o s
y
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y
THE
NATURE-STUDY
REVIEW
Volume XVII. 1921
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK
SECRETARY-EDITOR
Cornell University
Published by
THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING COMPANY
Ithaca, N. Y.
THE
NATURE-STUDY
REVIEW
Volume XVII, 1921
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK
SECRETARY-EDITOR
Cornell University
Published by
THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING COMPANY
Ithaca. N. Y.
15
<^^'^
INDEX TO VOLUME XVII. 1921
Jan., pp. I-4S; Feb., pp. 46-94; Mar., pp. 95-144; April, pp. 145-203; May and Sept., pp.
205-259; Oct., pp. 261-305; Nov., pp. 307-348; Dec, pp. 349-394-
[Names of contributors are printed in small capitals.
reviewed are in quotation marks.]
Abbreviated titles of books
Aesthic Side of Nature Study, The
C. W. G. Eifrig. Pg. 327
Alexander, W. P. Nature Study
Paradise, A. Pg. 349
"Animal Ingenuity' of Today" C.
A. Ealand. Pg. 312
Arbutus, The B. O. Gutler.Pg. 280
"Arithmetic Essentials" Drushel,
Noonan, Whithers. Pg. 347
Astronomy Notebook, An, Pg. 33
Atwater, Agnes, Trailing Arbu-
tus, Pg. 295
Australia's Remarkable Lizard, R.
W. Shufeldt. Pg. 360
Autumn, Israel Knoe. Pg. 285
Bagworm Collections, Edith W.
Warner. Pg. 245
Baker, Virginia, Study of Hop
High, The, Pg. 390
Balcomb, E. E. California Nature
Study Class. Pg. 271
Bee's Eye View, A, Helen Lee
Sherwood. Pg. 276
Black Snake, The, Harvey C. Went.
Pg. 274.
Boyce, M. M. Plants in Their
Environments. Pg. 324
Brown, H. Clark. Nature Study
Project. Pg. 363
BuRRALL, Elizabeth F. Stalking
the Cow. Pg. 240
California Nature Study Class, A,
E. E. Balcomb. Pg. 271
Children's Civics Clubs, Pg. 141
Children's Gardens in A Steel Town,
L. S. Thomas. Pg. 131
Constellations, The, Pg. 21
Lyra, Nellie H. Crosby. Pg. 21
Altair & The Dolphin, A. Leah
Gause. Pg. 23
Dolphin, The, Pg. 24
Northern Cross, The, Mildred
Jackson. Pg. 25
Pleiades, The, Harold G. Dye.
Pg. 26
Orion, Winifred Bailor. Pg. 28
Hyades, The, J. G. Etzkowitz.
Pg.30
Andromenda, Alice M. Phipps.
Pg.30
Cottonwoods of the Dunes, The,
Stella M. Rowley. Pg. 53
Cornell Rural School Leaflet and
Nature Study, E. Lawrence
Palmer. Pg. 205
Counsel for Councillors, W. G.
Vinal. Pg. 152.
"Creative Chemistry," Edwin E.
Slosson. Pg. 305
CuBiLLOS, E. Moon, The. Pg. 8
Deming, Agatha, Learning to See
and Hear. Pg. 167
Disease of Mulberry Fruit, J. J.
Taubenhaus. Pg. 282
Dole, Elea2ER J. Nature-Study
in Summer Camps for Girls. Pg.
184.
Do We Need School Museums, E.
K. Peeples & E. Dyer. Pg. 120
Downing, Dr. Elliot R. A Survey
of Twenty Years Progress in
Measuring Results in Nature
Study. Pg. 68
Drushel, J. A. The Purple Cone
Flower. Pg. 286
"Early Annals of Ornithology,"
H. F. & G. Witherby. Pg. 301
Eclipses, Pg. 16
Editorial, The Chicago Nature
Study Club. Pg. 93
Editorial, Dunes, The. Pg. 344
Editorial, Nature Not A Member of
A Union, Pg. 300 ^
Editorial, Our Present Need for
Sun-Dials. Pg. 42
Alpha. Orionis & Mortal Humility.
Pg-43
Editorial, School Garden Outlook,
The, Trail School, The. Pg. 142
Editorial, Pg. 394
Eifrig, C. W. G. Aesthetic Side o
Nature Study, The. Pg. 327
' 'Everyday Adventures , ' ' Samuel
Scoville, Jr. Pg. 258
Fifteenth Meeting of the American
Nature Study Society, The. Pg. 47
First Nature Lore School, The,
W. G. Vinal. Pg. 145
Forester, The, C. DeW. Scott,
Pg. 333
Gallaher, Ethel. A Story of Jim,
The Normal School Squirrel. Pg.
249
395
396
INDEX
Gardner, Grace B. Nature Study,
Normal vSchool and vSummer Camp
Councillors. Pg. 187
Griswold, Florence. A Porcupine
at Weetamoo. Pg. 200
GuLicK, Mrs. Charlotte, Where
vShould Nature Study Come on
the Program. Pg. 149
Gutler, B. O. The Arbutus, l^g.
280
"How to Have Bird Neighl)ors." Pg
302
Interesting Boulder, An, C. J.
Kimmerle. Pg. 247
111 Wind that Blows Nobody Good,
It is An, W. G. Vinal. Pg. 38
Jones, Anna A. Nature Study in
Webster Groves. Pg. 289
Kimmerle, C. J. Interesting Boul-
der, An. Pg. 247
Knoe, Israel. Autumn. Pg. 285
Learning to See and Hear, Agatha
Deming. Pg. 167
"Lightfoot the Deer," Thornton
W. Burgess. Pg. 302
Long's Peak Trail School & Nature
Guiding. Enos A. Mills. Pg. 95
Maple Sugar Camp, In The, C. H.
Donnell. Pg. 90
Mills, Enos A. The Long's Peak
Trail School & Nature Guiding.
Pg- 95
Moggatt, W. S. Why Prairie Flow-
ers Have Disappeared. Pg. 307
Mong, Martha, Nature Study in a
College W^oman's Club. Pg. 278
Moon, The, E. Cubillos. Pg. 8
Moon Landscape, The. Pg. 1 1
Mrs. Grasshopper Goes House-Hunt-
ing, A. J. Stackepole. Pg. 291
Nature Bids You Come, Donald
Thistle. Pg. 267
Nature Study at Adirondack Camp,
Elias G. Brown. Pg. 192
Nature Work at Aloha Clulj. Yoshi
Kasuya. Pg. 198
Nature Study at Camp Hanoum,
Pg. 201
Nature Stud\' at Highland Nature
Camp, Allen B. Doggett. Pg.
174
Nature Work at Camp Kehonka,
Virginia F. Birdsall. Pg. 171
Nature Study at Quanset, Mary L.
Hammatt. Pg. 188
Nature Study at Senior Quinbeck
Camp. Gladys Gordon Fry. Pg.
190
Nature Study in Summer Camps for
Girls, Eleazer J. Dole. Pg. 184
Nature at the Tall Pines, Stella
. M. Brooks. Pg. 196
Nature at Teela-Wooket, Mary A.
Stillman. Pg. 180
Nature Study, Normal School &
Summer Camp Councillors, Grace
B. Gardener. Pg. 187.
Nature Study in a College Woman's
Clul), Martha Mong. Pg. 278
Nature Study Outline, E. L. Pal-
mer. Pg. 215
Nature Study Paradise, A. W. P.
Alexander. Pg. 349
Nature vStudy Project, A, D. Clark
Brown. Pg. 363
Nature Study & The Reading Room,
M. R. VanCleve. Pg. 261
Nature Study in Webster Groves,
Anna A. Jones. Pg. 289
"Night Raid Into Space, A", Col.
J. S. F. Mackenzie. Pg. 44
Notes on Members of Chicago Nature
Club. Pg.317
Notes on Mrs. MofiFatt's Talk on
Twenty-five Common Spiders, Pg.
51
"Nuova, The New Bee," Vernon
L. Kellogg. Pg. 258
Oriole's Lullaby, An, Anna E. Lucas.
Pg- 275
Palmer E. L. Cornell Rural School
Leaflet and Nature Study. Pg.
205
Palmer, E. L. Nature Study Out-
line, Pg. 215
Palmer, E. L. Reaching & Train-
ing Rural Teachers. Pg. 81
Patterson, Alice Jean, A Survey
of Twenty years Progress Made in
the Courses of Nature Study, Pg.
55
Peefles, E. K. & Dyer, E. Do
We Need School Museums, Pg.
120
Phills, Alice M. Prairie Dogs.
Pg- 354
Pi ctures on M emory ' s Wall , Manley
Townsend. Pg. 288
Picturesque Duneland, S. M. Row-
ley. Pg. 314
Plants in Their Environments, M.
M. Boyce. Pg. 324
Porcupine at Weetamoo, A, Flor-
ence Griswold. Pg. 200
Prairie Dogs, Alice M. Phills. Pg.
354-
Program of the Toronto Meeting,
Pg. 322
Purple Cone Flower, The, J. A.
Drushel. Pg. 286
INDEX
397
Reaching & Training Rural Teachers,
E. L. Palmer. Pg. 8i
Rogers, Katherine R. A Voyage
of Discovery. Pg. 35
Roosevelt Field Club, The, Ruth
V. Weierheiser. Pg. 87
Rowley, Stella M. Cottonwoods
of the Dunes, The. Pg. 53
Rowley, S. M. Picturesque Dune-
land. Pg. 314
Sand Dunes and Forests. W. Whit-
ney. Pg. 330
Satterthwait, a. F. A Survey of
Twenty Years Progress in Nature
Study (E) In Extension Work,
Pg. 71
vScoTT, C. DeW. The Forester, A
Play. Pg. 333
Scott, Carroll DcWilton, The
Wise Wood Rats. Pg. 268
Shaw, Ellen Eddy, A Survey of
Twenty Years Progress in Nature
Study in Providing Materials for
Study. Pg. 63
Sherwood, Helen Lee, Bee's Eye
View, A. Pg. 276
Shufeldt, R. W. Australia's Re-
markable Lizard. Pg. 360
Shufeldt, R. W. Wild & Garden
Roses. Pg. 237
Stackepole, a. J. Mrs. Grasshop-
per Goes House-Hunting. Pg. 291
Stalking the Cow, Elizabeth F.
Burrall. Pg. 240
Stearns, Lydia, Wild . Birds in
City Parks. Pg. 310
Stebbins, D. C. Three Days in the
Mountains. Pg. 201
Story of Hop High, The, Virginia
Baker. Pg. 390
Story of Jim, The Normal School
Squirrel, A. Ethel Gallaher. Pg.
249
Survey of Twenty Years Progress in
Measuring Results in Nature Study.
Dr. Elliot R. Downing. Pg. 68
Survey of Twenty Years Progress in
Nature Study (E) In Extension
Work, A, A. F. Satterthwait.
Pg. 71
Survey of Twenty Years Progress in
Nature Study in Providing
Materials for Study, Ellen Eddy
Shaw. Pg 63
Survey of Twenty Years IVogrcss
Made in the Courses of Nature
Study, A, Alice Jean Patterson.
Pg. 55
Sun.The. Pg. 6
Sim Dial for the School Garden. I'g. i
Symposium of Garden Supervisors
from Coast to Coast. Pg. 103
Taubenhaus, J. J. Disease of Mul-
berry Fruit, A. Pg. 282
Thistle, Donald, Nature Bids You
Come. Pg. 267
Thomson, J. C. To the Woodland
Folk. Pg.323
Thomas, L. S. Children's Gardens
in a Steel Town. Pg. 131
Thoreau's Observations on Fogs,
Clouds, & Rain, F. White. Pg.
296
Townsend, Manley, Pictures on
Memory's Wall. Pg. 288
Three Days in the Mountains, D. C.
Stebbins. Pg. 200
Tides, The. Pg. 19
Trailing Arbutus. Agnes Atwater.
Pg- 295
' ' Uncle Zeb & His Friends, ' ' Edward
W. Frentz. Pg. 45
Van Cleve, M. R. Nature Study &
The Reading Lesson. Pg. 261
ViNAL, W. G., Counsel for Council-
lors. Pg. 152
Vinal, W. G. First Nature Lore
School. Pg. 145
Vinal, William Gould, It is an
111 Wind that Blows Nobody
Good Pg. 38
Voyage of Discovery, A. Katherine
R. Rogers. Pg. 3=5
Waking up Dead Back Yards, W. R.
Beattie. Pg. 99
Warner, Edith W. Bagworm Col-
lections. Pg. 245
Went, Harvey C. ^The Black Snake
Pg. 274
Where Should Nature Study Come
on the Program, Mrs. Charlotte
Gulich. Pg. 149
White, F. Thoreau's Observations
on Fogs, Clouds & Rain. Pg. 296
Whitney, W. Sand Dunes & Forests.
Pg. 330
Why Prairie Flowers liavc Disap-
peared, W. S. Moffatt. Pg. 307
Wild and Garden Roses, R. W.
Shufeldt. Pg. 237
Wild Birds in City Parks, Lydia
vStearns. Pg. 310
"Wild Creatures of Garden tv Hedge-
row," Frances Pitt. I'g. 44
Wise Wood Rats, Tlie. (\-.rn.ll
DeWilton Scott. \\. 2().S
Woodkmd Folk, To the, j. (\
Thomson, f'g. 323
Year's Program of the College Wom-
an's (dnb of F>rie. I'm., A. I'g. 27(1
ASTRONOMY NUMBER
pftTOIJE-STODY SEtflEW
\ Devoted to Elementary Science in the Schools
OFFICIAL ORGAN
OF THE
American
Nature-
Study
So.
'^}
Eclipse of the Sun
Photo by Verne Morton
JANUARY,
1921
Vol. 17 No. 1
Whole No. 140
20c a copy
$1.60 a year
zoo ANIMAL OUTLINES
By LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES
The famous bird and animal artist
These outlines, like our Bird and Common Animal
outlines, are printed on paper suitable for coloring. They
are especially valuable for use in study of Geography of
Foreign Countries. Have your pupils make an illustrated
book of the Zoo in your city or of the circus they visited.
A sample lesson is included in each package. Size 7x9^
inches. Price, 50c per set. $1.00 per hundred, assorted.
List of Outlines
Alligator Giraffe
Bear, Grizzly Gnu, Brindled
Bear, Polar Gorilla
Beaver Hippopotamus
Bison Ibex
Camels Jaguar
Chimpanzee Kangeroo
Deer, Virginia Leopard
Elephants Lion
Elk Llama
THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.
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Orang-outang
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on water color paper. Size 7x9 >^
inches. 50c per set. $1.00
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Conservation of Game Birds is an important
subject at the present time. The use of these
Game Bird Outlines with lessons about game laws
will appeal to the youngest as well as the older
pupils. Combine with English and lecture lessons.
LIST OF OUTLINES
Brant, The
Grouse, Ruffled
Duck, American Eider
Pheasant
Baldpate
Plover, Black-bellied
" Black
Sea-duck, Redhead or
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American Pochard
" Canvasback
Sea-duck, the scoter
" Goldeneye or
Scaup
Whistler
Snipe
Mallard
Teal, Blue-winged
Pintail
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" Ruddy
Woodcock
" Shoveler
Wild Turkey
'• Wood
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An ancient English, vertical
sun dial in the garden of
the Editor
INvSCRIPTION
Beata
vSola
vSolitudo O
Beatitude
Mihi Opidum Career est
et Solitude Paradisus
W. H.
Deus Nobiscum
et Corona Manum Opus
Nostrum
1663
Vivat Carolus Secundus
Translation
Happy solitude, O, only-
happiness to me the city a
prison is and solitude is
paradise
W. H.
God be with us
and crown the work of our
hands
1663
Long live Charles the Second
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Sun Dial in the School Garden
The Sun ----- -
The Moon. E. Cubii.los ...
The Moon Landscape . . . .
Eclipses ------
The Tides ------
The Constellations by a Nature Study Class -
An Astronomy Note Book - ' -
Sunset over the Pacific Ocean. I. C Shedd -
A Voyage of Discovery. K. R. Rogers.
An 111 Wind. W. G Vinal
Editorial ----._
Bookshelf
Anna B, Comstock, Editor
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Susan Sipe Alrertis
Prof. (. Andrew Drushel
Prof. foHN Dear NESS
Miss Cora A. Smith
I
6
8
II
16
19
21
33
34
35
38
42
44
Washington, D. C.
St. Louis, Mo.
London, Ontario
Erie. Penna.
Enterd as second-class matter at the Post Office at Ithaca. N Y
under the A ct of Marrl- .?, 1870
THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17
January, 1921
No.
A Sun-dia! made by pupils
A Sun-Dial for the School Garden
The construction of a san-dial and the setting it up properly
should be a delightful means of educating the pupils in a very
important subject, the measuring
of time, — a subject which is given
very little thought in this day of
clocks and watches. Even during
the discussion of "time saving"
turning back the clock an hour,
very few understood its real mean-
ing.
Sun-dials are very ancient of
origin; and probably the earliest
form was a pole fixed in the ground
with the spaces covered by its
shadow during the da}' divided
and marked by stones or in some other manner. The earliest
mention of a sun-dial is found in Isaiah xxxviii, 8 : "Behold, I will
bring again the shadow of the degrees which is gone do^vn in the
sun-dial of Ahaz ten degrees backward." This must have been
written about 700 years B. C. but we have no idea of the form of
this dial. The earliest dial, the construction of which we know,
was made by the Chaldean astronomer Berossus who lived about
300 B. C. and it consisted of a hollow hemisphere with its rim
horizontal and a bead fixed at its center which cast a shadow, the
path of which was an arc which was divided into twelve equal
parts. This form of dial was used many centuries by many ])eo-
ples.
No one knows certainly wiien the first clock was invented nor
by whom, but the use of clocks in Europe in the 13 th century has
been recorded. A clock was put up in a tower of Westminster in
1
2 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
London in 1288 A. D, and one was in use on Dover Castle in 1348;
and by 1400 there were clocks made resembling those we have now.
It is well for us all to think of the many, many centuries of hirnian
histon^ which passed with their days marked only by the shadow
of the sun upon a dial.
In order to make the construction of the sun-dial of greatest use
in a school, all the pupils of a suitable age should make working
plans for a dial; these may be made on ordinar\^ drawing paper
and the gnomen may be made of card-board and cut out and set
in place with pins. After the plans are made, even to the inscrip-
tion, one of them sliould be chosen, because of its excellence, as
the model to be followed in the manual training class in making the
dial to be set up in the school yard.
HOW TO MAKE THE PLANS FOR A SUN-DIAL
Take a piece of drawing paper about 16 inches square, find its
exact center and draw upon it a square with sides 14 inches; find
the center of the square, y. Draw on it with a pencil the line
AA" a foot long and one-eighth inch at the left of the center.
Then draw the line B B" exactly parallel to the line A A" and a
fourth inch to the right of it. These lines should be one- fourth
inch apart — which is just the thickness of the gnomon.
With a compass, or a pencil fastened to a string draw the
half-circle A A' A''' with a radius of six inches with the point C for
its center. Draw a similar half-circle B B' B" opposite with c' for
its center. Then draw the half-circle from D, D', D", from c with
a radius of five and three-quarters inches. Then draw similarly
from c' the half-circle E, E', E". Then draw from c the half-circle
F, F', F" with a radius of five inches and a similar half-circle G,
G', G" from c' as a center.
Find the points M, M' just six inches from the points F, G;
draw the line J, K through M, M' exactly at right angles to the
fine A, A'. This will mark the six o'clock point so the figures VI
may be placed on it in the space between the two inner circles.
The noon mark XII should be placed as indicated (the "X" at D,
F, the "11" at E, G). With black paint outline all the semi-
circles and figures.
A SUN-DIAL FOR THE SCHOOL GARDEN
A" B"
The face of the sundial
MATERIALS FOR MAKING THE DIAL
For the dial, take a board about 14 inches square and an inch
or more thick. The lower edge may be bevelled if desired. This
should be given three coats of white paint, so that it will not warp
and check.
For the gnomon a piece of board a half inch thick and six inches
square is required. It should be given several coats of white paint
so that it will not warp. The standard should be a solid post or
column about 30 inches high after being set in the ground or in
cement. It is not necessary to have the standard and its base
elaborate because vines should be trained around it; all that is
necessary is that it shoud be solid and set evenly.
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
[17:1— Jan.. 1921
HOW TO MAKE THE GNOMON
The word gnomon is from a Greek word meaning "one who
knows." It is the hand of the sundial, which throws its shadow
on the face of the dial, indi-
cating the hour. Take a piece
of card-board six inches square
and be very sure its angles
are right angles. Let s, t, u, v
represent the four angles
draw on it a quarter of a
circle from s to u with a radius
equal to the line vs. Then
with a cardboard protractor,
costing fifteen cents', or by
working it out without any
help except knowing that a
right angle is 90", draw the
The gnomon j-^^ ^^ making the angle at x
the same as the degree of latitude where the sundial is to be placed.
At Itliaca the latitude is 42°, 27' and the angle at x measures
42° 27'. Then the board should be cut off at the line vw, and later
the edge sw may be cut in some ornamental pattern.
TO SET UP THE SUN-DIAL
Fasten the base of the gnomon by screws or brads to the dial
with the points of the gnomon at F, G, and the point v of the
gnomon at M, M', so that the point W is up in the air. Set the
dial on some perfectly level standard with the line A, A" extending
exactly north and south. If no compass is available, wait until
noon and set the dial so that the shadow from W will fall exactly
between the points A, B, and this will mean that the dial is set
exactly right. Then with a good watch note the points on the arc
E, K', on which the shadow falls at one, two, three, four, and five
o'clock: and in the morning the points on the arc J' D on which
the shadow falls at seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven o'clock
Draw lines from M to these points, and lines from M' to the points
on the arc E K'. Then place the figures on the dial as indicated
in the spaces between the two inner circles. The space between
the two outer circles may be marked with lines indicating the half
and quarter hours. The figures should be outlined in pencil and
then painted with black paint, or carved in the wood and then
painted.
A SUN-DIAL FOR THE SCHOOL GARDEN 5
INSCRIPTIONS UPON DIALS
From the beginning, a sun-dial seems to have made man thought-
ful of life and philosophical concerning its length or brevity, as
"Life is but a shadow,
Man is but dust;
This dial says
Die all we must."
or
"When thou dost look upon my face,
To learn the time of day,
Think how my shadow keeps its pace,
As thy life flies away."
Many of the old dials have most lugubrious mottoes, but there
are many beautiful ones that may be written or carved upon the
lower half of the school dial, such as
"Let others tell of storms and showers,
I'll only count your sunny hours."
"Light rules me
The shadow, thee."
"I mark not the hours unless they be bright."
"Time and tide tarry for no man."
"The shadow passes; light remains."
"Amidst the flowers
I tell the hours."
"Time goes not,
Time stays, we go."
"Let there be light; and there was light."
Star
From Wind and Weather
Liberty Hyde Bailey
Twinkle, twinkle, little star But I think that now I see
How I wonder what you are ! What your twinkle is to me —
Just a little friendly light
If I knew then I should learn Set against the roof of night
What some men shall yet discern — As the trees do stand by day
What it is that sets us here When I walk upon my way.
Each within his proper sphere
Making plain to contemplate Twinkle, twinkle little star
On the miracles of fate. You are not so very far !
The Sun
The following account of the sun is a part of an address by Professor W. W.
Campbell of the Lick Observatory delivered at the dedication of the Warner
and Swasey Obersvatory in Cleveland, Oct. 12, 1920 and printed in Science,
Dec. 10, 1920.
The wonders of our sun are many and most remarkable, and Are
but little known. I have referred to its enormous size. The
quantity of heat which the sun is radiating into surrounding space,
to the earth, to Mars, and to all other objects which intercept its
rays, is stupendous and not to be comprehended by the astronomer
or the man of affairs. It is, and has been, the source of all the
energy upon which we draw, save only a negligible residual. A
great quantity of heat is indeed stored up in the interior of the
earth, but it reaches the earth's surface in such minute quantities
that in all practical details of life, save to those who labor in deep
mines, or live near volcanoes, or are interested in hot springs, this
source of energy may be neglected. If this statement should be
difficult to accept, let your thoughts travel to the south pole of our
planet. What does the interior heat of the earth do for that re-
gion? The antarctic continent's perpetual covering of ice and
snow is unaffected by it, nor does the actually enormous quantity
of solar heat falling upon that continent suffice to remove the white
mantle. If aught should intervene to cut off the sun's energy
from the earth for one short month, the tropics would attain to a
state of frigidity to which the south polar continent, as now
observed, would be a rose garden in comparison.
It is the sun's heat which grows the farmers' crops, the trees of
the forest and all vegetation. The coal df^posits upon which we
draw toda}^ for the running of trains, ships, factories and rolling
mills, are but the solar energy of an earlier age, compressed, trans-
formed and preserved for our comfort and power. In the moim-
tainous regions of our land, where water can be stored in high level
reservoirs and, passing through water wheels at lower levels, be
made to generate electric power for lighting, for heating and for the
running of motors, it is the sun's energy which is transformed
to meet the needs of men. The sun's rays evaporate the surface
waters of the oceans, lakes, streams and lands; the winds, genera-
ted by the unequal solar heating of our atmosphere, transport
some of the water vapor to the high mountains, where it is deposited
as rain or snow. It is merely the descent of these waters to the
6
THE SUN 7
lower levels that is controlled by man and transformed into electric
power for his own purposes.
It would take more than two billion earths placed side by side
to form a continuous spherical shell around our sun at distance
equal to the earth's distance, and thus to receive the total output
of solar heat. Therefore less than one two-billionth part of that
output falls upon the earth. The earth's share of solar energy,
expressed in horse-power or other familiar units, is too great to set
down in figures. If you should happen to own 250 acres of land in
one of the tropical deserts of the earth, you will be interested to
know that your quota of the solar energy, near the middle of a
summer day, is falling upon your tract of land at the rate of about
one million horse-power — more than enough heat and power to
supply all the needs of this great city — and this is but two-thirds of
the sun's good intentions toward you, for some 40 per cent, of the
energy is intercepted by the atmosphere overlying your farm, and
returned forthwith to outer space.
Your neighbor's tract of 250 acres is also receiving solar energy at
the rate of one million horse-power. Figuring backward, if one
farm area receives a million horse-power and, there are more
than a hundred million such farm areas on the earth turned
toward the sun at one time, and the whole earth intercepts less
than one two-billionth of the sun's energy output, is it any wonder
that sun worship became one of the recognized religions? Ac-
curate knowledge saves us from that, but it is becoming in us to
give the sun our due respect.
A great problem ahead of the scientific world is the storage of
the sun's beneficent heat rays for release as needed. Astronomers
are seeking intently for the sources of the sun's outpouring of
energy : how can the sun maintain the supply for tens of millions
of years, as it undoubtedly is doing? One important source has
been found — -the sun's own gravitation which tries constantly to
pull every particle of its material to the sun's center — but another
and greater source seems to await discovery. Does any one say
since the supply of solar energy will surely meet our needs for ten
or a hundred million years, why look further for the cause? Why
not let it go at that? This selfish spirit, if applied to all subjects,
would retrograde our civilization. Even the possession of the
truth is not so potent for good as the desire to know the truth, and
the struggle to discover it. Practically, a knowledge of the origin
of the sun's heat may be the key for locking up great quantities
of it on summer days and unlocking it when and wlicre needed.
Photo by Verne Morton
The Moon
E. CUBILLOS
Bogota, Columbia, S. A.
The moon is the nearest body to us in all space, and so great is
the distance that separates us from the stars that we speak as if she
were not very far off, yet compared with the size of the earth the
space lying between us and her is very great.
After the sun, the most important body to the inhabitants of the
earth is probably the moon, owing to its variety of phases and to
rapid changes of position in the skies.
The mean distance of the moon from the earth is about 238,840
miles. Owing to the eccentricity of its orbit it is sometimes
252,972 miles away and sometimes only 221,614. According to
the latest measurements, the diameter of the moon is 2,163 miles,
which is rr.ore than a quarter that of the earth. It travels eastward
8
CUBILLOS] THE MOON 9
around the earth in an orbit whose circumference is about 1,500,680
miles, at an average velocity of 2,290 miles per hour, and completes
a circuit in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes and 11.5 seconds, which
constitutes a sidereal month, the average length of the common
month being 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.8 seconds.
The mean density of the moon is about three-fifths that of the
earth and its mass rather less than one-eightieth, while the force
of gravity at its surface is about one-sixth that at the earth's
surface.
The lunar globe is fotmd to be devoid of any bodies of water and
probably without any sensible atmosphere. Having no atmo-
sphere, there is nothing to temper the alternate changes there,
either from light to darkness or from heat to cold. The day side
of the moon is exposed to the sun's intense heat for about two
weeks, the temperatures probably reaching the boiling point,
while thru the long lunar night, the surface freezes and the tem-
perature falls very low, perhaps 200-250 degrees below zero.
The most striking phenomena connected with the moon are its
series of changes or phases which are repeated every 29.5 days.
Being an opaque body it can only be seen as the light of the sun
illuminates it. When the moon is between the earth and the sun,
its dark side is turned towards the earth. It is then entirely
invisible and this phase is the real new moon. About two to three
days after this a thin crescent of silvery light appears, just after
sunset, this crescent commonly called new moon. Gradually the
crescent broadens out, as the moon moves away from the sun, until
on or about the seventh day, it reaches a position known as its
first quarter, and is then a bright semi-circle off in the south at
sunset. During the next few days, as the moon moves eastward,
more and more of its illuminating surface is brought into view,
until three-quarters of the disk appears lighted up and is then said
to be gibbous. On or about the 14th day, the moon now opposite
the sun, shows the whole of its round disc illuminated, this is
known as full moon, rising about sunset and setting about sunrise.
Passing on in its orbit, its phases recur in reverse order, the full
phase giving place to the gibbous, this in turn to the semi-circle,
which phase it reaches about the 21st day and is then seen high in
the heavens in the early morning hours. Step by step it draws
closer to the sun, thinning down to a crescent shape again, until
it is lost once more in the solar glare, only to re-emerge, on or about
the 28th day, as new moon, and begins again its cycle.
10
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
Owinjj: to its eastward motion, a daily retardation of the moon's
rising and setting occurs, being about 50 J^ minutes.
Among some of the most wonderful phenomena of the heavens
are the limar eclipses. They are produced only when the new or
the full moon is at or very near one of the nodes. If the orbits of
the earth and the moon were exactly on the same plane, an eclipse
would take place every new or full moon. However, the plane of
the moon's orbit is inclined to the plane of the earth's orbit at an
angle of about five degrees. Besides the moon's nodes are not
stationary, but have a daily backward motion, owing to the attrac-
tion of the sun on the earth and moon. As a result of this back-
ward motion of the moon's nodes, eclipses occur on average about
19 days earlier every year.
The moon's
surface
showing the
craters
Mercator
and
Campanus.
Photo after
Nasmyth
The Moon Landscape
From a magnificent volume on The Moon by Naysmilh and Carpenter,
two eminent English astronomers.
And now for a time let us turn attention from the lunar sky to
the scenery of the lunar landscape. Let us in imagination, take
our stand high upon the eastern side of the rampart of one of the
great craters. Height it must be remarked is more essential on
the moon to command extent of view than upon the earth, for on
account of the comparati\'e smallness of the lunar sphere the dip
of the horizon is very rapid. Such height however, would be at-
tained with great exercise of muscular power, since equal amounts
of climbing energy would, from the smallness of lunar gravity,
take a man six times as high on the moon as on the earth. Let us
choose for instance, the hill-side of Copernicus. The day begins
by a sudden transition. The faint looming of objects under
the united illumination of the half full earth, and the zodiacal light
is the lunar precursor of daybreak. Suddenly the highest moun-
tain peaks receive the direct rays of a portion of the sun's disc as
it emerges from below the horizon. The brilliant lighting of these
summits serves but to increase by contrast, the prevailing darkness,
for they seem to float like islands of lignt in a sea of gloom. At a
rate of motion 28 times slower than we are accustomed to, the light
tardily creeps down the mountain-sides, and in the course of about
1 2 hours the whole of the circular rampart of the great crater below
us, and towards the east, shines out in brilliant light, unsoftened
by a trace of mountain mist. But on the opposite side, looking
into the crater, nothing but blackness is to be seen. As hour
succeeds hour, the sunbeams reach peak after peak of the circular
rampart in slow succession, till at length the circle is complete
and the vast crater-rim, 50 miles in diameter, glistens like a silver-
margined abyss of darkness. By-and-by in the centre, appears
a group of bright peaks of bosses. These are the now illuminated
summits of the central cones, and the development of the great
mountain cluster they form henceforth becomes an imposing
feature of the scene. From our high standpoint, and looking
backwards to the sunny side of our cosmorama, we glance over a
vast region of the wildest volcanic desolation. Craters from ii\e
miles diameter downwards crowd together in countless numbers,
so that the surface, as far as the eye can reach, looks v^eritably
frothed over with them. Nearer the base of the rampart on \vh\c])
11
12
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
[17:1— Jan., 1921
Lunar Mountains
Ideal lunar landscape from Nasmyth and Carpenter
we stand, extensive mountain chains run to north and to south,
casting long shadows toward us; and away to southward run
several great chasms a mile wide and of appalling blackness and
depth. Nearer still, almost beneath us, crag rises on crag and
precipice upon precipice, mingled with craters and yawning pits,
towering pinnacles of rock and piles of scoriae and volcanic debris.
But we behold no sign of existing or vestige of past organic life.
No heaths or mosses soften the sharp edges and hard surfaces:
no tints of cryptogamous or lichenous vegetation give a complex-
ion of life to the hard fire-worn countenance of the scene. The
whole landscape, as far as the eye can reach, is a realization ol a
fearful dream of desolation and lifelessness — not a dream of death,
for that implies evidence of pre-existing life, but a vision of a world
upon which the light of life has never dawned.
THE MOON LANDSCAPE 13
Looking again, after some hours interval, into the great cratered
amphitheatre, we see that the rays of the morning sun have crept
down the distant side of the rampart, opposite to that on which we
stand, and Hghted up its vast landsHpped terraces into a series of
seeming hill-circles with all the iiide and rugged features of a
terrestrial mountain view, and none of the beauties save those of
desolate grandeur. The plateau of the crater is half in shadow
10,000 feet below, with its grand group of cones, now fully in sight,
rising from its centre. Although these last are 20 miles away and
the base of the opposite rampart fully double that distance, we
have no means of judging their remoteness, for in the absence of
an atmosphere there can be no aerial perspective, and distant
objects appear as brilliant and distinct as those which are close to
the observer. Not the brightness only but the various colours
also of the distant objects are preserved in their full intensity; for
colour we may fairly assume there must be. Mineral chlorates
and sublimates will give vivid tints to certain parts of the land-
scape surface, and there must be all the more sombre colours
which are common to mineral matters that have been subjected
to fiery influence. All these tints will shine and glow with their
greater or less intrinsic lustres, since they have not been deterio-
rated by atmospheric agencies, and far and near they will appear
clear alike, since there is no aerial medium to veil them or tarnish
their pristine brightness.
In the lunar landscape, in the line of sight, there are no means of
estimating distances; only from an eminence, where the interven-
ing ground can be seen, is it possible to realize magnitude in a lunar
cosmorama and comprehend the dimensions of the objects it
includes.
And with no air there can be no diffusion of light. As a conse-
quence, no illumination reaches those parts of the scene which do
not receive the direct solar rays, save the feeble amount reflected
from contiguous illuminated objects, and a small quantity shed by
the crescent earth. The shadows have an awful blackness. As
we stand upon our chosen point of observation, we see on the
lighted side of the rampart almost dazzling brightness, while
beneath us, on the side away from the sun, there is a region many
miles in area impenetrable to the sight, for there is no object
within it receiving sufficient light to render it discernible; and all
around us, far and near, there is the violent contrast between
14 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW (17:1— Jan., 1921
intense brightness of insulated parts and deep gloom of those in
equally intense shadow. The black tho starlit sky helps the
violence of this contrast, for the bright mountains in the distance
around us stand forth upon a background formed by the darkness
of interplanetary space. The visible effects of these conditions
must be in every sense unearthly and truly terrible, The hard,
harsh, glowing light and pitchy shadows; the absence of all the
conditions that give tenderness to an earthly landscape; the black
noonda}^ sky, with the glaring sun ghastly in its brightness; the
entire absence of vestiges of an}^ life save that of the long since
expired volcanoes — all these conspire to make up a scene of dreary,
desolate grandeur that is scarcely conceivable by any earthly
habitant, and that the description we have attempted insuffi-
ciently portrays.
A legitimate extension of the imagination leads us to impressions
of lunar conditions upon other senses than that of sight, to which we
have hitherto confined our fancy. We are met at the outset with a
difficulty in this extension; for^it is impossible to conceive the
sensations which the absence of an atmosphere would produce
upon the most important of our bodily functions. If we would
attempt the task we must conjure up feelings of suffocation, of
which the thoughts are, however, too horrible to be dwelt upon;
we must therefore maintain the delusion that we can exist without
air, and attempt to realize some of the less discomforting effects
of the absence of this meditmi. Most notable among these arc
the untempered heat of the direct solar rays, and the influence
thereof upon the surface material upon which we suppose ourselves
to stand. During a period of over 300 hours the sun pours down
his beams with unmitigate ferocity upon a soil never sheltered by a
cloud or cooled by a shower, till that soil is heated, as we have
shown, to a temperature equal nearly to that of melting lead ; and
this scorching influence is felt by everything upon which the stm
shines on the lunar globe. But while regions directly isolated are
thus heated, those parts turned from the sun would remain in-
tensely cold, and that scorching in sunshine and freezing in shade
with which mountaineers on the earth are familiar would be
experienced in a terribly exaggerated degree. Among the con-
sequences, already alluded to, of the alternations of temperature
to which the moon's crust is thus exposed, are doubtless more or
less considerable expansions and contractions of the surface ma-
THE MOON LANDSCAPE 15
terial, and we may conceive that a cracking and crttmbling of the
more brittle constituents would ensue, together with a grating of
contiguous but disconnected masses, and an occasional dislocation
of them. We refer again to these phenomena to remark that if an
atmospheric mediimi existed they would be attended with noisy
manifestations. There are abundant causes for grating and
crackling sounds, and such are the only sources of noise upon the
moon where there is no life to raise a hum, no wind to murmur,
no ocean to boom and foam, and no brook to plash. Yet, even
these crust-crackling commotions, though they might be felt by
the vibrations of the ground, would not manifest themselves
audibly, for without air there can be no communication between
the grating or cracking body and the nerves of hearing. Dead
silence reigns on the moon; a thousand cannons might be fired
and a thousand drums beaten upon that airless world, but no sound
could come from them: lips might quiver and tongues essa}^ to
speak, but no action of theirs could break the utter silence of the
lunar scene.
At a rate 28 times slower than upon earth, the shadows shorten
till the sun attains his meridian height, and then, from the tropical
region upon which we have in imagination stood, nothing is to be
seen on any side, save towards the black sky, but dazzling light.
The relief of afternoon shadow comes but tardily, and the darkness
drags its slow length along the valleys and creeps sluggishly up
the mountain sides till, in a hundred hours or more, the time of
sunset approaches. This phenomenon is but daybreak reversed,
and is unaccompanied by any of the gorgeous sky tints that make
the kindred event so enrapturing on earth. The sun declines
towards the dark horizon without losing one jot of its brilliancy,
and darts the full intensity of its heat upon all it shines on to the
last. Its disc touches the horizon, and in half an hour dips half-
way beneath it, its intrinsic brightness and color remaining un-
changed. The brief interval of twilight occurs, as in the morning,
when only a small chord of the disc is visible, and the long shadows
now sharpen as the area of light that casts them decreases. For a
while the zodiacal light vies with the earth-moon high in the
heavens in illuminating the scene, but in a few hours this solar
appendage passes out of view, and our world becomes the queen
of the lunar nij/ht.
16 NA7 URE'STUD Y RE VIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
Eclipse of the sun May 26, 1900
Three stages photographed by Verne Morton
Eclipses
One of the best things about sunlight is that whatever it illu-
mines casts a shadow ; this would be a monotonous world indeed,
without shade to relieve and emphasize the beauty and brilliance
of Hght. However, there is one important limitation to shadow,
it has to rest upon something in order to become visible. The
shadow of the tree rests upon the ground or against a building or
some other object ; but if the tree were high up in the sky, we should
have to prove it had a shadow by mathematics since there would
be no object below it to bring the shadow into visibility. This
condition of affairs is what makes an eclipse so very interesting.
Our great star, the sun, shines on, day and night illuminating all
his other planets and their moons even as he does our earth and our
moon; and each one of these spheres, big and little is always one
half in the light and one half in the dark, and each of them is
casting a cone-shaped shadow, if science is to be trusted, but we
are quite unaware of it because there is nothing for the shadow
to rest upon so that we can see it. However, occasionally one of
these spheres passes between the sun and another sphere and
briefly throws its shadow upon it and thus causes us to see it and
we call it an eclipse.
We have two kinds of eclipses, one when the moon passes be-
tween the sun and the earth and covers the latter with its shadow,
which is called an eclipse of the sun ; the other is when the earth
passes between the sun and the moon and throws its shadow upon
it, thus causing an eclipse of the moon.
ECLIPSES 17
AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN
This is the most impressive of the two ecHpses because it shuts
us away from the Hght of the sun and gives us a new appreciation of
the value of sunHght. It can only occur when the moon is in the
new phase and therefore is between us and the sun. The first
warning of its approach is a little dark notch on the westward edge
of the sun's disc; this gradually moves forward forming a crescent
of blackness, until there is but a crescent of light left on the sun's
eastern margin. If the eclipse is total, the entire disc will be hid-
den from view, and just before this occurs, if w^e have good glasses,
we can see the great jagged mountains of the moon outlined
against the waning sun-crescent. When the sun is completely
hidden, the rosy, subdued light of the sun's corona forms an
exquisite ring of light around the black moon disc. This beautiful
shining garment of the sun, "the ring with wings" can be observed
only during an eclipse. Despite this misty ring, our earth is in
total darkness during this phase of a total eclipse, and birds go to
roost, the flowers close their petals, the little brothers who are
night prowlers or night fliers, the mice and bats and owls, come
forth, the sky is full of stars, ignorant people are frightened, and
educated people feel subdued because of this impressive phenome-
non. A total eclipse is not visible everywhere on the earth but
only in a band extending east and west, about 165 miles in width;
it appears as a partial eclipse for the distance of about 2,000 miles
on either side of this band. A partial eclipse is when the moon is
not in direct line between the earth and the sun, and therefore in
moving across ,it cuts off only a part of the sun's disc. Sometimes,
the moon's disc is not quite large enough to cover that of the sun,
depending upon the varying distances apart of the two, and during
a total eclipse, a ring of the sun's disc entirely surrounds the moon,
and this is called an "annular eclipse."
There are records in China of an eclipse that occurred 4,000 years
ago. One was recorded in Babylon in 1963 B. C. ; many were
recorded in Assyria in the following centuries and the Bible also
mentions them. Eclipses may be calculated with accuracy for
centuries to come.
18
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
[17:1— Jan., 1921
Eclipse of the moon Dec. i6, 1899
Four stages photographed by Verne Morton
AN ECLPSE OF THE MOON
It is only when the moon is full that it may enter eclipse, because
at that time the sun is shining upon the opposite side of our earth
and the moon is on the side of its orbit farthest away from the sun
so that the earth in passing between it and the sun casts its shadow
upon it. Since the moon has no light to shine with except what it
gets from- the sun, it ceases to shine when it passes into our shadow.
At first a portion of the eastern edge of the moon becomes dim and
then disappears; gradually the shadow creeps over the moon's
bright face and finally hides it, but not entirely, for we can still
see it faintly glowing with a ruddy light; this is caused by the
refraction of the sim's rays through our atmosphere which absorbs
the green and blue rays so that for a time the moon is bathed in
sunset glow. Joel, the Prophet declared "The sun shall be turned
to darkness and the moon into blood." If one could be stationed
r
THE TIDES 19
on the moon at this time he would see the ring of Hght around the
black earth-globe brilliantly crimsoned; at other parts it would
have shades of red and yellow, and the whole effect would be to
make the "grand earth-ball, hanging in the lunar sky, like a dark
sphere in a circle of glittering gold and rubies."
The reason there is no eclipse at every full moon is because the
moon's orbit is at an angle of about five degrees to the ecliptic
in which the earth moves and in which its shadow always lies, so
it is only occasionally that the two are in a straight line from the
sun. To appreciate an eclipse of the moon we should try to think
how far away from us the moon is. Ball says "An express train
which runs 40 miles an hour would travel 240 miles in six hours,
and the whole distance to the moon would be accomplished in
6,000 hours, so that by travelling night and day incessantly you
would accomplish the journey in 250 days."
It seems very wonderful that our earth can cast a shadow as far
as that.
The Tides
When Newton discovered the laws of gravity he made a very
great discovery about something of which even at this late day
we know very little. Why bodies of matter attract each other
has seemed a wonderful fact that we could not explain. How-
ever the physicists think they are on the hot trail of the truth now
and may be we shall soon receive enlightenment concerning this
miraculous force that welds the stars together as surely as it causes
the little child to fall if he loses his balance.
We have long known that the tides that sweep over great bodies
of water are caused by the pulling of the moon. This is really
lifting the water and incidentally pulling it as the moon moves
around the earth. If the oceans covered the entire earth the high
tide would be regular, but owing to the irregularities of the land,
and the varying depth of the water, the tide is much affected as to
height and direction. It is easy enough to understand how the
moon can cause one tide each day, but it is not so evident how it
causes two. At the same time that the moon is lifting the waier in
the oceans toward it and away from the earth, it is lifting the earth
away from the ocean on the opposite side of the earth and this
results in a rising of the water there which results in another high
tide just half of a day later; thus we have two tides each day, the
20 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
averag^e time between two tides is about twelve hours and twenty-
five minutes and each day the tide is about fifty minutes later
than it was the day before owing to the fact that the moon rises
that much later each day. Each tide consists of two phases, high
tide and low tide; a tide consists of a wave moving from east to
west ; this wave is about three feet in height on the ocean but as it
moves up against the land, it may heap up until, as in the Bay of
Fundy, it is sixty feet or more in height. On Long Island the tide
is not more than three feet high while on the coast of Maine it
averages ten to twelve feet.
Every lunar month there are two great tides called spring tides
and two small tides known as neap tides. The spring tide
when the moon is new, that is when it is on the same side of the
earth as the sun and the two act together, the sun and moon pulling
in a straight line and therefore raising a higher tide. The neap
tides occur when the moon is on its first and third quarters, for
then the sun and rrioon are pulling the earth in different direc-
tions.
The moon does us great sendee in sanitation ; the tides prevent
the stagnation of water at the mouths of rivers which carry away
the filth and waste matter from cities and great areas of populated
lands. They wash up into the rivers and then retreat carrying
with them out to sea great burdens of matter that would breed
pestilence if not removed. Somebody has very cleverly said "the
tide is a toothbrush and antiseptic wash for the mouth of a river."
The Measurement of Betelgeuse
Professor Albert A. Michelson, the famous physicist, has devised
a means of measuring stars, and has just announced the size of
Alpha Orionis, better known as Betelgeuse, the red star in the
shoulder of Orion. The result is too stupendous for oiir compre-
hension, for the diameter of this star is 260,000,000 miles and its
voliime is 37,000,000 times as great as our sun; in the place of our
sun this great fiery ball would reach almost to the orbit of Mars.
The light reaching our eyes now from Betelgeuse started on its
journey before our Revolutionary war was fought, for it takes 150
years for light to reach us from it.
The Constellations
AS INTERPRETED BY A CLASS IN NATURE-STUDY
Nellie H. Crosby
I saw with its celestial keys
Its chords of air, its frets of fire,
The Samians great Aeolian lyre,
Rising through all its sevenfold bars,
From earth unto the fixed stars.
— Longfellow.
It was the Persians who called this constellation of six large stars
a lyre. The early Christians called it King David's Harp, the
Britons King Arthur's Harp. To the Czecks it was a fiddle in the
sky and to the early Arabian star gazers it was the swooping eagle
as contrasted with Aquilla the soaring eagle which was nearby.
The legend runs thus : a celestial harp was presented to Orpheus
by Apollo. With this harp, when instructed by the muses,
Orpheus charmed wild beasts, even stones and trees, upon Olym-
pus, and chained the rivers in their courses. When Eurydice the
new bride of Orpheus was snatched from him into the Stygian
realms Apollo charmed the guardians of the River Styx so that
they allowed him to enter. Before the deities who presided over
the kingdom of ghosts he won favor and he was permitted to leave
the realm with his young bride following him * * * |^^^
* * * he must not look back as he proceeded; this was too
much for his anxious love ; he simply must see whether she obeyed
and was really coming after him — Alas! He lost her again.
Nevertheless the magic lyre which could melt Pluto's stem heart,
and make the Furies weep, was deemed worthy of a place among
the stars. Shakespeare in The Two Gentlemen of Verona refers
to this legend.
"For Orpheus' lute was strung with poets sinews
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands."
The constellation of Lyra contains one star of the third magni-
tude, five of the fourth and a few of the fifth magnitude. The
principle stars outline an equilateral triangle and a rhomboid.
While the star Aladfar is outside these two figures and is a con-
tinuation of a line drawn thru one side of the rhomboid and also a
21
22 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:l--Jan., 1921
side of the triangle beyond the star Vega a distance practically
the same as the side of the triangle. Epsilon, a yello'-Adsh star
of the fourth magnitude, is one of the famous stars of this family.
It is at one angle of the triangle; a sharp eye can divide Epsilon
into two stars, and with a glass each of these stars can be seen
distinctly as doubles — hence Epsilon is a double, double star.
Sheliak and Sulafat are at the angles of the parallelogram farthest
from Vega and its triangle. Sheliak is both a double and a
variable star; a noted short period variable and one of the ten
pear-shaped stars. It has a white light and is a star of the third
magnitude. A powerful telescope locates the famous ring nebula
between Sulafat and Sheliak.
By far the most famous star in the constellation of Lyra is the
steel blue Vega. It is the most brilliant star of the northern
hemisphere. In fact there are only three stars
in the whole heavens which surpass Vega in
splendor and they are all in the southern skies;
they are Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri.
Capella and Arcturus are its only close rivals in
the northern hemisphere. In the autumn as
Vega and her accompanying stars go down in the
northwest Capella comes up in the northeast.
These two rivals are usually seen in the heavens
at the same time. At this time of the year
Arcturus is below the horizon. Vega, or the Harp
Vega and her train Star as it is sometimes called, is also termed the
of five stars Arc-light of the sky. Some 14,000 years ago
Vega was the north polar star and it is calculated that 1 1,500 years
hence it will again occupy that position. Together with the other
stars of the constellation Lyra, it occupies the region of the heavens
towards which our solar system is travelling — the Apex of the
Sun's Way being probably fairly near the fourth magnitude star
Delta. Vega is 35 light years distant from us and is supposed to
give 90 times as much light as our sun. It belongs to the Syrian
type of stars, while Capella and Arcturus are of the solar type;
hence Vega is supposed to be much more rarefied and less hot
than its rival companions. It is travelling toward our solar
system at the rate of about ten miles per second; still more than
half a million of years must elapse before Vega and our sun shall
pass each other.
CAUSE] THE CONSTELLATIONS 23
There is a Chinese-Japanese legend about Vega: A spinning
damsel fell in love with a shepherd boy — the father of the damsel
was much incensed at their love so he banished them both to the
sky on opposite sides of the milky way but gave them permission
to meet once a year providing they could find a way to cross the
celestial river. Each year on the yth of July Vega, who was the
spinning damsel, came down to one edge of the milky way while
her lover, the shepherd boy Altair, came to the opposite edge.
Their friends, the magpies, congregated and formed a bridge
connecting these two points and Altair crossed to meet his beloved ;
after 24 hours the lovers were obliged to separate for the magpies
had to pass to earth and wait another year before going back to
form the celestial bridge. Serviso says that in Corea should a
magpie be found in its usual haunts on the 7 th of July, the children
stone it for shirking its duty. Alas for the lovers should it rain on
the 7th day of July! for then the river would be too wide to be
spanned by the magpie bridge.
Altair and the Dolphin
-A. Leah Gause
Altair, one of the stars in the constellation Aquila, or the eagle, is
a star of the first magnitude. It is situated in the edge of the milky-
way and may be observed there from early in June
until the middle of December. It is the brightest
Individual in the "pathway of light" during the
time mentioned so even an inexperienced "star
gazer" may easily locate it and its two companions
Beta and Gamma Aquilae. These three form a
Altair in the straight line just five degrees in length with Beta
constellation ^ ^.^ . 1 r> ^ x-u .1 r m. •
of the Eagle to the south and Gamma to the north of Altair.
Very few people see Altair early in the year although
it is in view near the western horizon before seven o'clock in the
evening very soon after Janus opens the gate for the entrance of
the New Year. Before many days it is indistinguishable in the
"glow of lengthening days" and may not be seen again until the
following month. In February, March and April Altair rises after
midnight and may be seen by those who rise before the dawn.
There is no burst of heraldry to announce the arrival of Altair,
with its fine white brilliancy, as evening star. As was stated it
appears early in June and quietly mounts the eastern sky about
24 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
that hour of the evening when the woodthrush is finishing his
vocalizing and the whippoorwill gives his first clear call.
Altair is comparatively near to the earth being about ninty-foiir
trillion of miles away which is much farther away than the sim.
On account of the latter 's nearness we receive many times as much
light from it as from Altair. But in reality Altair gives off nearly
ten times as much light as the sun. It has been said that this star
is approaching the earth at the rate of twenty-seven miles a second
but even at such a tremendous speed it would be more than a
hundred thousand years before Altair could possibly reach the
position the earth now occupies.
Just thirteen hours elapse between the rising and the setting of
Altair and as it remains so low in the sky it may be seen throughout
its entire passage from a comfortable posture. In the order of
brightness among stars it is classified as the eleventh.
The Dolphin
Delphinus, the Dolphin, an attractive star cluster in the shape
of a diamond is just east of Aquila and a trifle north of Altair.
Although there are said to be eighteen
stars in the group only five are clearly
seen. Three of these are a trifle varia-
ble, one is a double star and another is
suspected of being a triple star.
Another name for this constellation
The Dolphin or Job's Coffin is Job's Coffin. But why such a name
should be applied is impossible to
imagine. Of course in very early times men felt that the stars
exerted a very mysterious influence. They noted their rising and
setting and tried to find out what composed them. They classified
them into groups and gave each the name of some figure or animal
according to the position of the stars composing the group. There
is a real reason for the name "dolphin" which comes from the old
myth told for generations concerning this constellation.
Arion, a famous lyric poet and musician, and a native of Lesbos
went to Italy where his art enabled him to amass a fortune. In
Sicily he once won a valuable prize which was coveted by some
sailors as he was returning home. He was seized but begged to
be allowed to play on his flute and as he did so many dolphins
JACKSON] THE CONSTELLATIONS 25
attracted by the music swarmed about the ship. vSuddenly he
leaped into the sea and was carried to shore on a dolphin's back.
As a reward the animal was given a place in the sky.
But even after hearing such a delightful story concerning the
origin of the name of the constellation considerable imagination is
required to make it appear to possess any animal-like characteris-
tics.
The Northern Cross
Mildred Jackson
The Northern Cross is one of the few constellations which really
resemble the objects they commemorate. It is a part of the larger
constellation Cygnus or "the Swan". The outstretched wings
form the arms of the cross. The head of the swan is marked by
che same star that forms the base of the cross. The upright piece
of the cross lies parallel to the milky way, is over 20 degrees in
length and formed by the bright stars, Alpha, Gamma and Beta,
together with a few fainter ones. The arms of the cross or wings
of the swan are marked by Delta, Gamma, Epsilon and Zeta.
Gamma is a star of the third magnitude at the intersection of the
upright and cross piece.
Perhaps Deneb is the star of chief interest in this group. It
lies 45 degrees from the pole star. It is the least bright of the
20 brightest stars. It is white in color and
in an early stage of its existance. It is
the farthest north of any of our bright
stars. It marks the head of the cross.
In the spring when it rises in the north
east, the cross is upside down and Deneb
appears last. When the cross is setting
in the northwest the position is partly
reversed and Deneb is the last to disappear.
Capella is one degree farther south than
Deneb. Each appear to rise from the same
The Northern Cross, spot and continue in much the same path
m the constellation of across the heavens as they pass from rising
to setting. Capella continues above the
horizon about one half an hour longer, each taking ten hours to
reach the highest point in the sky. Unless obscured by sunlight
and in a favorable atmosphere they may be seen 20 hours a day.
26 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW |17:1— Jan., 1921
Astronomers believe Deneb to be so far away from us that it
takes the light from it 3 2 5 years to reach the earth. The spectrum
shows us that the star is approaching the earth at the rate of 30
miles a second. We may see it every night in the year some times
between sun set and midnight. It is most attractive during early
evening in January and February, when it hangs low in the north-
west.
Alcott in "Star Love of All Ages" alludes to the appearance of
the Northern Cross on Christmas Eve as "At nine o'clock this
brilliant cross of stars stands upright on the western hills, outlined
against the sky, as if beckoning all beholders onward and upward.
A beautiful symbol of the Christian faith, glorious, perfect and
eternal."
The Pleiades
Harold G. Dye
Throughout all ages the filmy light of the Pleaides has stirred
the imagination of man. This small dipper-shaped group of
bluish stars is visible from every comer of the
globe. The myths, legends, and literature
of every age and race are filled with references
to this tiny cluster of twinkling stars. For
over four thousand years the poets have
The Pleiades, a group drawn upon this bountiful storehouse, for
of six small stars sur- songs of delightful sweetness and charm.
light The sweet-voiced Pleiades were described
by Bayard Taylor, as a cluster of "golden
bees;" and by Tennyson, as "glittering like a swarm of fireflies" in
the evening's dusk.
The Pleiades lie on the shoulder of the Bull close to the ecliptic.
They rise in the northeastern part of the sk3^ The whole constel-
lation covers little more than three square degrees. In this con-
stellation a person of normal vision can distinguish six stars,
which are in the shape of small dipper. Exceptionally keen
sighted individuals have been able to make out from seven to
fourteen stars; but the latter mark is exceedingly rare. However
with the telescope nearly three thousand have been photographed.
These stars are extremely far away. Light traveling 186,000
miles per second, night and day, takes over three hundred years
to reach us from these far distant suns. Although they take up
PYEl THE CONSTELLATIONS 27
such a tiny space in our sky, still our whole planetary system could
pass with ease between the two nearest of these stars.
Modem photographs show the entire group to be completely
enshrouded in a magnificent tracery of nebulous matter, which
stretches in curious wisps and streaks from star to star. From
this wonderful mass there is probably a great system in the last
stages of formation. The six stars visible to the average eye are
Alcyone, Maia, Electra, Atlas, Merope, and Taygeta, while some
people can distinguish Celaeno, Pleione, and Asterope. If, as we
believe, these stars are still in the process of formation, some future
generation might be able to see all nine, or even more, with the
naked eye. But more probably, the reverse will be the case, for
the whole constellation is moving away at the rate of twenty-five
miles a second.
There have been a great many poems and articles written on this
tiny group of mystic stars, and upon individuals of the group.
Alcyone, has received especial attention. It is nearly two thousand
times as brilliant as the sun. In his Alcyone Archbold Lampman
describes it as :
The great and burning star,
Immeasurably old, immeasurably far,
Surging forth its silver flame
■ Through eternity.
Some sixty years ago the German astronomer Madler imagined
it to be the center of revolution of the universe — the place of the
Almighty, the Mansion of the Eternal! This theory was very
popular at the time, and even today a few may be found who
advocate it.
In ancient Chinese, and Hindu legends references arefound to the
Pleiades. The Egyptian and Babylonian tablets refer to the same
group. Aratus in the third century before the Christian era
thus wrote of these same Pleiads :
Their number seven, though the myths oft say,
And poets feign, that one has passed away.
In the books of Job and Amos in the Bible we find the ^^roup
mentioned The Almighty thus addressed Job:
Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiad(^s
Or loose the bands of Orion?
Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa wrote:
Seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion
. . . the Lord is his name.
28
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
[17:1— Jan.. 1921
Besides the many poems and myths, both ancient and modem,
concerning this jeweled dipper, we find November known as the
Pleiad month. In this month are observed many memorial festivals
from remote antiquity. The Feast of the Lanterns — a great
national festival of Japan — All Hallow 'Eve, All Saints' Day, and
All Soiils' Day, are supposed to be survival of such memorial
festivals. Many temples were oriented to the seven stars. The
most famous of these was the celebrated Parthenon. It has also
been suggested that the "tors" — names given to British hilltops —
were connected with the worship by the Druids of this little group
of stars. Surely they have been given more attention than
any other similar group in all the sky.
Orion
Winifred Bailor
"Eastward beyond the region of the Bull
Stands great Orion; whoso kens not him in cloudless night
Gleaming aloft, shall cast his eyes in vain
To find a brighter sign in all the heaven."
From late October to May Orion, the most brilliant of the
southern constellations appears in our southern heavens. It
cannot be mistaken for it contains more bright
stars than any other single group, and has the
distinction of being the only constellation
visible in our latitude that contains as many as
two stars of the first degree of brilliancy.
There are several myths about Orion, which
makes his history somewhat shadowy and
uncertain, but all agree that he was a great
hunter, and received a place of honor in the
heavens. The Hebrews claimed that he was
no less a person than the mighty Nimrod him-
self. The ancient people saw him still at his
usual occupation, for in the sky he still hunts
the angry bull.
Perhaps your imagination will lead you to
see the form of the great hunter but I must
confess I can only see a parallelogram in which
there is a row of three very bright stars, which
form the belt, and from this hangs a curved line of stars forming
Orion, the three large
stars in a line form-
ing the belt, the
curved line of
smaller stars be-
low forming the
sword, Betelgeuse
above, Rigel below
bailor] the constellations 29
his sword. It is the arrangement of these stars that makes the
constellation so conspicuous.
Late in November Orion rises about ten o'clock, the first of the
principal stars to appear is Bellatrix, a star of the second magni-
tude and set in the left shoulder of the hunter. Bellatrix repre-
sents a female hunter and according to the old astrologers, women
bom under the influence of this star were lucky, and provided with
good tongues.
A little later a little group of stars forming the head of Orion
appears, followed closely by Betelgeuse, of the first magnitude.
This star represents a type of sun that is in the process of cooling
and has nearly reached the stage of extinction. It is now red' in
color and is so far from earth that its distance is 150 light-years;
it is receding from us very rapidly.
About fifteen minutes after Betelgeuse arises a beautiful blue
' star comes into view. This is Rigel, in the right shoulder of the
hunter. Rigel is a new star of the first magnitude and is the
brightest in the constellation. It is so far from us that the dis-
tance cannot be measured and it is receding from us faster than
Betelgeuse.
Following Rigel the three bright stars forming the Belt appears
and below these the curved pendent making his famous sword.
The stars of Belt are all of the second magnitude all three are double
stars and all are white in color. Delta the first star ia the Belt
has a violet companion of the seventh magnitude. Epsilon the
middle star has a blue companion and the companions of Zeta
which is a triple star are yellowish white and purple gray.
Orion's beautiful sword is formed of five instead of three stars
that are usually seen. The middle star Theta is multiple and
involved in a nebula.
The Belt is three degrees and is sometimes called the Ell- Yard.
Job referred to it as Orion's Bands.
The last star of the constellation to appear is Saiph, the fourth
star of the parellegram and in the right knee of the hunter.
'So famous is Orion, that the University of Leipsic 1807 resolved
that the stars in the Belt and Sword should be renamed Napoleon,
and the English to offset this proposed to name the constellation
Nelson. But Orion has successfully maintained his name and
place although he flees in terror from the scorpion and bravely
opposes the angry Taurus.
30 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
The Hyades
J. G. Etzkowitz
Among the most noticeable winter constellations one finds
Hyades and Orion.
Aldebaran is the brightest star of the Bull the constellation
Taurus — and forms the eye of the bull in the mythological figure.
It is easily recognized by its red color. It lies
on the end of one branch of a V-shaped cluster
called Hyades. The Hyades which Aratus
accurately describes as "Whitening all the
bull's broad forehead," forms a most con-
Aldebaran in the V. spicuous and beautiful group. The appela-
This is a part of usually attributed to their reputed influence
Taurus^°"^ ^ ation, ^^ ^^^ weather. In the showery springtime
they set just after the sun, and in the stormy
period of late fall just before sunrise. The classic writers again
and again refer to them as the rain stars; Spencer called them
"moist daughters"; and in Tennyson's Ulysses we read :
Thru scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vex'd the dim sea.
Aldebaran, the bright star in the Hyades group signifies
"hindmost". The Arabians so named it because it follows the
Pleiades. ' Another popular title is "the Bull's Eye" from its posi-
tion in the constellation. The slight tinge of red in the light of this
star gives it an added beauty and makes it a conspicuous ornament
of our winter night. Mrs. Sigoumey in "The Stars " thus finely
portrays it.
Go forth at night
And talk with Aldebaran; there he flames
In the cold forehead of the wintry .sky.
Andromeda
Alice M. Phipps
Andromeda, though far away she flies,
Dreads the Sea Monster, low in Southern Skies.
— Aratus.
Andromeda is a constellation which comes to the meridian in
November. It consists of 66 visible stars, three of second magni-
tude and two of third magnitude. Most of the others are small.
PHIPPS] THE CONSTELLATIONS 31
It is supposed to represent a beautiful maiden chained to a rock.
The star Alpha, or Alpheratz, is at the northern corner of the great
Square of Pegasus and marks the head. Extending east from
Alpheratz, at almost equal distances, are four other stars. Delta
is in the shoulder, from which an arm is extended toward the
north. Beta or Mirah is in the girdle and Gamma or Almach in
the foot. A little farther east is Algol, the famous variable, which
represents the head of Medusa carried by Perseus.
This constellation contains at least two very interesting tele-
scopic objects. Almach, in the foot, is a double star which
Hercules pronounced the most beautiful double star in the heavens,
with beautifully contrasting colors, a deep yellow and sea-green.
Some authorities claim that it is a triple star and that the third
star is blue. These stars revolve about each other and are mem-
bers of a common system. Several thousand double stars are
known and it is due to their revolution about each other that they
are recognized as doubles. It sometimes requires several years
to determine whether they are connected in this way or not.
As a result of extensive experiments it has been estimated that
one out of every five or six stars is probably a system of stars.
The star Almach is also the radiant point of the Bielid meteors
which appear in November.
Probably the object of greatest interest is the great Nebula,
which is sometimes called the "Queen of the Nebulae." It is
said to have been known as far back as A. D. 905 and the Ara-
bians called it, "the little cloud." It is the only Nebula which
can be seen with the naked eye. It looks like a mass of diffused
light and has often been mistaken for a comet. It is of tremendous
size, its length being estimated as 30,000 times the distance of the
earth from the sun, which in itself is 93,000,000 miles. It is im-
possible however to form any definite estimate of either its size
or distance as nebulae are such filmy bodies that they cannot be
measured with the precision and delicacy required for the deter-
mination of distance.
The nebula seems to be formed of a series of rings with dark
spaces in between, which are evidently gaps between the rings.
The spectroscope seems to indicate that it is not gaseous though
the most powerful telescope fails to resolve it into stars. Although
a magnificent spectacle in the telescope, it requires photography
to show its marvelous extent and involved structure.
32 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
One star in that vicinity has a peculiar history which shows
that it was doubtless in the nebula. It suddenly kindled from
invisibility into brilliancy which in a few days was extremely
increased. This brilliancy can doubtless be explained in the same
manner as the ignition of meteors in our atmosphere. "If a
dark star, moving along at terriffic speed through space, were sud-
denly to plunge into a dense region of the nebula, heat and light
must be evolved in sufficient abundance to transform the star into
a brilliant object."
The raythology connected with this constellation is very inter-
esting and can scarcely be separated from that of the other mem-
bers of the royal family. Cepheus was King of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia
was his wife and Queen and Andromeda was their daughter.
Cassiopeia, the Queen, was extremely beautiful and boasted that
she was more beautiful than Juno and the sea n3miphs. They of
course were greatly insulted and complained to Neptune, who sent
a frightful monster to ravage the coast of Ethiopia. Cepheus and
his Queen became very much alarmed and consulted the oracles.
They were advised that nothing but the sacrifice of their daughter
Andromeda to the sea monster would appease the wrath of the
enraged nymphs. Andromeda was therefore chained to a rock to
await her doom.
Just at that time Perseus, the son of Jupiter, who was returning
from an expedition in which he had secured the head of Medusa,
one of the three Gorgons, appeared and seeing the Princess Andro-
meda chained to the rock, fell in love with her.
"Chained to a rock she stood; Young Perseus stay'd
His rapid flight, to woo the beauteous maid."
He professed to her father that he would save her if she would
be allow^ed to marry him. The King promised and Perseus
changed the monster to stone by turning the reeking head of
Medusa upon it. Andromeda had, however, been promised to
Phineus, her Uncle, who violently opposed her marriage to Perseus.
In the battle which followed Phineus was also turned to stone by
the petrifying influence of the Gorgon's head. The celebration
of the nuptials soon followed and they lived happily together
during life and were all transferred to the sky after death.
An Astronomy Notebook
Recently we have had the pleasure of examining in detail a
notebook prepared by Miss Carolyn Slater while she was a pupil
in high school in New York City. The notebook was not a part
of her school work but was an independent enterprise, carried on
with a schoolmate because both were interested in astronomy;
perhaps the excellence of the notebook is due to the fact that it
was the outgrowth of her own interest and knowledge rather than
a study in the curriculum.
The notebook is of the ordinary kind about 6>^ by 8>^ inches in
size, with the owner's name and "The Star System" on a label
on the cover. The inside pages are given to the sun and the
planets, the margin being cut to form a thumb index, like a dic-
tionary. The Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Uranus, Neptune, each is given several pages of interesting notes
culled from text books and other sources. For instance, one page
under "The Sun" is as follows:
SUN SPOTS
"Sun spots are openings in the Photosphere or outer shell of the
sun. The umbra or dark shadow of a spot varies from about 500
to 50,000 miles in diameter. The penumbra (less dense shadow)
surrounding the umbra is sometimes 150,000 miles in diameter.
The depth of sun spots seldom exceeds 2,500 miles and more
often is between 500 and 1,500 miles."
On the last page and on the inside of the cover are pasted
envelopes to hold cuttings from newspapers and journals about the
sun and planets. This notebook is supplemented by another one
in paper covers labelled "Astronomy, Miscellaneous." This is
also cut as to its margins making a thumb index under the follow-
ing divisions: Constellations, Zodiac, Spectroscope, Velocity,
Gravity, Star Leaders, Moon, Comets, Nebulae, Astronomical
signs and symbols, Diagrams, Greek meaning.
Under Constellations are given the names of the constellations,
alphabetically arranged and opposite the name of each is a diagram
showing the figure made by the stars in it, for instance :
* * *
Cassiopeia's Chair
Delphinus
*
34 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
Under "Star Leaders" are given the names of the stars of the
first, second, third and fourth magnitude arranged alphabetically.
On the last two pages of this book are pasted four envelopes for
cuttings labelled "Stars, Moon, Nebulae, Misc. " These envelopes
are bulging with a wealth of information gathered from all sorts
of sources ; statements of astronomers from all the observatories
of the world, speculation by the philosophically inclined on the
origin and destiny of the universe, pictures engraved from tele-
scopic photographs, pictures drawn from imagination, in fact
the most interesting collection of popular data imaginable. These
envelopes proved to be all too small for the need, and they are
supplemented by a veritable bundle of whole pages from news-
papers, reviews, and magazines, some of them of very recent
publication, showing that Carolyn Slater, now in college and not
studying astronomy as a part of her course has kept up her interest
in the stars and that her daily life is enriched by this knowledge;
we have no doubt that all her life she will pursue and make her
own the revelations concerning the wonders of the heavens which
astronomers of the world are giving to us.
Sunset Over the Pacific Ocean
On November 22, 1919 there was such a sunset as I have seldom seen; its
glory spread itself over land and sea. Watching its changing colors as we drove
in the sunset hour through the wondrous California South Land, one was
transported into the spirit realm, enwrapped in an unearthly radiance, which
uplifted the very soul. Never have I seen its like and never do I expect to
equal it again. After all it is an experience that cannot be passed on; it can
scarcely be shared. — ^J. C. S.
Let me so live that when I come to die —
Be it today or after years gone by.
With steadfast Faith I may all fear dispell ; ;
With smiling eyes bid happier friends farewell ;
Yield not to vain regret, but leave to youth
The task undone, the broken glimpse of Truth;
The tools of Work and Play lay calmly down
Without impatient haste or lingering frown;
Whisper a word of cheer to those I love,
Of greetings in the Rendezvous above;
Then ! my Master meet, in glad surprise
Amid the glory of the sunset skies
John Cutler Shedd
A Voyage of Discovery
Katherine R. Rogers
New Bedford, Mass.
The little waves were very happy when the warm summer days
came along, and they rippled gently back and forth on the beach,
chasing the pebbles playfully up, and then drawing them down
again, and laughing to themselves over the way the pebbles scolded
at such treatment. Every day, when the tide went out, the waves
went along with it, far down the beach, and then the pebbles were
left in peace and they got quite nice and dry, but it was a little
lonesome and they didn't really mind the playing of the waves,
so they were always glad to see them back, when they rode in
again with the high tide. The waves were always full of life then,
and ran up a little farther every few minutes with a rush and a
roar that gave the pebbles a delicious scare, for they knew it meant
they were going to be caught and rolled over and over in the cool
salt water.
One day when the sun was shining brilliantly, some children
came to play on the beach, with pails and shovels and little carts,
and they ran about in great excitement, picking up all the prettiest
pebbles and shells they could find, and trying to see how near they
could get to the waves without getting very wet. Of course, they
did get their shoes wet, because they would follow the waves as
they slipped down the beach, and the waves could always run back
up the beach faster than the children could, though they scampered
and shrieked their best, so finally their mothers decided it was
warm enough to take off their clothes and put on bathing suits
and let them get as wet as they liked. And then the waves had
a glorious time ! They tried their best to knock the children down,
for that was their idea of fun, and once or twice when a venture-
some boy got in pretty deep, they did make him turn and scramble
for the shore, and they threw salt water in his mouth and eyes,
but he only laughed, and they laughed too, and danced and spark-
led in the sunshine.
Suddenly some larger waves came rolling in, sent by a big boat
going by out in the harbor, and then the children did tumble over
and roll about for a minute !
"Come on!" the big waves cried to the little ones, "get on our
backs and we'll take you over to France and Spain. It's awfully
exciting out on the ocean!"
35
36 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:1— Jan., 1921
One or two of the wavelets, braver than the rest, thought they
would like to see the great world of water they had heard so much
about, and they boldly climbed up on their big brothers' heads
and shoulders, and shouted good-bye to their comrades, and were
off, for the big ones were in a great hurry and wouldn't stop a
minute for them to think about it !
"Come, we must be off! the tide waits for no one!" they cried.
And then the little waves had an experience more wonderful and
thrilling than anything they had ever imagined in their wildest
dreams! At first, it was great fun, just rolling smoothly along,
with the familiar ducks and gulls flying above them or settling
down on the water for a rest and a friendly chat, and then sud-
denly they were out far from land and they were raised way up
on a big swell, and looking all around hurriedly, one little wave
cried, "Why, I can't see the shore! Where is it?"
"Don't be afraid," said his big brother, as they sank swiftly
down, down, down, into a deep green trough, "we're just getting
out on the ocean now, there are no rocks here to hurt you, and soon
you'll begin to see interesting sights."
The next moment, they began to rise again, and as they reached
the top, his brother gave the little wave a toss high into the air,
so that he shrieked with delight and cried out that he could see
ships, bigger than any he had ever seen before, steaming by in
both directions. To please him, his brother now tossed him up
every time they rose, and caught him again deftly, just in time to
follow the movements of the giant waves they had now joined,
and then for a time they were surrounded and covered by a thick
fog, so he could see nothing. But this did not worry him, for he
was used to fogs at home, and he and his little brothers very often
played "Hide and seek" in them. Bye-and-bye it grew very, very
cold, and the little wave cried, "Oh, dear! is winter coming again
so soon?"
"No, no," said his brother, "look over to your left now, the next
time we get up very high, and you'll see something very big and
white and shining. That's a big iceberg sailing down on us, but
we'll soon get out of its way."
So the little wave looked and there was the most beautiful sight
he had ever seen ! A great towering mass of ice, glistening in the
sunlight with a dazzling brilliancy that made him blink and
sparkle in return, and he thought how glad he was that he had
ROGERS] A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 37
come on this voyage and seen this marvelous berg ! Then, as they
raced on, borne along by the giants of the ocean, soon it was
warm again, and then very warm, and the little wave asked, "What
does this mean? I don't see anything to make us so hot !"
"Ah," said his brother, "these are our cousins, the waves from
the south, rolling along on the stream that comes from the great
Gulf, and we are crossing their path."
" Where do they go ? and can't we go w;^"//i them? They are so
nice and warm!" said the little one.
"All right, we'll join them," said his brother. "They go up by
Ireland and Scotland, and over to Norway. I haven't been that
way for a long time. ' ' So they turned aside and followed the warm
stream, and before many days they began to see birds again, and
then land! But they didn't stop, as this was a rocky coast and
they would only be able to dash up against its sharp sides or run
into great dark caves, and besides that, the big brother had some-
thing more to show the little waves. They saw jagged peaks on
the horizon, and more and more ice floating about, and the days
began to be longer and longer, and finally there came one day when
the sun didn't go out of sight at all, but just touched the edge of
the water, and rose again !
"Now," said the big brother, "you've seen one of the most
wonderful sights in the world, but we mustn't stay here too long,
because by-and-bye it will be night here all the time, and no day
at all!"
"Oh, I shouldn't like that!" exclaimed the little wave, "unless
the moon shone instead," he added quickly, remembering how
beautiful she made some of the clear nights at home.
"Well, I think you've seen enough for one trip," said the big
one. " It isn't good for httle people to travel too much, so I think
we'll be going now, and you can tell the others all about it, and
perhaps we'll have a big party of them wanting to voyage around
the world, next year!"
So they sailed away home again, the little fellow quite used to
the gay life and motion now, and after a good many wonderful
days, he ran up the familiar beach, and kissed all the pebbles in
turn, he was so glad to see them again !
It is an 111 Wind that Blows Nobody Good
A Fable Sequel to Teaching Plant Diseases in the Grades
William Gould Vinal
Rhode Island College of Education
"Abominable East Wind!" cried the farmer, as he gazed at his
potatoes; "to w4iat a woe-begotten end have you brought my
winter food!"
"The same old story!" murmured the wind, in reply. "Always
blame the weather for troubles you have brought upon yourself.
What more could have been done for you? All this day have I
brought water to your garden to save you from famine. If you
did not spray your potatoes to prevent blight, when warned by the
Farmers' Bulletin, who is to blame but yourself?"
"I am unfavored, indeed," rejoined the farmer. "I thought
you were a friend, but have been deceived.*
"Not by me," replied the wind, patiently. "I tend to my
work every day." I bring the crops warmth. I bring them
moisture. I mislead none but the superstitious and ignorant."
"Superstitious! ignorant!" cried the farmer. "How little do
you know as to who I am. Trustee of the Academy — Superin-
tendent of the Sunday School for thirty years — a leader of the
community."
"A leader who cannot lead! Wise, perhaps, in the laws of the
village — ignorant in the laws of nature. You have mistaken
the friend that brings a good harvest for the pest that causes
famine. Alas for your neighborhood, if no better leader can be
found."
The farmer turned away, and the wind played across the field.
The wind danced up and down the rows and mourned his luck-
less fate. "Yet," said he to himself, as he dried up a muddy
pool about to decay a hill of potatoes, "I will keep on trying.
What an ignorant farmer!"
******
Scene: The kitchen.
Characters: Mother Hubbard, a rich lady who had gone
through the form of being patriotic by preserving peas without
being intelligent as to the correct method.
Faith, the daughter of Mother Hubbard who had great faith in
her fashionable mother.
38
vinal] an ill wind THAT BLOWS NOBODY GOOD 39
"These here peas are moulding," observed Mother Hubbard to
her daughter Faith, as she slowly took one jar after another from
the shelf, "Such miserable weather!" Some would have said
^' just my luck" but it comforted the fashionable lady's heart to lay
all the blame on the weather. Faith, however, took but little
interest in the matter. Her mother was always grumbing about
the east wind and her rheimiatic pains which should have been
called the gout.
The door banged with great violence. It was a pity that
Mother Hubbard had placed some jars so near the edge of the table,
for, when the door was blown to, they fell with a crash, and mouldy
peas were strewn across the floor.
And, "Do we meet once again?" said the Jar Spore to the Floor
Spore, in whose company he had traveled at preserving time.
"Do we meet once again?" How pleasant, indeed. "I have
not seen you since Mother Hubbard locked me up with the peas.
Well, well, well. Let me first ask how you are this morning ?"
"Oh, pretty well," replied Floor Spore, "but very, very sad."
You have little cause to be sad. You have had some fine peas to
grow upon. But I ! Alas, the cruel wind has dried me up and I
never can grow again. Most of the merry little cousin spores
that played with us have dried up and died. What are you
smiling at?"
"I am smiling," said the Jar Spore, "at your calling the Wind a
cruel being."
"And why shouldn't I? Do I not well know?" asked the Floor
Spore? "I wonder. Floor Spore, what we do know! People are
very sure as to what they know and then they find out that it is a
mistake."
"What makes you think that?" inquired Floor Spore.
"I have learn' t it," replied Jar Spore" from an acquaintance I
have made here, — Mother Hubbard. She just said that the
weather caused the peas to mould and now — "
Just at that moment the door opened. Faith came in and began
to look around with wide staring eyes. "Why mother," cried
the maiden, "What has happened?"
"That horrid wind!" wept the mother in despair, as she threw
the dripping mass into the garbage pail.
"Whew-w-w," said the Wind angrily. "It is always some one
else that is to blame. You called me horrid. Why did you open
the window and invite anything * horrid' to come in?"
40 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW fl7:l— Jan., 9121
"I thought that you would cool the room. I mistook your
hateful temper. I know you now! Must I lose my preserves?
Must my patriotism go for naught? Ay, whistle on in your joy."
' ' Fool ! It is no joy to me to see your jars of peas spoilt nor your
m.oldy views upset. It is my duty to help the peas to grow, to
bring rain and warmth. I destroy germs. It is ignorant people
like you that turn good into evil. You have turned me toward
your ruin. What ignorant parents brought you up and did not
teach you the laws of nature?"
"My poor mother!" wept Faith; "how unkindly you speak to
her! But you are nothing but the wind. You know not what
she does for me, her only child. She takes me into society, I have
beautiful gowns, and fairy stories to read."
"Even so?" swayed the wind, "accomplished in the laws of
fashion that changed but yesterday — unacquainted with the
simple realities of life which have worked through the ages. Oh,
that you knew the laws by which I Jive."
The Wind stole out of the window and across the garden. "I
may be of service yet," said he. "What a foolish world." "
Little Truth rambled about the fields gathering wild flowers and
running after birds and insects. It was her mother who first
taught her where to find the gentians and bluets and about the
beauty of the hills.
Truth never wearied of watching the garden. She used to throw
herself upon the ground and watch the bean plants. One day she
spied rose colored spots on the bean pods. She had never seen
them before. She thought she knew, and running to her mother,
shouted, "Mother! there are roses on the beans!"
Truth's mother took the little girl on her knee, and tried to
explain that the colored spots were accidental. Roses could not
grow on beans. Truth was very silent, and then asked, " "Why?"
The mother sighed, as she did not understand these spots herself.
The next day was Sunday. Truth and her mother walked to
church. Strange to relate the preacher talked about the colored
spots on the beans. He called it blight. Truth's heart beat very
fast for she was to hear about the roses. But, alas! The pastor
told of the wicked beans and the Divine Wrath, and prayed that
his congregation take warning. The little girl began to cry and
viNAiJ AN ILL WIND THAT BLOWS NOBODY GOOD 41
the distressed mother had to get up and leave the church, leading
Truth by the hand.
The next day found Truth in her favorite haunt. She was
watching the beans with a look of pity on her face when she was
interrupted by the voice of a stranger. The stranger smiled and
said, "What are you doing little girl?"
" I am looking at the colored spots on the bean pods."
"And why are you looking so sadly at the bean plants?"
"I am so sorry for them!" cried Truth. "I am so sorry that
God is angry with them."
' ' What makes you think that God is angry with the bean plants ?'
"Why the preacher said so in his sermon."
The stranger nodded with a smile and placed his hand on Truth's
head and said: "I will tell you a secret, Httle girl. I suspect
that the preacher never studied the color spots on the bean and
may not know very much about them." As he spoke he took a
lens from his pocket and let Truth look through it at one of the
colored spots. "That is as much a plant as the bean," continued
the stranger.
Truth could hardly speak. A look of admiration came upon
her face.
Then he touched the red spot with a needle and placed a tiny
speck under the microscope. "These are like seeds but we call
them spores, ' ' he went on to explain. ' ' Do you wish to know more
about them?" Truth eagerly nodded her head. The stranger
now proceeded to explain. "Each of these little beads is a spore.
They are so small that we can only see them through the micro-
scope. The wind blows them around and when they land on the
bean plant they send small threads into the pods or leaves. The
red spots then appear and in a few hours there are thousands of
more spores ready to be blown a round. So now, little girl, you
know why those red spots are on the bean pods."
Meanwhile the wind had heard the conversation between the
kind-hearted stranger and the Httle girl. The wind was happy
now, and said, "I have at last found some one who can face the
truth and explain it in simple words. I am thankful that some
people are searching out the wonders of nature instead of blaming
her for what they do not know." With these words he whistled
merrily and danced away to do his part in the world of natural
laws.
THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Published monthly expect June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem>
bership in the American Nature Study Society $1.50 per year tnine issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra, foreign postage, 20 cents extra.
Editorial
OUR PRESENT NEED FOR SUN-DIALS
"What a dead thing is a clock, with its ponderous embowehnents
of lead and brass, its pert or solemn dullness of communication,
compared with the simple altar-like structure and silent heart-
language of the old dial.
It stood as the garden god of Christian gardens. Why is it
almost everywhere vanished ? If its business use be suspended by
more elaborate inventions, its moral uses, its beauty, might have
pleaded for its continuance. It spoke of moderate labours, of
pleasures not protracted after sunset, of temperance and good
hours. It was the primitive clock, the horologe of the first world.
Adam could scarce have missed it in Paradise. It was the measure
appropriate for sweet plants and flowers to spring by, for the birds
to apportion their silver warblings by, for flocks to pasture and
be led to fold by. The shepherd, carved it out quaintly in the sun,
and turning philosopher by the very occupation, provided it with
mottoes more touching than tombstones,"
No one has ever expressed the deeper sentiment for the sun-dial
so completely and so satisfactorily as did Charles Lamb in the above
tribute. Probably there has never been a time in the history of
the world when the peaceful, leisurely influence of a sun-dial in a
quiet corner of a garden was so much needed as it is today. The
chief characteristic of the days of this generation is that they, as
Thoreau said, are "minced into hours and fretted by the ticking of
a clock." Every moment of our waking time is apportioned to
some action of business, duty, or pleasure, and each moment,
like a naughty little boy marching into school, kicks or pinches
the one in front. In our opinion, we had much better abate our
ardor for "efficiency" and display more interest in "sufficiency" of
true living. We are being propelled through the years allotted to
42
EDITORIAL 43
US with a velocity that gives no time for contemplation or for
balancing action with thought. What a panacea for this danger-
ous condition of humanity would be the establishing of a sun-dial
in every home and casting into the furnace all the watches and
clocks! In case one does not have a garden with roses, which
gives the traditional environment to the dial, one could at least
have a "noon-mark" on the window sill which would accomplish
the same desirable results.
