSON ON FOSSILS 397

In the warm seas of the tropics we see coral reefs and atolls of
great depth. If we look through the queer tube with a glass
window at the end that is sometimes furnished with boats at
sea side resorts, we see the sea bottom covered with shells, corals,
and strange sea animals. If these were to become buried under
layers of mud or sand, they would die but their hard parts would
remain nearly undamaged; sometimes the soft parts are preserved
too, becoming hardened by the lime. Mud and sand are rock
material and if they were to become solid rock, as mud and sand
have become in past ages before man was, their remains would be
fossils.

The remains of ancient plants and animals found in the rocks of
quarries on outcropping ledges are fossils. Even the tracks of
animals found in the rocks are fossils. Skeletons of animals
found in not very perfect rock, are fossils also. There are some
such rocks and fossils in the regions of the Wasatch Mountains in
Utah.

How Fossils Have Made Land

At the time when this little fossil shell was the home of a living
creature there were no men on the earth; no horses had galloped
over the prairies; there were not even any prairies, only a few
big islands in an ocean that covered the mud. So of course, there
were no dogs, no foxes even, nor any cats, nor any birds singing
in the trees. There was a big strip of land in what is now a part
of British America. Over the bottom of this immense ocean grew
great coral reefs; in its waters lived many kinds of sea animals;
queer fishes swam there and giant shell bearing animals moved
sluggishly on the sea-bottom, some having chambered shells like
the Chambered Nautilius, some with straight shells ten feet long;
there were trilobites too, ancestors of our lobsters, crabs and
shrimps, star fishes and their relatives called by the geologists,
who first studied and described them star lilies because they grew
on stalks. Such of these animals as had lime in their shells or
their skeletons, helped the coral to make the rocks that lie under
the soil of much of New York State and in other parts of the United
States.

After a long time, geologic ages, the crust of the earth in wrink-
ling slowly lifted some of the sea bottom, with its coral reefs and
deposits of mud mixed with shell deposits, above the water and

39« NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

that is why in limestone quarries, we often find the remains of
shells and corals not destroyed nor much changed from the shapes
they bore when they were part of the sea floor. The way in which
the soil was made and spread over all the sea rocks is another
story; but under all soil lies the solid rock, some of it called lime-
stone made by the sea animals whose shells we call fossils, some of
it is made in other ways and that is yet another story, but corals
and mollusks helped.

Test limestone with acid and see the bubbles of carbondioxide

gas set free from the stone. Test a shell and a piece of coral

with the same acid and see the same gas freed; thus proving that

the stone and the coral and the shell contain the same substance.

But just how did the coral and the shells become solid rock, and

why is not the rock white? As the cooling earth wrinkled, ridges

with their slopes appeared above the water. At once the rock

began to be weathered by the action of the air, rains washed off

the powder thus formed and deposited it as soil. The waves

broke off pieces of coral; some of the shell-protected animals

died and their shells and the coral were ground against the rock,

and a soft dark mud was formed against the edge of the land.

Shells left by the tide on the surface of the mud became imbedded

and were gradually covered by other layers of mud and coral

sand and lay there many thousand years. The mud plain was

finally raised by more earth wrinkling and become more dry land.

Sometimes, in this wrinkling, land, that had been above the water.

was again submerged and more corals and mollusks and crinoids

and other rock makers lived and died and added their carbonate

of lime "the coral" to the new rock layer.

What Corals Have Done for Florida
If we look at the map of Florida, we shall see that the Southern
portion is occupied by the immense fresh water swamp dotted
over with small islands, called "hummocks" covered with vegeta-
tion. This swampy region is known as the Everglades. South
of the coast line are the Florida Keys which are believed to be the
tops of coral islands, because south of these is a living coral reef.
When the reef has grown up to the surface of the water the coral
animals die and the reef remains a foundation to which are added
pieces of broken coral, coral sand, drift wood, sea weed, sediment-
brought by the waves and so the keys are made.

hill] A LESSON ON FOSSILS 399

The Gulf Stream helps in this land making by bringing sediment
and debris which are caught and held by the reefs and which is
deposited in the channel between the reef and the Keys. This
will become a narrow channel with mud flats like that between the
southern end of Florida and the Keys. The present channel
will then become new Everglades and be added to the coast of
Florida. Another proof that Florida has gained much of her land
through the help of the corals is the fact that coral reef rock has
been found as far north as St. Augustine. At least twice have
Everglades been made and added to the land of the peninsula.