ALPHA ORIONIS AND MORTAL HUMILITY
Astronomy was the first of the sciences to be studied and devel-
oped ; and to-day it is among the foremost in the matter of adding
new knowledge of the great facts and processes of the machinery of
the Universe. The telescope, the spectroscope, photography have
each, in turn, increased our knowledge vastly as to the stars, their
composition, distances, movements and numbers. Then a
geologist gave us the planetesimal theory to replace the old nebular
hypothesis of the^ origin of the Universe. Always the physicists
have claimed the heavens as a part of their realm, so we need not be
surprised that Professor Michelson has devised a method for star
measurement by means of which we now know that the beautiful
red star above Orion's belt, Betelgeuse, has a diameter greater
than that of the orbit of our earth around the sun, and that if it
were in the place of our sun, shining upon us it would shut from us
all view of the sky. Yet Betelgeuse may have or may have had
worlds like our own whirling around it, inhabited as is our world,
and subject to the same laws that govern us; and Betelgeuse and
our sun are two only of forty million stars that photography reveals
in our skies. Why should we on our minute dot of a planet regard
our afi"airs of such tremendous importance ? Why worry ^
NOTICE
Index for volume 16 will be mailed
with February issue
Wild Creatures of Garden and Hedgerow. Frances Pitt, 285 pp. illustrated with
28 excellent photographs, Dodd, Mead & Co.
This is another of the charming and excellent books on the living creatures
that survive in our Mother Country. To those of us who are in the habit of
reading English writers, whether poets, essayists or novelists, who deal with
life out-of-doors, this book is a boon for it makes us intimately acquainted
with many of the common forms of animals and birds which we have only
known by name or by tantalizing allusions. It is an ideal nature study book,
for it recounts in a most interesting manner the author's own experiences
with these little brothers of the garden and hedgerow. Whether it be the story
of that Mighty Atom, the common shrew and his prowess, or the fascinating
tale of Whiskers the little rat, reared and cherished by Old Puss, or the way
the Pied Wagtails brought up their birdlings, the stories have the same charm
of style and the same convincing quality of truthfulness and careful sympa-
thetic observation. The chapters of the volume are as follows : Bats, The Bank
Vole, Two Common Birds (song thrush and merle). Shrews, Toads and Frogs,
The Long-tailed Field Mouse, 'The Little Gentlemen in the Black Velvet
Coat' (common mole). Thieves of the Night (brown and black rats). Some
Garden Birds (pied wagtail, willow wren, great tit). The Hedgehog, Three
Common Reptiles (blind worm, adder, grass snake), The Short-tailed Field
Vole. The illustrations add greatly to the attractiveness of this valuable
book; they are engraved from very excellent photographs, which give us accu-
rate ideas as to the appearance of these creatures of which we have only known
heretofore by name.
A Night Raid into Space. Col. J. S. F. Mackenzie, author of "Wild Flowers
and How to Name Them at a Glance", 143 pp. with 20 illustrations.
J. B. Lippincott Co.
The Story of the Heavens Told in Simple Words is the sub-title of this little
volume. The night raid consists in explaining the things seen in the heavens
but children of tender age will find the explanations rather difficult. The book
is better fitted for the higher grades or high school. The following are the
subjects discussed: Solar System, Birth of the Earth; Earth's Rotation;
The Moon; Gravity; Precession of Equinoxes; Year; Longitude, Latitude;
Constellations; The Zodiac; The Sun; Weighing the Earth; Equation of
Time; The Seasons; High Moon, Low Sun. The illustrations are diagrams
to help the reader comprehend the facts of astronomy. The discussions of
the topics are brief and clear. There are also suggestions that are helpful to
the beginner as: "The first letter of each of the following eight words, and
44
THE BOOK SHELF 45
which are easily learned is the first letter of the name of each planet, in their
order as we go outwards from the sun: Many Very Eminent Men Justly
Study Universal Nature."
Uncle Zeb and His Friends. Edward W. Frentz, 224 pp. many illustrations
school edition, The Atlantic Monthly Press.
It would be hard to find another book the size of this little volume that
contains 52 stories so varied and so interesting as these told by Uncle Zeb, a
kindly man who lived in a cabin near a mountain, and who made toys and told
tales for the delectation of children . The stories are by no means only about
the animals and birds ; in fact, the human interest is predominant in them all ;
but many of the tales are meant to make the child humane and sympathetic
in dealing with little wild creatures. The way Jessie and Harold became
acquainted with the muskrat, why Louis adopted three baby woodchucks
after he had shot their mother, how Harry and Ruth helped Mrs. Mouse
move her family into the country, and many another story of Uncle Zeb's
teaches in a charming and convincing manner the lesson of kind treatment
for the lower animals. Several of the stories bring to the child of to-day a
vivid comprehension of the meaning of Memorial Day and the reasons why the
old men, now veterans, fought battles when they were boys and what the war
meant to them and why they march to the cemeteries and decorate the
graves there with flags and flowers. The whole book is interesting and
wholesome and is sure to be loved by all the children happy enough to possess
a copy.
Around the World, A Geography Painting Book for Children. Cunard Steamship
Co. 10 cents per copy.
The Cunard Steam Ship Co. deserves much credit for this booklet which will
charm children into learning some things about geography while they are hav-
ing a delightful time coloring pictures. It begins with a picture of the
Aquitania, a ship that will take the child to all the places marked by red lines
on the map. Then follows pictures of the Atlantic with North America and
Europe, the Cathedral at Rheims, the tower of London, the Liverpool docks,
Gallipoli, map of the world. Rock of Gibraltar, Vesuvius, the Colosseum, the
Sphinx, the Pyramids and Nile, Jerusalem, and the sky Une of New York.
The pages are 12 by 9 inches; the picture is printed in color on the right hand
page and the outline for the child to color on the opposite page. Children are
sure to enjoy coloring the pictures and at the same time they will learn many
interesting things which will cultivate their intelligence.
NOW READY
The Flower Outlines
By Miss M. E. Eaton
Botanical Gardens, Bronx
The Flower Outlines are the latest additions to our valuable
Outline Drawings printed on suitable paper for coloring with
either crayons or watercolors,
Miss Eaton has made some very lovable drawings of the
flowers and they will be a great inspiration to further the
study of flowers.
They are printed in large size so that even the kindergart-
ners may use them.
Thirty plates in set. Size 7 inches by 9>^ inches. 50c per
set . $ 1 .00 per hundred. $ 1 0.00 per thousand, your assortment.
LIST OF PLATES
Adder's Tongue
Evening Primrose
Poppy
Arbutus
Hepatica
Primrose
Bleeding Heart
Horseshoe Geranium
Spring Beauty
Bloodroot
Iris
Sunflower
Buttercup
Jack-in-Pulpit
Sweet Pea
California Poppy
Lady's Slipper
Tiger Lily
Columbine
Marsh Marigold
Trillium
Crocus
Nasturtium
Tulip
DafiFodil
Pansy
Violet
Dutchman's Breeches
Pink
Wild Rose
THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING CO.
ITHACA, N. Y.
Kindly mention The Nature-Study Review when replying to advertisements
mToi;E-3TODy qd/iew
% Devoted to Elementary Science in the Schools
Elementary
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE
r
'M
2*
1
^«r
American
Nature-
Study
Sq
Annual
Meeting
Number
The Orange Garden Spider
Photo by Mrs. W. L. M off alt
FEBRUARY, 1921
Vol. 17 No. 2 Whole No. 141
20c a copy $1.50 a year
THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17 February, 192 i No. 2
The Fifteenth Meeting of the American Nature Study
Society
The morning of December 29, 1920 was decidedly wintry, the
thermometer registering three degrees below zero the night before.
However, the University of Chicago gave us a greeting warm
enough to compensate. Ten o'clock found a goodly nimiber of
nature devotees in Room 303, Emmons Blaine Hall which is a
building used by the Chicago School of Education. Room 303
adjoins the office and laboratory of Dr. Elliot R. Downing who
acted as a most cordial and delightful host to all of us who came
from afar. The room was well filled when the meeting was called
to order by President Drushel, and since the first part of the pro-
gram was to be given over to the Chicago Nature-Study Club, Miss
Sue J. Reid, vice-president of that Club, was asked to preside which
she did with dignity and dispatch.
The first number on the program was a talk on Twenty-five
Common Spiders by Mrs. W. L. Moffatt. This was illustrated by
many lantern slides made from photographs taken by Mrs.
Moffatt. The pictures were excellent, and if any one thinks it is
an easy matter to make a good photographic portrait of a spider, he
had better try it once. Mrs. Moffatt's talk was informal and
especially valuable and interesting because of her many personal
observations upon the habits of those spiders which she had had
under careful observation. Many of her notes on spider habits are
entirely new to science and should be published.
Mrs. W. A. Rowlee gave a talk upon the sand dunes, their flora
fauna and silva, illustrated by superb lantern slides made from
photographs taken by herself and husband and charmingly colored.
Many of the slides were as beautiful in composition and color as the
most famous landscapes in one of our art museums. It was hard
to tell whether they appealed most to the aesthetic or to the
natural history side of the audience.
47
48 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [17 :2— Feb., 1921
The election of officers for the ensuing year then took place with
the following results: President, J. Andrew Drushel of the Harris
Teachers' College, St. Louis, Mo.; vice-presidents, M. R. Van
Cleve, Toledo, O., A. E. Satterthwait, Webster Groves, Mo.,
W. G. Vinal, Providence, R. I., Theodosia Hadley, Kalamazoo,
Mich., and W. T. Heilman, Columbus, Ohio.
The report of the Secretary-Editor was as follows: The
Nature-Study Review shows a steady increase in nimiber of sub-
scribers, its circulation at present being about 2400, an increase of
more than 200 since last year despite the increase of price forced
upon the publishers by the high cost of paper and labor. One new
club has been added to the subscription list during the past year.
This is a club of 125 members at Webster Groves, Mo., and every
member, even when there are two in a family, subscribe to The
Review. The St. Louis Club numbers 225, and the Pittsburgh
Club 175 members, all subscribers to the magazine. Professor
M. R. Van Cleve, Director of Nature-Study in the Toledo schools
has placed the Review in the hands of over 100 of his teachers.
The advisability of having one or two ntimbers of the Review
each year gotten up by local clubs was discussed with the result
that next year we shall make the trial by having the November
number taken care of by the Chicago Nature-Study Club.
At noon we sought refreshment in the cafeteria of the Ida Noyes
building for the women students of the Chicago University, a
beautiful building in its every appointment.
The afternoon session was given over to "A survey of Twenty
Years Progress in Nature-Study" which was discussed by Miss
Alice Jean Patterson, Miss Ellen Eddy Shaw, Dr. E. R. Downing,
A. F. Satterthwait, Professor E. L. Palmer and the Secretary-
Editor. The discussion appears in this nimiber of the Review, but
it is a great pity that the many informal remarks made during this
very interesting discussion were not reported and cannot be given
to our readers.
The meeting adjourned at six o'clock, and it was the sentiment
expressed by all present that it was the most successful meeting
ever held by the society. We adjourned in time to attend the
delightful dinner at the Atlantic Hotel given to us by the Chicago
Nature-Studv Club.
J. Andrew Drushel
Professor J. Andrew Drushel was unanimously re-elected president of the
American Nature-Study Society for the coming year at the annual meeting of
the Society in December. For the benefit of the new subscribers to the
Nature-Study Review the following account of President Drushel is re-
printed from the issue of last February,
Professor J. Andrew Drushel has been connected with the Harris
Teachers College as head of the biological department, including
nature-study, since 1905. While Mr. Drushel has made con-
tributions through scientific investigation along a number of lines,
49
60 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
including glacial drift beneath St. Louis loess, and loess deposits,
outlining the limits of Illinoian and Kansan glacial lobes in Mis-
souri, his greatest work has been that of teacher and leader in
nature-study and science in the College and community. He not
only has developed the course in science and nature-study at the
College, but has taught these subjects to more than twelve hundred
of the teachers in the St. Louis schools, who are now graduates of
the college and who, under his inspiring instruction, are doing
effective work in these lines in the St. Louis schools. In addition
to this he has taught hundreds of the teachers who had received
their appointment before the College was estabHshed. He organ-
ized in I QIC and has been the central figure in the St. Louis Section
of the Nature-Study Society of America. Through the loyal
support of many teachers and principals of the St. Louis schools
this section has become a large and active one. The present mem-
bership in good standing is 190 of whom many are of the original
100 charter members. The popularity of the section is due in a
considerable degree, to the Saturday field trips in the spring and
autimm of each year.
Professor Drushel was bom Nov. 24, 1872. In his early years
he attended country parochial and district schools. He received
his secondary education in the preparatory department of the
National Normal University, at Lebanon, Ohio. He also took
normal and collegiate training in the same institution. Later he
studied at Yale, taking there the degree of A.B. with Philosophical
Oration rank. After graduation at Yale he taught the natural
sciences for two years in the East Texas Normal College, Com-
merce, Texas, and then returned to the Normal University at
Lebanon, Ohio, teaching there for four years. He has held his
present position since 1905.
Professor Drushel is a member of Woodmen of the World,
Masonic, and Sigma Xi fraternities. Member in N.E.A., Fellow in
A.A.A'.S., member of St. Louis Acad, of Sci. He has collected and
studied plants in the field or herbarium in 39 states. His winter
avocation is the preparation of material studied and collected in
the field for illustrative purposes in botany and nature-study
classes.
For several years the pubHshers of The Nature-Study Review
have realized gratefully the staunch support given to this periodical
from the St. Louis contingent. This has undoubtedly been largely
NOTES ON MRS. MOFFATT'S TALK ON SPIDERS 51
due to Professor Drushel's activities; his influence has been ever
widening Hke the waves started in the educational waters always
by the projecting into them a strong and virile personality. Pro-
fessor Drushel has always stood for the real thing in Nature-Study,
for he is an out-of-doors man as well as a laboratory instructor and
his influence has been exerted to get the teachers into the fields and
to see for themselves what is there. In addition to his strong
qualities as a teacher he has a whimsical sense of humor that is
most delightful and which enables him to deal with difficult situa-
tions tactfully and successfully. The Nature-Study Society of
America is fortunate indeed to have secured Professor Drushel for
its president.
Notes on Mrs. Moffatt's Talk on Twenty-Five Common
Spiders
Mrs. Moffatt gave briefly the habits of twenty-five species of
spiders common in the vicinity of Chicago, showing sixty slides
illustrating the spiders, their webs and cocoons.
She explained that the webs of many species belonging to the
orb-builders are made in sunny situations, on tall weeds and on the
borders of woodlands where insects are in abundance. Others that
make no webs in which to ensnare their prey, but depend on their
alertness and keenness of sight, are found on the ground, in low
grass or upon the bark of trees. Nimierous insects, such as grass-
hoppers, mosquitoes, crickets, aphids, katydids, flies, gnats and
many kinds of beetles live in and among the weeds, sedges, grasses
or on the trees. As far as we know, living insects are the spiders'
only food. They choose to live where these insects are abundant.
The young, when hatched, will in all probability receive the same
kind of food that nourished the mother, so she carefully and
securely places her cocoon where these insects abound.
As the species eaten by spiders consist so largely of kinds that
we consider injurious, Mrs. Moffatt claims that we must look upon
the spiders as beneficial; that some writers have asserted that in
the destruction of noxious insects they are more effective than
birds ; that whether this is true or not, we do know the benefit they
are to us in keeping in check many undesirable insect pests, and for
that reason we ought to do all that we can to protect them.
52
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
Araneus benjaminus Lycosa carolinensis
Araneus trifolium Argiope trifasciata
Araneus trifolium with egg sac upper and lower sides
Photographed by Mrs. MofTatt
The Cottonwoods of the Dunes
Stella M. Rowley
6812 Normal Blvd., Chicago, 111.
A part of Mrs, Rowley's Address before the American Nature-Study Society
Trees, like people, have their peculiarities and salient character-
istics. The oak stands for strength and solidity. Out West, the
giant Sequoia, the oldest living thing on earth typifies immortality.
Then there is the aspen, trembling always, fearful of even a slight
breeze.
We people, who frequent the dunes that delightful stretch of
natural parkland reaching from Miller, Indiana, to Michigan City
are well acquainted with a comparatively htimble, yet, to us, when
we come to know it well, a most interesting and admirable tree, the
Cottonwood. In the succession of plant life on the dunes, it is one
of the first trees to appear. As a city resident, we think of it as an
untidy tree and not desirable for our avenues and boulevards but
at the dunes, it comes into its own and is a most valuable tree
because of its ability — to adapt itself to conditions. We all
admire in the human family those qualities of perseverance and
pluck, qualities that laugh at difficulties and work on and on until
success is attained. All this the humble Cottonwood is doing,
each day of its life out among the sand hills of Indiana,
Even the casual visitor is struck by the evidence of the constant
struggle between this tree and the shifting, stifling sand. We may
see it almost buried yet still alive, its topmost branch, green and
liixuriant. This is possible because its branches so quickly function
as roots., .^
Wherever there is a little moisture, hundreds of cot ton wood
seeds germinate. Many of the plants in this nursery meet an
untimely death but others persist, and thrive singly and in groups.
These groups afford a most welcome shade and are a pleasing
feature against a background of tawny sand.
Conditions in duneland change rapidly, however, and the best
laid plans of the Cottonwood oft go astray.
When the wind currents blow away the sand, we may find a
group of Cottonwoods which have been buried by the sands of
by-gone centuries.
At Bald Knob, near Millers, is a most interesting group of
stumps, which a returning soldier from the fields of Flanders aptly
53
54
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
Youth
Old age
Making a good fight
A dune graveyard
The story of the struggle of the Cottonwoods with the dunes
Photographed by W. A. Rowley
Patterson] PROGRESS IN NATURE-STUDY 55
called a Graveyard. These trees had a pleasant family life, until
the shifting sands killed and buried them. Fickle and erratic
almost beyond belief, the dunes shifted in this particular locality,
leaving the Cottonwood family group exposed. All around the
dunes, we find debris, and here and there a twisted gnarled veteran
tree, dead or almost so, silhouetted, gaunt and defiant, against the
sky.
A Survey of Twenty. Years' Progress Made in the
Courses of Nature Study
Alice Jean Patterson
State Normal University, Normal, 111.
In taking up for discussion the progress made in the course of
study in nature-study during the past twenty years, I have thought
it worth while to give a hasty glance at the ten preceding years.
These were the years which saw the birth and early growth of this
new school subject, a subject which had evolved from the object
lessons of the preceding decade aided by the introduction of the
laboratory method into high school and college science.
I recall as a student in the Illinois State Normal University, in
1890 that a part of our training consisted of demonstration lessons
in elementary science. Each member of the senior class planned
a series of lessons designed to teach children some fundamental
scientific principles. These were taught to the class and afterward
thoroughly discussed. It was an easy step from the ideas embodied
in these lessons to the nature-study idea which we began to hear
about a few years later.
The only complete course in nature-study belonging to those
early years that I was able to find was Wilber Jackman's Outline
published in book form in 1891. However, I came across reference
to a nimiber of others all of which planned to introduce some form
of nature-study into certain schools of Minnesota, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Jackman made no attempt in his
outline to grade the work. He grouped his questions under the
names of the common sciences then taught in high schools — zoology
botany, physics, etc. He evidently expected teachers who used the
outline to choose the material best fitted to their own schools and
classes.
It is of interest to note how early schoolmen l^cgan to recognize
the fact that a new subject had appeared upon the threshold of the
56 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
elementary school. At the National Educational Association in
1893 Superintendent Albert Marble of Worcester, Mass., in dis-
cussing the topic, "What should be added to the course of study in
the elementary school," said, "There are various branches that
should be added but should not displace the essentials already
named — that is, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, etc. —
These are embraced under the general term nature-study, physics,
or forces. They should be taught objectively from the overflowing
abundance of the teacher's knowledge. In this way they may
supplement and vivify the essential branches."
In 1894 Charles B. Scott in the department of the elementary
school in the N. E. A. makes an appeal for the laboratory method in
the grades and states that the new subject, nature-study, furnishes
the best basis for this kind of teaching.
In 1895 Prof. Jackman states that in many schools nature-study
holds at least a tentative place in the cotirse of study for primary
and grammar grades.
During the next five or six years a wave of enthusiasm for the
subject spread over the entire country. Superintendents and
principals in both city and village schools were eager to give it a
trial. The teachers, however, as a rule were not so ardent. The
large majority of them had scarcely heard of the subject they were
asked to teach. Only a few of them had caught a vision of the
possibilities that it held for the education of children. They were
therefore unable to handle it with any degree of satisfaction either
to themselves or their patrons. They tried to do something but in
many cases what they did was far from nature-study. Those that
had had training in zoology and botany taught these subjects in
diluted form. Insects, crayfish and other animals were dissected
and minute details of structure studied. Meaningless collections
were made. I remember a teacher of the third grade showed me
with great pride a collection of butterflies that one of the children
had made. The children of her room had been carrying on a con-
test to see who could catch the most butterflies. The collection
that the teacher showed me belonged to the winner in the contest.
I remember he had as many as five or six individuals of the same
species. There had been no study of the interesting insects. It
was simply a slaughter of the innocents due to misdirected energy.
The worst example of the collection craze of the time came to my
knowledge a few years later. A country teacher in her zeal to do
Patterson] PROGRESS IN NATURE-STUDY 57
something with nature-study set her pupils to collecting all the
different kinds of birds' eggs they could find. There was wholesale
school-legalized robbing of birds' nests in that region for several
years following.
Besides this kind of deplorable teaching much of the class work
was stupid and uninteresting. I visited a room while the teacher
was giving a lesson on the dandelion. This was in 1903. She
stood by her desk in froht of the room full of children. In her hand
she held one little flowering head of a dandelion. She asked ques-
tions about it which the children were supposed to answer from
observation. They made a few guesses which she accepted or
rejected, then she told them a few facts and the nature-study lesson
was done. The yard outside was full of dandelion plants in blossom
which held a world of interest to those children had the teacher
known how to use them. In most cases superintendents and
principals were quite as helpless in dealing with this new situation
as were the teachers upon whom they had thrust the burden. The
result was that in many localities nature-study was branded as a
fad and dropped from the curriculimi as a useless waste of pupils'
time.
This is, I am glad to say, the dark side of the picture. In many
schools real nature-study was taught from the first. Teachers
became learners with their children and little by little the leaven
spread. One teacher in a system naturally adapted to the work
often became indirectly a teacher not only of her children but of her
fellow workers as well. She helped all of them to choose suitable
material found in the vicinity of the school. She, a real student of
nature, conducted field trips for teachers as well as pupils. She
suggested how the material collected could be used in the class-
room. If every school system could have had then, or could have
now, one of these enthusiastic naturalists the causes of nature-study
would advance much more rapidly than it has done.
About this time, that is, in the later part of the nineties and early
in 1900, the leaders in nature-study realizing something of the
difficulties under which teachers were laboring began to publish
graded courses of study, with suggestions for teaching, and outline
lessons for the different grades.
These appeared almost simultaneously in different parts of the
country. One of the earliest was A Manual of nature-study with
supplementary readers written by Mrs. Lucy Wilson of the Phila-
58 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW (17:2— Feb., 1921
delphia Normal School. Another was, Handbook of Nature Study
by Dr. Lange of Minnesota. These early studies were character-
ized by an over abundance of technical terms and the method of
college science. To illustrate: In the second grade children were
taught the names of all the organs of a flower. In the third grade a
detailed study of composites was made with all the technical terms.
Among the best of the early courses and outlines were the Cornell
nature-study leaflets which emphasized from the first the necessity
of "positive, direct, discrimination, accurate observation and of
understanding why the thing is so, or what it means."
In 1902 Hodge's Nature-Sttidy and Life appeared; a little later
Holtz Nature-Study, then Mrs. Comstock's Handbook, and a nimi-
ber of others. In fact from this time there has been almost a
deluge of courses, outlines, and helpful books, and they are still
coming.
From 1905 to 191 5 saw the incorporation of nature-study out-
lines in the Courses of Study of almost every state in the union.
I made quite a detailed study of a large number of these courses
about eight years ago choosing them to represent different geo-
graphical regions, the East, South, Middle West, Northwest, and
Pacific States. The most significant thing that this survey
revealed was the similarity of the courses not only in material sug-
gested but in aim and method. I quote a few of the aims :
''The primary object of nature-study is to train and cultivate the
interest of the child in natural objects and to develop an intelligent
appreciation of the things in nature." "The first reason for the
incorporation of nature-study is to widen children's intelligent
interestin nature objects and processes; the second to train the
children in a scientific attitude of mind." *Tt, nature-study,
should train children to investigate carefully and to make clear,
truthful statements." In short, not to multiply quotation the
aim and purpose given in composite was: To bring children into
intelligent, sympathetic touch with their environment and to train
them in a scientific attitude of mind toward objects and phenomena
in daily life.
All of the courses choose material found in the vicinity of the
school and home. This was carefully graded making a progressive
stud}^ beginning with the first and continuing thru the eight grades.
Biological studies received greatest emphasis in all the courses.
And of this material more time and space was devoted to plants
Patterson] PROGRESS IN NATURE-STUDY 59
than to animals. Most of them included some topics in physics
and chemistry and all of them suggested weather and sky observa-
tions. In the upper grades there was in all a decided agricultural
trend.
All, so far as could be determined from the outlines and the
prefatory notes advocated the nature-study method of attack. A
few quotations chosen at random substantiates this statement.
"The teacher should bear in mind that the pupils in this work are
discoverers and should place them in such relation to the subject as
to make their investigation profitable." "The teacher must have
a strong conviction that nature-study, if it fulfills its mission, must
bring children into actual touch with real things." "Progress and
results will depend, not so much on the topics as on the method of
presentation and treatment." "The best teaching consists of the
minimum of instruction by the teacher and the maximimi of study
and inference by the pupils." "The course presupposes that the
work in the schools will be real nature-study; the children will
handle and observe real objects, will perform experiments, will
work with their hands and think while they work."
All of the courses recommended the correlation of nature-study
with other school subjects. Emphasis was placed upon the corre-
lation with language. Geography stood second. In fact a number
of courses had attempted to outline these two studies together. In
every case, however, after two years' work the course practically
dropped nature-study and taught pure geography. The reason for
this is not far to seek. The first studies in the best geography teach-
ing is what is called home geography, a large part of which is simply
nature-study under another name. Other subjects for correlation
were hand work, and reading, with a few suggesting history and
arithmetic.
No radical changes have been made in the course during the past
five years. They have, however, been repeatedly revised, or
rather they are in a continuous state of revision. Some topics are
shifted from one grade to another. Some are dropped altogether,
some additional ones are inserted, especially is this true in teachers
colleges and normal schools where opportunity to test the work with
classes of children in training schools is possible.
All this means that the leaders are giving more and more atten-
tion to the psychology of the subject. They are trying to adapt
60 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
the studies both as regards material and method to the special
needs of children in the various stages of their development.
In the lower grades especially but to considerable extent in all
the classes a greater use of the muscular activity of the children is
employed. This has its manifestation in some places in a greater
amount of time given to the care of plants and animals at school and
at home. In the other places certain studies reach their climax in a
definite piece of hand work in which the children take the initiative,
plan the work, meet problems and solve them, in short, express
their ideas in a concrete tangible piece of work.
The larger use of the home gardens is another phase of the work
that has made rapid progress the last few years. No doubt the
war gave an impetus toward increasing the nimiber of children's
gardens. But they would have increased any way, because of the
greater interest on the part of nature-study leaders. Twenty
years ago the courses where gardens were mentioned at all advo-
cated the school garden. Now individual gardens at home are
recommended wherever this is possible. The school garden in
many places has become a sort of laboratory where the pupils study
the underlying principles and the art of gardening which they put
into practice at home.
The term "nature-study project" is coming into use in many
localities to designate nature-study exercises of various kinds, as
garden projects, poultry, rabbit, etc. This is without question due
to the use of the term by the advocates and teachers of general
science. The project itself may have been used by nature-study
teachers for years simply as nature-study lessons and exercises.
Now some of the general science people are suggesting precisely the
same thing under a new title,and acting as if the whole thing had
been thought of for the first time. It is a question whether or not
the term may not become as prevalent in nature-study circles as it
is in general science.
Indeed, I find that a well planned series of nature-study lessons
with the accompanying field and hand work mean much more to
school superintendents if it is called a project instead of a nature-
study lesson. So much is there in a name.
Another noticeable addition is health study, hygiene and sanita-
tion. Eight years ago only three of the courses studied included
hygiene in their outlines. Now a large number recognize that this
must be considered a part of the nature-study program. In the
Patterson] PROGRESS IN NATURE-STUDY 61
best courses it takes largely the form of habit forming projects with
inspection, health records, surveys and the like. In short, it is the
nature-study method applied to this subject. The old sort of
recitation physiology is fast disappearing. .
In our own school in the lower grades we are giving one day each
to the discussion of health topics and a few minutes every day to
habit forming reports, inspection, games, etc.
In our seventh and eighth grades we are for the first time endeav-
oring thru experiment to give the children a simple scientific back-
grotind for their work in physiology and hygiene.
In some courses this kind of work is designated as civic nature-
study, by others as community sanitation. Some of the practical
suggestions are "clean up day," "street surveys," "back yard
inspection, fly and mosquito campaigns."
In the field of physical science also the more recent courses are
attempting to plan the work more in line with child life and
interests. A voider use of toys, playground apparatus and home
and school equipment are suggested. Probably one of the best
illustrations of the use of toys is found in the outline used in the
school of education in the University of Chicago and in Dr.
Downing's Laboratory Guide in Physical Nature-Study.
In the use of games and playground apparatus the course by
Gilbert Trafton used in the Mankato Normal School gives a num-
ber of suggestions for the various grades.
The Illinois State Course revised two years ago contains sugges-
tions for the use of home and school equipment.
Some other rather interesting variations in method are found in
a few courses.
In St. Louis, for example, there are not the large number of topics
for the different grades found in other courses. Instead one or two
main subjects are chosen which are studied much more in detail
than in other places. For example the work of the sixth grade for
the entire year is based upon sky study, stars, constellations, moon,
sun, planets, with the last part of the year given to a detailed study
of light, natural, artificial, reflection, refraction, etc. A statement
at the head of the course says that this new plan is to be thoroughly
tested by principals and teachers before issued in permanent form.
It is an interesting experiment. The question, of course, that must
eventually be settled, or settled as nearly as maybe, is which is
more educational, which will leave the children more independent,
62 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
more self reliant better able to meet the problems of daily life more
appreciative of their nature environment, a study of a number of
different topics, or a few main topics worked out with greater care.
In the last state course of Colorado which came out two years
ago, called a war-modified course of study, nature-study as such is
omitted. However the language and drawing both suggest nature-
study material for study and discussion for the primary grades.
Humane education has much good nature-study material.
From this very incomplete survey of the courses the following
summary may be given :
1 . The earliest outlines and courses were largely in the form of
questions. Few of them made any attempt to grade the work.
Most of them were over technical for children.
2. The period from about 1897 to 1905 brought out a large
number of graded courses with many helpful books, outlines, and
suggestions for teaching.
3. The ten years from 1905 to 191 5 saw nature-study outlines in
most of the state courses and in a large number of city systems.
The courses were in the main uniform both in the matter of material
used and the method of attack.
4. The last five years has been a period of sifting and shifting, of
revising and testing in the light of child study which has resulted in
a better adaptation of the material and method to the needs of
developing children.
Professor L. H. Bailey with his wife and daughter are in Ven-
zuela this winter. Professor Bailey and Miss Ethel are making
botanical excursions into the interior which will undoubtedly
result in giving to the world of Science many interesting, new
facts.
A Survey of Twenty Years' Progress in Nature Study
in Providing Materials for Study
Ellen Eddy Shaw
Curator of Elementary Instruction, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens
The subject assigned to me shows the real measure of progress in
nature-study during these past twenty years. This twenty year
epoch, in my own case, happens to be just the length of time I have
been teaching nature-study, and from my own experience and that
of others associated with me, I shall draw my illustrations.
The progress made in providing materials for study lies first
along the lines of choice in materials, and second, in the use of these
materials after they have been chosen. Perhaps we might go so far
as to say that our progress has been one of wisdom, common sense,
and everyday application. I can remember with what zeal I
started out in this field, a zeal, not lessened, but harnessed, at the
present time. I can remember how wise leaders in this field, some
of them at least, said it really did not matter at all what you taught
in nature-study, but any subjects and any materials that awake
and evoke interest were just as good as any other ones. That I can
scarcely believe to be true since well-organized work must bring
with it far better results than any haphazard work.
Let us go back to the two points in progress; one, choice of
material and the other, application or use of such material after it is
chosen. For one illustration I should like to go to the east-side of
the City of New York, and mention a lesson on birds given twenty
years ago, and a lesson given to-day. The material provided for
this lesson of twenty years ago was one dilapidated bird. The
class was asked to name the bird. They sat there gazing at the old
bird, but not much enthused. After several repetitions of the
question by the teacher one child raised his hand and answered,
"It was a crow last year." This story speaks for itself . Evidently
the poor bird had been worked to the limits in that school and pos-
sibly had appeared under different names in different grades. This
is an extreme example of the most perfunctory type of nature-study.
The prescribed lesson was taught without any doubt; the bird's
beak, feathers, and tail were all tabulated and discussed. The
subject was covered. The period was over and the work was done.
The same school at this time is sending its classes with their little
notebooks and pencils up to the Natural History Msucum to see
63
64 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
the birds just as they have been placed in that great museum to
show their natural habitat. These children are provided with a
series of questions about the birds, so that they may go from case to
case looking, discussing and inspecting. A similar class is seen in
the classroom with bird pictures or bird riddles or going to the little
neighborhood park to watch the sparrows and to study the habits
of these bothersome little creatures. The difference in these two
lessons, the bird lesson of yesterday, and the bird lesson of today,
is significant in that in one case any available material was used
and a perfunctory lesson was tuaght ; while in the other case, a live
lesson was taught, the interest of the children was awakened and
they became acquainted with nature at the great museum ; a real
civic lesson entered in here, a lesson especially needed in these days
for all of our children. One such trio a term, to the Natural
History Museimi, the library, the Children's Museimi or the
Botanic Garden, is better far than a whole series of perfunctory
classroom exercises. Such lessons as these visits represent, are, of
course, far more valuable if, after returning to class the work is
followed up as it is in many cases, and even if it is not, such a lesson
has gone toward the broadening and uplift of these children.
Another nature lesson given in the same city some years ago was
a plant lesson presented to 40 or 50 children with one little specimen
in the teacher's hand held up for classroom inspection and yet how
impossible it was to inspect or see a bit of that specimen if one sat
in the back of the room ! A similar lesson two years ago, in a school
in the same neighborhood on the lower east-side shows the children
on the roof hovering about boxes, and pails and pans, in which
vessels, seeds have been planted and living plants are forcing their
way up. What keen interest and delight shown by these children,
how many lessons worked out from just this one center of interest !
We might stop here to ask "How is it possible to avoid the first
type of lesson, how is one going to be able to gather a great deal of
nature-study material for city schools?" It is not always possible
but if a few specimens have been brought in by children and teach-
ers, such 'materials could be arranged as I have seen them many
times on a side table in the room. By each twig, or branch, or
fruit, or flower-pot is a definite inscription telling something about
the specimen, and in odd moments before or after school, when a
child has finished his work he may go to that nature-study table
and become acquainted with those things. In general, I think
Shaw] PROGRESS IN NATURE-STUDY MATERIALS 65
these two or three illustrations are rather typical of the change in
the materials provided yesterday and today in nature-study.
This does not mean that there was not much excellent and inspi-
rational work done yesterday, nor does it mean that some teachers
were not giving exactly the same practical work that is being given
today, but on the whole the work of yesterday was far less well
thought out, and far less well applied to the everyday life of the
child. I remember a very wonderful piece of work carried on in a
rural community about thirteen years ago. Some of you here know
Miss Faddis and her work. We happened to be teaching nature-
study together in the same New York State Normal School. One
of the grades Miss Faddis was working with, was the fifth grade.
They were doing some spring work in nature-study and instead of
doing a few exercises in the classroom on birds and letting it go at
that, Miss Faddis inspired those children to collect birds' nests of
different types, nests that were deserted and no longer used. Just
this last winter I happened to see in New York one of the boys who
was in that class and he said, *'I shall never forget that work; it
will always live with me. We fellows scoured the countryside for
miles around to get the specimens." Such work as that is of no
epoch and of no period. Miss Faddis would have taught that kind
of work twenty years ago, ten years ago, or now. Any person who
has common sense must know that nature-study is not a matter of
classroom exercises, of perfunctory work, of sentimental slush, but
it is a part of one's daily life, and should be inspiring, thought-
evoking, and having to do with the real life of all of us, just as the
birds, trips to the museums, planting of real gardens on top of a
roof, are all things which do not today belong in the life of any
person, any group, any class, but in the life of all people. So, for
the first point which I have so sketchily covered, the thought in my
own mind is that materials chosen for nature-study work today
seem for the most part to be those which have more to do with
definite living, and are far better arranged ; that we are not taking
any old material because it happens to be convenient, but that we
are reaching out, and making the right materials serve the right
purpose, choosing real centers of interest, working from them and
making everyday applications to our everyday lives.
In my second point, the use of these materials, we have advanced
as well as in the first point. Very, very few of us who are working
in this line are willing to put in energy upon materials which are not
going to measure up to some definite results. A new course of
66 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
Study has just been made out for the City of New York. If you
were to read over the old course of study and then compare it with
this new one, you would be much interested in the materials chosen
for work in the old schedule and the applications made. In the old
course, it is suggested in one place, and in fact this is the sort of
suggestion running through the entire course, that in a certain
grade in the school every child should be provided with a specimen
of blossoming arbutus. It was determined by one specialist that
if all the little second grades in the city were provided with individ-
ual specimens of arbutus all the arbutus plants an3rwhere near the
City of New York would be put to use. That was not even a
sensible suggestion of materials to be used, but in the present
course of study it suggests that teachers use any everyday kind of
material of the section in which the children live. If we have
children from the outside sections, and we have many such sections,
the new course suggests using the common materials nature herself
provides ; in a pushcart section, using the fruits the children see and
are familiar with on the pushcarts and make these the center of
interest. How much one might unfold to children with just these
common everyday things! Think of the plebian onion consumed
in such quantities! Think how far back its history runs — back
even to the time of the pyramids. Think of the foreign relation-
ship that fruits and vegetables present. Imagine the fascinating
tales one might unfold if he were willing to put a little time and
thought on just this type of nature-study. We hear a great deal in
these days about selection of subjects for project work. There is
nothing new in these twenty years of work in the idea of projects
and hobbies. Good teachers of twenty years ago were giving
children special pieces of work to study, to hunt up, to describe, and
to experiment over at home and abroad. The fine and understand-
ing teacher always exists. The use of material by a teacher in her
work is the third degree which reveals the type of work that teacher
expects to do, the type of person she is, and the results she is bound
to obtain. Much of our best study of today is presented in the
form of problems of some kind, class problems, groups problems,
and personal problems so that these become part of a child's thought
and consideration for some length of time. For instance, we may
teach a lesson on trees, shall it be for example, a lesson in ev^er-
greens? Where does it lead us ? Shall we just learn to recognize
those evergreens which are available or shall we go further and
make our blue-prints, mount them, and have the children talk
Shaw] PROGRESS IN NATURE-STUDY MATERIALS 67
about them, making this a lesson in written and oral English ? As
we go farther up in school, shall we not add to this lesson an inter-
esting little stunt of making a key or plan by which a Boy or Girl
Scout may easily recognize any of these trees as it comes to them in
the park or in the woods? We can even go a step farther and
learn the difference between the hard and soft woods; study the
fruiting parts of these trees; understand why the term conifer is
better to use in this great group than evergreen ; read some of the
interesting stories about Christmas trees and be ready to tell them
in the assembly to the children of the lower grades. Think of all
the provocative elements existing in such a subject! To teach a
subject in nature-study, drop it, and go on to teach another has
always seemed to me, even in the beginning of my experience, a
most futile plan. The idea of life, which we are trying to give boys
and girls in all subjects we teach, is not a series of jerks, but ought
to be a continuous, vital, real matter, and so our nature-study
should tie closely not only with life, but with the life of our other
subjects in the classroom.
So it would seem that in using nature materials in the course of
study today we are giving special heed to the application of such
materials, both to the life of the child and to the rest of the course
of study, choosing not only such materials as build up a complete,
comprehensive and continuous course of study, as we did yesterday,
but choosing live centers of interest, making those a real part of the
rest of the course of study. Great progress nas been made in this
line.
Finally, in summing up the progress of the past twenty years, it
seems to me that we have progressed as a body or as a group of
people from a state of very scattered and diffused interests touch-
ing the high points as we have happened to; to a state where
materials used are far more practical and of greater life interest than
ever selected before. Our field of work has not changed. The
materials we are using today were always with us, but more of us
today are willing to teach things as they are, and more of us are
using those materials which make children think, which apply more
definitely to their everyday life a?id also to the life we trust they are
going to live as good appreciative citizens, to support their parks,
their museums, their homes, and if possible their own little estates.
"The one or two who hold Earth's coin of less account than fairy gold.
Their treasure not the spoil of crowns and kings
But the dim beauty at the heart of things."
A Survey of Twenty Years' Progress in Measuring
Results in Nature-Study
By Dr. Elliot R. Downing
The University of Chicago
The Revised Range of Information Test in Science
Please put an E beside words and phrases (on the list below) that
you can explain or define, an F beside those you have heard or read
about, the meaning of which is not clear, and an N beside those
that are new. Explain or define the first five you mark with an E,
on the back of this sheet.
Nc
). Mark
No.
Mark
Here.
Here.
I
Adaptation
26
Inoculation
2
Atom
27
Instinct
3
Buoyancy
28
Law of gravitation
4
Candle power
29
Law of the lever
5
Center of gravity
30
Law of the pulley
6
Comet
31
Migration
7
Conduction
32
Molecule
8
Conservation of energy
33
Momentimi
9
Dew point
34
Natural selection
lO
Disease organisms
35
Nitrifying bacteria
II
Drowned valley
36
Orbit of the moon
12
Eclipse
37
Osmosis
13
Electrical resistance
38
Oxidation
14
Electro-magnet
39
Photosynthesis
15
Enzyme
40
Parasitism
i6
Eorsion
41
Plant or animal cell
17
Equinox
42
Precipitate
i8
Evolution
43
Reversion
19
Family tree
44
Sedimentation
20
Fertility of soil
45
Solar system
21
Fertilization of egg
46
Specific heat
22
Flood plain
47
Sterilization
23
Fossil
48
The ice age
24
Gas diffusion
49
Toxin
25
Heat expansion
50
Variation
*Copies of the i-evised test can be obtained from the author, The Universit}''
of Chicago, The School of Education, for S.40 per hundred.
68
Downing] PROGRESS IN MEASURING RESULTS 69
Water is absorbed by the plant from the soil largely by means of
the root The water is brought up from the deeper
layers of the soil by much as oil is
brought up to the flame by the lamp wick. The
the spaces between the soil particles the more readily is the water
brought up. Evaporation goes on rapidly if the surface layer of
soil is , slowly if it is For this reason
in part the garden is so as to prevent excessive
In wet seasons it would be unwise to do this for
if the surface layer is rain will easily
the soil and would also be checked.
It has been shown that pollination produces more
and better seed than self pollination in flowers. Pollen is carried
from flower to flower either by or by
Flowers of the former sort are called anemophilous of the latter
Willows and grasses have their pollen carried
largely by and the pollen is produced in great
Flowers that depend on to carry
their pollen usually have pleasing bright
and secrete to attract the Their
form and structure are often to the structure of some
one sort of Thus flowers with deep tubular corollas
are visited by that have a very long to
enable them to reach the
An animal breathes (Check the best reason given) .
1 . Because the blood contains impurities that must be eliminated.
2 . In order to get oxygen to the working cells so it may be com-
bined with their substance to generate work power and in order to
remove the wastes.
3 . To keep the lungs healthy.
4. To destroy disease germs.
5. So the animal will have air enough to make noises that are
characteristic of each species, like the song of a bird, the moo of a
cow.
A person should wash his hands before each meal because (Check
the best reason):
1 . It is not polite to come to the table with dirty hands.
2. It helps the grocer to sell his soap.
3. The skin is not healthy unless it is washed often.
4. Disease germs might get from your hands onto your food.
70 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
5. Dirty hands show you do not belong to the refined class of
people.
Milk is heated to 170" F. (pasteurized) before it is delivered to
city customers (Check the best reason).
1. To kill the germs of disease that may be in it.
2. Because it is more easily digested when it is so heated.
3. .To make the cream rise to the top more readily.
4. To help keep the bottles clean.
5 . Because it tastes better if it is warmed before you drink it.
Check each of the following statements which relates an adjust-
ment of an organism to its environment.
1 . The cricket makes his chirping call-note by rubbing his wings
together. A tooth on one wing scraping across a series of ridges on
the other produces sound somewhat as it is made when you draw
your finger nail over the tooth of a comb.
2 . The dragonfly or snake doctor is more appropriately called the
mosquito hawk for it captures mosquitoes and gnats and eats them
on the wing. So you find it usually about swamps and ponds
where such insects are abundant.
3. The dandelion flower cluster closes in wet weather and
snuggles down to the ground but opens again when the sun shines.
4. During the recent war nearly a quarter of our entire supply
of walnut trees was cut to furnish wood for aeroplane propellers and
rifle stocks. Walnut is strong, does not readily splinter and works
well under cutting tools.
5. Woodchuck digs himself a hole and after stiiffing his baggy
hide until it can hold no more of fat he crawls down a few feet in it
through the winter to a comfortable temperature more equiable
than bobolink finds in his southern home reached by hundreds of
miles of weary travel.
T.wo hectograph plates, which were not engravable were also used by
Dr. Downing. One with two boys upon a see-saw teeter with the inscription :
"The boys find the teeter will not work — one end stays down. Can you
tell how to fix it, so it will work and why?" The other a plate with out-
lines of leaves of elm, tulip, oak and poplar for identification.
Editor.
A Survey of Twenty Years' Progress in Nature Study
(E) in Extension Work*
A. F. Satterthwait
Scientific Assistant, U. S. Bureau of Entomology
In order to present the progress of nature-study during the past
twenty years as evidenced in extension work, it is necessary to
review sHghtly the situation at the beginning of this period and
determine, tentatively at least, the relationship of nature-study and
extension work.
Nature-study is the acquiring of an understanding of the natural
elements and creatures composing the environment of which we are
a part. As compared with the natural sciences, it is a gentle
approach through the foreground to the ultimate fact, rather than
the fact itself, or the science, exact or applied. It is the use of our
natural environment for developing in ourselves the ability to
observe, to analyze, to correlate objects and ideas, to notice how
other creatures adapt themselves to their environment and to
adapt ourselves more readily.
Nature-study seems to have been developed for the purpose of
rebuilding agriculture. It was taken up with remarkable prompt-
ness, aided by Audubon Societies, Junior Naturalist Clubs, and
school garden classes. Nature-study underlies each of these
related interests and is, in large measure, a preparation for the
study of agriculture in later years. It has its greatest value when it
is taught at the earliest ages and throughout the grades. It serves
the dual purpose of reaching the parents as well as the child, and
the value of the accomplishment of the second purpose is not much
less, if any, than that of the first, in the case of the rural community.
The story is told of a certain farmer who discovered his son
catching beetles, and asked why he was doing it. The boy replied
that his teacher wanted them to illustrate talks to the pupils on
habits of insects, their ravages, methods of repression, etc. The
farmer forbade his son catching any more "bugs," but could not
help noticing that the little fellow continued his interest in them.
He finally exacted a promise from the teacher not to take his son's
time from books "to fool around with bugs and worms and millers."
Not long afterwards, the son let fall a remark in his father's hearing
*Published by pe/mission of the Secretary of Agriculture
71
72 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
about some noxious insect, which showed him to be in possession of
information of value to the farmer. The father's interest was thus
aroused and the ban against nature-study was removed. He was
frequently seen in company with his son collecting, and later on
presented the school with a valuable collection of insects properly
mounted. He had come to see that nature-study has a direct rela-
tion to the improvement of agriculture.
A normal school in New England included in its curriculiun,
about 19 1 6, nature-study and school gardening, but did not include
agriculture. It gave the students thorough and practical instruc-
tion in plant production, from selecting the seed to harvesting and
marketing the crop, and in banking the proceeds and checking out
the money to pay expenses. In this case, nature-study was
actually applied agriculture, typical of extension work.
Extension work is advanced nature-study work, limited to
applied agriculture in its broadest sense, including home and com-
munity health and sanitation. It is conducted by the agricultural
colleges and experiment stations, in cooperation with the Bureaus
of Soils, Markets, Animal Industry, Plant Industry and Entomol-
ogy, the States Relations Service and Office of Farm Management
of the United States Department of Agriculture, and with county
courts and local organizations, or some of these agencies, depending
upon the project.
The Illinois Farmers' Institute started extension work in 1901,
when its director sent out packages of seed com to as many boys
under 18 years of age as would agree to enter the com growing
contest. Each boy was instructed how to plant and was required
to keep a record of the crop and report to the Institute on seventeen
specified points, and exhibit ten ears. The ten ears exhibited were
to be judged by a prescribed scoring schedule and by persons known
to be skilled in judging corn. This effort was unsuccessful, but the
following year 500 boys applied for admission to the contest and the
boys, together with 500 farmers, came to the Institute meeting at
which the com was exhibited and judged. The following year
1,500 bo3^s entered the contest and 300 boys and 1,500 farmers
attended the Institute. In 1904, 120,000 farmer boys of Illinois
were invited to enroll for the com growing contest and 8,000 applied
for admission and seed. Over 1,000 entries of ten ears each were
submitted and placed on exhibit in the Palace of Agriculture at the
St. Louis Exposition. The com was of excellent quality and quite
Satterthwait] nature-study EXTENSION 73
uniform in appearance and measurement. The prizes ranged from
50 cents to $500, and 1,250 exhibits received awards. Extension
work in Illinois at this time included boys' clubs for the study of
com growing, com judging, live stock, vegetable exhibits, local
crops, variety tests of sugar beets and visits to agricultural institu-
tions in other states.
About 1902 the Ohio boys club was started by the superintendent
of schools, and had an enrollment of 700 boys in 1904.
About 1903 the Texas boys' and girls' club was started. It had
an enrollment of over 1,200 by the end of 1904.
Iowa boys' clubs were started by the superintendent of schools in
March, 1904, and an enrollment of 335 was reached by the end of
the year. Boys' clubs had been started in New York and in
Indiana at an earlier date.
Soon after boys' clubs were started by the Illinois Farmers'
Institute, similar clubs were organized in certain Southern States,
notably Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.* This move-
ment had grown up and died down before the Farmers' Cooperative
Demonstration Work began to attract national attention. This
Demonstration Work in the South commenced in 1904. A few
bright boy farmers asked to be enrolled in demonstration work
along with the men. During the year 1908, boys' club work was
extended into several counties and states. At the beginning of
1909, a systematic effort was made by the Department of Agricul-
ture to place boys' clubs on a standardized, uniform acre-basis in
all the states where the farm demonstration work was being con-
ducted, which included every Southern State from Virginia to
Texas. During the year, 10,54^ boys were enrolled, and during
1 9 10, 46,225 bo3^s. Prize trips to Washington were offered bv
nearly all the Southern States in 19 10.
Each boy was required to grow an acre of corn in his demonstra-
tion, and the basis for judging was as follows:
Yield 30 per cent.
Showing of Profit 30 per cent.
History of Crop 20 per cent.
Ten Ear Exhibit 20 per cent.
Many of these boys produced over 200 bushels of com per acre.
One boy in Mississippi produced 227 re bushels at a cost of 14 cents
*The writer desires to express his thanks to Drs. A. C. True and C. B. Smith
and Messrs. J. A. Evans and O. B. Martin, of the vStates Relations Service for
supplying data and correcting manuscript j)ertaining to their work.
74 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
per bushel. Another produced 221.2 bushels at a cost of 16 cents
per bushel, alongside of a field producing 40 bushels per acre. One
boy in Alabama produced 212.5 bushels at 8,6 cents per bushel, and
another, 224.75 bushels at 19.8 cents per bushel. The plan is to
instruct, to direct, to guide and to train each boy, and involves the
cooperation of school officers, teachers and agents of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture. The making of a crop economically and
successfully is stressed, and particular inspiration is afforded the
leaders and the boys when yields perhaps the greatest ever pro-
duced, are secured at the low costs of 8.6 and 14.2 cents per bushel.
In South Carolina in 1909, one boy raised 152.5 bushels of com
on one acre, while the state average was less than 16 bushels.
The Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work was developed
in 1 910 to include girls' clubs. That year girls' clubs were organ-
ized in South Carolina and Virginia in connection with boys' com
clubs, and 325 enrolled. The girls were started on one-tenth acre
gardens, specializing on tomatoes, but including some snap beans
and cucimibers. The objects of the girls' demonstration work was
to stimulate interest and wholesome cooperation in the home, to
earn money and get the education and view point necessary for the
ideal farm-life, to encourage the production of better food at lower
cost and conserve the surplus products, and to furnish earnest
teachers with a plan for aiding their pupils and their communities.
In 191 1, more than 3,000 girls, representing eight states, joined
the clubs. Many of them put up more than 500 quarts of tomatoes
from their crops, besides ketchups, pickles and preserves. A few
put up nearly a thousand quarts each.
The girls' clubs began by specializing on a single crop, tomatoes,
then including beans and cuamibers, then other vegetables and
fruits, progressing upward through meat, bread, milk products and
into home demonstration work. The first girls' canning club was
organized in Aiken County, South Carolina.
In 191 5, the enrollment of boys and girls, both north and south,
was 250,000.
In 19 1 6, home demonstration work, which began with girls'
canning clubs, had been taken up in 420 counties. The girls* clubs
in one county in Alabama put up in the four years ending in 19 16,
172,555 cans, valued at $29,400.
Extension work was greatly forwarded by the passage of the
Smith-Lever act. May 8, 1914, which specifies that cooperative
Satterthwait] NATURE-STUDY extension 75
extension work shall consist of the giving of instruction and practi-
cal demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons
not attending or resident in the agricultural and mechanical col-
leges in the several communities, and imparting to such persons
information on said subjects through field demonstrations, publica-
tions, and otherwise. The three greatest claimable appropriations
under this act for the year ending June 30, 1920, were: Pennsyl-
vania, $169,722.91 ; Texas, $165,868.55; Illinois, $123,889.52.
The Vocational Training act, which passed February 23, 1917,
appropriated a maximum sum of $1,000,000 for 1920. This act
provides for teachers of agriculture, trades, industry and home
economics.
Cooperative extension work in agriculture and home economics
is divided between the South, consisting of Delaware, Maryland,
West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and the
States south of these, and the North and West, consisting of the
remaining states.
The chief lines of activity of the extension work are represented
by the county agent, the home economics agent and the boys' and
girls' club agent. A banker of central New York said that "within
three years after the Smith-Lever act went into force, their county
agent had done more for the fanners of that county than the entire
Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural colleges had
done for them during the fifty years preceding." This expresses
the appreciation of extension work felt in counties which have
entered into the spirit of improved agriculture and of cooperation.
From its beginning in 1862, the Department of Agriculture has
been amassing a tremendous volume of information from its many
contacts with agriculture and has dispensed its information freely
through its central outlets and through the experiment stations.
To such extent as the information was used by farmers, stock
raisers, fruit growers and others, they profitted. The difficulty has
been in the failure of the farmer to assimilate the information.
Having had none of the advantages of nature-study or elementary
agriculture in childhood, he grew to depend upon his personal
experience almost to the exclusion of all other information. An
extreme type is represented in the story of the farmer answering a
county agent with the self exposing assertion that "I've nm
through three farms, and I know. You can't tell me anything
about farming."
76 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
The county agent, the home economics agent, and the boys' and
girls' club agent are excellent means for carrying the wealth of
information of the Department of Agriculture to the farmers' entire
family. There are many instances in which even these agents
cannot impart the information they have at hand to the people
most needing it. As they have recourse to the child, the child in
such cases becomes the carrier. Instead of teaching nature-study
as such, they call the children together and show them a plan
whereby they can work together on any one of many boys' and
girls' club projects.
Children have faith in teachers and other persons who appear
to have information, and generally are very glad to start a project.
The follow-up system of instruction by letters from the colleges and
by visits from the county agents, coupled with the wholesome spirit
of competition with the other boys and girls in the clubs is rewarded
with completion of project and of report by a third or more of the
enrollment and the knowledge that the instructions have favorably
influenced probably all the enrollment and some parents or neigh-
bors of each one. Where precepts fail with the elders, the children
are most useful in their example, the successful results of which so
often put to shame the indifferent results obtained by the elders.
A case is reported from the southwest in which one of the com
club boys produced 45 bushels of com on one acre and showed a
good report on his work. His case was specially considered
because he had such a small yield. The father explained that he
knew the boy would not do any good in the project, so he let him
use a comer that never was any good. When asked what the
yield was on the better part of the farm, the father acknowledged
that he produced only 20 bushels per acre!
In eastern Indiana, in 19 15, a certain small boy in knee breeches
piloted the writer to a tract of land reported to be infested with
insects, a part of which land belonged to his father. This boy was
in the boys' corn-growing contest and two years in succession had
won a week's free trip to Washington, D. C, each time with a
purse of $50 in cash. The lad tendered the second trip to the next
boy in the contest. These contests called for the growing of five
acres of com, one measured acre of which was chosen for the
judges, the whole procedure being under the observation of the
county agent. The first year this lad produced 119 bushels of com
to the acre, the second year, 1 26 bushels. The prospects were very
fair that he would win the third year. The father used no fertilizer
Satterthwait] nature-study EXTENSION 77
and would allow his boy no advantage over himself, excepting in
choice of locality.
The neighboring farmers, in discussing community affairs at the
village grocery, became vexed at the idea of this boy winning twice
in the contest, assuming that there was unfairness or favoritism.
One farmer whose house was just across the road from the lad's
field the second year remained silent until the discussion stirred
him to speak in defense of the boy. He said, "I do not know how
the judging is done, but I know that when I got up in the mornings,
he was already at work cultivating that corn. When I quit work in
the evenings, I sat on my porch and read my paper for a couple of
hours by sunlight and he continued working that corn till dark.
I laid my com by after working it three times. He worked his
eight times. Our land is the same. I know how he got his 126
bushels and how I got my 40."
These illustrations show that the boys' work goes home to the
men. Here is an illustration where a man's example failed to go
home to his neighbors. In Ohio, the writer found a farmer who
was successful to a marked degree on land appearing to be identical
to the land surrounding him. The crops around him compared
very unfavorably with his. This farmer plowed his land about
eight inches deep, his neighbors about four inches. They asked
him how he was able to raise such crops, and he explained. It was
too simple. They could not believe it. They regarded his
answer as a subterfuge and himself too mean and selfish to deserve
neighborly courtesies.
These illustrations are representative. Artificial barriers exist
between the farmer and "the new f angled book-farming." The
farmer deserves great credit for surmounting his difficulties as well
as he has done. There are today numerous magnificent farmers to
be found in every state. Doubtless all of them have profoundly
influenced their communities for the better, and probably many of
them have observed examples of hostile jealousy similar to that
sourrounding the Ohio farmer. These farmers who have greatly
raised the standards of farming are all too few. They are, how-
ever, towers of strength for their county farm bureaus and their
county agents, and will have increased companionship when the
first generation of the extension work boys and <(irls assumes
responsibility on their respective farms.
Extension work is done chiefly in county units. There are in the
United States 2,936 counties. Eventually, 2,850 of these may
78 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
require the services of a county agent. In 1923, the Smith-Lever
act will have reached its maximum appropriation, at which time it
will be serving about 2,650 counties, the estimated number which
may profitably employ county agents. When this act went into
effect, 930 counties had agents. The present number having
agents is 2,000. During the time this act has been in force the
nimiber of home demonstration agents has increased from 280 to
nearly 800. About 250 counties have also employed a boys' and
girls' club agent. Between July i, 191 7 and July i, 1918, the
number of counties with men agents increased from 1,435 to
2,435, and those with women agents from 537 to 1,715. The num-
bers represent about the high mark that would have been reached
had the rate of increase experienced prior to the act of 191 7 con-
tinued through these years.
The county farm bureau is an institution for the development of
a county program of work in agriculture and home economics, and
for cooperating with state and Government agencies in the develop-
ment of profitable farm management and efficient and wholesome
home and community life. It is a means by which fanners and
their families express themselves concerning all matters pertaining
to the advancement of agriculture, home and community life.
The projects carried in the extension work include dairy im-
provement, swine production, hog cholera control, food conserva-
tion, cooperative marketing, home gardens, poultry and many
other projects of interest to the community.
The boys' and girls' club work includes home gardens, canning,
butter-making, corn-growing, calf and pig clubs, sewing, own-your-
own-room clubs, and nimierous other projects.
Extension schools or short courses of three to five days are held
as part of the extension work, usually coinciding with the leading
projects carried by the Extension Division. In 19 18, there were
691 county short courses for rural girls, attended by 26,000 girls,
colored as well as white girls being reached, in the extension work,
South.
Demonstrations afford a vital feature of the extension work,
applicable to every person in the rural communities and throughout
the list of projects. There are two types of demonstration. The
first is conducted by the person giving the information, as exemplified
by the county agent demonstrating seed com selection, poultry
culling, hog cholera control and tree spraying, and by the home
demonstration agent showing methods for canning and drying foods
and remodeling garments. The second type is conducted by the
Satterthwait] nature-study EXTENSION 79
person acquiring the information, as exemplified by the farmers'
cooperative marketing organizations. In Prentiss County, Missis-
sippi, no cooperative marketing was done prior to the fall of 1917.
The county agent undertook a demonstration of this second type,
driving an opening wedge when a number of farmers combined to
make up one carload of com for sale. The price received was about
25 cents per bushel above the local offering. The local price ad-
vanced immediately 25 cents per bushel. The cooperative 'ship-
ments of com were continued and a carload of hogs was tried
cooperatively, with marked success. A strong organization has
been perfected and a volimie of $250,000 reached in the last twelve
months noted.
The results of the extension work are endless. A few summaries
will suffice to indicate the material results. The food conserved in
19 1 8 under the direction of the home demonstration agents of the
South included 64,604,531 containers of fruits and vegetables,
valued at $15,566,456.15. A very large proportion of the vegeta-
bles canned were produced in home gardens and from the tenth-
acre plats of the girl club members. Ten years ago, modem
methods of canning were almost unknown in the South. In 19 18,
855 community canneries were established. These same women
and girls, directed by the home demonstration agents, put up
i57>6o5 cans of meat and fish, valued at $56,463,34. They dried
8,982,787 pounds of fruits and vegetables, valued at $1,846,625.56.
They established 131 community central drying plants. They
pickled and brined about 1,006,222 gallons of vegetables, valued at
$382,806.73.
The boys' clubs of the south in 19 18 enrolled 204,859 regular, and
202,671 emergency, members. The average production of corn in
boys' clubs, in spite of an unfavorable season, was 37.58 bushels per
acre, at a cost of 47.3 cents per bushel. Sixty-two boys produced
more than too bushels per acre Manv boys cleared over $100
each at raising live stock. Boys in the live stock clubs are taught
to raise the crops necessary to feed the live stock, as a part of their
club endeavor. The total value of the products of the boys' club
work in the Southern States in 1918 is given at $12,034,271.27.
The year's plan in the boys' and girls' work in the Northern and
Western States in 19 18 was especially directed to food production.
The reports of 1 15,725 of the 243,406 garden project members show
that the reporting members cared for 2,987,984 square rods of land
and raised vegetables valued at $ i ,693 , 5 20. Emergency club boys
and girls produced vegetables valued at $1 ,954,347. Of the 3 1,476
80 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
enrolled pig club members, 12,847 reporting produced 4,423,081
pounds of pork, valued at $947,570. Baby beef club members
reporting produced 589,123 pounds of beef, valued at $106,231.
Rabbit and chicken club members reporting, raised 26,322 rabbits
and 331,072 chicks, and produced 133,566 dozen eggs. Boys' and
girls' sheep and calf clubs raised 8,005 lambs and 2,474 calves, the
latter for dairy purposes. In addition, club members produced
313, 778 bushels of corn, 646,503 bushels of potatoes, 22,399 tons
of sugar beets and 2,867 bushels of beans.
So much for the material benefits. A county school superintend-
ent reported in 19 15 that there were 4,000 members of the boys'
pig club in school and not one was suspended or expelled. The
club members averaged 11 per cent better than non-members in
school work, except that they averaged 23 per cent better in com-
position and 1 6 per cent better in spelling. Church attendance was
5 per cent and Sunday school 7 per cent better among members
than non-members.
Another student of the boys' club work states that club work
makes for broadening of vision, awakening of spirit and building
of character in the members and for spreading the basic virtues
throughout the community.
County agents are observing and reporting the valuable leader-
ship exercised in different communities by former members of boys*
clubs who have become substantial leaders in their communities.
The value of the club work as a means of solving problems in pro-
duction, organization and marketing, and of crystalizing the
thought of the future at an important and impressionable period of
life can scarcely be overestimated.
Thus the extension work among children is accomplishing essen-
tially the same excellent results that are found among the children
who are so fortunate as to include nature-study with qualified
teachers in their school work. If narrower than nature-study in its
scope, extension work as we now see it has an advantage in the
coordination of action and sympathy in the multitude of groups of
the rural men and women of tomorrow, whose vocations and
environments are similar.
The extension work among adults is accomplishing an intelligent
unification of agricultural interest and purpose, with improved
spirit and breadth of vision. It also affords us a strengthened
guarantee that the necessities of life will continue to be produced in
sufficient quantities for our entire citizenship, under wholesome and
increasingly attractive home conditions.
Reaching and Training Rural Teachers
E. Lawrence Palmer
Cornell Univci-sity
New Syllabus in Nature-Study, Humaneness and Elementary Agriculture, for
Rural Schools
A plan of study which may be followed in a system of schools in
a city many times is not practical in a one room rural school.
There are many reasons for this. Aside from the fact that the
same material is not always easily available there is really no reason
why a plan of study which can be put into practice in a rural school
should not prove satisfactory in a city school system. For these
reasons, it would seem best that any plan of study which is to be
more or less uniformly followed throughout a state should keep the
problems of the rural teacher in mind at all times. In the past,
this practice has not always been observed and consequently sug-
gestions which were intended to make the task of the rural teacher
lighter have occasionally done the opposite by presenting problems
which complicate rather than simplify the duties of that already
sufficiently burdened teacher.
A rural school teacher's school consists of children of varied
degrees of maturity and preparation. A city teacher's school con-
sists of a selected group of children with a more or less uniform
preparation. It is obviously, then, easier for the city teacher to
plan and prepare the work of the school than for the rural teacher
to do this. If the rural teacher can plan the work so that all of the
pupils may be kept busy at the same time on a given subject so
much the better. If but one preparation is necessary to care for
the needs of eight different grades at once then the proposition is
better yet. • The present article is an attempt to so simplify and
organize the sources of information available to rural teachers that
nature-study may practically take care of itself.
An ideal nature-study lesson might be one based on anything of
interest found on a trip or brought into school by any child. Few
teachers could give a real lesson under the circumstances which
would arise following a practice of this sort at the present time.
With the help of this outline, this ideal may possibly be more
nearly approached than has been convenient in the past.
One lesson gives us but a meager idea of the possibilities of any
branch of learning and in order to best appreciate the subject in
question we should approach it from many angles. For tliis reason
81
82 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW (17:2— Feb., 1921
a bit of guidance in the selection of material will possibly produce
better results than if we are allowed perpetually to follow our own
inclinations. This idea of "guidance" is not new. Too fre-
quently, however, it has been carried to such extremes that it has
developed into "requirement." Requirements are often more or
less odious and frequently seriously besmirch an otherwise inter-
esting field of knowledge.
The requirement that we teach in nature-study five certain birds
a year, for example, may make it easy for the teacher to dish out an
allotted amount of information to the pupils without much diffi-
culty. The fulfillment of this requirement too frequently leads to
book study rather than nature-study. This same practice also has
the disadvantage that nearly every bit of information which goes
to the children must in some way come through the teacher.
Teachers should find their work much easier if instead of trying to
teach nature-study to the children, they let the children teach
nature-study to themselves. With the leaflets which have been
and will be published at hand this should not be difficult in the
rural schools of New York State.
It has been brought to my attention by one teacher that the
teachers think that they are required to teach everything which is
published in the Leaflet and that they must know everything which
appears in the Leaflet. This is no more so than that they should
teach everything which appears in a dictionary and should know
the definition of every word in the dictionary. No one would deny
that a dictionary is one of the most useful of books and it is hoped
that the Leaflet may prove to be a more or less attractively organ-
ized nature-study dictionary with the ideas expressed in terms which
may be understood and appreciated by individuals as young as the
youngest school child. The "cut-out-pictures" and story sections
of the Leaflet for example can teach to the younger children in a
simple way the more serious minded facts which the life history
chart presents in a more orthodox manner to the older children.
Graded Nature-Study
There is one danger which may arise from an attempt to grade
nature-study work arbitrarily. Some teachers may think they
should teach only the work outlined for the third and fourth grade
whether or not the children in these grades had had the work on the
same subject for the lower grades. In most cases it would seem
wise to start the whole school with the work outlined for the first
Palmer] REACHING AND TRAINING TEACHERS 83
and second grades. The children in the higher grades will of
course finish this sooner than the first and second grade children.
They can then, go on to the work outlined for the third and fourth
grades. The older children should finish this work sooner than the
children of the third and fourth grade and can go on to the work
outlined for the fifth and sixth grades. The still older children in
this group can finish this work more quickly than the younger ones
and go on to the work outlined for the seventh and eighth grades.
In taking up a new subject, we must all begin "as little children."
A Type Nature-Study Period
If the children in the school have never used the material in the
Leaflet according to any system, it might be well to consider the
following suggestion to show how a lesson may be taught to a whole
school at once in such a manner that all may be kept busy and, by
the way, if the children are busy discipline will as a rule take care
of itself.
Suppose for example at the beginning of the nature-study period
some child reports that on his way to school he saw some rather
small birds flying around in the air. After he tells all that he can
about the bird the teacher may for guidance refer to the outline
given for this work.* One page of this outline deals with birds and
it will be seen that a part of this page deals with birds found feeding
in the air. Under this section, reference is made to Volume XIV,
No. 4 of the Cornell Rural School Leaflet. This means that that
number of the Leaflet should be a source of information for studying
birds that feed in the air just as the M section of the dictionary
gives you guidance for information concerning words beginning
with M.
A copy of Volume XIV, No. 4 of the Cornell Rural School Leaflet
has been sent to every rural school in the state and should have
been left in the library. Those schools whose teachers requested
additional copies have enough copies for each child. Under these
circimistances it should be safe to imply that every rural school in
New York State at least has access to this material.
Volimie XIV, No. 4 of the Leaflet contains a chapter dealing with
birds found feeding in the air. These birds are called the ceiling
cleaners. This chapter may be read to or by the pupils and should
give the school some clue as to what the bird seen might be. It
*This will appear in detail in the September, 1921, Naturk-vStudy Revh-w.
84 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW (17:2— Feb., 1921
may be decided for example that it is a bam swallow. So far at
least the lesson may be carried on by the school as a whole.
Reference to the outline at the end of this article suggests that
the work with cut-out pictures will give profitable work for the
children of the first two grades. These children and others if they
wish, may cut out the swallow and place it on the landscape where it
belongs, in accordance with the directions accompanying the
landscape.
The children in the third and fourth years can do what the
children in the first two grades have done and in addition select
some one page in their nature-study note book. On that page they
will keep a record through the year of birds seen feeding in the air
and in particular some one bird like the already mentioned bam
swallow which they themselves have selected. This note book will
contain the date when the birds were first seen, when and where
they nested, when the first young were seen and when the birds
were last seen. It is not necessary that every school in the state
select the barn swallow for this study. Any bird of the bam
swallow type will do. The Leaflet. has given help in the study of
the bam swallow and chimney swift and it may be easier for the
teacher to use these examples but any other bird of this type will be
satisfactory. This gives greater opportunity for the instructor to
teach from the material at hand and is bound to make the work
more interesting. The "Fifty Interesting Things" section may
prove of assistance in guiding the observations of these children.
In a bird lesson like the one under discussion the questions dealing
with birds of the desired type may be considered.
The children of the fifth and sixth grades should keep a note book
as did their younger fellow students. After they have made all the
observations they can independently they may refer to the Life
History Chart section of the Leaflet and fill in the gaps in their own
record. They may incorporate their final conclusions in a story
about the bam swallow in which they emphasize the things which
they themselves have seen. They should be able to appreciate the
work that these birds do in keeping the open air free from insects
and should have some idea of how the birds are particularly fitted
for the work they do. The use of the birds to nature and their
relation to other living things might well be understood.
In case, the children of the seventh and eighth grade have had
the work, just outlined for the lower grades or complete it more
quickly than their younger school mates they may go further than
Palmer] REACHING AND TRAINING TEACHERS 85
has been outlined and study the relation of these birds to man and
to agriculture particularly. If desired, they may construct martin
or other bird houses and should do all they can to encourage useful
birds to lighten the labors and increase the profits of the farmers
and gardeners of the community. Any laws dealing with these
particular birds might well be known and assistance may be given
the authorities in making these laws effective. Any impression
that the laws are imperialistic should be dispelled by an apprecia-
tion of the common sense back of them. It will not be difficult to
see the common sense side, if the program outlined above has been
followed.
At the beginning of this section it was suggested that the topic
for study come from some child who had seen something interest-
ing. It may come with equal appropriateness from a child whose
garden is being attacked by insects. The outline shows appropriate
work for the younger children while the older child is being helped
with his problem.
All of this work may be taught at one time to a group of children
of varied degrees of preparation. But for the fact that all of the
material necessary to teach such a lesson is available in every rural
school in the state it would be folly to expect that a program of this
sort could be put into practice. As it is it ought not be an exceed-
ingly difficult ideal to realize.
So much for this type lesson on birds found feeding in the air.
Lessons on other nature-study subjects are outlined in a similar
manner and should be understood without great difficulty.
The Work of Different Years
It should be obvious that if we divide the children into groups of
two grades each and follow the system already outlined that there
will be needless repetition the second year if no effort is made to
prevent this. For example, a child who enters school this year and
studies a bam swallow this year would next year be in the same
group and study the bam swallow again in the same manner. To
prevent this, the outline suggests two groups of birds found feeding
in the air and suggests that one of these groups be considered one
year and the other the next year. In either case, the chapter in
Volimie XIV, No. 4 of the Leaflet would be an appropriate intro-
duction. One year you would consider birds like barn swallows
and chimney swifts that are seen for the most part on the wing.
The next year it might be well to study the other group which
86 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
includes birds like the phoebe and kingbird which fly up from a
perch to capture their food and then as a rule return to their original
perch. The third year of a child's school work he would return to
a consideration of the group studied the first year and he may or
may not study the same example of that group. The fourth year
he would return to the group he studied the second year. The
fifth year, he would return to the group studied his first and third
year and the sixth year he would return to a further consideration
of the group studied the second and fourth years.
Agriculture and Home-Making
A wise decision was made when it was advised that the seventh
and eighth years' work along nature-study lines be largely voca-
tional. The plan outlined organizes the work for the seventh and
eighth grades so that the whole matter works in nicely. This work
may or may not be done as organized project work. The types
selected are all chosen with the view that they will lead up to some
home-making or agricultural project. The study of sugar produc-
ing plants in nature-study creates an excellent background for the
use of sugars as food in a homemaking lesson. The study of
rabbit tracks as nature-study in the lower grades creates an interest
in rabbits which may be reared as projects or served as a portion of
a well balanced meal. It is neither necessary or advisable that any
rural school take up all of the projects outlined for the seventh and
eighth grades. The outline merely shows how any of the nature-
study lessons may be associated with an agricultural or homemak-
ing project. It will probably be found wise to have the girls con-
fine their work to one project and the boys to another and allow
them to work on this project during the nature-study period, pro-
viding their services are not needed in helping the teacher with the
younger children. We all learn by teaching and the older boys will
grow in ability' and power by making bird baths, bird houses and
feeding stations for the school. The older girls will learn additional
things about the part of the landscape birds care for if they help
the smaller children with their cut-out pictures.
This outline has been developed tomeet the requests for assistance
which have come from rural school teachers actually in service in
rural schools in New York State and in Iowa. The system is not a
dream which I think ought to work. The ideas have been tried and
found not wanting. Without exception the plan has had the
approval of teachers and superintendents who have looked it over.
The Roosevelt Field Club
Ruth V. Weierheiser
Secretary and Treasurer, Buffalo, N. Y.
It is impossible for me to give the reader a complete and well-
formed idea of the purpose and activities of this unique club
without a short sketch of its history. The Roosevelt Field Club
is a children's organization which was formed March, 1920, by
Chauncey J. Hamlin, President of the Buffalo Society of Natural
Sciences. The aim of the organization is to instil a love of all wild
life and to teach children how to understand and to conserve this
life which is so often misunderstood. The club was named in
honor of Theodore Roosevelt who was a most active naturalist.
Owing to the winter climate of Buffalo being more inducive of
indoor study than outdoor hiking, Sunday afternoon lectures are
given from Christmas to Easter. Among the lecture subjects last
winter were "Trees," "Wild Flowers," "Fossils," "How to Make an
Aquaritmi," "Bird Photography," and the six reels of "How Life
Begins."
Last spring, the first trip was held at Williamsville on April the
24th. Although the day proved to be clear, cold and windy, over
eighty children and several grown-ups hiked the entire four miles.
The last part of the trip was devoted to the exploring of a limestone
quarry rich in fossils, garter sankes, and toad and frog eggs. Since
the Williamsville trip, thirteen others have been conducted, an
unusually interesting one being the outing to Eighteen Mile Creek,
on June 12 th. This creek is very famous in the realm of geology,
William L. Bryant of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences hav-
ing found the fossil of the "Dinichthys Magnificus" in the Devonian
rock in this locality, the only specimen of the species ever found in
America. Another memorable day for the children was the occa-
sion of the finding of a giant puff-ball on a trip to Toad Hollow.
Professor Alexander brought it all the way back to the city to have
it photographed.
Since the 26th of June, when the club held a second trip to Ham-
burg, N. Y., Professor William P. Alexander, formerly of Cornell
University, has been the lecturer for the club. On such days you
will find him the central figure within a circle o£ interested boys and
girls, — sometimes the radius of said circle being as long as ten or
fifteen feet. He is barely given time to eat his lunch, so anxious
are the members to have every object in sky, earth and water
87
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
Roosevelt Field Clubs in the Field
Mr. Bryant, Director of the museum sitting at the left in the lower picture with Mr.
Alexander next; Mr. Alexander standing behind the upper group at the right and
Mr. Bryant near the center.
Weierheiser] the ROOSEVELT FIELD CLUB 89
explained, and, of course, all explanations must be immediately
rendered. No other human being could, in our opinion, be more of
a veritable walking nature encyclopedia than Professor Alexander
and the children delight in his knowledge of every living creature
and plant. His genial manner, friendly spirit, and great interest
in Nature have led the children to realize the humane and economic
side of this subject and the part man plays in the scheme of life, with
an especial emphasis upon their own individual parts which each
must play.
Professor Alexander is preparing the lectures for this winter's
Sunday afternoon series of Nature talks which will begin in January.
We have also planned a few winter hikes for the purpose of identi-
fying trees by their bark and for the observation of winter birds,
such as the evening grosbeak, chickadee and nuthatch. The club
now numbers one hundred and thirty-five members, over half being
boys. We are steadily growing week by week. A whole column
devoted to the activities of the club appears every Saturday even-
ing in a local paper. Several club members have contributed
articles on Nature-Study subjects which appeared in this column,
much to their pride. The enthusiasm among members and others
interested in the club has been most unusual and foretell a wonder-
ful future for this organization.
Index to Vol. 16 will be mailed with March Number. Failed to
complete it in time for this number.
The April issue will be a Camp Number, edited by Prof. Wm. G.
Vinal, of^Camp Chequesset, Head of Nature Study in the R. I.
School ot Education.
In the Maple Sugar Camp
C. H. DONNELL
Principal Troy Hill School, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Of the many kinds of sugar, the most common, and also the most
important as a food product, is cane sugar (sucrose). It is found
in the sugar cane, the beet, the maple, and many other plants.
Grape sugar (glucose) is found in the grape and in some other
fruits, but must be distinguished from fruit sugar (fructose). It is
not so sweet as cane sugar, but sweeter than sugar of milk (lactose).
Sugar and the other carbohydrates are formed in the green mat-
ter of the leaves and rind of plants by photosynthesis, whereby the
carbon dioxide of the air is arrested and combined with water to
form sugar, starch, etc. Photosynthesis means combining by the
action of light. Were it not for this mysterious process, plant and
animal life would become extinct.
Plants also have the power of converting sugar, starch, and the
other carbohydrates into one another as their needs require.
-But my young readers (and some older ones, perhaps) still doubt
that maple, beet, and cane sugar are identical. This perplexity is
no doubt due to the delicious aroma of maple sugar, and the some-
what unpleasant flavor of partially refined beet sugar.
Let us, therefore, observe another quality and function of plants.
Most persons have noticed the little glands in the rind of lemons and
oranges, which secrete the essential oil of these fruits. Similar
glands are found in the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers of all or
most plants. The essential oil secreted by these glands is what
gives to all plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables their characteris-
tic flavor or fragrance. It is very volatile, and can therefore be
separated from the plant (and from a water medium) by distilla-
tion. There are other methods of obtaining perfimies and flavor-
ing extracts; but, for reasons which will appear later, distillation
concerns us most at present. And the reader must remember that
the distillation of liquors is not a mysterious chemical process, like
fermentation, but a comparatively simple physical process.
If you put lilac blossoms or peppermint leaves into a retort
partly filled with water, and apply heat, the volatile oil will vapor-
ize before the water. If this vapor be conducted through a coiled
pipe, cooled from the outside with ice water, the volatile essence
will be recondensed in the coil and emerge from the end of the pipe
90
DoNNELLj IN MAPLE SUGAR CAMP 91
as a liquid (aromatic oil mixed with water). By redistillation it
can be made almost pure if desired.
It is this essential oil which enables us to distinguish between
sugar made from maple sap and that made from the beet or the
sugar cane. When perfectly refined, they cannot be distinguished
either by chemical test or by the palate, for they are one. One way
to eliminate the flavor of the plant is to permit the sugar to crystal-
lize and then wash out the S5T*upy residuimi. The rock candy
which often forms in the maple syrup- jar, if washed, becomes cane
sugar. Or, rather, it was cane sugar, and is now deprived of its
maple flavor.
The carbonaceous matter formed in the maple by photosynthesis
is deposited between the wood and the bark in a starchy form called
cambium, and becomes bark and also forms the annual layer of
wood.
But the winter's freezing reconverts much of the strachy matter
into sugar. This conduces to translocation and serves other
purposes.
Permit a potato to freeze thoroughly and then to thaw. In a day
or so, but before ultimate decomposition takes place, cook and eat
the potato. Note the sugary taste.
Among the most delightful memories of my childhood is the
opening of the maple sugar camp. If playing is work for a profes-
sional ball team, work was a delight to me when the labor was sugar-
making, I stood willing orderly to my father, who hewed the
troughs from split logs, made the elder spiles, tapped the trees, and
practiced other arts beyond my skill.
But I could haul or carry the wood, gather the sap, and tend the
fires. This last was probably the most delightful, albeit the most
tantalizing, owing to the bewitching fragrance arising from the
caldron.
How we children teased and tried to convince father that the
syrup was far enough advanced for trial! Two notions which I
entertained at that time still persist. One is that the half-formed
sj^Drup tasted better than the denser article, and ought to be
served, especially while there is no danger of fermentation; and
always after it reaches the point where it is self -preserving.
The other notion was that there ought to be some way to prevent
the escape of the delightful aroma. But father explained that the
boiling carried away the water in vapor and left the sugar in the
92 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
caldron, and that the sap could not be reduced to sugar if the steam
were confined.
If, when we went to dinner, one of us carried a pail of clear maple
sap, and another a Sassafras root or a spray of Spice Bush (both
sisters of the Sweet Bay), then at supper time we found these
brewed into ambrosial nectar by the simple process of boiling the
spice bush in the sap for a few minutes.
And if the days were delightful, what of the nights, — with the
camp fire, and the visitors, and the sugaring-off ?
The sugar contains even a better proportion of the delightful
essence than does the heavy syrup ; for it will crystallize at a lower
gravity than is required for thick syrup; and for every ounce of
water disposed of, a considerable amount of flavor is distilled into
the air. But what of the stupidity of those farmers who will even
devise ways of refining away the real charm of maple sugar? Or
even those who prefer the 'first run because it is whiter? The
fiavor improves as blossoming time approaches, but beyond a cer-
tain point the sap becomes ropy and bitter.
Of course, the first run should be harvested, because the frost
has helped to convert much starch into sugar, and unless there is
alternate freezing and thawing, there will be a poor sap yield.
Before the sugaring-off is over, I must remark that the only
Easter egg worth while, is a good sized goose egg with the works
removed and the case filled with warm, plastic maple sugar. As
the sugar continues to crystallize, it expands to fit the shell.
When sugar-cane sugar and beet sugar are cheaper than maple,
as is usually the case, housewives often melt refined sugar and flavor
it with maple extract. The result is good, and the sugar is the
same, but commercial maple flavor is seldom or never made from
maple ; probably because the sesence distilled from maple blossoms
is a little different from that which pervades the sap, and is not
desirable.
Maple flavor is distilled from other flowers or made synthetically;
and it is good, but not to be compared with the real aroma of
maple syrup.
I am still waiting for some ingenious manufacturer to make real
maple S3n:iip in a retort, and condense the steam in a coil ; and by
redistillation secure genuine maple essence, with which to flavor
commercial cane sugar, or to fortify maple sugar.
Yes, maple sugar is cane sugar, but its fragrance is found only in
the maple.
THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Published monthly expect June, July and August. Subscription price, including mem-
bership in the American Nature Study Society $1.50 per year (nine issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra, foreign postage, 20 cents extra.
Editorial
The Chicago Nature-Study Club
To a country person, like the Editor, Chicago seems a strange
place for the forming of an active, hiking, nature-study club. The
miles aad miles of closely "built up" streets, the swift, endless
procession of automobiles, the city atmosphere and th^ city noises
would seem an unsurmountable bar to the enjoyment of anything
in the realm of nature. However, Chicago has the advantage of
being situated on the shore of a gr^at inland sea, and it has many
parks and the nature-study possible in parks has never received
the attention that it deserves; moreover Lake Michigan has
thrown up and with the wind's aid has sculptured miles and miles
of dunes, the work being helped or hindered by a willful, adaptable,
determined vegetation which manages to succeed, by hook or
crook, in the job of binding the waves, which old Canute failed to
accomplish with mere chains. But, when all is said, it is people
and not place that make a nature-study club ; — people bom to the
freedom of open skies, and wide, flower decked prairies, born to the
love of living things whether plant or animal, born with open,
inquiring minds and with a desire to know something of the planet
on which we live. Of such is the Chicago Nature-study Club
composed. Many of its members are imprisoned in office walls
during the working days of the week but find freedom on holidays
and on Sundays when they seek a place to worship* as did Emily
Dickenson who found a church
With a bobolink for a chorister,
And an orchard for a dome.
Some keep the sabbath in surDhce;
I just wear my wings
And instead of toUing the bell for church,
Our little sexton sings,
God preaches, — a noted clergyman, — ■
And the sermon is never long;
So, instead of getting to heaven at last,
I am going all along.
93
94 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:2— Feb., 1921
Indeed, this club is ideal as to its membership which is made up
on the one hand of botanists, zoologists, entomologists and other
scientists of noteworthy achievement, and on the other hand of
many nature lovers who belong just because they are nature lovers,
and who through association with other learners are gaining powers
of observation and ability to unravel for themselves the mysteries
of life in the fields and forests and especially of the lake shores. If
Chicago can have a nature-study club, so vigorous and successful,
there is no reason why any other city in the United States should
not have one, — ^no reason except that it lacks the people who com-
bine the love of nature with enough "pep" to carry on such a club
successfully.
The work of the Chicago club is not merely for the present, but
is for future generations as well, since it has taken an important
and practical part in the preservation of wild life and the establish-
ment of areas where it and the natural beauty of the scenery may
be protected and conserved for all time.
3n iHemoriam
Ada E. Georgia
The news of the death of Miss Georgia which occurred at Ithaca
on the eighth of January will come as a shock to many of our
readers who knew this remarkable woman personally. She came
to Cornell in the early days of the nature-study movement as an
assistant to "Uncle" John Spencer in his great work with the
Junior Naturalist Clubs. Later she assisted the Editor in carry-
ing on the Home Nature-Study Course and still later was associated
with Mr. W. P. Alexander in teaching and conducting the field trips
in Farm Nature-Study, in the Cornell College of Agriculture.
Miss Georgia was always efficient in her work as assistant or
teacher; her mind was stored with information on a wide range of
subjects for she was an indefatigable reader; her knowledge of
plant life was very great and learned largely from observation.
Her great contribution to science is A Manual of Weeds, the best
book on the subject yet published in America. A wide circle of
friends and admirers will feel her loss deeply as does the Editor who
had the privilege of close association with her for many years.
\ Devoted to Elementary Science
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE
^*
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■j^ • "^ '^
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Study
Society
School Garden
and
Trail School
Number
Enos Mills exploring the Rockies in winter
MARCH, 1921
Vol. 17 No. 3 Whole No. 142
20c a copy $1.50 a year
X-
Are You Using These Books?
If not try a set Now. They increase the
efficiency of your school and field work.
The Nature Notebook Series
Edited by ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK
BIRD NOTEBOOKS 1 and 2 Comstock
Kach book contains outlines for field observations of bird colors
flight, nesting habits, etc.; also about 30 outline drawings on water-
color paper by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.
Pocket size, 125 pages. Postpaid 30c each, 50c set of 2
TREE NOTEBOOK Comstock
FOR FIELD USE
Outlines of leaves for 40 species as an aid in identifying.
160 pages. Postpaid, 30c each
FISH NOTEBOOK Embody
Outlines for observing fish forms, habits, colors, etc.
142 pages. Postpaid, 30c each
INSECT NOTEBOOK Needham
Outlines for observations on insect life, habits, etc., with outlines on
water-color paper of 60 insects representing common groups.
143 pages. Postpaid, 30c each
PLANT NOTEBOOK Comstock
Outlines for the study of plants from the root to the flower. Special
outlines for the study of composite flowers. One of the best aids in
Botany.
126 pages. Postpaid, 30c each
COMMON ANIMAL NOTEBOOK Comstock
Outline lessons for 30 common animals with 30 drawings for coloring.
126 pages, 30c
A set of above seven, postpaid, $2.00. Also sold separately and in any
quantity desired for class use. Special prices for quantity orders to
schools and clubs.
Used and recommended by students, club-leaders and teachers.
THE COMSTOCK PUBLISHING COMPANY
Ithaca, New York
THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17 March, 192 i No. 3
The Long's Peak Trail School and Nature Gtiiding
Enos a. Mills
Rocky Mountain National Park, Col.
One year the last of August a clump of aspens on a high, rocky
point stood out like a golden sheaf in the sunshine. This autumn
color exhibit was at least a month ahead of normal. But the
weather was warm and a drouth of weeks was on. All the apsens
were colored before frost.
Many visitors attributed the brilliant coloring to "the severity
of the mountain frosts." Nature guides when asked gave facts
concerning leaf coloration and the frost superstitions; that frost
does not color leaves; neither do fairies. Frost is not a col oris t;
brightly colored flowers of summer would never color if frost came
while they were flowering. Leaf and fruit coloring is a chemical
process of earth-born mineral paint.
A nature guide can incite a life-long interest in the wild places.
Every child, woman and man who knows a few of the real and
enlivening facts concerning wild life and the wonderful geological
story, will be free from many hampering supersititions, and have a
wonderland ever ready for the imagination.
Our nature guides are frequently asked concerning tree distribu-
tion, the why of willows and firs by the streams, pines on sunny,
and spruces on shady slopes. Everyone is interested, too, in the
habits of the grizzly, the beaver, *the mountain sheep, and are glad
to have the life histories of the flowers, birds and trees of the region
interpreted in a live, unscientific story. Old and young become
enthusiastic.
A few of the fundamental facts which we endeavor to feature
through our nature guides in the Trail vSchool are ; that the wilder-
ness is friendly, wild animals are not ferocious, weather is not harm-
ful, and that the outdoors is helpful at all times. We also try to
96 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:3— Mch., 1921
help people understand the essential things in the life of the wild
folks ; that wild animals have leisure and much of this is spent in
play, some of it in exploring and visiting ; their life is not one fierce
struggle for food ; animals and birds have a philanthropy of their
own, form alliances against the common enemy and frequently
cooperate within the progressive realm of mutual aid. Nesting
time, drouths, and famines, which also reach wiser folks, are times
of unusual interest in the wilderness. Most birds and animals have
a home territory and live closely within this ; many birds returning
to the same locality year after year to nest and bring up the
children.
On nearly every trip outdoors the unexpected happens and the
rare or unusual is presented. Although it may call for the casting
aside of well made plans, our custom has been to seize upon the
unusual whenever it appeared, allowing the other plan to wait, for
the unusual may happen but once ; it may be the opportunity of
a life time.
One day a nature guide was starting with a party to see the
picturesque timberline, with its peculiarly individual trees, flowers,
birds and animals. But in sight of the house he came upon a
gopher. The gopher was at his life-long activity — ^making a tunnel
through the earth. Down in tlie tunnel he dug the earth loose
with fore paws, then with palms forward and against his chin, he
pushed this loosened pile of earth before him along the tunnel and
then outside. The gopher darted from the hole a few inches,
dropped his load and darted into the hole again, backwards.
Suddenly he pushed out a salamander. The salamander kicked
about and then slid headforemost back down the hole. Out he was
thrown again. There was not supposed to be any salamanders
in the country and this and a number of other incidents held the
crowd around the salamander for more than an hour. Everyone
had an added interest in gophers, their enemies, neighbors, plant
roots, geology and other things outdoors.
We are in one corner of the Rocky Mountain National Park, at
an altitude of 9,000 feet. - Within half a mile radius of us there are
about one hundred species of birds, several hundred species of
flowers, fifteen species of trees and shrubs; beavers, skunks,
coyotes, gophers, ground-hogs, mink, squirrels, chipmunks and
rabbits — cotton-tail, Jack and snowshoe; and inside this mile
diameter circle, deer, elk, lion, bobcat and bear often make
mills]
LONG'S TRAIL SCHOOL
97
(1) Trees at Timber Line, vSlope of Long's Peak.
(2) Following a Nature Guidj in Long's Peak Trail School,
(.S) A Beaver House— Note food pile at right.
Photographs by Ems Mills
98 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
tracks. Then there are beaver ponds, mountain streams, forested
canons, Hchened cliffs, glacial boulders, moraines and an array of
geological material.
In the mountains. one has comprehensive views of life zones and
the varied and peculiar life which each sustains. Plants and
animals are distributed over the mountains in an orderly manner,
each kind being in the climatic zone in which it may be said to
belong naturally. The climatic zones of the earth that lie between
the equator apd the poles are also found on a small scale between
the base and the simimit of high mountains. As one climbs a
mountain or travels toward the north he finds changes of tempera-
ture and a changing plant and animal life. The climatic and plant
life changes of a thousand mile journey into the north may be
almost duplicated by climbing one thousand feet up a mountain.
Many trips are made with a nature guide to timberline and
above. Day and night trips are made to the simimit of Long's
Peak, 14,256 feet. The vast region which rises above the timber-
line carries many kinds of plant and animal life. Here live moun-
tain sheep, the mountain lion, foxes, ptarmigan and rosy finches
the year round; the sum.mer population embraces m.any kinds of
birds, including the golden eagle; bears, woodchucks, deer and a
wealth of wild flowers.
It is a joy to see children take to the woods, and also to the
cliffs, beaver houses and the clear, swift water. Children are
primitive folk full of outdoor interests. Never do we need to
arouse their interest in Nature; but we watch net to confuse it or
pervert it with ambiguous answers or fairy stories, nor to discourage
it with nature-study lessons.
Children are ever interested in the beaver, and this animal is
helpfully used to promote thought and education. Boys and girls
who becom.e thoroughly acquainted with the beaver, his adven-
tures, labors and accomplishments, acquire interesting information
concerning our natural resources. Aroused by the fascinating
information they desire to know about the practical things in the
lively university of nature.
There are wild bits and wild places all over the country. As a
nature guide is a teacher of refreshing kind, one who quickly
enables the guided to get along without a guide, why not an ama-
teur or a professional guide in every nook and locality in the land?
Waking Up Dead Back Yards and Putting Them to
Work
W. R. Beattie
Horticulturist, U. S. Department of Agriculture
Of all the troubles that beset the boy or the girl who undertakes
to make a garden in the backyard or on a vacant lot that of getting
the land in shape is the greatest. If an attempt were made to
plant a garden in the middle of a cobble-paved street the task would
often be easier than in some backyards where the soil has been
trampled and pounded for a half century. Bricks are made by
pressing wet clay in a mold then drying and burning it and the only
difference between the soil of many backyards and bricks is that
the bricks are burned and the soil is not.
Land that will grow rank weeds is good land and this proves that
most of our vacant lots are good land, but they are in poor condi-
tion for cultivating. Like the backyard the vacant lot may have
been trampled and pounded until there is no longer any life in it
and a soil without life is in poor condition. How to put the life
into the dead soil is the problem. Some soils are easier to bring
back to life than others but the principles involved are the same
for all.
Soils need to be fed just the same as we do only they require a
different kind of food, in fact they require two kinds of food, the
mineral and the organic or vegetable matter. That old bav?kyard
that is as bare and hard as a floor is asleep and before we can feed it
we must awake it by digging it up and breaking the clods so that
it can take the food that we are going to give it. First the soil must
begin to breathe more freely than it did when it was packed so
tightly that the air could scarcely get into it. Then if we apply a
coating of manure to it there begins to be a growth of myriads of
small plants, bacteria we call them, in the soil. These soil plants
are so small that they can not be seen but they go right to work to
make over the soil so that it will grow crops of beans and peas and
radishes and beets and other garden plants for us.
Sunshine, showers, snow, freezing and thawing, all help to break
up the soil particles and get them in shape to make plants grow.
How is it done ? First there comes a rain on the lumps of soil in the
backyard that were broken up during the autumn with the spade or
a pick and a part of the water gradually soaks into those luni])s.
99
100 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
Then along comes Jack Frost and freezes the water in the clods.
We all know what happens when a glass or a pitcher is left with
water in it on a very cold night, the water freezes and in freezing
swells and bursts the glass or pitcher. That is precisely what
happens to the clods of earth, for the water freezes between the soil
particles and forces them apart so that by springtime the clods are
clods no longer but loose and mellow soil.
With the clods broken up and the soil loose and m.ellow it will be
an easy matter to mix a load or two of well rotted manure with it to
give it the organic matter and 40 or 50 pounds of fertilizer for the
minerals and we can go right ahead as soon as the weather is warm
enough and plant a garden. If the backyard is an extra large one
more manure and more fertilizer will be needed, but the amounts
mentioned will be about right for a space 20 feet wide and 50 or 60
feet long.
Some backyards are particularly hard to deal with because in
digging the cellar for the house the lifeless clay taken from the
bottom of the cellar was spread all over the yard to a depth of a foot
or two. The main thing, however, will be to get it broken up so
that the weather can get at it and then work some manure into it.
When once in condition to grow plants the process of improvement
becomes quite rapid.
Vacant Lot Gardens
When it comes to making a garden on a vacant lot some addi-
tional problems are sure to confront us. Most vacant lots have, at
one time or another, been used as dumping grounds and the original
soil, which may have been very good, has been completely covered
with cinders, broken bricks and stones, broken bottles, bale wire
and every kind of refuse you can think of. Even under these con-
ditions the land may be overgrown with weeds showing beyond a
doubt that the soil is fertile. The problem will be to get rid of
everything that will interfere seriously with cultivation. Perhaps
there may be enough stones lying over the ground to build a stone
fence along one side but what matter, for it is a long time until
planting time and the stones can be carried off. Broken bottles,
bricks and large cinders should all be gathered up and either hauled
away or piled in one comer of the plot where the unsightly pile can
later be covered with vines. It is surprising how a watermelon or a
squash vine likes to ramble all over a pile of old bricks and cinders.
BEATTiE] WAKING UP DEAD BACK YARDS 101
Sometimes vacant lots can be cleaned up and spaded or plowed
either in the fall or during the winter. Where a school garden is
to be planted, either on the school grounds or on a vacant lot, the
land should be broken in plenty of time to allow the weather to
mellow the clods. If the garden is spaded by hand and cut in thin
slices the clods can be broken up with the edge of the spade as the
work goes along. Where the land is plowed shortly before planting
time it will be necessary to disk and drag or roll it and even pound
with an old axe or back of a heavy hoe until the clods are all broken.
If a nimiber of lots are to be plowed it is often possible to get a
farmer to bring teams and tools into town on an appointed day and
prepare the garden land for a whole community.
Manure is getting scarcer in cities every year and only enough
can now be secured to make a start. Even old weeds cut up fine
and worked into the soil will help. After the first season the land
should be improved by applying manure if it can be secured also
by sowing rye, barley, vetch, clover or something of the kind upon
it to improve the soil. This can be done just as the crops are being
taken off in the after part of the summer or early autumn and the
soil improvement crop can remain on the land all winter.
Lime
Most soils are improved by an application of lime at the rate of
loo pounds on a backyard 20 by 60 feet in size. This sweetens and
loosens the soil and should be put on in the springtime when the soil
is being pulverized for planting. Lime should not be used on land
that is to be planted to Irish potatoes. Wood ashes, where they
can be had, have the same general effect as lime on the soil. Sifted
coal ashes may be used to mix with heavy clay soils to loosen them,
I to 2 inches of ashes being worked into the soil to a depth of 8 or
10 inches.
Just a word of warning, for while there are very few plots of land
that are beyond hope from a gardening standpoint, yet there are
those that it would not pay to fool with. These are low lying and
marshy places that can not be drained, also the very shallow soils
over solid beds of rock that will surely burn out during the summer.
Drainage may help the wet soil but the rockbed soil is almost hope-
less even where plenty of water is available for watering. There
must be sufficient depth of soil for the roots of the plants to live and
work in.
102
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
[18:3— Mch., 1921
Success in bringing a dead soil to life then lies mainly in breaking
it up and working organic matter or pianure into it. Chemicals,
called fertilizers, may be necessary to supply the minerals but these
can rarely be depended upon entirely and there must be decaying
vegetable matter in the soil. Once that old sleeping soil is fully
awakened there is no guessing what wonderful things it may do.
Experiment to show proper treatment of clay soil.
Fill four pie tins with clay which has been smoothly puddled. In one mix with the clay a
small portion of lime; in another add a larger portion of muck; leave two with pure clay, and
place one cf these out-of-doors where it will freeze hard. Then place the four tins on a shelf
and allow to dry. In which of these is the clay most friable? In which is it the hardest?
This experiment shows that freezing the clay rendered it finer, so that it may be broken
easily into particles small enough to set closely about the plant's roots. .The clay mixed
with lime is miUch more friable than the one mixed with muck, showing that clay needs lime
more than organic matter to make it of greatest use. The pure clay which is dried without
freezing hardens into arge, flat pieces, each being almost as hard as stone.
Symposium of Garden Supervisors from Coast to
Coast. Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louis-
ville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Seattle
HOME GARDENS OF BALTIMORE
Adelaide Derringer
Supervisor of Gardening, Baltimore, Md.
The work of the Baltimore School and Home gardens is divided
into three sections, field, class-room, and special activities. The
field work is also divided into the school community gardens and
the school directed home gardens. During the past season there
were twenty community gardens located in the school yards, vacant
lots, or in the parks. Here the child was given a plot of ground for
his individual garden. He was directly responsible for his garden,
learned that he got out of his garden what he put into it in the way
of effort. Each child has been permitted to carry home all the
vegetables which he has grown. Twenty-five schools were repre-
sented in these gardens, having an enrollment of 1468 children.
The work of the gardens was carried on under the direction of the
supervisor and six assistants. Each child was required to cultivate
his garden, at least, once a week.
An enrollment of 3150 children was obtained from 29 schools for
home gardens. These gardens were visited during the summer by
the garden supervisors, and the enlistment cards were marked
accordingly. They were divided into 12 districts. To the three
best gardens of each district, prizes $2.00, $1.00, and $.50 were
awarded by the Evening Sun. To all successful gardeners certifi-
cates of merit were given thru the Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Education.
Aside from the educational and monetary value, as well as the
habits of cleanliness and thrift obtained thru the home garden, the
visits to the garden tend to form a link between the home and
school. The garden supervisors were delightfully entertained with
many of the children's stories and doings in their gardens. One
child met the supervisor at the door with a very pathetic story
explaining why she had no garden to show. "Its broke, she said
in a doleful tone. Not knowing that a graden was a brittle object,
the supervisor asked, "What could have broken your garden?"
The answer came back promptly "The cat laid on it and broke it."
103
104 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
Needless to say the little girl was properly consoled and a plan to
prevent the interference of cats with little girl's gardens was dis-
cussed on the spot.
At one home the garden inspector was proudly escorted by a
small boy to his back yard which was surrounded by a tall wooden
fence. The teacher gazed with wonder and finally admitted to
herself that she saw no garden, so she asked, "Louis, where is your
garden?" "There it is," he answered, looking heavenward.
Sure enough there it was, a garden suspended on a clothes drier!
After climbing up a ladder to the garden the inspector looked upon
a mass of green fohage. The child had carried two feet of soil up to
the drier and there had built his garden in order that it might get
full benefit of the sun's rays. Louis's garden has won the name of
the "The Hanging Garden of Babylon."
The quality of the vegetables shown at the school garden exhibits
last fall compared favorably with that of their country cousins, and
proved that "gardening within the city limits" can be successfully
conducted. In spite of the fact that the gardens lacked the
patriotic appeal of the years of the war, the enrollment increased
33I per cent and the enthusiasm gained proportionately.
GARDENING IN THE CITY SCHOOL CURRICULUM
John A. Hellinger
Pittsburgh, Pa.
In the present crisis of the school situation, the kind, amount and
organization of subject matter of the city school curriculum is of
great importance. Every individual must have a knowledge of
human relations and of nature in order to be an effective member of
society. The race has depended upon certain fundamentals for
its development. These fundamentals, be they human relations
or the most common natural phenomena, must form the basis of
instruction in the schools. Education performs the double service
of aiding individual minds to prepare for the reception and use of
knowledge, and of communicating what men through periods of
time have learned about nature and humanity.
Gardening may well have a prominent part in the curriculimi of
the city school. Children should learn early in life that wholesome
food and beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees, can be grown from the
soil without very much drudgery. The joy of this work should be
HELLiNGER] SYMPOSIUM OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS 105
constantly emphasized. In this way interest can be created that
may last a life time. Especially in large cities is gardening needed
to help in forming habits of industry, regularity, and healthful
recreation; it cultivates patience, prudence, persistence and
respect for immutable laws.
Achievements of school gardens in the larger cities of this country
have not been of high order. ' If properly taught, school gardening
should result in surrounding every home with a plot of ground,
with green grass, vegetables, flowers, shrubs and trees. Tenements
and slums would disappear. Where is the man who would fight for
the tenement of his nativity ? Show me a family living in a home
with a plot of ground around it under the powerful influence of the
open sky, sunlight, stars, fresh air, green grass, flowers and trees,
and there will be evident a patriotic fervor that secures the peace
and prosperity of nations.
One of the problems of the twentieth century is to create and
maintain proper living conditions in congested areas. As verdure
disappears the police force must be increased.
School gardens may be conducted on ground at school buildings,
on vacant lots near the school, or on large plots where the pupils of
several schools may be accommodated. Where possible, the best
school gardens are those located on school ground and owned by the
school. These may be an integral part of the school work. In
this land of broad acres every city school property should contain a
sufficiently large plot of ground to provide facilities for some phase
of gardening in every class of the elementary school, and for horti-
culture courses in the high school. Then all classes up to and
including fourth grade might have their class plots and pupils of
grades fifth and sixth might have individual plots of not less than
60 square feet on which projects of about six easy growing vege-
tables can b"e worked out. In the fifth grade each pupil's work
must be intensive and very closely directed. Only about 24
pupils can be handled by a teacher at one time and each group of 24
should have at least 90 minutes, twice a week, in the garden. If
these same pupils may have garden work in the sixth grade they
should be assigned larger plots and should be granted more freedom
in working out their project. The economic and commercial and
the aesthetic aims should be more evident in grade 6. A ])upil
may confine himself to the study of a single vegetable and a few
flowers. He mav learn what are the necessar\' soil conditions and
106 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
how to bring them about, the best variety of a certain vegetable to
be grown, the market demands, and the production of seed to
improve the stock. These are aims that call for keen interest and
strenuous effort.
In the higher grades this special work may be carried further and
may include rather extensive study of truck gardening, shrubs and
trees, landscape effects, forestry and lumbering. Is this not an
important part of the education of our city youth? If the only
results would be some knowledge of natural environment and
natural phenomena, a better attitude towards the food producer,
and some appreciation of beautiful effects that can be produced
with little effort, the work of the school garden would be well
worth while.
Equipment for school gardening should be ample for doing the
work well. The school should furnish equipment for this work in
the same proportion as for any other work. Would a truck gar-
dener with ten or a dozen acres under intensive cultivation rent his
implements? Would he hire a man with team, plow and harrow
to till his soil? For effective work the equipment and working
force must be at hand to do the work when weather conditions are
most favorable. Although the aim is educational and not pri-
marily production, yet the most effective work must be done in
order that the educational results may be of high quality. Garden
land, tools, fertilizer and seeds are as essential as school buildings
and classroom supplies. Not until the human race has covered the
bosom of Mother Earth with cities, in which dwellings are crowded
one against the other; not until man and all other living things
have acquired the power to maintain life and pursue happiness
within massive walls of stone, brick and mortar, without pure air
and sunlight ; can the youth of the race be effectively educated by
means of books, paper and pencils. With proper organization of
the curriculum many wastes can be eliminated and all necessary
equipment can be furnished.
During the season of 1920 in a city of 600,000 population, with
acre upon acre of vacant ground, only approximately seven acres
were cultivated as school gardens. The estimated yield of these
seven acres was $5,161.26 at current market prices. An average
of $737.00 per acre is not a poor yield, but the educational results
far outweigh the m.aterial products. Between 2,000 and 3,000
pupils, or approximately four per cent of the school population,
LAMARRE] SYMPOSIUM OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS 107
received regular instruction in gardening. This work was carried
through the vacation months of July and August by twelve teachers
and one director. Even this is worth while, better than no disci-
pline at all during the summer months with only the streets and
alleys as a rendezvous.
Gardening is not new in the school curriculum. The results of
this work, however, leave much to be desired. Advances made in
the discovery and invention of material resources by the last
generation decidedly surpass the progress of education. Immediate
advantageous economic returns seem to receive more serious
consideration in our day than does the bridging of the gulf between
the vicious and the good. We must somehow get into our scheme
of educating all the children a moral force that will foster the joy of
creative work. The garden, as a phase of natural science, is here
emphatically recommended for a prominent place in the city school
curriculum. If given a fair chance it will undoubtedly make for
the development of a right spirit for the common good.
SCHOOL GROUND IMPROVEMENT RESUMED IN CINCINNATI
Louise Lamarre
Kirby Road School, Cincinnati, Ohio
Since the necessity for food production has been somewhat
diminished more attention is paid in Cincinnati to beautifying
school grounds and the esthetic side of gardening.
It has been a great pleasure to be located at a new school where
the planting of the grounds has been done entirely by the pupils.
The opportunities at this school have been unusually great as the
grounds were graded but not planted when the building was
finished. The soil being subsoil stubbornly refused to produce even
weeds. A more discouraging situation could scarcely be imagined.
However, the more discouraging the conditions appeared, the
more determined teachers and pupils became to overcome the
difficulties. After persistent efforts quite a creditable lawn has
been developed in front of the building and beds of shrubbery are
thriving in suitable places.
Plans are under way for developing the rest of the grounds which
occupy about three acres.
The Civic Club composed of the boys and girls of the eighth
grade decided that one of their most urgent duties is to continue the
108 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
work done by their predecessors by not only caring for the planting
already done but to add a new feature in keeping with the example
set them.
A committee appointed each month takes charge of the plans
which have been carefully worked out and sees to it that each group
of pupils carries out the task assigned to it.
A portion of the grounds, ideally located for such a purpose, is
being developed as a demonstration garden. When finished with
bird fountain, garden seats, arches, and trellises it will indeed be a
thing of beauty and a real joy as well as an inspiration to the com-
munity.
A group of scarlet oaks planted as a memorial to fallen heroes
who formerly attended the school is growing vigorously and will
soon afford relief from the hot afternoon sun during the summer.
While these activities are going on outdoors with every child
taking an active part, every room and the halls are brightened with
pot plants in vigorous condition. While paper-white narcissi were
in full glory from Thanksgiving until February first, over five
hundred tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils, potted in the fall, were
gradually forced into bloom. Many a dark day lost its gloom when
these unfolded their brilliant blossoms.
Spring is eagerly awaited so that the work may begin or rather
continue in full force outdoors.
EXTRACTS FROM THE SUPERVISOR'S REPORT, LOUISVILLE, KY.
Emilie Yunker
Supervisor
Never before has there been such interest manifested in school
gardens as this year. More intensive gardening has been practiced
and a better system of cropping has been developed. A closer
relationship has been established with other departments. Excel-
lent diagrams were made in the drawing department; studies in
measuring, estimating values, marketing of products were con-
ducted in Arithmetic; reports were written in the English classes,
and flats, window-boxes, labels, trellises, flower stands and tool
racks were made in the Manual Training department. Projects
on broom corn, asparagus, com, peanuts, and others were devel-
oped, thereby laying the foundation for much purposeful study,
enriched with knowledge and experience.
YUNKER] SYMPOSIUM OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS 109
Special teachers for the vacation gardens were selected from the
training class of the Louisville Educational Association, conducted
by the supervisor. Credit is due these instructors for their faithful
work, their splendid results, and the fine spirit of companionship
created in the garden ; also to the grade teachers who helped make
the work a success. The closer the cooperation, the greater the
efficiency.
Home Gardens
Arrangements were made whereby the children could purchase
seeds at 2C per packet. Knowledge gained in the school garden
was applied, and so far-reaching has been the good eftect of these
studies, that it has inspired the making of many back yard and
community gardens. Visits were made by the garden teachers.
It was gratifying to observe the large number of children who raised
a variety of wholesome vegetables. The area of home gardens as
reported in 28 schools equalled 68.5 acres. Of these 12 14 raised
one food crop; 2048 raised more than one food crop; and 1631
raised flowers. The estimated value of crops was $16,130.05.
Commercially, the gardens were a success ; educationally, we point
with pride to our boys and girls who continued their work faithfully
from seed time to harvest, who did their best towards increasing the
food productions and who carried beauty into the home by learning
to plant flowers as well as vegetables in their back yards and on
available vacant lots.
There is another side, the sociological, which is too often over-
looked. The garden teacher at Atkinson School reported the fol-
lowing: A truant, appealed to in many different ways at school
and punished repeatedly at home, made promises of regularity that
were seldom kept. His case was almost hopeless. One day, in
sheer desperation, the principal sent him out into the garden. He
spaded to his heart's content. Imbued with the idea that he was
useful, his first request was for a "job" in the garden. This
granted, he was made captain of a team. So interested did he
become in his work, that he made a home garden. He helped do
the canning and developed enough school spirit to want his school
to win a prize. The school spirit is still developing. A better
quality of work and a more dependable boy is the result.
110 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW (18:3— Mch., 1921
FUNCTIONING THE SCHOOL GARDEN WITH THE HOME GARDEN
H. C. Irish
Supervisor of School Gardens, St. Louis, Mo.
The school garden falls short of its mission if it fails to function
with the home garden. If it does not serve as a factor in increasing
the number of home gardens or in bringing about greater efficiency
in the home garden it has missed opportunities and not reached its
greatest usefulness. In other words, a well conducted school
garden is bound to increase the interest in home gardens and inspire
pupils to the utilisation of hitherto unused facilities for growing
ornamental and otherwise useful plants. This influence will also
reach out to other members of many households and the active
interest of adults secured. Parents will assist and encourage the
children and the latter will do much to help make a more profitable
as well as more orderly and more properly arranged home grounds.
A pleasing presentation of garden matters in the school makes the
subject attractive and should result in raising the dignity of labor
and especially of the farm and garden work, which is too- often
looked down upon. No boy or girl should be overworked in his
garden duties, but each should have some particular part in the
preparation of the ground, planting of the seed and care of the
crop. Moreover, the inspiration of nimibers, where all of the
pupils in a room have a part in this school demonstration in a
measure forces an interest where there would be none if the child
attempted to work by himself.
The garden work at school during school hoxurs must be so con-
ducted that pupils without home garden facilities may have equal
opportunities with others. Very few of them may be able, or even
wish to continue home or other outside garden work. Garden work
outside the school room becomes a specialized occupation.
It is not the purpose here to give details of operations, but a
general example will best illustrate the beginning of a school demon-
stration that should lead to a better directed effort at home. It is
assumed that the school garden plot has been spaded or plowed by
other parties as this operation is too heavy for most pupils in the
elementary grades. A spaded or plowed plot of ground in the
rough, six or eight feet wide, by twenty-five feet long with a narrow
path through the long center, answers well for a demonstration
plot for an average schoolroom of forty pupils. The entire room
IRISH] SYMPOSIUM OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS 111
under the direction of the teacher and competent garden instructor,
which may be either one person or two different people, assembles
in single line about the plot, each pupil with a hoe or iron rake.
The instructor standing in the central path, explains how to use the
tools, after which all pupils begin preparing the ground at the same
time and those who fail to proceed as instructed are corrected as
the work proceeds. In a comparatively few moments the ground
is made fine, mellow and in smooth condition, ready for making
rows in which to plant seed. Rows are laid out the long direction
by two or three pupils according to a plan drawn to scale, made in
the room previous to coming to the garden, and which shows the
number of rows, distance apart, and kinds to be planted. While
rows are being made, a few seeds are distributed to each pupil and
when all is in readiness, and the methods for dropping explained,
the seeds are scattered, first in the two outside rows, then stepping
over to each succeeding row until all are planted. The seeds are
then covered, either by hand or by rake, leaving the surface even
and loose. In like manner, the after care of the crops is given
proper attention and occasional visits are made to the garden for
observation.
Unfortunately many city schools have very poor or even no
facilities whatever for conducting garden operations. A hot bed,
a window box, or even a few flower pots, may often be advantage-
ously used for such work as the examination and behavior of soils
when watered and allowed to dry, and also in the germination of
seeds and the starting of various early plants for the garden, such
as tomatoes, cabbage, and many flowering plants. Many seedlings
started in this manner may be taken home later by the children,
which in itself will be a stimulus to some home garden project.
By this work at school pupils will have learned much about
plants, their culture and uses, and some of them, who have a place
will desire to grow a greater or less number at home. They should
be assisted and encouraged by the school as far as possible. Ex-
perience has taught that boys and girls accomplish more by organiz-
ing into school garden clubs for the performance of work outside
school hours. All enrolled in this work from one school may con-
stitute the Boys and Girls Garden Club of that school, thus making
each school a unit of organization.
The measure of success and continuation of the home project will
depend much upon the amount of supervision given. The mem-
112 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
bers of the Club should meet occasionally as a whole, or in small
groups, if the club is large, for the purpose of learning from one
another's experience and visiting one another's gardens. These
clubs should be officered from their own numbers by having a
captain with subordinates, or a president with associates. In addi-
tion, there must be a responsible leader or supervisor, either from
the teaching force, of the school, or some outside competent man
or woman, who may be engaged for these duties or who may be
glad to volunteer service for this cause. It is far more important
that these supervisors or leaders know children and how to hold
their interest than to be expert gardeners. They should know
much about gardening, but more about boys and girls. Among
teachers in most schools are those who fulfil the requirements as
garden leaders. Many of them would be glad of the opportunity
to spend their simimer vacation in this home garden supervision for
a reasonable compensation, and thus help the boys and girls to
round out the year's work in gardening. Those pupils maintaining
creditable gardens during the year, as reported by the leader
should be given a certificate of award in recognizance of his faith-
fulness in the work.
SCHOOL GARDENING VIEWED VOCATIONALLY
Charles L. Quear
Supervisor of Agriculture, Kansas City, Mo.
The aim in garden work of the Kansas City Public Schools has
not been essentially different from other city schools having similar
courses of study. While the work starts in the kindergarten and
continues throughout the entire elementary grades, the garden
work proper is given only in the last three years of school. A
nature-study course in the first five years of school is designed with
the view of prefacing the garden work so that the whole course
represents a continuous and progressive line of study. Upon com-
pletion of common school, in a broad way, every pupil is brought t )
a keen appreciation of the things out of doors and this is accom-
plished both directly through the nature-study and gardening
course and indirectly through close cooperation of this work with
academic subjects.
For instance, the art work of the schools is given a practical
application in the design of landscape work on grounds and gardens
quear] symposium OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS 113
and an appreciation of beauty is instilled through field work and
landscape study.
The mechanical drawing is utilized in making drawings of the
garden planting plans, and the work is broadened to include plant-
ing plans of the home gardens, drawings of the city block and in
some cases even expanded to county maps with permanent geo-
graphical features included. Local geography is largely included
in the early part of the program of gardening proper, and the geo-
graphy of the fifth grade is presented with this idea in mind.
The garden course proper embodies education similar in nature
to any of the industrial courses in that the hand is trained as well as
the mind. In no course given in the schools, can work in Manual
Training, Domestic Science and Art, be motivated as in gardening.
Last year the work was offered in 43 schools and reached
approximately 3570 pupils. Instructors in the industrial depart-
ment were responsible for the work, the Manual Training teachers
having charge of the boys and the Domestic Science teachers being
responsible for the work of the girls. Work was begun early in the
year with the making of planting and landscape plans, for the
gardens. Each pupil makes completed drawings. As a result of
this work and the discussions following either the best drawing of
the lot or a new drawing combining the best ideas, is used as the
actual planting plan. Then comes a discussion of varieties of
vegetables, and preparation of seed orders, followed by the prepara-
tion of soil for planting.
Hotbed work, window box plantings, seed testing, etc., receive
attention at this time. From the time of the early plantings until
the close of the term, garden work receives a full share of the time
allotted to industrial work. There is no definite portion of the time
given to the garden work, but there is no restriction on the amount
of time which may be used. While it receives a small portion of
the time in winter months, during the spring and early fall it may
be given the major portion of the time devoted to industrial training.
Boys grew most of the vegetables although they were given some
assistance by the girls. The girls delighted more in the flowers, did
harvesting, canning and preserving of certain crops for cafeteria use.
At no time has there been trouble in holding the interest of
pupils. Where instructors find the work interesting and show real
effort, the children have responded with a surprising degree of
earnest effort.
114 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch.. 1921
The teachers in the Industrial Department are given definite
instruction in teachers' meetings concerning the work to be taken
up, and important points discussed so that a uniform plan of pro-
cedure is carried out. Industrial teachers are being selected with a
view of their ability to give this work and the plan of having the
work handled by such teachers seems to be functioning much better
than leaving the garden work in the hands of academic teachers.
During the simimer months, the school gardens are in charge of
teachers who spend one-half day twice a week in the garden. The
children report at those times and work under the teacher's direc-
tion. As much of the produce from the garden is given to the
children as the teacher feels they should receive for this work.
Surplus produce from the garden is used in the cafeterias or donated
to charity organizations.
Most of the gardens are laid out to represent typical home
gardens. It is felt that a garden worked by a group of pupils gives
them a spirit of cooperation, produces a better garden and is a more
economical method of procedure than allowing each child a given
spot of ground.
Attention to beautifying the garden is given at all times, but it
is not made of paramount importance. The garden work is con-
ducted to grow vegetables and flowers and if to grow the maximum
amount of vegetables requires that it be conducted so as not to be
the most beautiful, we do not let beauty stand in the way. Utility
is emphasized in connection with the garden, while beauty is
stressed in the landscape work.
What we feel to be the feature of the entire program is the
Central Garden plot. This plot comprises 40 acres of ground, 35
of which are given to intensive cultivation. All common vegeta-
bles and small fruits are grown here. Plantings experimental in
nature are given some space, and demonstration plots are main-
tained. Specimen plants for use of the nature-study classes are
grown. At present 50 hotbed sash are in use, and with a forcing
cellar in operation, the growing season is made to cover the entire
twelve months.
During the summer all work that can be made educational is
done by school children. We expect to give the course this stimmer
to 90 boys and 30 girls. Two or three young men of high school age
will be employed for the heavier work with the aim of giving them a
vocational course. Their wages will run about $20 per week.
QUEAR] SYMPOSIUM OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS 115
The school children will receive about 15 cts.per hour, and will
work only half days twice per week. The half day will be divided
into three and one-half hours work and one-half hour lecture, with
four hours pay. The boys and girls will be kept in separate groups
under competent teachers. The teacher will give the talk and lead
the discussion. A small wooded park comprising five acres of the
farm furnishes an ideal lunch ground and place for the lectures.
The girls will can and preserve small fruits and vegetables for school
cafeterias, using home methods as much as possible. It is expected
to use a school Domestic Science room for this purpose which is
located across the street from the Central Garden.
The boys, in addition to growing the produce, take it to the city
market and dispose of it both wholesale and retail. There is no
pleasure quite so alluring to the boys as the trip to market and
nothing contains more education. They are responsible for the
funds, for the profitable sale of the produce and for maintaining the
business relations of the school farm, as we are known on the
market, with the commission men and the public.
Last summer's work demonstrated the boys can outsell most
men on the market. They are anxious, enthusiastic and pleasant.
They treat every one courteously and as a rule sell out a load in
short order.
To leave a boy on the market, with a load of produce, giving him
all the responsibilities of a grown man will do more toward teaching
him reliance, self-confidence and the business end of acquiring a
livelihood, than any one piece of school work with which I have
ever come in contact. With a hope that we, the boys, teachers and
I, can make an actual profit in dollars on the central garden this
year, the work is being planned with every care.
But first of all, everything must yield to education. The educa-
tional value is paramount and vital. The remuneration is second-
ary. The former is practically assured, and I confidently predict
that we shall win a fair share of the latter.
NOTES FROM A HOME GARDEN SUPERVISOR
Helen Seaman
Seattle, Washington
It was the good fortune of being garden teachers that brought us
to Seattle last July, a city set in a wonder spot of beauty. To the
west is Puget Sound with its border of low-lying hiUs -foothills to
116 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch, 1921
the majestic Olympics ; to the east Lake Washington, and, beyond,
the Cascades, and to the southeast The Mountain — Mt. Rainier —
clothed in white — ^"a footstool for the Gods." But the season was
on for visiting the home gardens of children from the fourth to
eighth grades, so we literally " came down to earth," and in the five
weeks that were left of the season for us we each visited five
hundred gardens.
Altho the long axis of the city is twelve miles, its distances seem
mainly vertical to one afoot, as the glacial action left this a hilly
region. Thruout the city the soils are largely sand and clay —
glacial material — except in the post-glacial river valleys where there
are rich alluvial deposits. With soils that were either sand or
stiff, pasty clay the new gardeners had a job on their hands, and
those who had been at it for several years still had some problems.
The work is organized on the U.S. Garden Army plan, and we were
glad to have the company of a garden lieutenant whenever our
rounds coincided with his, or occasionally he would go along as
guide.
With the use of fertilizers, water, and industrious cultivating
almost any crop will flourish in even the poorer patches, and in the
rich soils the growth is truly wonderful.
Some addresses lead to the outskirts of the city, where the land
is still only partly cleared, and it is on such hikes that ones sees a
great deal more than gardens. One day we found ourselves at the
edge of a steep wooded ravine. A passer-by told us that our street
was at the bottom of that ' ' gulch" and to follow the steps. But the
steps were only an encouragement to start and the rest a slide of
some two hundred feet. As a reward w^e found the home of some
mountain beaver, and there was still further reward awaiting us.
At the bottom of the "gulch" an old log road disputed right of way
with a half-hearted stream, as it led between a row of shacks. A
stranger was a curiosity, so there was no difficulty in locating
''Jimmy's garden." His mother, however, had wrestled with the
half -cleared slope until it was ablaze with color — sweet peas, mari-
golds of all kinds, poppies — what a riot! Shasta daisies, forget-me-
nots, nasturtiums, dahlias — a kaleidoscope of color well displayed
by the somber setting of firs and cedar.
Another day found us at the other end of the city pushing thru
underbrush of salal and Oregon grape to the top of a bluff which
shelves out several feet below, and there was our shack and garden,
seaman]
SYMPOSIUM OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS
117
1. Charles has the help of his small sister in this quarter ac re of i)ota-
toes, and, in his words, he 'hands her a dolhir no a- and then."
2. These twins are justly proud of their eroj).
3. "Katching Katerpillar Krusaders," University Hei^lils Sehool,
Seattle. Wash.
118 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch.. 1921
so we just "dropped in." A fine little Norwegian family were
making a start — and a wonderful site they had selected. The trees
had been cleared to give a view out across the Sound to the
Olympics rising high beyond. The boy was gathering hazel-nuts,
but came back to show us his garden. It was a first attempt and
the soil was mostly sand, but he had added some leaf -mold and was
justly proud of his results. How those people loved their woods!
We explored a bit. There were some Lewis woodpeckers busy at a
tall tree, and then from another comer came the old familiar cry of
"thief, thief." And a thief he is, for here he has stolen the blue-
bird's cloak and wrapped himself well in it. Then, to disguise he
wears a hooded helmet of deep irridescent purple — a stylish, strik-
ing thing, for how could a jay be otherwise, and the Steller jay will
not be outdone. Hilding knew where the robins had nested, as
well as the thrush, and had several stories to tell us of the little
ones. That was his world and he loved it, and everything that
grew and lived there. We hope that that love of the out-of-doors,
that pride in his garden, will be a lasting influence, and one that will
be a determining factor in later years whenever there is to be a
choice between a house with some out-of-doors attached and an
apartment. We want to make not only gardeners but home lovers.
We found many fine gardens as indications of real industry.
A seventh grade boy who lived in one of the houseboats which
fringe the Lake at certain points, had caught large masses of muck
that float down the Lake at times, and had filled in a goodly portion
of his shore-line, to be rewarded with some extra fine sweet pea
blooms. Robert, who lived at the top of the hill, had pushed many
a wheel-barrowful of such richness up to his garden — and a fine
garden he had despite the fact that he had a "job" during vacation
as well. Many families relied almost entirely on their young
gardener for vegetables, and were well supplied. Charles, aged 14,
not only played the main part in the family garden of one and a
half acres, but with the help of his smaller sister, he worked a
quarter acre of potatoes, and for such help he reported that he
"handed her a dollar now and then. ' ' There is no strong insistance
on the child doing the work entirely alone, in fact a garden is a good
ground for the seed of helpfulness, and the family garden is heartily
encouraged.
Last summer there were some six thousand gardeners enrolled
from the fourth to eighth grades inclusive — more than enough to
KiLPATRiCK] SYMPOSIUM OF GARDEN SUPERVISORS 119
keep the nine teachers busy — and when the Autumn Garden Exhibit
took place in each of sixty schools, the exhibit rooms were over-
crowded. Again and again we heard the remark, *^How much
better quality than last year." and how much larger the exhibit is.
Not only were fresh vegetables exhibited, but the canned fruits and
vegetables which in most cases the girls had raised as well as canned.
Awards were made on the basis of quality and effort, and those
entries receiving blue ribbons were sent to the High School to which
that school was tributary to be a part of the agricultural exhibit
there. In that way another tie was made between the grade and
high school work.
NATURE GARDENS IN NEW YORK CITY
Van Evrie Kilpatrick
Director
The School Garden in New York City is now being interpreted as
the outdoor laboratory of the school. All nature teaching func-
tions in the garden. The natural and physical sciences present a
sorry expression indeed without the complete organization of all
the outdoor educational opportunities. Every school garden is
therefore the garden of a particular school. It is primarily the
place where the pupils of that school learn through direct applica-
tion about the natural world.
A number of New York City schools program classes the year
round to the garden work. When the seasonal work cannot be done
outdoors the more instructional work is taught indoors.
One of the first efforts of the school garden department has been
to organize for a broader interpretation of gardening. The raising
of a few hardy vegetables by children is only a first step.
The school garden — the outdoor laboratory of nature— is the use
of every outdoor facility for nature application. The school garden
is raising vegetables, flowers, shrubs, vines, rabbits, chickens, etc.,
at the homes of children. It is applying landscape gardening to
the front lawn of the school grounds, vegetable gardening and small-
fruit gardening in the rear of the school grounds. School gardening
is the use of vacant lots, city property, and park property.
Indoor gardening in the schoolrooms is becoming more and more
popular. Eight thousand first quality paper white narcissus bulbs
have been grown in the elementary schools of Manhattan in order
120 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
to try out, on a large scale, the cultivation of bulbs in the schools.
This experiment was most successful.
There are more schools with school gardens in New York than in
any other city, but there are also more pupils with home garden
opportunities than in any other city. In the early season 92,000
circulars encouraging pupils to buy and plant seeds in their home
gardens were circulated in the schools. This would indicate that
in the schools of the outlying boroughs there are doubtless 100,000
children with opportunities for home gardening.
It is estimated that the season's produce reached a total value of
$33.1 53 -SO- The early tabulations showed $6,797.46 worth of
vegetables taken from the school gardens during the summer.
Twenty-two teachers conducted the gardens of seventy-three
public schools. Over 3,500 pupils had garden plots and during the
summer took an average daily produce home of $135.95. The
value of all these vegetables was computed after countihg or meas-
uring by the teachers in charge, and reporting the value of the
amount taken out of each garden weekly. For example, a quart of
beans was rated 15 cents; a head of lettuce 10 cents; a carrot
2 cents, etc.
It is not difficult to understand when children secure so much
valuable food every day that the attendance is very nearly 100 per
cent, based on at least once a week cultivation. But in many
shaded gardens, particularly in Aianhattan, where very little pro-
duce was procured, the attendance was maintained through the
natural interest of the child to cultivate a living plant.
Do We Need School Museums?
Elizabeth K. Peeples, Elizabeth Dyer
Teachers of Nature-Study, Washington, D. C.
Are you one of those unfortunate teachers with a taste for travel
and a correspondingly ill-filled purse ? Then partially satisfy that
taste by having your pupils make a school museum. Whatever it
lacks in intrinsic value, rarity or beauty will be made up by enthu-
siasm of the collectors, the joy of proprietorship and the never-
failing happiness of seeing the project grow.
First of all there is the high adventure of producing out of nothing
a case to hold whatever the children collect. In accomplishing
PEEPLES-DVEK] DO WE NEED SCHOOL MUSEUMS 121
what seems to be impossible there lies a mighty charm. An old
bookcase, shelves donated by an interested parent, or best of all
a case of open shelves built in the carpenter-shop by the boys have
each been used by the writers to house the nature collections of
various schools.
One has but to outline to the children a plan of action. They do
the rest. While studying trees they bring wood sections, pieces of
bark, dry fruits, pressed leaves, and pictures. Intent upon birds,
they specialize upon feathers, deserted nests and food charts. The
underlying rocks of the region, cocoons, bagworms tell the story
of garden interest.
Organization lies beneath the success of all great enterprises so
the Museum_ Com.mittee must be form.ed as well as the Committee
on 'Dusting. Two pupils from each grade are sufficient to keep the
museum in order and equally important, in the foreground of class
consciousness. In one building the success of the museum has been
almost wholly due to the enthusiasm of the chairman, a cripple, a
victim of infantile paralysis, a rare spirit with the ability to m^ake
those around him. forget his handicap. He selected the m.ost
prominent place in the building for the location of the museum,
just opposite the main entrance in the first floor hall. As the
nature-study teacher entered the building one m_orning, she found
him on the floor struggling to replace the lowest shelf. "The
museum has had a nervous breakdown, but it will recover soon."
And it did, a little better arranged than before. Three times for
various causes that sam.e cripple had occasion to rearrange the
collection and each time he has set himself the task of making it
more satisfactory. "This is all very well for you, Ricnard,' said
the teacher one day, ' ' but what about the other children ? Do they
get anything out of it?"
The reply was most reassuring. "This is their favorite parking
place. Everybody is crazy to belong. They worry me to death
to increase the membership."
The visiting nature-study teacher, who travels literally with her
hands and arms full, welcomes the help of a school museum for the
interest that keeps alive her work between visits. Under more
favorable conditions where there is a teacher in charge for all
grades of a building the possibilities are unlimited. In one such
place known to the writers, the first donation was a fine collection
of models of fjrehistoric animals made by a scientist in the com-
122 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
munity. This was followed by the egg of the ostrich and the dark
green one of the emu laid by these animals in the Zoo. To quote
from the report of this teacher, "Here's a piece of petrified wood."
"Do you know if this is gold on this rock?" "I can bring some cot-
ton from Georgia" "I have a coccanut right from Florida, that my
aunt sent me with a stamp stuck on it. May I bring it ?" A very
active tortoise, found on the way to school was our first live con-
tribution. So one after another all kinds of specimens came usually
with questions as to their identity, which were sometimes answered
simultaneously by teacher and pupils. We have our exhibition of
bird boxes. During Kindness to Animals Week, a voluble parrot,
white mice, a chameleon, a litter of puppies, wide-eyed bunnies, a
six-toed cat, baby chicks and tortoises eame to school in the morn-
ing and returned home at the close. As this laboratory is in the
center 'of the building and a thoroughfare for many classes the
pupils have more than class time to view the collections. One
large table is set aside for current donations and is always a magnet
of attraction. Bulletin boards made by a parent are filled with
contributions of pictures, magazines and newspaper clippings of the
out-of-doors. One after another, my every ready helpers have
made shelves to add to the tiers which hold our museum. With a
bird comer, an insect corner, and sections for rocks, shells, seeds,
tree and wood specimens, we have reached our capacity. ' ' Looking
back on my own schools I cannot help but feel that the future of
my boys and girls will be richer and happier for the intimacy they
are gaining with the great heart of nature."
From a museum like that described above to an out-of-doors
room is but a short step if the room is available and the teacher has
continued interest. To many, this is a new idea. Picture this
room at the Washington Normal School. Scrub pine hides the
walls and gives the impression of the pine grove. The floor is
strewn with leaves renewed from time to time. A large sand board
has been converted into a mossy bank upon which the partridge
berry creeps; hepatica blossoms and just now skunk cabbage
peeps through the dead leaves as it does in the swamps outside.
In one corner are mounted specimens of winter birds, a feeding
table and a simple bath. In this environment the little ones of the
kindergarten, first and second grades are given their nature lessons.
A group of little ones from a downtown school visited it one day
and asked, "Is this the real country?"
VOTE FOR A NATIONAL TREE 123
School museums should lead to a more intelligent use of public
ones. Watch the average sightseer passing through a city or
national museum. He is overpowered by the wealth of material;
sees but little and understands less. He passes through its doors
with a vague conglomerate of historic costumes, Egyptian mum-
mies, tropical birds, etc., mentally bored and physically tired. As
in travel, he gets out of a visit to a museimi what he has to interpret
it with. Therefore in youth he should learn that a museum is to be
used as a reference to enlarge his knowledge on definite things;
not to show him the world in a nutshell.
Be Patriotic, Vote for a National Tree
The American Forestry Association whose headquarters are at
Washington, has recently launched a campaign to secure wide-
spread expression of what shall be our national tree. Editors
throughout the United States are being asked to print the ballot
and to urge the schools of their respective cities and towns to send
their votes to the Association. By such method, however, a voter
may send in his ballot marked "elm," ''oak," ''walnut," etc., and
know very little about the tree. Education of the voters is neces-
sary so the Association applied to the Superintendent of Schools
of the National Capital for the co-operation of the teachers. This
was granted and the work of educating the children and the public
was assigned to the Nature-Study Department. This department
has eight teachers who visit the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades
every other week for a forty minute lesson.
For two years tree study has been the nature unit for the eighth
grades. It was, therefore, deem.ed best to make an intensive study,
in that grade, of a small number of trees that are commonly planted
along streets or are found in the suburban sections, and through
these children, educate the grades below.The white oak, pin oak,
American elm., hickory, sycamore, apple, tulip, dogwood, sugar-
maple and white pine, were the trees selected.
A visiting nature-study teacher with but forty minutes once in
two weeks would find it difficult to take classes out-of-doors for the
study of the complete list. The larger part of the teaching, there-
fore, had to be done in the classroom but if one of the candidates
was available nearby, then out-door study was the method used.
To teach trees indoors in a very limited time so that children can
124
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
recognize them in the open requires careful lesson planning that
children may be inspired to independent research and it also
demands the use of much illustrative material on the part of the
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Have you voted for a national tree? Charts illustrating the uses of Pine.
Courtesy of the American Forestry Association
teacher. By means of branches of trees; their fruits; pictures;
wood sections and pieces of bark, the distinguishing characteristics
of one, sometimes two trees were taught in a period. A spray of
each tree was left with a committee of children to press and mount
on herbarium paper by the time the teacher returned. To secure
BE PATRIOTIC, VOTE FOR A NATIONAL TREE 125
sufficient material for so large a number of children, permission was
obtained from the city's tree planting department to carefully cut
what sprays were needed from the street trees. Pictures were
obtained from the U. S. Forest Service; wood sections and bark
specimens from wood piles in suburban sections where real estate
operators were "improving" land by felling trees.
To insure that the children would know the trees in the open, at
the close of each lesson assignments to be completed before the
nature-study teacher's next visit were left with committees of
children. All teachers know, however, that children's committees
need the inspiration of the classroom teachers. The busy eighth
grade teachers of Washington always found the time to give this
inspiration. A few local examples will illustrate the assignments.
There are magnificent elms in the White House Grounds, the
Ellipse, the Capitol Grounds and Franklin Park. Visit one of
these places and learn its shape.
The nearest sycamores to the Ross School are on Eleventh
Street. Are they desirable for street planting? Find out why
they were pruned so severely last spring.
There are three kinds of hickories around Washington, the
mockernut; the pignut; the bitternut. Find the nuts of each.
If you are a good Scout you can.
Learn the names of the five commonest apples for sale in Wash-
ington markets.
What is there about dogwood that is the cause of its destruction ?
You know its berries. Go to the Zoo before they fall and learn
its bark.
Name all streets that are planted with oaks within five blocks
north, south, east and west of your school. Find the circumference
of the largest oak in the section, measuringfour feet above the ground.
Other assignments were given that would send the children to
books. The pubHc libraries decidedly felt the pressure. A few
illustrations of these will be sufficient.
Does the elm grow in sufficient number of states to warrant
making it the national tree?
There are pecan trees at Mt. Vernon over a hundred years old.
Find something of historical interest about them.
The name dogwood is odd. Is there a reason for it?
Are pines strictly evergreen? How did they acquire the habit of
keeping their leaves in winter? How is turpentine madci*
126 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
Describe the following apples so they can be recognized by
people not acquainted with them: York Imperial, Winesap,
Stayman Winesap, Grimes' Golden, Ben Davis.
Speak of the advantages and disadvantages of a fruit tree being
the national tree.
The apple lessons were particularly delightful to city children who
had never thought of apples by name, or difference in eating qualities.
As this educational campaign progressed, the interest of the
children led them to make articles in miniature showing the use of
oak, pine, hickory, hard maple, walnut, etc., photographs and
diagrams of street planting in the vicinity of the schools; brush
sketches in ink of trees suggesting devices for their use on coins and
government letter heads ; historical events connected with the elm
modelled in clay. So much material had been gathered that when,
near the close of the campaign, the American Forestry Association
asked that a greater number of children than the eighth grades be
granted the voting privilege, an exhibition for the education of the
new voters was quickly and easily arranged. The children were
asked to place on large mounting cards material that would illus-
trate their choice for the national tree. These charts were exhibited
at the Wilson Normal School for four days before the vote was
taken and the public asked to use them as a means of education and
then vote. Thousands of people visited the exhibit, boys and men
in great numbers. The interest shown warranted extending the
exhibit three days.
Three minute speeches on the value of the tree candidates as a
national tree were delivered by the children of the eighth grades to
the children of the grades below and to the visitors at the exhibi-
tion. The American boy or girl feels his country's call deeply, be
it a call for war service or a call to vote for the national tree.
Speakers in the recent presidential campaign did not take them-
selves more seriously then these youthful speakers. The speeches
were earnest, sometimes poetic, full of patriotic appeal to vote for a
truly American tree and, best of all, a determination that the voters
should know reasons for their choice. It was not always the boy
who spoke "longest and loudest," as one boy expressed it, who
carried his audience, but the boy who clearly and logically made
his points. i8,ooo votes were cast, 7,037 for the oak, but no
figures can measure the interest in trees and their conservation
that has spread through the homes of the city.
CAMPAIGN SPEECHES FOR THE NATIONAL TREE 127
If you want a thoroughly enjoyable spring nature unit start a
campaign for the national tree. It will take about two months to
do it well. List your local tree candidates; study them in the
open, historically, commercially. Put your speakers on the stump.
Ask one of the leading papers of your community to print the ballot
and send your returns to the American Forestry Association, 12 14
Sixteenth Street, Washington, D. C. Interest in trees and their
conservation is slow in growth. This is strictly an educational
campaign to quicken this growth and well worth the science or
nature-study teachers' best effort.
The American Forestry Association is taking a nation-wide vote to determine
what shall be America's national tree.
I vote for
Name
Street
City State
School
Forward to the American Forestry Association, National Tree Voting Depart-
ment, 1214 i6th Street northwest, Washington, D. C.
Campaign Speeches for the National Tree
THE DOGWOOD
Now devoid of berries and leaves, the dogwood stands before us
this new year of nineteen-twenty-one as a candidate for our
national tree.
Our national tree should be one of great beauty. Is there a tree
more beautiful than the dogwood? You say the oak is more
stately. But can the oak boast of beautiful white flowers in the
spring, and dark red leaves and berries in the fall? Its flowers and
leaves are known and loved by every nature loving man, woman
and child. Trees are our main source of beauty and without beauty
this would be a dull, work-a-day world. The dogwood is the most
beautiful of all trees. The already beautiful scenery along the
roads of the United States, improved by the planting of dogwood
trees, would, fifty years from now, be the envy of all nations.
Artists, fully appreciating the beauty of the scene, would ])aint it
and these paintings would go far and near, convincing the world
that we are greater lovers of beauty than money.
128 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
The dogwood berries furnish food for forty-seven different kinds
of birds during the fall and winter. If that isn't a good argument
for the dogwood will someone in this audience kindly tell me what is ?
You may say this: "We have been told that people pick and
destroy so much dogwood that it is rapidly becoming extinct.
We don't want that kind of a tree for our national tree." Before
red, white and blue became our national colors did they mean
much to the colonists? Would they have thought anything of
cutting, tearing or tramping upon them? But what would we
think of a person who would do such a thing now? The same
thing would hold true if the dogwood became our national tree.
People would soon learn what a terrible thing it would be to harm
even one of its flowers.
We people living around Washington and Baltimore should be
particularly fond of the dogwood. And why? Because literally
speaking it grows under our very noses. What good would it do
us to have the redwood of California for our national tree ?
The dogwood has very little commercial value but this is all the
more favor in it. Why take a tree that has extensive commercial
value? Money plays too large a part in the lives of modem
Americans. Take the dogwood so we can make it a truly orna-
mental tree. The dogwood is a tree that stands for all that
America stands for — the white of the flowers for purity, the red of
the leaves and berries for valor and the whole tree for justice and
in closing I wish to say:
These arguments were made by one, by me.
But it lies with you to elect the tree.
Martha Mendall,
8B, Ross School,
Washington, D. C.
THE HICKORY
Friends and fellow-classmates, I have come before you to con-
vince you that the hickory is the tree that should be made our
national tree. Do you realize that the hickory is the only one of
the nine candidates that is an all American tree ; that natiire has
caused eleven of the twelve kinds of the hickory to grow in the
United States ? If nature has done this we can at least repay her
by selecting the hickory as our national tree.
CAMPAIGN SPEECHES FOR THE NATIONAL TREE 129
The most important of the hickories are the shagbark, mocker-
nut, bittemut, pignut and pecan.
The shagbark is a tall stately tree seventy to ninety feet in
height, unmistakable on account of its rough flaking bark which
shags off in large plates. The nuts of the shagbark are the hickory
nuts of commerce. It is said that there is more nutrition in a shag-
bark-nut than there is in any other nut. The experiment of cul-
tivating the shagbark would be an interesting one, certainly it
deserves as much attention as the English walnut. The wood of
the shagbark is heavy, hard, tough and close grained and it is used
for agricultural implements, ax handles, wagon stocks and baskets.
It is said that a block of hickory is as strong as a block of wrought
iron of the same size. The shagbark grows in the United States
from Maine to Florida and as far west as Kansas.
The mockernut grows to a height of one hundred feet. It gets
its name on account of the shell of the nut being thick, hard and
difficult to crack. It grows in New England and in the south and
wCvSt. Its wood is used for the same purposes as the shagbark and
it is of equal value.
Michau calls the pignut one of the perfect American trees. It is
stately and beautiful in outline. The pignut received its name
from the first settlers who on seeing their hogs eat its fruit with
such relish called it the pignut. The pignut makes a beautiful
lawn tree and would be planted everywhere if it were not for its
name. The range of the pignut is the same as the other members
of the genus.
When we go to discuss the hickory's opponents we find that the
oak was worshipped by the early Greeks. It was dedicated to
Jupiter by the Romans and played a part in the religion of the
Britons and Germans. Does this sound American? The elm
thrives better in England than in the United States. The dog-
wood is rapidly becoming extinct. If the dogwood supplies food
for forty-seven species of birds, the hickory supplies food for
91 ,972 ,000 people. The apple caused so much evil in the beginning
of the world that we do not want our streets lined with reminder
of what man might have been. The sycamore was used by the
Egyptians two thousand years before Christ to bury their mum-
mies in. Ancient Egyptian caskets and a modern American
national tree do not go together.
130 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:2— Mch, 1921
In summing up the points of the hickory we find that it is stronger
than the oak, that it has the beauty of the elm, the stateUness of
the tuHp and the symmetry of the pine. Friends, I ask you why a
tree with all the good points of its worthy opponents cannot be our
national tree? The decision lies with y£)u.
The hickory would make a good emblem for America for it is a
beautiful and strong tree as the United States is a beautiful and
strong nation.
If Andrew Jackson was proud to bear the name of " Old Hickory"
to the White House, we should at least be proud to select the
hickory for our national tree.
And when you go to cast your ballot remember this slogan,
"An American Tree First."
Warren Sl'mmers,
8B, Ross School,
Washington, D. C.
THE ELM TREE
Francis Marshall
8B Force School, Washington, D. C
Oh! Thou Elm so very high,
Your only rival is the sky!
Tall, majestic, ever great,
In no matter what the State.
Our very heart you take away
When lighted by the sun's bright ray!
How can you help but be admired
When every grace you have acquired ?
You are a sample of nature's art:
A secret of God, to us, impart.
You have gotten, by some device
The blessing of all Paradise.
To you none other can compaic,
Oh! thou spirit of the air!
A home garden in Duquesne
and the gardener
Near the end of the season in the
children's gardens in Duquesne
Children's Gardens in a Steel Town
Lena S. Thomas
Ithaca, N. Y.
The Cit}^ of Duquesne is situated on the west bank of the
Monongahela River and is about half an hour's ride by train from
the City of Pittsburgh. It is essentially a manufacturing town,
its growth being the result of the location there of the Duquesne
Steel Co. founded by Andrew Carnegie himself. The material
prosperity of the city is dependent for the most i^art on the pros-
perity of these mills.
The town might almost be completely divided into two sections,
those east and west of the tracks of the Penn. R. R. which runs
north and south the length of the city. To the east of the tracks
are built the company's mill and to the east of the tracks dwells a
badly congested foreign population.
I have been told that in the years before the ])lay-ground and
gardens became an established part of the community life there, it
was quite an unsafe place to walk the streets. That condition
must have long passed away for I have never experienced anything
but genuine welcome from, these same foreign i)eoi)lc.
131
132 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
It can truly be said of this town that fully one-half does not know
how the other half lives. Children from the west side are for-
bidden by their parents to go below the tracks, and many grown
people who have lived in Duquesne all their lives, have never been
in the lower section and have no conception of its conditions.
That these conditions have been improved greatly in the last ten
years is no doubt due largely to the Welfare Activites of the Steel
Corporation.
In 1 9 13 the Welfare Department determined to add gardening
for children to its other activities, and a teacher was obtained from
Cornell University to direct the project.
The land selected for the experiment was some belonging to the
Steel Co. located in the slummiest part of Duquesne, bounded on
the east and south by the tracks of the Union R. R. There are
trains loaded with hot slag constantly passing and repassing along
this track and a constant shower of hot cinders is expelled from the
engines all over the gardens below. On the west an alley that
forms the back boundary line to a row of tenement houses extends
the whole length of the gardens. This land was at that time pure
clay, and covered with as fine a collection of tin cans, bottles, rags,
old wire bed springs, and miscellaneous litter as could be found any-
where in the U. S. A., the reason for this being that Duquesne has
not taken over the task of collecting its garbage, but allows it to
be done by private individuals who charge by the week or the
barrel, which of course results in its being dumped on all vacant lots.
Well, the Steel Co. had this land cleared and filled in with good
loam. Then they fertilized it and the gardens were planted^upon it.
The children who worked these gardens were gathered thru the
meditmi of the public school, but practically every child lived in
this congested district below the track, was born of foreign parents,
and some member of the family worked for the Steel Co. This
was not a condition necessary to membership, but simply the result
of the location of the gardens and the occupation of the population
of most of the town.
After establishing these gardens, they turned their attention to
the town in general and established six small community gardens
as they were called, as model gardens in different parts of the town.
These were taught by volunteer women of the town who in turn
received instruction from the Supervisor provided by the Steel Co.
There were six of these gardens laid out in individual plots 4x4
THOMAS] CHILDREN'S GARDENS IN A STEEL TOWN 133
feet and accommodating about eighty children. While the two
gardens on the S|:eel Co. property were respectively loo by 120
feet and 100 by 75 feet and accommodated about 150 children
(plots 10 ft. X 10) . The writer had the pleasure of visiting all these
gardens in 19 13 and was delighted with them.
Oddly enough the next spring a call for a teacher for these same
gardens resulted in the selection of the writer of this article, who
has remained there until the present time.
The second year I was there we cleaned up and fenced another
lot on the Steel Co. property.- This accommodates about thirty
children being divided into larger gardens usually about sixteen
feet square. These are reserved exclusively for the use of the older
and more advanced children, those who have made a good showing
in the smaller gardens, winning garden or vegetable prizes. There
is a great demand for these larger gardens. They happen to be
situated on much richer ground, so the growth of the vegetables is
quite luxuriant, and being so large they will produce enough to
almost feed a family, of course they are a great help when ' ' We have
six boarders." So its woe to the child who neglects and thus loses
a large garden, his parents have no sympathy for him.
The Steel Co. pays all the expenses of the gardens on their
property, including the building of fences, toolhouses, repairs on
them, furnishes tools for all the children, all the seeds used, plowing,
fertilizing, etc. They have never been asked for anything in the
way of equipment that they have not willingly furnished. They
have piped water to each garden and this year have improved the
system by laying pipes thru them so several hose may be attached
and used at the same time. During the first three years they fur-
nished a laborer whose services could be had at any time during the
year. However it was decided that it was better to make the
children feel that they themselves were entirely responsible for the
appearance of the gardens. Now we have a laborer to lay out the
paths making the individual plots. This takes about a week in the
spring. After that the children do every bit of the work, unless in
case of sudden emergency after heavy storms.
We have storms there that fill up the gutters and cau e the
flooding of the gardens, sometimes they are covered with water a
foot deep for three days at a time. If the vegetables have got most
of their growth little harm is done. But if the storm comes while
they are small many of the individual gardens are six)iled.
134 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
I do allow the parents to help, in many cases, especially when at
the beginning of the year, I have many new and young children to
teach all at once. The women are very eager to do this, they want
the vegetables. Most of them have always done gardening in the
old country. They will transplant a large beet with wonderful
success. They don't bother to cut back any of the leaves and the
beets don't wither after transplanting.
During the war our Community gardens were turned into School
gardens. Additional land was given for our use. The size of the
individual plots was enlarged, and ever>^ effort made to give each
child an opportunity to do his part, who wished land. The school
superintendent of Duquesne, Prof. Wolford, has always done
everything possible to promote gardening in Duquesne. He and
the school board co-operated with me in every way, the board
voting to pay six of its teachers by the hour to assist me in teaching
home and community gardens, and we enrolled over five hundred
children as members of the U. S. Garden Army. The Board
furnished seeds for the Community gardens and high school boys
were excused during the last period that they might come out and
dig paths for the smaller children.
It might be well to explain here that all my garden children are
below high school grade. In a town like Duquesne all the children
go to work for money the moment they reach the age when the laws
of the state permit them to, and as a rule every foreign child works
during vacation that can get a job of any kind. During war times
many children earned as much as grown women had before. So
the temptation to work was much greater. So only the smaller
ones were left to garden.
Since the war our Comm.unity garden work has been reduced to
a minimum again. This is greatly to be regretted for may reasons.
But it seems best because of the constant pilfering that occurs on
unfenced lots. When one set of children work all the growing
season to produce a crop and then have it harvested for them by a
passer-by it produces a reaction of feeling against gardening that is
not conducive to harmony. Therefore this year we had just two
community gardens with 36 children. I did not ask the School
Board for a teacher for them but took over the task myself. All
the work on these gardens has been done after six p. m. when my
other work was finished. I spent three evenings a week at these
gardens during the season.
THOMAS] CHILDREN'S GARDENS IN A STEEL TOWN 135
This year the garden work for the season began on April 5th, the
first Monday after Easter. The first week was spent visiting the
schools and giving the usual talks to the children between the 3d
and 7th grades. These talks described our plans for home and
school gardens during the coming season. Children were urged to
do all they could toward cleaning up their own and their neighbor's
premises and to keep them clean.
Following the custom inaugurated last year, a Registration Day
for gardens was held, in the City Hall. Owing to very severe cold
and rainy weather only 100 children registered. But the usual
crowd appeared for gardens on opening da}^
From April 5th to April 2 2d it rained six days each week,
Sunday being the one fair day. No out of door work was accom-
plished but plans for the laying out of the gardens were made, seed
and new tools ordered. Paths were made by the 29th of April and
we had the children out digging in their gardens after school, by
working till 9 p. m. that evening we got 60 gardens planted. Satur-
day we worked in the other gardens till the same hour. Saturday
being the only time we can have the children for the whole day, we
have to do all we can on them. All the rest has to be done in the
little time we have after the schools close at four p. m.
. By May 7th most of the individual gardens in the Company
gardens were planted. By May 8th lettuce and radishes were
showing above ground in all of the gardens. From May loth until
public schools closed in June there were more or less children present
every single afternoon after school. If things were not large enough
to be worked among or it rained, we cleaned up around outside the
gardens. I am proud of the record we made this season, in spite
of many rainy days early in the season there was but one on which
I did not go to the gardens and I always found some children, if
only a few, who would be waiting in the rain, sa^dng, "We have
waited you so long." It might rain so hard we had to go home or
it might be so wet we could only walk around to see how things
were growing, or later in the season gather some v^egetable, but I
made it a rule always to be there, and open that garden for a little
while. It keeps up the interest and keeps the children in the hal)it
of thinking they must go to their gardens. Children's memories
are short and many of these children are "retarded" or mentally
lacking in development. They do not understand reasons for
coming some days and not others but they can follow a routine.
136 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
This is well illustrated by Steve Wranish and his garden which was
No. 63. I was all summer teaching Steve that his number was not
3 but 63 . At the last he would say 3 but could think of the 60 when
I insisted. Speaking of Steve reminds me that I had at least 10
children this year so mentally deficient I could not teach them the
difference between flowers, plants, or weeds. Two were so hope-
less I had to take their gardens away and put them out. They
would pull up anything. And when I think of the others, I wonder
that we had any gardens at all.
After public and parochial schools are closed for the summer all
garden work begins at 8:30 a. m. The new time is very disad-
vantageous to garden work in some ways. Gardens are so cold and
wet mornings and it takes them so long to dry off, w^e have to work
many times when the ground is unfit, to get our work out of the
way before the. swimming and other play ground activities begin.
(Our gardens border on the playgrounds) .
This was a splendid year for beans and beets, we never had nicer
ones and every thing else did well. It seems to have been a good
garden season in spite of the preponderance of cold weather.. In
fact I never heard so many people say "How nice your garden
looks." They really are beautiful. It is partially due to our new
system of water pipes which enables us to do the work more
thoroughly in much less tim.e.
With the exception of a few children who are habitually trouble-
som.e, it is the consensus of opinion among the playground teachers
and myself that the people in the vicinity of the playgroimds and
gardens are really improving very much. The gardens are not
destroyed as they used to be and there was comparatively little
thieving. It is a noteworthy fact that the garden situated next the
bunk houses full of colored people and with many colored people
living in the tenements near it, has suffered scarcely at all. What
thieving is done, is by the white foreign people. It is also interest-
ing to see the gardens that were planted this year in the yards along
the alley bordering on the garden. I counted eleven individual
gardens fenced off, some of the fences being old beds springs.
Five years ago they believed nothing would grow there.
There has always been a popular belief in Duquesne that the
gases from the mills and the dirt from them would kill all vegeta-
tion and that it was a useless task to try to make anything grow.
Our gardening propaganda has done much to correct this idea and
THOMAS] CHILDREN'S GARDENS IN A STEEL TOWN 137
now I doubt if any place of its size contains more gardens than
Duquesne. Gardens are the rule not the exception, wherever there
is space for them. People have found that all hardy vegetables
and flowers will grow there if given a little care. That the soil
there is pure clay and requires tim.e and heavy applications of
manure and matter to make himius has been the great drawback,
a garden can not be made out of it in one year. Many people get
discouraged after the first effort.
The smoke and gases discharged 'from the mills do form a dirty
oily coating over the leaves so thick that they look almost black.
They become so dirty that it is not a pleasure but an unpleasant
task to cut the flowers we raise. Whatever I wear while doing it
becomes as black as tho I had been working in it for a month. I
always have to wash the flowers before giving them away. We
raise only hardy blossoms like Zinnia and sunflowers, of which
there are many varieties as beautiful as chrysanthemimis, and which
attract to our garden htimming birds and yellow warblers; before
raising the sunflowers I never saw any birds but sparrows in the
region of the mills. Now they are a constant wonder and
delight to the children.
We also have a constant stream of butterfly visitors and I think
all the caterpillars known to man come to feed upon our produce.
I think probably this is because ours is the only feeding ground
in that part of the town, at any rate we have ceased to enjoy them.
To us they mean only more hard work. We put on arsenate of lead
till I am ashamed to ask^the mill to buy any more. It seem.s to me
that we never yet got on a nice coating of it that one of our torren-
tial rains did not come and wash it all off. The children are
many of them superstitious. They call it a sin to kill the worms.
I talk till I am tired trying to explain that it is a choice between
bugs and vegetables.
Sometimes a chance toad comes visiting the garden. The
children know that the toads eat the bugs and there is mad rivalry
trying to keep that poor toad in their individual garden. They
forget that it is a sin to kill bugs then.
Before the war there were scarcely any colored families in the
vicinity of the gardens, the scarcity of labor resulted in the bring-
ing in of a large colored population as laborers in the mill. There
has been a large bunk house built exclusively to house them. It is
on a bluff at the north end of my gardens, looking almost directly
138
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch., 1921
down over them. Following these, many of the tenements in the
immediate neighborhood became filled with them. One day I was
asked if I allowed colored children in my gardens. I said certainly
if they were willing to work and behaved well. I now have about
twenty colored children on my list.
Flower Days
Following the custom of previous years, two Flower Days were
held this year. The first Thursday, June nth, was for the benefit
of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, roses were just blooming
and we were sent large quantities of them as well as iris and peonies.
The flowers were very beautiful, and we had* three tubs full. We
Children with their bouquets ready for the children's hospital
directed a number of girls to make these into bouquets. Before
sending these to the hospital we had some pictures taken of them.
On Monday, August i6th, we had one for the sick and shut-in of
Duquesne. So many flowers were sent us that our short list of
sick townspeople was soon exhausted, and four market-baskets as
full as we could pack them were sent to the McKeesport Hospital.
Bouquets were also sent to the Duquesne sick in the Pittsburgh
hospitals. I think the last flower day brought the most liberal
response to our efforts that we have had in several years.
Vegetable Exhibits
These are held each season, there being an exhibit for each kind
of vegetable fast as it matures. The Steel Co. gives on the aver-
age about sixty-five dollars a year as prize money, eight prizes of
THOMAS] CHILDREN'S GARDENS IN A STEEL TOWN 139
$2.50 each being given for the best gardens, the rest of the money
going for prize money at the vegetable exhibits. Each prize vary-
ing from $1 .00 to $. 50. The number of prizes given varies with the
number and quality of the vegetables exhibited. Uusually there
are eight $1 prizes.
This year the radish exhibit consisted of 1 2 7 exhibits of 1 5 each.
Four $1 prizes and four $.50 prizes were awarded. Our bean and
lettuce show consisted of 167 exhibits. The beans being of unusual
quality and quantity this year. Sixteen prizes of $.50 each were
given, to reward as many children as possible. We had such a
quantity of fine beets, that we gave two shows on two successive
days, one on the upper playground and one on the lower, at the
same time that the playground teachers gave their seasonal exhibit.
There were 200 at the first and 171 the second time. Our carrots
and a little of everything else we happened to have growing were
shown as general exhibits at this time. Four prizes were given for
the best general exhibits.
Our money is given in the form of thrift stamps in the hope that
it will induce the children to save the money. The actual results
are disappointing, most of the children turn them into cash in one
way or another, and the money is spent to -buy some article of
clothing. Many of the children lose their books before the summer
is over. People who live in one or two rooms, perhaps a family of
six, have few places where they can keep things safely. Even
their bank books get buried and lost in that way.
Home Gardens
Each year we emphasize the importance of these, especially now
that our Community Garden space is so reduced. On Registration
Day twenty children signed for home gardens, this number was
afterward increased to 65 representing 50 different families. I
attempted visiting these children once a month, and oftener if they
lived near me. I m.ade my first rounds in June, and altogether
made 113 visits. Many of these gardens are satisfactory, many are
not, many drop out in the course of the season, for vacations and
other reasons. Many are encouraged to start who never would
otherwise. One little girl planted peanuts and the whole family
learned that the leaves folded up in the evenings.
I value my home garden work most for the opportunity it gives
me for getting acquainted with the people and seeing how they
140 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [18:3— Mch, 1921
live, learning what they think, finding cases that can be helped by-
reporting them to the proper agencies. Especially for the chance
to inform the people of the garden work that is going on in the
town and of enlisting their sympathy. It is invaluable as a means
of "entree" into all classes of homes. All people love to talk
about their gardens.
This year the Steel Co. gardens were divided as follows :
Garden No. i 8o gardens lo x lo ft. Open every Mon. and Thur. A
Garden No. 2 48 gardens 10 x 10 ft. Open every Tue. and Fri. A.
Garden No. 3 16 gardens 22 x 22 ft. Open every Wed. and Sat. A.
Garden No. 3 2 gardens 14 x 10 ft.
Total area in gardens .47 acres.
Enrollment
No. I 79
No. 2 48
No. 3 18
Total attendance for season 2821
Crop Report .
Jtme
Radishes 1778 doz. @ $.05 $88.90
Lettuce 26 bas. @ $.50 13 -oo
672 cabbages @ $.10 per doz 6.72
581 Kohlrabi @ $.10 per doz 6.72
75 tomatoes @ $.01 75
$115.28
July
Lettuce 1 7 heads @ $.05 $25.85
Lettuce 188 bas. @ $.50 91.00
Parsley 394 bunches @ $.05 i9-5o
Beets 849 qts. @ $.10 84.90
$227.45
August
Beets 285 doz. @ $.10 $28.50
Beans 121 qts. @ $.10 12.10
Parsley 266 bunches @ $.05 i3-3o
Kohlrabi 154 1.20
$55-io
CHILDREN'S CIVIC CLUBS 141
September
Beets 540 bunches (6 per bu.) @ $.10 $54.00
Beans 133 qts. @ $.07 9.3 1
20 doz. Kohlrabi @ $.10 2.00
Parsley 97 baskets @ $.50 48.50
Celery 16 baskets @ $1.00 16.00
Corn 93 ears 3.00
Carrots 300 bu. (6 per bu.) @ $.10 30.00
Total crop value $560.64. $162.81
CHILDREN'S CIVIC CLUBS
Washington, D. C, March 30, 1920.
To the People of Anacostia :
We, the children of the Ketcham School, have formed a club.
Its name is the "Green Grass Club."
We have a president, secretary, treasurer, and a reporter, also
we have different committees and each committee has the name
and color of a bird or flower.
We also have badges. On our badge you will find these letters
G. G. C. which stand for "Green Grass Club."
If you see any one of us we will help you in any way we can. The
object of this club is to keep the school lawn clean and your lawn
clean and our home lawns clean so as to beautify Anacostia.
Our method of working is to work ourselves and to get the other
children interested and to get you interested.
Soon we will come and talk the matter over with you.
Yours truly, The Children of the Ketcham School,
March, 30, 1920 George Ha skins. Reporter, 6B.
Clubs similar to the above were formed in every sixth grade in the
Washington schools last spring. "The Green Crusaders." "Watch
Your Steps." "Give The Grass a Chance," were some of the apt
names selected by the children. These clubs learned how to pre-
pare the ground for a lawn and how to take care of it. In assem-
bly instructions were given to all the members of the school and
their co-operation asked not only in the care and protection of the
school lawn but the respect for the lawns in the neighborhood of the
various schools. Wilful offenders were dealt with by committees
from the sixth grades. A stubborn case in one building wlicre a 1 )oy
repeatedly crossed a neighbor's lawn was cured b\' a committee
escorting the boy home from school every da\' for two weeks.
TH E
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, so per year (nine issues). Canadian po«t*
age 10 cents extra, foreign postage, 20 cents extra.
Editorial
THE SCHOOL GARDEN OUTLOOK
Readjustments that always follow wars have dealt harshly in
some places with school gardens. Necessary economy, mixed with
the feeling that production does not need emphasis, has resulted in
their curtailment or elimination. Philadelphia — a pioneer in
children's gardens, so successful that they attracted attention in all
parts of this country, England, and France — has abandoned them.
While Cleveland, in strong contrast, realizing their educational
value to be of greater importance than the value of crops, has
doubled its budget that it may secure the best of teachers for
nature-study and gardening.
The vocational trend may be too strong in some sections to
please those who look upon the garden as the school's out-of-door
laboratory, but by one method or another the school garden is
becoming a stabilized part of the course of study of progressive,
schools.
THE TRAIL SCHOOL
"Your power of seeiag mountains cannot be developed either by your vanity
or your curiosity, or your love of muscular exercise. It depends on the cultiva-
tion of sight itself, and of the soul that uses it." — Ruskin.
While planning your summer vacation, do not forget our
national parks. If you want to feel yourself a part of the real
wilderness, Glacier Park in northwest Montana will satisfy you.
If you are strong of muscle and have the power to "peg away" to
the end, clothe yourself in khaki and walk the trails. They are as
broad and as wide as city sidewalks and far safer for travel alone or
in small companies. Horses may be hired if you cannot walk but
the trail walker is not bound to a guide who must report at a certain
place at a certain time. Nor is his appreciation of the marvelous
views about him dimmed by the fear that all four feet of his horse
142
EDITORIAL 143
will not stay on the trail at the edge of a precipice two thousand
feet sheer.
Camps of log or stone with comfortable beds and good food are
located from fifteen to twenty miles apart, a distance that in rarer
atmosphere may easily be accomplished in a day if one has given
careful thought to the comfort of his feet. • On a walking trip one's
pleasure is a state of feet.
Trail acquaintances are never forgotten. Bear, deer, mountain
goats, bighorn sheep, porcupine and marmots are not inclined to
tarry. You are richer for having seen the ptarmigan, the water
ousel, the magpie, the mountain bluebird and the white crowned
sparrow. Flowers are everywhere ; meadows and hillsides are wild
gardens. Dogtooth violets and spring beauty in July are coming
through the snowbanks by the millions. Paint brush, lupine,
angelica, squaw-grass, gentians are in the profusion that one
expects in a wilderness.
Trail acquaintances are not, however, confined to wild life.
Western friendliness is the keynote of the trails and the camps, even
though the majority of the people one m.eets are "easterners who
have gone west and loosened up" as we heard it aptly expressed.
We have spent hours with delightful chance companions and have
never known their names nor from where they came. The marvel-
ous peaks of the layered rocks, changing color as the sun's position
changes ; the deep blue and green of the glacial lakes make all akin
in their awe and wonder of the works of their Creator.
One thing the government yet needs to do for the traveller in the
parks is to make it possible for him to know^ the things around him
and how they came about as far as man knows. Enos Mills in the
Rocky Mountain National Park, has solved the way to do it in his
Trail School at Long's Peak Inn. Rooms have been set aside where
the flowers, trees and rocks are named and where the usual and the
unusual in them are tersely described. Such a place in every park
will add much to the education of the people who pass through.
An expert nature guide himself, Mr. Mills has quickly recognized
such abiUty in others. To him belongs the credit of training the
first woman guide Hcensed to take parties through the park.