The steps in adding land, thus to Florida, are these: First,
a reef is formed, by corals which build up the surface. Next,
waves by leaving material which they carry, build it up twelve
or fifteen feet above the water, and become keys. Third, mud
and other material, form the peninsula on the north side and the
reef, or keys on the South fill up the channed between the shore
and new Everglades are formed. In this the mangrove trees help.
A line drawn from St. Augustine to Tampa will represent the
oldest reef formed. Another new coral reef has meantime begun
to be formed farther to the south. Corals will not grow in muddy
water, nor in water more than a hundred feet deep, nor in water
that ever becomes cooler than 68 ° F.

It must be said that not all coral reefs add to the land in just
this way, but they have done so in the case of Florida.

Leaf Fossils

The leaf fossils are not found in the limestone rocks, but in
shales which are just mud and clay which have been hardened
into rock. Mud flats were formed where rivers emptied into the
sea and along rivers grew trees and other plants just as now.
Their leaves fell into the streams and drifted down to the mud
flats and probably some grew near the flats. Mud is fine material
brought down by rivers as any of you can prove by dipping up a
tumbler full of water when the stream is in flood, as in spring, or
after a great rain and watching the mud settle to the bottom. So
little by little the leaves became covered by more mud and there
rested until the mud became shale, and the leaf fossils remain in
the shale to tell us what sort of plants grew in these ancient times.

The long story of life upon the earth is a fascinating one.
Sometime if you study geology you will know all about it.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Published monthly, except June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society, $1.00 per year (nine issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra; foreign postage, 20 cents extra.

Trn-nnrt^Tlt Please note date of expiration of your subscription on the label of the
J.111JJUI LdllL wrapper. Subscriptions must be paid in advance to comply with postal
requirements. Subscriptions and advertisements should be sent to The Comslock Publishing
' Co., Ithaca, N. Y. Manuscripts for Publications and Books to be Reviewed should be sent
to the Editor.

Editorial

THE COMFORT OF THE STARS

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the
bands oj OrionV — Job.

Long before the time of Job and continuing to the present year
of War and Peace the sweet influences of the Pleiades, unbound
and unlimited, have made calm the souls of men who have looked
up into the night skies and have thus learned to forget the troubles
which beset the dwellers upon this small planet we call "the
earth." It is unfortunate that more people have not learned to
look up and think: "I am one of millions of beings inhabiting
this world; and this world is only a small satellite whirling around
a medium sized star, which we call our sun and which in its turn
is only one of a million stars shining upon us from our skies. Not
one star among all that I can see but may have worlds like ours
whirling around it. What am I that I should be troubled when I
am only such an infinitesimal atom in so great a Universe!"

However, it is not for this reason alone that teachers and
parents should give more attention to teaching the children to
know the stars as marked in the chief constellations; for such
knowledge is an intellectual and spiritual asset which will enrich
their future years. It lends a most friendly aspect to the night
skies to find there, when we look up, those stars which we have
known from childhood. Especially when we are in foreign lands,
or elsewhere far from home, is this a heart-warming experience.
It is as if the heavens were smiling at us and sending down to us
cordial greetings.

The stars make appeal to the imagination of the child, — an
appeal at once stimulating and uplifting. In his mind, he leaps

400

EDITORIAL 401

the bounds of space and goes visiting those suns which he calls
stars and which twinkle at him so enticingly. It widens his
powers of conception to know that the light that reaches him from
the Pole Star may have started on its journey to his eye before his
father was born; or that the light from Rigel, the brilliant white
star that marks Orion's foot, was sent forth before Columbus
discovered America; or that the very nearest star neighbor is
two hundred and eighty thousand times as far from this world
as is our sun.

It is indeed most salutary discipline to learn as early as may be,
that our world and our particular section of it,, may not be the
center of God's great universe.

The Great Dipper

Henry Ware

With what a stately and majestic step
That glorious constellation of the North
Treads its eternal circle, going forth
Its princely way amongst the stars in slow
And silent brightness ! Mighty One, all hail !
The other tribes forsake their midnight track
And rest their weary orbs beneath the wave ;
But thou dost never close thy burning eyes,
Nor stay thy steadfast step. But on, still on,
While systems change, and suns retire, and worlds
Slumber and wake, chy ceaseless march proceeds.

No Annual Meeting of the American Nature-Study
Society This Year

The war was still dragging down our hearts and our purses when
the time came to decide whether we should meet with the A.A.A.S.
in Baltimore this year. It seemed to be the patriotic duty of
all of us to stay at home and help conservation and not go to
Baltimore and help clog transportation. If the Nature-Study
Society wishes to elect other or more officers, the secretary will be
glad to receive nominations and place them before the members in
the January number of The Rev ie w. The officers to be elected are :
President, five Vice-Presidents, four Directors and Secretary-Editor.

News Notes

Stephen Rich, a former student in entomology, at Cornell University, writes
that on leaving Ithaca in 1915 he accepted a position as introducer of Nature-
Study into the native educational system, at Amanzintoti, Natal, in a training
school to prepare Zulus to teach primary schools among their own people.
He made out a course of study applicable to native plants and animals and
taught Nature-Study in every class in school. After the first year Nature-
Study was taken up by three other training schools and he prepared a more
advanced course of study.

Later Mr. Rich went to Edendale as headmaster in another school of training
for native teachers. All the training schools in Natal have now taken up
Nature-Study and as the most experienced in teaching that subject Mr. Rich
is consulted by all ; he says that the Zulus are slow but very intelligent.

CALIFORNIA

O. J. Kern, Assistant Professor Agricultural Education in University of
California, College of Agriculture, has published a course for teachers in
Agriculture, Nature- Study and School Garden which is extensive and practical
as well as inspiring.

This outline deals, first with the place of the school garden in a well organized
scheme of agricultural education, (a) as a practical project in the art of agricul-
ture, (b) as a laboratory or observation plot of elementary facts, (c) as a means
of teaching landscape art. Secondly, it deals with the essential of a successful
school garden. Thirdly, with tools needed for working the garden, the care of
tools and contains lists of reference books on such tools.

The different chapters cover the following topics : Choosing the garden site ;
improving the soil, (a) references on soil improvement, (b) improvement of
different kinds of soil,

Planning the garden, different garden systems, (a) co-operation in the work
of teachers and pupils, (b) administrative problems to be decided by the
teacher alone, (c) teachers' pedagogic problems (d) references to literature on
planning school gardens.

Preparation of the seed bad, references on tillage of preparation. Planting
rules and tables. The garden and vacations. Growing plants indoors, trans-
planting, references. Cultivation and irrigation, references. The garden and
vacations, co-operation, exhibits. The garden and correlation of school work,
references. Studies in vegetable characteristics and cultural requirements,
outlines and references, outlines for garden vegetable growing.

Plant studies in connection with the garden, references. Soil studies in
animal life, (a) enemies of the garden, (b) friends of the garden, (c) sprays,
reference literature.

School gardens and landscape art, (a) educational influences of environment
(b) good landscape and art, (c) civic art and community ownership and respon-
sibility, (d) development of civic sense of need of landscape art, styles of
planting, (e) district school in provement society, (f ) observance of Arbor Day.

402

NEWS NOTES 403

(g) illustrations of school ground improvement, (h) methods of transplanting
trees and shrubs, (i) care after planting, (j) effect of landscape art on the home.
Some planting material, lists of hardy shrubs and vines. The rest of the
book is devoted to diagrams of different garden plans, which consider economy
of space, the kinds of vegetables to grow, the number of children at work, the
best methods of planting to be used ; points on soil preparation with illustra-
tions, pictures illustrating different garden operations, such as the proper
handling of fork, rake and by children at work.

The Extension Service of Humboldt State Normal School, Areata, Cali-
fornia, under the direction of N. B. Van Matre has begun an active and exten-
sive plan of supervision of the rural schools of northwestern California. One
hundred seventy-two schools will be supervised by the faculty of the normal
school.

Two plans of supervision will be used, differing only in the degree of their
intensity.

This rural supervision work is being taken up with very definite plans and
purposes in mind and with equally definite ideas of the results to be obtained.

Some of these results will be accomplished by the supervision.

1 . Every effort will be made to keep away from the thought of standardiza-
tion.

2. The slogan for this work will be SERVICE, SERVICE, MORE SER-
VICE AND BETTER SERVICE.

3. Serve: Teacher, School, Trustees, Community, Elementary Education,
America.

4. T6 establish a strong spirit of co-operation and a keener sense of respon-
sibility on the part of the school trustees and the residents of the district in the
success of their school.

5. To establish the fact that for a community proposition to succeed each
member of the community must contribute to its success, and assume his share
of the responsibility.

6. To educate the children for rural life rather than away from it.

7. To thoroughly inspire every teacher with an enthusiasm for or at least
put her in such sympathetic relationship with her environment, that she can
conscientiously do her Full duty by the children in her school.

8. Suggestions, helps and constructive criticisms will be given directly to
the teacher by the supervisor at the time of the visit.

9. A very definite, concise report will be made to the normal school by the
supervisor. These reports will be made in duplicate so that the supervisor
may retain a copy which will be of great advantage on all subsequent visits.

10. To establish the fact that the individual lesson is only a means to an
end. That education, growth and strength are the direct results of self-
activity. Therefore, the cause, purpose and plan of each lesson should so
motivate the child as to bring the desired self-activity.