To A Bluejay
A flash of blue,
A scolding cry.
Who is it darts across the sky?
Upon a twig,
Above his nest,
He sings,, and sings, and sings his best.
"You thief! You thief!"
He calls aloud.
Yet, he's the one thief in the crowd.
The bluejay calls,
The bluejay cries.
'Tis he, who darts across beneath the skies.
Elizabeth L. Langenbeck,
7th Grade, Powell School,
Washington, D. C.
Mister Crow
Dew in the morning,
Spring's in the land,
Old Mister Crow
Is here with his band.
Shiny and saucy.
The old fellow I saw, *
Down in the corn field,
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
Sun hot and glowing.
Summer is here;
Crow hunting breakfast,
Hop, grasshopper dear:
Farmer is coming.
Calls you a pest;
Fly, Mister Crow,
Fly to your nest.
Snow on the mountains,
Winter is here.
Everything lonesome.
Everything drear;
But up in the tree top,
My old friend I saw,
Saucy and cheery,
"Caw! Caw! Caw'"
John Leckey,
7th Grade Morgan School,
Washington, D. C.
[iqtoi;e-3tody qeView
% Devoted to Elementary Science in the Schools
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE
American Nature-Study
Three Days in the Mountains ^^''' ^^ ^- ^- ^''^^"''
See p. 202
The Camp Number
APRIL, 1921
Vol. 17 No. 4 Whole No. 143
20c a copy $1.50 a year
LECTURES ON REPTILES
AT CAMPS
FOR CAMP DIRECTORS, COUNCILLORS
AND CAMPERS
By
ALLEN S. WILLIAMS
Exhibits Of and Demonstrations With Living Specimens.
The Lecturer is Director of the Reptile Study Society
of America and Founder of The Camp Directors Asso-
ciation of America.
782 East 175th Street,
NEW YORK CITY
Tel. 5899 Tremont.
ATTENTION
CAMP OWNERS
AND OPERATORS!
PROTECT yourselves against loss through injuries to
members of your camp, the visiting pubhc and your em-
ployees.
Let us quote you rates.
"BE SURE AND INSURE"
SANDERSON BROTHERS
Tel. Union-6728.
THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17 April, 192 i No. 4
The First Nature-lore School
W. G. ViNAL
The summer camp is evolving a nature-study method of its own.
It is not class-room science. It is not camp botany. It is not
information at the expense of inspiration. It is not naming birds
and trees. It is coming to be called nature-lore instead of nature-
study. It is a spirit unto itself. It is an atmosphere that one
must experience before he can impart it. It is an active love for
nature.
The National Association of the Directors of Girls Camps at
their Boston Meeting in the winter of 1920 voted to hold a Nature-
lore School for Camp Councilors during the last of the following
June. Mrs. Charlotte Gulick of the Luther Gulick Camps and
Miss Laura I. Mattoon of Camp Kehonka, with Mr. William G.
Vinal of Camp Chequesset as Chairman were appointed as a
committee of three to work out the idea.
This school was held at Camp Chequesset, Wellfieet, Massa-
chusetts, Down on Cape Cod from June 22 to June 29, 1920.
Chequesset is located on the coast where earth sculpturing is
written simplest and largest. Lake sh )Te lines are interpreted by
Cape Cod cliffs and bays. There are also young rivers and mean-
dering streams, bog deposits, glacial drift, shifting dunes, and primi-
tive peat.
Scientists know Cape Cod as the meeting place of plants and
animals. These forms find their way there from the cold north
and the sunny clime of the south. Many mountain plants venture
into the cold bogs. It is cosmopolitan nature, an ideal spot for the
naturalist.
The program varied with the spirit of the weather. It consisted
of:
A Half Day Around Camp — Gardening, notebook, nature games,
leaf printing, bird calls, microscope, tow-net, aquarium, vivarium.
145
146
NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [14:4— April, 1921
score cards, maps, rainy day nature-study, weather, library methods
peculiar to camp nature-lore, camp museum, decoration, nature
photography.
A Half Day in the Fields — Making friends with birds, scanning
the shore, conserving wild flowers, protecting the forest, exploring
swamps, gathering minerals, reading hills, traveling by compass,
path-finding by map, surveying ponds, observing lower plants,
hunting small animals, foraging for food, cooking out-of-doors,
observing the laws of nature.
Evening Features — Hearing noted naturalists.
Nature-lore School for 1921
The Review is glad to announce that the Nature-lore School will
be held the last week in June at Camp Aloha, Lake Morey, Fairlee,
Vermont. Aloha is noted for the training of its councilors and
graduating them as camp directors. The course will be run on a
similar plan to the 1920 conference. Those interested in spending
a profitable week studying nature under specialists should apply
early to Mrs. Edward Gulick, 77 Addington Road, Brookline,
Massachusetts.
Chequesset Girls Investigating an Old, Old Story that reads like a
myth. This tree trunk is only seen at low tide. When it grew this spot was
an upland. A peek into one of the notebooks would help one realize that
"truth is stranger than fiction."
Round Table on Camp Nature-study*
Dallas Lore Sharp
Do you advise the use of the Notebook? You don't know what
you think until you put it down. A notebook helps to be accurate.
I am poverty stricken about a story I am writing as I did not take
notes when in Georgia. It has held up a book. Writing is thought
and feeling and not knowledge. I use notebooks in camp. The
notebook habit is a mighty good habit.
What is the most essential characteristic of a nature councilor?
You cannot do it well unless you feel it honestly. It is an
instinctive love, a natural love. The real love of out-of-doors
includes not only the love of the rose but the snake. One ought
to experience the great silences. Take groups out in the dead of
night. Take them out in a downpour. Call a butterfly a butter-
fly and not a fairy.
How would you start nature-study in camp?
The work ought to be done in groups. Segregate according to
training or experience. The economic side is appealing to the
young boy. RecalHng favorite literature is a good way to get
started. Adventure or a camping expedition causes a good many
to go. The sport side, as fishing, and the collecting idea, as insects
may be a starting point. Throw out a challenge, as — Can you
collect the 138 flowers in your trip to Maine as Thoreau did?
Search for a rare thing, as an orchid.
How can one get an interest in nature?
Peter Bell. — "A primrose by a river's brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more."
Peter Bell had been to school to a botanist. This is a serious
thing. One has to be poet bom to appreciate nature. Most
of you were poet born but died at twenty. The use of the How-to-
know book is only the beginning of the interest. This is a round
about method. It limits the field of activity. Kingsley says,
"He is a good naturahst who knows his own parish thoroughly."
*This is not an article written by Professor Sharp, but a compilation— made
by permission — of notes taken from his answers to questions asked at a Round
Table at the Nature-lore School held at Camp Chequess-t. We believe tliat
the notes are accurate but Professor Sharp is not rcsponsil)k' for them in the
same way as if he had written the article.
147
148 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
Why do college graduates fail as nature councilors?
Athletic councilors can be found by the thousands but not
nature councilors. The job of the college graduate is to get the
campers to know five ferns, five insects, five flowers, etc. The
college graduate thinks that you have to put nature in alcohol
and stain it, and look at it through a microscope. Biology is now
on the scoring of intestinal parasites of a flea. Professor Charles
Eliot Norton recently told a literary club about a student who
could not come any more to a class in aesthetics. He did not have
time on account of his research work.
What is your opinion of stories not true to nature?
There is nothing in ancient or modem mythology as wonderful
as the truth. There is no ring tailed screamer or invention of man
as wonderful as that invented by nature. I have lived in the
woods all my life and have never seen any extraordinary animal.
I have seen three legged muskrats but they were caught in a trap.
But the children do not believe these things?
The real trouble is that the authors in the preface swear that
they are true. These animals are humans with coats of feathers
and furs. These things never happen out-of-doors and they never
will. There is no reason for not reading them. They all start
the same — with an extraordinary animal. If the book takes the
children ouf-of-doors, well and good. This is a day of movies and
they can understand such things.
What ought we to give the children to read?
At the back of all great literature, art, and music, is the out-of-
doors. Nature gives it virtue. One is not educated unless
they have read : Story of the Dog of Flanders, Tanglewood Tales,
the Round Table, Wonder Book, Aesops' Fables, few of Hans
Christian Anderson's, Mother Goose, Alice in Wonderland, and
Water Babies. I would give them books by Burrough'^ Gilbert
White, and Jeffries.
"Where Should Nature-study Come on the Program?"
Mrs. Charlotte Gulick
The Luther Gulick Camps
Until we introduced gardening we had no stated time for our
nature work. Gardening gave an excuse for it. To learn nature
lore per se is not interesting to many children. Many people
believe that those who want to be studying and labeling every
thing are not the true lovers of nature. I have a friend who dis-
likes to take a walk with anyone who must identify every bird he
sees or hears. It robs him of the joy of the bird itself and its song.
The love of knowledge and the feeling one acquires through contact
with nature needs to be recognized and taken into account. Many
children hate learning names and yet enjoy the objects they meet.
It is a delicate matter to handle. We can so easily make them
dislike what we are trying to m.ake them love if we make too much
of a list making occupation of it. Learning about nature should
come naturally and joyously. I know of a father who loved the
sunsets and morning mists and mountain tops and was constantly
taking his little daughter with him expecting her to have on these
occasions the same thrills which he had, but she dreaded to go with
him and he was heart broken because his little daughter did not
love what meant so much to him. He was expecting her to have
experiences beyond her years. So it seem.s to me that we may
easily do harm — that there is considerable danger in this matter.
It is better to know one tree and love it than to know a dozen and
not love one.
So, as I said before, gardening gave us many excuses for learning
about nature. Nature's secrets were unveiled unconsciously.
While cultivating the garden they heard the indigo bunting sing-
ing, and looking up saw it perched on the tip top branch of the
apple tree. Of course they were delighted and wanted to know
what bird it was. And when the bees were buzzing around the
corn tassles they wanted to know what was happening, giving
a wonderful opportunity for explaining one of nature's beautiful
secrets. Near the garden we have an old farm house whicli we
have converted into a living museimi. When a storm comes u])
it is the natural place to gather. In the house there is a complete
collection of bird skins of all the birds the children will sec during
the summer, there is a microscope and there arc beautiful slides
149
150 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
which they adore looking at. Last summer they were shown the
circulation of blood in a frog's leg and the feathery wing of a butter-
fly. Many a happy half hour was spent with the microscope.
We have the necessary apparatus for drying specim.ens and mount-
ing the same. The younger children adore taking home carefully
mounted specimens of butterflies and beetles. Some years we
have collected m-aterial for the use of nature study in the public
schools of New York.
In the farm houses are also boxes covered with netting where
caterpillars are being carefully fed and watched vmtil they spin
their cocoons, ants of various kinds are there being fed and watched
from day to day. The girls warder about this room and learn
just by seeing the things abcut them.
Keeping bees came naturally to camp when we had to conserve
sugar, not that we profited m.uch in this way but it gave another
excuse for learning a wonderful art.
Cur camp is divided into units of twenty to a unit, five councilors
and fifteen girls. In the morning after assembly a unit goes to the
farm, half of the unit has horseback riding and the other half
gardening and nature lore. They then turn about, the girls who
had horseback riding now have gardening and the girls who were
gardening have the horses. It makes a happy combination.
In the afternoon another unit goes to the farm and the same
program is carried out. It enables each girl to have this experience
three times each week.
Besides these hours at the farm we have a set of walks, bird
walks, a swamp walk, a shore walk, when we go to the ocean, a
deep woods walk, a cross country walk, a roadside walk, a trail
walk and the kind of a walk one would take with a five year old.
Back of all this we have established two ranks in nature lore,
which the girls may attain during the summer. ' We have a printed
list of the honors which they may win. These lists serve as pegs
upon which they can assemble what they learn. From the list
are selected those which they must learn to attain to the ranks.
The first rank is that of a Toddler. This name may seem queer
but it is to impress upon the girl that she is not learning nature lore
for herself alone. There will always be toddlers asking questions
and the easiest time to learn how to answer these questions is
when she herself is young. What opportunities are lost by not
being able to answer simple questions asked by a little child!
GULiCK] WHERE SHOULD NATURE-STUDY COME 151
The second rank is that of Walker. This name also has an inner
significance. We want to make walking an art.
We are constantly adding to and taking away from our require-
ments as we get more and more experience and notice how the
girls respond to them. The object being always to make them love
what they are getting.
Special occasions are always coming, as when we hiked around
the lake (forty-five miles and a half) . Instead of a mob of thirty
going together they were divided into units of six each. Each unit
had a captain and special things were assigned to each unit to
observe and report when the trip was over. A record was kept
of birds heard and seen, of flowers, trees, cloud formations, con-
stellations seen at night, etc. Beautiful artistic "counts" were
presented to the assembled camp soon after the trip, and a prize
was given the unit giving the best report. Another year a pair
of cedar-waxwings nested so near that we could easily see all that
was going on. A record was kept of the number of feedings
and what they consisted of from early dawn until dark. Last
year a porcupine came at night and gnawed at one of the under-
pinnings of a bungalow to which we objected. It was shot and next
day dissected. The quills were interesting but not nearly so
interesting as when our nature teacher showed the lungs filled with
air, which she did by connecting a glass tube to the air passages
and blowing into it. It was a beautiful sight. Every one was
fascinated. Then the taming of chipmunks has always interested
our girls. Every morning their little visitors come and if the girl
has not been too greedy herself she will have saved some peanuts
and have tucked them under her pillow for such an occasion.
So when I am asked "when does nature study come on my
program" I cannot answer it. I wish that every director and
councilor could go to the nature study conference in June. It
seems as if all of us should have this great love so inbred in us
that children may catch it just as they catch measles or chickenpox.
One child can give measles to many and I believe that any one of
us may become the radiating center from which this precious
inheritance may begin. It cannot be scheduled . It begins at early
dawn and goes through the day and into the night. It must be
lived, it is a spirit, one either has it or hasn't it.
What we are trying to give our girls in eight weeks is what Henry
Turner Bailey says is the birthright of every child.
Counsel for Councillors
Camp Chequesset, Down on Cape Cod
W. G. ViNAL
Nature-Study Leaders
The question often arises, — ^Am I suited to leading nature-study
trips? or, How can I train myself to become a nature leader?
The following notes will help individuals solve the problem.
Do you take walks in the fields and woods f Or do you prefer th&
movies?
Are you willing to say " I do not know''? If not you will not
enjoy leading children. Those who know most say "I do not
know" with most ease.
Do you use ''big words"? Names are only a means to an end.
Never require the learning of scientific names. Use a popular
language.
Do you tell true to nature stories? Has your experience been rich
enough to enable you to round out a study now and then with a
true story? Or is your story telling limited to nursery rhyme and
faking.
What kind of heels do you wear? The kind of heels one wears
proclaims deep facts about one's innermost self. People with
common sense wear low heels. Out-door leaders should have
common sense.
Do you carry a jack-knife? Guides, tramps, fishermen, boys,
scouts, do.
Will a dog follow you? There are people whom a dog will not
follow. A dog makes friends. He knows them. Do you make
friends with dogs?
Will a chicken eat out of your hand? This is a true test of worth.
Can you whistle? This joyful pastim.e is not a m.onopoly for
boys. A whistling girl is an asset to any comm-unity. Can you
imitate bird-calls?
Do you teach nature-study? Are you so impressed with its value
that you cannot help imparting it to others? "All foreigners"
you say? "All Americans" I say. Have you tried it? By what
right have you not?
Did you ever see the sun rise? Probably not if you went some-
where every night last week, and the same the week before that,
ad infinitimi. A regular "m-ania" for going. Sharp contrast
152
viNAL] COUNSEL FOR COUNCILLORS 153
to "early to bed and rise". To see the sun rise once and then
again because it is so beautiful is true culture.
Did you ever sleep out in the open? Fearlessness of nightly
spooks is absolutely essential to good sense in the day. If you can
have a good time sleeping on the rough ground you have one
quality of a naturalist.
Do you attract groups of people around youf A councilor must
attract. It is not sufficient "to get along" with people. How do
you attract?
How far can you go into the woods without discovering something?
Thoreauused to worry if he had gone a few feet without seeing news.
Are you a campfire leader? If so, you are interested in girls an^
nature.
Do you shrink from cows, toads, snakes, and earthworms? Do
you add school girl superlatives when you retreat? If you feign
fear it is because adults taught you the example. To pass this
along is a crime.
Can you throw a hall like a hoy? This is a test to your early love
for the out-doors. I wish there were more tomboys. It is a
compliment.
Do you ever feed the hirds? This shows an active or superficial
interest.
In what way do you protect wild life? Do you leave the wood-
lily where it grew? Do you go around or through a beautiful plant
collection? Do you pick bunches or sprays? Have you stepped
over or on worms ? Why?
Are you always dwelling on the heauties of some other place?
You should not to do this unless you can see something beautiful
where you are?
Did you ever climh a tree? You should once even after twenty.
What pets have you had? What became of them? Why?
Did you ever dig in the soil with your hands? A child has this
interest.
What collections have you made? And why did you make them?
Are you a college graduate? It is not necessary, to be a successful
nature leader. Many of the most successful ones are successful in
spite of their education in school. They were taught in a woods-
school.
Do you object to a tan? How much talcum powder do you use
to avoid this?
154 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
Did you ever go out into the rain for a walk f Did you really en j oy it ?
Will weeds or seeds or slips grow for you? Explain your answer.
How would you dress for a hike? No hat, huge miiff, low shoes,
muffler, hobble skirts, bright colors, etc? etc? etc?
Nature-Study Equipment
Aquarium
Half-barrels are good for water plants and fish.
Battery jars for glass aquaria — Whitall, Tatum Co., New York
City.
Fruit jars make good small aquaria.
Home-made glass aquaria may be cemented together. See
Hodges "Nature-study and Life."
Bee Hives
Observation Hive with protection when not observing. The
A. I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio. "How to Keep Bees,"
Comstock, same Company.
Blackboard
Home-made blackboard — use linoleum in wooden frame. Paint
black.
Bulletin Board
Use natural color art burlap. Andrew Button, Canal St.,
Boston, Mass. Twenty-five to thirty cents per yard. Note: All
prices are liable to vary.
Charts
Use unbleached muslin. Camp Kehonka uses curtains on rollers •
Birds
Audubon Society, 1974 Broadway, New York City.
Miniature Bird Pictures, 80 subjects, 3x4 inches, ic. each.
Game of 52 Wild Birds; Game of 35 Wild Flowers, 35c. each.
Post cards in natural colors of Wild Birds, Animals, etc.
Seventy-five leaflets, 43 colored plates, 41 outline drawings, 97
half tone illustrations, $1.75 postpaid. One hundred fifty
colored lantern slides, 80c. each. Bird Charts No. i and No.
2 especially recommended.
International Harvester Company, Extension Department,
Harvester Building, Chicago. Mimeographs Copy of Helps
in Bird Study sent free. Working drawings for making
things, IC. each: i. Wren House. 2. Bird Feeding Station.
viNALj COUNSEL FOR COUNCILLORS 155
3. Nesting Box for Robin. 4. Plant Protector.
Mumford, A. W., 160 Adams Street, Chicago, Illinois.
Birds and Nature Picttires, colored, 25c. each.
National Geographic Society, i6th and M Streets, Washington,
D. C, "200 pages illuminated with 250 matchless subjects in
full colors, 45 illustrations in black and white, and thirteen
striking charts and maps." $3.00 post paid in United States.
Perry Picture Company, Maiden, Mass., 300 bird pictures in
color, size 6" x 8'', 2c. each. Special prices on large orders.
State of New York, State University, Albany. Birds of N. Y.
$1 set.
Winnetaska Bird Charts, Dr. John B. May, Cohasset, Mass.
Cards sH" x zH" with outline drawings, legends, and notes on
habits. Eighteen land birds, 4 each of wading, swimming,
and birds of prey. 30c. per set post paid. Recommended
for field work.
Clouds
Charts of cloud forms : (a) Blueprints, 1 6 " x 23 ", 5c. ; (b) Classi-
fication of clouds, colored, 20" x 24", 25c. Free through Con-
gressman or U. S. Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau,
Washington.
Geography (Pictorial)
Land, water and air, 48 sheets, $1.00; United States (Prelim.)
, (48 sheets) $1.00. Pictorial Geography, Dept. B, 16 and M St.,
Washington.
Insect Breeding Cages
Simple cages covered with mosquito netting. Have sods, soil,
or potted plants inside. Adapted to studying the life histories.
Leaf Printing
Need the following material: printers roller, tube of printers
ink, photo-mount roller, piece of glass or old slate, and paper.
See Comstock's Handbook of Nature -study for directions.
Maps
Most valuable is the Topographic Map published by the U. S.
Geol. Survey, Washington, D. C. Obtain Monograph 60 by
Atwood, Salisbury.
Maps
Outline maps, made by means of mimeograph, are most valuable.
This is especially true of the immediate locality.
156 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17:4r-April, 1921
Minerals
A collection of the minerals of the region and exhibits of the
local mining industries should be in the Camp Museum.
Twenty minerals and 20 rocks in compartments, $4.50, Chicago
Apparatus Company, 32 S. Clinton St., Chicago. Also Ward
Nat. Hist. Est. Rochester, N. Y.
Museum
Making a case is a good manual training project. Use vials
for seeds and soil. Labels. Exhibits of local industries.
Riker Mounts for insects. Kny-Scheerer Co., 225 4th Ave., New
York.
Notebook
The Comstock Publishing Co., Ithaca, New York is putting on the
market a loose leaf notebook especially adapted to nature-study
in the field. It also has pages for accoimts, music, and photos.
The name of the camp or school will be printed on the outside.
Every camper should have one of these notebooks. Price about
$1.25, at least as near cost as market conditions will allow.
An indoor or rainy-day notebook printed by Mr. Marion Weston,
R. I. College of Education, Providence, Rhode Island, is especi-
ally recommended for this phase of nature-study. Five to eight
outline drawings per page, 40 pp. 8>^" x s}4\ 8 pages flowers,
8 tree leaves, 14 birds, to be colored. Other pages to be printed.
Set with index pages and cover, 50c. postpaid. Separate pages
2C. each.
Pictures
Perry Picture Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 7" x 9' pictures in
natural colors of birds, animals, minerals, fruits, etc., 2c. each,
assorted as desired. No order for less than 25c.
Thompson Blue Prints, Syracuse, New York. Subjects general.
Stereopticon Lantern
Acetylene burner and prestolite tank for camps without electric-
ity.
Tree Survey
Send for Horticultural and Pomological Investigations, B. P. I.,
Form number 219, U. S. Dept. Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Instructions for taking a Bird Census, U. S. Dept. Agric, Bureau
Biological Survey, Henry W. Henshaw, Chief, were published
in 1914 and 1915.
VINAL] COUNSEL FOR COUNCILLORS 167
Trees
Trees in Silhouette, by Henry Turner Bailey. Published by
Atkinson, Mentzer and Company, Boston, Mass., and New York
City.
Forest trees, each picture g" x 12", consists of 3 pictures. Price
I set, 8 sheets, 24 pictures, 40c. Three sets $1.00.
Camps and schools wishing t3 help the cause of nature-study
and humanity are asked to send material to Mrs. Northup, School
Nature League, 25 Norfolk Street, New York City.
These sheets mean time, labor, and expense. They are printed
for the good of the work. Please freely accept and in return freely
give of your ideas and experiences in nature-lore. If you hear of a
good thing pass it along. That is what we are doing.
— For the cause of nature-study.
The Camp Notebook
A long and varied experience of taking notes in the field has
led to the conclusion that a camp notebook must be :
(i). Looseleaf
a, as each camp and camper will have individual needs
and desires;
b, so that only the pages needed for the trip scheduled are
inserted ;
c, so that the pages of the previous trip may be safely
filed at camp ;
d, in order that the pages may be arranged at the end of
the season and neatly bound.
(2). Handy size, to be carried in a pocket or attached to a belt.
(3). Standard size, so that printed directions, identification
charts, outline drawings, tables, etc. can be inserted or
transferred to all field books.
(4). Firm, smooth covers, that they may be used for a drawing
board or a writing desk in the field.
(5). Durable, to stand hard usage on the hike.
Camp directors will appreciate the fact that the Comstock
Publishing Company has found such a book and is at the same
time placing on the market the pages asked for by each camp di-
rector. Such a cooperative policy bodes well for all concerned.
158 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17 :4— April, 1921
One of the most successful pages is the tree chart which shows
in a compact space the outlines of leaves of our common trees.
It is a page which is typical of other key sheets to be published.
The bird outlines, already well known in schools, have been
adapted to this "coat-pocket" edition.
Several camps have tried out the scheme and the following notes
describe its use at Camp Chequesset. The idea was so successful
that the directors of Camp Chequesset wish to have other camps
share the benefits, not that they will do it the same way, but that
they may start according to their environment and individuality.
Our slogan is "The Nautical Camp for Girls" and all our doings
whisper of the sea. Mountain camps will readily translate these
breezes from the shore into the airy vernacular of the mountaineer.
Page One, The Topographical Map.
The government topographical map is the best map for use in
the field. It may be obtained from the Director of the U. S.
Geological Survey, Washington, D. C, at $6.oo per hundred.
The Survey publishes a key map that shows just which areas have
been mapped. It has also selected a set of 25 maps that illustrate
an interesting variety of geographic features. Some of this set
have descriptive texts printed on their backs. The set can be
purchased from the Survey by any one for $1.00. In ordering, use
a money order or certified check.
The map is most conveniently used when cut into sections and
mounted on cheese cloth. The section most often used would be
the area about camp. If the camp is located near the center of a
three mile radius one may cut out a rectangle measuring 73/8 inches
by 6j^ inches, and have a folding map that fits into the notebook.
Using the lines of longitude and latitude as a starting place, and
mark off the map into inch squares. Each inch represents approxi-
mately a mile. Ntimber the lines and therafter places may be
located by their latitude and longitude.
We now have ready one of the most useful pages of the notebook.
Safe pioneering, the compass and trail, and real scouting are based
upon it. The description of two ways of using the .map at Camp
Chequesset may suffice to indicate the possibilities.
(i). The King's Highway: The old King's Highway was once
the route of the saddle horse and the stage coach. This was before
the railroad and the state road ran down the Cape. The roadway
is then pointed out on the map. The campers are now told that
vinal]
COUNSEL FOR COUNCILLORS
159
ye old highway has been abandoned to trees and bushes which
are rapidly claiming their right of domain. It takes a good scout
to follow this hidden trail. For a short distance it is seen in old
wagon ruts, — then keener searching for hub bruises or blazes on
^^^^^sl^K
■Mm,f'
*,rx-»*r?^T-'^
Chequesset Campers Sketching an Old Sea Cliff. Scouting is not
limited to the footprints of today. Note the Indian shell heap (A) in the right
of the bank. The dark line (B) in the cliff shows the contour of the original
hill top. Where once was an ancient valley (C) is now a hill or sand dune (D).
The original hill (E) was deposited by the glacier. The exposed roots of the
bayberry (F) and beach grass (G) show that the cliff is retreating. When
written in story form this makes an interesting chapter in the past geography of
the shore line of Wellfieet Bay.
tree trunks, — or just sheer luck with the compass along the valley
they must have ' ' f ollered" . The frontiersm.an never had a grander
opportunity for a battle of wits. You will note that this byway
is crossed by longitude 70 degrees and by latitude 42 degrees
and 55 minutes north. Between these two points is an advance
guard. Squads will be sent at twenty minutes intervals with
messages for the Captain of the guard. As a parting word of
advice remember that haste makes waste, the fox is cunning, and
sheep follow a leader without thought.
(2). Bellamys Kettle. Long, long ago Bellamy's Pirate ship
was wrecked at South Wellfieet. The inhabitants of the Cheques-
set country harvested the plunder of old coins, flintlocks, and
kettles. Each year one of these copper kettles is hidden near
camp. One time the kettle was concealed at the lowest point on
the camp grounds. This proved to be at the bottom of tlie ])ond
160 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
by the garden. The discoverers found something worth while
jingling in the kettle. They were coins found on Billingsgate
Island and given to the camp by Mr. Nye as medals for the winners
of this game. This year the kettle has been buried with a "big
secret" on the highest siunmit northeast of camp. Find the kettle
and bring it back to camp without being captured. You may
study your contour maps and work out the best method of locating
and moving the trophy. For each person disturbing the camp
routine, such as lateness to a meal, a point will be taken off the final
score of that team. The captain of each team will appoint a place
for you to m.eet for council and maneuver. The success of the
expedition depends upon strategy. Compasses, field glasses,
pedometers, etc., may be obtained at the camp library.
The Page of Tree Leaves. (A few suggestions for use) . On these
trips the contour map and the tree page are carried in the note-
book.
( I ) . Tree Spying. Stop at a tree, such as the wild black cherry.
Each one identifying the tree by use of the leaf chart within three
minutes time is given a point. For each mistake a point is sub-
tracted. At the end of the trip add the scores and announce the
winners.
(2). Tree Scouting. Appoint leaders to choose teams. Tell
them to study the oak leaves on the chart and then at a given signal
give them three minutes to obtain a white oak leaf. The tree
given should be known to be nearby. At the end of three minutes
blow a whistle. Those back in their places with a white oak leaf
(no more, no less) score a point. Next send them scouting for a
red oak acorn, a balm-of-Gilead bud, and so on. The team scoring
the greatest ntmiber of points represents the group of best tree
scouts.
(3). Tree Trailing. Hide messages "en route" and send out
companies 30 minutes apart. The messages may read as follows:
Take the valley trail to the east until you see a large yellow willow.
In an abandoned flickers home is a note. Read it carefully.
This note may read, — Within sight of this spot is a silver poplar.
As far from the tree as it is high and in the direction of its noonday
shadow is buried a message on birch bark. Please leave this
scroll as you find it. The group following the directions fartherest
and in the quickest time wins the honor of the trail.
viNAL] COUNSEL FOR COUNCILLORS 161
■ (4). Tree Cribbage. This may be played for a time when on a
long hike. Assign a nimierical value to certain trees. One group
may take one side of the road and the other the opposite or the
points may go to the side recognizing the tree first. In this case
it leads to a long range recognition by form. (Trees "en masse"
and silhouettes suggest interesting rainy day projects for the note-
book).
Taking the Notebook on Special Trips. As an example of this
sort of use of the notebook we will describe our trip called, — "To
the Hermitage": Every bailiwick has its hermit. Ours is a
grizzly sea-dog who has taken to land some two miles from the
coast. He is a Thoreau-like individual reminding one considerably
of that famous naturalist who walked the length of the Cape
some three-quarters of a century ago. The present recluse has
squatted on the site of his great grandsire's claim and his tract
reaches unto the shores of the same pond. From the cedar swamp
in back he has lugged, dragged, and rolled in turn the logs for the
framework of his hut. The adz, an heirloom, has again plaved
its part and the timbers have been slowly hewn into shape for the
sills and rafters. A clump of lilacs, he will tell you all this, marks
the east bedroom of the old homestead — long since tumbled and
gone. Of the old days — naught remains to suggest ancestral
fortitude or thrift but scraggly apple trees, decrepit. g:narled. and
windblown, with a few belichened fence lails.
Our equipment for this trip is the nDtebook with a map, two
pages of drawing paper, two pages for notes, colored crayons,
a reverence for the crudities of pioneer days, an eagerness to hear
and understand a backwoods language, — a woodsy speech which
has all but disappeared, and a desire to express the experience in
writing and in sketch with an understanding heart. Following a
preparation in spirit it was suggested that the campers might like
to make a list of the evidences of an early homestead, the methods
of a pioneer, the reasons for believing that he has a love for nature,
and quaint expressions. What greater wealth of material could
one wish for a future school essay (if one can forgive such trespass-
ing) or, if the spirit of the letter has not been killed, for the very
joy of writing Hterature (note spelling with a small 1).
Note, then, that every camp region has its hermit. Hermits
vary. It ought not to be necessary to say "know your liermit".
Hermitages vary as also does the region there-abouts. Therefore,
162 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
every camp has an experience unto itself with respect to hermits.
Not only that but every individual camper has a different reaction
to the experience. The stories and drawings therefore show an
individuality of response. A few of these are selected at random
from the notebooks. These quotations have not been changed.
They are borrowed from the personal property of the owner for a
definite cause and not for criticism. And let it be emphasized
that nature councilors are not to trespass o.n this private property
with a red eye or a red pencil for spelling, split infinitives, or
vertical twists to the penmanship. The nimiber of poets and
writers killed off by this method will never be revealed but let
us not kill the spirit in camps. And as Mrs. Comstock says in her
Handbook oj Nature-Study "These books, of whatever quality, are
precious beyond price to their owners. And why not? For they
represent what cannot be bought or sold, personal experience
in the happy world of out-of-doors."
Mr. Dyer {The Hermit). From the field book of "Btmips", age
eleven years, the youngest girl at Chequesset.
'* His grandfather settled here years ago. The pond was named
for him. The lilac bushes and the fruit trees indicate the great
age of the place. The Hermit has planted boughs on the north
side of his com to protect it from the cold. He also made a wheel-
barrow with much patience and care. He has made a little bird
house on the top of a stick driven into an old stump which has been
there for many years. He has some timbers left from those used
to build his house. Back of his house he has made a chicken coop
of pine boughs. He has placed boards on either side to weigh
the boughs down and keep them together. He shows his interest
in flowers and trees by planting and taking care of both. Around
his garden is a fence to prevent the deer's (they are seen frequently
in this region) from eating all the beans over night as they did one
year. Years ago the house used to be almost up to the water's
edge but the new house which Mr. Dyer made himself is back
much farther. Mr. Dyer seems to take an interest in camp girls
and is not a bit timid about answering questions."
Photo Mount Sheets :x These are special sheets for snapshots.
These little "pleasantries" like the principal on compound interest,
double in value in a few years. Is it any wonder that this book,
probably Volume I of the author, becomes so highly prized as years
roll on ?
vinal] counsel for COUNCILLORS 163
The Bulletin Board is an important adjunct to the notebook.
At the end of a trip a few of the best and most original sketches,
stories, poems, snapshots, and collections are exhibifed on the bul-
letin board. This bulletin board is not a place for drying or airing
ideas. It is a live place because it is newsy. Yesterday's hike
differs from today's story and tomorrow's game. The blackfish
are playing in the offing, — It is a kind of whale, — ^Watch for any
proof? The bluefish are running down the Bay, — Ten fishermen
are wanted, on the wharf at 3 p. m. Beach plimis are ripe, — Follow
Barbara right after breakfast. The sand pipers are hatching, — •
'Nuf sed!' Poultry men sign here for tura to collect the eggs.
There is always something going on. It is refreshing. It is a
medium for the exchange of ideas and more than one good resolu-
tion is made to an ideal (not idol) at this shrine of activity (not
sanctum sanctorum).
Nature-study Forms (Bird, animal, and flower plates).
A resolution was made at Chequesset that no study of plant or
animal life should be made except it be alive and in its native
haunt. It is surprising how many of these opportunities are
waiting for the one who looks for them. When ordering our
supplies for the camp notebook we limit the order to the living
things at hand.
Last June we knew that the barn swallow was feeding her young
on the bungalow porch ; that the chickaree had rented the mail-
box in the pines; that a chippy, a robin, and a pine warbler were
within 30 feet of the dining room door; that Bufo the toad was
beneath the steps; that the blue-birds were rearing their second
families in the boxes; that red perch would be caught at Gull
Pond ; that the squid, and the skate, and the hermit crab would
be seen on the shore ; that the swamp azalea would scent the ponds
and arethusa dot the meadows. We knew many, many friends
that would be at camp and because we knew these friends, we knew
just which outlines to order from the publishers.
Then when simamer came with a rainy day there were those who
were anxious to color in the outline of the bam swallows as they
fed the young under the eaves of the piazza. And just because
Someone was interested in doing this, others became interested.
Then so many caught the spirit that it was quite the fashion.
And just because it was not a school there were others who did
not care or shall we say did not have to "join in". They had found
164 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
something more interesting, — perhaps they were reading Cap'n
Eri, or were making fudge, or a pine needle basket, or were just
gazing at the tolors of a drift-wood fire. What ever they were
doing it was genuine. And we believe that it was all making for a
broader intelhgence.
The pine warbler arrar ged her class room for a sunny day. She
had built a nest in a small pitch pine about six feet from the ground.
In this case a sm.all table was moved to the side of the tree. Here
a camper could sojourn with water colors or merely pause for a
peep at the young on the way to mess. She who studied the
swallow might not care for the pine warbler or might have some
other interest — and at the camp the interests are varied and m,any.
Several passerby s so gained the confidence of the mother bird that
they were able to stroke her — not a m.ean accomplishment in itself.
And to that nervous little som_ebody from so far away this touching
of a wild bird was a contact with something far greater — it was a
mom.entary connection with steadiness of motion — better than
notebooks or rubies — for therein was the foreglow of self composure
and calmness. To all this the nattu-e councilor must subscribe
in vision and sympathy. What one should do on a particular
occasion cannot be forecast. It is not preparing prescriptions
nor is it dealing out patent medicines. It is furnishing oppor-
tunities for the love of the beautiful and timely suggestions for
companionship with out door Hfe. If in this the councilor be
sincere her companions will be many.
Chequesset Nature-cards. Plate number VI shows another
source of instruction. It is a story told by four pictures. These
pictures are taken from the camp environm.ent and arranged to
tell an important truth or serial event in nature. The cards are
given out as a surprise after having studied the phenomena or they
may serve as a suggestive basis for the written description. In
either case they form a bright spot in the complexity of future
living when the writer has a minute to pause for nature reminis-
cences of camping days.
Garden Competition
This was a novel competition in establishing boat gardens in old
seventeen foot dories sunk in the ground. The flower guide sheet,
to be published for the coming summer, would have aided greatly
in the game. Wellfleet is an ideal gleaning ground for such a fete.
vinal]
COUNSEL FOR COUNCILLORS
165
Chequesset Nature Cards. No. 1 — From
Ponds to Reclaimed Land. Questions : Cause of
ponds? How do long ponds become round ponds?
How are round ponds conquered by vegetation?
Uses of meadows?
lee NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [17:4— April, 1921
When the villagers turned their trade from whaling in the deep
sea to quahauging down the bay the houses were gradually moved
from the ocean side of the Cape to the harbor shore. The pretty
posies if the old fashion gardens were abandoned to fate and now
come camp girls scouting for the choicest bloomers to ornament
their boat plots. Tansy, iris, spurge, house leeks, yuccas, and
dusty miller were delegated to their proper places alongside the
Hudsonias and stonecrops from the wilds. The opposing teams
looked on with admiration as finishing touches were placed here
and there before the arrival of the judges.
And then came the judges with their notebooks — the art coun-
cilor, the nature councilor, and a senior camper. The gardens
were viewed most critically — with a fine tooth rake as it were.
First the judges took notes as to color, then as to choice and variety
of m.aterial, the arrangement and symmetry of form, how the
material was planted, and then the originality. Oiie crew had
made a sundial while the other had purchased a sailor windmill
and this was against them as they had spent money rather than
ingenuity. And the idea of permanency, — one garden showed a
tendency to run to plants that were in blossom for the time being.
Even the trimness of the ground around the boats did not escape
their scrutiny. Solomon's garden in all its glory could not have
been surveyed as were both of these.
A Final Word as to Notebooks.
We have been dilating about the opportunities and some of the
uses of note books at Camp Chequesset. If you are to use a
similar scheme you must get on deck and look at the beauties of
your own harbor. There are no more beautiful skies, no more
sweeter song birds, no greater history, no stauncher patriotism
in any harbor than at Wellfleet and these things are not better in
Wellfleet than in your town. Some day we hope to come over the
mountain and hear about the notebook on your side.
Due to large amount of material for this number, we had to omit a recom-
mended list of books for camps. This information will be mailed upon
request.
Camp Chequesset — The Boat Garden and the Winners
Learning to See and Hear
Agathe Deming
Camp Miramichi
Nature-study is so much a part of camp life that it is difficult
to discuss the subject from the point of view of methods used.
Even if we had not been interested in nature, circum.stances
would have forced that interest upon us, because it is impossible
to live for even a few weeks in the Adirondack woods without
coming intimately in contact with one's neighbors of the forest.
At one time, when our kitchen was a canvas-covered building,
open on two sides, we had nightly visitations from a family of coons
who ate our cereal out of the double boilers on the coal range, and
could not be discouraged by any weights which we placed on the
lids. One night we treed three little ones in a big hemlock and
routed the whole camp out of bed so that with the aid of flash-
lights, and in spite of the threatening sounds m.ade by the mother
coon in the nearby woods, the girls might see at close range the
beautiful little felloWs with their pointed ears, black m.arkings and
eager, wild eyes. We had acquaintance too with a porcupine,
but found him less attractive as he attem.pted to eat the kitchen
itself, and destroyed a number of our young hemlocks. vSquirrcls
and chipm.unks made free with our out-door dining room., stealing
bread and even whole oranges from the tables just l)cf(-re we
came tj meals. In our explorations we came ui)()n tlic work
167
168 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17:4r-April, 1921
of beaver, and were often obliged to carry our canoes Dver their
dams. We saw large poplars which they had felled and others
partially gnawed through, and took delight in walking along the
tops of their larger dams, as strong as man-made masonry. In the
evenings we heard the resounding smack of the scout's broad tail
on the water as he warned his colony of the approach of our canoes.
In the early morning and at dusk the white throated sparrow and
the hermit thrush sang to us.
In the northern Adirondacks we have not found traces of coon
or beaver, but we were welcomed to our new camp site by a family
of wrens which established themselves in an abandoned phoebe
nest on the veranda of the main house. Two broods were raised
during the same season the first year. Last summier they selected
the cam.p post-office and to insure privacy began a nest in each of
the eight compartments, finally completing one on the top row.
We had an unusual opportimity to watch the whole process of nest
building and then the feeding of the little ones and their first
attempts at flight. Cam_p life is full of such associations and
adventures.
In crder to obtain tangible results from their observations the
cam.pers are encouraged to work for certain standards of our own
making, and for the "coups" of the Woodcraft League. This does
not m.ean that a girl m^erely learns by name ten or twenty-five or
fifty flowers or bir^s, but that she can identify them in the field
and knows som.ething of their habits. The use of books or aid
in identification and the m.aking of smoke — or blue-prints for the
preservation of a record, in the case of flowers or ferns, are en-
couragements to accuracy. Then, too, one girl may make her
knowledge surer by helping another, and they give each other
preliminary tests before taking the final one which entitles them to
credit.
We have found the "scout reports", which are a feature of the
Woodcraft Council, a valuable stim.ulus to the "seeing eye".
The m.ost interesting observations are often saved for the weekly
council and there is friendly rivalry developed which does not,
however, tend to interfere with accuracy as any scout report may
be challenged in council and must be true to fact.
It is not only on specially arranged " nature walks" that campers
becGm.e acquainted with nature. The chief prerequisites are eyes
that see and ears that hear. Every trip that goes out from camp,
deming]
LEARNING TO SEE AND HEAR
169
whether a hike of a few hours, an all-day canoe trip, or an afternoon
spent in cutting a trail through the woods, brings back something
of interest to the whole camp. A rare variety of grape fern was
found by one girl on a mountain climb ; one group while looking for
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A Lesson in Learning to See and Hear at Camp Muranichi
a camping place cam.e within a few feet of a bittern ; first comers
to the dip one m.oming found a loon near the dock, and at another
time they saw a great blue heron resting on the raft.
Sometim.es on our all-day trips one group will challenge the rest,
before starting, to equal their record of observations for that day.
In the evening a spokesman from each group is chosen to give an
account of her trip, listing the observations of special interest, and
judges are appointed to decide which trip made the best record.
Before certain trips it may be decided that special attention be paid
to birds or flowers or ferns, as the case may be, in order to improve
the record of the camp along that line, and the records of the indivi-
dual campers who are working for coups.
If the leader has in mind a definite object, as for instance to
make sure that each child in her group shall l)e a1)lc to distinguish
between the different evergreens of the region, she may play tJie
following games on a hike. The leader should stand by a tree
170 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
near the trail and as the girls pass her in single file have each one
whisper to her the name of the tree. Those who are right should
then stand on the right side of the trail, the others on the left.
When all have had a chance let one of the "rights" explain to the
"lefts" the distinguishing features by which she recognized the
tree. The next time the leader should select a different kind of
tree, but in the course of the afternoon select the sam.e kind often
enough so that no child returns from the walk without knowing
very well three or four trees, and something about them. Informa-
tion which is useful to the girls as campers will stimulate interest
and make the trees som.ething more than names or part of the land-
scape. For instance, the fact that balsam boughs make an excel-
lent bed and spruce do not ; that hemlock stumps are an imfailing
source of tinder for a campfire in any weather.
One of our camp traditions is that every group which goes on
an overnight or longer trip makes up a sort of saga telling of all
their adventures, which is sting to the rest of the camp upon their
return. In these songs nature plays an important part. Mention
is made of such things as the kingfisher that followed some canoes
downstream, diving whenever he heard the splash of a paddle,
evidently mistaking the sound for the jtimping of a fish; of the
great mass of cardinal flowers glowing on the banks of the same
stream; of the white violets blooming in August in a clearing; of
the deserted nests of a colony of herons on a mountain side; of
the deer that stood near the tents of a camping party when they
awoke one July morning; of the glorious Northern lights with their
pulsating purples, greens and rose color, seen just before bedtime.
A favorite evening occupation at camp is the study of the constel-
lations. The best time for beginners is early when only the bright-
est stars such as Vega, Deneb, Altair and Arcturus are visible.
When the position of each is learned the others as they appear
can be related to them and very quickly the campers come to know
ten to fifteen star groups and something about at least one bright
star in each. When on the lake at night such information may
prove of practical value.
Among the night visitors to cam.p are the great barred owls
which come near the tents in twos and threes and from some high
branch send down unearthly sounds disturbing to the peace of
inexperienced campers. The great homed owls too make their
voices re-echo through the still woods late at night. During the
birdsall] nature WORK AT CAWP KEHONKA 171
day around camp the trees are full of warblers, finches, thrushes
and sparrows in their seasons, giving the children an opportunity
to becoro.e familiar with their appearance and to learn their notes.
A large birch near the eating porch is a favorite haimt for warblers
and has caused us to form the habit of coming to meals armed with
field glasses. The juncos are so tame as to eat crumbs off the floor
while we are at table.
Once they have learned to see and hear, campers find twenty-four
hours a day an all too short ''Nature Study Hour".
Nature Work at Camp Kehonka
Virginia Field Birdsall
"Afoot and lighthearted I
take to the open road."
It was with a sense of eager anticipation that I started for Camp
Kehonka last summer, after a most inspiring week at the confer-
ence of nature leaders on Cape Cod. The camp is situated on the
shore of New Hampshire's most picturesque lake — Winnipesaukee.
All about, the country is rich in m.aterial for nature study. The
lake shores are heavily wooded with hemlock, pine, fir, and birches.
Following the winding trails along the shore one comes upon many
a brook widening out to the blue waters of the lake. Back of the
woodland is the open country stretching away to the unfolding
hills beyond. Little wooded islands, like green ferneries, are
scattered throughout the lake, making it a veritable " Waters of the
Wondrous Isles."
Our first problem, at the opening of camp, was to arrange a
locus operandi for our work. All the camp buildings — the shop,
the loom house, the central lodge itself — were filled to their utmost
capacity. The only available space seemed to be the front room
of a sm.all building known in camp parlance as the "Pullman".
In a few days our "Treasure House," as we subsequently called it,
was ready for its housewarming. We had arranged tiers of sliclves
in one end for our nature library, one long, low shelf for collections
of nests and other "finds", and a table for our comixmnd micro-
scope. On the walls were hung our bird and flower calendars,
designed and executed by the girls, on large sheets of colored card-
board. The best designs had been selected in ()i)cn (M)ni])clili()n
and were most successful. The central S])ace was left in each
172
NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
calendar for the insertion of the names of birds and flowers ob-
served. Outside the house a long window box was placed to hold
ferns and other plants brought from the woods, and on the porch
a large square table held our aquarium, and terrarium.. Now —
with a Iccal habitation and a nam.e — we were ready for work.
Our aim — first, last, and always — was to m.ake nature study at
carri.p a joy and an adventure, — never an irksome task. Having
served for several years as head of an outdoor school where the
woodcraft work was given prominence, I had learned to value the
woodcraft council as an aid to nature study and decided to intro-
duce it into cur summer's program. The notice of our first council
as posted on the cam.p bulletin board, was written in the Indian
Picture Writing ar d read as follows :
Trwttir^l^^
^^\
The interpretation of the drawing is :
"On the Tenth Sun of the Thunder Mcon (the loth day of July)
we shall take the trail by cance to the hem.lock grove on the edge
of the water. There we shall hold a council. Scout reports of
flowers, birds and wild anim_als will be brought in. We shall also
have a poetry contest. If it rains the council will be held in the
lodge."
The council was opened by singing, with uplifted hands, the
Om.aha Tribal Prayer, after which scout reports were asked for.
These were brief accounts of birds, flowers, or wild anim.als ob-
served. The first scout to see any flower or bird "claimed" it in
council and this fact was noted on our nature calendars. At the
BiRDSALL] NATURE WORK AT CAMP KEHONKA 173
end of the season the campers having the greatest num.ber of claims
were rewarded with bird and flower guide books. There was
always great enthusiasm in bringing in interestiag reports. Occa-
sionally nature-poetry contests were held. Although the leaming
of poems was never required, there was always a large number of
contestants. The poem.s were given in the form of challenges
between two members of the same or of different bands, and the
winner was decided by a vote. Poetry given in this way — under
the open sky, with the sunset light shining from the "Promised
Land" over the waters of the lake — took on a real m.eaning and led
the campers to see through nature to the great Creator of all things.
One of the most interesting features of our sum.m.er's work was
the weekly Kehonka Nature Exhibit. This was placed through-
out the sum.m.er at the Public Library of Wolfeboro, a town some
three miles distant from our cam.p. We started it as a sort of
connecting link between the cam.p and the town and as a m.eans
of sharing with the townspeople some of our more interesting
discoveries. Each week a com.m.ittee of two m.embers was ap-
pointed by the campers to assist the nature counselor in assem.bling
the exhibit for the week. These exhibits took various forms.
One week we showed all the evergreens to be found in the region.
We gathered a fruiting branch of each variety, which we inserted
in a small cross-section of the wood. Another week all the birches
with their leaves, bark and fruit, made a beautiful collection.
We had great luck in finding a variety of nests, am.ong them some
rather unusual ones; such as the ovenbird's nest, the sandpiper's
nest, and a phoebe's nest in which bum.ble bees had m.ade their
homes. These nests proved to be one of the m.ost interesting of our
Hbrary exhibits. Towards the close of the season we proudly
exhibited a number of bird houses made by the cam.pers. These
were of all sorts and sizes, m.ade according to standard m.easure-
ments, from a cunning little rustic wren's house to a huge birch-
bark affair suitable for a screech owl. With each exhibit there
went a short description written in technical language and with
some appropriate reference to poetic literature. We were much
gratified when our Kehonka Nature Exhibit was noted several
times in the Granite State News, the town paper. But aside from
this mark of appreciation we felt well repaid for the time and effort
spent in this work by the real enjoyment which we expcricncx^l
in our search for new material.
174 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
The limited space of an article of this nature leaves many
points of interest untouched. We have simply noted some of the
high spots. We should like to tell about some of our woodland
pets — our "m.ost dear" tree toad, for example — or of our observa-
tion ant nest. In these few paragraphs, however, one can give
only enough to indicate the spirit of the summer's efforts. This
was that nature study should m.ean to these girls som.ething bigger
than the naming of ten ferns and twenty-five flowers and thirty
trees, — som.iething which would make their "hearts leap up when
they beheld a rainbow in the skies" and would lead them to be, —
like God's good world, — ^"rugged and wholesom.e and true."
Nature Study at Highland Nature Camp
Allen Barrows Doggett
2331 Foster Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
The stmimer camps for boys and girls, scattered from Maine to
Colorado, are nature's own schools — ^with study halls by every
road and lakeside, text books in every tree and opening flower,
and hours that are set neither by the rising of the sun nor the
fading of the stars. The Director of nature study, in any camp,
may do little more than unlock the doors and introduce his or her
students to a few familiar friends and faces; leaving, always,
however, a strong desire to know and see m.ore. Such a desire
can hardly be awakened except by one who is familiar with nature
and her ways and able to impress upon awakening nature — intelli-
gence the beauties, the lovable qualities and the peculiar relation-
ships of this or that tree or flower or woodland creature.
At our camp (Highland Nature), we began with the Jimiors
because they had the least acquaintance with nature. Some had
seen little of real country before; they were eager to learn and had
fewer interests in the more strenuous camp activities. We felt
that every new experience should and would make a lasting im-
pression upon their lives; they, in turn, would fill up the ranks
of the Camp Nature — lovers, as they returned, year after year,
and became interested, observing Intermediates and Seiiors.
Our method was to take a little group of perhaps twenty (always
about ten too many) for a walk, telling them that before reaching a
certain bridge, a few hundred yards away, we should find at least
DOGGETT] NA T URE STUDY AT HIGHLA ND CA MP 175
twenty-five different plants or flowers. This, of course, was an
astonishing number to them and they would go about the hunt in
a very unsystematic scramble. First they were called back to look
at a little chickweed, with its delicate mouse-eared flower, that was
just at their feet; near it they found a white clover, then a red
clover, a daisy, an Am.erican plantain — which some recognized as
"bird seed" and remembered how mother or auntie had gathered
the seed whips for the canary bird at home. So we walked on,
finding flower after flower until we came to a damp spot by the
roadside, with some smartweed growing. All were invited to take
a little bite of the leaf and chew it for a moment. The result
was an uprorar of laughing and screaming, while not a few leaves
were gathered to be given to "best friends" later on.
As we came nearer to the water, there was some slightly marshy
ground and here we picked a few yellow flowers which, when
rubbed, smelled unmistakably of — ^mustard. ! Then the girls were
asked to kick around a little in the high grass and sedges. Again,
an unmistakable odor, but one of the happy associations, was
promptly and excitedly recognized as "chewing gum"! Needless
to say, we were in a marsh fllled with spearmint. But this was
not the climax of the expedition, although we had reached our
quota, b}^ this time. We soon ran across some jewel weed, or
* * silver leaf ' . When the leaves were put under water and turned a
most beautiful, pure silver, we almost had a riot and one of the
girls, in her eagerness to apply the test, slipped into the water on
all fours.
Every one of those common roadside flowers, introduced to that
group that day, became well-remembered friends. On the train
that took the girls back to the noisy, dusty city, the experiences of
the simimer were lived over again, and the names of the flowers,
learned on that first nature walk, were recalled in lively competi-
tion.
This same method was carried out with the trees and larger
shrubs. The difference between the leaves of the spruce and hem-
lock was noted; the different number of leaves on the several
varieties of pine; the teeth on the poplars ; the thorns of the thorn
apple and locust; the bright red rootlets of the willows, growing
by the water — all of these were new and wonderful to the younger
campers. The witch hazel made the strongest impression, as tliey
learned that what was used at home for s])rains and l)ruiscs came
from this curious-flowering tree.
176 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [17:4— April, 1921
The witch's wand or fork, for locating water or spring, was
explained and trials were made. In the hands of a few of the older
ones the wand did "dip" ; and you know that when once it begins
to "dip", there is no stopping it. We had a time of wild excite-
ment and carried several of the forked sticks back to camp.
One of the most difficult lessons the Nature Counsellor has to
impress upon young people, is to keep them from, picking the
flowers. The rarer they are, the harder it is to leave the flowers
where Nature placed them. I remember, once, showing to a group
the root of the Indian Cucumber. Later in the season — alas! —
there were no cucimiber plants to be found in our neighborhood.
At another time, on one of our long * ' hikes' ' , we had found a * ' bla? ing
star". We left it where it was, and the following season, on a trip
to the same place, one of the group seem.ed unduly anxious to go
on ahead of the party. She told me, secretly, that she wanted
to be the first to find the "blazing star" that we had seen — and
spared — the previous year.
With bird study, the problem, is a very difficult one. In the
first place, we go to camp too late to see the birds as they come
north to find their nesting places. Again, we often see but a flit
of color and our bird is gone. It is very difficult to identify even
our com.rr.on birds from the positive, but mistaken, description of
color and size, noted by the inexperienced eye. A strange and
wonderful "red bird" may prove to have been but a bluebird or
robin.
Of course there are a few birds that all may see and study:
swallows, phoebes, robins, wrens and others.
An unusual experience of last simimer was when many of the
campers saw a "flock" of humming birds. Several of us had
repeatedly seen, at a certain place, as many as five together; so
we gave the promise of this quite unusual sight to Dr. Fisher,- of
the New York Museum of Natural History, who was our guest
for the day. We went to a bank near the water, where a great
m.ass of jewel weed was in full blossom, and there — exceeding our
fondest expectations — we saw nine himimiing birds at one time.
It was on this same walk with Dr. Fisher that I questioned the
identity of a large bird, frequently seen near the spot we were
passing, which I had hardly dared to call the bald eagle. To our
great joy and satisfaction, at this moment, the great bird flew over
us and, alighting on a pine tree not far away, was authoritatively
doggett] nature study at highland camp 177
identified by our eminent guest. I afterwards saw this eagle
several times on the Songo river; twice, on the sam.e tall, dead
tree, where he m:ade a fitting top to a fin^flag pole, which lacked
only the Am.erican colors to bring our party to attention and salute.
Our m.ost prized nature trips were made in the early m.oming.
A "war" canoe was loaded with Hfe-preserver cushions, a few boxes
of crackers and six or m.ore happy and excited children. We
slowly and quietly followed the shallow shores of the river or lake
and, although out after birds, we always saw m.uch of interest
in the way of cranberries, lillies and other aquatic plants.
Because it was quite near our starting point, we always passed an
overhanging tree, where some kingbirds had m.ade their nest.
The mother bird was usually on the nest and the father, perched
on a limb nearby. As we approached, the m.ale bird would fly
excitedly from perch to perch; then the mother would leave the
nest and both would scream, in fright and anxiety and sweep down
towards us, so near that the children in the canoe had to be
reassured and cautioned to ignore the noisy dem.onstration. One
day we found the eggs gone and the nest slightly tipped to one side
— the work, evidently of som.e woodland enemy who had no fear
of the poor birds' loud but ineffectual m.ethods of home protection .
We did not visit the place again for som.e tim.e; but then, to our
astonishm.ent, we found two eggs in the nest once more. Another
pair of kingbirds, with whose home we were familiar, located in a
little cl-um.p of bushes growing on a sandbar, quite a distance from
the shore. We watched these birds from day to day ; saw the eggs
and then the young, as they grew and prospered, until they were
big enough to fly. Then, as so often happens, tragedy overtook
them. The distance to the shore was so great that, probably, all
were drowned; for we found one little helpless bird in the water.
Other interesting friends in our bird study, were the sandpipers.
They were always running along the shore and flying from point to
point am.ong the floating logs and tree stum.ps, in search of food.
Their curious little "tip-up" or "teeter", from which they get
their comir.on nam.e, is unmistakable. Our friend the kingfisher
was often near, as his vigorous rattle told us. He often darted
from his perch on a dead tree to get his early breakfast from tlie
water.
Sometines when we heard a crow in the distance and felt sure
that we had not been seen by him, we woukl ])ad(llc into a little
178 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
cove and give the call of a young crow. Many times, the old
birds, in groups of four or five, would fly above us to investi-
gate.
A sandbar, about a mile fj*om Camp, was usually the goal of
these morning trips. Here we had reason to expect the great blue
heron — and only a few tim.es did we fail to see him. We always
saw his tracks — as large as a man's hand — in the sand on the beach,
or under the water where he had walked or stood to fish.
These trips, in the early morning, left on the young minds the
most lasting impressions of the summer. When we started, before
six o'clock, quiet was necessary, lest we disturb a sleeping camp;
and quiet was willingly m^aintained, as our canoe glided noiselessly
along, in order that nothing should be missed — ^neither sight nor
sound — during that peaceful hour that seemed to be Nature's
best. We always returned with some regrets to an awakened
camp, with its shrill voices, its movement and its discordant
sounds — even though the return meant — breakfast.
Second to the early morning trips, were a few taken in the even-
ing, in the same way, with some of the Seniors, for the study of
the stars — reflected in the clear mirror of the lake as brilliantly
as they shone in the heavens above us. The stars we have always
with us ; and any clear evening we may call attention to a partic-
ular star or planet or constellation. The interest in camp always
centers about the Dipper and Cassiopea, on account of their rela-
tion to the North Star. When on camping trips, sleeping in the
"open", we go to bed, rolled comfortably in our blankets, seeing
these constellations in a certain position. We wake up in the early
morning and find them quite upside down, as they follow their
path around the North Star. The few enthusiasts who are deter-
mined to be awake to see their first sun rise, find some of the winter
groups, also, such as Orion and the Pleiades.
So the summer goes. Something is always waiting for us — an
open-book, if we will but read.
We have little opportunity to study animals at H. N. C, for
quadrupeds are not very numerous in our neighborhood. Porcu-
pines, squirrels, woodchucks and an occasional skunk or mink,
may, perhaps, be studied or only recognized. I once saw a mink
carry off a young catbird; and, on another occasion, saw two
little minks playing together like kittens. I was alone at the time,
in a canoe, in the very early morning.
doggett] nature study at highland camp 179
We found quite a number of interesting and beautiful snakes
which some of the braver of our girls kept as pets for a time. Mr.
Williams brought to camp his very unusual collection of snakes
and, aside from the valuable information he gave us about his pets,
he did much to remove the aversion — tinged som.etimes with fear —
that is the accepted attitude of so many young people in regard
to these harmless and useful creatures, found in variety in almost
all localities.
Perhaps the most unique experience of our summer came nearly
at its close and was shared by a small group of Counsellors.
We were "off duty" at the time, and enjoying, in canoes, the
quiet beauty of a smaller and less frequented lake than our own
Sebago. In the party was one with unusual ability to imitate the
calls of birds.
We had paddled clear across the lake to a cove that seemed to
promise shade and absolute solitude, when we saw a large loon
on the water, at some distance from us. The silence was broken
by a voice from our canoe — that high, weird call that is so uncan-
nily human when it com.es from the throat of a bird, but in this case,
was so bird-like that it deceived our friend in the water. There
came promptly, from the loon, an answering call; then, a louder
note from our canoe — and the dialogue or duet was in full swing.
There was no sound but this strange, wild call, sent back and forth
across the water. The loon, now joined by three others of his
tribe, came nearer and nearer — answering more quickly and sharply
as he approached. They came so near, at times, that some of our
party began to question what would happen to our canoes should
the excited birds close in upon us, in response to what might have
been — for aught we knew — a challenge, or a call to battle.
Another canoe put out from the opposite shore, where a lone
fisherman had established his camp. He hurried over to see what
all this wild commotion might mean. He was in time to see two
specks appear in the sky, circling nearer and lower, while they sent
down to us a slightly different cry that was, apparently answered
to their satisfaction, from the canoe, again and again. The l:)irds
in* the water finally left us; but those above continued their circling
and their conversation until our conspirator in the canoe lost her
voice completely. One of the loons then sailed away over the tree-
tops, with a dignity of motion that seemed to indicate liis s(X)ni
for poor earth-bound creatures such as we. The other came
180 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
down to the water quite near us — the female, probably — as though
to satisfy a very natural curiosity as to who and what we were.
With great wings outspread she struck the water like a hydroplane,
making a very noisy splashing on the surface, for some distance —
a demonstration that we could see as well as hear. Turning her
swanlike neck for a last scornful look, she took a graceful dive, in
her own loon-ey way, and disappeared completely.
Nature at Teela-Wooket
Mary A. Stillman
In the day's order at the Teela-Wooket camps nothing is required
except the setting-up drill in the morning. Sports and activities
of various kinds are offered, and from these the campers choose
such as appeal to them. Of course the riding, swimming and other
sports have to have a regular time schedule so that they will not
interfere with each other, but the nature work goes on all day long
whenever anyone feels so inclined.
Our bungalow, deUghtfully situated upon a hillside which
brings the windows on a level with the bird-filled tree tops has been
set aside for nature headquarters. Half of this is the sleeping
room of the Nature Councilors, and the other half is the nature
workrooms. Here are books, pictures, and charts for reference;
also an herbariimi, collections of birds' nests, insects, cocoons,
stones, etc. Here the girls bring their flowers, ferns and leaves,
and also living specimens which they keep for awhile, — tadpoles,
toads, salamanders, snakes, caterpillars, grasshoppers and helpless
birds which have fallen out of nests.
These treasures often begin to come before the councilors are
dressed, and the procession continues all day until just before taps.
There are often from forty to sixty voluntary pupils a day, and
when too many come at once to allow of individual instruction
they divide into groups and teach each other. The interest in
nature is not confined to the girls, but includes several councilors,
bookkeepers, waitresses and others connected with the camp.
Even the riding master has contributed maiden hair ferns, and the
village minister a modest sphynx moth !
Besides the identification of specimens the work includes leaf-
printing, the pressing of ferns and flowers, some Girl Scout nature
instruction, and the coloring of Kellogg's bird and animal outlines.
STiLLMAN] NATURE AT TEELA-WOOKET 181
Many field trips have been taken, sometimes just to see what
could be found, but usually with a definite object in view, — to
gather greens for decorating the camp fireplace, to pick raspberries
for the table, to find rare ferns, to visit a gorge or a marble quarry,
or to take supper upon the top of a favorite hill. On all the trips
the girls are astonished to find how many interesting things appear
along the way.
One little camper remarked: "If I had known that nature
meant going out into the woods and seeing things I should have
signed for it before. At school we have nature study all out of
books and it is horrid. But I just love this ! I live in the country
where it is lonely, but if I can learn something here about nature I
need never be lonely any more."
Very many girls who did not sign at first, thinking that they had
not tim.e for it, have found during the summer that they wished
to take up nature work. They come with their specimens when-
ever they have leisure. Sometimes they become so much inter-
ested that they forget to go to their next regular appointment.
Often and often they have said, ''I had no idea that nature was
so interesting!" or "Oh joy, I have fifteen minutes more for
nature!"
In all the activities at Teela-Wooket, as a recognition of work
accomplished, various kinds of insignia are awarded. The nature
councilors have designed some insignia for their department
which meet the requirements here and which might be adapted
with slight changes to any locality. The finished token is a circle
of white felt upon which is stencilled a six-pointed star. Each
line is of a different color, representing a different phase of nature
work. These bands may be won in any order, and are awarded
as soon as any list is completed. The colors and what they
represent are as follows :
Violet — 25 flowers.
Red — 25 birds.
Green — 15 trees.
Yellow — 15 ferns and club mosses.
Orange — 15 small animals.
Blue — 15 insects.
For special interest and for identifying more than the required
niimber there is added a gold colored center (a brass spHt ])in).
182 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [17:4— Apr|l, 1921
The campers are encouraged to bring in their own specimens,
because in making the collections they have a chance to see the
things in their natural environment. Sometimes the collections
are posted and a test given to see how many names are known.
Three hundred and forty tests have been passed during the season
by eighty-five different girls. Eleven girls have made, instead of
the required no points, from 122 to 187 points, and have been
awarded the special insignia with the gilt center. These final
stars were stencilled in an interlaced pattern more pleasing than
the simple double triangle, and were awarded on banquet night
with the other high honors.
One afternoon a bird pageant was given in a natural out-of-door
theatre. Simple costumes of crepe paper were designed to por-
tray the correct coloring of about thirty birds, and one especially
talented camper whistled the bird calls as each entered. With
music by the orchestra and glee club and a few folk dances inter-
spersed, an enjoyable and instructive entertainment was provided.
The beauty of the voluntary system of nature work is in the joy
which it enkindles. No obligation is laid on anyone who is not
interested; but one who is interested may spend her leisure time
profitably whenever the spirit moves.
Who can suggest a more delightful way to spend a few minutes
than in watching baby hermit thrushes open their orange-lined
beaks? The nests that were found included those of the house-
wren, the robin, the junco, the song sparrow, the bam swallow and
the hermit thrush. Caterpillars which spun their cocoons in the
Nature Bungalow were luna, cecropia, promethea, polyphemus
and dagger moth. Every new discovery brought joy, even the
imequal balance of an elm leaf.
To one of the campers near the end of the season came a great
sorrow, — a telegram brought the news of the death by drowning
of three of her relatives. She said to the nature councillors:
"In this crisis nature has meant more to me than anything else.
I had to get away from people, but I went into the woods and
found comfort." This gave them the greatest satisfaction of any-
thing in their summer's work, for they felt that they had led the
girls through nature to a realization of nature's God.
A Night With Nature
By A Teela-Wooket Nature Student
Last night I had a strange and curious dream:
I gazed at mushrooms circHng through the air,
I wandered by a Hmpid, winding stream_,
And gathered birds that grew in clusters there.
I filled my sweater pockets with the stars
That lay within the streamlet's pebbly bed;
Altair seemed bright until I chanced on Mars
Beneath a mossy rootlet, gleaming red.
I rode upon the graceful ostrich fern.
We flew above the earth, thru airy space;
Wild flowers nodded close at every turn —
The yellow water lily brushed my face.
Descending from my steed I watched the newt
Building his nest upon a lofty crag;
He filled it with the luscious maple fruit,
And decorated it with purple flag.
I carved the Latin names of all the trees
Upon their foHage; this labor done
Beside the winding stream I sat at ease
And knew that my insignia was won !
CAMPS DESIRING COUNCILLORS
Camp Wigwam
A. Mandelstrom, 230 West 107th St., New York City.
Camp Algonquin
Edwin De Meritte, 1404 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk, Va.
Camp Wildwood
Sumner R. Hooper, Rockwood, Maine.
One for Ornithology, one for Biology, one for Nature Study.
183
Nature Study in Summer Camps for Girls
Eleazer Johnson Dole
The Tall Pines Camp, Bennington, N. H.
To correct a possible misconception let us at first emphasize
the fact that a simimer camp is not merely a playground. It is
or should be a place for recreation and play, but it is also essentially
an educational institution, such an institution as educators have
long theorized and dreamed about, but have rarely succeeded in
realizing. It is not a school, for formal instruction has no place in
it, but it is a place for education in the literal sense of the word.
The children are busied chiefly with out-of-door activities, such as
hiking, games, riding, water and athletic sports, and nature study,
with a portion of each day set apart for spontaneous play.
Such institutions present several unique and important problems
for the expert in education; unique because such camps are
comparatively new, and important because they are bound to play
a more and more prominent part in the training of children. In
such activities as those mentioned above, the normal girl should
acquire an interest in and love for out door life. Perhaps she will
not show a love for nature, but if she does manifest a love for the
type of life which the camp offers, the genuine love for nature will
come later when the child is more mature. Now there is very
little difficulty in developing an interest in camp life. Every
normal girl already has it. But there are certain very good prob-
lems which the nature study instructor has to face in the develop-
ment of his particular phase of camp activities.
It is the writer's opinion that nature study is one of the most
important phases of summer camp work and he has an equally
strong belief that too much emphasis can be, and generally is,
placed upon it. Those of us who have tried to teach nature
work have too often had the disappointing experience of having
the children manifest very little interest in the lesson, or even turn
away from it altogether. If we have wondered why, and been
honest with ourselves, we have generally concluded that the
trouble was with the lesson. In m,ost cases it was too formal
and reminded the children too much of school. In the case of other
camp activities, the child learns to do things by doing them. She
learns tennis by playing it. She learns hand work by doing it,
and learns to swim by swimming. This is not possible with
184
DOLE] NATURE STUDY IN SUMMER CAMPS 185
nature work. She can not learn what a bird is by flying, nor how
a grasshopper hops by hopping. She must be told how to dis-
tinguish an elm tree from an oak, and the problem is how to do it.
Let the instruction be ever so informal, the girl soon realizes that
her instructor is asking her to work with her head rather than with
her hands, and rightly resents it. The writer of this article does
not wish to be understood as advocating m.ental idleness during
the summer, but it is his experience that a girl will not take a
nature lesson presented as such and do it gracefully. She finds
ample opportunity for m.ental activity in other lines and does not
wish to burden her mind with the distinguishing features of differ-
ent classes of birds and plants. Another factor which tends to
make nature instruction in simimer camps difficult is the use of
the unfortunate term, "Nature Study". Courses of instruction
in this subject are now offered in a large number of public and
private schools, and when the girl combes to camp and finds the
same subject on her list of activities, she generally concludes at
once that she doesn't like nature. The psychological effect is
bad.
We believe that these difficulties may be overcome, at least in
part, by making the nature work largely incidental to other camp
activities. The writer even doubts the advisibility of including
nature work as a formal part of the day's program. The instructor
should be an almost constant companion to the girls, and should
choose the psychological m.om.ent for talking nature. He should
always be on hand to see a strange bird, a new flower, a misshapen
tree, or other object of interest. Especially should he accompany
the girls when they go away from the camp grounds to neighboring
mountains and lakes where the flora and fauna may be different
from that in the immediate vicinity of the camp. It m.ay be that
the camp grounds afford comparatively few things in nature which
will attract the child's interest and attention, and those who come
back to camp year after year will soon find nature irksome because
they observe the same things again and again. More of our work
in nature should be devoted to trail making, camping in the open,
tramping through the woods, with a compass, etc. ; upon these
activities which may be grouped under the term "Wood Craft."
We believe that this term is preferable to ' ' Nature Study". These
are the things which the girls desire. They are as far removed
from school work as possible, do not call for any memory work,
186 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
and at the same time afford ample opportunity for acquiring an
interest in out-of-door-life and indulging in as much love for nature
as may be desirable. Of course, the details of such a plan would
have to be worked out by the individual instructor. Modifications
will be necessary to meet individual needs, but the plan is perfectly
feasible. It will, however, require a great deal of thought and care
on the part of the instructor. It is firmly believed that the
results will be well worth the time and efforts devoted to elaborating
the method. *
The ideal nature teacher is a man. The writer is well aware
that the women who are doing this sort of work are accomplishing
a great deal of. good, but it is nevertheless his opinion that a man
is better adapted to nature work of the type indicated here than
is a woman. It is conceivable that a man might teach embroidery
as well or better than a woman, but a man in such a position would
be an absurdity. The same sort of absurdity would exist, although
in a much lesser degree in a woman teaching this sort of nature
work. Not only is a man better fitted by nature, but he has
better access to interesting swamps and hills, to caves on the
mountain side, and to the tops of trees where bird's nests may
be found. He may be very agile, but he will scarcely reach places
which are inaccessible to the girls. He should not be a professional
teacher, for in spite of hi-s efforts to the contrary, such a man is
generally an instructor rather than an educator. Neither should
he be a trained naturalist. It is far more important that he should
see Aurora in the sunrise than that he should explain the phenom-
enon as light rays reflected from particles of dust suspended in the
atmosphere. Better than he should find elves in the woods and
nymphs in the water, than that he should see nothing but decaying
organic matter in the forest and find the water swarming with
bacteria. Here again the writer does not wish to be understood
as advocating the introduction of fairies into nature, but of the
two extremes it is better that he should find the woods peopled
with these creatures than that he should see in nature only the
recurring processes of life, death, fermentation and decay. In
other words the ideal nature teacher should have a genuine love
for nature rather than a technical knowledge of biological and
physical sciences.
Nature Study, Normal Schools, and Summer Camp
Councillors
Grace Brown Gardner
State Normal School, Framingham, Massachusetts
Probably no subject in the normal school curriculiim has had a
more varied career than that now designated by the general
term of nature study. Natural history, which was taught in a
desultory manner and at irregular intervals during the earlier
years of the normal schools, early became differentiated into
botany and zoology. These subjects were taught from a strictly scien-
tific standpoint. Botany dealing largely with the analysis and classi-
fication of plants and the m.aking of herbaria, and zoology with the
structure and classification of anim.als and the formation of
comparative collections. Later, with the aid of the compound
microscope, these two subjects were studied in regard to cell and
tissue structure. This technical work dealing largely with dead
material was superseded by the study of biology, with the emphasis
placed upon the life processes of living organisms. The constant
change of aim and content in the subject is indicated by the nomen-
clature, "Biology", ''Biological Science", "Natural Science",
"Elementary Science", " Plants and Animals", "Practical Science",
and "Nature Study". We find the collections of the earher
period giving way to field trips and excursions and living material
in the school room, with the purpose of arousing in the pupil an
intelligent interest in his environment. We find abstract ideas
becoming concrete in the project method of teaching, and the
community spirit developed in the home and school garden
movement. Is it not possible to vitalize the subject still further
by cooperation with the nature lore work of the summer camps?
In every normal school class there are some students who by
reason of early training or natural aptitude are particularly
interested in nature work. If such students are informed as to
the possibiHty of fitting themselves for nature lore councillors,
and are placed in touch with those seeking candidates for such
positions, it should be of value both to the normal schools and to
the svimmer camps.
Summer camp work enables the student to increase knowledge
of the subject matter while enjoying a healthful vacation with
inspiring companionship. It furnishes an opportunity to work
187
188 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW [17:4— April, 1921
with children in groups, and acquire experiences that will be of
value in later teaching. It often aids the student to secure a
superior teaching position at the end of the normal school course.
Normal school students furnish summer camps with leaders
who are young and inexperienced, but who are interested in chil-
dren and who have had experience in working with them. Their
whole course has fitted them for this leadership. Add to this an
enthusiastic working knowledge of subject matter and an open and
receptive mind, and the right personality should make an ideal
combination.
The best time for beginning summer camp work is before the
senior year. Pupils either have secured positions by June of the
senior year, or must hold themselves in readiness to meet superin-
tendents dtiring the summer vacation. Under these conditions
they hesitate to undertake new work, feeling the need for rest
before the fall teaching. If, however, camp work has been done
the previous simimer the student may be willing to continue it.
The enthusiastic and fresh outlook on nature which the coun-
cillor can hardly fail to bring back from a well conducted summer
camp should not only make the work in the normal school more
vital, but through the normal school should vitalize all nature
study work in the public schools.
Nature Study at Quanset, the Cape Cod Camp for Girls
Mary L. Hammatt
Quanset began in 1905. In those early years we studied birds,
had the Audubon pictures, and gave honors and prizes for the best
lists. We mounted and named all the wild flowers of the neigh-
borhood. Almost from the start we learned the poison Amanitas,
as we did the poison ivy, so as to avoid them. On long mushroom
hunts we gathered and named the more common edible mush-
rooms. I find that little mushroom suppers over the open fire
appeal to the girl's imagination as well as to her palate. I always
pass on every mushroom before it goes into the pan. Spore prints
are interesting. Government bulletins, ' ' Atkinson 's Mushrooms' ' ,
and later " Mcllvaine" are aids to the beginner. The compound
and the dissecting microscope are helpful always.
We used to chase butterflies with a net; we collected more or
less; but many girls cringe at pinning an insect, and I am glad they
HAMMATTj NA T URE AT QUA NSE T 189
do. We watched the caterpillar spin its cocoon under glass; we
kept this till the imago emerged. But better than this they have
always loved to watch life in its habitat. They get so
excited when they first see the pupa of the cicada climb up a tree
trunk, crack down the back, and the winged adult crawl out.
This they never forget (I find they can forget whole lists of flowers,
ferns, mushrooms from one season to the next.) They will linger
long at the spring watching the mudwasp roll up her ball of clay
and fly off with it to her house (for which one must look, at once,
of course). And the paper wasp does not escape the eye as it
gathers its material from the old grey rail fence and pastes it on the
community house not far away. Last year that house was under
my lodge window, visible from within and without. (No, they
never get stung). Inside the room I had a wasp's nest torn open
to show the cells.
What a mad whirl in the air when the Quanset bees swarm!
And what a stampede of girls for the bee yard! Why shouldn't
they love that and the " secrets of the hive," and best of all perhaps,
the fresh honey on warm biscuits I Mrs. Comstock's ' ' How to keep
Bees", makes everything so clear, and Maeterlinck is such delight-
ful reading.
What young girl or boy lacks interest in the ever present ant
hill, the turtle eggs fotmd buried in the sand, the mosquito larvae
and all the wonders of the pond, the box turtle that shuts up so
neatly, the spider with her young swarming over her back, the hoot
owl with her wierd cry, the nest of darling little rabbits, the snake
that has just swallowed a frog, the dead weasel, in summer dress,
found beside the path? This last the little girls smoothed and
looked at, and then buried lovingly with all the ceremonies, —
minister, choir and mourners, — ^headstone even. (We do not aim
to make scientists of our girls. We just want them to live with
nature, love it, and learn from it rather than about it.) The fat
woodchuck living all too near the garden, is not forgotten. There
are many to watch while the men drown him out of his hole.
A nest of flickers in a hollow tree, and more seldom found, the Bob
White's nest under a tuft of beach grass (a mother bird brought
her whole Httle flock to feed close to our lodge once), the gulls on
the island, their eggs and little ones,— on a never to be forgotten
day; these are things that make a picture in the mind of a girl or
boy. Why tell them or let them learn out of a book what the
190 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
long snakeskin in the field or the spider skins or the cast shells
of Crustacea will tell at a glance. Our girls, big or little, love to
play with the limulus (Quanset's totem, by the way) turn him
over, see how the spines and hairs of his legs lead the food down
to his mouth which lies between them, and learn of his ancient
lineage. One morning a host of squid had been chased up near
our shore. Will the girls who saw them ever have to be told how
the squid swims or how he protects himself? Ripple marks on
the beach, miniature sand dunes, circles in the sand made by wind-
blown blades of beach grass, magnetite grains drawn from the sand
by a magnet, — all are sources of joy.
The Quanset "Nature Q" stands with our younger girls for a
definite accomplishment, along "Woodcraft" lines.
The inspiration of the season last year was the visit of Dallas
Lore Sharp, the naturalist, with Mrs. Sharp and the two younger
boys. He gave us all such a delightful talk on the community
life of the bees, their wonderful specilization for fatherhood, for
motherhood, for work. How the girls gathered about the observa-
tion hive to see the queen, the workers, the grubs, the eggs, even
the young bees emerging from the cell! They "adored" his bird
stories — even ghost stories — and begged eagerly for more. And
he took the whole camp across country on a hike to see a snowy
heron with a broken leg, taken captive in a salt marsh and later
sent up to Franklin Park. The fine, keen minded boys enjoyed
the novel experience of sleeping on board our Tioga with our skip-
per. It was a delightful family, — and all too short a stay for our
girls and for us all.
Nature Study at the Senior Quinibeck Camp
By G LADYS Gordon Fry
Six A. M. and most of Camp Quinibeck is asleep, but here and
there from the bungalows appear girls who meet in a small group at
the central house from where they set out with their teacher,
Gladys Gordon Fry for the early morning bird walk.
Over one- third of the 150 girls chose natiu"e study as one of
their definite activities, from among the number of interests
offered at Quinibeck, and these girls are divided into groups, each
group having its appointed morning for the pre-breakfast stroll.
ITRY] NATURE STUDY AT QUINIBECK CAMP 191
That walk to hear birds in song, with the dew on the grass with
the sweet freshness of the sunrise air is one of the rare camp
•experiences.
After breakfast at assembly Mrs. Fry may make announce-
ments relative to her work, — the nature studies that will be made
•on the coming all day hike, the weekly breakfast picnic, the evening
class in the big skiff on the lake, those who have won honors in
nature.
Mid-morning finds her with other groups — in the flowers and
ferns — or perhaps again the birds or trees, the classes again being
■systematically arranged.
She is always in her bungalow during the afternoons at certain
hours and there is a steady stream of girls who call on their way to
the bathing beach. It is interesting to be behind the scenes at
that time. One girl comes to pass on another 5 of the 28 species
■of ferns at Quinibeck, a test for securing another point in her
nature credit. Another com_es to report a special bird, one of the
76 species found at camp — or to secure help in the identification
of a flower. If the day has been rainy an4 the walks impossible
the classes meet indoors and Mrs. Fry has unusual bird games with
beautiful bird cards. And she has collected mounted flowers and
ferns which she used to supplem.ent her out-of-door work and her
library is at the disposal of the girls.
The evening walk is a time of charm — the evening songs of the
hermit thrush and bobolink — and it is an opportunity to meet
another group.
No two days are alike — the camp program is too full — too many
adjustments must be arranged with the various interests clamoring
for each girls 9,ttention — but the regular walk hours — the after-
noons at her bungalow insure each girl who is taking nature as
part of her camp work, adequate attention.
When a girl has mastered 10 flowers, or 5 ferns, or 10 birds, or
5 trees she has won a point. Ten points are needed for the "N"
for nature and when a girl has won that her name is posted on the
Camp Honor Board as a candidate for the Blue Q. An "N" is
one of the requisites together with various other activity credits
for the highest camp honor, the white C. Q. for Camp Quinibeck.
Thus the incentive of competition and awards is added to the
intrinsic interest of the nature study itself.
Nature Study at Adirondack Camp on Lake George
Elias G. Brown, A.B., M.D., Director
From the founding of Adirondack camp, i8 years ago, the Direc-
tor has felt that he could do nothing better for or that would
afford greater interest and pleasure to his boys than to give them
the opporttinity, which camp life in the great out-of-doors should
afford, to learn to really know nature, if only the right leader and
method is supplied. For several years, under different men,
various plans were tried; but little interest was shown by the boys.
Analysis of our unsuccessful efforts to create an active nature
department convinced us that our difficulty was due to our not
having found a leader for that work who had the faculty of arousing^
enthusiasm among and leading boys, our not having a plan of
activity under which definite but varied work would be done,
and to the fact that the nature department had not been made
to fit in or coordinate with our various other departments which
were very active — athletics, aquatics, sailing, shooting, shop
work, photography, music, scout work and trips. Working to
correct these fundamental defects, we finally evolved a nature
department which yearly interests such a proportion of our boys
as to prove it to be well worth while.
The following principles are considered by the writer to be the
important factors underlying the success of the nature study work
in Adirondack Camp :
Of most importance is an attracting leader.
All nature study should be voluntary work.
It should be conducted under a definite plan.
There should be considerable variety.
During the season there should be credit given for work done,
and at the close of the season special credits or awards.
The leader of the department must attract boys to the study of
nature. Nature is interesting and the study of nature fascinates
many boys when they get in it; but boys easily pass it over for
the more conspicuous activities of camp life. To successfully
draw any number of boys to the study of nature, above everything
else one thing is necessary. Other departments or featiires of
camp have special attracting feattires. For instance: baseball
has its crowd and noise; shop work its things made that can be
seen and admired and used ; sailing, the sight of that beautiful
192
BROWN] NATURE STUDY AT CAMP ON LAKE GEORGE 193
boat, and then the experience of excitement as she leans to the wind
and pitches in the waves. But the study of nature is quiet. It
is necessary that the leader in this line should have within himself
the power of drawing boys — the personality. It is true that very
different personalities may make successful leaders in this work,
and we cannot state the necessary combination of qualifications;
but we must have for the counselor in charge of nature study for
boys, a leader with the right personaHty. We must not expect
or require boys to undertake nature study — the work should be
voluntary and they must be led to be interested in it. Then, tooi
we should have a definite plan, with considerable variety; for with-
out a plan the work will be random and interest will not continue
to be aroused, and without variety interest will be lost. Of cotirse
it is characteristic of human nature that credit for work done
serves greatly to stimulate effort and sustain interest. With this
end in view a bulletin may well be kept in this department as,
indeed, in all others, showing the progress and attainments of all
campers in nature work, with blank spaces opposite names of
inactive boys. And the work accomplished should contribute
towards the attainment of certain honors or emblems.