"r — r~imn

JL^.-.^^Lb.JS^V^ fi Ti

^^i^^^^*^™™1111^^- - n nijiiM i'iJIm ' sit
ITHEf BOOK SHELF

77fe Waterboys and Their Cousins. Charles Dickens Lewis, Professor in
Berea College, Normal School, J. B. Lippincott Co. 172 pp. illustrated.

It is with special interest and pleasure that we have read this volume for
children; for these fascinating Waterboys are old friends of ours. Professor
Lewis published a few of their adventures in a pamphlet a few years since
and favored us with a copy which has been very much prized ever since and
very often used. The activities of water in all its multifarious forms are
dramatized in stories which have the quality of being very interesting. The
Waterboys are the water molecules, dancing while they work and always
happy whether they are climbing up a sunbeam or rolling down a hill. How
they change from dewdrops to raindrops and to snowflakes, how they work
in the ground, how they carry the soil and how they deposit it, how they
climb up in the cornstalk, and how they help the "root children" get drinks
and how they climb back into the clouds, each constitutes a story by itself.

While the adventures of the Waterboys make the most original part of the
volume, there are many other nature stories that follow. The bacteria on the
roots of clover, the work of the chlorophyl in the tissues of the leaf, the action of
frost on the leaves, why the beans climb and all sorts of travels of seed babies
and finally the story of the "Plants that never were babies" which describes
the early stages of the ferns and mosses, the story of Mother Cornstalk and
the Seed Ear, these and many others make this little volume a mine of infor-
mation for children. An appendix contains explanatory notes for the teacher
or parent. There are thirty charming illustrations by E. H. Suydam. We
predict a large sale for this book for it is sure to prove a very important and
delightful addition to the children's book shelf.

New Creations in Plant Life. W. S. Harwood, second edition revised and
enlarged, 430 pages, illustrated. The Macmillan Company, $2.00.

This interesting volume is an authoritative account of the life and work of
Luther Burbank. As one follows the fortunes of Luther Burbank, as detailed
in the first chapter, one is carried away by sympathy for this man in his
struggles with privations and filled with admiration for the type of character
delineated.

From cover to cover of this book the truth is stranger than fiction, and the
interest felt is absorbing. The reader is impressed with vivid glimpses of a
personality, whose paramount object, always overshadowing all else, was to
give aid to the human race.

404

BOOK SHELF 405

His aims were: (1) The improvement of old varieties of fruits, flowers,
grasses, trees, and vegetables. (2) The merging of wild or degenerate types
of plant life with tame or cultivated ones, in order that the union might be
of service to both. (3) The creation of absolutely new forms of life, unknown
to the world before, — the highest act of the plant breeder.

The general character of Luther Burbank's work is included under two
heads: (1) Breeding, (2) Selection. His work differs from all other experi-
ments of this nature in the magnitude of the scale on which it is carried on,
thus he has accomplished the wonderful results which are narrated in the
later chapters of the book.

The account of the creation of new trees especially the new types of walnuts
which in fourteen years grew six times as large as the old types had in thirty
years, attaining a height of eighty feet with trunks two feet in diameter, while
the grain remains hard, fine and compact, and takes a high polish, seems
incredible.

The description of the transformation of the amaryllis and the poppy plants,
are paralleled by work done on lilies and the production of the Shasta Daisy;
and strangest of all seems the production from the Everlasting of a commercial
flower suitable for millinery purposes. His improvement of the potato,
experiments with it and the tomato and the development of a new fruit the
pomato are all described in a most interesting manner.

Chief among the wonders recounted in this volume is the story of Mr.
Burbank's work on the cactus by which he expects to regenerate the earth's
waste places, and provide a new food for the world, for the new thornless
opuntias yield food that is palatable and niitrious for man and beast.

Space is also devoted to his work with all varieties of berries and fruit trees;
the methods of breeding, grafting, commercial aspects of the work are also
described. A good description of Mr. Burbank's daily life, his personality,
his theories and conclusions, and his methods of keeping data, are included
in this truly interesting volume.

L. S. T.

The Teaching of Agriculture. Aretas W. Xolan, 277 pages, Houghton Mifflin
& Co. S1.30. Introduction by Eugene Davenport, Dean of the College
of Agriculture and Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station,
University of Illinois.
To teachers of nature-study or agriculture, whether in the grades or in
high school, this book should prove interesting and very helpful. In his
preface the author says: "Agriculture in the public schools should have a
decided vocational aim. It should give to the student a degree of accurate:
knowledge and skill and familiarity with the best modern farm practice.
Agricultural education should guarantee that the future farmers be educated
country gentlemen who work with their hands, and gather about them the
best things that civilization affords."