At Adirondack Camp we have adopted a plan of work for nature
study that we carry out from year to year, notwithstanding an
occasional change of the counselor in charge ; but within this plan
there is abundant opportunity for the counselor in charge to work
according to his own special knowledge and interests and ability.
Under our plan we specialize in the study of birds during July
and in the study of trees during August. Wild flowers are studied
every stimmer and special credits are given. Of course, birds,
trees, and wild flowers do not absorb our entire interests at any
time. Birds are studied usually by small groups going out before
breakfast, trees by groups going out for short periods whenever it
is advisable to organize such trips. With wild flowers it is our
object to learn to recognize as many as possible, to know the most
interesting facts about some of them, and to understand the typical
structure of a flower. This work is done either on definite trips
or on quiet informal rambles. But the bulletin and the definite
records kept and the desire to obtain credits and camp prizes serve
to keep this apparently informal work from being neglected.
Each evening, at a certain time and place, the nature study
counselor meets a group of interested boys for a nature "talk".
ig4 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April, 1921
There is a definite outline of subjects to be covered; but this is
departed from whenever a question by one of the boys makes it
seem advisable to take up the subject of that question. This
method gives added interest. Often the subject is one on the list,
in which case the leader checks it off. It is not at all necessary
to follow any order in these informal but most int^esting evening
** nature talks". Almost every day the nature study counselor
conducts a walk for the purpose of illustrating in the fields or in
the woods the subjects or object brought out in the evening group;
or the reverse takes place — the ramble serves to suggest a subject
for evening talk.
A room is reserved for microscope or other instruments, and for
specimens and collections, and gives a place for some of the more
careful work that some boys wish to do.
A nature library is maintained, and for quiet hours, or the oc-
casional rainy day, the books in this collection are much sought.
The counselor in charge of nature study will have special
subjects that he, rather than another man, can interest boys in, as
in the study of the stars or the weather, and he has abundant
opportunity to add his specialties to the regular outline of the
course that we have adopted.
Many a grown-up, needing rest and recreation, finds that when
he goes **to the country", he is unable to get much pleasure from
the out- 3f -doors that should give him renewed health, because of a
lack of knowledge of nature. Sometimes it may be of supreme
value, often it can be of great pleasure and health to one to have a
considerable knowledge of nature. With the object of adding
to his future happiness and well-being, and of giving him an added
interest in camp, by the above outlined plans and methods we have
perfected our nature department, so that now every year a large
nvmaher of boys become drawn to and learn much about the too
often hidden "secrets" of natiu-e.
Stop, Look and Listen at Camp Cowasset
. Katherine Watters Henry
During the stimmer of 1920 I had the very pleasant opportunity
of being the nature counselor at Camp Cowasset.
It was such a joy to see how surprised the girls would be when
after a few trips away from camp that right at the door or within a
henry] stop, look and LISTEN AT CAMP COW ASSET 195
few feet of their tents or their bungalows they would find so many
friends nodding cheerfully at them if they stopped and looked.
As my specialty is birds, moths and butterflies, I was very much
disappointed to find so few birds, due to the havoc of the Gipsy
Moth caterpillar. The eight weeks that I was there I could find
only 43 different birds.
We were very fortunate to have several birds build their nests
right near the main bungalow.
Within 20 feet of the bungalow Mr. and Mrs. King raised their
family of four. The parents were very conspicuous as the flag pole
was a short distance from their nest. Those that are familiar with
the characteristics of the kingbird, know why they spent so much
time on top of the flag pole before they visited the nest. I cannot
remember a time that we had drill but that one of them would be
perched on top of the flag pole. They never forgot to stop, look
and listen, watching us as though reviewing our progress, then
dart to report to their family of four. One morning I missed
them from the pole but during the day I discovered that they had
moved their family a short distance away to a scrub oak. There
they were all lined up on a branch. The four close together line
formed often as we were during drill, when the following command
was given. "Right about face." One evidently hadn't heard the
command. They remained in that tree five days.
I had never been fortunate enough before to find a peewee's
nest. I considered it a rare find and treat to discover a family
of them near the main road leading out of camp, a very short
distance from the main btmgalow and near the stable of the riding
horses. Peewees are also found more in high dry woods where
they build their little moss-covered houses on horizontal boughs
at quite a height from the ground. This one was near the road
leading from Senior to Junior Camp, on a horizontal branch about
eight feet high. The girls could climb up into the tree to see the
baby birds. The question that bothered us was how could these
baby birds stay in such a small nest. They were so crowded and
seemed to hang over the nest, which is a wonderful creation,
composed of plant fibres, quilted together and ornamented with
lichens.
I was also keenly disappointed in not finding, any niglit flying
moths — not one did I see — even the butterflies were cons])icuous
by their absence, just a few mourning cloaks, cabbage, and red
admirals.
196 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [17:4— April. 1921
But the flowers ! I never saw so many different kinds and such
wonderful ones.
The girls that wished to work for their nature point were
required to be able to recognize 25 birds; 25 flowers; 15 each of
the following: trees, insects, small wild animals, moths and
butterflies.
The birds, butterflies and moths were what gave them the most
trouble as they were so hard to find when we walked over two miles
from camp; but as we led such a busy life that was not often per-
missable.
I am very sure that there were very few spots on the Camp
grounds but what at any time you could find at least twenty
different kinds of flowers blooming within a radius of 20 to 30 feet.
Such wonderful ones! Such joy to stop and look. I found 132
different kinds while there and at least 20 that I did not know or
find in any of my books. Remember please that that was during
the months of July and August. What beautiful ones must be
there in May and June, also in September and October.
O, that more people would learn what wonderful joy and happi-
ness there is in being able to recognize the friends of the woods and
field. Just learn to stop, look and listen, a habit worth while.
Nature at the Tall Pines
By Stella Mayo Brooks
One could hardly imagine a more beautiful environment in which
to arouse interest in nature than is found at The Tall Pines,
Bennington, New Hampshire. Here within the camp grounds
are found the sky warbler and the noisy sandpiper, the delicate
lady slipper and the sturdy daisy, the low fern and the lofty pine.
With such surroundings the problem of the nature worker resolves
itself into the question of the place of that subject in camp life.
Its primary object should be the opening of untrained eyes to the
beauty about them with the ultimate purpose of awakening an
interest in that beauty, which should add to the true enjoyment of
life. Most of the girls who enjoy the privilege of simimer camps
come from the city where noise and confusion dull a mind naturally
awake to the beautiful, and make indifferent a mind closed to the
quiet places of nature. Who can have witnessed this apathetic
attitude and not have longed to break through that apathy?
BROOKS] NATURE AT THE TALL PINES 197
The avenues of approach open for development are many. To
one, nomenclature may make the appeal, to another, structure.
Again, there is the relation of the simple to the complex among
plants; and the points of similarity between a unicellular plant
and the same type of animal offer interesting analogies.
To a girl new to the laws of nattire, routine nomenclature of
ferns, trees, flowers, and birds becomes monotonous unless some
idea of the relation of individuals can be brought to her. Walks,
the aim of which is to acquaint her with different plant societies
and on which she learns that a plant of the roadside society would
live most unhappily in a bog society, give names a meaning to her.
Blazing trails afford the lure of the new and introduce her uncon-
sciously to the flora of the deep woods. The life history of a fern
or moss plant, couched in simple language, may reveal a phase of
life entirely unknown to her, wonderful because of its minuteness.
The capsule of the moss awakens interest when its purpose is
laiown.
A means of gaining interest which has been found satisfactory
•with the girl who has become familiar with names is the use of the
microscope to relate the simple to the complex. For the older girl
the structural likeness of the pleurococcus, the spirogyra, the moss,
the fern, and the flowering plant can be made to suggest interrela-
tion. To the younger girl, wonder at the revelations of the micro-
scope makes its constant appeal.
Thus gradually there can be established a plant by which to
l^ridge the differences between plants and animals. The compari-
•son of a protozoan and an alga of the one-celled type serves to
•connect these two groups. A simple explanation of the physiologi-
cal functions, bases of many questions asked by the new student
of nature, tightens the bond of relationship. Protective resem-
blance and mimicry form another fascinating link. From this it
is but a short step to the absorbing life histories of our lower animal
friends. A walking-stick or a hill of ants may introduce an inter-
•esting lesson. And it is true that knowledge of the less obvious
increases the ability to appreciate the obvious.
Few girls can spend a summer at camp and go away quite so
impervious to the beauty of a stony brook, to the grace of an elm,
or to the song of a bird as when they came. Names may still be
meaningless to them, but the development of the power of a])pre-
■ciation must rem,ain and that is the purpose of vacation nature
study.
The Nature Work at Aloha Club*
YosHi Kasuya
"We'll meet under the birch tree." Miss Shearer never ended
her announcement without coming to this birch, and we girl&
could not do anything without first gathering under the big high
tree near the bungalow, and say how-do-you-do to the little birch
family up among the branches. Yes, this birch-tree was every-
thing to us, and Miss Shearer, who was as tall, as steady and serious^
as the birch, and yet her speech as full of himior and inspiration
as the whispers in the fbliage, was our leader, friend and every-
thing. And we girls were just as happy as little birds or daisies
when we were engaged in "Nature work."
"Come to the fern-walk!" was the first call of nature when we
went up to the club with our minds as blank as white paper
toward nature. We had seen things, it is true, but not with our
mind's eye. Miss Shearer called and we followed ; we just couldn't
help it. There was some charm in nature work, we did not know
what. Well, what do you think we saw? Ferns, of course? Yes,
but can you imagine how many kinds of ferns we found? Miss-
Shearer picked up one after another, and showed us the peculiari-
ties of each. Our eyes rolled, our mouths were wide open. At the
end of the pleasant walk in twilight through beautiful woods, over
trickling streams, our hands were full of ferns, and our minds
treasuring seventeen names of them. How rapturous we weref
I brandished some Ostrich ferns and felt as triumphant as the
Roman Conqueror. I decked my tent-mates' hair with dainty
lady ferns, and how I purred the seventeen names into their aston-
ished ears !
"A tree- walk? What fun!" We whispered to one another
when the walk was announced. And one morning all the trees
about the camp had a nice visit from us. The Balsam firs were
caressed, the Aspen poplar talked with us, and at least fifteen other
trees crept into our hearts. And how proud we were when we
could tell which was pitch and which was white pines !
*Note: This article was written by Yoshi Kasuya, a Japanese girl from-
Tokio and now a sophomore at Wellesley. She received highest honor in nature
work at Aloha Club in 1920. This young lady has been in this country a
little over one year. The article is printed just as it came from the writer and
we feel that it is remarkable not only for its English but for the appreciation^
that it shows for nature.
198
KASUYA] NATURE WORK AT ALOHA CLUB 199
"Do you know all the flowers hereabouts?" This was a gentle
hint from Miss Shearer, and almost all the camp were out on the
road down the hill, eagerly learning the names of the beauties.
When you see pretty dolls, you have a vague sense of pleasure.
But when you make a step forward, and find their names, you feel
as if those dolls were partly in your possession. So it was with us,
with flowers. We had liked flowers but we had not cared for wild
ones. But now, when we looked at each one of them carefully and
found a sweet and interesting name attached to it, such as jewel-
weed or Jack-in-the- Pulpit, we could not but cherish it with fondest
afl^ection. Twenty -five was the number of flowers which we had
to identify in order to get a cross on the chart, but how could we
stop there? There were hundreds of them waiting for our visit.
And it is not strange that Miss Shearer was besieged by girls with
some unknown flowers and thousands of questions about them.
Then came a bird-walk. At dawn, when the delicate pink in the
east, peeping from the purple mist, was gently waking up Lake
Catherine, and when the mountains were still in deep slimiber,
wrapt in dreamy haze, we were up walking, — no, not walking, for
we put one step after another as softly as we could. All was quiet,
and we never felt ourselves so calm and so full of sweet sensations.
From far, a long silvery note with an exquisite tremor broke this
blessed quiet. **A white-throat sparrow," somebody whispered.
Then, as the day broke and the trees gradually emerged from
thick purplish gray vapor, a heavenly chorus of little birds began
to fill the balmy air. We listened and we learned how to dis-
tinguish one note from another, and thus each tree inhabitant, of
the Catherine Shore was fixed in our minds with its characteristic
note.
The Plant Association. That was one of the most charming
subjects of study. This sounds quite solid and scientific, but it is
nothing but a pleasant trip around and on the lake to see which
flowers have what kind of neighbors, which plants are very fond
of water by place and so forth. Thus when the trip was made,
even the most inconspicuous liverworts were visited and their
tiny spore cups were admired just as much as butter-cups.
Our nature walk was not limited to the knowledge of flowers,
ferns and birds, but by and by our aspiration went high up into
heaven, and finally the little twinkling stars became the sources
of inspiration. One evening we all lay down on the soft grass, and
200 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW [17:4— April, 1
we were charmed by the stories of Great Orion and Pleiades and
many other constellations and those diamonds in heaven at once
became our intimate friends.
This is not all. We had countless pleasant trips in search of
nature's mysteries. I have to write pages and pages if I try to tell
you how we happened to get acquainted with some new bom
babes in a bird's nest, or who produced masterpieces of sketches
or who wrote as wonderful a song as Wordsworth. We were so
happy all through simimer, — ^we the girls of natiire work. And I
am sure the old birch tree near the bungalow must miss the cheerful
little friends in middies and bloomers.
A Porcupine at Weetamoo
By Florence Griswold
Yes, that was the largest porcupine I have ever seen. If I
remember correctly, it was soon after breakfast one Saturday morn-
ing that a "mile-away" neighbor stopped at Camp with the greet-
ing, "There is a big porcupine down the road a ways. Don't you
want to see it?"
Most of the campers were putting their tents in order for inspec-
tion but the big gong soon called them to the bungalow. Such an
opportunity to study a real live porcupine was not to be missed,
and soon the entire camp was half way to the scene of action.
We saw Mr. Porcupine walk slowly across the road and dis-
appear. Our exclamations of regret must have frightened him
for in a moment he came into sight part way up a rather small
tree. He climbed with ease and considerable rapidity. As two
brave girls hurried forward to the tree for a nearer view, some one
excitedly exclaimed, "Don't go near. He will shoot his quills
at you." No one took time just then to make known the fact
that that theory had been exploded. All were intent upon watch-
ing the porcupine. No unnecessary words were passing back and
forth. The watching was done in aknost breathless suspense.
Someone shook the tree and Mr. Porcupine easily climbed over
onto the limb of a bigger stronger tree. One of the men brought a
pole and drove him from one branch to another until at last he
went on one so small that his weight bent it do"s\Ti and he was
forced to drop to the ground.
NATURE STUDY AT CAMP HANOUM 201
How much we wanted to keep that porcupine and try the effect
of our camp spirit upon his disposition. It was not to be. He had
been wounded. All decreed that he must not be allowed to suffer.
Nature Study at Camp Hanoum
Nature study at Camp Hanoum is very informal in presentation.
It is rather made an aspect of other camp activities — tramps and
hikes, mountain climbs or canoe trips, though frequent natiu-e
walks are organized, to search out and identify the flowers, trees,
ferns and birds that are so abundant in the Vermont hills. Over
night parties, stretched out on ponchos and blankets, study the
stars from the hilltops.
Last season a naturalist and forester lived among us and stimu-
lated our interest, not only in identification, but in all the practical
side of wood-craft — ^the kinds of wood most useful for certain
kinds of fires, and for shelters, and which trees to cut and which to
spare, and why.
Among the younger children, the Nature study took the form of
games. Sometimes two groups, starting out in different directions,
would meet in a specified time and compete for the largest number
of specimens of ferns, flowers and tree-leaves gathered and cor-
rectly identified.
Another favorite game of the little children — clues — gave train-
ing in other lines than mere Nature lore. The group was told
where the first clues would be found, — perhaps in the lowest
crotch of a big tree. Here they would find a paper saying, "next
direction at the foot of oak tree, loo feet east." Here another clue
would direct, "look under cinnamon-fern by elm tree, 200 feet due
north." Long trails could be laid, the clues always to be replaced
for other players. The training in judging distances and direc-
tions was very valuable to young children.
The children are encouraged to bring in specimens of lichens,
fungus, abandoned birds' nests, geological specimens, insect galls,
caterpillars, butterflies and moths, — whatever they see that inter-
ests and attracts them. These specimens are collected in a little
museimi very popular with the children.
Three Days in the Mountains
D. C. Stebbins, Hiking Counselor
Camp Wildwood, Bridgton, Me.
Very much the same feeling comes over me each year as we are
preparing for the Mt. Washington trip. We had watched the
mountain for days from the Lodge porch. We had lived in an
atmosphere of excited anticipation. At last the morning arrives.
And at four- thirty sun time, fifteen sleepy maidens are just be-
ginning to feel that it's going to be a cool, bracing day. A couple
of hotirs after we are rolling away from camp in the "Reo" toward
the land of the mountains — through the quaint old town of
Fryeburg which is just rousing to its m^oming activities as we
pass through, to the blue mountains all about North Conway, —
then on and on, and always more m.ountains till we are almost at
home among them. By the time Jackson is reached we have had
our first view of Mt. Washington. The long up grade from Jack-
son to the Pinkham Notch is to me one of the most thrilling parts
of the ride, especially as one looks up at the Summit House on the
brow of the mountain, so clear and cold and high. We stopped at
the falls of the ElHs River, climbed down the Glen and looked up
at the pure white stream which timibled sixty feet froiS its rocky
channel into an Emerald pool at our feet, and then in a series of
lesser cascades passes out of sight down the valley. Then, on to
the Glen House, where we stopped to look up at the solemn array
of peaks, Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison. This is
the spot to get one's bearings. At one-twenty we had finished
our luncheons, and had begun the ascent of Madison by the Valley
Way. The heat and hardship of a mountain climb is forgotten
when one comes to a rushing stream. Twice we crossed Snyder
Brook, and drank and cooled ourselves in its waters. All the way
up to. the Madison huts we were never far from its course. The
huts were reached about six o'clock, and here we found the source
of the mountain brook, great clear springs in the soHd rock, sending
out little purling rivulets which ran mysteriously under the low
scrubby growth and finally gathered together into the rushing
stream which had refreshed us earlier in the day. After a pleasant '
supper and a quiet night's sleep in the huts we were ready for our
climb the next day over the Peaks. The trail, six miles, is entirely
above the timber line, and marked by cairns. We all took turns
following the trail, which is most interesting as one has to look
sharply all the time. We stopped frequently as we wound up over
202
STEBBINS] THREE DAYS IN THE MOUNTAINS 203
the side of Adams. We were in a dififerent world all that day.
Now our attention was caught b}^ wave after wave of blue moun-
tains. Now cloud and shadows, again, we stood at the edge of
some ravine ,and listened to the wind sweeping through the trees
hundreds of feet below us, and heard the sighing rush of some river
winding its way across the floor of the ravine. After a day filled
with joyous exertion we were at last climbing Mt. Washington,
our goal, the Stimmit House, in full view. That ecstatic feeling
familiar to all mountain lovers at the end of a long, hard day,
shone in each face as we heartily ate our suppers. We were not
favored with a sunrise from Mt. Washington, but the trip was
crowned with a descent thro Tuckermari's Ravine. The previous
day had been one of widest views and far horizons, the last day
gave us an intim.ate acquaintance with a mountain ravine. It is
one thing to stand and look down a ravine, and another thing
hour after hour to slowly make one's way down its precipitous
sides, now and then pausing to look up at its menacing walls.
Thousands of little streams flowed over the rocks, sometimes on
our very path, bright splotches of mountain flowers were found on
some high rocky ledge. When we reached the bottom of the head
wall we found the snow arch. We had great fun, making snow
balls, but were careful not to get too near the arch. At Hermit
Lake Camp we stopped to eat our luncheon at half past two.
It was good to hear the fire crackling in the fire place as we broiled
our bacon. After a short rest we continued the descent, through
the forest now. The five small brooks we had seen on the wall
of the Ravine, were now a m.agnificent stream, and we stayed a
long time at the Crystal Cascade. By six o'clock we were down
and had rejoined the girls who had left us in the morning to go
down by the carriage road. Our ride home in the evening was
deUghtful, we enjoyed our supper at the Pine Tree Tea Room in
North Conway, and arrived at Camp about ten o'clock.
In a little newspaper "Above the Clouds," I once found this
poem. If you read it carefully I think you will find that it reflects
much of your own feeling :
"The mountains lift their lofty heights above the land,
Silent, mysterious, beautiful, complete they stand,
Clothed in new splendours as the passing hours unfold,
Of morning's purple shadows and the sunset's gold.
Gazing I pause and wander on my lonely way.
Till from those lofty peaks a still voice seems to say,
Cast off thy bonds of self that hold thee to thy sod,
Come to the mountain heights if thou wouldst know thy God."
Daddy!
They say Camp IVJ^jvam
do es more^ tfrtfrTusrt ?/s
That settles it
—we'll make it
Wigwam.
Camp JVigwam makes its main appeal for
patronage on the strength of a personnel, nationally
recognized for leadership in educational and rec-
reational fields.
A PRICELESS PRIVILEGE OF INTIMATE ASSOCIATION TO SELECTED BOli
TWENTY-FIVE LIVE, INSPIRING, TRAINED, CULTURED LEADERS |
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LATE LAST YEAR
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MAY and SEPTEMBKK, 1921
Vol. 17 Nos. 5 and (> Whole No. 145-^
20c a copy $1.50 a year
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By LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES
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THE
NATURE STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17 May and September Nos. 5-6
The Cornell Rural School Leaflet and Nature-Study
Dr. E. L. Palmer,
Cornell University. Copyrighted 192 1 by E. L. Palmer.
As stated in the February 1920, REVIEW, the Cornell Rural
School Leaflet is a periodical published by New York State
through the Department of Rural Education of the New York
State College of Agriculture at Ithaca, N. Y. Its aim is to
provide guidance and subject matter for the teaching of Nature
Study and Humaneness and to furnish a background for an
intelligent appreciation of agriculture.
Each of the four numbers issued during the school year are
sent to the rtiral schools of the state through the District Super-
intendents. The first number of each year is a teacher's number;
the others, children's numbers.
The Review this month presents an outline of study for which
the above mentioned leaflets provide the subject matter. This
outline should be of general interest and use even to those who
do not receive the Leaflets. Unfortunately the editions of
Leaflets are so small that the publications are not available for
free distribution except to the rural schools of New York State.
It is hoped that at some later date the material may be made
available in a revised form for more general distribution.
Space does not permit the publication of any of the stories
of the "story section" of the Leaflets. This is immaterial as
other stories may possibly be used satisfactorily in their places.
One of the "landscape and cut-out picture" sets is ])ublished
in this number and directions for their use are given. An ex-
ample of the "fifty interesting things" section cannot be includ-
ed in this number for lack of space but one of tlic "life liistory
charts" is given.
205
206 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
A New Outline in Nature Study, Humaneness and
Elementary Agriculture.
A plan of study which may be followed in a system of schools
in a city is not practical many times in a one room rural school.
But aside from the fact that the same material is not always
easily available there is really no reason why a plan of study
which can be put into practice in a rural school should not prove
satisfactory in a city school system. For these reasons, it would
seem best that any plan of study which is to be more or less uni-
formly followed throughout the State should keep the problems
of the rural teacher in mind at all times.
A rural school consists of children of varied degrees of ma-
turity and preparation. A city school consists of a selected group
of children with a more or less uniform preparation. It is ob-
viously, easier for the city teacher to plan and prepare the work
than for the rural teacher to do this. . If the rural teacher can
plan the work so that all of the pupils may be kept busy at the
same time on a given subject, so much the better. If but one
preparation is necessary to care for the needs of eight different
grades at once, then, it is better yet. This outline is an attempt
to so simplify and organize the sources of information available
to rural teachers that nature study may practically take care
of itself.
An ideal nature study lesson might be one based on anything
of interest found on a trip or brought into school by any child.
Few teachers could give a real lesson under the circumstances
which would arise following a practice of this sort at the present
time. With the help of the outline which follows, this ideal
may possibly be more nearly approached than has been possible
in the past.
One lesson gives us but a meager idea of the possibilities of
any branch of learning and in order to best appreciate the subject
it should be approached from many angles. For this reason, a
bit of guidance in the selection of material will possibly produce
better results than if teachers are allowed perpetually to follow
our own inclinations. This idea of "guidance" is not new. Too
frequently, however, it has been carried to such extremes that
it has developed into "requirement." Requirements are often
more or less odious and frequently seriously besmirch an otherwise
interesting field of knowledge.
PALMER CORNELL RURAL SCHOOL LEAFLET 207
The requirement that we teach in nature study five certain
birds a year, for example, m.ay make it easy for the teacher to
dish out an allotted amount of inform.ation to the pupils without
much difficulty. But the fulfillm.ent of this requirem.ent too
frequently leads to book study rather than nature study. This
same practice also has the disadvantage that nearly every bit of
information which goes to the children m.ust in some way come
through the teacher. Teachers will find their work much easier
if instead of trying to teach nature study to the children, they let
the children teach nature study to themselves. With the help
of the Leaflets which have been and will be published this should
not be difficult in the rural schools of New York State.
Teachers sometimes m.ake the mistake. in thinking that they
are required to know everything and teach everything published
in the Leaflets. This is no more so than that they should tea:h
everything which appears in a dictionary and should know the
definition of every word in the dictionary. No one would deny
that a dictionary is one of the most useful of books and it is hoped
that the Leaflet may prove to be a more or less attractively organ-
ized nature study dictionary with the ideas expressed in terms
which may be understood and appreciated by individuals as young
as the yoimgest school child. The "cut-out pictures" and "story
sections" of the Leaflet, for exam.ple, can teach to the younger
children in a simple way the m.ore serious -minded facts which
the life history chart presents in a m.ore orthodox manner t3 the
older children.
Graded Nature Study.
There is one danger which m.ay arise from, an attem.pt to grade
nature study work arbitrarily. Som.e teachers may think they
should teach only the work outlined for the third and fourth
grade whether or not the children in these grades had had the work
on the sam.e subject for the lower grades. Generally, it is wise
to start the whole school with the work outHncd for the first and
second grades. The children in the higher grades will cf course
finish this sooner than will the primary children. They can
advance to the work outlined for the third and fourth grades.
The older children should finish this work sooner than the children
of the third and fourth grade and can proceed to the work out-
208 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
lined for the fifth and sixth grades. The still older children in
this group can finish this work more quickly than the younger
ones and go on to the work outlined for the seventh and eighth
grades. In taking up a new subject, all must begin as "little
children."
A Type Nature-Study Period,
If the children in your school have never used the material
in the Leaflet according to any system, it is well to consider
the following suggestion showing how a lesson may be taught
to a whole school at once in such a manner that all may be kept
busy.
Suppose for example at the beginning of the nature study
period some child reports that on his way to school he saw some
rather small birds flying around in the air. After he tells all
that he can about the birds the teacher may for guidance refer
to the outline given at the end of this article. One page of this
outline deals with birds and it will be seen that a part of this page
deals with birds found feeding in the air. Under this section,
reference is m.ade to Volume XIV, No. 4 of the Cornell Rural
School Leaflet. This means that that number of the Leaflet
should be a source of information- for studying birds that feed
in the air just as the M section of the dictionary gives you guid-
ance for information concerning words beginning with M.
A copy of Volume XIV, No. 4 of the Cornell Rural School
Leaflet has been sent to every rural school in the state and should
have been left in the library. Those schools whose teachers
requested additional copies have enough copies for each child.
Under these circumstances it should be safe to imply that every
rural school has access to this material.
Volume XIV, No. 4 of the Leaflet contains a chapter dealing
with birds found feeding in the air. These birds are called the
ceiling cleaners. This chapter m.ay be read to or by the pupils
and should give the school some clue as to what the bird seen
might be. It may be decided for example that it is a bam rwal-
low. So far at least the lesson m_ay be carried on by the school
as a whole.
Reference to the outline at the end of this article suggests
that the use of the cut out pictures will give profitable work for
PALMER CORNELL RURAL SCHOOL LEAFLET 209
the children of the first two grades. These children, and others
if they wish, may cut out the swallow and place it on the land-
scape where it belongs in accordance with the directions accom-
panying the landscape.
The children in the third and fourth years can do what the
children in the first two grades have done and in addition select
some one page in their nature study notebooks. On that page
they will keep a record through the year of birds seen feeding
in the air and in particular some one bird like the bam swallow
which they themselves have selected. This notebook will con-
tain the date when the birds were first seen, when and where
they nested, when the first young were first seen and when the
birds were last seen. It is not necessary that every school in
the State select the bam swallow for this study. Any bird of
the barn swallow type will do. The Leaflet has given help jn
the study of the bam swallow and chimney swift and it may be
easier for the teacher to use these examples but any other bird
of this type will be satisfactory. This gives greater opportunity
for you to teach from the material at hand and is bound to make
the work interesting. The "Fifty Interesting Things" section
may prove of assistance in guiding the observations of these chil-
dren. In a bird Iseson like the one under discussion the questions
dealing with birds may be considered.
The children of the fifth and sixth grades should keep a note
book as did the younger students. After they have made all
the observations they can independently they may refer to the
Life History Chart section of the Leaflet and fill in the gaps in
their own record. They may incorporate their final conclu-
sions in a story about the bam swallow in which they emphasize
the things which they themselves have seen. They should be
able to appreciate the work that these birds do in keeping the
open air free from insects and should have some idea of how
the birds are particularly fitted for the work they do. The use
of the birds to nature and their relation to other living things
might well be understood.
If the children of the seventh and eighth grade have had the
work, just outlined for the lower grades or if they have complet-
ed it more quickly than their younger schoolmates the\^ may
go beyond the work outlined and study the rclati(Mi of tlicsc
birds toman and to agriculture j^articularly. If desired, tlicy
210 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW
may construct martin or other bird houses and should do all
they can to encourage useful birds to lighten the labors and in-
crease the profits of the farmers and gardeners of the commun-
ity. Any laws dealing with these particular birds should be
known and assistance should be given the authorities in making
these laws effective. Any impression that the laws are imper-
ialistic should be dispelled by an appreciation of the common-
sense back of them. It will not be difficult to see the common-
sense side if the program outlined above has been followed.
At the beginning of this section it was suggested that the topic
for study come from some child who had seen something interest-
ing. It may come with equal appropriateness from a child whose
garden is being attacked by insects. The outline shows appro-
priate work for the younger children while the older child is being
helped with his problem.
All of this work may be taught at one time to a group of chil-
dren of varied ages and in different grades. Since all of the mater-
ial necessary to teach such a lesson is available in every rural
school in the State it is only natural to expect that a program of
this sort can be put into practice.
So much for this type lesson on birds foimd feeding in the air.
Lessons on other nature-study subjects are outlined in a similar
manner and should be understood without great difficulty.
The Wcrk of Diferent Years.
It should be obvious that if we divide the children into groups
of two grades each and follow the system, already outlined that
there will be needless repetition if no effort is made to prevent
this. For exam_ple, a child who enters school this year and studies
a bam swallow this year wotdd next year be in the same group
and study the bam swallow again in the same manner. To
prevent this, the outline suggests two groups of birds found feed-
ing in the air and suggests that one of these groups be considered
one year and the other the next year. In either case, the chapter
in Volimie XIV, No. 4 of the Leaflet would be an appropriate
introduction. One year you would consider birds like bam
swallows and chimney swifts that are seen for the m.ost part
on the wing. The next year it might be well to study the other
group which includes birds like the phoebe and kingbird which
fly up from a perch to capture their food and then as a rule return
PALMER CORNELL RURAL SCHOOL LEAFLET 211
to their original perch. The third year of a child's school work
he would return to a consideration of the group studied the first
year and he may or may not study the same example of that
group. The fourth year he would return to the group he studied
the second year, and so on through the eight years.
Agriculture and Home Making.
A wise decision was made when it was advised that the seventh
and eighth years of work along nature-study lines be largely
agricultural. The plan outlined organizes the work for the sev-
enth and eighth grades so that the whole field of subject matter
works in nicely. This work may or may not be done as organ-
ized project work. The types selected are chosen with the view
that they will lead up to some home-making or agricultural proj-
ect. The study of sugar-producing plants in nature study creates
an excellent background for the use of sugars as food in a home-
making lesson. The study of rabbit tracks as nature study
in the lower grades creates an interest in rabbits which may be
reared as projects or served as a portion of a well balanced meal.
It is neither necessary or advisable that any rural school take
up all of the projects oiitlined for the seventh and eighth grades.
The outline merely shows how any of the nature study lessons
may be associated with an agricultural or homemaking project.
It will probably be found wise to have the girls confine their work
to one project and the boys to another and allow them to work
on these projects during the nature study period, providing
their services are not needed in helping the teacher with the young-
er children. We all learn by teaching and the older boys will
grow in ability and power by making birds baths, bird houses
and feeding stations for the school. The older girls will learn
additional things about the part of the landscape birds care for
if they help the smaller children with their cut-out pictures.
Humaneness.
The New York State law requires that humaneness be taii^lit
in the schools of the State and it includes a clause to t]ie effect
that the assistance of state money may be withheld from tliose
schools which do not live up to this requirement. Many teacli-
212 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW
ers have asked how they are to teach humaneness and what they
are to teach about it. Any boy or girl who knows the life-history
story of a wild creature whether it be bird or beast will treat that
creature in an infinitely more hum.ane manner than if he knows
nothing about it. Children and others hate to be preached to.
Preaching would be unnecessary if teaching was correctly done.
The material outlined in these nature-study lessons should create
a spirit of humaneness in your school. Humaneness is common
sense and most htiman beings will develop common sense provid-
ing they have a chance. Common sense demands fair treatment
for all creatures and practice of the Golden Rule. If a gener-
ation of children with greater common sense can be developed,
the ideas of conservation and patriotism will take care of them-
selves. But first of all to have common sense in matters of this
sort, the teachers must have some knowledge and the present
outline should help them to gain it.
The Required Work.
Instead of requiring that certain animals, birds and insects
be studied each year, this outline requires that at least one ex-
ample of each type be studied at some time during the year. One
lesson niay conveniently consider one or two types and with
a minimum, of two lessons a week through the year there should
be no difficulty in covering the ground. Much of the work may
be conveniently co-related with geography, drawing and language
and suggestions to this end are incorporated in the outline.
This outline has not been drauni up for the sake of making
extra work for teachers. . It has been developed to grant the
requests for assistance which have come from niral school teach-
ers actually in service in rural schools in New York State and
in Iowa. The system is not a dream which ought to work. The
ideas have been tried and found not wanting. Without exception
the plan has had the approval of teachers and superintendents
who have looked it over and if the rural teachers of the state in
their work find any way in which it can be improved or can point
out any particularly weak spots you are asked to write me about
it. Without question, it can be improved. It must not be
judged too quickly. The plan must be given a fair trial and the
teachers may count upon the cooperation of the Supervisor
PALMER CORNELL RURAL SCHOOL LEAFLET 213
of the Leaflet in making their teaching a success. The cooper-
ation of the teachers will help to perfect a plan which will make
the teaching of nature study easier for the next generation of
teachers and more profitable and interesting to the children oi
the schools of the State.
How The Landscape and Cut-out Pictures May he Used.
This section is designed prim.arily for use by the children of
the lower grades. They m.ay need some assistance in prepar-
ation from the older pupils but they seem to be helped m.ore by
this section than by any other except possibly the story section.
The landscapes are designed to help teach the children to recog-
nize various forms of living things and to know where these forms
are most commonly found. A sandpiper is a part of our con-
cept of the shore of a waterway and a bat a part of the sky at
dusk. The placing of the pictures of these creatures in the proper
place on the paper landscape helps fix the observations which
the children may have m.ade out of doors. It fixes them, in a
m.anner different from what results from m.erely the spoken
word.
To make a landscape the following suggestions m.ay prove
useful.
1. Remove the parts of the landscape from the back of this
number being careful not to tear the m.ore or less brittle paper
on which they are printed.
2. Trim off the right hand m.argins of all sections except
those which will make the right hand part of the landscape.
3. Paste the proper sections to their right hand neighbors
using the untrimm.ed left hand m.argins as a region of attachment.
4. Trim off the low^er margin of the pasted upper section and
paste these sections to the untrimm.ed upper margin of the lower
sections.
5. Paste the whole landscape sm.oothly to S9m.e good tough
wrapping paper.
6. Cut a number of horizontal half inch slits through the
landscape and paper in various parts of the landscajjc.
7. Color with wax crayons or water colors.
8. Mount the whole landscape on a good stiff card ])asting
it down around the border only. This leaves an unpasted area
between the card board and the wrapping jjaper.
214 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW
9. Mount the life history chart on the back of the landscape.
Mark a narrow black frame or border around the whole land-
scape using ink or crayon or passe-par-tout.
10. Mount the animals, on good stiff wrapping paper or cloth;
then paste them to a thin but tough card.
11. Cut them out leaving a vertical flap at the bottom about
a half inch wide and an inch long.
12. Color the pictures with crayon or water-color.
13. Paste the printed name on the back of the animal or bird
or fish.
14. Paste an envelope to the back of the landscape to hold
the cut-out creatures when not in use in class room work.
Use of the landscapes.
The landscapes would not justify inclusion in the Leaflet if
the" busy work" attendant upon their preparation were their only
merit.
The landscapes have been found effective when used as games
and when used in a m,ore seriously-minded manner to teach by
personal experience facts which might otherwise be more quickly,
though not necessarily lastingly, learned from the experience
of others.
One method of using the landscape is as follows. The best
landscape in the school is hung on the wall in the front of the
room. If a child reports in the nature study period that he saw
a rabbit or rabbit tracks in the woods he is allowed to place a
paper rabbit there. It remains there until some child sees a rab-
bit elsewhere than the woods. The paper rabbit is then placed
in the new locality. The sam.e practice is observed with the
other animals and birds. Sooner or later it will dawn upon
the child that certain creatures confine their activities to certain
more or less definite parts of the landscape. When they have
come to this conclusion as to a number of forms they are ready
to go on and find out how the forms under discussion are par-
ticularly fitted to maintain an existence in that part of the en-
vironment in which they are found. The life history chart
on the back of the landscape will always be handy for the teacher
to check up on the children's observations and avoid the draw-
ing of any reriously erroneous conclusions.
PALMER CORNELL RURAL SCHOOL LEAFLET 215
NATURE-STUDY OUTLINE
How TO USE THIS SECTION
1. Read the article on A New Outline for Nature Study,
handbook of Humaneness, Elementary Agriculture and Hcme-
making (preceding pages.)
2. Turn to the page following these directions and open the
infolded page.
3. Decide in which group of topics on these pages the sub-
ject you wish to be assisted in should be found. For example,
a squirrel would appear on the mammal study pages under the
group of mam^ials found in trees.
4. See if the name of the particular creature you desire to
study is included in the list of topics under the group. If so,
you may find additional help in the num.ber of the Leaflet, refer-
ence to which is m.ade either after the nam.e of the example or
after the group nam.e. For example, 13-3 m.eans that in Vol time
13, No. 3 of the Cornell Rural School Leaflet you will find
a life-history chart and other information which will help you
mith your problem.
5. To find appropriate material for any particular grade,
select the grade from the list on the left of the infolded sheet,
read through the infolded sheet and under the appropriate topic.
6. Material of assistance in various projects may be found
under the following columns. These suggest nature study ma-
terial related to each organized junior project. (See lower sec-
tions particularly.)
Foods,- 6, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 29, 35, 42.
Clothing,- 19, 26, 29, 35.
Gardening,- 1, 2, 3, 17, 21, 22, 25, 31, 32, 33, 34.
Potato growing,- 1, 2, 3, 15, 22, 25, 31, 32, 33, 34.
Corn growing,- 1, 2, 3, 15, 22, 25, 31, 32, 33, 34.
Bean growing,- 1, 2, 3, 16, 22, 25, 31, 32, 33, 34.
Calf raising,- 16, 29.
Pig raising,- 16, 29.
Sheep raising,- 16, 29.
Poultry raising,- 38, 42.
Rabbit raising,- 25.
INDEX TO TOPICS CONSIDERED IN THIS OUTLINE
Numbers refer to proper column on following pages
A. Adder's tongue
Air 2
Alfalfa i6
Ant 33
Aphid 30, 31,
Apple II
Arbor vitae 13
Arbutus 14
Army worm 31
Ash 13
Asparagus 17
Aurora 2
B. Back swimmer 7
Bacteria 22
Barberry 14
Bass 10
Basswood 13
Bat 23
Bean 16
Beaver 26
Bed-bug 34
Bee 35
Beechnut 12
Birch 12
Birch- borer 30
Bittersweet 14
Black fly 77
Blueberry 11
Blue jay 40
Bobolink 38
Brown creeper
Burdock 18
p. Cabbage 17
] Cabbage but 'fly
j Caddis fly 9
Carrot 17
Cat 28
I Catalpa 14
j Cat bird 37
i Cat tail 6, 15
' Cattle 29
i Cecropia 30
; Cedar 13
Cedar waxwing
Celery 17
Centipede 34
Chestnut 12
Chicken 42
Chickadee 37
Chicor>^ 17
Chipmunk 25
Cicada 30
Clematis 14
Clickbeetle 31
Clover 16
Cockroach 33
Colors 2
Com 15
Cottonwood 13
Cow 29
Cow bird 40
20
32
31
36
Cowslip 6
Crayfish 9
Cricket 31
Crow 40
Currant 11 I.
Cut worm 32
D. Day i J.
Daisy 20
Damsel bug 34
Damsel fly 8
Dandelion 21
Deposition 4 L.
Diving beetle 8
Dobson fly 8, 9
Dock 18
Dog 28
Dogbane 19
Dragon fly 8
Drone fly 9
Duck 42 M
E. Earth 5
Earthworm 32
Eel grass 6
Elm 13
Elm leaf beetle 30
Erosion 4
Evening primrose20
F. Fall I
Fern 20
Flax 19
Fog 2
Fox 28
Frog 9
Frost 2
Fungus 22
G. Geography 5
Giant water bug 8
Ginseng 18
Goat 29
Goldfinch 38
Goldenrod 20
Goose 42 N.
Gooseberry 11
Crackle 40
Grape 11
Grasshopper 31 0.
Ground beetle 34
Gull 40
Halo 2
Hair Snake 8
Hare 25 P.
Hawk 41
Hazel 12
Heal-all 21
Heat I
Hemlock 13
Hemp 19
Hepatica 20
Heron 39
Hickory 12
Hill 4
H
Horse 29
Horse tail 21
House fly 33
Hummingbird 37
Ice 2
Ichneumon fly 34
Junco 38
June beetle 31
Juniper 14
. Katydid 31
King bird 36
Lace wing 34
Lady beetle 34
Lambs quarters 21
Leaf hopper 31
Leech 9
Lettuce 17
Light I
.Mandrake 20
Maple II
Marsh plants 6
May beetle 31
May fly 7
Midge 7
Milkweed 19
Millipede 33
Mink 26
Mold 22
Mole 25
Monarch but 'fly 31
Moon 5
Mosquito 35
Moss 20
Motherwort 18
Mouse, deer 25
Mouse, house 27
Mouse, meadow 25
Mullein 18
Mushroom 22
Muskrat 26
Night I
Nighthawk 36
Nightshade 18
Nuthatch 37
Oak 12
Oat 15
Onion 17
Otter 26
Owl 41
Pansv 20
Pea 16
Peach II
Pear 11
Peewee 36
Peppergrass 17, 21
Pheasant 42
Phoebe 36
Pickerel 10
Pickerel Weed 6
Pig 29
Pigeon 42
Pigweed 21
Pike 10
^ Pine 13
"* Plantain 21
Plant louse 30
Plover 39
Plum II
Poison hemlock 18
Poison ivy 12
Pond weed 6
Porcupine 24
Potato 15
Potato blight 22
Powdery mildew 22
Punkie 8
Q. Qxiail 42
R. Rabbit 25
Raccoon 24
Radish 17
Ragweed 21
Rain 2
Raspberry 1 1
Rat 27
Rattlesnake root 18
Red cedar 13
Rice 15
Rock 3
Rose 14
Rust, wheat 22
S. Salamander 9
Salmon 10
Salsify 17
Sandpiper 39
Sassafras 12
Scale insect 30
Scavenger beetle 9
Seasons i
Sediment 4
Sheep 29
, Shepherds purse 21
Shrew 25
Shrike 41
Shrimp 9
Silkworm 35
Skunk 25
Sky 2
Slug 32
Smut 22
Snail 9, 32
Snake 8
Snow 2
Soil 3
Sow-bug 9, 32
Sparrow 38
Spice bush 12
Spider 34
Spittle insect 31
Spring I
Spring beauty 20
Spruce 13
Squash bug 31'
Squirrel 24
Stars
Steam 2
St. John's Wc
Stinkbug 31
Stone 3
Stone fly 8
Strawberry 1 1
Sucker 9
Summer i
vSun I
Swallow 36
Sweet clover
Swift 36
T. Tamarack 13
Teasel 21
Tent caterpillar 30
Thistle 21
Toadstool 22
Trillium 2
Trout 100
Turkey 42
Turtle 9
Tussock moth 30
V. Valley 4
Velvet weed 19
Vervain 21
Violet 20
Virginia creeper 14
Vulture 40
W.Walmt 12
Warbler 37
Wasp 34
Water 2
Water boatman 7
Water bug 8
Water hemlock 18
Water lily 6
Water plant 6
Water scorpion 8
Water strider 8
Weasel 28
Wheat 15
Whirligig beetle 8
Whitefish 10
White grub 32
White vervain 21
Wild carrot 17
Wild lettuce 17
Wild r>'e 15
Willow 13
Wind 2
Winter i
Witch hazel 12
Woodbine 14
Woodchuck 25
Woodpecker 37
Wren 37
Y. Yarrow 20
Yew 14
216
EARTH STUDY (continued)
Rocks And Soils, Volume 15, Number 3
Rocks
Collect different kinds of
pebbles at a brook or
in the road; which of
these are the hardest
and will scratch others
Besides a difference in
hardness rocks are
"put together" dif-
ferently, in layer;
which separate solid
and uniform and made
up of glistening parts
collect each
Soils
Earth Changes, Volume 15, Number 3
Erosion, hills and valleys
Notice how after rains
the roofs and high
places are washed clean
of dust and fine dirt
notice the color of
brooks following a rain
Make mud pies of differ
ent kinds of soil includ-
ing sand; some soils
stick together better
than others ; appear-
ance of gravel and mud
walks after a rain
Crystal study, using salt
sugar, blue vitriol; life
story of two rock types
relation between na-
ture of brooks and kind
of rocks; minerals as
food
Determine from soil maps
the rocks lying under
your farm or home
garden; need and
source of fertilizers
When stocking your
aquarium note how
much muddier the
water is if you have
garden loam instead of
sand on bottom; note
variety of things in soil
What animals do you find
changing the nature of
the soil; how do angle
worms for example
change it; what kind
of plants grow best on
certain soils
Prepare soil for garden
and crop projects prop-
erly so as to sappiy
plants with a ready
supply of food and
water
Notice how running
water cuts its way
through mud and sand
or snow and ice; find
in the mud, valleys,
hills, divides, gorges,
and other land and
water forms; work of
frost
Why stones have to be
picked off hillside
farms; find influence of
this on the value of the
farm and upon the
products of the farm-
what prevents erosion
Why not cultivatf
straight up and down
hillside; study geolog-
ical survey maps of
school district; plan
drainage on farm
value of trees on h;ill-
side
Deposition
Notice how gutters get
clogged with waste;
slush in the spring
should illustrate con-
ditions favorable and
unfavorable for depo-
sition
Does swift water or
- slowly moving water
fill in more rapidly;
are large particles
placed together with
small ones; where is
soil 'deepest
Influence of sediment on
value of farm lands and
products; land forma-
tion by sediment;
'14-T) "Ooze and
Slime;" plant and sed-
iment relationships
Plan ponds on your farm
which wMl make good
fishponds, swimming
ponds, <ir watering
plarcs
217
EARTH STUDY (concluded)
5
Earth And The Universe. Volume is.
Number 3
6
Plants, Volume 13, Number 4
Earth study and local
geography
Star study and moon
study 13-3. 4; i-l-i. 2 :
rs-i
Underwater plants, 13-4;
pond weed, 13-4:
water lilies, 13-4; eel
grass, 13-4
Vlarsh plants, 13-4; cat-
tail 13-4. 14-3; Pick-
erel-weea, 13-4; cow-
slip or marsh marigold.
13-4
Leam to locate your seat
in Schoolroom; learn to
tell others how to go
to your home from
school or to some one
rise's home
Collect and identify at
least one of these;
note how weak stems
are
Keep track of appearance
of moon at different
times of month; learn
a few myths and stories
about moon and stars;
recognize one constel-
lation
Collect and identify at
least one of these, more
if desired; stems us-
ually stronger than in
water plants
Map of the school district
showing location of
your farm and the
farms of your neighbois
Note air storage and food
storage areas under
water; note nature and
position of flowers if
present
Be able to locate north
star and at least three
constellations; notice
change In position in
seasons and at different
hours of night; notice
different appearances
of the moon
Note air storage and food
storage areas; means
of seed dispersal; ene-
mies
Where water from creek
in your district goes or
what are 1 nearby sta-
tions on the railroads
or state roads; see geo-
logical survey maps
and otherr.
Determine reason why
fowers are commonly
at surface; relation of
these plants to water
creatures as food and
protection; make
mounts
Give some idea of consec-
utive movements of
moon; the signs of the
zodiac and their mean-
ing
Relation of plants to ani-
mals and insects;
methods of pollination;
importance in making
marsh landscape so dif-
ferent from others
Devote time to regular
geography work
Establish plants in your
schoolroom or personal
aquarium; determine
how many creatures
can prosper with the
amount of plants pres-
ent
Devote time to regular
geography work
Summarize uses of forms
(cat-tails, for example)
to man in weaving, as
a possible food source
and in other ways
218
LIFE OF WATERWAYS
7
Plant Eaters, Vor UME 14, Number 2
8
Preying Creatures, Volume 13 Number 4:
Volume 14, Number 2
May flies, 14-2; water
boatmen, 14-2; midges.
14-2
Black flies. 14-2; May
flies, J 4-2
Dragon flies, 14-2; dam-
sel flies, 14-2; back
swimmers, 14-2; water
scorpions, 14-2; giant
water bugs, 14-2;
punkies, 14-2 ; diving
beetles, 14-2; whirli-
gig beetles, 14-2; snakes,
i.S-4
Stone flies, 14-2; water
striders, 14-2 ; dobson
flies, 14-2
Note adults and if pos-
sible immature forms
and where each is
found; study method
of locomotion in aqua-
rium or outdoois; where
forms are found
Decide upon part of pond
where selected form is
commonly found; note
any peculiarities in po-
sition or use of eyes and
legs, identify conspic-
uous stages
Notice adult and imma-
ture stages ; adults
common in air; larvae
common and conspic-
uous on rocks in mov-
ing water mostly
Type of water in which
forms are most com-
monly found; head up
or down stream; move-
ments and how made
Method of breathing if
conspicuous; enemies
and means of escapinc
them ; food and, if pos-
sible, how obtained;
diff'erence in swift and
still-water types
Note means of collecting
food and kinds of food;
enemies and how
avoided; connect im-
mature and mature
stages
Enemies of each stage
and means of escaping
them; food of adults if
evident; homes of lar-
vae or means of stay-
ing on bottom
Food and means used in
capturing, holding, and
eating it; peculiarities
of structure and rea-
sons for them: omemies;
connect stages
Relation of these forms
to others in your aqua-
rium; will they eat
others or will others eat
them; helpless stages
Relation of these forms
to other life in same
environment; relative
abundance of these
forms and plant eaters
Relation of those forms
to other creatures in-
cluding man; value as
food to fish; means of
getting food
Relation of these forms
to other forms in same
environment: relative
abundance; decide
dpon usefulness
Sto ck aquarium with
these plant eaters foi
the rest of the school
or put in time makinc
a scl-.ool aquarium (see
Volume 14, Number i)
Study additional form?
or put in time con-
structing or stocking
aquaria for the school
Study additional forms or
put in time making a
flowing-water or still-
water aquarium
Study additional t...ins or
])ul in time ronstnu't-
inr or slockiiu; a(iu.iri;«
f,,r tin- srlM.ol
219
LIFE OF WATERWAYS (concluded)
9
Waste Eaters. Scavengers; Volume 23. Num
BER 4; Volume 14. Number 2
10
Direct Economic Interest, Volume 13, Num-
ber 4
Fresh-water shrimps,
14-2; drone flies, 14-2:
flops and salamanders,
15-4; clams, snails
turtles, is-4
Scavenger beetles,
14-2; dobsons, 14-2;
caddis worms, 14-2;
crayfish, suckers, 13-4:
leeches
Pike. 13-4; pickerel,
13-4; bass. 13-4;
white-fish. J3-4; other
still-water game and
food fish
Brook trout, 13-4: brown
trout. 13-4; salmon
Forms found commonly
in waters well-supplied
with decaying plants
or animals; means of
locomotion, peculiari-
ties of form if any
Type of water in which
different forms are
found; form of body:
type of mouth and sizf
and type of food; use
of fins and tail in
swimming
Recognize at least one
form which cleans up
waste in moving
waters; notice peculi-
arities of locomotion
if any
Type of water in which
forms are found; read
"A Dare but Plav
Fair", type of fo'vd
Means of collecting food
in different stages,
peculiarities of mouth
or other parts: enemies
and their avoidance ;
connect stages
Eggs and nests and care
of young in certain
forms; enemies; list
things in pond contrib-
uting to food supply of
these fishes
Food and means of. ob-
taining it; peculiaritic-
of structure and their
advantages; connect
stages; enemies and
protection from them
Vests and egg laying,
enemies and protec-
tion from them; list of
other things found in
s(reams which^serve in
giving a food supply
Relation of these forms
to other animals and
to plants in ponds, in
destroying waste and
in making food for
larger forms; rear tad-
poles if convenient
Dependence of abun-
dance of fish upon
food; decide upon im-
provement of food pro-
ducing areas in nearby
ponds; b/eeding habits
Value of forms in clean-
ing up waste material;
relative abundance;
decide upon usefulness
and number to be
allowed in an aquarium
Dependence upon clean
waters; cooperate in
reporting violations in
water contamination;
locate fish hatcheries
in state
Emphasize great value of
forms like frogs and
toads and lesser values
of snakes, clams, snails,
and the like; slock
aquarium
Learn game laws and re-
lation between laws
and breeding season;
cooperate in reporting
violations; iearn that
laws a'-e common sense;
fish as food in foods
protect
Study additional formr-
and put in time stock-
ing or building aquaria
Learn the game laws;
cooperate with game
warden; save trout in
drying streams; locate
suitable places for
planting young trout;
salmon indastn.'
220
WOODY PLANTS
Sugar Producers
Maple, IS-2; apple, 1S-2
cherry, 15-2; peach,
pears, plum
Form of tree and shape
of leaf; type of fruit;
abundance of selected
form in school district
Additional e[xamples;
flowers when and how
produced; seedlings;
year's growth as told
by twigs and wood
Enemies of these trees
andi|.efrect of weather
upon them; product
chart showing wood,
leaves, fruits and other
things; leaf prinis
Estimate of valae of
fr.uits or sugar
produced in school dis-
trict; help in planning
spraying campaigns;
use of sugars as foods
in food projects; can-
ning
Grape, 15-2; raspberry
1S-2; I'urranl, IS-2,
gooseberry, blueberry-
strawberry
Form of entire plant;
share of leaf; identifi-
cation of fruits; recog-
nition of flowers and in
some cases of bark
Recognition of last year's
growth; decide upon
which year's growth
fruits are borne most
abundantly
Relation of insects to the
plant; nature of injuries
caused ; decide upon
treatment as was done
in insect study; make
leaf prints and product
chart
Prune vines and shrubs
intelligently; treat for
insect pests and for
fungous diseases; use
of sugars in food proj-
ects; canning work
Fat Axd Oa Producers, Nut Trees
Spice bush, 15-2; sassa-
fras, 15-2; birch, 15-2:
poison ivy. 15-2- witch
hazel
Recognition of plant by
means of leaves or by
fruit, twigs, or bark;
general form of plant,
whether shrub or
climber or tree
Recognition of additional
forms ; of years'
growth; of the fact that
poison ivy does not
aflFect us all alike
Make leaf prints and a
mount showing wood .
fruit, flowers, bark,
and, if possible, oil
Recognize value of some
of these in landscape
work; plan to have at
least one planted on
grounds Arlior Day
Hickory, 15-2; walnut
15-2; chestnut. 15-2,
beechnut, 15-2; hazel
bush, 15-2; oak, 1,^-2
Recognition of plant by
leaves, fruits, and bark:
general shape; use of
fruits as food; nature
of wood
Protection of fruit : use of
fruit to animals; use of
animals in planting
seeds
Relation of animals and
insects to tree; recog-
nize injuries caused bv
fungi; recognition of
wood- leaf prints and
profUtct chart
Plant ..lie nt 1
somrwtirrc i
srlH.nl (listrirt
Dav; use nt n
fu.HJs in fo,.,i
1 tvpc
Vdur
.Arbor
oils :is
luj.Tts
221
WOODY PLANTS (concluded)
TiMiER And Pui.p Producfrs
Ornamentals
Pine, 1S-2; hemlock
1S-2; spruce, 1 5-2; fir
15-2; tamarack or
larch, 15-2 ; red cedar
Cottonwood, 1S-2; ash
1S-2; elm, IS-2; wil-
low, 13-2; basswood
IS-2
Catalpa, IS-2; iuniper
1S-2; arbor vitae
15-2; wild rose, bar-
berry, yew
Virginia creeper. 15-2;
bittersweet, 15-2;
clematis. 15-2; arbu-
tus. 15-2
Recognition of plant by
means of cone, needle,
twig, general shape
use Christmas tree af
a lesson
Recognition of plants by
form, by leaves, or by
other parts
Recognition of plant b:'
leaves, form, and bark-
use cut-out pictures to
fix shape in mind
Recognition of plants by
form, by leaves, or by
fruits or flowers; means
of getting above
ground
How trees avoid being
broken by snow, how
they heal wounds ir
their bark; seeds inside
cones; kinds of cones
Recognition of leaves
flowers, and fruit of
form; beauty in the
landscape caused by
these plants
Note means used by tree
selected in spreading
fruit ; recognition of
flowers and time of
flowering
Recognize additional ex-
amples in this or other
types; get notes on
time of flowering and
bearing of fruit j
Relation of squirrels tc
the seeds; necessity of
protecting seeded
areas; product charts
and mounts; pollina-
tion
Relation of these forms
to insects and pollina-
tion; relation to plant
diseases, if any; seed
dispersal ; product
mount if desirable
Relation between weather
conditions and life of
the plant; use of trees
in paper production
and in orotecting
watershed product chart
Dependence of plants
upon others; beauty of
these plants and need
for their preser-^^ation
Plant at least one and
if possible more trees
of this type in your
district on Arbor Day:
how much land in your
district is idle which
might produce timber
Conduct campaigns
against shrubs which
serve as hosts for un-
desirable fungi or in-
sects; set out one or
more * desirable forms
Arbori, Day
Plant one of this type ir
your district on Arbor
Day; how much idle
land in your district
might be producinp
paper pulp?
Set out one or more of
these plants on school
ground and aid in their
protection
222
NON-WOODY PLANTS
Starch Producers,
Grasses
Wild rye, 14-3; wheat,
13-1; oats, 13-1; corn,
13-1; rice
Recognize plants and
seeds of at least one of
these ; see suggestion
Volume 13. Number 3
p. no; recognize tassel
and ears if present
Cat-tail. 14-3; potato,
13-1
16
Protein Producers, legumes
Alfalfa, 13-1
clover, T4-3;
sweet
cloverc
Beans, 13-1; peas, 13- 1;
Lesson 124. Farm
Crops Series, Cornell
Reading Course for the
Farm
Recognize at least one
clover by its leaves or
flowers; type of ground
where the kind of
clovers is found most
commonly
Work done by each part
of the plant, roots
stems, leaves, fruiting
head ; survive because
of abundance; plant
seeds and note stages
in growth
Recognize plants by
leaves at least; notice
part storing food
Relation to animals, as
forage and grain; re-
lation to the soil; pol-
lination; diseases;
weather and growth
and pollination; test
germination; judge ears
Carry on corn project;
see project manual; use
of starches in foods as
shown In food projects
canning corn in proj
ects
Work done by each part;
how these plants repro
duce themselves, but
rarely by seed; list
plants you know are
planted by ctfttings
Recognize other kinds
notice nodules on roots
and type of roots ; com
pare stems above
ground in different
clovers; recognition by
leaves, seeds, and
flowers
Recognize by plant and
seeds; types of plant;
bush and pole beans
and pess including
sweet peas
Plant sweet peas or gar-
den peas or beans and
watch development of
seeds; value of cultiva-
tio.n; identi fy addi-
tional types-
Relation of plants to
insects; p oil i nation;
honey production; fer-
tility of soil; type of
soil adapted to clovers
Relation of plants to ani-
mals; kind of soil best
adapted to each plant;
relation to insects and
plant diseases; selec-
tion of seed potatoes
Carry on potato project
see project manual ; use
of starches as foods as
shown in food projects
Use information in ani
mal projects in deter
mining proper rations
in crop projects in de
termining crop rota
tion; in bee project:
use as forage
Relation to insects;
study plant lice and
lady beetles on sweet
peas; diseases; proper
planting and harvest-
ing methods
Carry on l)iMn project;
see project iii.niii.!l; use
of proteins as foods in
foods projorts; can-
niiiM < f licans in cm-
iiin^; proj.Ht'^
223
NON-WOODY PLANTS (continue d)
17
Mineral Pood Producers
Medicine Poducers And Poisonous Plants
Wild carrot, 14-3; chii-
ory, 14-3; wild salsify
i4-.r, radish; and othe
root crops
Wild lettuce, 14-3; pep-
per grass, 14-3; cab-
bage, lettuce, aspara
gus, celery, onion
Curled dock 14-3; rattle-
snake root, 14-3
motherwort. 14-3; bur-
dock, 14-3; mullein
14-3; ginseng
Poison hemlock ; black
nightshade. water
hemlock, 7-r
Recognize some one plani
of the above either by
leaves, flowers, 01
roots, or b:- whole plant
Recognize one of these
plants in summer and
winter condition; get
some idea of whether
they are annual, bien-
nial, or perennial
Recognize one or more
plants of this group by
the most conspicuous
part; if eaten, which
part; type of ground on
which most commonly
found
Recognize as many of
these as possible; not
necessary to empha-
size poisonous quali-
ties too much; merely
point out danger
Plant seeds and watch
development; notice
that when food is
crowded into root,
seeds are not being pro-
duced and that food in
roo<- is used in produc-
ing seeds
Study selected plant in
seedling, flowering and
fruiting and other
stages; plant and grow
some one kind
Recognition of seed as
well as plant; means of
sprouting of seeds; na-
ture of roots, stems,
leaves, and flowers
Continue to recognize
additional forms; parts
of plants most to be
avoided; places where
eajch is found
Determine ideal condi-
tions for growing these
crops, or of eradicating
these weeds; insect and
other enemies and how
controlled; use to all
animals
Method of seed dispersal ;
pollination; insect and
other enemies; possible
use of plants as cover
for other living things
Means used by plant in
spreading seed nor-
mally; insect and plant
diseases as enemies and
means of control
How poisons can be
counteracted if t aken
accidentally ; ani mals
which sufl^er because of
these plants
Carry on garden project;
see project manual; use
of mineral in foods in
food projects; canning
of garden products in
canning projects
Use of plants to man;
devote time to projects
of any sort; raise gin-
seng as an independent
project
Carry on garden project;
see project manual ; use
of minerals as foods in
food projects; canning
of garden products in
canning projects
Devote time to projects
of any sort; eradicate
most plants likely to
prove dangerous to the
community
224
NON-WOODY PLANTS (continued)
19
TiiiER Producfrs
Dogbane, 14-3;
flax Milkweed, 14-3; velvet
weed, 14-3; hemp
Identify at least some one
fiber plant; notice how
tovtgh is bark of dog-
bane, for example
Identification of plant at
different seasons and
stageg; most common
str;ges; method of re-
production
.Seed dispersal; pollina-
tion if possible; if flax
is used discuss use of
seed fis food; enemies
and how discouraged
Use of flax as fiber
clothing projects
Goldenrod, 14-3; yarrow,
14-3; St. John's-wort,
14-3; daisy, evening
primrose, 14-3
Recognize at least one of
above group; type of
ground occupied; color
and shape of flowers
and time of flowering
Recognize different stages
in life history; nature
of stems, roots, fruits,
and other parts
Pollination if possible ;
seed dissemination ;
enemies and how
warded off
Use of fiber plants in
making textiles in
clothing projects
20
Ornamentals
Recognize as many beau-
tiful flowers of open
field as possible; learn
where to look for them
Identify plants in winter
and summer, as seed
seedlings and mature
plants, roots, stems,
flowers, and other
parts; time of flowering
Seed dispersal; if possible,
pollination; enemies
and why plants can
survive their attacks
Plant a few ornamental
forms at unsightly
places on scho(5l
grounds; plan to have
some flowering
throughout the year
Heptica, trillium, spring
beauty, adder's tongue,
mandrake, violet,
pansy, ferns, mosses
Recognize as many wood-
land flowers as possible;
report time of flower-
ing but practice pre-
serving flowers rather
than picking and des-
troying them
Follow some one form
through the year
identifying it by roots,
flowers, leaves, and
fruits; study other
forms if desired; how
commonly reproduced
Insect visitors, pollina-
tion or spore dispersal;
seed dispersal if seeds
are produced ; protec-
tion of plants in winter
Transplant a few dcsir-
al.lc forms to srhix-I
j;rotniils and plant in
approi.rial.- pla.TS
225
NON-WOODY PLANTS (concluded)
2\
Cover For Waste Land. Volume 14, Number 3
22
Waste Eliminvtors, Volume 14, Number 3;
Pigweed, 14-3; ragweed,
14-3; white vervain.
14-3; teasel. i4-3;
lambs-quarters. 14-3;
bull-thistle, 14-3
horsetails
Narrow-leaved plantain,
14-3; heal-all. 14-3;
peppergrass, id -3;
dandelion; shepherd's
puTSie
Potato blight; powdery
mildew, potato wart,
1 4-1; wheat rust; oat
smut
Shelf fungi; toadstools
and mushrooms; bread
mold; mother of vin-
egar; bacterial growth
Identify as many of these
as possible either in
winter or summer con-
dition or both
Notice that some plants
do not thrive well;
notice t-icir appearance
Recognize a few of these
weeds by any mean?
de.ired
Notice growth of fungi on
decaying logs or in
woods on decaying
plant material, also
on molding clothing
Identify plants particu-
larly as seedlings in
your gardens; learn to
prevent weeds from
going to seed; identify
by leaves, flowers, or
other parts
Some seedlings may die
suddenly; if possible
find cause; if there are
stages on other plants
like barberry stage of
wheat rust note it
Grow some one kind in a
corner of the garden
through the year; no-
tice time of flowering
and manner and
method of spreading
seeds
Point out that decay is
necessary to create
room and food for
gro-wing things; some
decays desired and
some not desired
Decide length of time
from germination to
maturity ; method of
seed dispersal and, if
possible, of pollination,
forage, and protection
for some animals
Learn how some one
plant disease spreads
and how it mav be con-
trolled, examine stab-
ble in fields and plants
in deserted gardens for
sources of trouble
Compare weeds grown
unhindered in open
with weeds crowded
together, as to size,
strength, and appear-
ance; use of roots in
holding soil from
washing
Conditions under which
decay acts most
rapidly; how it may be
controlled; results of
decay and use of prod-
ucts and bi-products
Point out in garden proj-
ects that weeds require
hoeing and hoeifli
helps conserve moisture
in soil so weeds help
garden ; weeds shotild
not be allowed to seed
Influence of plant dis-
eases on crops raised
as projects; campaigns
to control spread of
plant disease in school
district
Point out in garden proj-
ects that weeds plowed
under when green make
a more or less desirable
fertilizer; also point
out undesirable quali-
ties
Role of fungi in bread-
making and canning,
brought up in connec-
tion with f 00 ds projects
and canning projects
226
MAMMAL STUDY
FEEbiNC In O; en Air, Volume 14, Number i
Feeding Among Trees And Shrubs Vo lume i 3
Number 3
Red bat, ij-i; hoary bat,
14-1 ; other bats
Active mostly at twilight
and daybreak; com-
mon about woods and
country; wonderful
Piers; sleep head down-
ward; really good in-
stead of bad
Little brown bat, 14-]
silver-haired bat, 14- ]
big brown bat, 14-
Why found near lights,
insects there at same
time; food entirely
i nsects ■ caught on
wing; use of tail, teeth
A kind of bat for each
type of landscape and
for different degrees of
darkness; enemies and
protection; migration
map
Emphasize that public
opinion is not always
just in its judgments
do not jump at con-
clusions; work on pro-
ects
Active mostly at twilight
and daybreak; com-
mon in towns about
lights; wonderful fliers
When first seen and last
seen in year; which
migrate and which do
not ; compare length
and use of bats fingers
and toes and ours;
teeth
Migration map; enemies;
home life; relation to
insects; swallows do by
day what bats do by
night
Relation of insects to dis
ease and of b-^ts to
insects; which m
desirable
Gray squirrel, 13-3; red
squirrel, 13-3
Plying squirrel, 14-1,
raccoon, 13-3; porcu-;
pine, ij.-r
Most active in daytime;
noisy; learn tracks and
how made ; Problem
page I, Volume 13,
Number 3; use of hind
limbs in running, of
front limbs in eating
Most active at night; if
possible, learn tracks of
raccoon at leasi as
seen in snow or mud
Read tracks and cails
expressing caution,
fear, and otTier feelings:
use of tail as a balan-
cer; home life; teeth
Compare tracks with
squirrel tracks; if pos-
sible, note large eyes of
flying squirrel and com-
pare with owl and with
own eyes in dark; calls;
teeth
Preparation for wintei
and relation to qthei
animals; why migra-
tions are unnecessary;
study additional ex-
amples, distribution
map
See or read about food
habits of a pet raccoon
or sauirrei; enemies
and means of protec-
tion; distribution map
Game laws dealing with
these forms; fur values
fliscussed ; why pro-
tected during brccdiiv^
season
Game laws, reii'inns fur
protecting porcui-i'ic-
in j>art iciilar: fnr
v.ihics
227
MAMMAL STUDY (continued)
Feeuing Ov
TiiE Ground,
Number 3
Volume 13,
Cottontail rabbit, 13-3:
varying hare, 13-3
meadow mouse, 13-3
woodchuck. 14-1; deer-
mouse , I 3-3; chip
munk. 14-1
Activity; learn to know
tracks and how made;
which feet make larger
tracks and why; read
"Raggylug" in "Wild
Animals I Have
Known"
Skunk. 13-3; common
shrew, 13-3!; mole
shrew, 13-3; common
mole, 1 4-1; star-nosed
moL. . 14-1
Pead tracks in .'lelds and
on problem pages; food
habits; use or neglect
of use of tail and rea
son-; home life; teeth
Winter activities; ene
mies and means of prO'
tection : storage in
stinct developed or un-
developed and infill
ence of this on habit;
Economic value of mice,
rabbits, and wood-
chncVs; mean" of con-
trolling them; laws;
rabbit project may be
cariied on
Fovmd on ground; ander
leaves, or underground;
all eating same type of
food and have much
same type of teeth;
read "Cock Robin":
food; tracks
26
Peeping Along The Waterways, Volume 13,
Number 3
Miiskrat, 13-3; beaver Mink, 13-3; otter
Acti -e night or day,
mostly at night, seen
commonly in or about
water; tracks as seen in
the mud and runways
rmder water
Compare varia tion of
form of bodies of forms
seeking insects above
ground and beneath
types of feet and rea
sons for types; teeth
track reading
V'early activity; why sur
face feeders must be
difTerent in winter
preparation from un
derg round feeders
abundance of food; use
of skunks and shrews
Value of skunks to farm-
ers in destroying po-
tato bugs, turtles eggs
and insects; value of
shrews for same reason ;
fur value; laws
Use of tail and hind legs
in swimming; method
of eating, of warning;
nature of fur; interpret
problem page Volume
14, Number 3 and real
tracks; teeth
Active night and day,
mostly niv?ht; use fiu-s
as introduction if ani-
mal cannot be studied;
sly habits ; powerful ;
swimmer, fish story
13-4; tracks.
Home life and home
building; additional
track interpretations
enemies and means of
protection ; calls ; d i s
tribution map
Game laws and neces-
sity of them; fur val-
ues; means of trapping
humanely; reason for
laws against shooting:
effect on skin
Track interpretations
(14-3) and outdoor
food habits; roaming
disposition ; teeth ; fur
Yearly activity; relation
to muskrat and to
other forms including
game !ish; method of
capturing prey and
reason for no mljira-
tion; distribution map
Game laws; fur values;
destruction of vermin
or poultry; which of
greater value to farmer
228
MAMMAL STUDY (continued)
Feeding On Wast-^ Rcacengers, Volume i3
Number 3
Common mouse,' 14-1 ;
use white mice for
studv if you wish
Active night and day;
common about houses
and barns; timid; dust-
colored and not easily
seen; long whiskers,
long tail; food
Common rat, 14-1: use
white rats for study if
you wish.
Active night and day;
too common about
dwellings and store-
houses; vicious dispo-
sition; food; clever-
ness, braveness
Use of tail when climbing
about a trap or over
high places; method of
eating; enemies; calls;
tracks in snow or dust,
especially tail track
Home life, especially
nesting material and
nature and number of
young; show that ab-
• sence or protection of
food is a preventative
Means of controlling in-
creasing abundance of
mice; relation to health
and wealth of a house-
hold ; superiority of
traps and poisons over
cats
28
Preying Animals, Volume 13, Number 3
Red fox. 13-3; dog
Most active at night;
covers wide range of
territory; type of tracks
and how made; use
furs as approach if
necessary; read "Uncle
Remus"
Use of tail in climbing
and of fore feet in eat-
ing; tracks and their
interpretation; length
of fore and hind feet
and hobbling gait; calls;
enemies
Home life, especially
number of young and of
broods; relation of rats
to destruction of gar-
bage; compare damage
done by rats, skunks,
and other forms
Means of eradication;
amount of damage to
supplies; skunks do
mostly good, rats al-
most none; which get
the worse treatment
Track i n t e rpretations ;
toe marks; nature of
food and teeth; man-
ner of eating; wisdom;
call; use of tail, when
running, when lying
Cat, 14-4; common wea-
sel, 13-3; least weasel,
13-3
Naturally most active at
night; types of tracks
and how made; play;
stealthiness; ears and
tail and what they can
tiill you; food
Home life: relation to
rabbits, mice, -and
game; additional track
i n t e rpretations ; ene-
mies and cleverness in
nrotecting self
Game laws; fur values;
value of dogs and foxes
to man
Track interpretations;
method of catching
food; absence of toe
marks and reason ;
mean? of keeping claws
sharp
Care of young; nature of
young; enemies and
means of protection ;
relation to birds, game,
and mice
Real and ai-ccpted value:
Id mm. rho ilitTorcnro'^
y-Anu- laws
229
MAMMAL STUDY (concluded)
Domestic Animals, Volume 13, Number i
30
Feeding On Trees And Shrubs. Volume 16.
NUMPER 2
Cattle. 1 3-1; pigs, 13-1;
sheep, 1 31; goats
Horses, 13- 1
Tent caterpillar, 13-1;
tussock moth, 16-2;
birch borer. 16-2; ce-
cropia, 13-1; elm leaf
beetle. 13-1
Plant lice, 13-1; 16-2;
cicada, 16-2; scale in-
sects, 16-2
At home on the ground;
manner of getting up
and lying down; tracks
and why similar in
these forms
Found in all four stages;
emphasize caterpillar
and adult stages here;
nature of imjury to
plant; method of loco-
motion
At home on the ground;
manner of getting up
and lying down; tracks
and why different from
cattle, disposition; food
-
Not in four stages, em-
phasize adult here;
method of locomotion;
nature of injury to
plants and kinds of
plants on which found
Track interpretations;
means of protection ;
method of eating and
type of teeth; types
and breeds of cattle
and sheep; voice
Notes on eggs and pupae ;
show necessity of rest-
ing stage for change
from larva to adult;
manner of getting food
and of wintering; ene-
mies
Track i n t e rpretations
method of eating; use
of lips and teeth ;
method of uncovering
food in winter; types
and breeds of horses;
voice; protection from
elements
Sucking mouth parts to
get the food; if pos-
sible find immature
stage and watch them
shed skins; rear plant
lice; enemies and pro-
tection
Care of young; products
and jjroduct maps ;
proper foods to bring
about desired result?
Complete life history;
method of protecting
self during all times;
use as food to enemies;
decide in which stage
insects are most at our
mercy; means of con-
trol
Ability of types to do
appointed tasks and
reasons why each is
fitted for task; proper
and humane methods
of harnessing and hous-
ing; feeding
Complete life history of
some one form; weak
stages in life history;
influence of weather
conditions upon devel-
opment; means of
control
Calf, pig, or sheep, proj-
ect; see project man-
ual; use of wool as a
textile in clothing proj-
ect and of fish as
meat in foods pro jeer
and in canning project
Estimates of damage
done in local region by
forms; organize cam;
paigns to assist in con-
trolling spread if inju-
rious forms; use in
garden and crop proj-
ects
Real use to man; sum-
marize farm practices
dependent more or 'ess
upon horses; put time
on project work
Estimates of damage
done and control cam-
paigns against spread
of injurious forms; use
in garden and crop
project
230
INSECTS AND THEIR KIN
Feeding On L'^av Plants, Volume i6,
Ntjmber 2
May beetle. 13- 1. 16-2;
potato beetle, 13-1.
16-2; click beetle,
■ 16-2; monarch butter-
fly, 13-1. 16-2; army
worm, cabbage butter-
fly, 1 3-1; grasshopper,
13-1, 16-2; katydid,
cricket, 13-1. if'-2
Emphasize adult stage
and a conspicuous im-
mature stage; kinds of
plantF on which found;
locomotion
Decide whether form is
like tent caterpillar or
plant louse in life his
tory; calls if any and
how made; manner of
eating food and of win
tering; enemies; rear
one form
Squashbug, 13-1, 16-2;
stinkbug, 16-2 ; leaf-
hoppe T6-2; spittle
insecis, t6-2
Emphaci/^e adult stages
kind of plants on
which found and na-
ture of injur>' if any
means of locomotion
FEEniNG On Or Beneath The Ground, Vol-
ume 16. Number 2
Cutworms, 16-2; root
aphids; white grubs.
16-2
Earthworms; slugs; land-
snails; pill bugs
Lay no great emphasis
on this gioup in these
grades; cutworms and
white grubs may be
recognized: note habit
of living underground
Decide whac cutworms or
white grubs or other
underground insects
develop into: choice of
food; method of eating
nature of injury; meth-
od of locomotion
As many stages as possi-
ble, include additional
examples; enemies;
means of breathing and
method of ea'ing
M ethod of prote c t i n g
self; food at different
stages; is food and the
method of getting it
always the same? De-
cide upon weakest
stage in life history;
control
Estimate damage done
in local region; find out
means of control and
if necessary practice it
in conn ection with
garden or crop projects
Weak stages in life his
tory; decide value of
each form, if it has
any; poison or film for
control
Lay no great emphasis
on this group in early
grades; if found, merely
notice any peculiar
actions they may make
Complete the life cycie
and study relation to
other insects as rela-
tion between ants and
aphids; determine most
helpless time in life
history
Note method of locomo-
tion; injuries caused to
plants if any; note
mounds thrown up by
earthworms and point
out advantage to plant
Estimate local daniage
and prevent multipli-
cation of forms on
crops and gardens
under school's influ-
ence; garden and food
projects
Practice means of con-
trolling these insects
which may be injaring
gardens and crops car-
ried on as projects
Compare method of loco-
motion in earthworm,
snail, and pill bug; life
history of one; relation
between weather and
abundance ; enemies
and protection
Practice ccnitrol methods
with gardens and crops
if necessary
281
INSECTS AND THEIR KIN (continued)
Fekding On Wastk (scavenger), Volume i6,
Nlmber 2
House fies, 13-1. 16-2:
millipede, 16-2
Emphasize adult stage:
ability to care for self;
\'ariety of places found ;
large eyes; care of body
Means of locomotion
foods, and how ob
tained; sanitation, if
any; relation to human
sanitation, breeding
places; rear flies in a
caged box
Ideal conditions for mul-
tiplication; desirable
and undesirable quali-
ties; decide upon means
of preventing multipli-
cation ; enemies
Recognize any values
which may exist; list
breeding places and
suggest or put into
practice controls; rela-
tion of flies to foods in
food projects
Ants, 13-1, 16-2; cock-
roaches, I 3- I, 16-2
34
Fee iiNG On Insects Or Ammals. Volume 16,
Number 2
House spider, 13-1, 16-2;
wasps, 13-1. 16-2;
other spiders and
wasps and hornets
Emphasize adult stage
ability to care for self
care of parts of body
home, if any
Ant nest desirable; care
of immature stages ;
food and means of eat-
ing; comparative
strength", enemies and
means of detecting
danger; types of indi-
viduals
Relation of forms to
other insects; to plants
and animals; ideal and
poor conditions for
multiplication ; desir-
able and undesirable
qualities
Conduct campaigns mak-
ing these forms comply
with man's needs; put
to practice in making
garden projects more
effective
Emphasize adult stages
home and whw-e found ;
persistence; disposition
to fight if necessary but
peaceful if let alone
Method of making home
and carts of body used
in each act; food and
how obtained ; eggs and
5'^oung if available ;
wintering habit
Relation to the lives of
other insects; different
kinds of spiders or
wasps and types of
homes and food of each
Collect some evidence
that these forms have
helped or injured gar-
den and crop projects
Lady beetle, 13-1, 16-2:
damsel bug, 16-2 :
stink bug, x6-2; ground
beetle, 13-X, 16-2;
centipedes, 16-2; bed-
bug, 16-2; lace wing.
16-2; icheumon Pies
Emphasize adult stages,
if conspicuous, study
immature stages; activ-
ity; means of detecting
danger and of finding
food; activity
Food and how obtained;
enemies andh ow
avoided; inconspicuous
stages; wintering habit
Relation to other insects
and anim a Is and
plants, desirable or not
and why; conditions
favoring multiplication
Collect evidence proving
that these forms help
or injure man in his
everyday life and
adopt means of en-
couragement or dis-
couragement
232
INSECTS AND THEIR KIN (concluded)
35
Of Direct Economic Interest, Volume i6,
Number 2
36
Feeding In Open Air,Volume 14, Number 4
Bees. 13-1, 14-1
Silkworm, 16-2; mos«
quito, 13-1, 14-2
Barn swallow, .4-4;
chimney swift, 14-4;
nighthawk, any similar
form
Cedar waxwing, 14-4;
kingbird, 14-4; phoebe
peewee or similar
forms
Emphasize adult stage;
seen commonly about
fragrant flowers; indus-
trious; peaceful unless
annoyed; home
Inhabit open air high up;
graceful flight; capture
insects on wing; soci-
able
Study adult mosquitoes
and wigglers; learn
connection between
them; study actions
and noises produced ;
if possible, watch silk-
worm work
Care for open air near
ground; capture insects
on wing but return to
perch; less sociable
Parts of body used for
different acts; types of
individuals and their
duties; have observa-
tion hive if possible;
expressions of content
and anger; enemies
Notes of the year; when
first seen, last seen;
nesting; why good flier;
food; calls; compare
wings and legs with
those of other types
Rear some mosquitoes in
a screened aquarium
in school; distinguish
between types and
sexes; recognize all
stages; if desirable,
rear silkworm caterpil-
lars
Poorer flier than swal-
lows; how wings diff'er
from theirs; food; calls
Relation of bees to seed
production; conditions
necessary for prosper-
ity of a hive; influence
of weather and food on
production of honey
Make migration map for
the year; continue find-
ing additional informa-
tion
Study relation of mosqui-
toes to health and
pleasure of man; decide
upon weak place in life
history; make product
chart for silkworm
Make migration map if
possible; discuss metVi-
od of getting food: var-
iety of food; why some
scay in winter when
others must g"
Carry on bee project or
make, stock, and carry
on an observation bee-
hive
Make martin houses or
put in time learning
how to attract these or
other birds
Carry on campaign
against -nosqu^to
breeding grounds 01
rear silkwoim accord-
ing to directions; use of
silk as a textile in
clothing project
(■(.liiH-l n(.tcs from Aiuhi-
lum SiuictN- i.caf'cts mi
value of th.sr t)inl;.
and of otli.T ins.Tt
caters to fanners and
,,thers
2.-^8
BIRD STUDY
37
Feeding Amomg Trees And Shrubs, Volume
14, Number 4
38
Feeding On The Ground. Volume 14.
Number 4
Humming bird, 14-4;
yellow warbler, 14-4;
catbird, 14-4; chicka-
dee. 13-3; wren
Brown creeper, 14-4;
downy woodpecker
14-4; red-headed
woodpecker, 14-4;
flicker, 14-4; nut-
hatch, 13-3
Goldfinch. 14-4; English
sparrow. 14.4; song
sparrow, 14-4; bobo-
link. 14-4; junco; ves-
per sparrow
Robin, 14-4; bobwhite.
14-4; towhee, 14-4;
pheasant; partridge
Found in and among deli-
cate parts of vegeta-
tion; active; light in
weight; "Sir Downy
and Miss Chicadee.
Volume 13. Number 3
Found most commonly
on the ground; pick up
food as it may happen
to lie; poor fliers
Found on more sturdy
parts of trees; notice
typical positions;
"Three Friends." Vol-
ume XIV, Number 3
Found on ground most
commonly; get food
from beneath ground
surface if necessary;
learn to know tracks
in snow or mud, 13-3
Notes of the year; discuss
value of light weight to
these birds; calls; food
and how secured
Nature of food; relation
of shape of bill to
nature of food ; more or
less clumsy; calls; track
interpretations
Use of tail and legs in
getting about tree;
method of getting food ;
peculiarities of body
helpful in getting food :
calls
Method of getting food
from beneath ground;
perching birds have
hind toe different from
scratching birds as
shown in track, why;
calls; food
Make migration map if
possible; discuss why
most of these birds are
not with us in the win-
ter and why so many
are in spring
Food changes during the
year; color changes
during the year: why
some of these forms
stay while others leave ;
migration map
Make migration map if
possible ; discuss what
these birds can do that
other cannot do; effect
of their absence
Compare food in winter
and in summer; inter-
pret tracks made by
feet, wings, and tails
to understand their
different uses
Establish feeding station
at school window; plan
to make grounds at-
tractive for birds
Relation of sparrow to
agriculture ; good and
bad points about them;
which forms more and
which less desirable
Use of woodpeckers and
like birds in caring for
trees; which forms ase-
ful and which not. and
why
Make a study of value of
these birds, particu-
larly the quail; plan
how they may be pro-
tected in your county
234
BIRD STUDY (continued)
39 4'^
Feeding Along Waterways, Volume 14, Feeding On Waste (Scavengers) , Volume 14.
Number 4 Number 4
Green heron, 14-4; spot-
ted sandpiper, ;r4-4
killdeer plover: snipe
bittern
Canvasback duck, 14-4; Crow, 14-4; blue jay. Bronzed grackle, 14-4;
kingfishers, 14-4; mal- 14-4; cowbird; English herring gull, 14-4; tur-
lard; teal; wood duck; sparrow, 14-4 key vulture, 14-4
loon; hell-diver
Found in a variety of
places; intelligent;
strong, reliable flight;
noise ; cooperation of
members of a flock;
tracks
Found mostly a,long
shores, "haunt of coot
and hern;" poor fliers;
peculiarities of flight;
how legs and neck are
held in flight
Found feeding in deeper
water; can remain
more or less stationary
over food, how; posi-
tion of legs; movement
on land in air and on
water; flocks
?ound in a variety of
places; sociable or not;
quiet or noisy; food;
reoognition of migrat-
ing flocks
Explain why legs and
beak are without feath-
ers; longer the legs, the
longer the neck; why;
calls and how made
Variety of food and
method of getting;
enormous appetite;
means of expressing
joy, fear, anger, and
caution by calls and
tracks (13-3, 14-3)
^
Method of getting food
from beneath water by
diving from air or
water surface; calls:
food; nature of feet and
of bills
Why good fliers; where
nesting; habits about
nest and elsewhere;
calls and method of
making them; daily
and seasonal migra-
tions
What can these birds do
that others cannot do
and why they can do
it; compare muddy and
gravelly shore forms
and movements
Food through the year;
great migration unnec-
essary because of food
variety; home life; re-
lation to other bird
torms
'
Nature of young; nests
and care of young;
reason for migration
home life, in spring
particularly; unity oi
family
Make migration map, if
possible; care of young;
necessity of the exist-
ence of these types:
enemies and how
evaded
Value of sandpipers and
plover to farmers; a
shore without a sand
piper is as unreal as a
marsh without a heror
Use to farmer; desirable
and undesirable quali-
ties; means of encour-
aging or discouraging
visits
Game laws; reason fo
closed season in spring
to save broods f)f th
year; report violation
to game warden
r
5
Means of control. if
du si nil lit-; vahii- to
fanner if value exists;
re^■o^;Ilition of useful
and useless forms
28r)
BIRD STUDY (concluded)
236
Type of Garden Rose
Photo by Dr. Shufeldt
Wild and Garden Roses
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt
Washington, D. C.
Of all the flowers in our country probably none are better
known than the roses; and surely one would have to hunt a
long time to find either a boy or a girl who did not know a wild
rose or any of the kind we have in our gardens the instant the
flower was seen. But to know a rose is one thing, and to know
about roses is quite another thing; and you must not be sur-
prised when you hear it said that many a person has devoted
a lifetime to the study of these familiar flowers, and then mas-
tered but very little of all there is to be known about them..
In the first place you must know that wild roses ^^^vow in a
great many places over a large part of the Northern ITcmis])licrc'.
and that there are fewer wild ones in our countr}^ Jiere than we
237
238 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW
meet with, for example, in Europe or the Old World. Those
who describe and write about roses tell us that upwards of an
hundred kinds of wild ones have already been named, and this,
mind you, does not include the numerous kinds of garden roses.
So, taken together, there may be as many as a thousand differ-
ent kinds of roses that have been described for us in the books
that treat about them.
As you know, some of the garden roses are perfect wonders,
when we come to consider their size, form, and delicate colors.
Still, beautiful as they all are, you must bear well in mind that
any one of these elegant varieties have been, through cultivation,
derived from a wild rose of some kind. Ages upon ages ago
the florists undertook this delightful work — so long ago in-
deed, that no one now living really knows when it was first start-
ed. Little does it matter how handsome any one of these gar-
den roses may be — if planted in the woods or fields again, and
neglected, it will, should it live along from year to year, soon
come to be a common, wild rose again, of one kind or another.
Roses are the favorite flowers of every nation where they
are known, so much so that in England it is the national emblem.
Then, too, when great wars are over, and victorious soldiers
march in parade down the principal avenue of the capital of
their country, — be it London, Paris, Rome, or our own Wash-
ington, the people, often including hundreds of little boys and
girls, cast scores of roses before them, in the line of their march.
In fact, all through history roses seem to be mingled with every
great event in our lives, including baptisms, weddings, and
funerals; and to wear a rose has a great many meanings
among the different peoples of the countries where this flower
of history is found.
So great is the number of kinds of garden roses that have
been derived from the various sorts or species of wild ones, that
to name and describe them here would be quite out of the- ques-
tion. As you already know, they vary wonderfully in form,
size, and c )lor~some being sm.all plants, som.e big, bushy ones,
and still others are known as ramblers, because, if allowed to
grow to the limit, a rosebush will, in time, climb all over a good-
sized cottage, or even an ordinary city house.
Ciiltivated roses are of various colors in addition to being
ptire white. We meet with pink ones of all shades; red ones;
SHUFELDT WILD AND GARDEN ROSES 239
those of deep carmine shades, and it would seem that som.e one
has even bred a blue rose. Still others are of a delicate tea color,
and there are no end of the shades of yellow and chromes.
It is wonderful how all this has been brought about, especially
when you come to know that few, if any, wild roses depart from
either white or pale shades of pink. Our best known wild roses
are the Pasture Rose, of which we have a colored figure here;
the Swamp Rose, the Sweetbrier, the Dog Rose, the Meadow,
and the Climbing Roses. But this is by no means the whole
list, as any boys' and girls' flower-book will tell you. These
are only a few of the principal and best known ones; and when
you come to know them well, a study of the others is easy.
To gather them in the woods and fields, bring them home, and
go to your books to find out their names, soon com.es to inter-
est you so much as to be one of the pleasantest of your pastimes.
Note in the Pasture Rose of the fields, and in the garden one,
how different their forms are; still, nearly all this difference is due
to the fact that in the wild rose we find but a single circle of
pink petals, while in the garden species these are considerably
multiplied. This is brought about by careful cultivation, and we
never meet with any kind of a true rose in nature that possesses
any such nimiber of petals. This is a good point to know about
wild and garden roses. Then you should collect and study the
different kinds of rose leaves, the various forms of the thorns, and
the manner of growth of the plant itself. Rosebuds also differ
greatly, and are very interesting, as are the red seed pods, called
hips or heps, that w^e find in the autum.n when roses, with all oth-
er flowers, have "gone to seed."
Sometimes the Pasture Rose, just mentioned, will put forth
a flower or two late in the fall, just as though it hated that the
summer had passed; which is also the case with most little
boys and girls. For, from vacation days, with their green fields
and wild roses, it is back to books and benches again — with
snow and sleds for a change. Well, so much the better;
for we will welcom.e and appreciate the wild roses all the more
when the sum.mer comes round again, which it surely will.
Nature Study Excursion to dairy with fourth, fifth and sixth grade children.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Stalking the Cow.
Elizabeth Prayer Burnell, A. M.
Assistant Supervisor of Nature Study, Los Angeles City Schools,
Stalking wild game is royal sport. The unfamiliarity of the
cow has made her equally exciting quarry for many a child of
the apartm.ent house district. It is not exceptional to find city
children who know less of a cow than of an elephant. That will
no longer be applicable to Los Angeles children, however. The
cows have been star actors, and m.ovies at that, in the educational
system, of the city for the m.onth of January. Serene bossys
on their way hom.e from, pasture have been formally saluted by
inquisitive youngsters who have discovered a new interest in
heel joints and elbows. Fathers have taken clamouring children
to neighboring lots to see how a cow walks. "Does she move her
right hand and left foot together or her right hand and right foot?"
The Nature Study Department in the Los Angeles City schools,
under the directorship of Dr. Charles Lincoln Edwards, co-
operate with various departm.ents of the city such as the parks,
240
I
BURNELL STALKING THE COW 241
the zoos and the museums. Nature Study bulletins have been
scheduled to synchronize with city wide interests such as the
stock shows and the pigeon shows and the children have been
given a place among the exhibitors at the city Dog Show. For
the study of the cow during January the Milk Inspection De-
partment of the city has given helpful and enthusiastic support
in preparing a list of the dairies of the city with reference to
school excursions.
Dairy owners have been helpful and cordial in explaining the
use of equipment and in showing school groups around the dairies.
A regular tour of inspection has included the milking, the strain-
ing and cooling of the milk, and the bottling. The children
have had vivid demonstrations of the care and expense necessary
to fulfil the requirements for certified and guaranteed milk.
Eighty-five children gathered around a corral to watch the
cows. Mischievous boys found greater excitement in seeing
who could first win over the confidence of timid calves than in
putting them to fiight with noisy teasing. Here was a new in-
centive for being quiet in order to encourage the cattle who were
slow to accept the advance of their visitors. For this was a Nature
Study Excursion and not a picnic. Tradition had established
the requirements which they would be expected to meet. With
notebooks and pencils the young reporters prepared to explain
their observations to their school-mates and their families at
home.
Jersey, Holstein, Guernsey, Durham, and Ayrshire cattle
have been added to the list of friends of the children of the city.
Even fastidious little girls have put their fingers inside the mouths
of the calves in their interest to feel the lower incisors and the
bare gums above. Two tame cows near a school peaceably sub-
mitted to inspection and to having their m.ouths opened by
boys of the school group.
Ask a Los Angeles child why teeth are interesting and you will
start him on a long story which will include the flesheaters of whicli
he will assure you the dog is one, and the grasseaters of wJiich
he has studied the horse and the cow. Several thousand children
know more about teeth of horses and cows than is known l)y m.an>'
of their elders.
Picture exhibits have been used to help visualize ilic animal
relationships. These have proved a splendid asset, esj)eciall>'
242 NA TURE-STUD Y REVIEW
when the mateiial has been collected by the children and when
they have helped to mount and arrange the pictures. Groups
of pictures large enough to be seen at a distance have shown
the Cud-Chewers : cows, sheep, goats, deer and camels. Post-
ers have been made to illustrate graphically the fact that the
hippopotamus walks on four fingers of each hand, that the
pig has two on which he walks and two smaller ones, and that
members of the cattle group have the third and fourth fingers
developed for use while the second and fifth are mere vestiges.
These exhibits have beea arranged in the Nature Room where
the school had ore. In even the most crowded schools where
space is at a premium it has been possible to find a central hall
or a well -lighted passageway where the pictures have been exhibit-
ed. They have helped to make a lasting impression not only
of zoological classification but also of our kinship with the animal
world. The fourth-grade boy who was excited over the dis-
covery that the arms of a cow were "just like my own" is on the
road to new intellectual achievements,
A big truck took 35 children to one of the most famous dairies
of the state, m.aking a twelve mile round trip from the school.
The children were much impressed to watch 392 cows each taking
her place in her own stanchion. They were interested to find
that each milker knew his cows by name. The white caps and
suits of the milkers, the care in washing the cows, the precaution
against dirt in the care of the pails — all contributed to building
up in the child a new conception of the relation of cleanliness
to health.
Som.e seventh grade girls started out as unenthusiastic m.em-
bers of one school excursion to see a neighborhood cow. They
"knew all about cows". When the excursion was over they were
the most reluctant to leave.
A wide awake Nature Study teacher took 80 of her Russian
and Mexican children to visit the Hauser Packing plant. Com-
pare this excursion with the results obtained by the teachers
who taught lessons on burning and fuel without attempting a
single experiment in the classroom. Children were told to light
a candle at home and place it under an inverted tumbler to see
what would happen. The chief hope of the supervisor is to
stimulate the teacher to bring live material into the classroom
and to increase the frequency of field trips for every child.
BURNELL STALKING THE COW 343
An Italian fifth grade youngster became the leading figure of
the school when he conducted classes to his back lot to see his
billy-goat and nanny-goat. No, he had never seen them chew
their cuds. So we asked for his m,other and she assured the child-
ren that they chewed their cuds "just like chewing gum". The
foreign neighbors gathered around in curiosity to see why teachers
were coming to see the goats so we conducted an Extension Course
in Nature Study — ^mentioned the fact that the goat is a near relative
of the cow about which we were studying, and asked the children to
explain the difference between its arms and legs. They demon-
strated with their own joints saying that goats were like ourselves
"the heel bends backwards and the knee bends forwards."
It gave an excellent opportunity not only for observing but for
that best of educational processes of at once sharing with others
who are interested listeners a new bit of infonnation.
Visits have been made to goat dairies and the children encour-
aged to find out everything that they could about the relative
merits of cow's milk and goat's milk, of the relative cost of feed
and of the care of the animals. "How do they compare in intel-
ligence with the cows," we asked, and the children who owned
goats were quick to speak up for their own pets.
Some 165 principals have been stimulated to find out not only
the present environment of their children but also their back-
ground. How m.any of them are the product of an apartmxnt
house and how many have ever been in the country? Ask a room
full of children how many of them, have ever seen a cow chew its
cud. One hundred thousand children have had their experience
widened by a month's nature study of the cow. Three thousand
teachers have to a greater or less degree taken advantage of the
opportunities to enlarge the horizon of their children beyond the
school room walls.
Vital questions of the community life have been discussed —
where is the feed for the cattle raised and how much of the year
can the dairymen depend upon pasturage' for their cows ; what is
done with the surplus milk; where is the butter of the city
made? The children have returned from excursions with samples
of cotton-seed, of silage and of beet pulp tied up in their handker-
chiefs. They have discussed the use of fertilizers and the service
of cattle in connection with rotation of crops.
244 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Discussion of different breeds of cattle has brought a review of
the lessons earlier in the year on the breeds of dogs and of pigeons.
Reversion to type and ancestral patterns are problems that can
be made of great interest to the grammar school child.
There has been much stimulus not only to visit dairies but to
revisit the zoos and to see the relatives of the cow. Some
rooms are keeping Nature Study Honor-rolls with records of child-
ren who have watched animals chewing their cuds, scoring points
for the camel and the giraffe in proportion to the unfamiliarity
of the animal. The children have found new things to look for.
They have discovered that Nature Study in the words of Liberty
Hyde Bailey is "Seeing what one looks at and drawing correct
conclusions from what one sees."
Field exciirsions give laboratory experience of the highest type.
Hoofs and horns and teeth take on new meaning after seeing
horses and cows and camels and studying them first hand. Big
principles of evolution, of animal breeding, of zoological classi-
fication, of the interrelations of the plant and animal world have
been brought within the horizon of every child. It is such neighbor-
hood and more distant field excursions which link Nature Study
with the true scientific spirit of the high school and the university.
The County and City School Libraries for Visual Education
have cooperated in supplying slides. These have illustrated
butter and cheese making, breeds of cattle and tanning leather.
The teachers as well as the children have expressed the greatest
enthusiasm over these illustrated talks.
The child is not asked to memorize. He is taught that it is
his ability to observe and to draw correct conclusions which
counts. The child who has stroked a beautiful Jersey cow and
felt her soft coat will never answer merely by rote that "the cow
is a fur-bearing animal like ourselves." The best education is
that which comes from intimate contact with real things as they
appeal not only to the eye but also to the hand and the ear.
The individual who hsis stalked a timid cow in a corral and made
friends with her has a source of intellectual pleasure and interest
not to be found in books alone.
The Winners
Fiom left to right standing: Charles Hagner (school winner), Dorothy Logan, Florence
Banks, Loleta Chalmers, Elsie Carlberg (2nd place where winner was withdrawn), Emma
Shaw, Leona Holton, Hilda Hall, Mary Hitch.
Seated: David Blair, George Merritt, Ralph Zeese, James Bowman, Arnold Fcgelgrin'
Emerson Wilson, Edward LeCarpentier.
Bagworm Collections in a Wilmington Del. School
Edith W. Warner
Nature Studv Teacher
From December 17 to 24 the Pupils of Grammar School No.
24 of the Public Schools of Wilmington, Delaware engaged in a
contest for collecting and destroying of bagworm cocoons. The
bagworms had been causing great damage, by eating the leaves
of many beautiful trees, and after studying of these caterpillars,
the children were given one week for collecting the cocoons;
at the end of the given time, each pupil gave an account of his
cocoons and the class then went out to a spot back of the school
where a bonfire was made of cocoons and paper to make the cocoons
burn well. The children enjoyed the bonfire very much. Owing
to bad weather, at that time only 313 children took ])art in iIk'
contest, but this number destroyed the total number of 67.530
cocoons.
245
246
NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
The Winners of the different classes were as follows-
Class
8A'
8A2
8A3
8B1
8B2
8B3
8B^
7A^
7A3
7A^
7B1
7B^
7B^
7B^
7B-'
7B«
6A1
6A2
6Bi
Winner
Emily Foster
Lucy Bittner
George Smith
Emma Shaw
Loleta Chalmers
Ralph Reese
Charles Hagnei
Margaret Brown
Mary Hitch
Edward Le Carpentier
Emerson Wilson
Dorothy Logan
Hilda Hall
Florence Banks
George Merritt
Arnold Fogelgrin
Samuel Jones
Leona Holton
James Bowman
Joseph Fisher
Number of Cocoons
Number of Cocoons
brought by winner
brought by class
300
1314
600
2477 .
658^
1944
1015
5264
600
5045
1700
5728
4369
12916
550
1855
804
4199
200
2706
200
969
950
2270
350
3958
1650
4015
202
523
115
319
745
3160
415
1392
2100
3575
1017
3801
As is shown by the above chart 8B'* class was the winning class, and its
winner, Chailes Hagner was the winner for the entire school. Three other
boys of the same class did splendid work but owing to the high numbei col-
lected by their winner they did not re;eive any honors; these boys were:
David Blair with 2135
Lester Truman with 2000
Howard Sparks with 1000
Every child who took part in the contest, worked hard to win
honor for himself and his class; and it was surprising how much
the girls accom.plished where it was often necessary to climb
trees, but no accidents resulted from the work. During the
gathering of the cocoons the children were careful not to break
even small twigs from the trees; as it was explained to them
that this injures the tree as much or more than the bagworms.
After destroying this large number of cocoons; some of which
were opened by the children, and the eggs counted, were found
to contain as high as 250 eggs; we hope to have many more
beautiful trees in our city unmolested by the greedy caterpillars.
An Interesting Boulder
C. J. KiMMERLE
Ann Arbor, Mich.
In a cool, dark ravine, cutting thru the m.ountain, is a rock
which, like a full and beautiful life, attracts the attention and
admiration of all who see it. And the rock has lived a real life,
for it has lived in various places and seen m.uch, and now it is
helping to beautify the ravine.
Many, many centuries ago, this limestone boulder was a part
of a limestone ridge far away in the north; then in the course
of tim.e perhaps by a fracture in the rock or from. som.e other
cause, it was broken off, and on its sides could be seen little
fossils of queer little shells which told of the form.ation of the
rock. After staying in this resting place for many, many years,
suddenly, one day, it was picked up by a huge, slowly m.oving
body of snow and ice, and, along with m.any other boulders,
it was carried southward. For years and even centuries it was
borne along, until it m.ust have become weary of being scraped
over the earth and ground against the rocks. On and on, south-
ward it went, but gradually the burden pressing on it became
lighter. A strange thing was happening. The snow and ice
were gradually melting and loosening their hold on the bould-
ers, and one day, after long weary years of travelling, our bould-
er was finally deposited in a perm.anent resting place.
Its resting place was a lovely ravine with hemlock covered
slopes. Other boulders, too, were there, and am.ong them, play-
ed and raced a strong, little mountain stream. This stream
was a playful, friendly stream and it delighted in m.aking the
acquaintance of each rock. And so it tumbled over a hinder-
ing rock and flowed around and past our boulder, and, as it dash-
ed by, it playfully threw up a handful of spray. Each tim.e
it went by it repeated this action and the rock was thankful
for the cool moisture.
But in the midst of all this beauty the reck felt sad and
ashamed, for, looking down in the water, it saw how bare and stern-
ly gray were its own sides while everything else about it was
bright and beautiful. The slopes of the ravine were covered
with the dark beauty of hem.lock trees; the stream, sparkled
247
248 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW
like a gem in the sunlight and in the shade reflected the green
of the trees; and all the other boulders had a soft tho thin
covering of bright green moss. The large, gray boulder alone
looked stem and forbidding.
Many years passed and now the old gray boulder is the
proudest and happiest dweller in the ravine. Let us look
back and see what has happened. Every day as the little stream
played about and raced down the ravine, it continued to throw
handsful of spray on the old rock which it had grown to love,
and, as time went on, little particles of waste, such as dead leaves
and bits of bark, fell on the rock and were held there by the moist-
ure. To this was added bits of decaying rock and soon tiny
bits of soil filled the fissures. Into these fissures the wind car-
ried the spores of mosses growing in the ravine, and one day,
when the old rock looked down at the sparkling water, it caught
sight of its own reflection. But the boulder was so surprised
at what it saw that it could scarcely recognize itself. Its sides
were no longer bare and unsightly, but enveloped in a thick
covering of dark green moss, a much thicker and lovlier garment
than that worn by any other rock. Some of the mosses had
starlike tips, others were colored with bright red, another kind
was long and feathery, and still another looked like tiny rosettes.
How proud and happy the old boulder was!
But it was to be made still more lovely and wonderful. One
day a new little plant called the walking fern appeared on the
rock. The leaves of the new plant grew from queer, little round
leaves to long tapering fronds, and when they were full grown
they buried their tips down into the soft, moist moss, and in a
few weeks new little plants had been formed, until today one
whole side and parts of the others are covered with these busy
interesting plantr. And besides this, another fern has choesn
the old boulder for its home. This fern is called polypody, and
all year round its green fronds grace the top of the rock.
And so, if you were to visit Wild Cat Ravine, you would at
once notice and admire the old rock. Sometimes in the evening
a veery stops here and sings his weird, beautiful song. All year
round the rock is green, matted with moss and the fronds of the
walking-leaf, and crowned with polypody. The old boulder is
happy indeed!
A Story of Jim the Normal School Squirrel
Ethel Gallaher
Western Normal, Kalamazoo, Mich.
One fine day when our nature study class met we were sur-
prised to find in the cage in which Jacob the guinea pig lived,
a tiny baby squirrel. He looked far from happy. He couldn't
open one eye and he was so weak that he kept tumbling over
each time he tried to sit up. He gave us a good example Df
perseverance as he sat trying with all his might to eat a wilted
cabbage leaf.
We found that the little fellow had fallen from his nest, had
been saved from an inquiritive dog and brought to the place
where all creatures, happy or otherwise, are always welcome.
The r-abbits refused to share their home with him. They
jtimped on the poor terrified little fellow and thumped their
hind legs on the bottom of the cage showing their anger and
contempt for the intruder. So there was no place for Jim, the
new baby, except in the office.
A few days in his new home and a plentiful supply of warm
milk and bread made Jim a happy squirrel. He liked carrots,
lettuce, dandelions, and all the nuts we would crack for him.
When offered bread and butter he would dig into the bread and
smack his lips while eating the butter.
It was still quite cool weather and Jim discovered that the
most comfortable place to sleep was on a box near the radiator.
There he would curl with his tail wrapped around him and sleep
most of the day. He soon began to play. Altho he was an
amiable little fellow he would let one know that he had four
sharp little teeth when he became excited.
Just about this time vacation came and to me fell the pleasure
of Jim's company during the summer. He travelled to his new
home in a bird cage. It must be confessed that neither Jim
nor I had any pleasure in the trip. He was so terribly fright-
ened and I so sorrowful that our beloved Httle Jim should go
thru such a trial. A sack of nuts had been placed in the cage
and into that bag crawled the poor baby. He seemed to feel
that this was the safest place he could reach, for he stayed there
perfectly motionless during the thirty mile drive and for some
hours afterward.
249
250 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW
I prepared my room for him by taking up the rug, spreading"
an old comforter over the bed and removing everything that
I thought could possibly attract his attention. Before the sumjner
was over there were only two things he had not tried to taste —
the iron bed and a much treasured old chest.
When Jim first came out of his cage he was nearly as fright-
ened as when he was in it. When he got outside of those terrible
ban^ his fears soon vanished. He was still too young to do much
jumping so he crept about sticking his inquisitive nose into every
comer. He discovered a piece of old carpet in the door-way
and his terrible journey, the cage, the strange place and all his
troubles were all forgotten. He grabbed that carpet in his teeth,
gave it a few pulls and tosses and rolled over and over with it
exactly as a kitten plays with a string. When the game had
ended Jim. felt quite at home.
Soon darkness began to fall and then Jim. looked around for
a bed. A comer by a trunk was chosen and there he slept for
several nights.
One day I put him up on the window-sill. This pleased him.
He soon learned to crawl up by him.self. Up a pile of books,
across the desk, then down the window-sill he would go, a rather
round-a-bout way but one that required but very small jumps.
Now the weather was warm and Jim very wisely decided that
the window-sill was a more comfortable bed room than was the
comer by the trunk. So there he curled himself at bed time
and went to sleep. In the night I heard a great scratching and
scrambling. I hurried to the window and was just in time to
save Jim fr3m a fall. In some way he had slipped and was hang-
ing by his fore paws from the sill.
Not many days afterward he found that by a short leap from
the window-sill to a chair and up the chair back, he could reach
the bureau. Here he slept comfortably for some weeks. At
first he curled up between two boxes. If those boxes were not
in place at bed time he would hunt around and seem very unhappy*
Later he was given a shoe box and a piece of woolen cloth that
he pulled over him just as any one pulls up the bed clothes.
From the scrap box he chose a piece of blue voile and from the
bureau drawer he took a stocking.
GALLAHER A STORY OF JIM, THE NORMAL SCHOOL SQUIRREL 251
One day Jim made a sad mistake. He chewed up part of his
bed and tipped what was left to the floor. That was all right
while it was bright and sunny but bitterly did he repent when
it grew dark and cold. When I cam.e hom_e that night some
thing was stirring over by the trunk. I guessed that Jim was
in trouble and soon had him in my arms. A very tired and sleepy
baby he was, perfectly willing to snuggle up close while I found
what was left of his bed. I put the bed clothes in the box and
put Jim in. He stretched out, rolled over on his back and was
almost instantly asleep.
Som,e time after, in the course of his investigations, he dis-
covered that the back of the bureau drawer was a good place
to chew. He chewed for some time and then found that he
could climb into the drawer. After that no other bed suited
him. He did not object if I opened the drawer and petted him
as he lay curled up in a fluffy ball. On hot nights he didn't
mind if I opened the drawer half way. When once he had gotten
into his bed he liked to have his ears rubbed. He would roll
over on his back, stretch out his tail and his four paws and close
his eyes in bliss. Som.etim.es he would take m.y finger in his
little forepaws and half nip and half suck it.
Oh, Jim. was a most lovable little creature at bed tim,e! There
were a number of cool nights during the sum.m,er and on those
nights he curled into a ball with his tail close about him. Often
we would spread a blanket over him. and there he would lie,
cosy and warm, sometimes the entire night.
Jim was very particular about his personal appearance and
seemed specially proud of his lovely bushy tail. It was a never
ending source of enjoyment to watch him m,ake his toilet.
As soon as he got out of bed he would climb to the window-sill,
sit there and wash his face over and over with his fore paws.
Then he would seize that beloved tail, fluff it out and nip it with
his teeth. Next he would stretch— and such stretches! He
even spread out his tiny fingers, at the sam.e time yawning
and sticking out his wee red tongue. Then he was ready for
breakfast. In fact I never saw the time when Jim was not ready
to eat. His com was kept in a tin coffee box. He learned to
tip it over and push ofi" the cover with his teeth. So I jmt it
in a drawer where he couldn't get it. Jim soon learned where
it was kept and when I started for the bureau he would hurried-
252 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
ly climb to the top, lean over as far as possible and watch that
drawer until the can was brought out. Then he would dive
in and seize as many kernels as his m.outh would hold and then
begin to chew as hard as he could. He was always a great be-
liever in,"gettin' while the gettin's good". I have seen him
with one hazel nut in his mouth, get angry because he couldn't
get another in at the same time.
At first his nuts had to be cracked. By August he did not
hesitate to tackle a walnut. He was fond of bread and milk,
raw potatoes, lettuce, dandelions, apples and tomatoes. Green
peas he shelled, cast the shells aside, and caused the peas to
disappear most rapidly. For some unknown reason he refused
to eat carrots which he had loved when a little baby. The des-
sert he liked the best was watermelon. How he did like nice
juicy watermelon ! He would hold a piece in his paws and gobble
while the juice ran down upon the floor at his feet. When he
had finished the melon he drank the juice and began eagerly
looking for more.
Jim was also very fond of cookies and chocolate candy.
He discovered a box upon the bureau one day and it was inter-
esting to watch him. He went at that box as if he were digging
for gold and had almost reached it. It really seemed cruel to
take it away from him, he was so eager. But it would have
have been more cruel to have let him have his heart's desire,
for a very small piece of candy is enough for a wee squirrel.
Before Jimmie had been with us many weeks he had learned
to climb and leap. He could even climb the post of the iron bed.
Much time was spent in running and leaping from one piece
of furniture to another and it was perfect joy to get into the
hall and run up and down the stairs. Sometimes he overesti-
mated his ability and fell to the floor, usually striking his nose.
Then how he would shake his head and sneeze and rub his nose
with his paws.
As a special treat Jim was permitted to go into other bureau
drawers than his own. How he did enjoy burrowing amongst
the neckties and handkerchiefs! If he could find a nail brush,
or tooth brush he would quickly seize it, carry it out of the drawer,
and begin chewing with so much gusto that he could be heard
in the other rooms. •
One day he discovered a piece of chamois skin and from that
GALLAHER A STORY OF JIM-THE NORMAL SCHOOL SQUIRREL 253
moment it was his and his alone. When I wanted it it was
sure to be in Jim.'s bed. When I tried to use it, he would run
up my arm., grab the comer and pull with his might. When he
finally got his treasure he would sit holding it in his paws and
licking it, One day he began to lick a piece of velvet in the same
way. So I decided it was the softness that he liked. Still when
he was given another piece of chamois skin he cared nothing
for it. So it is difficult to say what did attract the little creat-
ure.
I never allowed Jim in my desk drawer. For that reason I
suppose, it was very attractive to him. If he was in another
part of the room and I started to open the drawer, he would
make a dash for it. Into it he would go, seize a roll of passpar-
tout paper or a paint brush. Those two articles seemed most
desirable to him.
One could never imagine a pet more playful then little Jim.
He dearly loved to run up and down over one, playing a regular
gam.e of tag if one pretended to catch him. Just once I tried
writing letters when Jim was around. When he grabbed my
pen a few tim.es and my arm a few more times I decided that such
an occupation did not meet with his approval. He played with
a piece of cloth or carpet in regular kitten fashion but really
seemed to enjoy playing with people more. Such fine times
as we did have on the bed ! I held a handkerchief by the corners.
Jim seized it and then I gave him a toss into the air. Down he
would come, turn over two or three summ.ersaults on the bed
and then rush back for another toss. When he tired of romping
he would stretch him.self out at full length, all of his paws and
his tail extended, and rest a short tim.e. Then back he would
come ready to continue the gam.e. Often he would come over
to the bed before I was awake in the morning. It was also a
favorite trick of his to pull out m.y hair pins and comb.
Little Jim. never seemed to dislike being petted except when
at his meals. Toward the end of the summer he demanded
petting. He was especially fond of having his ears and face
rubbed. It seemed a pleasiu-e to him. to lick one's liand and often
he would rim his mouth over one's face, taking little nii)s witii his
lips. These two acts seem.ed to be his expression of affection.
He was a very friendly little chap, so long as his visitors were
of the female sex he showed no fear. But if a man entered tlic
254 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
room he ran for his bed. There he either burrowed under his
bed clothes or sat up with his paws on the edge of his box and
peeped over. He would condescend to take food from the hands
of a man if he were coaxed a bit.
Frequently he was seized with the idea of thrift. He would
work hard carrying nuts about the room and storing them away.
He was not particiilar as to whether they were out of sight or not.
He would even hide them in my lap or on the floor in plain sight.
He always gave them a few pushes with his mouth and a few pats
with his paws. Then the operation was complete. The bed
was quite a favorite hiding place, and there was always a shower
of nuts every time the bed was made. It was too bad to disturb
his store but he never seemed to mind hiding the same nuts over
and over again.
All summer our little visitor was as happy as any little squir-
rel could be, eating playing and growing. But at last vacation
was over and back to the Normal travelled Jim. He was very
m.uch insulted at being put into his travelling cage again and
tore at it with all his might. Unfortunately he had forgotten
about his former home and every thing was strange. Worse
than all there were terrifying men everywhere. Jim was per-
fectly miserable. Then an open door and an open window showed
him the road to happiness. Like the wise little squirrel he was
Jim took it. We have seen him out on the campus playing
in the trees. He peers thru the branches at us but refuses to
come down.
Notice
Reprints of the Outline of Nature-Study (including the general
directions and cutout pictures) by Dr. E. L. Palmer will be on
sale about Oct. 1st, 1921. Every teacher should have a copy.
Write for quantity price.
THF
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 $1.50 per year (nine issues). Canadian post-
.age 10 cents extra, foreign postage, 20 cents extra.
Editorial
John Burroughs.
In the nation-wide expression of sorrow occasioned by the
passing of our great interpreter of the teeming life of woods and
fields, little has been said concerning the fact that his life was
well-rounded and well finished. We could so illy spare him
■even tho he had attained the age of 84, surely a good old age,
that we could not bring ourselves to think of him as other than
young and vigorous. He had lived happily doing the work that
he loved; he was still keen in interest and young in spirit; and
he gave us the secret of his perpetual youth when he wrote:
rust, rot and mildew come to unused things' ' . "Oh, the blessedness
■of work, of life-giving and sustaining work! The busy man is
the happy man; the idle man is the unhappy." "Oh, the
blessedness of motion, of a spur to action, of a current in one's
days, of something to stimulate the will, to help reach a decision,
to carry down stream the waste and debris of one's Hfe."
Perhaps no one has summed up the lesson of his life better
than he hirr.self when he wrote: "In every man's life we may
read some lesson. What may be read in mine? If I myself
see corrrectly it is this: that one may have a happy and not
altogether useless life on cheap and easy terms; that the essen-
tial things are always near at hand; that one's own door opens
upon the wealth of heaven and earth; and that all things are
ready to serve and cheer one. Life is a struggle, but not a war-
fare, it is a day's labor, but labor on God's earth, under the sun
and stars with other laborers, where we may think and sing
and rejoice as we work."
255
256 NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIEW
Cornell University and Nature-Study
Nature-study was undertaken at Cornell through a mandate
of the New York Legislature in an attempt to better agricultur-
al conditions in this great state. The farmers were experiencing
hard times during the years preceding and following 1893. Meas-
ures of relief were considered, and mainly through the advice of Mr.
George T. Powell, then Director of Farmers Institutes, the intro-
duction of Nature-study into the Rural Schools was regarded
favorably as a means of interesting farm children in farming and
retaining their services in improving agriculture. Cornell did
not ask it, but when the State gave an appropriation to the Uni-
versity to be used to establish Nature-study in the rural schools,
the obligation was accepted in all seriousness and in 1896 began
a propaganda which has extended beyond New York and has
reached beyond even National boundaries.
With Professor L. H. Bailey as leader and with John W. Spen-
cer, Alice McClosky, Edward Tuttle, Ada Georgia and the Editor
as a staff of regular workers and with the help of many others tem-
porarily, and with the co-operation of the N. Y. State Department
of Education the work has been established on a permanent and
practical basis. Death and other duties have taken away the
original staff of workers at Cornell and the work in the future will
be carried on by Dr. E. Laurence Palmer who brings to his task
enthusiasm and understanding that ensrues success. Because his
Leaflets are so vital and inspirational we have given the Septem-
ber Number of the Review the pleasant task of placing his meth-
ods of work bef Dre teachers who are not fortunate enough to be on
the New York State mailing list.
^^
VS
\
f
mVA Wh
Rat
Muskrat
Squirrel
Deer mouse
House mouse
Short- tailed shrew
Meadow mouse
PLATE OF ANIMALS
(To be used on landscape)
Cut out animals carefully ; if desired, mount on a card and cut out again, leaving a slender vertical
slip at base. Cut slits in the landscape in proper places, and through these insert the slips. The plates
of animals are furnished and copyrighted by the Comstock Publishing Company, which publishes them
in larger form on water-color paper
Cat Racoon
Skunk Mink
Pox Rabbit
^ORTH
^€^f.
^*>:'^''*pirf'^^
V^9^:*
(JLI
^^^%s
South
THE STAR MAP FOR SEPTEMBER
The most notable of the constellations to be studied in September are as
follows: The Big Dipper is in the north-western sky with the handle up,
curving toward the west; continue the curve about twice the length of the
handle and it ends in the splendid star Arcturus; this brilliant star is at the
sharp angle of the kite that marks the constellation Bootes which is very near
the western horizon; above Bootes is the circlet of stars which make the
Crown. Cassiopeia, or the Queen's Chair, is east of the North Star; east and
below the Queen's Chair are the four bright stars in a line that mark Andro-
meda; the southern star of the four marks an angle of the great square of
Pegasus. Almost directly overhead is Cygnus, the Swan, also called the
Northern Cross; the great star Deneb is at the head of the cross. West of
this and almost overhead is beautiful blue Vega in the Lyre. South and
lower down may be seen the little diamond -shaped constellation called Del-
phinus, the Dolphin, also known as Job's Coffin. West of this are three
stars in a row, the big star in the middle being Altair, these mark Aquila,
the Eagle.
The Planet sisters of our P^arth which we call morning and evening stars
are not so placed as to give us a bright evening star this month. However,
Venus shines brilliantly in the skj^ of the early morning and red Mars may
also be seen in the Lion in the morning.
SUMMER
(A Definition)
By Hope H. Girard
1. Hungry robins,
Clear blue skies;
Flying swifts
Darting flies.
2. Open barn doors,
Cooing ring-doves ;
Tell-tale echoes,
Downy foxgloves.
3. Modest harebells,
Brier roses;
Honey suckle.
Morning-glories.
4. Busy wasps.
Loaded trees;
Fields of clover,
Working bees.
5. Waving cornfields.
Pale full moon;
Silver wheat fields.
Early dawn.
6. Dancing shadows,
Tumbling rills.
Fleecy clouds,
Verdant hills.
7. Sparkling eddies,
Rollicking falls;
Nestling ferns,
Woodland calls.
8. Dewy grassplots,
Gushing showers,
Leafy arbors,
Loafing hotirs.
9. Treasures hidden.
Colors brightened;
Quiet growth,
Fancy ripened.
10. Beauty's splendor,
Harvest alluring;
Growing in fullness,
Life-right assuring !
II. Full ^of glories
Without number,
Is the season,
Our summer!
257
jmmammm
|TME BOoR SHELF
Nuova, The New Bee, Vernon L. Kellog, 150 pgs.,15 full page
illustrations and drawings by Milo Winter, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Before Dr. Vernon Kellogg helped Mr. Hoover feed hun-
dreds of thousands of French and Belgian sufferers in the war-
zone and before he was Secretary to the National Research Coun-
cil he was a Professor of entomology and wrote learned volumes
that will remain for all time as bulwarks in that vast section of
science. But he found time even then to write a volume of In-
sect Stories for children which for charm of style and interest
has few rivals. Now again he has given us "A Story for Child-
ren of Five to Fifty" equally well written and equally facinating;
and his talented, versatile wife has embellished it with happy
little songs. It is a story of a rebellious worker bee who found
the established Drder of things in the hive not at all to her liking.
The author is very careful to give accurately in every detail
the habits and wonderful activities of the bee -folk and only allows
his fancy to deal with the psychology and acts of the attractive
little rebel and with the successful outcome of her romance.
The illustrations by Milo Winter are fitting and charming. The
story of Nuova should be on the shelf of honor in every child's
library.
Everyday Adventures, Samuel Scoville Jr., 241 pages, 24 full-
page illustrations from photographs. The Atlantic Monthly Press.
Mr. Scoville is a lawyer and a city dweller but he lives his
real life in the fields and woods, and he has the power of reveal-
ing to us just the joy he experiences in his various excursions.
Hi? descriptions are so vivid and he has such a keen dramatic
sense that he takes us with him willy-nilly. His various excur-
sions are described under the following chapters; Zero Birds
Snow Stories, A Runaway Day, The Raven's Nest, Hidden Treas-
ure, Bird's Nesting, Treasure Hunt, Orchid Hunting, Marsh
Dwellers, Seven Sleepers, Dragon's Blood.
258
THE BOOK SHELF 259
Occasionally he takes his children along and this makes the
volume very good reading for Boy Scouts and Cam.pfire Girls
and by no m.eans detracts from, its charm, for adult readers. The
following from the account of his hunt for the Raven's Nest is a
good exam.ple of the vivacious style of this interesting book:
"For fifteen freezing m.iles we clambered over and around
three of the seven m.ountains. By the middle of the afternoon
we reached a cliff hidden behind thickets of rhododendron. In
the m.eantime the snow had changed to a lashing rain, probably
the coldest that has ever fallen on the North American continent.
Ploughing thru slush, the black rhododendron stems twisted
around us like wet rubber, and the hollow green leaves funneled
ice- water down our backs and into our ears. Breaking thru
the last of the thickets, we at length reached a little brook which
ran along the foot of the cliff. A hundred feet above, out from
the middle of the cliff stretched a long tongue of rock. Over
this the cliff arched like a roof, with a space between which wid-
ened toward the tip of the tongue. In a niche above this cleft
a dark mass showed dimly thru the rain. 'The nest!' m.ut-
tered the Collector hoarsel}^ pouring a pint or so of rain-water
down my neck from his hat-brim as he bent toward m.e. I stared
with all my eyes, at last one of the chosen few to see the nest
of a Pennsylvania raven."
Everyday Adventures is a delightful addition to our present
day Nature literature.
REFERENCE BOOKS
Ror the Library
MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY
Wm. A. Riley and O. A. Johannson
A handbook of disease carrying insects and their allies, with tables
for determining the species. A valuable book.
340 pages. Illustrated. Cloth $2.00
THE MANUAL FOR THE STUDY OF INSECTS
John Henry Comstock
The leading college text and high school reference book on the
subject. Is written so that inexperienced teachers and students
can find out the principal characteristics of any family of insects
occurring in Canada and the United States.
1 6th edition ready.
750 pages. 700 illustrations. $4.25, postage on 4 lbs.
LIFE OF INLAND WATERS
Needham and Lloyd
A presentation of the scientific aspects of fresh-water biology and
its rdation to the economic, civic, aesthetic and physical interests of
man. The only book on the subject in the English language.
438 pages. Illustrated. Postpaid $3.00
GENERAL BIOLOGY
James G. Needham
The most widely used modem text. A concise presentation of the
phenomena of living things, their structure, functions, modes of repro-
ductions, inheritance, etc. Written so you can understand it.
500 pages. Illustrated. Postpaid $2.50.
Canadian Representatives
McClelland & Stewart, Ltd.
Toronto, Ont.
The Comstock Publishing Co.
ITHACA, NEW YORK, U. S. A.
Kindly mention The Naturb-Study Rbview when replying to advertisements
mT0i;E-3T0DV qeVieu
% Devoted to Elementary Science in The Schools
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE
American Nature-Study Society
Photo by R. Matheson
BOB'S COCOON YIELDS ITS TREASURE
The Nature Study Outline Number
Vol. 17 No. 7
OCTOBER, 1921
20c a copy $1.60 a year
Whole No. 147
OUTLINE DRAWINGS OF
BIRDS AND ANIMALS
By LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES
Outline Drawings or Flowers
By MARYE. EA'ION
Printed on watercolor paper for coloring with either crayons or watercolors.
In use by hundreds of teachers in Nature Study, Art Work and
co-relation with other subjects.
COMMON BIRDS (55 in set, size 4^ by 7 inches) 50c.
COMMON ANIMALS (34 in set, size 4]4 by 7 inches) 30c.
GAME BIRDS (25 in set, size 7 by 10 inches) 50c.
ZOO ANIMALS (31 in set, size 7 by 10 inches) 50c.
FLOWER PLATES (30 in set, size 7 by 10 inches) 50c.
MOTH & BUTTERFLY PLATES (10 in set) 20c.
Sold in Sets or Assorted by the Hundred and Thousand
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AMERICAN NATURE STUDY SOCIETY
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THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17 October No. 7
Nature-Study and the Reading Lesson
M. R. Van Cleve
Supervisor Natty e- Study and Elementary Science, Toledo, Ohio
One of the best opportunities for teaching nature-study in
schools is in relation to the reading lessons; and for the very
obvious reason that much of the material in the readers is about
nature. It is so in the primary readers where natural objects are
used to base the bulk of the reading matter upon, and it is so in
the upper-grade readers which contain nature literature.
Consider the primers and first and second grade readers with
their numerous pictures, words, sentences and paragraphs portray-
ing familiar animals and plants. It is evidently assumed by the
makers of readers that the children know these things about which
they talk and read. But a little careful testing by any teacher will
certainly show that many of the children, particularly those of
cities, have no clear percepts of some of these things: bluebird,
sheep, cow, frog, toad, snail, oak, spruce, pine, cedar, brook, owl,
eagle, spider-web, chicken, bee, wheatfield, daisy (examples taken
from a few primary readers). The chief purpose of primary reading
is doubtless to teach children to recognize and comprehend words
is it not ? Too often the child gets no further than the recognition.
Many of the words he learns are names of things . They are but sym-
bols however, not the things themselves. A bluebird is not a combi-
nation of eight letters. Neither is it just a flying feathered
creature signified by the concept ''bird." It is a throbbing ex-
quisite bit of life with colors and songs of its own which thrill the
emotional nature of anyone who has seen and heard it whether it
be on the occasion of the annual renewal of greeting or in the mere
recall of the image in the memory where like Wordsworth's
daffodils
"They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude."
261
262 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Here then is where the nattire-study lesson can and should
function: to see that the children have perceptual experience with
these things about which they are reading. This requires, so far
as possible, contact with the actual objects, most of which can be
brought into the schoolroom or seen on a short walk out-of-doors
near the school except perhaps in the large cities. And let it be
noted here that any observation of creature or other natural object
indoors should lead to a search by the child for the thing in its
natural habitat. Let the true success of intra mural nature
lessons (excepting a few types) be gauged just so, i.e., by the extent
of the follow-up — the out-door observation by the children.
The question arises, "May not the perceptual experience be
gained from the illustrations which are so abundant in the primary
readers?" To some extent, yes — at least with those illustrations
which are approximately true to nature. But no one will question
for a moment the superior value of experience with the real thing.
No one would claim that one's perceptions of Niagara Falls, the
Yosemite, the Ocean, Japan, gained from pictures (even moving
pictures), is comparable to those secured in travel. Suppose your
only experience with violets had been seeing pictures of them;
that you never had smelled or felt their freshness or plucked them
in the quiet woods? Well, that is all many children and perhaps
you yourself know of some of the animals and plants mentioned in
the readers. As regards much geographical knowledge, we must
be content with the word and picture substitutes for the things;
but with nature everjrwhere about us, why he content with mere
symohls of common objects in books ? Lowell wrote in that splendid
nature poem (too little known), Sunthin' In the Pastoral Line
"Why, I'd give more for one live boblink
Than a square mile o' larks in printer's ink."
Here he was referring to the custom of American poets before the
time of Bryant of mentioning only skylarks and other English birds
(which perhaps none of them had even seen) when they might be
writing of their own emotional experiences with American birds and
flowers. Entirely too much of our knowledge of nature (and
American nature at that) is in printer's ink — " words, words,
words" as Hamlet said; yes, even too much of it in the expensive
ink of colored pictures; — and not enough of it learned where
Whittier learned, —
"In nature's unhoused Ivceum."
VAN CLE VE NA T URE STUDY AND THE RE A DING LESSON 263
Furthermore, many of the illustrations in readers are unsatis-
factory from a nature study point of view. For instance, in
order to carry out a uniform color scheme in a book, various
different species of birds are depicted in the same colors, and fre-
quently in colors entirely foreign to them; and the crescent moon
viewed in the evening sky by a child just going to bed may be
placed in any position to suit the desire of the artist without
regard to scientific fact. We do not wish to quarrel with the il-
lustrators. From their point of view it perhaps matters not
whether colors and forms are true to nature, and they doubtless
are bored by what seems to them the literalness of the scientists.
We must, I suppose, for the sake of goodwill and deference to
pictorial art, allow them to place in our readers bluebirds with
blue underparts and white backs, pink horses, and blue cows —
such is the privilege of art! Very well. But we owe it to the
child to show him at least a correctly colored plate of the bluebird
and lead him as soon as possible to know this fine fellow as well as
other birds, insects, flowers and trees, just as God made them in
their inimitable beauty.
As Prof. Vinal* has so well pointed out, neither child nor
teacher can gain much correct information regarding nature from
the reading material in the primary readers. Some is truth, much
is fancy. The writer is willing to leave the final judgment as to
what is the best type of subject matter and illustration for primary
readers to the thoughtful primary teachers of the country, for
what they demand will be placed in the readers of the future
(if it has not already been done). But even if fancy in word and
picture is to predominate, is there any reason why, at the same
time, the children should not be taught the truth about these
creatures of which they read?* Even six-year old children enjoy
both fact and fancy and if skillfully taught neither need spoil the
other.
How then should the primary teacher teach the nature-stud>^
suggested by the reading material? Space limits will allow only a
few brief illustrations.
1. The children are to read about the squirrel and nuts
and acorns. Many children have fed squirrels and can tell
about their experiences. Have any seen squirrels nests'
♦ N. S. Rev. Dec. 1918
264 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Where? Any near the school? What colors and size were
the squirrels (determine species). Copy squirrel tracks seen
in snow or mud. Watch a sqiiirrel bury a nut, then see if
you can find it. See who can find oak trees and nut trees
near the school or near his home.
2. Here is a picture of a bird's nest with young in it. In
April and May each child should find such a little family and
watch it and report on it, bringing the nest to school after
the family have left. Where was the nest ? How fastened in
the tree or elsewhere? What is it made of? Where did the
mother bird get the material?
3. Notice this tree in the picture. Is its shape like any
here about the school? I wonder what kind it is?
4. Have you seen the moon look like that? When it is
that shape next in our evening sky, we will notice whether
its points are turned just as in this picture. Is there always
a big bright star close to the moon? Watch outdoors and
see. Then tell me.
6. See those beautiful clouds in the picture. I wonder if
we ever have clouds like those in our sky. We shall watch
out of our window for them every day, and perhaps we shall
see other beautiful kinds.
Now what of the use to be made out of the nature literature
selections of the advanced readers ? Some of the prose sections are
direct excerpts from the writings of naturalists and should always
be used to stimulate teacher and children to explore in their yards,
parks, fields and woods. And what of nature poetry?
Many of the poets are nature-seers, in two meanings of the
word: they have been good observers and they have distilled wisdom
from their observations. While there is m^uch fancy in nature
poetry and sometimes error, there is enough truth and more than
enough inspiration to lead anyone who wills into a better knowledge
of nature. There are some writers on nature-study who ridicule
this correlation of nature-study and literature, stating that it
spoils both the poetry and the science. But the writer
of this article believes that this correlations an effective
stimulus to observation and indispensible to the full appreciation
of nature literature. To condemn this correlation is no more
justified than to condemn the writing of nature poetry itself.
VAN CLEVE NA T URE'S TUDYAND THE RE A DING I^SSON 265
The poets mix fact and fancy in their poems. Why cannot we
get both fact and fancy from them and enjoy both?
That there is accurate portrayal of nature in much great poetry
is known to all persons who are reasonably well acquainted with
nature and with English poetry. Here are a few illustrations
which could be multiplied many times from the writings of each
author. Scrutinize them and see if they are not good science as
well as good poetry.
Shakespeare :
"The busy day, wak'd by the lark,
Hath roused the ribald crows."
"What, is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful?"
Milton:
"Moim tains on whose barren breast
The laboring clouds do often rest."
Tennyson :
"A million emeralds burst from the rub3^-budded lime
(linden)"
"More black than ash buds in the front of March."
Shelley: Read the "Cloud" and. see how much scientific
truth there is there clothed in poetic language. One
could almost use it in a class in meteorology.
Wordsworth and Bryant: Read almost anywhere.
• Lowell: Here is a description of spring from "Sutithin' In
The Pastoral Line:"
"First come the blackbirds clatterin' in tall trees
And settlin' things in windy congresses.
Fore long the trees begin to show beHef;
The maple crimsons to a coral reef,
Then saffron swarms swing off from all the willers,
So plimip they look like yaller caterpillers ;
Then gray hoss chestnuts leettle hands unfold
Softer'n a baby's be at three days old.
Bloodroots whose rolled up leaves if you oncurl,
Each on 'em's cradle to a baby pearl."
266 ^ NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Emerson :
"Far distant sounds the hidden chickadee
Close by my side." (referring her doubtless to its
"phoebe" song which is ventriloquistic in its effect).
Let us take a few illustrations for interpretation from the
nature poems customarily used in the readers. The poem begin-
ning "There's a little brown thrush sitting up in a tree" probably
refers to the brown thrasher, one of our finest singers. The
children rhould be showa his picture (and if possible the singing
bird — an easy matter for cotmtry schools and not very difficult in
cities), and should be taught many things about him. This
should be done with other bird poems also. How in the world can
a person really enjoy Bryant's Robert of Lincoln who has not
seen and heard this hilarious minstrel with his Quaker wife?
The bobolink is not rare. Find out from some local botanist in
October where fringed gentians can be found (if Bryant's poem is
there for you to teach). Secure only a very few to bring to the
schoolroom to see; or by far better, take them out to see them in
full bloom (but not to pluck). When Stevenson speaks of stars
to the child mind in his Garden of Verses,
"The Dog and the Plough and the Hunter and all,
And the star of the sailor and Mars."
let us remember that these are all in our winter evening sky
(excepting Mars occasionally) and therefore can be made more
than mere words. Gilder's poem beginning "What does he plant
who plants a tree?" or any other tree poem, should be the starting
point for a desire to learn to know as many trees as one can.
The reading of Tennyson's Brook or Lanier's Song of- the
Chattachooche ought to drive teacher and pupils almost to
truancy in springtime or autumn.
Here then in the readers, nature is calling to children and
teacher. Shall we refuse to hear or let them hear? Comenius
summed the whole thing up three senturies ago:
"Do we not dwell in the garden of Eden, as well as our
predecessors? Why should we not, instead of these dead books,
open to the children the living book of nature? Why not open
their understanding to the things themselves, so that from them,
as from living springs, many streamlets may flow?"
VAN CLEVE NA T URE-ST UDY AND THE RE A DING LESSON 267
Of course books are not so dead now as they were in the days of
Comenius. Yet they are indeed very dead if the reading of them
does not lead us to understand and enjoy our fellow men and
nature. Any effort the teacher will make to better interpret
nature-reading and nature-literature by means of natur-
study, and to stimulate nature-study by means of the inspiration
of nature-literature, will open for the child (and he can hardly do
it for himself) two of the gates to Henry Turner Bailey's Holy City
of the Spirit; namely, the gate of nature and the gate of literature.
Nalwe Bids You Come
Donald Thistle
High is the sun in the Heavens,
The meadows are piuple and gold;
Dotted with misty whiteness
For yarrow grows there as of old.
Proud spikes of the wild verbena
Of royal hue indeed,
Rivalling the indigo bunting
Are tossed by the winds and are freed.
Then come where the milkweeds' pink clusters
An old fashioned perfimie doth give,
Where the mullein on high stalks is blooming,
And joy is complete, but to Hve.
Liquid the notes from the pasture
A meadowlark greeting the day;
Bobolinks mount with their warble.
While oft sounds the screech of the jay.
You enter the woods by a by-path.
As quiet indeed as a thief.
But policeman jay's sure to find you.
And study of birds comes to grief.
But come where the bluebird doth carol,
Where the bell notes of wood thrush are heard
Where the tanager flashes his crimson,
And the brightest of jewels a bird.
The Wise Wood Rats
Carroll De Wilton Scott
San Diego, Calif.
(This is a story specially for boys and
girls — and others whose hearts are still
young. It is about the western wood
rats, the builders of the wonderful stick
houses you often see among the chaparral.
These rats have nothing in common with
city rats save their relationship. They
are clean,clever,bright-eyed, soft of foot
and live a woodsy, romantic life).
Mr. and Mrs. Wood Rat lived in a
brushy canyon near the Fremont school
near the outskirts of the city. Their
house was made of sticks and built among
the limbs of a laurel sumac bush. How
old their house was nobody knew — ^per-
haps ten years, perhaps fifty. Of course
the same sticks had not been there that
long. If you had dug into the bottom of
the house you would have found a mass
of decayed leaves and wood going back
^
4:
%
'}A
v^
r^.^J
n
268
SCOTT THE WISE WOOD RATS 269
to the soil. But every night or two the gray builders would add
a few twigs of sage or a spray of lemonade berry or a piece of tin
or paper or bottle picked up in the canyon. So for years the
house had grown at the top and wasted away at the bottom.
But year in and out, at every season the center of the house was
soft, dry and cozy.
The city had grown up around the wood rats but as their
fathers and mothers had lived there for a long time they did not
like to move. It was true the house cats often gave them a scare.
But many of their wild enemies such as bobcat and coyote were
frightened away by the houses of men along the top of the canyon.
So they remained where they were until —
It was July. Mr. and Mrs. Wood Rat's children were grown
and had gone to shift for themselves and the old folks were sitting
in their nest room munching dried elderberries. Mrs Wood Rat
had been nervous all day. Suddenly she said, "We will have to
move. Those bad boys who came today and poked sticks into
our house will come again. We shallhaveno peace here any more".
"They can't push our house over. It is built through the
sumac's limbs", said Mr. Wood Rat confidently.
"They might set fire to it or get their dog to bite into it. I
heard their dog barking yesterday. Besides a sharp stick may go
through one of us some day. It's no use — we had better move."
"All right", agreed Mr. Wood Rat, "where shall we go?"
"On the other side of the canyon is a big clump of cactus.
You know we have often gone there for a drink in dry years.
We will build among the cactus".
"But Mr. Skunk lives there", objected Mr. Wood Rat.
"I think he has gone," answered Mrs. Wood Rat. "I haven't
smelled him about for some time.".
"Well, when shall we move?", asked Mr. Wood Rat.
"Tonight", said Mrs. Wood Rat decisively.
So saying, Mrs. Wood Rat started off along one of the trails
that they had made through the years with their dainty pink feet
on many a nightly errand. Mr. Wood Rat followed. They had
gone but a few feet when "crash" — through the sage bush jumped
a huge black cat. With a quick side jumj) Mrs. Wood
Rat barely escaped. She scurried on and soon readied tlie cactus.
She waited quivering from tail to vSensitivc wliiskcrs. Soon Mr.
Wood Rat slipped to her side.
27C NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
"He nearly got me that time", gasped Mrs. Wood Rat. "I
couldn't see him till he sprang".
"We are safe here", answered Mr. Rat looking anxiously around.
"We will never starve here anyway", eyeing the rosy cactus
apples above. "Where shall we build?"
"Here — build up aroimd the trunk of this prickly pear cactus",
indicated Mrs. Wood Rat.
All night they worked, swiftly as moon beams, silently as
shadows. They carried sticks from the bushes close by. Some-
times they cut off stems of green sumac or the shatp ends of Span-
ish bayonet leaves. They left three open spaces for doors but
all aroiind these doors they laid pieces of cactus stems prickly
with thorns. A clumsy skimk would get his paws full of prickles
if he tried to enter. A snake would not like to crawl over them.
But the Wood Rats hopped nimbly over them like the fairies that
in picture books play leap frog over toad stools and were never
once stuck. In among two hollows Mrs. Wood Rat stowed dry
grasses and made cozy, warm nests, one for each of them. An-
mother hollow as a store room and dining room.
They did not build their house in one night of course. In the
daytime they stayed in their new home. But at night they piled
load after load of sticks and leaves on their house nest making it
the shape of a giant pine cone to shed the winter rains. Each
night they visited the old home bringing food that they had stored —
cured grasses and elderberry leaves and seeds of chilicothe and
simmondsia.
One night when the pair were about to enter the old home they
heard a strange sound. A muffled murrmur filled the whole house.
"What is it", whispered Mrs. Wood Rat.
"Bees — let's go — come quickly", answered Mr. Wood Rat.
So away they scampered.
True enough, a swarm of bees from a hive in the neighborhood
had chosen the empty nest for a snug home. I am told that next
day there were several swelled faces in several homes near the
Fremont school. One dog, Bowser by name, will never again dig
into a wood rat's nest as long as he lives. But all this is another
story. The wood rats knew nothing about all this for they were
safe in their new home munching dried elderberries.
California Nature Study Class and What It Did
E. E. Balcomb.
Professor of Nature Study Areata Normal School
California has many advantages for Nature Study. Trips may
be taken and outdoor work undertaken at all seasons of the year.
There are no "shut-in" months. The State Normal School at
beautiful Areata is no exception. The new State Normal School
building is situated dn a hill which Nature seems to have fashioned
especially for the purpose. Standing in the entrance to the new
building one gets a magnificent view that is seldom equaled any-
where in the world. The eye rests upon the surf, the whitecaps,
and then wanders out, out and out on the almost limitless rolling
waters of the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes a great vessel with all
its white sails bellied by the breeze and painted against the azure
blue sky may be sighted. At another time, it is an ocean steamer,
proudly plowing Pacific's placid waters. Glancing to the South
one surveys the Bay, while to the East are the foothills of the
mountains covered with the world-famous Redwoods. In fact,
not many years ago the very site of the Normal School itself was
the home of giants of world renown.
The class was composed of girls graduated from high schools,
and now preparing to teach — all Juniors except one. They took
a great interest in the work from the first day. Their joy was the
keenest however, when they were on a field trip.
One day, they took their butterfly nets, trowels, knives and
other instruments for gathering specimens, together with an ample
lunch, and started on a long anticipated trip. They went thru
the forest and rested a little while in the Redwood Park of the
local city. One bird was discovered in the Park, but birds are
rare in the Redwoods, and their stretches strangely silent of
winged singers' songs.
Leaving the Park, entering the public road, and climbing a
famous hill, gave them a magnificent panoramic view of the Bay,
the City and the famous dairy flats, extending to the Pacific
Ocean.
They ate their lunch in an open field. The picture shows
a small part of the Class doing justice to this very necessary and
pleasant part of a long Nature Study Trip. While eating, they
added half a dozen more birds to their list. After following tlie
271
272 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
road up the hill for half an hour or more, they turned to the left
through an open field of stumps where several flowers were secured.
The girls with their nets had many a merry chase following the
fleeting fluttering butterfly.
Here, the. class enjoyed observing the latest discovered species
of bird — the "man bird" or flying machine. He played hide and
seek through the low shifting clouds and finally passed directly over
the eager watchers. He went beyond them for a few miles, circled
over the village of Blue Lake and then returned, giving them a
second magnificent view. The girls endeavored to "get him"
with the kodak, but like many another girl, they "failed to find
him".
Following an old logging road into the woods, they found so
many specimens that a "council of war" was called. It was
decided as an "emergency measure" to eat the cake so as to
"release" the basket for carrying specimens. There were no
"slackers" when volunteers were called for. About two miles
farther on they discovered the shacks, bams and other buildings
of an old deserted saw-mill site. Again the necessity for specimen
containers grew apace, and another halt was made to eat the re-
mainder of their lunch. Some one may wonder why the specimens
required so much room. They were taken "roots and all" for
they were wanted not dead but alive.
The teacher conceived the plan of having a wild flower exhibit,
and building a terrarium, and a miniature model of the Normal
School buildings, and grounds, together with the foothills, ravines
and forests in the background. The class co-operated enthusi-
astically in carrying out this suggestion, as indeed, they did all
of his suggestions. They made a terrarium about 7 ft. by 4 ft.
The class took saw, hammer and nails, and actually built boxes 8
inches deep to cover the bottom of this space. These boxes were
filled with soil. In the soil were planted a great variety of plants
especially violets, ferns and along the edge some low-growing dai-
sies. One girl planted a dear little pine tree, which grew splen-
didly, and bore on its graceful branchesseveral"last years 's" birds
nests These boxes were set upon some laboratory tables.
\" X 2" pieces were nailed to the boxes, and extended to the ceil-
ing. Mosquito netting was tacked to these in such a way as to
inclose all the space above the boxes, and on the side toward the
BALCOMB CA LIFORNIA NA T URE^STUD Y CLA SS , 273
two full height sash windows. This made a large, light and airy-
space for butterflies and other winged insects. The class also had
a small glass aquarium. You will now see why on their trips they
were always endeavoring to secure live specimens.
But to return from this digression to the deserted mill and the
lunch.
After loading everyone with all the specimens they could carry,
all followed down a rippling stream past the reservoir of the City
Water Supply and many cool and shady nooks. The merry party
reached the Normal School Building in time to "plant their
plants" and make comfortable their "animals." The only regret
was that there were so many perfectly good specimens that were
passed by on the way, because of their inability to carry any more.
When the display was finished at the right of the terrarium and
butterfly cage you saw for about 12 feet along the wall in minature
the foothills, canyons and Redwood forests, while in the foreground
were the Normal School Buildings, athletic field and other local
features; and banked among them were great gorgeous bouquets,
whole arm loads of rhododendrons, azaleas, daisies, buttercups,
huckleberries, salad berry blossoms and many others.
On some other tables were arranged fruit jars with only a few
speciemen flowers in each: these were labeled for the benfit of
those who wished to know the names. One object of the exhibit
was to help the students become more familiar with the wild
flowers of this region.
Many people visited the room during Commencement, and all
were enthusiastic about the exhibit. Not only the students in
the Nature Study Class, but all the others as well, secured many
ideas and suggestions that will help them in their own schools.
This, after all is the chief function of a normal school.
The only fly in our ointment of happin3ss was that the next day
after Commencement when the class came to take some pictures,
and show the exhibit to friends, they foimd that it had been
removed. This had been done through a misunderstanding, and
it seemed a real tragedy to the Class, for they all wished i:)ictures
of their handiword that had cost so much hard work and yet so
many hours of pleasure.
The Black Snake
Harvey C. Went.
Camp Director's Association of America
The article in the December issue entitled "Common Snakes"
interested me very much. I have never seen a black snake en-
circle a tree in the way E. B. Whiting mentions. I felt moved to
write this through the remark that the black snake was * ' said not to be
poisonous". There are but two poisonous snakes in the northern
states, except in the far west, and these are the rattler and the
copperhead. Fanners will generally assure you that the flat-
headed adder is poisonous, but this is not so
I made the acquaintance of the black snake in 1912, while run-
ning the boy scout camp on the Housatonic River. We always
had a number of these creatures in captivity. In the fall I secured
a 39 inch black water snake, and he became a member of my
household. For a while I kept him in a box, but soon gave him
his liberty to roam about the house as he wished. I must confess
that many of my wife's friends stopped calling. As time passed,
he felt the desire to enter upon his winter's sleep ,and would
disappear into all Forts of strange places. Once he was found
coiled around the springs of an old upholstered chair, and it was
certainly some tindertaking to get him to let go and allow me to
draw him out. Another time he was discovered in the back of
the piano, coiled around the wires.
I was worried because he would not eat, and once a week I fed
him strips of beef, by forcible means. I split a led pencil, rounded
the end so as not to injure Pete's throat, and poked the meat into
his mouth and down his throat, while my left hand held his jaws
open. Sometimes the meat was returned. He almost always
fought against the process, though once in five or six times he
would eat a piece with apparent relish. In the spring of 1913,
while visiting the Bronx Zoo, I inquired what to feed the snake. I
was advised to try fish. I had never thought of that. From then
on, there was no more forcible feeding. I would put Pete in the
bath tub in about three inches of water, and throw in some smelt
or a small eel. He would regard the offering for a moment, and
then seize it. When a snake eats, he holds his food with the jaws
of one side of his mouth, while he advances the opposite jaws and
274
WENT THE BLACK SNAKE 275
secures a new hold. This method of eating is not pleasing to the
beholder at first.
I was nearly always bitten dtiring this process of forcible feed-
ing, but such bites are little more than scratches. Pete did not
strike at anyone after the first few days of our acquaintance.
Discovering that people did not harm him, he lost his fear. My
wife would pick him up, when it became necessary. Upon the
request of the Y.W.C.A. I went around to the factories for a
while telling stories at noon time, and generally carried Pete.
Very often these requests closed with: "please bring the snake."
In the summer of 1913 I went on a long hike to the Catskill
Mountains with a group of boys, and we carried Pete on our wagon.
When about 20 miles west of Kingston, we lost him. I trust that
he is living happily in New York's reservoir.
The snake people are peaceable folk. I write this because I
want boys and girls to know the truth about them.
The Oriole's Lullaby.
Ann E. Lucas.
Oh hush ye, my nestlings; o'er hilltop and meadow
The gray dusk is coming so surely and slow,
And far overheaed in the tree tops' soft shadow
The night wind is crooning his lullabies low.
And blown by Hght breezes your cradle till morning
Quietly, peacefully, drowsily swings.
From his tower in the pine tree the owl sounds his warning,
Then hush ye, my wee ones, 'neath mother's soft wings.
With clear — burning torches aglow till the dawning
The stars o'er the earth will their peaceful watch keep.
The weary world rests till the first gleam of moniing,
So ye, too, my birdlings, shall hush ye and sk^ep.
A Bee's-Eye View
Helen Lee Sherwood.
Cornwell, N. Y.
From the upper porch of my home I often look down over the
little flower garden whose stone path leads to my log-cabin honey-
house and my bee hives, with a view of soft moimtains not far
beyond. There could scarcely be found a sweeter scene of flowers
and sunny green slopes and fields, of quiet mountains and smiling
skies; and then there are bees whirring past me, sometimes in a
steady stream. I see them gleam in the sun as they pass and hear
their swift wings. Of all their secrets, the one I long most to know
is how this scene looks to their curious eyes. What do they see
from above the garden and hives? Sometimes I think one of
them stupid and blind when ^he flies right against my face on her
way, or when I wave a finger a very few inches from the head
of a resting bee and she never moves. The Polistes, those long-
legged brown wasps who build their paper combs under the eaves
of my cabin, are very quick to greet me when I wave to them from
quite a distance. The whole family rise to their full height and
face me, standing at attention.
But when the young bees come rushing out for their "play
flights" and soar above their hives to learn their directions they
must be using some, at least, of their eyes taking in all the land-
marks by which they can find their homes again. I have but to
move a hive a foot or so, or turn it to in face a different direction,
and the home coming bees will fly round and round the exact
spot where their doorway used to be. This becomes largely
matter of habit, no doubt, for if I move a hive at night when all
the bees are in they fail to notice the change in the morning as
they go off, and keep coming back to the spot which, in some
strange way, they have learned by heart. Surely the flower's effort
to entice them with colors are not wasted, for the bees are quick to
distinguish colors and some colors are much more pleasing to
them than others. Could an artist's eye rejoice more keenly
than a bee does in the most enchanting of all flower colors — a
piu-e, clear blue when the sun shines through the petals?
The mystery which is, most likely, forever to be concealed from
us is how the world looks to the bee. Does she see thousands of
flowers standing on their heads with her compoimd eyes and a few
276
SHERWOOD A BEE'S EYE VIEW 277
standing as we see them with her oscelH, or do her compound
eyes show her a gay mosaic, or is it quite different from anything of
which our minds or imaginations can conceive? Will they never
tell me how this scene that I love so to watch appears to them?
Could their wings make such happy sounds if its beauty were
nothing to them, I wonder?
One morning late in September I looked out and saw nothing
of my garden, my hives or my motmtains. A white fog blotted
out everything but a few wheel- webs of spiders, strung with pearls,
and a dripping branch of a pear tree very near by. An hour or
so later I was working in the vegetable garden in front of the hives
when I heard a strange, high-pitched sighing in the air. There
was nothing visible through the fog but the sound continued,
slowly circling about. It was an indescribable soimd such as one
might encounter in a dream; a sound so full of despair, so devoid
of hope that no one still living could utter it, I thought. It
seemed to be all around me in the air, a continuous, slow mourning
in one high tone. I had never heard the meaning of the word
"lost" so vividly expressed before. As I watched I discerned a
bee, and then others wandering through the endless fog in slow,
despairing circles. Some of the hives were dimly visible scarcely
ten feet away, but the bees were lost in the white air; and there is
nothing that lives quite as hopeless as a "social" insect that finds
herself alone. To die for her colony is, apparently, a joy, but to
be lost from the colony is despair beyond human experience (if
an insect feels the despair she seems to express). However strong-
ly bound by love or other ties we may be to other human beings,
it is not impossible in the nature of things, for one of us to live
alone on a desert island. But who can conceive of a honey bee
that is not a citizen, that has no country to serve? Only the
sound of these slow wings wandering in circles through the blinding
fog can suggest to us what that seems to mean.
Nature Study In A College Woman*s Club
Martha Mono.
Erie, Pa.
Last year the College Women's Club of Erie, Pa., found
the program of topics prepared for discussion at the monthly
meetings especially enjoyable. These topics are embraced tmder
the general caption, "Studies in Nature." During the four years
just preceding, the Club had adopted for its program successively,
studies in art, opera music, modem drama aad Greek drama, and
each program proved stimulating and interesting, though
the subject of Greek drama seemed to make
a less general appeal than the others. For this reason it seemed
essential for the prosperity of the Club to choose for 1916-1917
that topic which would appeal to the largest possible ntimber of
the membership. So each member was asked to send in to a
committee the topic of her choice. A list of all these topics,
numbering about twenty-five, was placed in the hands of each
member, and at the June meeting, the time appointed for choosing
the subject for the work of the ensuing year, each member was
asked to select from this list of twenty-five, the ten topics that
seemed to her most desirable and to arrange them on a ballot in
the order of her choice. As was to be expected the vote did not
approximate unanimity, but "Natiu-e Study'.' had a clear lead.
The program committee then had on hand a problem of no
mean proportions, nature study being as wide as the world and the
meetings of the club limited to eight. It was decided that a gen-
eral survey of the field would be best and the following program
was produced.
In the presentation of topics, effort is centered on making the
work as concrete as possible. For example, a fine study of the
history of Lake Erie — prepared by one member for the December
meeting was made graphic by means of many maps drawn to show
the changes caused by the alternating advance and retreat of the
ice, which took place in the lake bed during the glacial period. In
this paper the fact was brought out that the gravel pits of Erie
being worked now were deposited by these ancient lakes, and that
their old beaches have determined the courses of some of our best
roads.
So also when toads shall be the topic of the evening it is expected
that real toads will be present; and when the life in a brook is
under consideration, some squirming, wriggling specimens will
be at hand for inspection.
278
MONG NA T URE-ST UDYINA COLLEGE WO MA N'S CL UB 279
The attendance at the meetings thus far has been fine, the
members coming out not alone for the social enjoyment,but also
because they are really interested in the topics to be discussed. So
to any clubs considering nature study as a possible program of
work we should advise a trial, and we feel confident that the effect
will prove vivifying even as it has proven with us.
A Years' Program Of The College Woman's Club
Of Erie, Pa.
STUDIES IN NATURE
Whether we look or whether we listen
We hear life murmur or see it glisten. Lowell
OCTOBER: TREES
Some Common trees of the Great Lake Region
The Life of a Tree
Famous Tree Lovers and Their Writings
NOVEMBER I STARS.
Other Suns than Ours
The Stars of the Winter Sky
Maria Mitchell
DECEMBER: THE GLACIAL PERIOD
The History of Lake Erie
California Big Trees and the Glacial Period
John Muir
JANUARY : FISHES
The Story of Fishes in the Earth's History
Fishes in the Erie Hatchery
Isaak Walton— The Complete Angler
FEBRUARY: TOADS AND THEIR RELATIVES
Life and Habits of a Toad
Frogs, Tree Frogs and Salamanders
Schuyler Matthews, -Lover of Toads
march: WILD FLOWERS
Stories of Common Wild Flowers
Insects and Flowers
Asa Gray
APRIL: the brook
The Making of a Brook
The Life in a Brook
James Whitcomb Riley
may: FERNS
The Life of a Fern
Ferns Found in the Vicinity of Erie
John Burroughs
The Arbutus
B. O. Butler.
Easton, Md.
No native plant has endeared itself more with the people of
New York and New England than the Arbutus. This, sweetest
of all spring flowers has a place in many hearts. Formerly it grew
in many places in New York State, even up close to large cities,
but now the patches of this trailing plant, with glossy green leaves
and pink faced blossoms, are fewer. The patches are becoming
smaller and smaller each year and in many instances have vanished.
The trailing spring flower, tinted like a shell, grows only in the less
occupied spaces of a region among the lonely pines or amid dry
leaves and mosses. Epigiea repens, the arbutus, is a member of
the heath family, which is restricted to a nimiber of shrubby
plants having attractive flowers, blossoming early in the spring.
The woody stem of the trailing arbutus, technically classifies
it among the shrubs. As a habitat it favors pine woods when
there is little competition for space. It has a branching leafy
stalk, trailing close to the ground under dry leaves and grasses
as the term repens signifies.
In color the leaves are green and rusty and in shape oval.
The taut, strong midrib gives the margin of these glossy sur-
faced leaves an undulating character. The leaves occur at
regular intervals alternately upon the trailing stem.
People show their love for the flower by tearing up the roots
along with the blossoms. Such selfish ignorance is fast reducing
the lovely plant to a mere tradition in many populous districts.
The lowly plant puts out its blossoms from under fallen leaves
just after the snow has m.elted or while lingering snow drifts are
still around. All winter long the buds lie hidden beneath drifts
of snow waiting for the first warm breaths of spring to unclose
them and as soon as the melting snow leaves bare the groimd
on southern slopes the buds begin to open and the arbutus is the
charming queen of Spring. In regions where it is fairly abundant
it is the one early blossom sought by all, "its delicate beauty
charming the eye as its delightful fragrance appeals to the sense
of smell". The blossoms are crowded together in bunches of
from three to eight at the end of prostrate hairy stems. The
280
BUTLER THE ARBUTUS
28]
flower is constructed on the nimierical plan of five. The tubular
corrolla varies ia color from a pale white to a deeply tinted rose
and the five parted pale green cal}^ is set around with five bracts.
A cluster of these blossoms exhales a sweet and spicy fragrance.
The structure of the flower is of decided interest. An ex-
amination of various flowers reveals a great variation in the
relative conditions and positions of the stamens and pistils. In
some we find anthers which abort the pollen, in others only partially
so while in others the pollen is well developed. We can find some
flowers with stigmas, which are broad and with upper surfaces
at right angles to the style, while in others the stigmas are general-
ly to be found in flowers with abortive anthers and vice versa.
The plants are in a transformation stage and are in reality
dioecious. Many interesting variations are shown in this species.
Altho the plants are related by descent, the variations are in-
herited just as much as the likenesses. "Like produces like, but
not just like".
Cross-pollination is being achieved by variations and repro-
duction is accomplished with fewer waste parts. This may be
accounted for in two ways. First; by the elimination of one sex
from each flower, and secondly; by becoming dimorphous by
developing perfect organs at different heights in the same flower.
That there is a tendency toward this condition is shown by varying
lengths of the styles and filaments. In some instances the plants
blossom profusely but may set no fruit, depending upon vegeta-
tive growth for reproduction. Whenever both sets of repro-
ductive organs are found perfect it may be considered as a re-
version to an early type of platit.
Insects and winds are the agencies by which pollen is carried
from anther to stigma. The flower blooms early in the spring
when there is little insect life afield, but the nectar of the fragrant
blossoms attracts the few there are at the time. The beautiful
orange banded bumble bee is the most frequent visitor, since the
fertile females live over winter in some sheltered nook, they do not
perish like the other occupants of the bee nest, so arc on hajid to
seek the Httle flowers in early spring. Instead of flitting from
flower to flower the bee crawls. Honey-flies, with k)ng tongues,
visit the flowers as likewise do little vScsia moths. These moths
mimic the bumblebee as do others a humming bird. I'nhke
most m.oths this one flies during the warmest parts of sunny days
to visit the arbutus.
On a Peculiar Disease of Mulberry Fruit
By J- J' Taubenhaus.
U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry
Not long ago, a colored preacher nearly caused a riot among
his congregation by proclaiming that the worid was coming to
an end. When questioned by his deacons as to his reasoa, he
stated that the world had become so wicked that even mulberry
trees no longer lived a true life, and instead of producing its kind
went wrong and produced popcorn. "Popcawn", said the dea-
cons, "dat is impossible". "Come aad see", said the preacher.
Down they rushed through the lane to a group of mulberry trees
which were growing there for nearly twenty years, producing
mulberries regularly every year until now. With anxious looks
and mouths wide open, the deacons reached for the trees and
shouted to the preacher for real proof. "Here dey is", said the
preacher, extending his hand and plucking some limbs with the
mulberry fruit actually covered with what looked like popcorn
seed. "Impossible", said the deacons, "dis looks lak witchcraft".
"Ridiculous", said others, "dis is some trick played by dis preacher
to scare his flock". Discussions and heated argvunents followed
and they finally decided to gather a quantity of these "popcorn
seed" from the mulberry and bring it to the white folks who
lived near by. Sure enough, Mr. Jones, a white neighbor, was
greatly surprised to see popcom-like seed growing on mulberry
fruit. At first, he could hardly believe his own eyes, and with
his fingers, tried to pick out the seed to make sure that no joke
was played on him by the negroes. However, and with a sense
of hirnior, he exclaimed: "Preacher is right, de world am coming
to an end, even mulberry trees are going wrong". When the
seance was broken up, Mr. Jones told his next door neighbor
of the peculiar mulberries which the colored preacher had just
brought to his attention. "Why", said the neighbor, "I have a
climip of mulberry trees on my own farm which behave
exactly like that, and I am puzzled indeed to know what it is."
A heated argviment began in which Tom Smith, the next-door
neighbor, tried to convince Mr. Jones that these "popcorn seed"
(Fig. A) on the mulberry were a new creation of nature, a sort
of cross between com, milo, feterita and mulberries. Mr. Jones,
however, was not well satisfied with these arguments and induced
282
A NEW MULBERRY DISEASE
Figure A.
To the right, showing mulberry fruit twice natural size, the grains of which are infected. On
top and to the left, two individual infected grains due to the swelling,' of the causal organism
growing within. When these fall to the ground, the outer coat peels off exposing the inner
sclerotia. To the left at the bottom, two sclerotia held together by a gelatinous substance.
Figure B.
To the right, four normal individual mulberry grains. To the left, normal mulberry fruit for
comparison.
Figure C.
To the right four sclerotia picked out from infected fruit showing the teiidril-liko tlircads
which hold the roundi.sh spores in a gelatinous mass. To the left, two individii.'il silcrcjti.i
showing the same.
283
284 • NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
his neighbor to send a quantity of the material to the Agricultural
Experiment Station at College Station. The specimens were
referred to the Station Pathologist who gave them a most careful
examination. It was found that similar specimens were received
at the office during the last three years with statements that
whenever such "popcorn" grains were found on the mulberry
trees, there was no normal mulberry fruit, in many instances
greatly disappointing the kids. In one instance it was added
that the chickens greatly relished this new "manna".
Careful study by the Division of Plant Pathology of the Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station has conclusively shown that
this peculiar growth resembling popcorn seed on mulberry fruit
is nothing else than a disease of the fruit which results in the
swelling of the individual grains, (Figs. A. and B) the
swellings variously reaching the size and shape of popcorn seed
or feterita and sometimes milo grains. While these studies were
carried on by the Plant Pathologist of the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station, Dr. Lewis, Botanist of the University of
Texas, independently came across this same trouble on mulberry
trees growing in the vicinity of Austin, Dr. Lewis and the writer
came to the same conclusion that this is a disease caused by a
fungus.
While the whole history of this new disease has not been en-
tirely worked out, that much is certain. The swelling of the
mulberry grains is caused by a fungus which seems to gain an
entrance in the fruit, perhaps during pollination or as the mul-
berry fruit is still young. The invading fungus keeps pace with
the growth of the mulberry fruit. If one looks very closely,
he will find that early in the season, around April and May,
thcFe swellings may actually become quite perceptible. As the
fruit reaches maturity, the swellings of the individual grains seem
to have reached their maximiim size. In examining with a hand
lens, some of these swelled-up grains, one will find that at the
tip end of each grain there protrudes a stout, gelatinous, whitish
gray thread. (Fig. C) When this is dropped in water, the gel-
atinous thread dissolves and the water becomes decidedly milky
in appearance. In examining this under the microscope, it will
be found that the milky appearance of the water was due to the
presence of large quantities of colorless, roundish spores, which
TAUBENHAUS ON A PECULIAR DISEASE OF MULBERRY FRUIT 285
are held glued together in a gelatinous substance probably secreted
by the causal fungus itself.
Immediately upon the maturity of the fruit, the so-called
"popcorn seed" from the mulberry fruit drop to the ground.
After a few days, or possibly weeks, the outer coat of these seed
falls off, leaving a black pebble-like structure the size of a popcorn
seed or smaller. These black bodies, known as sclerotia, consist
of a mass of fungus threads. These sclerotia when dropping to
the ground, lie there until the following season.
The thing which has not as yet been worked out about this
disease is the significance of the minute spores previously de-
scribed and the purpose of the sclerotia. In other words, how do
new infections take place? Is it through the wintered-over
sclerotia or through the minute spores formed on the deformed
mulberry seed? When these two questions are answered, it is
reasonable to suppose that the identity of the fungus and the
history of the disease will be worked out, and methods of control
determined.
If one examines trees which are affected with the "popcorn"
disease, he will notice in many cases a die-back of the twigs Wheth -
er this die-back is in any way related to the mulberry fruit
disease is still unknown.
Autumn.
Israel Knox.
Age. 14
The radiant and golden stars depart,
The velvet sky and silver moon retreat
Before the heavy, threat'ning clouds that greet
The gloom, and banish ecstasy of heart.
The rose, sweet, fragrant not long since in bloom,
And arbutus whose scent's been created
To ma tell the clear, pale-husd pearl, have faded,
And give no more their heavenly perfume.
A Note on the Purple Cone Flower, (Brauneria Pur-
purea (D. C.) Britton).
J. Andrew Drushel,
Harris Teachers College, St. Louis, Missouri.
The ptirple cone flower is found from Pennsylvania southward
to Georgia and Alabama; westward and southwestward to
Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In the
region of St. Louis, it usually occurs on limestone slopes,
in open oak woods, either as single plants or in small colonies
of scattered individuals. The blooming period extends from
middle July to early October. See cut for a fine example of
a volunteer seedling.
The writer of this note, in the late autumn of 1910, removed
two strong plants of the above species from the woods near Al-
lenton, Missouri, with the view of getting a showy perennial
ornamental plant which would endure the unfavorable summer
conditions usually found in St. Louis. The plants were placed
in a rich shaded comer of the college building. After thriving
here for several years without producing fertile seed and with
only a small increase of new plants from the roots of the parents,
they were removed to the southeast comer of the college build-
ing, a dry, hot, and sunny spot. In the course of a few years
these few plants became a closely crowded olump as shown in
the picttire. This clump was one of the show places for the
students of the 1916 summer school.
The first fertile seed was formed in 1917. From this seed
many young plants were grown both outdoors under natural
conditions, and indoors tinder greenhouse conditions. These
seedlings were planted in mass, also as individuals, in exposed
sunny spots with highly pleasing results. The writer in the
spring of 1920 set two dozen young plants in a comer on the
south side of his residence situated on the north side of the street.
These plants during the dry hot weather of July and early Aug-
gust produced a mass of blossoms, the admiration of the daily
passers-by.