Because nature-study purposes to give the boy and girl in the earlier grades
of public school, that acquaintance with and interest in the natural world
which will furnish a basis for further study of the pure and applied sciences,
the author advocates beginning this study in the first grade, to give a general

406 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918

acquaintance with common things; he advises combining it with home geo-
graphy in the third and fourth grades ; and in the fifth and sixth grades making
it a kind of general science training. Beginning with the seventh grade
agriculture should be taught as a vocational subject, as intensively and
extensively as the capabilities of the pupil and the training of the teacher
render possible. Methods and topics are suggested.

Passing on to high school agriculture, the principal aims should be voca-
tional, to contribute to the practical education of the future farmer. One
fourth of the students' time in school should be given to this topic and the
author thinks it would be desirable that agricultural work be included in a
unified science course. For junior and senior high schools are suggested (1)
Agronomy, (2) Animal Husbandry, (3) The Farm Physical Plant, (4) Horti-
culture, (5) Improvement of Plants and Animals, (6) Rural Life and Affairs.
A list of special study topics follows, with reference text books on general
agriculture and an anthology of agriculture.

The different methods and principles used in teaching agriculture are men-
tioned and discussed: Such as the use of text-books, the lecture method,
recitation and reports by students, laboratory methods experiments and the
use of illustrations. Especial attention is given to the question of teaching
Farm Craft and the manner in which the state of Illinois is handling the
subject.

Another topic The Home Project Plan is treated very completely. The
author suggests supervision of the regular farm work as an integral part of
the school course as a solution of the problem and gives a list of suggestions
for home enterprises along different lines of farming. The pages devoted
to the objects of agricultural extension work in the high school and four
different methods of approach to this work are full of suggestions. Then
follows a pithy chapter on the most important factor in education, The
Teacher of Agriculture.

Nearly 100 pages of this book are devoted to an appendix which contains
suggestions for a farm, home, and community survey: For a suggested course
in nature-study for each grade, with subjects adapted to the seasons of the
year and sample lesson plans, for from first to sixth grade. For a suggested
course in agriculture (the elements) for the seventh and eighth grades com-
bined using the text-book method.

It contains a list of study topics adapted to the seasons, and a list of practi-
cal tasks of home work on the farm, that could be used for school credit in
agriculture, also an outline of the Home Project Plan, There are also sug-
gestions for laboratory equipment, and suggestions for a high school agricul-
tural laboratory. Finally, a complete bibliography is given.

L. S. T.

INDEX TO VOLUME XIV. 1918

Jan., pp. 1-42: Feb., pp. 43-87: Mar., pp. 89-132: April, pp. 133-177; May, pp. 179-
226; Sept., pp. 227-269; Oct., pp: 271-312: Nov., pp. 311-358; Dec., pp. 3S9~4o6.

[Names of contributors are printed in small capitals. Abbreviated titles of books
reviewed are in quotation marks.]

Acker, Christine T., The Study of
Moths and Butterflies as a Recrea-
tion. 337.

Alexander, Wm. Prindle, Before
Dawn on Mount Buell: To the
River of St. Johns, 292; Deo
Volente, 252; A Xew Spring
Song, 210; To the Deer Mouse, 9;
Orion, The Mighty Hunter, 379.

Allen, Elsa, The Chipmunk, 301.

"American Trees and Shrubs, Field
Book of," F. Schuyler Matthews,
41.

"American Wild Flowers, Field Book
of," F. Schuyler Matthews, 41.

An Animal Oddity, Howard C.
Brown, 29.

Animal Tracks, Robert W. Hegner,

5-

An Important Step Forward, Edi-
torial, 266.

"Apple, The," Albert E. Wilkinson,
224.

"Around the Year in the Garden,"
Frederick Frye Rockwell, 131.

Asters, Eda G. Miller, 249.

August Day Duel, An, Helen Lee
Sherwood, 161.

Ants in the Schoolroom, How to
Study, 264.

Azolla, G. H. Bretnall, 233.

Bailey, L. H., Humanistic Ele-
ments in Education, The, 43;
February, 77; "The Pruning Man-
ual," 225.

Beech, The; Phebe Bird, 276.

Before Dawn on Mount Buell, Wm.
Prindle Alexander, 292.

Bell, Raymond W., The Razor-
back, 305.

Bigelow, M. A., Viscount Bryce on
Nature Study, 196.

"Billy, The Boy Naturalist," Wm.
A. Morrill, 312.

Billig, Florence G., The Nature
Study Situation in Kansas, 191 7-
18, 322; School Gardening — A
Force in Civic Training, 89.

Bird, Phebe, The Beech, 276.

Bird Projects with Outline Drawings,
C. H. Robison, 215.