In view of the hardiness of the purple cone flower, its showy
blossoms, its long period of blooming, and its relative freedom
from enemies, it is suggested that those readers of this note who
286
DRUSHEL
A NOTE ON THE P URPLE CONE FLOWER
287
live within the natural range of the plant become acquainted
with it to the extent of bringing it from the woods to their home
ground. By doing this, they will add another all-around satis
factory ornamental plant to their collection and may prolong
indefinitely the life of one of our most beautiful [vanishing spe-
cies. It is also urged that other promising perennial native plants
be given an opportunity to show their right to a permanent place
somewhere about the home.
THE PURPLE CONE FLOWER
Hanging the Pictures on Memory's Wall
Rev. Manley Townsend
The simplest things can often furnish us with the richest pleas-
ures. To find the uncommon in the common affords extraor-
dinary satisfaction. Such is the power of nature study. It
enriches life. It provides a perpetual fount of unalloyed delight.
No one who has entered into the treasures of the natural world
can ever be dull or filled with ennui. Even a "desert" isle has
no terrors for him. Wherever he turns he finds objects of interest,
old and new friends to greet him. Here it is a fern, there a flower,
and again a bird. No person can be called really educated who
is ignorant of the wonderful world in which he lives. No matter
how many Greek or Latin roots he may know, or how profoundly
versed in mathematics or literature he may be, if he knows not
something of the stars in the heavens above his head and the
forms of animal and vegetable life on the earth beneath his feet,
he is ignorant. His education has been seriously neglected.
He has missed a very important realm of knowledge, a realm no
himian being can afford to miss. Cf course, education is entirely
relative. One may be highly educated in one thing and densely
ignorant in another, like the man who owned the first volumne
of the encyclopedia and knew a great deal about astromomy,
alchemy, architecture and Australia; but who knew nothing of
physics, chemistry, mechanics, zebras or New Zealand.
The day is surely coming when every child will be taught in the
schools to know and love the wonder world in which he has been
placed. The teachers will be trained for this purpose in our
normal schools. A few minutes, rightly used each day, can open
the child's eyes to a new world and introduce him to an inexhaust-
ible treasure house of perpetual delight. Thereafter, life will
take on new and added meaning. We are continually meeting
people to whom life grows gray, dull, insipid in middle life. It
is because they have so few resources. To one who has entered
into a sympathetic understanding of nature, life never because
gray or insipid or dull. Everywhere he turns he sees friends that
he admires and loves, friends he has been acquiring through the
years. He is rich in the best of all treastire, the priceless wealth
of the mind and soul. We do indeed "live in deeds, not years;
in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial."
288
TOWNSEND HA NGING THE PICT URES ON MEMOR Y'S WALL 289
The little colored boy was perfectly right when he replied to the
kind lady who asked his age. "If you goes by what mudder
says, I'se six; but if you goes by de fun I'se had, I'se most a hun'-
red".
This whole marvellous realm of nature, so prolific of enduring
joy, is a closed book to the average person, who goes through the
world with eyes closed and ears stopped to its appeal. The ap-
preciation of nature should be begun in childhood. Then is the
golden time, when the young, unfolding mind is most sensitive
to its environment. Then, if wisely guided, enduring pictures
will be hiing upon memory's wall, — pictures that will never fade.
What the Nature Study Society is doing in Webster Groves, Mo.
Anne A. Jones Sec'y.
The Nature Study Society of Webster Groves was organized
in April of 1920 and has at present one hundred and twenty
active and one hundred and fourteen junior members. Since
its organization it has been holding regular meetings on the first
Friday evening each month (with the exception of the summer
months) and has had at most of these meetings, speakers on
various topics pertaining to some branch of nature study, and all
of them authorities on the subjects in hand. Some of the talks
were illustrated with slides, others with moving pictures, and
others again, such as rock formations, wild flowers, etc. with speci-
mens.
Many field trips have been taken, sometimes having the speaker
of the Friday evening meeting lead a field trip on the following
Saturday afternoon in order to carry along or illustrate his talk
of the previous evening. This sometimes brings the message
home more forcibly than any other way.
The jimior members prepared a programme for one of the
evening meetings; they were drilled by several of tlie active
members, the children appearing in costume and acting out
their parts with much credit to themselves and tlieir leaders.
The active membership is divided into four groups for the study
of birds, astronomy, trees, and wild flowers.
290 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
The bird group had, during the season, seven monthly meetings
at the homes of different members. Audubon charts were used
to get acquainted with the birds, their markings and comparative
sizes.
The chairman assigned different members to prepare a paper
or a talk on some particular bird or class of birds, gradually getting
around to all the members and most of the birds to be seen in
Webster Groves.
Early morning bird walks were frequently called, to see, hear
and identify birds on the wing, and also to find the location of the
best bird hatmts. Other walks were in the afternoon, one ex-
tending into the night, to hear the whippoorwill and one, a
very pleasant out -door "experience meeting" with picnic lunch,
was held on the beautiful lawn of one of our members.
Sixty-six varieties of birds were identified during the season.
At the present time four members of the bird group are operating
government bird traps, and banding (through permission of the
Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture)
all such birds as come into the traps, recording and forwarding the
results to the Biological Survey. In the few weeks that they
have been operating, about thirty birds have been banded and
released and a large nimiber of English Sparrows placed where
they can do no more harm.
The astronomy group has been meeting once a month ; during
the summer they were very informal and held in the pleasant
back yard of one of our members, and through a three-inch Tel-
escope we followed the movements of the planets, the moon,
star clusters and nebulae, and more than one, especially of the
younger members, who had never seen the wonderful workings
of nature through a telescope, experienced the "thrill that comes
once in a life time" upon seeing Jupiter and his moons, illustrate
in miniature, the movements of the solar system.
At most of the meetings of the tree group during the winter,
bare branches from trees were brought in, and the tree key for
winter used in tracing them down and identifying them.
The flower group did most of its work in field trips. We
also have junior groups for the study of birds, trees, wild flowers,
insects and reptiles. They study out of doors, taking walks,
under the guidance of competent active members, who give
one day a week during the school year to this work.
JONES NATURE STUDY SOCIETY IN WEBSTER GROVES, MO. 291
Plans for this fall and winter are under way for providing and
caring for feeding stations for the birds, the work to be carried on
largely by the junior members. The society, in the face of m.any
difficulties is at last the owner of a Moving Picture Machine to be
used by the society, by the schools, or by any other organization
for the displaying of educational films.
And now just a few words about a very active body of workers
known as the "City Beautiful Committee" who do not confine
themselves entirely to beautifying the city but very largely con-
sider the health of the commimity. They are making a strong
plea for the beautifying of unsightly places, such as all cities both
large and small are burdened with, and to see that all trees are
properly pruned and cared for and replaced when necessary.
They are activly engaged in civic work, organized the "clean up
campaign" and worked hard for the proper car6 of stagnant pools
and disposal of "tin cans" because both are not only unsightly,
but a menace to health, being the breeding places of the malaria
carrying mosquito. This is slow work and sometimes very dis-
couraging but they believe that by preaching it wherever there
is an ear to hear, it will eventually accomplish much good.
Mrs. Gray Grasshopper Goes House Hunting
A. J. Stackpole.
Berkeley, California
A Story for Primary Grades
The hillside, this morning, is flooded with bird and insect life.
Among the busiest of the insect ladies, is Mrs. Gray Grasshopper
with the red hind-legs, who is starting upon a househunting ex-
pedition.
From a tuft of grass— nearly the color of her wing shields— slie
jumps upon a rise in the hillside, and, with those big, compound
eyes in her forehead, as well as little eyes in the middle of lier face,
looks about her for a suitable store room for her eggs.
Just now Mrs. Gray Grasshopper flies and jumps more clumsily
than her maiden sisters and her slender brothers; for she is
weighted with the responsibility of carrying and storing a half-
thousand tiny, yellow, larvae-eggs.
292 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
The odd little ears at the base of Mrs. Grasshopper's wings
are deafened this morning to the shrill voices which rent the very-
air about her. Her hundreds of young brothers are scraping
their drums with the queer files fastened to their hind legs. Some-
where in this throng of musicians is Mrs. Gray Grasshopper's
husband; but his drum sotmds very faint, for his heart is sad.
He is trying to forget his wife who, so soon after their wedding
feast, spread out her wings and left him.
Thinking not of her lonely husband, but only of finding a firm,
dried reed suificently long and thick to cradle her young, Mrs.
Gray Grasshopper hurries on. Not for the briefest second will
she stop even to listen to the booming of the Bee- soldiers' guns,
as they fly from blossom to blossom. Nor, will she listen to
the rasping scale coming from Billy Quail's violin; neither will
she heed the doleful air Father Meadowlark scrapes from his
'cello.
What cares Mrs. Gray Grasshopper for this lively music? What
cares she for anything but a place to store her little ones during
the long months of Fall and Winter. But she should stop now,
for only a moment, as the Cricket Brothers in the bushes close by,
are ringing their tiny, silver bells. And Mrs. Gray Grasshopper
knows they are playing some one's funeral anthem.
"I wonder who it is?" this gray-brown lady asks of a very
old man grasshopper whom she meets near a tuft of yellow grass.
"Jerry Bluejay is dead," the old man grasshopper replies,
"a Human Boy with a gun shot him this morning. You see lam
an invalid — I have but five legs and my wings are gone."
"I have no time to talk with you," Mrs. Gray Grasshopper
snaps, striking the old fellow with her long antennae, or whiskers,
"and, besides, I think you are joking about your not having any
wings. I see something light resting upon your shoulder."
"Oh, my dear, watch me. I cannot fly even one foot. Bob
White snipped off my real wings two days ago, and what you see
upon my shoulder is only my wing shields, of course I cannot
fly with them. May I come along with you?
"Nonsense!" "I cannot bother with you."
On and on she jimips until she reaches a small hazel busii
standing upon a barren knoll.
**0h, this is splendid." says she. "I'll stop here for a moment's
rest and and a bite to eat. Also, I must keep my big eyes open
STACKPOLE MRS. GRASSHOPPER GOES HO USE H UNTING 293
for that Bob White who snipped off my husband's leg and wings."
With her six padded feet Mrs. Gray Grasshopper climbs upon
the first branch and proceeds to chew the edge of a tender leaf.
Then she decides that a sip of tea would be just the thing for her
nerves; so she sets to work with her strong mandibles, digging
and scraping the bark until the tiniest drop of sap appears. As
the sap flows, she washes her face with her long whiskers and dries
it with her front feet. And now she is ready to sip her tea. But
just as she is about to take a long draught, something dreadful
happens. A sudden, creepy, chilly sensation causes her to draw
up those red hind legs, spread out her wings and fly as far from the
hazel bush as she possibly can. What has happened? Is she
afraid to investigate the cause of her sudden fright?
Mrs. Gray Grasshopper does not know that a score of thirsty
black ants from their nest at the foot of the hazel bush smelled the
sap the very instant it began to flow, and hustled themselves up, up
the limb, ready to drive her away by tickling her hind legs with
their wiry antennae, and reap for themselves the harvest of her
toil.
Will Mrs. Gray Grasshopper never learn that the ant family
are ever upon her track, waiting to steal water from her fountain,
and, the moment her heart stops beating, make a luncheon of her
juicy hind legs? Also, how is she going to learn about her worst
enemy, Mrs. Gnat?
Like most parasitical people, Mrs Gnat is a great talker; it
is she who buzzes about the ears of Htmians when they sleep out
of doors, keeping them awake and causing them to say and think
wicked things about her. It is Mrs. Gnat who wears a dainty,
transparent gown and is quite invisible in the sunshine. But
the noise she makes ! It is a great wonder the' little black ants
who are deaf cannot hear her buzzing!
Now, instead of building a nest of her own as any respectable
insect should, Mrs. Gnat follows Mrs. Gray Grasshopper about
from the time she leaves her husband, waiting to lay a ruinous egg
in each compartment which Mrs. Grasshopper fashions for her
own little ones.
Such ladies as noisy Mrs. Gnat may be essential to this world,
for, were she not to destroy so many of Mrs. Gray Grassliop])cr's
eggs, there would be so many little Grasshoppers to feed, that
294 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
there might not be enough fruit and vegetables for Human Babies
to live upon.
But what cares Mrs. Grasshopper for Human Babies? Her
only concern is to find a store. room where her own little ones shall
be safe from the snows and blasts of winter.
At last she finds what pleases her. For several moments she
investigates a dead reed about one inch thick and a little more
than a foot tall. With her strong mandibles she pricks the bark
to learn whether it is sufficiently strong and thick to keep out
other prying insects, and the pith inside the bark warm and soft
enough to shelter her babies imtil springtime.
Having climbed up the reed an inch from the ground, Mrs.
Gray Grasshopper proceeds to dig with her homy tail a small,
funnel - shaped hole in which she deposits twelve or fourteen
little eggs. Then covering the hole with a kind of gluey sub-
stance, she measures another space with her mandibles and moves
on. But into the first little nest whose gluey door the sun has not
yet hardened, comes gay Mrs. Gant ready to lay her own eggs.
Unconscious of what is taking place behind her, Mrs. Gray
Grasshopper patiently climbs on, fashioning and filling dozens
of little cradles which are placed one above the other, in a kind of
spiral line.
Mr. Faber, the great French Naturalist, tells us that, during
her egg-laying process, Mrs. Gray Grasshopper always keeps her
back to the sun, therefore she moves with the earth as we move
from the sun! Thus, the mystery of the spiral line running from
base to top of the Grasshopper's lodging house, is solved!
Now that dusky shadows are covering the yellow hillside, we
wonder what is to become of Mrs. Gray Grasshopper. Where is
she to spend the night? She answers the question by climbing
to the very tip top of the apartment house and drawing her wings
and legs very close to her weary body. And, with the tiny eyes
in the center of her head and also with the other pair of great,
compotind eyes in her forehead, she stare? vacantly at the milky
shadows a new moon casts upon the land. The odd little ears
at the base of her wings are open to the notes of tired musicians.
Quite distinctly now, Mrs. Gray Grasshopper hears the tolling
of tiny, far-off silver bells. Can it be that a Human Boy has
slain another Jerry Bluejay?
STACKPOLE MRS. GRASSHOPPER GOES HOUSE HUNTING 295
No Mrs. Gray Grasshopper, the Cricket Brothers dressed in
their shiny mourning-cos tirnies, are playing some one else's
funeral anthem.
Play a little softer, will you, boys? The ant family may feel
the vibration of your music and reach the dead reed before a
certain little heart stops beating. Already they are smacking
their lips in anticipation of juicy red legs for their midnight
banquet.
Trailing Arbutus
Agnes At water
Thought of the summer in winter's heart lying.
Tenderly nestled when snowflakes are flying.
Flushed with the Hght of a cold northern sky,
Delicate, fragrant, lovely, and shy.
Wax-like and rose-white, wee stars of perfume,
Sweet heart of springtime breaking in bloom!
Low in the dead leaves and pine-needles hiding,
The rust of last year on its green leaves abiding,
Close to the earth its slender vine clinging.
In each fibre feeling the vague impulse springing, ^
Filled with earth's sweetness, thrilled with earth's power,
Spring heart of ecstacy burst into flower!
Thoreau's Observations on Fogs, Clouds and Rain
Florence White,
Yorktown, N. Y.
Thoreau, a lover of nature, and a keen observer in all that
pertains to it, made most of his observations from the standpoint
of a camper. He had that gift, so rare in many of us, that of find-
ing pleasure and something interesting in ordinary things which
most of us call micjfortunes. It is for this reason I have chosen to
gather his writings on fogs, clouds and rain and put them in to un-
ified form.
In speaking of joys he tells of a camping trip and quotes Bel-
knap the historian of Mass. as saying " 'In the neighborhood of
fresh rivers and ponds a whitish fog in the morning lying over the
water is a sure indication of fair weather for that day, and when
no fog is seen, rain is expected before night'. That which seemed
to us to invest the world was only a narrow and shallow wreath of
vapor stretched over the channel of the Merrimack The fog,
as it required more skill in steering, enhanced the interest of our
early voyage and made the river seem indefinitely broad. A
slight mist through which objects are faintly visible, has the effect
of expanding even ordinary streams by a singular mirage into
arms of the sea or inland lakes. In the present instance it was
even fragrant and invigorating and we enjoyed it as a sort of earl-
ier sunshine, or dewy and embryo light."
Again he quotes but does not give the source,
"Low-anchored cloud,
Newfoundland air.
Fountain head, and source of rivers.
Dew cloth, dream drapery.
And napkin spread by fogs;
Drifting meadow of the air.
Where bloom the daised banks and violets.
And in whose fenny labyrinth
The bittern booms and heron wades ;
Spirit of lakes, and seas and rivers,
Bear only perfumes and the scent
Of healiag herbs to just man's fields!"
"In the mountainous parts of the country, the ascent of vapors,
and their formation into clouds is a curious entertaining object.
296
WHITE OBSER VA TIONS ON FOGS, CLO UDS & RA IN 297
The vapors are seen rising in small volumes like smoke from many
chimneys. When risen to a certain height, they spread, meet,
condense and are attracted to the mountains where they either
distil in gentle dews and replenish the springs or descend in showers,
accompanied with thunder." In still another place he speaks of
the fog in much the same way.
"Fogs and clouds which conceal the overshadowing motmtains
lend the breadth of the plains to the mountain vales. Even a
small featured country acquires some grandeur in stormy weather
when clouds are seen drifting between the beholder and the
neighboring hills. The most stupendous scenery ceases to be
sublime when it becomes distinct, or in other words limited and
the imagination is no longer encouraged to exaggerate it."
How many people find interest in plain ordinary clouds ? Here
is what Thoreau says. "At length I was entered within the skirts
of the cloud which seemed forever drifting over the summit, and
yet would never be gone, but was generated out of that pure air
as fast as it flowed away; and when a quarter of a mile farther I
reached the summit of the ridge — I was deep within the hostile
ranks of clouds and all objects were obscured by them. Now the
wind would blow me out a yard of clear sunlight where I stood,
then a gray dawning light was all it could accomplish, the cloud
line ever rising and falling with the wind's intensity. It was
like sitting in a chimney and waiting for the smoke to blow away.
It was in fact a cloud factory — -these were the cloud works and
the wind turned them off done from the cool bare rocks."
Few people love the rain except just after a drought but read
Thoreau and you will get a different idea of it. He says, "Some of
my pleasantest hours were during the long rain storms in spring or
fall, which confined me to the house for the afternoon as well as
the morning, soothed by their ceaseless roar and pelting; when
an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which many thoughts
had time to take root and unfold themselves."
Again on a camping trip he says, "The best nights were those
when it rained for then we were not troubled with mosquitoes.
Some who have leaky roofs in towns may have been kept awake
but we were soon lulled to sleep by a steady soaking rain."
Then he tells of a walk in the rain, "The rain is good for tliou.i^ht.
It is especially agreeable to me as I enter the woods and licar the
soothing dripping on the leaves. It dom.iciliates me in nature.
The woods are m.ore Hke a house for the rain ; the few slight noises
sound more hollow in them, the birds ho]) nearer; tin- vcrv \vccs
seem still and pensive. , The clouds are but a higher roof. Hie
298 NA TURE'STUD Y RE VIEW
clouds and rain confine me to near objects, the surface of the
earth and trees."
Speaking of an April rain, he says,
"Then the rain comes thicker and faster than before, thawing
the remaining frost in the ground and you turn your back to it
full of serene contented thought ^more at home for being abroad,
more comfortable for being wet, sinking at each step deep into the
thawing earth, and gladly breaking thru the gray rotting ice."
"One would say that frost in the grotmd bred rain, if,
indeed, its evaporations do not create it. Expect rain after rain
till the frost is completely out. The melted frost rising in the form
of vapor, returns perhaps, in rain to liberate its kind still im-
prisoned in the earth.
In speaking of rain on a river, I think he gives a splendid de-
scription. "Rain again and we take shelter tmder a bridge and
again under a pine tree and again under our boat. It is worth
while to sit or lie thru a shower thus tmder a bridge or boat, be-
cause the rain is a much more interesting and remarkable phen-
omenon under these circtmistances. The surface of the stream
betrays every drop from the first to the last, and all the variations
of the storm, so much more expressive is the water than the com-
paratively brutish face of earth. We no doubt often walk
between drops of rain falling thinly, without knowing it, tho if on
water we should have been advertised of it. At last the whole
surface is nicked with rebounding drops as if the surface rose in
little cones to accompany or meet the drops, till it looks like the
back of some spiney fruit or animal, and yet the different colored
currents, light and dark are seen thru it all; andthen, when it clears
up, how gradually the surface of the water becomes more placid
and bright, the dimples growing fewer and finer till the pro-
longed reflection of trees are seen in it, and the water is lit up with
a joy which is in sympathy with our own, while earth is compar-
atively dead,"
Another quotation I like is this.
"It rains so easy — has a genius for it and infinite capacity for it.
Many showers will not exhaust the moisture of April."
This of coiirse is not all that Thoreau says on these subjects but
I have selected those I thought would best illustrate my point,
that Thoreau could find beauty and much interest in the duller
things of nature. There is much the he has to say about clouds
and their colors but I chose to confine myself to the duller forms
and I hope this mere gathering together of a great nature lover's
thoughts on such subjects may help someone find something of
interest in life's duller side.
West
STAR STUDY FOR LATE OCTOBER AND EARLY NOVEMBER
October and November are ideal months for star study. The nights are not too cold and
darkness falls early enough so that children are able to make their observations before bedtime.
The Big Dipper is below the Pole Star, with its handle toward the West, very near the North-
ern Horizon; the Little Dipper also hangs down from the Pole Star in the Northwest, and the
tail of the Dragon may be seen between the two Dippers but his head with the two bright eyes
may be seen just north of Vega; the Crown has almost dropped out of sight in the Northwest.
The Northern Cross has its foot to the westward but brilliant Deneb at its head is nearly over
head. Vega with her train of five stars illumines the western sky and souih of her Altair in the
Eagle vies with her In brightness. Job's Coffin is higher up and east of che Eagle. Cassopeia
is climbing up the East and on November 16th is nearly overhead. The three stars curved be-
low the Northern stars in Cassopeia which mark Perseus may be easily seen : Andromeda and
Pegasus are well up in the eastern sky. Carry a straight line through the Big Dipper to the
Pole Star and continue it on to the southern part of the sky and ic will come very near to a
bright star Shining alone, — this star is Fomalhaut. It is a sun that gives twenty times ns
much light as our sun and it takes light 21 years to reach us from it. In the East may be seen
the misty little swarm of stars, the Pleiades and below them the V-shaped Hyadcs willi red
Aldebaran at the end of the lower arm of the V.
The planets are so placed that Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all morning stars.
299
THF
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 $1.50 per year (nine issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra, foreign postage, 20 cents extra.
Editorial
Nature Not a Member of a Union
To read about strikes in the newspapers and to be in one ac-
tively or passively are two quite different matters. We do not
know how it seems to be in a strike actively for during a long career
we have never struck for anything whatever. If the powers above
us seemed to treat us unjustly we just plodded on and consoled
ourselves with the thought that the hepaticas were sure to bloom
in April and Iris in June. However, during the past m.onth we
have been suffering passively from the printers' strike and we
wish to announce emphatically that the effect is demoralizing.
The complete manuscript for the May Number of the Nature
Study Review was in the hands of the printer in April; what hap-
pened to it*the unfortunate subscribers of the Review know. The
strike is still on and it is with sodden discouragemert that we get a
nvimber of the Nature Study Review ready to print ; meanwhile an
earthquake could not increase our feeling of helplessness.
There is probably no factor more important as a moral force
than regularity in business routine. If a m.an of great importance
in the business world and of absolute integrity were suddenly placed
where he could have no regular duties or regularity of eating and
sleeping, he would surely become frivolous, crooked, or insane.
Therefore, no one need be surprised to learn that the editor of this
periodical has turned to aviation or become a football fan.
This result may only be avoided through the contemplation of
Nature. October has brought the vivid scarlet to the simaachs. The
old shag-bark is glowing yellow and the white ash has spread a
purple veil over her golden foliage. The tall monkshood
racemes stand intensely blue in the garden border. All these
things are reassuring. Mayhap the time will come again when our
little magazine which tries to represent Nature's ways faithfully
may again appear with the months to which it purports to belong.
300
Early Annals of OrnHhology. H. F. and G. Witherby, 326 High
Holbom, London, 1921, sm. 8vo, 240 pp.; many illustrations.
When Mr. J. H. Gumey, of Norwich, England, writes
any sort of book about birds, our ornithologists, of every class,
krow full well that they have a treat coming to them when the
volume is in hand to read. We are all familiar with Gumey's
recent and most beautiful work on " The Gannet, a bird with
a History;" and now, following close upon its issue, we have
his ''Early Annals of Ornithology.''
As our author points out in his Preface, "The idea with which
this little volume originated was to collect all the ancient pas-
sages about birds, of any special interest, but more particularly
those which concerned British Birds, and to string them to-
gether in order of date."
This task has been achieved in the most satisfactory and inter-
esting way possible, the first chapter of the book being devoted
to " Pre-historic Birds"; and then, from Chapters II. to
XIV. inclusive, we have each, with very few exceptions, de-
voted to the literature • of the century with which it has to do.
As to the exceptions, we have Chapters VIII. — X. inclusive
dealing with the pixteenth centiuy, the matter being divided
into three parts, while Chapter XI. treats of "The Crane,
Bustard, Spoonbill, and Bittern." There are 36 illustrations,
consisting of old cuts of birds; portraits of early writers and
others interested in birds during those early times; maps;
facsimiles of letters; birdrocks, and some few others.
The entire treatment of the subject is made most interest-
ing and is of great value; and from Preface to include the ex-
cellent Index, every page of the volume bears the trademark
of orderly presentation of matter; of a thorough knowledge
of the subject, together with the emplojonent of the choicest
301
302 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
and most refined language wherewith the facts recorded are
communicated to those whose privilege it will be to read this
elegant little work.
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.
Lightfoot the Deer, Thornton W. Burgess. 205 pages, 8
full-page illustrations in color by Harrison Cady.
Thornton Burgess is today the literary Pied Piper, followed
wherever he goes by thousands upon thousands of delighted
children. It is one of the great experiences of life to be present
at a lectiire given by Mr. Biirgess to a house filled and over-
flowing with his happy, wriggling, enthusiastic little admirers.
We had this experience in Ithaca recently and the mem^ory of
it will be a joy for the rest of hfe. The story of Lightfoot the
Deer is given with the imderlying thought of the protection
afforded by law to the deer which have become again the in-,
habitants of our "green forests". Sammy Jay and Bobby Coon
and Reddy Fox and Paddy Beaver and other bed- time friends
of the children also have their parts in this story of Lightfoot
and it forms another attractive volume for the happy young-
sters who have started a Burgess library.
How to Have Bird Neighbors. S. Louise Patteson.
31 pages 102 illustrations from photographs, D. C. Heath Co.
This is a chatty and beguiling little voltime that cannot help
but have great influence for good on the boy or girl who reads
it. Each chapter is a story of the author's own experience with
birds and from these experiences much may be learned of methods
for enticing birds and making them comfortable upon one's
premises. The following account of how the martins took pos-
session of their house and ousted the sparrows which were squat-
ters in it affords a good example of the style of the writer :-
"By this time the English sparrows had begun nesting in some
of the rooms.
The martins perched on the wires in front of the house and
made a saucy chatter, calling the sparrows all sorts of names,
I suppose. The sparrows jabbered back at them. In about
an hour the martins left. Early the next morning another flock
THE BOOK SHELF 303
of martins came. Some perched on the wires, some on the roof,
and some on the porches of the martin house. Others flew around
in big circles. All were twittering and calling in their happiest
manner.
I had driven the sparrows away the night before, and this is
how I did it: I put a few big nails into a tin can, then closed
the can and tied it to a big stick. With this stick I banged the
can against the martin house pole again and again. It frightened
the sleeping sparrows. By the moonlight I could see v^ix come
out and fly away; but I think there were more.
Two pairs of sparrows came back in the morning. They
had made their nests side by side in the third story. Long grasses
were hanging out from the entrances. Perhaps the martins
were sorry for them; anyway, it looked as if they were willing
to play fair. They did not chase them off any more; and the
sparrows being now so few, no longer molested the martins.
The martins now began to clean house. There were wads
of chicken feathers and some broken eggs arn.ong the rubbish
which they threw out. This was soon replaced by straws and
sticks which they brought for their own nesting. I could only
count twelve pairs of martins, so that there was plenty of room
for them and the martins too. I suppose one reason why the
sparrows were unwelcome is because they are such untidy house-
keepers as to render close neighboring with them insanitary."
The following subjects are treated in the twelve chapters:
My first bird neighbors, New adventtires in birdland, Real troub-
les in birdland. The bluebird's bungalow, The wren's apartment
house. The boy. The chimney swifts, Birds not of a feather,
The martins' aircastle, More about the boy. The cardinals. My
bird family.
The many pictures made from photographs by the author
are very attractive and truly illustrative and add very much
to the interest of the little volume.
Animal Ingenuity of Today- C. A. Ealand, M. A. 312
pages, 26 full page illustrations, J. B. Lippincot Co.
It is small wonder that after iom: years of war men should
find relief in reading and writing about the wonderful doings
304 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
of the lower animals; it is probably because of this that we
have so many interesting books today which discuss the wisdom
and the clever craftmanship of our little brothers of the fields.
This book on animal ingenuity is an excellent example. It
begins with a discussion of the ways of the social bees and wasps
and then of the solitary bees and wasps and of ants and white
ants. Nests and eggs of birds, their plumage and courtship
are illustrated and discussed. There are chapters on mimicry,
queer friendships, migration, animal engineers, sappers and
miners, seasonal changes, reptiles, frogs and toads, crabs and
lobsters, spiders, shellbearers, corals, worms, and parasites and
predators. The following account of the Omithorynchus will
give a fair idea of the author's clear method of presenting his
facts: "Such a miner is the duckbill of Australia, most anom-
alous of animals from that land of animal anomalies. The
duckbill is possessed of a bill like a duck, its name tells us as
much, and feet strangely J resembling that bird's; moreover
it lays eggs; yet withal it is a mammal. As might be guessed
from an inspection of its strongly webbed feet, the duckbill is
an expert swimmer and as such makes its biurows in the banks
of some favored stream.. To every duckbill burrow there are
two entrances, one above and one below the water level. . The
former is always situated beneath a clump of vegetation, so that
detection is well nigh impossible. From below the water the
tunnel ascends at a fairly sharp angle, but it winds hither and
thither through the soil of the river bank and in all is many feet
in length. It terminates in a broad oval chamber, which is
well stocked with dried grasses. The young duckbills remain
in their underground nursery till they are more than half grown,
and it is lucky for them that their parents will tend them so
long, for they are helpless Httle creatures."
The full page illustrations are from drawings and are graphic
and in many instances dramatic. The author has brought
together in this volume many interesting accounts of a large
number of animals, and it will give enjoyment to many readers.
THE BOOK SHELF 305
Creative Chemistry, 'Et>wi^1^.^i.ossoi^,M. S. Ph. D. 311 pages,
37 pages full page illustrations, The Century Company.
One now and then finds a work of fiction so fascinating that
he will not lay it down till he has read the last page. He wiU
find the chapters of Creative Chemistry as enthralling as any
novel, and to him who reads it the common things which he
uses every day, food, clothing, colors, perfumes, metals, will
have become things of magic. There is a chapter on "Fighting
with Fumes" as well as one on "Feeding the Soil"; one on
"Metals Old and New" and one on the "Rival Sugars." In
all there are fourteen chapters, each chapter a revelation, and
so simply and clearly written that previous knowledge of sci-
ence is not necesssry to understand it. Not the least interesting
is the first chapter on the "Three Periods of Progress," but many
a true scientist will not agree with the statement that "Nature
is our treacherous and unsleeping foe, ever to be feared and
watched and circumvented", though all who know her at first
hand will admit that we should and must learn from Nature and,
indeed, wrestle with her, for it is by discovering and using her
laws that man has become the wielder of power, instead of its
victim. The introduction reveals the serious purpose of the
book and there is a list of Reading References for each chapter
that adds greatly to its value. If each of the "Centtiry Books
of Useful Science" of which series this is the first, is written by
as successful an interpreter as Mr. Slosson, those who read
"Creative Chemistry'' will not fail to read them all.
M. E.
REFERENCE BOOKS
Ror th© Library
MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY
Wm. A. Riley and O. A. Johannson
A handbook of disease carrying insects and their allies, with tables
for determining the species. A valuable book.
340 pages. Illustrated. Cloth $2.00
THE MANUAL FOR THE STUDY OF INSECTS
John Henry Comstock
The leading college text and high school reference book on the
subject. Is written so that inexperienced teachers and students
can find out the principal characteristics of any family of insects
occurring in Canada and the United States.
1 6th edition ready.
750 pages. 700 illustrations. $4.25, postage on 4 lbs.
LIFE OF INLAND WATERS
Needham and Lloyd
A presentation of the scientific aspects of fresh-water biology and
its rdation to the economic, civic, aesthetic and physical interests of
man. The only book on the subject in the English language.
438 pages. Illustrated. Postpaid $3.00
GENERAL BIOLOGY
James G. Needham
The most widely used modern text. A concise presentation of the
phenomena of living things, their structure, functions, modes of repro-
ductions, inheritance, etc. Written so you can understand it.
500 pages. Illustrated. Postpaid $2.50.
Canadian Representatives
McClelland & Stewart, Ltd.
Toronto, Ont.
The Comstock Publishing Co<
ITHACA, NEW YORK, U. S. A.
Kindly mention The Naturb-Study Review when replying to advertisements
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LEGISLATIVE LiBRARr
!AN 171922
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Photo byW.A. Rowley
A SILENT SENTINEL OP THE DUNES
NOVEMBER, 1921
Vol. 17 No. 8
Whole No. 148
20c a copy $1.50 a year
OUTLINE DRAWINGS OF
BIRDS AND ANIMALS
By LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES
Outline Drawings of Flowers
By MARYE. EA'ION
Printed on watercolor paper for coloring with either crayons or watercoiors.
In use by hundreds of teachers in Nature Study, Art Work and
co-relation with other subjects.
COMMON BreDS (55 in set, size 4^ by 7 inches) 50c.
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THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17 November No. 8
Why Illinois Prairie Flowers Have Disappeared
Dr. W. S. Moffatt,
Wheaton, 111.
Chief among the causes of disappearance of Illinois wild flowers
are:
1. Breaking up of the prairies and tilling of the soil.
2. The destruction of timber.
3. The drainage of lowlands.
Among causes less potent may be mentioned the close grazing
of woodlands, particularly by sheep; the mowing of country
roads and railroad rights of way for the purpose of destroying
weeds; the mowing of low prairie lands late in autumn and the
establishment of forest preserves in the vicinity of cities.
Illinois is commonly called a prairie state. But it is not all
prairie. A line drawn from Terre Haute, Indiana, across Illinois
to a point opposite the city of St. Louis will mark pretty accurately
the southern limit of the prairie. South of this line much of the
land is hilly and broken and was originally heavily timbered.
There are many rocky canyons and deep ravines, affording scenery
that is a delight to the artist. Most of the soil is a whitish or
yellowish clay, with a subsoil of hardpan. Many localities are
well adapted to fruit growing, producing abundant crops of
apples, pears and peaches, while the product of the Catawba
vineyards has a nation-wide reputation. This part of the State
is known as ''Egypt." The southern portion is of particular
interest £0 the botanist, as it marks the meeting of the Northern
and southern floras. The wild flowers are in little danger, except
from forest fires.
North of the line above indicated lies the great prairie region,
extending across the state from east to west, and northwardly
a distance of about 150 miles. Here in general, the surface is
level or slightly undulating. There is a little timber, chiefly
307
308 NA TURK STUD Y RE VIEW
along streams. The soil is a rich black loam, one to two feet in
depth, underiaid with the clay of the drift. This part of the
state is known as Central Illinois, or the "Com Belt."
North of the prairie the country is more diversified. In the
eastern portion is the Valparaiso moraine, characterized by rolling
prairie with occasional clay or gravel hills, with rich bottom
lands along the streams. In the extreme northwestern part of
the state is an unglaciated area. In the greater part of northern
Illinois dairying is an important industry.
As an inspector of farm lands for many years, I was able to
watch the development of the prairie region. When I first knew
it, it was in a transition state between grazing and general fann.ing.
During the grazing period an enterprising stockman would gather
together ten or twelve hundred cattle and allow them to feed
upon the prairie grasses. There were no fences. One m,an's
range was separated from that of his neighbor, perhaps 20 miles
away, by som.e stream. The soil was fertile and the ground
not closely pastured, so that the wild flowers suffered but little.
In the springtime one could see masses of the prairie phlox extend-
ing as far as the eye could reach; a little later large areas of the
yellow sensitive pea, while in autumn the whole prairie above
the tall grasses was covered with the reds of the blazing star
and the yellows of Silphium.s, Sunflowers and Coreopsis.
But gradually settlers began to creep in. A m.an would buy
a 160-acre tract, paying $1.50 to $2.50 per acre. He would plow
up twenty or forty acres of this, and plant a crop. Each succeed-
ing year he would plow more land and plant more crops. Every
acre so plowed caused the destruction of the wild flowers growing
upon the tract. With such lands now selling at from $350.00
to :$5oo.oo per acre it is not surprising that there are no wild
flowers left on the prairies. Occasionally, along a railroad fence
there is a strip of no-man's-land, a foot or two wide where one
can yet see a few specimens of blazing star or sunflower that have
escaped the scythe and the competition of ragweed and thistles.
The disastrous effect of cutting down trees and putting wood-
land areas under cultivation is so well known that it is not necessary
to dwell upon it.
Equally serious, but not so immediate in its results, is the
drainage of lowlands. After plowing up and putting into culti-
MOFFATT ILLINOIS PRAIRIE FLOWERS 309
vation all the available prairie, the land owners tiimed their
attention to draining the lakes, ponds and small streams. In-
num.erable ditches were cut and tile drains laid. The effect
has been to lower the water-table several feet and to crowd out
all the native moisture-loving plants.
Among the minor causes of the disappearance of the native
flora is the state law providing that weeds shall not be allowed
to seed along highways and railroads. Cutting the weeds of
course takes the flowering plants also. Along the railroads,
however, there are a few low-growing species that escape the
scythe. Among these are the wild strawberry, bluets, Polygalas
and the violets.
The establishment of forest preserves near large cities is some-
what recent, and has not yet received from flower-lovers the
attention that it deserves. The forest preserve idea is an admir-
able one, insuring as it does the conservation of some of our
finest tracts of woodland. But the effect of the tramping of many
feet over these grounds has been overlooked. The 1920 report
of the president of the Cook County (Illinois) preserves shows
that 3,115,000 persons visited them during the year; that 714,000
of these visits were made during the month of August. If these
preserves are kept open to the public, the choicest areas, in a few
years will have become as barren of vegetation as a school play-
ground or a baseball park.
Obviously, our wild-flower lovers are suffering from^an over-
production of people.
The Bulb to Alice
Yes, you may bury me, put me away,
Think I am dead, but I'll rise some day,
Rise from the darkness into the light,
Though I slumbered long through the Winter night,
Fragrant and lovely my flowers shall be
And my joy in life shall be joy to thee;
To cherish me now in my duller days,
Hope with my hope to win the praise
Of all who, living upon this earth
Are bom again with the Spring's new birth.
T. D. A. COCKERELL
Wild Birds in City Parks
Lydia Stearns
Mankind could scarcely hope for greater joy on earth, than
that experienced by the writer, during the past summer, when a
quest for raspberries led us into the native haunts of the white-
throated sparrows. The surrounding pine woods seemed filled
with them, singing — not one, but hundreds of them — their plain-
tive, unselfish, peaceful,
"Oh, come dwell with us, dwell with us, dwell with us'"
One did, indeed, long to dwell with them, in their cool, wooded
haunts; but those who may not have that privilege may at least
become acquainted with the songster tribe. There is simply
no excuse for not knowing the birds. Here are some we met in
a two-hours' stroll, in Lincoln Park, Chicago, one April morning :
It was just the day for birds — ^and for people who love to hie
them away from city noise and be "made new" in the ecstacy
of a frolic with these most bewitching of God's creatures. The
sun was warm., the air clear and, being morning, the people not
too many.
Scarcely had we stepped over the threshold of the park, from
Dearborn Avenue, before a soft, repeated note caught the ear.
"Sh ! Not a sparrow," and the glasses were pointed aloft. There
he was, a sentinel of the gate — and a warbler, surely, with flashing
of olive-yellow wings and yellow breast, but the tree was so very
high and birdie so very lively we could not see his markings well
enough to be sure, except that he was there and a warbler as we
knew by his few notes and his color.
If we are to know the names of these beautiful wild song-birds,
there are certain points we must notice, in order to identify them
from the book descriptions and the museum specimens. We
must notice the size and shape of bill and tail; we must try to see
any peculiar markings over the top of the head and around or
across the eye and the ear; we must notice the wings, looking
for bars of color across them or patches of color upon them, and
look for any difference in the color of the tail feathers ; we must
carefully observe the breast, its colors and marks; also, very care-
fully, the back.
310
STEARNS WILD BIRDS IN CITY PARKS 31 1
Here comes one, though not a warbler. We cannot mistake him,
however, as with flash of white and gleam of red, he pops down
upon a branch and — peck, peck goes his saucy scarlet head, for
he is the red-headed woodpecker with white belly and great white
patches on his wings which are daintily edged with black, to match
his shoulders . There were many of these handsome fellows through-
out the park, darting here and there, hammering along trunk and
branch, or lying flat to sun themselves.
But look— quick — your glasses! What is that large bird,
winging his way from, the lake? There is something trailing
behind him —
"His long legs, of course," comes the verdict, "that is a heron."
Very good, but let us on to that nook where we saw the merry
juncos, weeks before. Scarcely were we started when, coming
up over the side of a knoll, we saw a flash of color. Had a bit
of bluest sky dropped to the grass?
The glasses again — is it a blue-bird, like that we had seen
down by the museum?
No, there is no red breast, but look at the beautiful bronze-
brown wings, in striking contrast to the deep, almost indigo
blue of the back, breast and head — all blue, except for bronze
wings and tail, glistening in the sun. See how graceful that
curve of his head and neck, so slender, as he holds them, erect,
looking for insects! There were a "flock of him," for we soon
saw many more. We wrote it all down, our hearts a-dance,
and found him. in the book, when we got home, — the indigo bunt-
ing. We saw a "lady bunting," too, with olive-brown back and
light olive or buffy-whitish, underneath.
Our heads were constantly upward turned, now, and soon a
more modest bird was seen. Him we recognized at once as the
black-throated gray warbler, his head, throat and chest black,
with white streaks on the sides, pure white on the under part
of him, white streaks on his sides, and the back gray, black-
streaked. On the wings, also, are two white bars, a streaked fellow,
surely, and easily recognized, when once you have m.adc his
acquaintance.
But what is that peculiar whistle— not a robin, not a black-
bird? On we crept, very softly, locating his tree, following to
the next, when he flew, until we could be sure of liim. a thrush.
312 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
The park seemed literally full of thrushes. Always between the
rarer birds, we saw Mr. Thrush, usually olive-backed, though
once we saw the willow thrush, the wedge-shaped spots on his
breast less distinct and of softer fawn-color on the pale, buffy
chest.
Now comes a fly-catcher, the real crested one, with olive back,
grey breast shading to olive yellow, below. Over all, in the
sunlight and the blue, soared the swallows in graceful curves,
swinging and circling almost wherever one looked, if the look
went high enough.
But there is more to see — yet stay, what was that softly-moving
bit of brown, among those low shrubs, by that rustic bridge?
We draw very near, without giving alarm, and have a fine view
of the exquisitely speckled, dainty wren.
Soon a flutter led us to another low bush where we had an
excellent view of a m,odest, graceful bird, all in soft brownish-
gray, with a wee, triangular spot upon his wing and a delicately
penciled curve of white above and below his bright, dark eye.
A little early for vireos, yet this fellow looked very like Hutton's.
A little farther, and we come to a gay fellow in black-and-white,
more raggedly streaked than the black-throated gray warbler,
his wings decidedly striped, a patch on the side of his head, belly
gray, a black patch for a cap, and every other distinguishing
feature a black-and-white warbler should have, for so he was.
A festive bird about the size of a warbler, but with longer
tail, which seemed to form a peculiar little fan just at the end,
when he flew, still remains a mystery. Then came more thrushes
and then the royal scarlet tanagers — brilliant males in scarlet
and Madam Tanager, in her harmonious olive robe.
Noted in passing was a fox sparrow, scratching for his dinner
after the style of the barn-yard hen; and we also said good-morning
to a phoebe-bird, eying the under side of a bridge for a good
nesting comer. Near black-bird island, too, we lingered to
watch the antics of the grackles.
Enough for one day.? Never enough, but we were obliged to
turn south again, to be in time for dinner, having been in the park
just an hour-and-a-half, when we spied the "dearestest" of all.
Draw near to this little pine tree and look well at these clearly
"penciled," strong, curving lines of black, symmetrically drawn
STEARNS WILD BIRDS IN CITY PARKS 313
down the sides of a glorious fellow. Look at the jetty necklace
he wears over his brilliant yellow vest and note that patch of
gray on the very top of his head, those flashes of white on his
wings as he flutters, tip-tiltingly for you to see. There are white
strips over his eye, and we must note all well, for unless you know
him, this fellow is not so easily found out. No bird-book seems
to do him. justice, though when one knows him, the magnolia
warbler always brings particular joy.
Scarcely had we torn ourselves away from admiring him, and
wondering at the sleeping man beneath the tree, unconscious,
like too many a wide-awake one, of the glorious things about him.,
when we encountered still another bird, m.uch like the one just
described, but with m.arkings less distinct, and two white wing
bars. This we found to be the mate of the magnolia warbler.
Satisfied, indeed, we turned homeward in earnest, though we
could not shut our eyes when we spied Mr. Black-billed Cuckoo,
nor could we resist a brief flirtation with such friends as the
golden crowned kinglets, a brown creeper, the northern hairy
woodpecker at his game of hide-and-seek around a tree, a yellow-
bellied sap-sucker, and a Baltimore oriole that flashed across our
vision.
Late in the afternoon we sought the museum, for the sure
identification of some of the more unusual specimens we had seen,
but we were late and as the "all out" was soon sounded, we again
turned homeward, scarcely looking for birds now, so thronged
was the park with people. But there was no need to look for
the evening frolic of a gaily attired chap that now flaunted himself
before us.
Was ever bird so well satisfied with his new spring coat? No
wonder he was very proud of those great squares of clear orange,
tipped with black; no wonder he turned this way, and now that,
to give us a full view of those glorious epaulettes and breast
plates of the radiant hues, the "brawest hielanman o' them a' " —
rightly named redstart, displaying — ^why, of course, the sunset
colors at the close of a glorious, happy day.
Even as I write a yellow warbler chatters saucily in the trees
of our city street, and seems ever to call to nerve-racked and weary
ones.
"Oh, come out among the birds and let your ]icart bubble!"
Photo by W. A. Rowley
LAKE MICHIGAN IN A TEMPERAMENTAL MOOD
Picturesque Duneland
Stella M. Rowley
Chicago Normal School
It is a great pleasure to write for a group of nature lovers
about so wonderful a place as the Dunes. Extending from Millers,
Indiana, to Michigan City, is a region so fascinating, so full
of nature's richest gifts that after the first visit one seems im-
pelled, as if by some mystic force to return to it again and again.
It has been said *'A prophet is not without honor save in his own
country." This is just as true of a great scenic wonder as it is
of an individual. How many people there are who live within
an hour's ride of the Dunes and know nothing of its wonders,
who have never seen a "Blowout", have never climbed "Bald
Knob" or "Mt. Tom," have never followed the trails which lead
through the dells, the glades and along the quiet pools with their
interesting plant life. Various outdoor clubs have done much
toward bringing Duneland into its own, introducing its beauties
to many people. Not the least of these is the Chicago Nature
314
ROWLEY PICTURESQUE DUNELAND 315
Club, which has for years realized what a treasure house is at its
very door, for if we consider nothing but the flora of this region
that alone is sufficient to make nature trips of real value.
The Dunes are beautiful and picturesque at all seasons of the
year. We may go out in the Spring after the Winter has gone
and all nature seems quite secure in another year of growth.
Then we find the lovely lupine in blossom. It grows so abundant-
ly and luxuriantly, that at times, we seem to be looking not at
the earth, .but at a sea of blue. When we behold such glory,
we feel like saying, "Spring is indeed the most beautiful season
of the year at the Dunes."
In summer, to many it is simply a hot, dry place. We will
admit it is not the season one would choose for long excursions
but it is the time to enjoy the lake. Along that whole length
of shore line is a beach that cannot be surpassed. It is also the
time of year for glorious sunrises and sunsets, not only do we see
the beauty in the heavens but that beauty is reflected in the
wet sands along the shore. In looking at these sunsets we feel
like saying with the poet of old, "The heavens declare the glory
of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork."
From the point of view of the artist, perhaps no season of the
year is so beautiful as the Auttimn, when the leaves change their
colors and the yellow of the witch-hazel and sassafras blend so
beautifully with the reds and browns of the oaks and maples.
But what has the Dunes for us in the winter? An abundance
of oxygen, sand hills not entirely covered with snow but a sufficient
amount to m.ake a background for the trees and twigs, making
them appear like etchings. We make our own trails through
the snow and we often stop to admire the long shadows of the
trees, the brown leaves and grasses that refuse to remain hidden,
making a striking contrast in color to the whiteness of the snow.
The combination of water, sky and tawny sands of the dunes
produces, at times, marvelous and even spectacular atmospheric
effects. At sunset, especially, we may see the Alpine Glow of
distant Switzerland reproduced on minature Mount Blancs
and Matterhoiiis of sand. Is it any wonder that each year our
unique and beloved Dunes grow in favor? We who know them
well return again and again as to a place enchanted, never tiring
of their endless charms and of the opportunities they oiler for
a fuller appreciation of the wonders of nature.
Photo byW.A. Rowley
Above-Typical Dunes
Below-Pools, seldom more than 9 feet in depth, add a picturesque touch to
Dune landscape.
316
Notes by Members of the Chicago Nature Study Club
Dragon-flies and Monarch Butterflies.
'Twice the writer has had the privilege of seeing a migration
of the large dragon-fly come from Michigan, across the lake,
to the Illinois shore. Mingled with the myriad dragon-flies
there has been each time, a fair sprinkling of the monarch butter-
fly. At first one wondered why the gentle butterfly should ven-
ture forth upon so long and dangerous a journey with so great
a crowd of the fierce dragon-flies.
The question was answered in a forest of northern Minne-
sota. Walking down a road in the forest, the writer noted a
violent movement upon a tree trunk. Closer observation re-
vealed a giant dragon-fly literally devouring the heart out of a
monarch butterfly whom it held firmly pinned, wings pitifully
fluttering, against the tree trunk. No lion, devouring its still
living prey, could have given a more ferocious impression.
But it was one of natures tragedies. She creates no creature
without providing food for it. May we not conclude that the
migrating dragon-fly host is to some extent provided with food
on its long flight by the attendant butterflies?
Dr. Holmes.
Wise, and Yet Unwise.
In a second reader, used in our schools long years ago, there was
a short story about a wren. One sentence in that lesson has
never left my memory, "The wren is a tiny bird but it is a wise
one." Long after I had left the second reader behind, I .had the
truth of the quotation proved most delightfully in my garden.
A small starch box with the correct opening for wrens, had been
nailed up on the wall of the house. Two wrens happily built
their nest in it filling the air the while with their cheerful songs.
Shortly the box began to separate into its elements so I procured
a better box and nailed it upon the wall some twenty feet away
from the first box among sheltering vines. During the absence
of the wrens I detached the first box and placed it upon the new
one.
317
3i8 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
Presently one wren returned and flew to the home spot. Her
apparent astonishment was very interesting. She fluttered
a moment then dropped to the ground just under the spot and
lay there looking up. She then flew to the roof above the spot,
singing loudly while looking down over the edge. Again she flew
to the spot, fluttered there a few moments and retired to an over-
hanging tree to sing and stare.
Presently she flew away.
I have never ceased to regret that I then left the garden for
a half hovu", for when I returned the old home had been discovered
and the process of moving was well under way.
Now see if the childhood lore was not proven. They did not
move the sticks from the old home into the new directly. No,
the sticks were torn out and dropped to the ground, and from
the ground the proper sticks for the foundation of the nest were
once more selected and very rapidly the nest was rebuilt.
Then the old box was removed and my family looked forward
to the joy of watching the rearing of a nestful of baby wrens.
But we were sorely disappointed. The Fourth of July was cele-
brated with unusual enthusiasm that year. Doubtless the
intense patriotism, with its terrifying noises and odors, disturbed
the birds. They flew away never to return to the little house.
In this they were not wise, for nowhere would they and their
children have been more welcome or better protected.
Dr. Holmes
Back Yard Observations
One June morning an excited overgrown eighth grade girl
burst into my Nature-Science room exclaiming, "My mother
found the queerest animal in our back yard yesterday! It looks
something like a brown gray frog but it has prickles all over its
back and two horns."
"Why, Antoinette, your description sounds like that of a
homed toad. But how could a desert animal be roaming around
Chicago?"
The next day Antoinette appeared with a quart bottle con-
taining a homed toad fully as large as a woman's hand. The
poor creature looked very uncomfortable in the slimy grass and
NOTES B Y MEMBERS OF CHIC A GO CL UB 319
water from which I quickly rescued him and put him in an insect
cage. He was very calm and pufifed himself up double his normal
size as forty eager children made his acquaintance. A half
dozen boys lingered behind as the class was dismissed eager
to buy this strange pet.
As the next class came into the room one small girl looked
very much delighted. "Why, that is our homed toad," she ex-
claimed, "We brought it up from Arizona last fall. His name
is Christopher Coltimbus. Bob and I took turns in taking it
out for exercise and one day Chris slipped the string over his
head and escaped."
Later Bob came in, picked up the formidable looking pet
which snuggled in his hand and offered no resistance to the friendly
strokes. Bob too was sure that it was the Christopher Columbus
which had escaped from captivity the previous autimin.
Since the winter of 1920-21 was a mild one it seems probable
that this homed toad had successfully hibernated in the Chicago
area. At least not being able to determine anything further
as to ownership Bob carried home his strange pet with a great
deal of satisfaction.
Do you remember how Goldie Locks happened to visit the home
of the three bears just in time to taste of their breakfast while
they were waiting for the porridge to cool? Something very like
that happened in a garden in River Forest one hot autumn day.
A young Sapsucker on his journey to the South selected a crab
apple tree that was brightly decorated with beautiful red apples.
With carpenter like precision he drilled rows of holes a half inch
apart on a branch about two inches thick.
Then Mr. Sapsucker went aw^ay expecting to come back to
find each cavity overflowing with sap and richly flavored with
any insects that might have been snared. Flies and bees came
to the spot and hummed about as noisily as a whole swarm of
bees.
Mouming Cloak Butterfly sniffed something good in that crab
tree and drank and drank of the sweets Mr. Sapsucker had
intended for himself. The smaller insects annoyed the beauty
in black and white and he opened and closed his wings in angry
jerks.
320 NA TURK STUD Y RE VIEW
A bright Red Admiral appeared zig zagging among the branches
of the tree. He drank deeply of the well filled cups but was not
a little disturbed by flies and bees lighting on him. The four
marks of red on the upper surface of his wings appeared and dis-
appeared like an electric sign as he vainly attempted to dislodge
them.
A sharp "Pit" announced the arrival of a Ruby-throated Himi-
mingbird. He perched for a m.oment two feet from the banquet
table then hovered over the buzzing center sipping eagerly from
hole after hole. The insects were quite agitated at the appearance
of this visitor and dared not perch on him.. Every few moments
Ruby throat rested on a near by branch and eagerly eyed the
insects as they feasted on the sap. The whir of his wings was
the signal for small insects to fly away.
For two hours this program, continued when suddenly on swift
wings the Sapsucker appeared. This was the signal for uninvited
guests to disappear and the hard drinker went from hole to hole,
changing his position from time to time, then gazing off into space
trying to imagine what had happened to his overflowing cups.
Five year old Elizabeth was quite excited upon seeing the
large bird appear. Being told that the Sapsucker was really
injurious to trees she said, "I'll not let him spoil my daddy's
crab tree." So she walked boldly up to the tree with a club and
pounded on the trunk. Mr. Sapsucker played peek-a-boo with
her for two or three minutes then darted away with lively jerks
from the garden.
He was back in a few minutes however busily engaged in deepen-
ing the holes and snaring an occasional insect which the sap at-
tracted. Htimjningbird and the insects kept a safe distance
away when the head carpenter surveyed his work. Elizabeth's
daddy prized his crab tree more than its occupant and soon
Sapsucker was the victim to one who had given good service
in the reserve militia. More luxuriant vegetation in one garden
spot marks the place where the unwelcome guest of the crab
tree was buried.
Esther A. Craigmile
NO TES B Y MEMBERS OF CHIC A GO CLUB 32 1
Bluebirds
The Genie conveyed me to the foot of a great mountain that
stretched before us terrace on terrace till it seemed to mingle with
the clouds. Pointing upward, he bade me climb.
No scene could be more wonderful. The waters were falling
down the mountain side and over the plateaus in showers that
flashed in the sunlight and reflected every color of the rainbow.
Great pools of the clearest blue gave back the azure of the clouds.
Everywhere the eye discerned masses of white crystallization
that took the form of pinnacles, domes and towers.
We had been mounting steadily upwards when we came to
a level space covered with stunted pine and cedar trees.
Suddenly an arrow of blue flame passed in front of me, between
the trees, then another and another. I grasped the arm of
my companion!
"They are the mountain bluebirds," he whispered.
And then in that fairyland I saw these beautiful creatures, the
symbol of happiness itself, flitting from tree to tree, tripping
rapidly over the white ground, or sweeping in curves around us.
They were of the softest, lightest blue, so beautiful in form,
in motion and color, that they were in perfect harmony with the
wonderful place in which I wandered.
These were the bluebirds of the Rocky mountains and I was
on Jupiter Terrace in Yellowstone Park, learning with humble
heart how Nature constructed her most marvelous creations, and
full of the joy of life.
R. A. WiDDOWSON
The Periodical Cicada
During the last week in May or the first week in June of the
coming year, Brood V, of the Periodical Cicadas will appear in
Northern Illinois, Northeastern Iowa, a few counties in Southern
Wisconsin, and the Dunes region of Northern Indiana. The
life-history of these insects is fairly well known, but it has not
yet been determined whether they are injurious to vegetation
during their long larval existence underground. As they often
live under fruit trees when there are no forests nearby, it will be
interesting to note whether the trees from under which the pupae
322 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
emerge in large numbers are less vigorous than those where there
are few or none of the insects.
In making these observations one should take into consideration
local changes that may have occurred during the past seventeen
years, such as surface drainage, erosion, cultivation and fer-
tilization of the soil under the trees, in order that the compari-
sons may be free from error. W. S. Moffatt
Annual Meeting of the American Nature
Study Society.
Toronto, Canada. Thursday, December 29, 1921.
Room 38, Medical School Building
Program
Morning Session — lo A . M.
Sky Phenomena — W. H. Tuke, Principal High School and Mining
Institute^ Haileybury, Ont.
The Appeal of Bird-life to Children — Miss Laura B. Durand,
Deputy Game Warden of Ontario.
Nature Study of the Farm, — Dr. John D. Detwiler, Instructor
in Entomology at Cornell University.
Election of Officers
Report of Secretary-Editor
Afternoon Session — 2 P. M.
WHAT NEXT IN NATURE STUDY
Possibilities of the Moving Picture in Nature Study Instruction—
F. R. MouLTON, Chicago University.
A system for caring for some of Children's Nature Study In-
terests, Dr. E. Laurence Palmer, Cornell University.
The Use of Nature Materials in Intelligence tests — twenty
minutes, E. R. Downing, Chicago University.
The Project Organization in the Primar}^ Grades — twenty min-
utes, Margaret E. NoonaN, New York University.
The Contribution of the Simimer Camp — '20, William G.
Vjnal, Providence, R. I.
O, thou merry brook that gurglest on
And makest all so happy on thy way,
Scorn not the songs I sing to thee;
And every time the wood peewee
And all thy songsters, full of glee,
Sing on thy merry happy banks all day.
Answer, untiring.
With thy murmuring.
O, thou sky-lark, high in cloud-decked
sky.
Who carolest in joy for everyone,
Thou weariest not when nestlings cry
For parents dear. Until they fly
High in the sky to sing with thee
Thou takest care of each and every one.
And art sore grieved
When they have gone.
O, thou woodland folk, come nigh to me
For I am come to sing glad songs of
thee;
But condescend to hear my song
That I be singing all day long.
I'd have good times with thee along.
And roam abroad with all the crea-
tures free.
Nor think nor care.
But just be glad with thee.
323
'Visit the plant in its native heath, Consider its ways'
Plants in Their Environments
Mary M. Boyce.
"Environed they are with many foes."
We hear rn.uch of the origin of species, natural selection, etc.,
but until lately little on the "at homes" and foreign travel of
plants as they march steadily over the world. Warming has
published, in Danish, a work on (Ecology, being a study of vegeta-
tion in existing environments, and really the sociology of plants.
He advocates data-collecting by studying the plants in the field
instead of on the laboratory table, as has been done in the past.
He shows how form.s and functions are modified to serve purposes
for food, water, heat, and protection for reproduction.
It is interesting to note the characteristics of plants in regions
with marked physical conditions. Plants share the elements
with anim.al life. Suspended in the air are found bacteria. We
may trust microscopists when they tell of the communities abid-
ing around us with never ending struggles for mastery and life.
Lichens are nourished in the atmOvSphere; algae and yeast are
324
BOYCE PLANTS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENTS 325
suspended in liquids; truffles are surrounded by soil; water-
lilies are found enjoying a mixed media of earth and water; Hygro-
phytes, those plants which love to live exclusively in water,
stand in bold contrast to the Xeroph^^tes, which belong to the
desert solely. The camel has imitators in the last mentioned
group, as they absorb water rapidly and store it carefully. Be-
lievers in comm.unities and co-operative kitchens find their follow-
ers in the plants dependent upon each other, as Symbiosis, a
helpful living together has been found in all the great groups.
The algae and fungi are perhaps the most noted examples. These
last are important individuals, as the chief sources of soil and
food supplies in certain regions. Not the least of their efforts
is the habit of giving up previous duties to companion plants
and assum.ing another work in the Symbiotic relation.
Dependent individuals may find their followers in the plants
which belong to the Micorhiza group, which depend upon an-
other plant for hfe, as in the filamentous fungus which interweaves
among the rootlets of the Legumes, or the root tubercles of the
Leguminosae. The ubiquitous clover, it has long been known,
can always be an annual crop on any kind of soil. This is possible
through the nitrifying bacteria which swarm in the tubercles.
The problem of protection against animal depredations is
successfully solved by many plants; in the acrid juice of the Aco-
nite; felty coverings of the Mullein; thorn of the Rose; in the
objectionable odor of the Skunk-Cabbage; the tough skin contain-
ing silica of the Bear-berry; the water receptacles of other plants;
the stinging hairs of the Nettle, and the metamorphosed leaf
of the Barberry.
A curious defense, mentioned by many authors, is a friendly
anny of ants, to whom all other insects and caterpillars are intruders.
When the environments are cold, the green tissue exposes itself
as little as possible and generally with a coating of felt. Close
setting- of leaves protect from cold. Then, it is not possible
to sufficiently admire the devices for shedding, collecting, ab-
sorbing and conducting rain. The Ombrophilous, or rain-lovers,
are here contrasted with the Ombrophobic, or rain-haters.
Linnae discovered Myctitropis Phenomena, and styled it the
"Sleep of plants." He watched carefully for a certain flower to
bloom, but the leaves so skillfully hid the blossom that the gar-
326 NA TURE STUDY RE VIEW
dener failed to find it. Darwin pinned the cotyledons down
and the plumule died of chill. This shows the exquisite instinct
of the delicate plant. Plants take some precaution against
drought. No matter how lovely the weather may be the leaves
remain furled until moisture appears.
Very feeble are vegetable growths without adaptations for
environments. Some growths, such as grass which wrinkles and
moss which rolls, show flexible peculiarities to protect life.
"The best laid plans of mice and men," as well as those of plants,
"gang aft a 'glee," and their cunning devices often fail.
Not the least among plant organs is the seed, and marvelous
are the tales told of the distances travelled, cold and heat en-
dured. Darwin surpasses all competitors in that direction.
He tells of experim.ents with seeds which show wonderful resistance
to adverse environments. He and others have soaked seeds
in salt-water, with the result of tie survival of the fittest — a
large percent. We read of drift timber, carcasses of birds, crops
and feet of birds, bodies of fishes, and surprising to relate, of
icebergs, as carriers of seeds. When plants are identical, though
separated by hundreds of miles on the siunmits of mountains,
we turn to Agassiz' glacial theory for the answer.
Frail, indeed, are the individuals of the great plant families,
but mighty are the efforts put forth for perpetuation.
Many are the problems awaiting the lovers of plants — problems
which have never been solved, and the field for work is large.
Visit the plant on its native heath, learn of it, consider its ways,
and with the wisdom so acquired exclaim with the ancient writer,
"How wonderful are Thy works!"
What's a flower? A bit of brightness
Sprung unconscious from the sod.
Yet it lifts us in its lightness
From our earthliness to God.
D. H. R. Goodale
A Practical Angle in the Aesthetic Side of
Nature Study
C. W. G. ElFRlG River Forest, 111.
Much has been said and written about the aesthetic value of
Nature Study. By this we really mean the result of such study,
a speaking acquaintance with nature. When one considers the
endless variety of nature's forms, the whole gamut of forms and
colors in the flowers and leaves of plants, the endless variation
in the colors and songs of birds, the ever-changing beauty in
the outline and tint of the clouds above and of the minerals below,
the variegated patterns of color and outline in insects, shells, even
snakes and batrachians, not to speak of the almost fairy-tale-like
mysteries in the life-histories of many of these creatures, even the
lowliest plant, then one realizes that only the A in the ABC
of this great topic has been written.
In these lines I would dwell upon a practical angle or aspect
of Nature Study in the sense of loving appreciation of the beauties
and wonders of the great out-doors. I say practical, for, while
aesthetic enough, it has practically helped me over otherwise
uninteresting, dreary hours or days. And that I think is of prac-
tical value and importance in our life, which, despite all said to
the contrary, seem.s to me to be depleted m.ore and more of idealism,
and is daily being lowered to a m.ere battle for existence, a battle
with hostile forces over which often we have no control, and which
tends to take the joy out of life.
Now for instances to show what I m.ean : While living in Canada,
in its beautiful capitol, I frequently had occasion to go to places
away from any railway, in fact one does not have to go far there
to be away from, our common carrier. I would go as far as 1
could on the railway — railroad is unknown there— and then
I would be driven in some ancient vehicle 25 or 40 miles across
country. This at all seasons of the year, and the return drive
was often made from one to seven o'clock a. m., frequently
in severe cold weather. These trips would have been highly
unpleasant or at least monotonous, had not nature study or a
speaking acquaintance with nature rendered them higlily in-
teresting. At night one would hear the rare call of the Saw-whet
327
328 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
owl, sounding for all the world like the filing of a saw, or the
"blood-curdling" yells and hoots of the Great Homed and Barred
Owls, or the dreamy sleep song of some smaller bird. Now and
then I would take a mental census of the species of birds seen
along the way when the trip was in day-time, and at the end ask
my companion, the driver: "How many kinds of birds do you
think we saw today?" He would say, "Oh, five or six." Where-
upon I would report, "No, 30 species," which he considered im-
possible until I would enum.erate them.. All this besides watching
the ever-changing aspect of the flora along the way, the coming
and going of the flowers and leaves, some rare or especially early
or late occurrences and the like. On the brink of one lake we
would pass was the largest colony of the fly mushroom, Amanita
muscana, I had ever seen. Or some shy and perhaps rare habena-
ria or other orchid would make me halt the rig in order to get
down and investigate more closely. Riding in the crisp, cool
air of autumn, we would spy the first Snow-buntings, Plectro-
phenax n. nivalis of the season, together with a belated Bluebird;
further on, several Pine Grosbeaks, Pinicola enucleagor leucura,
would be eating of the sumac berries, or a Goshawk would be
seen foraging. Thus hardly a minute passed without some in-
teresting fact to note, to be afterwards duly recorded in the
notebook and "ledger". In spring, one would hear from the
moss-covered stumps in the woods on either side of the road
the exquisite song of the Winter Wren, a well-modulated, sustained
performance in an extremely high pitch, making the impression
of a slender thread of silver being woven or spun over the dark
green hemlock and spruce boughs. The Hermit Thrush and
Veery would add their charming chorus while a Pilated or Arctic
Three-toed Woodpecker would keep tune with his hammered
tattoo. Nature lovers and nature students are often popularly
looked upon as cranks, are termed ' ' nuts" or whatever slang happens
to be in vogue, especially if your nature person be an entomologist,
sweeping about him with an insect-net, or your botanically in-
clined one, going out with a vasculum. Even a physician once
opened a vasculum of a friend of mine who was returning from
an outing, and, seeing the plants inside, asked, "Have these
any commercial value?" — these people are really to be pitied.
They are surrounded by beautiful, interesting things, but see and
EiFRiu A PRACTICAL ANGLE 329
hear them not. How much richer the life of one who knows a
little about the common forms in nature, to whom every tree,
flower, bird and insect conveys a story of the wonders of life
hidden in them.
Take another case. How often travellers on railroads com-
plain of ennui, of being bored and tired by the trip! Not so
your nature lover ! He will eagerly drink in with his eyes not only
the large aspects of scener}^ vale and mountain, but he will also
eagerly search out the details. Here he notices a flower never
seen before, but he can guess whereabout it belongs; there a tree
new to him is passed close by ; and then he will recognize old and
new friends among the birds flitting away from before the moving
train. Recently I visited Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. From
Glasgow Junction to the cave one has to ride on a train of one
coach of the most primitive type, and apparently about to
break to pieces. It must be a relic from "before the war," if
not from before the flood. And as if not enough to expect one to be
jolted and banged around in this disreputable conveyance, they
extort ^2.16 for the trip of eight miles coming and going. Nor
are the eight miles thru especially attractive scenery; only
small wooded knolls, with the second growth often coming up
to the track. How soothing then to one's ruffled feelings to look
out and appreciate the new trees one sees. I saw for the first
time on this ride the Sorrel-tree or Sour-wood, Oxydendrum
arboreum, also the Hercules Club or Angelica Tree, Aralia spinosa,
growing wild, as well as about all the different oaks to be found
in Hough.
Or take that bete noir of the traveller on the railroad, the
being compelled to wait for another train at some lonely junction,
where there is only a miserable village or not even that. At such
a junction in Minnesota I once heard my first Western Meadow-
lark, Sturnella neglecia, sing. In fact I always look forward
to such stops with glad anticipation for the chance it gives one
to hear or see something new in nature.
Also auto rides are enhanced in pleasure immensely in this way.
Recently I was driven to Centralia from Vandalia, Illinois, through
flat, monotonous country, over bad roads, not even fine farms
being there. But when one family after another of Mocking-
birds flew across the road, and now and then a flock of Prairie
330 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
Chickens sailed on outstretched wing further afield, all dis-
agreeableness was more than overcorne. Among the dust-
covered weeds of the roadside even I noticed something new to
me, the Bracted Plantain, Plantago aristata.
An otherwise monotonous lesson is the classroom often
enlivened by the call of the Meadowlark or Killdeer, Bluebird
or Goldfinch. In the trees, before my study-room windows
in Ottawa I often watched the Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos,
the Wood Pewee and Yellow Warbler, the Least Flycatcher and
Robin singing or nest-building.
In this manner and otherwise, nature, after one has made
her acquaintance, cheers one, makes life more pleasant and agree-
able, inspires one anew continually and revives the sometimes
drooping spirit. This I would call the practical side of the
aesthetic value of Nature Study.
Sand Dunes and Forests
WoRRALLO Whitney
5743 Dorchester Ave., Chicago, 111.
There are many phases of the struggle that is ceaselessly going
on between plants and the sand dunes of the Lake Michigan
shores. Among the most interesting and really tragical of these
is the burial of forests by the moving sand.
The dunes have many approaches in their destructive work.
In some cases the dune comes on as an avalanche of sand many
feet in height — often towering above even the tallest trees of
the forest. The forest has no chance against such an advance.
It is utterly destroyed, the trees being engulfed as they stand,
and we have literally a buried forest. The dune usually keeps
moving on, piling the sand up in its front and removing the sand
in its rear. Thus the buried forest may be uncovered long
after its burial. Then we have what is known on the Michigan
shores as a "forest graveyard." The dead trees stand stark and
bare like so many skeletons to tell the story of the advance of the
dune over a once luxuriant forest.
The approach of the sand, instead of forming a steep slope,
is often very gradual, with gentle slopes. In this case the sand
A dense young forest of firs is being
threatened with destruction by the sand
which appears to be approaching rapidly.
The dune has stopped its forward
march on the forest. Numerous signs of
its destructive v;ork are evident.
The sand has been blown away from
these Cottonwood trees revealing the
secondary roots formed when the sand
was piled several feet in depth around the
trunks cf the trees.
The steep slope of an approaching
sand dune is shown, much higher than the
trees. The partly covered trees on the
slope are still alive.
A forest graveyard. The dune has
moved on uncovering the buried forest in
its rear.
Cottonwoods partly covered by the
advancing sand. Their growth each
year equals the rise of the sand.
331
332 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
may rise very slowly, a few inches each year. Some trees are
capable of resisting such an approach. The cottonwood, one
of the most common trees of the living dunes, is capable of pro-
ducing secondary or adventitious roots along its stem. Most
people know that if a cottonwood twig is put into damp soil,
it will put forth roots and grow into a tree. When sand piles
up slowly over trees possessing this power, new roots are pro-
duced on the stem above the level of what was once the earthline,
As the primary roots of the tree are buried too deep for respir-
ation these new roots take their place. This may go on indefi-
nitely so long as the sand does not rise faster than the growth
of the tree upward. Only the tops of the buried trees appear
like climips of vigorous young trees growing in the sand. But
we know what is happening down below in the sand, for seedling
trees could not get a start here in the drifting sand.
Some trees such as the birch and basswood are very tenacious
of life under adverse circimistances and may live with their
roots buried very deeply in the sand. One of the accompany-
ing pictures (fig. 5) shows a birch which had been partially buried;
then the sand was blown away revealing the story of its burial
and successful struggle for life. Though not capable as the
cottonwood of putting forth adventitious roots it had retained
life with its roots buried at one time more than ten feet under the
sand.
When the dune has passed or has ceased to move forward, as
sometimes 'happens, the surface sand becomes more stable,
moving only in a small way. Dune grass {Ammophila) gradually
binds the sand with its creeping roots and the surface finally
becomes sufficiently responsive to allow the germination of seeds
of trees and shrubs. If seed trees of the forest are near enough
for the transportation of their seeds to such spots a new forest
is soon begun on the now dead sand dune. The sand dune has
done its destructive work but nature is resilient and forests rise
again to clothe the wounds with their verdure.
The Forester
Carroll De Wilton Scott
San Diego, California
ACT I. THE CAMPERS
Time, late summer; scene, a natural park in the California
mountains, altitude about 6,000 feet; in a forest of oak, fir and
incense cedar. A group of campers are just finishing their
breakfast under a black oak. Their camp-fire is still smoulder-
ing ; it is built against an old stump . The party is James Williams
a rich, retired cattleman, his wife, his daughter, MoUie and a
hunter friend, Fred Wymans. Their camp auto is near by.
WILLIAMS
Well, Fred, what's our program today?
WYMANS
I hate to go back without a buck. Do you think we would
have any luck on Big Horn Mountain?
WILLIAMS
I think we might start a buck in there. I used to get one in
there any time in the old days. You know Fred I used to control
all these mountains — ran 20,000 head of cattle in here once.
But the government with its meddling forest rangers has sur-
veyed and cleared and fenced and postered the land until it's
like a city park. We did what we liked in the old days — no fences,
no laws, no supervisors. And deer — why they were tame as
calves. And lions too — also tame. Let me see I think it was
right on this slope that I had a tiff with a big cat. I had shot
a deer and laid it on a fallen trunk. An hour later when I re-
turned a huge mountain lion was quietly eating my deer. Do
you think he sneaked off and left me the remainder? Not much !
He bristled up and snarled at my intrusion like a pussy with
a mouse, as much as to say, "all the deer in this forest belong to
me." I was so taken aback by his bluff that I just stared at
him while he walked away with the half-eaten buck.
WYMANS
The cats are as wild as the deer now and as scarce. The old
days are gone forever.
333
334 NA TURE STUD Y RE VIEW
MOLLIE
We should not regret that because so many more people can
enjoy the forests now-a-days.
WILLIAMS
Here's one of those advance guards of civilization now.
(the forester comes round a bend in the road, approaches and
salutes the company.)
FORESTER
Good morning. Any luck with the deer? •
(there is an embarrassing pause.)
WYMANS
Not yet. We hope for better luck today.
FORESTER
You might try Big Horn Mountain. I jumped three bucks
over there last week (he notices the camp-fire against the old
tree trunk) I say, gentlemen, that's dangerous — ^will you be
very sure to put out your fire? There's a dry northeaster blowing
and the brush would bum like tinder.
WILLIAMS (rising to his feet)
Young man, I camped in these mountains when you were
learning to read. I guess I can manage my own camp-fire.
FORESTER (coolly)
No offence meant gentlemen. We have certain rules for the
protection of the forest from its greatest enemy, fire, and one
of them is that camp-fires must not be built against tree-trunks.
Please be sure to put out your camp-fire, (starts to go)
WILLIAMS (angrily)
Yes, you've plastered the trees with your petty rules till a man
can't move without violating them. You rangers think you own
the, mountains. I tell you now you can't order me around.
(He starts toward the forester. Mrs. Williams and Wymans
have walked to one side.)
MOLLIE (catching hold of her father.)
Father — come — the Forester must carry out his orders. He
is acting for the government.
FORESTER
Yes, for the government — the whole people. I represent them,
(steps toward Williams) Mr. Williams, you and your kind had your
SCOTT THE FORESTER 335
day. You logged over the mountains, wasted three-fourths
of the timber, burned up the young trees, dried up the streams,
overstocked the ranges and left the land a barren waste. But
your day has passed. These national forests are for all the people —
the home-seeker, the careful liimberman, the camper, the farmer
in the lowlands dependent on the streams for irrigation — in short
the present generation as well as future generations — and
the sooner you learn this the better. Good morning, (the
Forester turns and leaves.)
WILLIAMS
You contemptible upstart — I —
MOLLIE
Father — please come with me — the Forester must treat every-
body alike.
WILLIAMS
Daughter, I would not have taken that from any man if you
had not been here, (he strikes a match, lights his pipe and
throws the match in the grass.) The Devil take his rules.
MOLLIE (looking for the match)
Oh father, you must not do that — you might set the woods on
fire.
WILLIAMS
What's the difference. A little blaze would give these loafing
rangers something to do. Come on daughter. Fred and I
must get started. Can we have a lunch?
(Curtain)
ACT II. THE DREAM PAGEANT
Time, about mid-day of same day. vScene, a glade in the forest
through which a stream flows. Late summer flowers are in
bloom near the stream — tiger-lily, golden-rod, columbine, coreopsis.
Elsewhere the grass is dry and brown save where a spring makes
a green oasis under some oak trees. The Forester is sawing a
dead limb from an oak tree. Near by is his ax. The Forester
stops sawing, wipes the persj^iration from his face and leans
against the oak tree where he commands a fine view of the moun-
tain landscape.
336 NA TURE STUD Y RE VIEW
FOREvSTER
I wish more people could enjoy my forests. Few ever see them
at all and fewer still enjoy them as they might. They come
whirring through here in touring cars frightening the birds and
squirrels and deer, perhaps camp a day or night and think they
have seen the mountains. Little they know of mystery and
color and wild life. As for the rest of himianity in the lowlands
they stay cooped up in their stuffy houses and die there without
knowing what clean air and clear water taste like. I'll get me
a drink of that spring water right now. (he goes to the spring
and drinks and then reclines restfully on the grass.)
I alone here to enjoy all this beauty. I alone the prospector
of this beauty and this wealth — worth millions just for lumber —
and millions more for health and recreation — I alone the guar-
dian of it for generations to come, (he is silent for a few mornents.
Then the warm sun and weariness from labor make him drowse —
and dream.) This is what he dreams:
(enter a wood-fairy, Chipmunk. He tip-toes up to the sleeping
forester and peeps under his hat. Then he beckons to his five
companions, Nuthatch, Himimer, Vireo, Bush-tit and Lizard,
who come in silently and roguishly and trip about the Forester
on the grass.)
CHIPMUNK
Say fellows, let's do the sleep magic over the Forester. We
haven't played a joke on him for many moons.
VIREO
I say jolly. It is time we had some fun. Hallowe'en is too
long to wait.
BUSH-TIT (in a fearful, whining voice.)
But suppose some harm comes to the forest while the Forester
is under the spell. The Guardian Spirit of the Woods would
be very angry with us.
CHIPMUNK
Oh Bush-tit, you are always afraid (he dances about and says
half singing.)
A frolic today does Chipmunk say
While the breezes play and the tall trees sway.
Come let us be gay, there's none to speak nay.
SCOTT THE FORESTER 337
(all jump about noiselessly, clap their hands softly and swing
their arms signifying their willingness, save Bush-tit who looks
solemn and shakes his head.)
CHIPMINK (continued)
Well, let's get busy — ^he might wake up. Nuthatch, you
bring the milkweed tassels. Vireo, you gather a sheaf of spider-
webs of the Black Widow and bind up his legs and arms. Lizard,
find some poppy petals with the dew still on them. I will make
the magic sleep potion out of the purple juice of this nightshade
and some blue elderberry wine (he gathers these berries as he
speaks slowly) mixed with the sap of the yerba manza. Hummer,
get me some yerba manza by the spring and a bit of resin from
the sugar pine.
(while Hummer brings some yerba manza and a bit of resin.
Chipmunk is mixing the potion in an acorn cup of the Maul
oak. Bush-tit takes no part in the proceedings. Vireo comes
in with the spiderwebs and begins to bind up the Forester's limbs)
Nuthatch arrives with the milkweed seeds and toys with them,
blowing them away singing:
Oh who will sail with me
Upon a golden sea,
A sailor brown as a pine-seed's wing
And every whit as free.
Then brother let us go
While winds of summer blow
For soon will come the cruel Frost King
To lay our shelter low.
And what shall be our stars
To guide our silver spars?
Oh we will sail till we meet the Spring
We roving milkweed tars!
CHIPMUNK
I wonder why Lizard is so long— Oh here he is ! (Lizard comes
in breathlessly with the dewed petals.)
LIZARD
I had a hard time— finding— the dewed petals— and I'm afraid—
the Guardian Spirit — spied me.
338 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
CHIPMUNK
Well, then, we'd better hurry. Come Nuthatch. (Nuthatch
floats the seeds over the Forester's head, saying:)
As the milkweed tassels blow
O'er you as you lie asleep,
Thus may cares and worries go
Leaving you in slumber deep.
One for noon, for morning one,
Wake not till the set of sun.
CHIPMUNK
Now I'll smear the potion on the poppy petals and paste them
on his eyelids. (Chipmunk pastes the petals on the Forester's
eyelids. Then all the brownies, Bushtit reluctantly, make a
circle with hands arid walk thrice round the Forester, once in one
direction, twice in the other. Then they sing the following
song to the accompaniment of pantomime)
Bind up his limbs with cobweb twine
Gathered by elves of the Magic Sign;
With poppy petals fresh with dew
Seal up his eyes with elfland brew.
Let all his cares and worries sail
Off on the milkweed tassels frail;
Sweet be his dreams without a frown
He will not wake till the sun goes down,
(the brownies begin to dance joyfully round the Forester in cele-
bration of their sport when in walks the Guardian Spirit of the
Woods. At sight of him they scatter and disappear, save Chip-
munk who lingers at the edge of the forest.)
GUARDIAN SPIRIT.
Mischief-makers, what have you been doing?
CHIPMUNK (sings in glee)
Sweet be his dreams without a frown
He will not wake till the sun goes down ! (he disappears)
GUARDIAN SPIRIT
They have put their sleep spell over somebody (approaching
the Forester) Why — it is — the Forester ! Oh those mischievous
elves. I ought to have followed Lizard faster. This is no time
for the Forester to be asleep — ^warm weather, a dry east wind,
SCOTT THE FORESTER 339
campers in the forest. But only one thing can break the spell
before sunset. The Forester's favorite tree must wave a spray
three times above his head and say the right words. Would
that I knew his favorite tree! I must stmmion them all. (he
steps to the edge of the forest and calls.)
Trees of the woodland all come here,
Danger perchance to us is near;
Come, wake the sleeping Forester;
Come, Pine and Redwood, Oak and Fir,
Cedar and Maple, Sycamore,
Willow and Elm I do emplore;
Come speak until his favorite tree
Shall break the spell and set him free,
(enter the trees, each with a branch. They follow one another
each speaking their words slowly and waving their spray three
times over the Forester's head and passing on. Guardian Spirit
stands to one side intensely watching silently during the pageant)
THE PINE
You meet my shaft on every height
Where any tree for life may fight;
And in the cities on the plain
For men I brave the storms again.
THE REDWOOD.
Wealth of the centuries stored in me.
Giant of plants — the redwood tree.
THE OAK
I give you shade for summer days
And make your winter hearth-fire blaze.
THE FIR
Grand mountain vistas for your eye
The while I live, and when I die
Lumber for vShips and houses high.
THE MAPLE.
Fires on autumn hills I bring,
Sweets for winter, green leaves for Spring.
THE WILLOW
I fringe the streams with waving green
And breezes flash my silver sheen,
While at my feet the rushes lean.
340 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
THE ELM.
Perhaps on some far distant shore
I grew beside your childhood door.
THE SYCAMORE.
Of valued wood I cannot boast
But there are some who love me most;
My gold-green branches in their pride
So many happy bird homes hide,
(when Sycamore finishes speaking the Forester begins to move.)
GUARDIAN SPIRIT.
The spell is broken! The Forester awakes!
(Guardian Spirit, all the trees including Eucalyptus, Walnut
and Cedar who are following Sycamore disappear quietly and
rapidly as if fading away.)
FORESTER,
(suddenly rising as if with effort breaking bonds and lifting
a weight) Why, I've been asleep! What a remarkable dream!
I thought I was tied down and being covered up with branches,
(he smells the air) Good Heavens! I believe I smell smoke —
I ought to be in my watch-tower, (he hurries out.)
(Curtain)
ACT III. THE FOREST FIRE.
Scene, a rocky point of the mountain on which the Forester has
his lookout platform. The Forester is just ascending this tower.
A Ranger comes up excitedly. The telephone station is slightly
distant from the tower.
RANGER.
I couldn't get you over the phone — it must not be working
so I came to find you. There's a big smoke down on Bear Creek.
FORESTER.
Which side?
RANGER.
South side, near Great Forks. Jim says there was a party'
of campers in there this morning.
FORESTER.
When did you sight it?
SCOTT THE FORESTER 341
RANGER.