Birds in a Florida Jungle, Phyllis

Summers, 205.
Blaisdell, J. G., "Exercise and

Review Book in Biology," 87.
Blue Violet, The, Adena K. Burt, 199.
"Botany for Colleges, A Textbook

on," William F. Ganong, 132.
Bretnall, G. H., Azolla, 233.
Bristol, Anna, The Gray Squirrel,

271.
Brown, Howard C, An Animal

Oddity, 29.
Bumblebee and the Garden Flowers,

The, 207.
Burt, Adena K., Bad Mr. Squirrel,

A Story for Primary Pupils, 307;

The Blue Violet, 199.
Butterflies, Studying, Amanda

Zesch, 242.
Campbell, Editha S., The Story of

the Little Red Schcolhouse, 313;

The Winter Sleepers, 22.
Children and the Home Garden

Movement, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt,

107.
"Child's Food Garden, The," Van

Evrie Kilpatrick, 226.
Child's Song, Thomas Moore, 104.
Chipmunk, The, Elsa Allen, 301.
"Civic Biology, A," George W.

Hunter, 224.
Cliff Dwellers, The Strange, Peter

A. Mattli, 280.
Comstock, Anna B., The Beginning

of Star Study, 384.
Correlation of Nature Study in the

Platoon School, The, Julia Shou-

rek, 55.
Country Girl's Creed, Jessie Field,

344- '
Cresswell, Mae, The Sweet Brier

Rose, 184.
Deep Woods in September, Eva M.

Provost, 262.
Deer Mouse, To the, Wm. Prindle

Alexander, 9.
Deo Volente, Wm. Prindle Alexander,

252.
Donahue, Mary E., The Oaks, 286.
"Dooryard Friends, Our," Sara V.

Prueser, 86.

411

412

INDEX

Downing, Elliot R., "The Third

and Fourth Generation," 175;

The Opportunity for Research in

the Problems of Teaching Nature

Study, 74.
Drushel, J. Andrew, A Note on the

Vitality of Seed Corn Six Years

Old, 123.
Duty of the Humane Society Toward

Compulsory Humane Education

Stella J. Preston, 32.
Eagle Owl of Europe, The, 285.
Editor, Humane Education, 78;

Humane Education, 121.
Editorial, 37, 82, 124, 169, 266. 309;

The Rural School, 351, 400.
Embody, G. C, A Method of Fish

Study for Beginners, 156.
Emerson, Alfred, The Red Squirrel,

296.
Emerson, Arthlr J. and Clarence

M. Weed, "Our Trees, How to

Know Them," 209.
Eternity's Stair, James G. Needham,

59-

"Exercise and Review Book' in
Biology," J. G. Blaisdell, 87.

February, L. H. Bailey, 77.

"Field Book of Insects," Frank E.

Lutz, 175.
First Grade Readers, Wm. G. Vinal,

37i-
Fish Pond for the Farm Boy, A,

James G. Needham, 133.
Fletcher, S. W., "The Strawberry

in North America," 131.
Fossils, A Lesson on, Mary E. Hill,

393-

Founder of a City, The, Helen Lee

Sherwood, 253.
"Fresh-Water Biology," Henry B.

Ward, 176.
Fruit of Mountain Magnolia, Notes

on, N. M. Grier, 240.
Ganong, William F., "A Textbook

on Botany for Colleges," 132.
Gentian, The, Katharine C. Wood-
burn, 260.
Girard, Hoi E H., 'Twas at

Christening Time, 197.
Goldenrod, The, Geo. H. Russell, 235.
Goldfish, The Proper Treatment for,

Editor, 166.
"Goldfish Varieties and Tropical

Aquarium Fishes," Wm. T. Innes,

177.
Good-for-Nothing Little Me, Frances

Shaw, 279.

Grier, N. M., Notes on Fruit of
Mountain Magnolia, 240.

Hausman, Ethel H., The Moon
Story, 359.

Harwood, W. S., "New Creations
in Plant Life," 404.

Hawkins Harold G., The Moun-
tain Lake, 241.

Hegner, Robert W., Animal Tracks
5-

Hess, Marguerite, The Sunflower,
227.

Hill, Anna M., School Garden
Clubs in Crowded New York City
Schools, 105.

Hill, Mary E., A Lesson on Fos-
sils, 393-

How to Study Ants in the School-
room, 264.

Houck, Rev. F. A., "Our Palace
Wonderful," 312.

"Human Physiology," Percy G.
Stiles, 86.

Humane Education, Editor, 121.

Humane Education, Editor, 78.

Humanistic Elements in Education,
The, L. H. Bailey, 43.

Hunter, George W., "A Civic
Biology," 224.

Innes, Wm. T., "Goldfish Varieties
and Tropical Aquarium Fishes,"
177.

Jones, John Price, War and Na-
ture, 164.

Jordan, Dr., The Sea Horse, 145.

Jewett, Frances Gulick, "The
Next Generation," 225.

Ketchum, Arthur, Tansy, 73.

Kilpatrick, Van Evrie, "The
Child's Food Garden," 226.

Koehler, Katharine L., Nature
Study and the School Garden, 10 1.

Lewis, Chas. D., "The Waterboys
and their Cousins," 404.

Little Brown Creeper, The, Author
unknown, 28.

Little Red Schoolhouse, The Story
of the, Editha S. Campbell, 313

Lutz, Frank E., "Field Book of
Insects," 175.

Matthews, F. Schuyler, "American
Wildflowers, Field Book of," 41 ;
"American Trees and Shrubs,
Field Book of," 41.

Mattli, Peter A., The Strange
Cliff Dwellers, 280.

Maynard, Edith Clark, Unfortu-
nate Mistakes in the Teaching of
Nature Study, 183.-

NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW

413

McFaddex. Mariox, My Garden,
100.

Mechanical Aids in Nature Study,
Some, Wm. Gould Vinal, 60.

Mercury, Wil'iam Trelease, II.

"Message No. 3 — Courage;" "Mes-
sage No. 4 — Little Lights," Trotty
Veck Messengers, 42.

Method of Fish Study for Beginners.
A, G. C. Embody, 156.

Miller, Eda G., Asters, 249.

Moon, The, Lena S. Thomas, 365.

Moon Story, The, Ethel H. Haus-
man, 359.

Moore, Thomas, Child's Song, 104.

Moore, W. Clement, The Consoli-
dation of Rural Schools, 318.

Moths and Butterflies as a Recrea-
tion, The Study of, Christine I.
Acker, 337.

Mountain Lake, The, Harold G.
Hawkins, 241.

Murphy, Helen E., The Pig, 303.

Murrill, Wm. A., "Billy, The Boy
Naturalist," 312.

My Garden, Marion McFadden, 100.

Nature Study and the School Garden,
Katherine L. Koehler, 101.

Nature Study for the City Child,
Anna Allen Wright, 93.

Nature Study in the Rural School,

345-
Nature Study Situation in Kansas,

1917-18, Florence G. Billig, 322.
Needham. James G., A Fish Pond

for the Farm Boy, 133; Eternity's

Stair, 59.
"New Creations in Plant Life," W. S.

Harwood, 404.
New Spring Song, A, Wm. Prindle

Alexander, 210.
"Next Generation, The," Frances

Gulick Jewett, 225.
Ninman, Annie Smith, Riley's Gift

of Bird Song, 327.
Nolan, A. W., "Teaching of Agri-
culture," 405.
Norton, Gayne T. K., The Snake:

An Animal Deserving Class-Room

Study, j 4.
Note on the Vitality of Seed Corn

Six Years Old, A. J. Andrew

Drushel, 123.
Oaks, The, Mary E. Donahue, 286.
Oak, The White, Martha Quick, 293.
Odoriferous Skunk, The, Wm. E.

Ringle, 13.
Opportunity tor Research in the

Problems of Teaching Nature

Study, The, Elliot R. Downing, 74.

Orion, The Mighty Hunter, Wm. P.

Alexander, 379.
Outline for the Study of the Potato,

An, Wm. Gould Vinal, 187.
"Our Palace Wonderful," Rev. F. A.

Houck, 312.
"Our Trees, How to Know Them,"

Arthur J. Emerson and Clarence

M. Weed, 269.
Palmer, E. L., The Striped Gopher,

1.
Physiognomy of Fishes, The, R. W.

Shufeldt, 137.
Pig, The, Helen E. Murphy, 303.
Poppy's Story, The, Jay Traver, 219.
Preston, Stella J., The Duty of

the Humane Society toward Com-
pulsory Humane Education, 32.
Provost, Eva M., The Deep Woods

in September, 262.
Prueser, Sara V., "Our Dooryard

Friends," 86.
"Pruning Manual, The," L. H.

Bailey, 225.
Queer Performance of a Nuthatch,

The, Mrs. Viola F. Richards, 263.
Quick, Martha E., A Story Told by

a Fox, 331; The White Oak, 293.
Ragland. Fannie, A Study of Shade

Trees for Grades Seven and Eight,

no.
Razorback, The, Raymond W. Bell,

305
Richards, Mrs. Viola F., The Queer

Performance of a Nuthatch, 263.
Riley, Effey L., The Tree Friends

of James Russel Lowell, 298.
Riley's Gift of Bird Song, Annie

Smith Ninman, 327.
Ringle, Wm. E., The Odoriferous

Skunk, 13; What Become of the

Tadpoles?, 212.
River of St. Johns, To the, Wm.

Prindle Alexander, 292.
Robison, C. H., Bird Proiects with

Outline Drawings, 215.
Rockwell, Frederick Frye,

"Around the Year in the Garden,"

Rufus, The Red King, Anna C.

Stryke, 179.
Rural Schools, The Consolidation of,

W. Clement Moore, 318.
Russell, Geo. H., The Goldenrod,

235-
Salmon, The, Jay R. Traver, 151.
Schmucker, S. C, Science and

Nature Study, 48.
School Gardening — A Force in Civic

Training, Florence G. Billig, 89.

414

INDEX

School Garden Clubs in Crowded

New York City Schools, Anna M.

Hill, 105.
Science and Nature Study, S. C.

Schmucker, 48.
Sea Horse, The, Dr. Jordan, 145.
Shaw, Frances, Good-for-Nothing

Little Me, 279.
Sherwood, Helen Lee, An August

Day Duel, 161 ; The Founder of a

City, 253.
Shourek, Julia, The Correlation of

Nature Study in the Platoon

School, 55.
Shufeldt, Dr. R. W., Children and

the Home Garden Movement, 107;

The Physiognomy of Fishes, 137.
Smith, Cora A., The Spirit of Nature

Study, 53.
The Snake: An Animal Deserving

Class-Room Study, Gayne T. K.

Norton, 24.
Spirit of Nature Study, The, Cora A.

Smith, 53.
Squirrel, Bad Mr.. A.Story- for

Primary Pupils, Adena K. Burt,

307-

Squirrel, The Gray, Anna Bristol,

271.
Squirrel, The Red, Alfred Emerson,

296.
Song, A, Paul Tewksbury, 30.
Star Study, The Beginning of, Anna

B. Comstock, 384.
Stiles, Percy G., "Human Physiol-
ogy," 86.
Story Told by a Fox, The, Martha E.

Quick, 331.
"Strawberry in North America, The,"

S. W. Fletcher, 131.
Striped Gopher, The, E. L. Palmer, 1.
Stryke, Anna C, Rufus, the Red

King, 179.
Study of Shade Trees for Grades

Seven and Eight, A, Fannie

Ragland, no.
Summers, Phyllis, Birds in a Florida

Jungle, 205.
Sunflower, The, Marguerite Hess,

227.
Sweet Brier Rose, The, Mae Cress-
well, 184.
Tansy, Arthur Ketchum, 73.
"Teaching of Agriculture," A. W.

Nolan, 405.
Tewksbury, Paul, A Song, 30.

The Naturalist in Camp , Editorial,

309-
"The New Voter," Charles W.

Thompson, 269.
"Third and Fourth Generation, The,"

Elliot R. Downing, 175.
Thomas, Lena S., The Moon, 365.
Thompson, Charles W., "The New

Voter," 269.
Traver, Jay, The Poppy's Story,

219; The Salmon, 151.
Tree Friends of James Russell

Lowell, The, Effey L. Riley, 298.
Trelease, William, Mercury, n.
Trip to the Zoo, A, Dept. of Nature

Study, Los Angeles, 17.
Trotty Veck Messengers, "Message

No. 3 — Courage," "Message No.

4 — Little Lights," 42.
'Twas at Christening Time, Hope H.

Girard, 197.
Unfortunate Mistakes in the Teach-
ing of Nature Study, Edith Clark

Maynard, 183.
Vacation, War, and Nature Study,

Editorial, 221.
Vinal, Wm. Gould, An Outline for a

Study of the Potato, 187; First

Grade Readers, 371; Some Me-
chanical Aids in Nature Study, 60.
Viscount Bryce on Nature Study,

W, A. Bigelow, 196.
War and Nature, John Price Jones

164.
Ward, Henry B., "Fresh-water

Biology," 176.
"Waterboys and their Cousins, The,"

Chas. D. Lewis, 404.
Weed, Clarence M. and Arthur J.

Emerson, "Our Trees, How to

Know Them," 209.
Weepeckets, The, Elizabeth Dorothy

Wuist, 146.
What Became of the Tadpoles?,

W. E. Ringle, 212.
Wilkinson, Albert E , "The

Apple," 224.
Winter Sleepers, The, Editha S.

Campbell. 22.
Woodburn, Katharine C, The

Gentian, 260.
Wright, Anna Allen, Nature Study

for the City Child, 93.
Wuist, Elizabeth Dorothy, The

Weepeckets, 1 46.
Zesch, Amanda, Studying Butter-
flies, 242.

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