About noon — its got an hour's start on us.
FORESTER (after a moment's reflection.)
Take ten men, Frank, and make a stand on the Crest Trail —
back fire carefully. Better take a couple of pack horses and pro-
visions for twenty-four hours.
RANGER.
Can I take Jim Cramer?
FORESTER.
No, leave him for emergencies. Work quickly Frank. You've
got an awful wind against you — thirty miles here — good luck
to you. Say Frank, tell my wife to come up and answer telephone.
RANGER
All right,
(the Ranger goes out and the Forester climbs his watch-tower
with field glasses in hand and looks out over the mountain land-
scape. He talks to himself.)
FORESTER
Pretty bad blaze already — lucky I didn't sleep any later. All
this loss and trouble and danger due to some one's carelessness.
(his wife comes up.) Why, Grace, how did you get here so soon?
GRACE
I was on my way when I met Frank — thought you would need
me. The wind is furious — nearly blew me off the trail, (the
phone rings.)
FORESTER
Just answer the phone for me, Grace — I've got to watch the fire.
GRACE (at the phone)
Hello— yes— all right— (calling to the Forester) Wilbur, Jim
says the Auto campers are surrounded by flames — auto burned —
the party in peril of their lives — must be rescued immediately.
FORESTER
Tell Jim to go at once with what help he needs.
GRACE
Hello — ^Jim— Wilbur says to go at once with necessary help-
do be careful Jim— goodbye— Jim— (hangs up phonc)-"hc was
too excited to say goodbye. (Grace climbs to the ])latf()rm and
342 NATURE STUDY REVIEW
watches with the Forester a few moments. The phone rings
again and she goes to answer.)
Hello — yes — ^isn't it too bad — poor old man. Brother Jim
has gone to rescue the auto party — goodbye, (calling to Forester)
Frank says all the south side of Big Horn Mountain is burned
over and the flames are nearing the top. They are back-firing
on the Crest Trail. Mr. Thompson's big dairy bams are gone
and old Mr. Shepherd has lost ever3^hing — ^house, bam and three
hundred stands of bees — ^all he had in the world, (she goes up
and gazes at the fire with the Forester.)
FORESTER (no longer able to suppress his angry and excited emotions)
Oh this awful waste of natural wealth year after year ! Forests
going up in sm,oke, rich soil washed into the ocean by floods,
animals exterminated that man can never .replace. It's like
war — ^blind, senseless destmction. Thompson has lost his pasture.
Old man Shepherd has lost his bees. In one year the grass returns,
but it will take three more to bring the sage bloom back, and
seventy-five, a man's life-time to restore the timber, even if
there are no more fires; but the soil will never come back, (the
phone rings again.)
GRACE (at phone.)
Yes — Grace — ^won't I do? — all right — (calling to Forester)
Wilber, one of the men with Jim wants to speak with you. (clasp-
ing her hands.) Oh I hope nothing has happened to Jim.
FORESTER (at phone)
Hello — yes — all the party safe — what — Mollie Williams terribly
burned — (after a pause) Oh no, Bert it can't be true — (after
another pause) I'll be down as soon as possible, (he hangs
up^the receiver in a dazed manner and puts his hands over his
eyes.)
GRACE
What is it, Wilbur? Can't you tell me? Oh I was afraid
of it. Oh why should it be Jim! (she buries her face in her
hands. The forester has recovered his composure and is standing
beside his wife. Suddenly she rises and calls wildly) I don't
believe it — he wouldn't leave me that way — ^without sayng
goodbye — ^he is just overcome by the smoke and flames — I am
going to him — I must (she starts to run and the Forester catches
hold of her arm.)
SCOTT THE FORESTER
343
FORESTER
Grace, be brave — I an here — I will go with you presently.
(Grace kneels down with her hands over her eyes. The Forester
climbs the tower for a last look at the fire. The phone rings
and the forester comes down to answer.) Hello — Frank —
thank Heavens! (calls to Grace) Grace, Jim is not lost — ^he
reached Frank's camp by another trail — got separated from his
party.
GRACE (rising)
Oh, I am so thankful!
FORESTER (still at phone)
Well, better stay over there tonight for safety. All the men
safe? — ^that's good — goodbye, (addressing Grace) I think we
can go now, Grace, Frank says the wind is changing and the fire
is checked on the Crest Trail. Jim's hands are just badly burned,
but he needs you. You can't lose Jim in the woods — ^he knows
the trails like a fox.
(the Forester and Grace are picking up their belongings, pre-
paring to go when Williams appears, out of breath, hatless, with
clothes torn and dishevelled. The Forester looks at him but does
not speak.)
WILLIAMS
Mr. Graham — I came up — to surrender myself. I was to
blame for this fire — and all the suffering it has brought. God
knows — I have suffered too — ^my only daughter is disfigured for
life, (he cannot speak for a few seconds.)
FORESTER
I am very sorry for your daughter, Mr. Williams.
WILLIAMS
I can never repay you for our rescue. This is one of those
tragic days that changes a man's life. I see things — differently —
now.
FORESTER, (deliberately, his eyes on the far-off mountains.)
No truth is ever won without sacrifice. I think you have learned
the lesson of the national forest — the wealth of the land is for the
benefit of all the people. If you will spread that truth the trials
of this day will not have been in vain. Let us go down tlic moun-
tain. (Curtain. End.^
THE
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Editorial
The Dunes
To one who lives in a locality where vegetation runs riot,
where the hills are patched with forests and the valleys green
with the meadow lands, and the untilled fields are exuberant
with many colored weed blossoms, the dune lands look dreary
and hopeless, even though one can see the purple in the shadows
that allure the painter and the artist.
How different seem the shifting sands to those who love and
understand Nature's ways. To such they are teeming with life
and there are evinced the many intricate ways of outreaching
vegetation to bind the sands and reclaim the region for plant
and animal life. Never was there a better example of the glamour
which enthralls the naturalist than is shown by the members of
the Chicago Nature Study Club in their love for and study of
the dunes of Lake Michigan, where they watch the struggle be-
tween the sand and the wind on one side and organic life on the
other. It is a region where Nature is ever house-hunting and
masterfully pitches her tents where she may not build of sterner
materials. These dime lands offer many problems of surprising
interest that will for years engage the energies of the very energetic
and enterprising members of this Nature Study Club.
344
EDITORIAL 345
A Disarmament of Nature
The relation of food supply to abundance of life was never
better exemplified than by the return of and multiplication of
beasts of prey on the land reservations where animals are protected.
Under this protection the deer multiplied in nimibers as did many
of the smaller herbivorous anim.als and wherever this occurred
wolves again appeared in the region. The timber wolf was ex-
terminated years ago in the New England and Middle States
but as soon as the deer became plentiful in the forest preserves
they mysteriously appeared again. In 1907 we spent a simimer
in the high Sierras and our guide, a man of experience and good
judgement, declared that if the Government wished to protect
the deer, it would have to send hunters to kill the mountain lions
which were destroying large numbers of deer every year.
The Government has now done this and during the past six
years nearly 700 mountain lions have been killed and more than
3,000 timber wolves and more than 100,000 coyotes have been
exterminated by official hunters. However, the cunning of these
wary animals will insure that enough elude the traps and the
guns of the hunters to start a new generation that will multiply
and flourish in the region of plentiful food.
How like our Disarmament Conference this is! Though we
scrap the dreadnoughts and limit their nimiber there will still
be enough left for war if a nation decides to undertake it.
Meanwhile the chemists are working on deadly gases that the
aeroplanes may distribute over wide areas and exterminate whole
populations. Not until the nations have learned loyalty to the
Prince of Peace will Wars end.
NORTH
SOUTH.
Explanation of Star Map
NC. Northern Cross
NS. North Star or Pole Star
O. Orion
P. Pegasus
Per. Perseus
PI. Pleiades
Pr. Procyon
Little Dog Star
QC. Queen Cassiopeia's Chair
R. Rijel in Orion
S. Sirius. Great Dog Star
T. The Twins
V. Vega in the Lyre
W. Whale or Cetus
Al. Aldebaran in Hyades
An. Andromeda
Aq. Aquarius
B. Betelgeuse in Orion
BD. Big Dipper
Cap. Capella in Auriga
Ce. Cepheus
D. Deneb in Northern Cross
Dr. Dragon
F. Fishes
Fo. Fomalhaut
Hy. Hyades
JC. Job's Coffin or The Dophin
LD. Little Dipper
As November wanes and December comes, the attention of the Star observers are turned to
the East, where magnificent Orion makes beautiful the Southeastern heavens. This is the
most beautiful of all the constellations. It is identified by the three stars which make the
belt which is just three degrees long. The sword hanging below the belt is really a curved
line of five stars although the naked eye detects only three. Above the belt glows the great
red star, Betelgeuse which was measured last year and found to have a diameter of 260 million
miles. Below the belt glitters white sparkling Rijel. Above Orion is beautiful Aldebaran,
in the V-shaped Hyades, and still above them, the misty Pleiades. To the North of Orion
may be seen the Twins and below them Procyon, the Little Dog Star, and his companion,
like a second pair of twins. At nine o'clock about December 1st, we may see a wonderful
white, glittering star rising in the East; this is Sirius, the Great Dog Star. If we imagine a
straight line drawn from the Pole Star direct to Rijel, a little above its middle, it will pass
through a brilliant, yellow star which is Capella in the constellation Auriga. During De-
cember in the early evening Queen Cassiopeia's Chair is nearly above our heads; the three
stars that mark Perseus extend South below the chair in a curve while Andromeda and Pegasus
stretch over the Western skies and low near the Western horizon may be seen the Northern
Cross, Lyra, Altair and Job's Coffin.
Uranus is the only evening star and is not easily seen. However, there is a splendid group
of morning stars. Venus rises about an hour before the sun and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are
in the constellation of the Virgin and light the Eastern skies.
To use the Star Map to find the constellations, hold it above the head with the North at
the North and the South toward the South.
346
Arithmetic Essentiats. Drushel, Noonan, Whithers. Three vol-
tunes illustrated, published by Lyons and Camahan, Chicago
& New York.
As one recalls the various arithmetics that have been written
in the past fifty years, one doubts if there could be anything
new in a text of this basic study. However, these three volumes
are new, for on every page they get at the principles of arithme-
tic from the angle of arousing the interest of the pupil. Book I
is for the little folks and its aim is to make the children realize
many of the uses of arithmetic. Games of mathematical sorts
are introduced, — dominoes for children to make them count,
playhouses, marbles, the buying of play things, postage stamps,
tickets for the movies, fruit, candy, pie, chocolate, nine-pins,
furniture, clocks, baseball, all used to interest the children in
numbers. Book II deals with the interests of grown-ups that
may also interest children of the intermediate grades, using as a
means the problems of the thrift garden, of elementary business,
drawing to a scale, making maps, etc. Book III is for the seventh
and eighth grades and teaches the use of graphs, tables, and
equations in problem solving. Business forms and practices,
construction and the measurement of surfaces, time reckoning
and travel, taxation and interest, and thrift saving accounts and
many other interesting means are used to train the pupils in the
principles and practices of arithmetic.
This series is as interesting as it is practical and is practical
because it is interesting. The authors are teachers of high
standing and broad experience. They are J. Andrew Drushel,
A. B., Teacher of .the Pedagogy of Arithmetic, Harris Teachers
College; Margaret E. Noonan, Ph. D., Professor of Elementary
Education, New York University; and John W. Withers,
Ph. D., Dean of the School of Education, New York University.
These arithmetics are already in use and the following is the
testimony of the Principal of one of the most noted schools in the
347
348 NA TURE STUD Y RE VIEW
South: "Our experienced teachers who have long found it an
almost impossible task to pilot the immature and natively slow
mind through the mazes of arithmetic, now feel with rejoicing
and even with enthusiasm that their problem has been solved.
Of course the looked for improvement will not come in a day.
Only by degrees and thru a series of years will the excellent
result that may fairly be counted on be wholly realized. But
already they see that the admirable method of presentation in
the Essentials arouses the child's interest and enables the mind
that has been painfully groping to have a clear vision instead of
a stray glimpse thru a fog. I am not going too far in saying
that thru adopting the Essentials we have taken one of the most
notable steps forward we have made in recent years."
WHY IS THE NATURE STUDY REVIEW LATE?
It is late this month for the same reason that it was late
last month and for the same reason that it will be late next
month, - because the presses of our printer are overwhelmed
and overworked by the great congestion of matter, text books
etc. held up by the long printer's strike so that we have to
await our turn. The composition on the December number
is now going on and we shall try to catch up by making
January and February issues into a double niunber. We en-
treat our subscribers to be patient, because really there is
nothing else to do.
|1PI5E-5T0DY
% Devoted to Elementary Science in The
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE
American Nature-Study Soci
Photo by W. p. Alexander
NATURE-STUDY IN THE ROOSEVELT CAMP
DECEMBER, 1951
Vol. 17 Xo 9 Whole Ko. 149
20c a copy $1.50 a year
How To Know The Butterflies
A Manual of the Butterflies of the Eastern United States, by
JOHN HENRY COMSTOCK
Emeritus Professor of Entomology, Cornell University
AND
ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK
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This work contains descriptions of 152 species and varieties
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varieties found in the eastern half of the United States ex-
cepting a few extremely rare forms.
There are 45 plates with 312 figures showing the insects in
their natural colors and 49 figures in the text.
The work is written in popular form without being super-
ficial, and will serve as a Baedeker among Butterflies to the
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THE
NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Vol. 17 December, 1921 No. 9
A Nature-Study Paradise in Western New York.
W. P. Alexander
Buffalo Museum of Natural History
In the fall of 1920, the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences
to-^ether with the Erie County Society for the Protection of
Birds, Fish and Game, started a movement to have the State
acquire for the people of Western New York a tract of wild moun-
tainous country that would be to the western half of the State
what the Palisades Interstate Park is to the east: a great tract
suitable for recreation, Nature Study and health building. Under
the masterly leadership of Mr. C. J. Hamlin, president of the
Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, a committee composed of
prominent men from several counties in this part of New York
began its work which was consummated with the signing of the
Ames Park bill by Governor Miller on May 2d of this year.
The initial purchase of 7000 acres was made directly after the
Park Commission was appointed by the Governor on June 6tb ,
and as Mr. C. J. Hamlin, an energetic man, became one of the
Commissioners it was decided to put the new Park to immed-
iate use by establishing a camp therein for the benefit of the mem-
bers of the Roosevelt Field Club, an active auxiliary organization
of the Society of Natural Sciences devoted wholly to field Nat-
ure-Study.
Where the New Park is located. The Alleghany River flowing
from Pennsylvania enters our State, and making a gigantic
bow through the mountains of Cattaraugus Co., sweeps back
into the Keystone State again looping within its 50 odd miles of
valley the wonderfully picturesque highlands that forms the
New State Park domain. At least, when the Park Commission
has completed its work of extending the present nucleus, the entire
65,000 acres bounded by the Alleghany river on the east, north
349
350 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
and west and by the Pennsylvania State line on the south will
be the playground of Western New York and the Nature-Study
Paradise of which this article treats. The territory is wholly
mountainous in character; the Alleghany Valley being 1390 feet
above sea level is not included, owing to the fact that at present
most of it is comprehended as the Alleghany Indian Reservation
and consequently cannot be touched, but the Park area with its
more elevated valleys, and richly forest-clad mountains, can well
do without the valley of the river, for within it are scenic beauties
comparable to much of the Adirondacks and the far famed Cat-
skills in the East. The peaks often reach an elevation of 2500
or 2600 feet and the valleys extending from east to west contain
clear, stony mountain brooks that in the vernacular of the region
are called runs. Thus we have Quaker Run, Stony Run, Coon
Run and m.any other fine trout streams that are equal to any
that the writer has seen, and these gurgle their musical way
through gorge, hollow and broad valley to empty their limpid
waters into the turbid and black currents of the Alleghany.
Five or six miles from the broad black river up the beautiful
Quaker Run Valley, the Roosevelt Field Club Camp of the Buf-
falo Society of Natural Sciences was established. The Camp
site was ideal, being situated, as it was, in a grove of young
deciduous trees on the banks of Quaker Run with noble Mount
Seneca towering above and protecting it to the north. The
Camp was a model institution large enough to accommodate
100 campers at a period. It was opened on Aug. 1st and ran
for 5 weeks filled to capacity by young and old Nature Students
alike, to the closing date. The writer was in charge of the field
work at the camp.
Why the New State Park is a Nature-Study Paradise. In age,
the region is mainly upper Devonian although the early Carbanif-
erous is represented on some of the loftier peaks. Geology,
then, played an important role in the field studies undertaken
by the visiting students. In some fine outcropping ledges fossils,
mainly Devonian, were found in abundance. Brachiapods and
Crinoids created great interest among the students, owing to
their fine state of preservation and extraordinary numbers. The
Olsan Conglomerate, most beautiful of all the conglomerates,
owing to the abundance and beauty of the pebbles found in it.
ALEXANDER
NATURE-STUDY PARADISE
351
forms ledges on several of the mountains, and on Mount Onondaga
two small caves have been located formed by the splitting and
toppling -of gigantic fragments of this rock. Originally the
mountains of the present Park domain were covered by an ahnost
pure stand of giant hemlocks. Some 30 or 40 years ago this
virgin forest was wholly destroyed, the timber being cut for
tan bark chiefly. The mountains today are reclothed by second-
growth deciduous trees of which the hard woods are most in
evidence. Hard Maple, Yellow Birch, Shagbark Hickory,
Pignut, Chestnut, Beech and Hophombeam are the predominat-
ing species. The Conifers are but sparsely represented, White
Pine and Hemlock being the only kinds noted by the writer.
Am. Yew is quite abundant in most parts of the park area. There
is a curious overlapping of the Canadian and Austral floras and
faunas in the Alleghan^^
State Park, making the
area more interesting in
many ways.
Among the more beau-
tiful trees that are com-
mon here but reach their
maximimi development
south of New York, are
the Cucimaber and TuHp.
These are found on all
the mountains, but the
oaks are few in number.
White, Red and Chest-
nut being the only kinds
found. Sassafras and
Sourgum also And a place
in the park and here and
there one finds excellent
specimens of the rather
unusual Black Maple.
Of the shrubs Mountain
Laurel, L c a t h e r w o o d,
Moosewood and Moun-
,. . • tain Maple arc al)un-
Mr. Alexander with some lively specimens „ 1 1 1 1 1 1
for Nature-Study classes. dant. Hobble bush and
352 NA TURK-STUDY REVIEW
the Alternate-leaf Dogwood sparingly represent the Viburnums
and Dogwoods although the writer discovered a single plant of
Flowering Dogwood and the tiny Cornel known as Bunch-berry
is quite a typical plant of the new Park flora. Of the plants
growing in the Alleghany Park region 25 species of ferns, 5 club
mosses, 17 true mosses, 325 flowering plants and 187 species of
fungi were listed. It should be remembered that this list in-
cludes hardly any of the spring species and when these are added
the catalogue will be materially increased.
Twenty-one species of fish occupy the waters of the park streams
proper; of these three species are trout, the Brook, Rainbow,
Brown. The new domain will prove a bird paradise, it is felt, for
102 species were listed during the first brief season of the new
playgrotind's existence. Two pairs of bald eagles were seen, and
it is highly probable that this great bird nests within the terri-
tory of the Park. It is also worthy of note that the Hermit
Thrush is the common thrush of the region. Five species of harm-
less snakes were taken, the Ringneck, Red Belly, Garter, Milk
and Water being rather common. Unfortunately the Tim-
ber Rattler is also a denizen of one Valley at least, a fine
four foot specimen having been killed in Wolf Run about the
middle of August. The mammals of the Park, however, made
Nature Study a genuine pleasure. Black bear abounds. The
two small caves already mentioned in this article were discovered
to be regular winter dens, excrement to the depth of a foot having
been found in each. Bear tracks were disclosed on every field
trip, often palpably fresh and these never failed to awaken keen
interest in the nature students. Deer tracks and fresh evidence
of browsing were also frequently seen. Fox dens were of frequent
occurrence in all parts of the Park. The most common larger
mammal that was actually seen was the Porcupine; it is thicker
than the proverbial Spatterdock in the Alleghany State Park,
and several of these grotesque animals could be seen most any
evening on an old hemlock bridge not far from camp, a structure
that they were bent on wrecking with their powerful gnawing
teeth. Raccoon, Woodchuck, Snowshoe Rabbit, Cottontail,
Skunk, Redback and Deer Mice, Red Squirrel and Chipmunk
as well as Little Brown and Red Bats were regular denizens of the
Park and numerous. Weasel and Mink were also reported but
ALEXANDER
NATURE-STUDY PARADISE
353
the Gray Squirrel was conspicuous by its absence. Chipmunks
and Deer Mice swarmed i^i the camp and of the latter several
litters were bom in the tents of the campers during the camping
season. All of this afforded great opportunity for intensive
Nature Study and such occasions were made the best of by all
concerned.
It is to be hoped that next season that many more nature lovers
will avail themselves of this splendid New Park and enjoy the
experience that so many had this past season, that of being
thrilM by finding here in Southwestern New York a mountain-
ous region comparable to the much vaunted Adirondacks. It is
wholly accessible by railroad or by automobile; one has but to
travel to Salamanca and from that point either by train or auto,
a ride of a dozen miles through the picturesque Reservation of
the Seneca Indians will take the visitor to Quaker Bridge on the
Alleghany River which is the gateway to the new State Park.
The visitor wishing to camp in the Park will find August an
ideal month in which to enjoy the open life of the forest. The
days are pleasantly warm, never oppressive, however, and the
nights are cool and refreshing; in fact the entire region is aston-
ishingly salubrious and invigorating. There are no m.osquitoes
or biting fiies to fight, there being few places in which these pests
can breed in the entire region. Campers will appreciate the lack
-r :■ '■ ■ ■ ,,^
■■ "■■-inMiiinifT -
«^«;l; ,.*'
WB^kMT:m^t^m
, ., Jfe
fe^MliK^^. ...... ,
^i^ifh^l^ ,-•
jSM^MBB|^^^y ^Zf^B^^HK
HPPPIHH^ m- '
Wll^gmLfJ^' ^' '^ '■-
^ML^lM^I^E^Sii^M^ < Z^^^IBIn
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im. .
^^KS^' . {^^ C- •:
-jT.^
:^i
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Pholo by \V. P. Alexander
Studying the denizens of the stream.
354 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
of insect attention that is conspicuous during the season in which
the Park is open, at any rate, and this is but one feature that
goes to make the place a paradise for nature lovers. Those
wishing further information on the subject should write the
Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, Public Library Building.
Buffalo. New York.
Prairie Dogs
Alice M. Phipps,
Buffalo, N.Y.
The Cynomys were first called Prairie Dogs by the early French
explorers and trappers in the West although they are not dogs
but rather typical rodents. The name was doubtless given them
because of their cheerful, puppy-like actions. While their cry
could hardly be called barking, it is more like the short, quick,
yet weak-toned barking or yelping of very young puppies. They
are quick, and somewhat petulant, and seem full of sport, business
and public affairs. The prairie dog is bright and vivacious,
showing a hearty enjoyment of life, and is probably the most
cheerful object of the western plains. Washington Irving says,
however, that when hard pressed they assume a look of impotent
wrath and defiance. They were also called "Barking Squirrel"
by Lewis and Clark, who were the first to give a detailed descrip-
tion of the little animals.
They are from fourteen to seventeen inches in length and
weigh from one and a half to over three pounds. They are brown
in color and have a very short, flat tail about two inches long.
They are robust little creatures with very strong limbs and claws.
Homaday says of one, "His legs are so short that when he is
running along he looks as though he were on casters, and his
short, black bordered tail seems at first to be a mere after-
thought."
Although there are five species they are divided into two groups.
The most widely distributed and best known group has its tail
tipped with black, while the tails of the other group are tipped
with white. They can be distinguished from the ground squirrels
by their larger size, and shorter tail and from the gray gophers
of the Canadian plains by their slightly larger size, distinctly
brownish color and very short black-tipped tail.
356 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
Prairie dogs are found exclusively in the interior of North
America, not only on the treeless western plains and valleys from
North Dakota and Montana to Texas but also extending west
across the Rocky Mountains to Utah and Arizona and southward
into Mexico. Their vertical range is from 2000 feet on the plains
to above 10,000 feet in the mountainous parts of Colorado and
Arizona.
Their gregarious instinct is very strong and their "towns"
may be found scattered all over the districts named. These
"towns" are of every size, containing from a few individuals to
millions in one "town" or colony, which ntimber into the htmdreds
of millions. Towns twenty to thirty miles long are not rare.
Probably the largest colony of all is in Texas and covers 2500
square miles.
These little animals are early risers, and the well-beaten tracks
like lanes and streets thru the towns, are frequently used in
making early morning calls on their neighbors. There is little
grass or vegetation in the "towns." This is probably for pro-
tection but is exceedingly injurious to cattle ranges. When
the town becomes over-crowded the citizens wander many miles
away to start a new colony.
They are very easy to introduce but hard to exterminate. The
only way to keep them within bounds in zoological parks is to
build walls of solid masonry down to bed rock.
Their burrows are from four to five inches in diameter and are
located on fiat or gently sloping ground. They descend abruptly
from eight to sixteen feet and then turn at a sharp angle and
extend horizontally from ten to twenty-five feet. There are
several branches from the main channel which usually end in
rounded nests, family rooms, or storage chambers for fodder
or refuse, altho they sometimes return to the main passageway
or form a second entrance at some distance from the first. A
little niche about five feet below the surface and at one side
of the entrance tube provides a convenient resting place when
they are forced to flee from danger. Here they stop and bark
until notified that the danger is past or are warned to retreat
further in to their burrows.
The black tailed prairie dogs, which are more numerous on
the plains, pack the soil which they have dug from their burrows
358 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
around the mouth of the opening in a crater shaped pyramid,
which is made finn by a great amount of tramping and pressing
with their noses. It is often from one to two feet high and three
or four feet in diameter, and serves not only as a dyke to keep
out the water but also as an observation tower where the owner
can sit and watch for the enemy or sprawl out and bask in the
sunlight. The white tailed prairie dogs pile the dirt in a great
mound on one side of the entrance.
Only one family of from four to six young are raised during
a season and when about half grown they scatter and prepare
burrows of their own. In fact, in spite of the gregarious habits
of the prairie dog, it is seldom that there is more than one occupant
to a burrow.
They hibernate during the most severe weather. In the south
the hibernation is irregular and may last for only a few days,
while in cold climates they sleep five or six months.
Burrowing owls often live and breed in deserted dog holes but
never when the dogs are present as many people believe.
The prairie dog's food is mostly grass and herbage, including
clover, lettuce, celery tops, carrots, potatoes, apples and the
stems and roots of gramagrass as well as any native fruits.
It also eats grasshoppers, but is very destructive to grain,
alfalfa, and other cultivated crops, as well as converting fertile
grass covered cattle ranges into dreary wastes by cutting irrigation
canals across them, with great loss to the cattle owners. It is
said that 2500 prairie dogs eat as much as a cow, and the pasture
consumed by the large colony in Texas would support over 1,500,-
000 cattle.
There is a common belief that their burrows go down to water
but, as water is practically inaccessible in many of the regions
which they inhabit, this cannot be true. Like many rodents,
however, they have the ability by chemical action in the stomach
to transform starchy food in the stomach into water. They do
not, therefore, require water.
They have many enemies in the fox, coyote, wild cat, eagle,
hawk and especially the rattle-snake and other serpents. It is
claimed that when a snake glides into a burrow the owner gives
a special kind of bark and immediately all his neighbors come
and fill up the hole with dirt, packing it hard and burying the
PHipps PRAIRIE DOGS 359
snake alive. Badgers and blackfooted ferrets, however, are
their worst enemies as they can easily dig up a burrow and capture
the occupants. It is even said that the Navajo and Pueblo
Indians are extremely fond of them and in times of heavy rains
capture them by directing the rush of water into their holes.
Since their plump little bodies make such good food for their
enemies, it is necessary for them to keep continually on the look-
out for their foes. This is done by sentinels sitting at full height
on the watch tower. At the slightest sign of danger he begins
a sharp bark which seems to say "Skip! Skip! Skip'," at
which signal all the other prairie dogs rush for their homes,
barking, and vibrating their tails, ready to disappear in their
wholes if necessary but, as they are very inquisitive, usually waiting
for a second alarm signal, or, if they have disappeared, returning
in a short time for another look.
Owing to the practical extermination of many of his natural
enemies and the increase in his food supply due to the cultivation
of large tracts of land, civilization has been of great help to
this little rodent and he is fast becoming a national pest. Both
the Federal government and the local authorities are trying
various methods of relief but are almost helpless. One of the
most successful methods is the placing of a spoonfull of poisoned
wheat in the mouth of each burrow. However, the campaign
of extermination is on and they will doubtless soon disappear
from much of their present range.
YARROW
Robert Sparks Walker
Dear Friends :-
To me it seems an awful shame, My many grayish, white, small flow rs,
That I'm called a weed by name; In flat- top clusters catch the show'rs;
Now as I scatter my ripe seeds, My rays of white or crimson pink,
I join the ranks of other weeds. Are rich enough to make you think,
My feath'ry leaves are much ad- To call me e'er a flower dear,
mired, And when you see my blooms appear,
Their perfume sweet is oft desired; And say "a weed" I'll think you narrow.
My stem from one to two feet high, I am
Is covered with soft hairs awry. Your floral friend,
A. Yarrow.
36o NA TU RE-STUDY REVIEW
Australia's Remarkable Lizard
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt
Washington, D. C.
There are a great many extraordinary lizards in the world's
fauna, and nearly every country is inhabited by one or two of
them. We here in the United States — at least those who have
any knowledge of the species — are of the opinion that few forms
in this group can vie with our own Heloderma, or with the Homed
Lizards, erroneously designated by many as "Homed Toads."
Should we journey to Australia, however, we would come across
lizards there that easily take the palm as being among the most
curio\is of any lacertilians known to naturalists. Without attempt-
ing to enumerate the various species of these — there are altogether
too many for that — attention is here invited to the far-famed
Moloch lizard of the family Molochwoe.
A few months ago, Mr. Dudley Le Souef, Director of the Zoo-
logical Gardens of Melbourne, Australia, sent me an unusually
fine specimen of one of these curious animals, which are very
rarely seen in this country. Shortly after receiving this accept-
able gift, I made a life-size photograph of it, a reproduction of
which illustrates the present account.
In Australia this lizard is called the York or Mountain Devil,
while science long ago placed it in the Agama family as Moloch
horrtdus, the specific name having been bestowed upon it on
account of its "repulsive" appearance. The animal is, however,
entirely harmless and inofiensive. These Molochs belong in
the fauna of Central and Western Australia; they rarely exceed
seven inches in length, the one at hand measuring a trifle over
six inches. It will be noted that the Moloch has a very small
head, with minute eyes and miouth. The bcdy is of a rich tan
color or even darker, with certain symmetrical dark brown areas,
em.arginated with white, on the bcdy and limbs. These characters
sink into insignificance, however, when we come to note the
remarkable array of spines of various sizes that cover all parts
of its bcdy— head, limbs, and tail. These spines resemble the
largest thorns of a rose-bush, only they are not curved. Re-
gardless of locality, they vary in size, and they are as sharply
pointed as the sharpest of needles. There is a curved one over
The Moloch
either eye on the fore-part of the forehead, and one on either
side of a curious median tumor on the back of the neck. While
perfectly harmless in every respect, this lizard must be picked
up with great care, or else a number of little wounds, like these
inflicted by a bramble-briar, will at once be rcccnved.
362 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
In nature the Moloch is slow of movement, physically feeble
and low of stature ; doubtless it would long ago have been extermi-
nated had it not been for its defensive armor of spines and prickles.
Its upper teeth are directed in a horizontal plane inward;
but for what reason it is difficult to conjecture, as the Moloch
subsists entirely upon ants, of which it will eat from 1000 to 1500
at a single meal. Those who are familiar with these proclivities
often, where ants are very troublesome keep a number of these
lizards about to exterminate them, or at least to greatly reduce
their numbers. The ant upon which the Moloch usually feeds
is the tiny black one with the offensive odor, which is such a pest
in the country houses of the country where it is found.
Australia also has a most interesting Water Lizard that gets
up on its hind legs and runs with marvelous rapidity. Another
of its wonders in this line is the Bearded Lizard, known among
the colonists as the "Australian Jew," possibly on account of its
having a beard. Still other extraordinary representatives of this
group in that most wonderful country are the Stump-tailed
Lizards, the Spine-tailed Lizards, and the great Cyclodus or
Blue-tongued Lizard, which has a large, flat tongue of a brilliantly
blue color.
NEWS NOTES
Professor and Mrs. Liberty Hyde Bailey and their daughter, Miss Ethel,
have again set sail for Southern Seas to gain a closer acquaintance with the
flora of the West Indian Islands. They expect to explore The Barbadoes and
hope to visit other islands and perhaps the South American mainland. They
do not expect to return before April or May.
The Nature Lore School for Camp Councilors is to be held the last week of
June at Camp Chequasset at Wellfleet on Cape Cod. Those wishing to at-
tend should write to Professor W. G. Vinal, State College of Education,
Providence, R. I.
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 363
A Nature-Study Project for the Grades and
High-School
H. Clark Brown
Charles City, Iowa
No sane person of to-day would claim that the introduction
of Nature Study into the school curriculum has been a wrong
movement. Yet it seems to me that Nature Study as such is
flat. What good does it do a child to know the niimber of suc-
cessive moults of any given species of insect if the mathematical
calculation is the extent of his use of that knowledge? Nature
Study is following the beaten paths of traditional subjects and is
most certainly going in the way of its own ruin. A Nature
Study background is not merely a good thing for a child to have
acquired in the schools, but it is quite essential, I believe, if he is
to understand his environment, his social obligations, his instincts,
his emotions, his play and his work. But as soon as Nature Study
does not succeed in bringing forth these values, it fails in its
most vital significance. Literature has failed and is failing
in retaining the children's interest m.erely because there is no
connection with life, with necessity, with humanity. It is time
that we got away from that old standard of English teaching
and that we adopted a more real, more valuable sort of method
for teaching literature. One method whereby we can break
away from the old rut of conservative English teaching, is in
insisting upon American literature in our schools. A country
which does not teach its own literature is not worthy of lia\'ing
a literature which it might teach. We may help increase interest
in our literature by fostering it first and above all others. Tlie
child may get the world literature, later. He can understand
American literature because it came from the same conditions
from which he came. He knows that literature because ]ic knows
that life which it portrays. There is a certain deliglitful i)loasurc
when one happens upon something which he already has thought
about or seen. To have an author exi)ress your inexi)rcssed
motive gives one a sense of familiarity, wliich is ver>- i)loasing.
And the child in his world is much quicker to take u]) rescmblnnces
and ideas of this sort than we are usually ready to acknowledge.
364 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
I would not put any more material into the hands of the school.
We have too much there as it is. I would not suggest the following
program as an extra. It is an attempt to coordinate to a certain
extent the work in the departments of English, Art, and Music.
And all of this is to be woven into and to be shown a part of the
fabric which is known as human life. That is, Nature is studied
as the background, the setting of the human stage. The present
plan then is a union of the nature work with the literature. That
is, the nature aspect of the American Literature has been empha-
sized.
Of course any such suggestion as this is in need of very great
and careful revision to suit the needs of the individual class and
time and locality. There is no sense of finality about the in-
clusions in any grade, as the outline is here given.
The advantages of such a project to the course in literature
are that Nature is shown to be a part of life and literature. It is
the background of the literary stage. Art is taught to be resident
in the least labelled thing. Life is a succession of tableaus, of
character sketches, of the man's soul expression in a landscape or
a dwelling place.
Unless the teacher knows music, drama, sculpture, painting,
and poetry quite as well as he knows his prose biography and prose
tales, he is not prepared to carry out such a program as here
represented. In selecting art and musical illustrations I have
seldom chosen great masterpieces. The masterpieces of music
would be beyond most of the students, and the masterpieces of
sculpture and painting seemed to me to be too far removed often,
rom the particular interests of the student. Therefore, I have
often taken little things of minor worth which seemed to me to
be more like the poetry of James Whitcomb Riley, nearer to the
heart,, than many another more elaborate, and less loved thing.
The American product has come first in our selection of literature,
and always first when possible in both music and art. However,
more often the exact illustration seemed so perfect when chosen
from another land, as in Millet's, "Sower," etc., that I could
not Americanize my subordinate groups.
A word might be said concerning the class room which would be
required for such a project as this. An ideal classroom would be
well lighted, would have one portion screened off for an aviary.
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 365
fountain, gold-fish pond, and conservatory. All of this should
be so that it could be screened from the pupils entirely if the
instructor so desired. However, the screening would defeat
many purposes of the course. Then, in one corner of the room
would be a piano. The walls of the room would want a ntimber
of good prints of pictures which were of greatest interest in the
study. There should also be much in the way of framed portraits
of the great dreamers whom the class studies. I think it a good
plan to have an easel in front of the room where a frame is always
ready to retain a picture as long as needed for study by the class.
Authors may be celebrated on their birthdays by appearing
in this constantly changing easel frame. This celebration of
birthdays will work in especially well in the Biography project
of the fifth grade.
The program suggested for the twelve school years follows:
Grade One
Show the child in this grade the relation of the out-of-doors to
himself. That is, teach simple stories about the naming of the
flowers and birds. The story of the Robin's red breast, the
old woman being turned into a red-headed woodpecker, etc.
All of these simple tales will fascinate the children. Always
have many pictures of birds and beasts which are studied, around
the room. Make use of Mother Goose rhymes of such stories
as that one about the old woman who lost her sixpence. Bring
in nonsense jingles and lullabies. Few writers will be found
more valuable to the children of this age than Eugene Field and
Robert Louis Stevenson. The former in his "Love Songs of
Childhood," and many another book of verse will be found to
suit this age. The latter in his "Child's Garden of Verse" has
constructed a child's world which can not be equalled in my
estimation by any other sort of teaching material which can be
found in the whole realm of literature. The human rclationsliip
of the boy to his nurse as shown in the dedication, and then the
freedom and joy which comes from swinging so high that tlie
boy gets a glimpse beyond the garden wall, seeing "rivers and
trees and cattle and all," this is a thing which most cliildren
have experienced and which they can inten)rct.
366 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
From Field's "Love Songs of Childhood," the following seem
to me to possess the greatest values for the first grade pupils:
1. "The Night Wind."
2. "Picnic Time."
3. "Swing High and Swing Low."
4. "The Brook."
Use the fourth of these, which is a lullaby, with such songs as
the "Cradle Song" from Brahms, or the similar one from Schubert.
The song " Sweet and Low" might be introduced at this time. Not
for the children to sing, but for them to interpret and come to love.
The group singing wants to be stressed, of course, but that more
in connection with such things as "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary,"
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," etc.
Much interesting material can be found for the first grade
teaching. Every now and then one will come across little verses
which do not seem to be great, yet which have a simple loveliness
about them which makes them very well worth while for teaching
material. Edwin Markham's, "Little Virgil's Window," is
such a four-lined verse as could be understood and interpreted by
the first grade children. Let them have many flowers about
them. The teacher should bring them in from the woods and
gardens as often as possible, and discuss them, with the children.
Let them know the superstitions about some of the flowers.
Let them see the little man with his feet in a tub which the violet
shows.
Second Grade
We pass from Mother Goose and childhood jingles to folk-lore.
I think that it is desirable that the children be introduced through
the teacher to the folk-lore of our country. The negro stories,
the Indian and then from them, some of the old-world tales can
be brought in. The stories of St. Nicholas are good m-aterial.
Let the children see how stories about animals talking might
arise, how im.possible stories about a man are built up. The
origin of such literature may illustrate the need of discriminating
in acceptance of much which is mere legend. The children should
become acquainted with the animals and birds of their own
locality. The Mimiford colored bird plates can be hung around
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 367
the room, and the children might be encouraged to copy some
of them in colors. They will enjoy drawing and coloring some.
The teacher can have printed outlines ready, such as the Audubon
societies and the Comstock Publishing Co. furnish, and thus
reduce accuracy of the student to merely the color observation.
Let the students make up stories of their own about what a bird
which they have come to know might say to another, or about
how the turkey got his gobble, or the bluebird his russet breast.
Let them retell some of the stories read by the teacher. Most
of the literature will have to be read by the teacher. This of
course involves a regular and definite reading program to be
carried out, entirely separate from the Nature-project work.
That is, there is need for a student reading program here, but
I have not found any folk-tales which are simple enough for the
need.
As background reading, I should have in the classroom such
books as Olive Thome Miller's, "First and Second Books of Birds,"
and her "Queer Pets at Marcy's."
Then, for folk-tale literature to be read by the teacher, I should
suggest Indian myths from any tribe which lived in the locality
of the teaching, and, from Joel Chandler Harris, selection could
be made from any of the following:
"Uncle Remus and His Friends."
"On the Plantation."
"Mr. Rabbit at Home."
"Told by Uncle Remus."
Third Grade
For the third grade, I should develop with great care what I
call the Nature Calendar. This can be arranged by the teacher
and should contain only material which seems to her to be very
good illustrative and accurate descriptions of the out-of-door
world. Nothing sentimental, nothing having much ideal sugges-
tion, nothing morbid should come into this year's work. Tlio
idea is simply to have within the year a calendar of verses wJiicJi
shall chronicle the changing seasons. Let the students koc])
notebooks and copy from the board from time to time tlie verses
of songs or poems. Many of the loveliest little ])oems have
368 NA TU RE-STUDY REVIEW
been set to music. In such a case, use the music always, but be
certain that the poem means something as a poem first. Of
course a copy of the poem if placed in the children's hands at
a time of study will prove a great time saver, but I believe that
only copying from the board will bring out the fullest response
from the children. There is always danger in such a program
as I am about to set forth that it will be taken too seriously.
I should not wish this followed throughout for any one of the
grades. But as a suggestion of the sort of calendar which one
might construct, I have filled in, partially, a calendar for the
third grade. Of course it is very imcomplete, but it will suggest
the sort of thing which I would carry forth. The year if it would
mean anything at all to children, should be a celebration of great
days. Children often reckon time from Thanksgiving to Christ-
mas, etc. The main idea of this year's work then, is to give
to the children some interpretations of the days which go to make
up a year's calendar. Interpretations in terms which they may
understand, so that the days of that and of other years will bring
back memories and recollections which shall make the days more
wonderful in spirit, more lovely in the thought element which
compose them. The school year is divided in such a way as to
render impossible the study of patriotic motives at the Fourth
of July when they should be studied. However, I have put
that motive in the calendar in the year schedule rather than the
school program. Tie thing can be carried out by studying as
the very last thing in June, the patriotic motive.
New Year's Poem and Stones.
Lowell — ^A New Year's Greeting.
New Year's Eve, 1850.
General Background.
Riley—A Child's World.
Morning — (Illustrate with Inness — Early Morning, Tar-
pon Springs.) Story and picture of Aurora,
and Michael Angelo's figure of Dawn.
February 12.
Song— "The Little Log Cabin."
Tributes to Lincoln. Story of "A Perfect Tribute" — Mary
S. Andrews Stories of Lincoln's boyhood, especially those
which deal with the himianity of the boy. The pig story,
the turtle, etc.
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 369
February 14.
Valentine verses. Origin of the day. Story of the Saint.
February 22.
Song — ^" Where Potomac's Stream is Flowing."
Tributes to Washington, incidents of early life, etc.
February 27 .
Story of Longfellow's love for children. Account of children
passing his place at the time of his death. The chair gift, etc.
March 17.
Story of the Exotic. St. Patrick's life and some of the best
legends.
Songs — Oh Paddy Dear.
St. Patrick Was a Gentlemen.
Wearing of the Green.
Spring Motive.
Field— The Robin and the Violet.
Riley — Green Fields and Running Brooks.
Markham, E. — ^Joy of the Morning. (Illustrate with Breton's
Song of the Lark.)
All of these themes can be used in coordination with the following
in art:
Metcalf — Ice-Bound. (Painting.)
Rousseau — Spring. (Painting.)
Bringhurst, Robert, Awakening Spring. (Sculpture.)
For music — Beethoven's Minuet in G will give something of the
joy and easy lilt of the season. Songs of wakening flowers and
bird songs may be used. "Pussy Willow Has a Secret" is typical.
This is kite time and the kite literature should be made a day's
study. Such interest in the things which are being done at that
time by the children will prove valuable. Adapt the story of
the old settler from Carleton and the quatrain giving the lesson
will be clear,
"Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds,
We can't do that when we are flying words," etc.
May.
Story of the May-pole.
Irving — May Day Customs — and May Day From "Brace-
bridge Hall."
Mother's Day suggestion. Use some favorite poem of the
370 NA TU RE-STUDY RE VIEW
teacher concerning Mother. Illustrate with Whistler's * * Mother. ' '
Bird Motive.
Sharp — Spring of the Year.
Van Dyke — Bird Poems. (Select especially those which imitate
in words the song and rhythm of the bird's notes.) Use Victor
bird records in connection with this study. Encourage repetition
of bird calls on part of students. Hold guessing contests of calls
in which the teacher does the imitation. Give these contests
not alone for notes, but for quality of tone, and for rhythms.
That is, let the woodpecker's various drums and tatoos be used.
For spontaneity and rhythm and joy use with the songs such
sculptural illustrations as Troubetzkoy's Danseuse. Alexander
Wilson's bird poems can be used to good advantage here.
Lanier — The Mockingbird.
Abbott, C. C. — Blunders in Nest Building.
— My Elm Tree Oriole. From Birdland Echoes.
— A Morning in May.
Plant Motive.
Arbor Day.
Meaning and History. (Let the class actually share in the
meaning, and plant a tree.)
Carry^ over the bird element throughout the spring, making
use of Grinnell's, Our Feathered Friends, and Birds of Song
and Story. Use Bryant's nature poems with great care. Look
out for the moral. There is plenty of time for that in future time.
The Planting of the Apple Tree — Bryant and
Robert of Lincoln — Bryant, seem to me to be good illustrations
of points which the students can understand and appreciate if
rightly taught, at this time. The Goodales, both Elaine and
Dora Reed, have written some delightful seasonal verses for
children about this age. The poem, "Apple Blossoms," which
is found in their collection of verses, is good as an example of the
sort of material which the teacher of this plan wants to be on
the watch for in building up the plant phase of this work. The
Carey Sisters have done much in the way of nature poetry. A
great deal can be got from them for all of the year's work. Helen
Hunt Jackson has also written many very splendid nature verses.
Eugene Field, in "Lullaby Land," can be used here with such
poems as "Buttercup, Poppy, Forget-me-not," and "Telling the
Bees."
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 371
This brings us to the June program.
Summer Motive.
Insect life
Emerson — Humble-B ee
Field— The Oak and the Ivy.
— The Mouse and the Moonbeam.
—Frost,Robert— Blueberries.
Irving — The Angler.
Whittier— The Barefoot Boy.
Markham— The Butterfly
—The Cricket
Larcom, Lucy — Rock and Rill.
— In the Rain.
— Nature the Book and other nature verses.
Emerson — Holidays
Illustrate all of the summer motive with such works as:
Inness — ^After a Summer Shower. (Use legend of pot of gold.)
Corot — Summer Woods. (For dreaminess and nymphs.)
MacDowell — To a Wild Rose. (For pure idyllic purpose.)
Patriotic Motive.
Holmes — Old Ironsides.
Whittier — Barbara Frietchie.
Ballads. Develop the idea of the ballad, its origin and value.
Illustrate with group singing.
Yankee Doodle and the earlier natonal songs can be shown as
coming from the ballad form.
Use any simple, easily understood flag or histrionic poem or
prose bit.
Fall Work.
I think that as an introduction to the fall work, a few days
spent with birds and pets would be interesting That is, lead
up to an interest in birds through an interest in pets. Black
Beauty will well illustrate the sort of side reading story which
boys will like. Again, Muir's "Stickeen" will be well studied
in this place. Bring out the heroism of animals. The endurance,
the strength, the nobility of some animal characters can be em-
phasized. Stickeen should be studied in class.
Next, the following course could be followed:
Whittier— The Huskers.
372 NA TU RE-STUDY REVIEW
Frost — ^After A^^ple Picking.
Riley — ^"When the Frost is on the Pumpkins."
Larcom — The Indian Summer.
Abbott — ^An October Outing.
Halloween songs and ghost stories may be brought in.
For painting, I should use such as
Inness — ^Autumn Woods.
Van Marcke — Golden Autumn Day
and some works of Monet.
Thanksgiving Motive.
Bowell— The First Snowfall.
Bryant — The Twenty-Second of December.
Hemans — Landing of the Pilgrims.
Warner — Snowfall in the Woods.
Field—Ezra's Thanksgivin' Out West. (In Profitable Tales)
Larcom — ^Watching the Snow.
Seton — Thanksgiving and the Yule-Log. (Country Life 19:37)
Longfellow — Woods in Winter.
Emerson — The Snow-Storm.
Kilmer — Thanksgiving.
— The Snowman.
A special program should be held at which students might present
some of the results of their work on this motive. At such, a
play might well be presented in which the various Piu^itan charac-
ters would enter. Or, the play might be allegorical and introduce
the Thanksgiving turkey, cranberry sauce, etc. There are all
manner of great possibilities here.
Christmas Motive.
This should be the most emphasized of all the year's projects.
The legends of St. Nicholas, the stories of Christmases of other
lands, and the miracle legends about the birth of Jesus with the
other birth stories can be used. Such material can be supplemented
with the following:
Clark — '' *Twas the night Before Christmas."
Christmas Carols of all sorts (Longfellow — Christmas Bells
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Silent Night, etc.)
Field— The First Christmas Tree. (In Profitable Tales)
Longfellow — The Arrow and the Song. (To illustrate the
meaning of the carol, At Christmas Time.)
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 373
Abbott — Christmas Out of Doors.
Irving — Christmas in England. (Sketch-Book.)
— Christmas Day.
— Christmas Eve.
Poe— Bells.
Van Dyke— The Other Wise Man.
The Fourth Grade
I should divide the work of the fourth grade into the four
major divisions of Nature work, Legend, Conservation and
Patriotism. The first would have three distinct minor topics,
and these would play into and between the other divisions. The
program as outlined, therefore, would be much as follows:
I should open the work of the term with a few days discussion
of pets. Children enjoy telling about their pets. They will
often go into quite detail about them, and they thoroughly under-
stand a person who can enthuse over a new rabbit or white rat,
or, on a larger scale, a pony, or a horse. I think that in our school
work we have neglected this interest whereas w^e might well
indeed, have turned it to good account. I should have the teacher
or the pupils read the story by Sydney Lanier, "Our Mockingbird."
This would lead to stories by the children of birds which they
have had. Again, John Burrough's "Squirrels and Other Fur
Bearers" might well be read. And certainly no more charming
account of pets can be found anyw^here than in Marshall Saunders's
volume entitled, "Our Pets." Use as illustrative art material
for this part of the work, such things as Rude's, "Neapolitan
Fisher Boy Playing with a Tortoise," Landseer's, "Saved"
and Troubetzky's, "Little Girl and Dog."
This essay into the pet world will have afforded a good intro-
duction to the sort of work which I plan to follow it with. The
next phase of fourth grade work I have termed Animal Biography.
The former introductory work will have been mostly in telling
things, and in writing. The students may have written stories
on such subjects as "My Favorite Pet," "My most beautiful
pet," "My most troublesome pet," etc. Now we turn to a reading
phase. There need be Httle written work in connection with
animal biographies, but a great mass of reading. As a background
374 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
for this work, such a book as Homaday's, "American Natural
History," should be in the room for reference. The material
chosen for the reading work, will be from such a list as the following :
Hawkes, Clarence — Black Bruin.
— Shaggy coat.
— Shovelhoms.
— King of the Thundering Herd, etc.
Roberts, Charles G. D. — Haunters of the Silences (and other
works).
Seton, Ernest Thompson — Biography of a Grizzly.
— Biography of a Silver Fox,
— Further Annals of a Hollow Tree.
(Country Life 22:64)
(Excellent material to encourage observation and stories upon
a favorite tree and its inhabitants of which each pupil will probably
have a choice.)
— Lives of the Hunted.
—Trail of a Sandhill Stag.
— ^Wild Animals I have Known. (Prob-
abl}^ the best specimen of animal and bird biography in our present
day literature.)
In connection with this work the teacher may do well to invent
games. That is, let the children make up animal biographies
in class, giving their contribution aloud, each child adding one
sentence to the story. As soon as anything which is not natural
to the animal is brought in, that child is ruled out. Much in-
terest is shown in keeping close to Nature, so that they can
be among the last few left, as the game draws to a close. Let
the children make miniatures of some such individuals as "Wild
Animals I have Known" or the "Biography of a Silver Fox"
pictures. Then, by use of a home-made stage and magnets,
act out the animal biography before the class. It will make it
very real. Visit zoos if possible, and museums also, for sketching
work, and for habits of the animals discussed.
My next project for the fourth grade is an introduction to the
world of legend. Lay this foundation carefully, and go slowly.
It is very easy to go wrong here. Lead up to the study by intro-
ducing bits of description of foreign countries. Such a thing
as Jackson's, "Bits of Travel" will serve well. Then take Haw-
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 375
thome's "Tanglewood Tales," adapt the stories to the need of
the grade, take his "Fire Worship, "and other bits of exotic de-
scription, weaving all into the foreign background. Then begin
with the Greek and Roman hero and legend material. There
is no need to go into the detail of sculpture which would be in
place here. The ''Wrestlers," the "Discus Thrower," and
many others will illustrate the life and games of the people who
created the myths, as well as illustrating the games in which the
heroes themselves indulged. There is a wealth of material
such as is too great to present in such a broad outline as this.
Everyone knows Greek and Roman sculpture and would have
no difficulty in picking out the things which are most worth
presenting as illustrations of the stories.
Then come back once more from this wonderland, and close
the legend project with a glimpse of what our writers have done
to our little characters of this country. That is, take up the
modification of the folk-tale in the "Legend of vSleepy Hollow,"
"Rip Van Winkle," etc.
The conservation project which I should next include would come
in the Spring. The hero and legendary material will have occupied
the winter months. Then, when the sap begins to mount in the
tree branches, and the flowers waken and the birds come, strike
hard, hard as ever you have done, and then harder still, on the
theme of conservation. Teach this by any method you please,
save the old wishy-washy one of sen tim.en tali ty. The boy doesn't
care whether it is nice to kill a bird or not, but if he can see that
the bird is the farmer's helper, if he can see that the bird is a
living, feeling, thing, then he will not be so wantonh^ cruel. Be
certain to extend the work to the protection of hawks for they
are among our most abused and our m.ost noble of bird helpers.
Good poems always help in the nature work. Markham's. "A
Blossoming Bough" is good in having caught the quick, eager
spirit of Spring. Saintaine's "Picciola'' will make the wonder
of plant life greater. The "Song of the Cardinal" In' Gone
Stratton-Porter teaches bird protection without the usual moral-
istic accompaniment. Let the children make notebooks in wliich
bird poems are kept. Emerson's "The Titmouse." and many
other simple, beautiful things will find place lierc. 'Hie teacher
may do well to use frequently such works as Mat old Baynes,
376 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
"Wild Bird Guests." Interest the children in bird houses. The
manual training department can be brought into coordination
with the other work in this particular.
Next, I should introduce a short discussion of the circus. I
know that this is a long departure from the orthodox method
of doing things, yet much can be learned from the wild animal
side of the circus which is lacking in any other project. Bostock's,
"Training of Wild Animals," brings out the individuality of
animals as few books do. It also emphasizes the animals
treatment of men. Their contempt for certain bad traits in the
human species, etc. Barrie, of our American animal sculptors,
and Bonheur of France in her lion heads. Land seer of England,
and Thorwaldson with his powerful "Wounded Lion," are all
excellent material to draw from. Then, in music, there is a
series of circus pieces, among which I think that the "Snake-
Charmer" is one of the most perfect. Riley's enjoyment of the
circus can be brought in here. Also, other circus poems, such
as Joyce Kilmer's "The Big Top." Carl Hagenbeck's, "Beasts
and Men," is very splendid material for use in this project. It
has the advantage of being autobiographical, and thus leading
up to the next year's work, and also has a distinctly nice, precise
and perfect style.
Then I should close the year with the patriotic appeal as it
comes from such poems as Longfellow's, "Paul Revere's Ride,"
and Emerson's, "Concord Hymn." There is splendid chance
for bringing up history here, and also for the union of art in the
statues of Daniel French, and of St. Gaudens. Their figures
of the men of that period are excellent.
Grade Fi\e
For the fifth grade I have planned a stud}- in biography, and
more especially in autobiography. I feel that the latter should
be emphasized more because it is real, because it comes closer
to the author, and because it tends toward personalities rather
than letters. The list from which choices are to be made, follows
and is, I think, self explanatory.
Abbott, Charles Conrad — ^A Naturalist's Rambles about Home.
(Simple, sauntering, Burroughsesque.)
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 377
Audubon— Life of John James Audubon. (By his wife) Contains
much diary material, and some letters, and is extremely interesting.
John Burroughs "Life of Audubon" could also be used here.
Bryant, Wm. C— A Lifetime. (Poetic account.)
Burroughs—Boyhood Days with John Burroughs (Craftsman—
22:240-52)
Burroughs — ^John Burroughs Life Revealed (Lit. Digest.
48-1441-2)
Clemens — Life on the Mississippi. (Will appeal to the roving
boys of this age.)
Eastman — Indian Boyhood.
Garland — ^A Son of the Middle Border. (Parts to be read
by Teacher.)
Hawkes — Hitting the Dark Trail. (Autobiographical.)
Homaday — Two Years in the Jungle. (Invigorating.) (Will
appeal to those of scientific turn of mind.)
Howells — ^A Boy's Town — (Very picturesque.) Take sections
from this and have students choose a subject sug-
gested here for an account of their own, adapting
it to something in their life of which this reminds them.
Let them write an account of an imaginary trip to
some one of the places studied in one of these bio-
graphies, or let them pretend they are visiting one
of the men whose autobiography they are reading.
Parts of Franklin's "Autobiography" will appeal to
the scientific sort, and also to those who are interested
in the wittiness of the almanacks. Let them describe
the house which would mean most to them if they
were writing an autobiography. Ask which auto-
biography of those read is liked best, and why. Also,
which author they think they come to best know
through the autobiography and why?
Hudson, Wm. H.— Book of a Naturalist (An Englishman Imt
of interest here because he is a contemporary, and l)ecause of his
splendid style.
Larcom, Lucy — ^A New England Girlhood.
Lewis — ^A Journey from Talapsco in Mar>'land to Annapolis.
Apr. 4, 1730. (Worth considering as a ]mccc of trip auto-
biography. Have students attcm])t something of sort
378 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
but in prose of course.)
Longfellow — My Lost Youth.
Lowell — Men, Women and Ghosts — (Hoops and Garden
Games) Shows a bit of childhood recollection. A place
biography.
Mitchell, D. G. — Dream Life. Only short selections to be read
from this by teacher, to show the sort of
thought or dream autobiography, in strict
contrast to the fact of the other authors.
"My Farm of Edgewood" is the same author's
fact autobiography.
Muir — Story of My Boyhood and Youth. (I should make this
quite the most important work in the whole list.)
Porter — Homing with the Birds.
Porter — ^What I have Done with Birds.
Porter — ^Why I wrote A Girl of the Limberlost. (World's
Work 19:125 45)
Porter — Life Story and Ideals of the Bird Woman.
Thoreau — Journals (Portions from only)
Whitman — ^Autobiographis.
The autobiographical themes which will fit into this work will
consist of accounts of a given time, a given occasion, a given
place and a given journey. These will all be illustrated in the
works studied so that the student will know exactly what is wanted.
Biography will become through this method, I think, a living
factor, and literary men will be real humans.
Grade Six
This is a period in which I should develop ideas as such. The
story, the lyric is forgotten, save as it strives as an expression
or mode for carrying the idea. The introduction to this year's
study can be found in Whitman's, "There was a Child Went
Forth." This is a study in the interpretation of the child. It
is the thing which the grade tries to do. It is an attempt to relate
the purely natural, the purely beautiful in art and the out-of-doors
to the life of man. It is the expression then of art and nature
in terms of ideas. One of the cheapest and commonest expressions,
is an interpretation in terms of the practical. Yet even here there
BROWN A NA TU RE-STUDY PROJECT 379
is poetry and beauty. Harwood's, "New Creations in Plant
Life" which deals with the work of Burbank is of great interest
in expressing this relationship.
The first project of this grade then is the relation of literature
to the home, to every day life of the family. This can be studied
from such as the following:
Harlow, Joel — The Hasty Pudding.
Carleton, Will— Farm Ballads
Dunbar — L3rrics of a Lowly Life.
Frost, Robert— North of Boston— (The Code)
Longfellow— The Bridge— The Old Clock on the Stairs— The
Psalm of Life — Birds of Passage — Evangeline.
Whittier — Snowbound .
The value of poetry as a vehicle of fable is seen in Whittier's,
"Double Headed Snake of Newbury," and Emerson's, "Fable."
Prose is served the same purpose, in Hawthorne's, "Twice Told
Tales."
Then follows a series of poems in which there is characterization
by application to the human attitudes or comprehension. Bret
Harte's poems are excellent descriptive, vigorous bits, true to the
out-of-doors. Begin with those in which there is little of the
human element projected. Then continue through Freneau's.
"Wild Honeysuckle," Bryant's, "June", "To the Fringed Gentian"
Lanier's, "The Bee," "Sunrise," "Clover," "The Corn," and
Bayard Taylor's, "Home Pastorals." Then compare the lone-
liness which nature inspired in Bums with the feelings which were
experienced by nature poets of this country. That is, try to
develop the difference in temperaments. Conclude this part of
the study with William A. Quayle's account of "Winter Trees"
in which the human characterization has reached a very high
and remarkable degree.
This leads to a characterization of men. And Lowell's, " Agassiz' '
Markham's, "Lincoln," will well serve here. Of course there
is a great sufficiency of statues to illustrate this work. St. Gaudens's
Lincoln is the most notable for the last poem.
Patriotism then through symbols is easily suggested tlirough
Drake's "The Flag," and Whitman's, " O Captain ! My Ca])tain !"
From this we come to literature in a wider sense, for we are to
consider literature as a mysterious vehicle for tlie convcx-ancc of
380 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
not characterization now, but mood. Poe with his exquisitely
exotic flavor, can be compared with Heam in his melody and
rhythm. The symbolism in "The Raven" is a new use of poetry
as well as a new use of what once was a bird. Many simple,
pretty little songs from Bohm can be introduced in the interpre-
tations of nature as moods. The "Swallow Song," "Dance on the
Lawn," "Leaflets in the Wind," are examples of only several
of many. For prose at this time, bits from Burroughs's, "Wake
Robin," and "Birds and Poets," might be chosen.
From the interpretation of moods, poetry goes to an interpre-
tation of spirit. That is, the mood is an individual possession.
The spirit is the possession of the race. And here we get the
feeling of the eternal youth, the ever-returning Spring, the dawn,
the glory of fresh, new things. The delicate, beautiful music
of Mozart after he had been wandering in a wood often has the
suggestion of the eternal laughing Spring in it. Bring this into the
literary class-room. Bohm's, "La Zongana" has the rapid, eager,
pulsing, strong spirit of this youthfulness of the race. It is not
heavy, but pulsing, and eager. Lowell's, "To The Dandelion,"
is rich in suggestion. It develops the idea of Eldorado. The
story of Spanish conquests with all of its symbolism and allegory
can be brought in here. Also the meaning to the writer (Lowell)
of Italy and of the eternal sunshine.
The " Chambered Nautilus" breathes the spirit of evolution which
comes from this universal spirit of youth. The mystery of Poe,
of Hawthorne, the mystery which was like MacDowell's, "Will
O' the Wisp," is gone, and in its place there is the deeper mystery
of life, the mystery of a Beethoven spirit in a sonata or better yet,
in a fifth symphony. Use Emerson's, "Rubies" and other lovely
fragments here.
Then, lest this be too far for the student, let us bring him back
to earth in the last project of the year, and study for the moment
the application of literature to the prose occupations of life.
Markham's, "The Man with the Hoe," illustrated with Millet's
painting, and Whittier's, "The Shoemakers" are admirable in this
connection. The "Simple Cobbler" of Ward, in adaptation can
be suggested. Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith" belongs in this
same craft stud v.
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 381
Seventh Grade
To those who would find fault with the last grade on the grounds
that it is unorganized and too fragmentary, there can be a definite
relief in this work. My seventh grade project deals with the
Indian. The last grade studied ideas and thoughts in general.
Now I propose to center attention upon a single piece of human
thought as projected in one long work. And I have chosen for
that work, as a nucleus of the year's study, Longfellow's, "Hia-
watha. " I do not think it is necessarilly made any greater by having
been given this place, but it will afford a guide to much material
which I think the student needs, and which he would not get
elsewhere. The study outlined briefly follows:
Playing Indian. (Introductory to the poem to be studied.)
Seton — Two Little Savages. (To be read outside of school
as an extra, and discussed briefly in the classroom.)
Eastman, Charles A. — Indian Boyhood. (Excellent as a real
background with which Hiawatha can be compared for truthful-
ness, detail, beauty and interest.)
Primitive Emotions and Life.
Ancestors of the Indian (Primitive men of stone age.) Illustrate
with literature upon the subject, such as cave and stone dweller
series and in art, Bartlett's, Primitive Man and Bears, "Barrias,"
"The First Burial," etc.
Hiawatha. The basis of the study. Present this with constant
reference to pictures. Illustrations of Indians, paintings, photo-
graphs, etc.
Present the meaning of the woods and lakes to these early men,
with some sort of definite illustration in art. That is, the hold
of the " Shining Big-Sea-Water, " can be illustrated with reference
to the Ferguson Memorial Fountain of Lorado Taft in which
Lake Superior stands above the rest. It is a wonderful h^ pretty
display of S3nnbolism in sculpture. If the students understand
it they can interpret the meaning of the lake's fascination in
this Indian legend. Let Taft's, "Blackhawk" be in a cons])icu()us
place about .the room throughout most of tlie i)rojcct. It is
worthy of much study and high appreciation. A story miglit be
suggested about it which would parallel tlie Great Stone Face.
If the students have not already had it, introduce it at (his time.
382 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
The customs of the Indians can be developed at length. The
character will come out gradually. Use besides, adaptations
from Morton's, "New English Canaan" to show the attitude of
an exceptional in old New England. Use Irving's, "Traits of
Indian Character" (in Sketch Book), and Philip Freneau's,
"Indian Burying Ground."
Introduce the Indian's attitude toward animals with Hiawatha's
childhood, but amplify that with such things as Eastman's "Red
Hunters and the Animal People," "Wigwam Evenings" and other
Indian lore. Use MacDowell's, "From an Indian Lodge,"
with the folk -tale material. Also introduce the real Indian songs,
such as "Worn out Moccasins", "In the Still Night," "Hiawatha's
Departure," etc. If possible, a masque or pageant of some sort
should be given which would represent this Indian theme.
Stray away from "Hiawatha" at the close, and take up the
sort of Indian which Cooper represented in the "Last of the
Mohicans." Have the children decide as to the reality of the
Cooper Indian. Then wander for the last several weeks of study
into the South-west and take up the study of Jackson's, "Romona.
There is much splendid illustrative art material here in Ufer,
Henri, Reni, and many others of the Taos Pueblo School. Mac-
Neil's, "Prayer for Rain," is very good as a sculptural bit upon
this strange Western land.
Close the Indian year study with a general view of the Indian.
Use parts of Eastman's, "The Soul of the Indian." Interpret the
Indian in the more himian light of just attitude, and unbiased
opinion.
Eighth Grade
. This is again a period of ideas. Much the same as the sixth
grade in that it strives to interpret poetry and prose in terms of
ideas, but beyond anything which that grade attempted. The
meaning of the sea, the forest, the prairies, the lakes, the inter-
pretation of the whole of Nature, the adjustment of it to the moods
and interests of man is attempted in portrayal here. The great
value of the course lies in showing the general relation of our natural
background to himian thought life. There is a more insistent
attempt at combination of nature and art and literature.
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 383
Literature in Interpretation of Every-day Life.
Kilmer — Main Street.
Roofs.
Irving — The Farm House. (From Bracebridge Hall.)
Courtship in old New England (Longfellow — Courtship of
Miles Standish)
Whittier— Maud Muller.
Life of a country child — Porter's — ^"Laddie." Use with this the
simple statues of plain home life. Walker's, "Her Son" is good
as illustrative of the true-blue character of Laddie. "Little
Sister" is a simple, lovable little character, and will be far more
at home and more easily understood by these pupils than will
one of George Elliot's. I prefer taking a less great thing artis-
tically, and using the home appeal, the appeal of that which can
easily be interpreted to arouse students to a liking for literature.
Comradship and Brotherhood.
Holmes — The Boys.
Whitman — Song of the Open Road.
Literature and the Out-of-Doors. An Interpretation of the Essay
Meaning.
Abbott — Upland and Meadow.
Porter — Hidden Treasure — Intimate study of the moths of
Limberlost swamp. (Country Life. 22:29-)
Long — Whose Home is the Wilderness (Illustrate with such
paintings as Davis — Northwest Wind and Twilight. "Whistler's —
Nocturnes.
Porter — Moths of the Limberlost. Fuertes — Bird Portraits.
Porter — Music of the Wild.
Bryant — Forest Hymn and To a Waterfowl.
Heam — Frogs (In Exotics and Retrospections.)
— Insect Musicians.
Ingersoll — Wild Life of Orchard and Field.
Sill — Our Tame Hummingbirds.
— Cheerfulness of Birds.
— Rhapsody of Clouds.
— Hiiman Nature in Chickens.
Emerson — The Rhodora.
Mitchell, S. Weir— The Comfort of the Hills (Meaning of
the Hills.)
384 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
— The Sea-Gull (The silenced song of unrest
of wave and wing.)
— Stonn-Waves and Fog on Dorr's Point,
Ben Harbor. (Rich in imagery)
Song — My Heart's in the Highlands (use with the Hill and
Mountain urge.)
Abbott— Notes of the Night.
Carmen — Poems.
Burroughs — Bow in the Clouds. (Country Life 22:24)
Burroughs— Hay-bam Idyl (Atlantic 112:530)
Burroughs — ^Animal Wit Indoors and Out (Atlantic 109:196)
Illustrate all of above material with paintings of out-of-door
scenes, and with such music as comes from MacDowell, "In
Autumn," "To a Water-Lily," "A Deserted Farm," "Told
at Sunset," etc.
Double Nature of Man.
Make this a separate project in the years work. Take up
Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," as a basis for the study.
Use Barnard's, "I Feel Two Natures Struggling Within Me."
Bring in the Bible stories of temptation as suggestion of the sort
of myths which have grown up around this figure of the two natures.
Use music which has two themes playing into each other and
struggling. Kreisler's, "Caprice Viennois" shows in part what
I mean by the musical illustration of the double nature.
Art Studies.
Markham — The Man with the Hoe.
— The Sower (Illustrate with Millet's painting and
Polasek's statue, "The Sower." Then bring in
Millet's, "Gleaners," and other pictures
dealing with the fields, thus completing the
whole song of the grain.
Prayer can be used as a study. I would let the instructor
select what he thinks best here. For simple child prayers, Rey-
nold's "Child praying" is excellent. For some of the noble
prayers of leaders, other illustrations will have to be found.
And for the simple prayer of common folks, use Millet's, "The
Angelus," and in music, Massenet's, "Thais."
Idealization.
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 385
Appreciation of htunan character. Many things may be chosen
here. I only suggest one, Whitman's, "When Lilacs Last in the
Dooryard Bloomed."
First Year of High School
This is the time when the boys are anxious to be up and away
from the school-room. I believe that psychology would bear
me out in the statement that often literature will serve as a release
of enthusiasm which might otherwise be spent in actually leaving
school and taking to tramping. That is, I think that if we put
into our school work a period of reading in which tramping is
the project, we will have ttimed the interest of the boys for the
time being, away from leaving school. They will be better
satisfied to remain.
Introduce the study with roaming songs. Horn's, "I've
Been Roaming" is one such. Then follow something of the order
given.
London — ^"Call of the Wild." (Excellent background inter-
pretation of the year's work.)
Carman — ^Kinship of Nature.
Thoreau — ^Essay on "Walking."
" "Wild Crabs."
Muir — ^A thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf — (Compare with
Audubon's Journal.)
Burroughs — Camping and Tramping with Roosevelt (A type
of sophisticated, convenient, polite tramping in the Yellowstone.)
Taylor — Byways of Europe (For a bit of the exotic)
Thoreau — ^A week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers.
Develop classical allusions. Use Offenbach's, "Barcarole" for
music. Also Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun." Use here also,
Emerson, E. W. — "Thoreau as remembered by a Young Friend."
Knowles — ^Alone in the Wilderness.
Lindsay— Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty.
Sociological value of the tramp, and of these various expeditions.
Muir's sohtary expedition, and compare with this, the society of
Thoreau and his brother on their trip.
Chapman, John — (Story of his life and work.)
Gray— Essay on Sequoia (Something of the flavor of the real
tramping botanist is caught here.)
386 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
Second Year High School
There is now a vast wealth of material which has come from the
literature teaching of the nine grades. The job of the first year
Hi^h should now be to assort and assimilate all of this material.
That is, the historical development of our literature is our next
project. The things which have been studied must be put in a
chronological program. They must be related to each other
now, not in content, but in their historical order. The natural
is not dealt with at all, save as you bring all of the authors studied
into this year's table. I can give very little in the way of sugges-
tion for the work of this year. It is practically an American
Literature course. There is this exception, however. Most of
the materials studied for such a course have been taken up in
one way or another, so that the year can be given over largely
to biography. The short story has not been much used, and a
certain period should be given to it at this time. Also, the drama
deserves attention at this point. An interest in periodical litera-
ture may be excited by reference to it for review of the authors
studied, and for short stories and critical comm.ents upon drama
and the arts and literature. I have followed this grade with a
short list of suggestive materials. Not that I mean that all of
these should be used, but it is the sort which will be helpful in a
formulation of the course. Of course the content of the course
will depend most of all upon what sort of thing has been most
lacking in the literature study which the students have had
previous to this grade.
Much of the following is teaching material rather than the sort
of thing which I think the student should be asked to read. The
instructor should scan periodicals for intimate studies of the
men presented. Just a suggestion of the sort of material appli-
cable to this year's work, follows:
Burroughs — Fifty Years of John Burroughs — (by D. L. Sharp
in Atlantic. 106:631)
Burroughs — Indoor Studies (Especially the chapters on Gilbert,
White, Thoreau, Science and Literature, and Solitude.)
John Burroughs' Supremacy as a Nature Writer — Current
Literature 49:681
Burroughs — ^Whitman — a Study (For teacher especially.)
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 387
Ellwanger, George H. — Idyllists of the Countryside (Especially
the chapters on Thoreau, Jefferies, Walton, White, Hardy, and
Burroughs.)
Howells — Literary Friends and Acquaintances (Very valuable
as an infoimal, friendly introduction to American authors of the
nineteenth century.)
Mitchell, D. G. — ^Am. Lands and Letters (2 vols.) Conversa-
tional and interesting. Covers men from the time of John Smith
to the Concord group.
Mills, Enos — Story of a Thousand Year Pine (For short story
type.)
Morton, — Song — (Introduce the convivial lyric. Bring in
Richard Hovey and the Stein song.)
Muir — Steep Trails — Use chapter on "Wild Wool." Compare
with Thoreau in his discourse about nature's ways and wildness.
Traubel — ^With Walt Whitman in Camden (Excellent for a
hiimanizing of Whitman. To be used by teacher in preparation.)
Warner — Study of countries as given in "Saunterings" and of
literature and its relation to life in work called, "Relations of Lit-
erature to Life."
Third Year High School
The keynote of the second year's work would be localization
of literature. That is, the students have a rather definite idea of
the pageant which has come along from the eariiest time up to the
present. They know the great literature of this country. Now
let them work with the literature which their own especial section
of the country offers. LocaHze the work for the year. If the
school is in Indiana, use the works of Mrs. Porter, of Riley, and
others. If in Iowa, use Hamlin Garland and William Quayle.
Introduce less artistic material for the sake of relating literature
to life. Let it be represented as something which is in the making
to-day. Use the Braithwaite Anthologies as backgrounds for
the study of poetry. O'Brien for the short story and collections
and criticisms of present day writers should be introduced. Then
specialize upon the authors of whatever district the scliool is
located in. Study the representation of the myths of tlic region,
the legends, the folk-lore, as represented by the authors of that
388 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW
part. Then study the pioneer motive. See where it has been
used in the literature of- that region, and how effectively it has
been introduced. Discuss its further possibilities. Study the
early lives of the authors taken up. Show how their environment
produced the thing which they did produce in the literary field.
For the Western Mountains, Mills', "Rocky Mountain Wonder-
land," Bret Harte's western tales, Joaquin Miller's "Songs of the
Sierras," and many other like materials may be coordinated.
In the prairie region, certainly Carl Sandburg's poem, "The
Prairie" deserves especial study and thought. Each teacher
must work his own program for this grade. There are as many
possibilities as there are localities. And certainly one of the
pioneer regions of our country which has only been slightly touched
by literature offers as full and interesting material as does the older
type.
Then, I should close the work of the year with the study of
some such book as Hawthorne's "Marble Faun." I know of
nothing which combines so successfully, art and literature as does
this book. It is a marvel of delicacy of treatment. It will serve
admirably as an introduction to the work of the following year,
and will give the student the method of a careful, exact study of a
piece of literature. Of course there is a great deal in sculpture
which can be used with this. And with this excursion to the
exotic, we are prepared for the work of the last year.
Fourth Year of High School
In a study of literature, certainly it would not be just to make
the study merely American. We do not want such a well satisfied,
cozy, tea-table literature such as England is contented with. And
if we do not want that, then we must do all which is possible,
to prevent it. I think that a study of connections, or exotics,
in the last year of the teaching, would help to broaden our literature.
There is no especial arrangement of the countries taken up,
nor of the life studied, as I have given them, and the program is
far from complete. As I have done throughout this paper, so
here, I merely give a few suggestions. Because Lafcadio has
such a remarkable style; I should begin with some of his things.
He is part American at least, and offers a starting point, a landing
BROWN A NATURE-STUDY PROJECT 389
from which we can more easily push our boat away from our own
shores. Also, as have most of the authors taken up here, there is
the hint of the cosmic, the note of the universal which I think
needs to be stressed more in literature at this time than ever be-
fore.
From Hearn, then, I should select some of the following:
"Insects and Greek Poetry"— Atlantic 111:618.
"Exotics and Retrospectives" — Chapters on "A Serenade",
and "Azure Psychology."
"Japanese Miscellany" — Chapters on "Dragon-flies" and
"Buddhist Names of Plants and Animals."
Illustrate some of his Japanese fairy-tales with such suggestive
music as Kreisler's * * Tambourin Chinois. ' ' It is typically Oriental.
Use Heam's, "Diary of an Impressionist," for marvelous descrip-
tive illustration.
Introduce the English study with such things as Mitchell's,
"Wet Days at Edgewood." His literary appreciations of Burke,
Piers the Plowman, and Goldsmith, will be of help to the instructor.
Use some of the best of the imagery and life in the "Idylls of the
King." Don't labor over it. Hurry through the thing, empha-
sizing only occasional passages for their poetry, but most of it for
its legendary value. Take up Jefferies' "Life of the Fields."
and "Story of My Heart."
In the French, read some from Fabre, especially the autobio-
graphical portions in the "Life of a Fly." Compare his ideals of
life with Burroughs in such a thing as his "Gospel of Nature" —
Cent. 84:195, or with Thoreau or Crevecoeur, or Muir.
Take up the Bible as a literary value. Forget the Theology.
Use Mrs. Porter's, "Birds of the Bible" in stud3dng some of the
psalm verses. Use Michael Angelo's "Moses" and later, in con-
nection with the brotherhood ideal, in the story of David and
Jonathan, use Michael Angelo's, "David." The union of
Michael Angelo and the story of David is a colossal undertaking
at any time, for any person, but I believe that it will be infinitely
worth while to get literature into terms of sculpture and painting
whenever possible.
Try to develop criticism and a sense of values here. Tliat is.
read from such books as Howells's, "Literary Passions," and get
the students to tell why they like things. They must express their
390 NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW
opinions and express them definitely. Such a book as this will
help them to imderstand what opinion is worth, perhaps, and how
it is formed.
I should close the study of the last year with emphasis upon the
ideal of the brotherhood of men, as given in Whitman's " Calamus."
And then let that idea of universal brotherhood work into and
through the cosmic ideal as found in a brief review of the great
pieces of literature which have been studied. Whitman brings
this to one of its greatest expressions. Emerson urges it in "The
Whole Soul," and Lorado Taft has put it into stone, in his "Foun-
tain of Time." "Time goes we say. Oh no; — alas. Time stays,
we go." This is the whole culmination of teaching, to show that
time goes on, but we, the transitory things in which thought for
a m.oment flows and expresses itself, are soon lost. Our passions,
our emotions, our thoughts, these are the lasting things in the
universe, and it is to make these immortal that poets have written
and musicians have sung and sculptors have worked through the
ages.
The Story Told by Hop High
Virginia Baker
Warren, R. I.
My name is Hop High but I'm not a Chinese child. I'm an
American — a little American toad.
I was bom in a pond last June and a very funny baby I was.
I had a tiny head, a tiny tail, no legs, and not much body. You
see I wasn't a real frog then. I was only a tadpole.
In my neck were two wee breathing gills and instead of a mouth
I had two little suckers. From these I sent out a sticky fluid with
which I glued myself to a big weed growing in the water.
As soon as I felt strong enough to look about me I saw hundreds
of other tadpoles cHnging to weeds and grasses. I noticed that
some of them were wiggling their tails, so I beran to wiggle mine.
My! how fast I could make it go.
I clung to my weed a week and then I grew very uneasy. I
felt very brave indeed, so I plunged right into the water. Then
I discovered why my tail was made to wiggle foi, by wigglingr it,
I could paddle anywhere I chose.
BAKER THE STORY TOLD BY HOP HIGH 391
The other tadpoles Dlunp^ed into the water, too, and we had a
splendid time. At fiist we were afraid to venture far from our
weeds; but we soon became bolder and chased each other all over
the pond, every one tryinp^ to see which could make his tail wig^gle
the fastest. I beat in that game.
After being in the water a while my looks began to change.
From the back of my head a membrane slowly spread over my
neck, covering my gills and making me appear to have no body
at all. I found, too, that I had a mouth and, with my strong
homy jaws, could bite off the ends of small plants. Those plants
tasted good for I was hungry all the time.
The more I ate the larger and stronger I grew. Then a strange
thing happened. One day I found I had two long hind legs and
that, by using them, I could swim about very swiftly.
Next my eyes began to grow large while my mouth widened
and widened until it stretched quite across my face. At the same
time my tail began to grow shorter and shorter. Then, suddenly,
a pair of front legs shot out from my shoulders.
While these changes were taking place I kept longing to find an-
other home. Many times each day I went to the edge of the
pond and jumped out of the water. I found I liked the land very
much. Hundreds of my little friends came out of the pond, too.
You see our gills had turned into lungs and we could breathe
more easily on land. When in the water, we had to keep rising
to the surface to get fresh air.
Not long afterwards we lost our tails entirely. Of course we
didn't mind, for with our splendid legs, we really didn't need tails.
Besides, we were now ready and eager to say good-bye to the
pond. And, one night, a ereat crowd of us left our watery home
forever.
Oh, such tiny creatures as we were! And how timid we felt!
We were so afraid that, for several hours, we kept close to the
pond's edge. When day dawned we were still more scared and
hid under the leaves and grass-blades. But at the coming of
darkness, again, we began to hop about a little.
For two or three days we remained in hiding. Then, as nothmg
harmed us, we plucked up courage and started olT to seek our
fortunes. We did not go far, however, before we found that
there were enemies all about us. We discovered that snakes,
392 NA TURE'STUDY REVIEW
crows, hawks, hens, and ducks like to eat tender baby toads.
Many of us were killed by these hungry creatures.
On and on we went for three weeks. One by one my friends
found homes that suited them in fields and cellars until, at last.
I was left quite alone. But, one day, I came to a beautiful garden
and then I, too, stopped for I knew that I should never chance
upon a more delightful place.
I was now an inch and a half long and a regular roly-poly of fat.
All over my smooth brown back little spots were beginning to show.
The garden was full of bugs and worms and I didn't do much
but eat all night long. During most of the day I slept quietly
in a nice damp place under a pile of white rocks. Toads don't
like warm dry bed-rooms.
I found that the garden belonged to a dear old gentleman and
his wife who liked toads. Often I heard them talking about me.
They called me their "little helper" iDecause I ate so many crea-
tures that were harmful to their beautiful shrubs and flowers.
I was not one bit afraid of either of them.
But, at last, I got a terrible scare. The old people's little
grandson came to visit them. It happened to be a rainy morning
and I was out of bed for awhile.
The boy came racing down the garden path, where I was sitting,
and, at sight of me, set up a shout. I was afraid to hop, so quickly
turned upon my back and pretended to be dead.
The boy kept very still and did not touch me. Indeed he was
so quiet that I thought he had gone away. So, after a time, I
decided to come to life again. But the moment I moved my little
orange paws I heard him laughing again, close beside me. Quick
as a flash I was on my feet and hopping off as fast as I could go.
Then the little boy clapped his hands and laughed again.
"Oh, Grandma !" he cried. "Your dear little baby toad jiomped
way up in the air. I'm going to call him Hop High."
After he called me "dear" I wasn't afraid of the little boy any
more and we soon became fast friends. Near the garden gate
was a large flat stone with a hollow in its centre. On hot, dry
days the boy kept this hollow filled with water. And when I
came out at sunset I would sprawl in the water and soak myself
through and through. Those nice baths kept me well and strong.
BAKER THE STORY TOLD BY HOP HIGH 393
Of course I was Rowing bigger daily and, at last, my coat
became very tight and uncomfortable. So I took it off. This is
the way I managed.
I sat down with my back humped, my head bent down, and
my feet drawn imder my body. My skin had already begun to
split across my breast and down my back.
Then I puffed out my body and used my lips and front feet to
pull the skin over my head. Next I rubbed my hind legs against
my body until they were free. Lastly I stripped the skin off
my throat and front feet. All this skin I swallowed and it was
a big mouthful.
But didn't I feel proud of my new suit? It was so handsome
and so comfortable. Now, as I grow larger, I am obliged to have
new clothes every few weeks.
I stayed in the garden all summer but, as cool weather approach-
ed, I burrowed backwards into the ground and slept snug and warm
all winter. I didn't wake again until spring. And here I am
ready to eat all creatures which harm flowers and fruits and vegeta-
bles. For anything, from a gypsy moth to a spiny caterpillar
or a long wriggly earthworm tastes delicious tome, little Hop High.
Notice
The publishers are glad to advise readers that the congestion at the press
is practically cleaned up and we can soon look for The Review to appear
on time. The January and February Numbers will be mailed about the
tenth.
THF
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 $1.50 per year (nine issues). Canadian post-
age 10 cents extra, foreign postage, 20 cents extra.
Editorial
"The study of birds and trees and animals fills any regular
fellow with a sense of justice" was the statement of fifteen year
old Jimmy Bradley before the Congressional Committee that had
in charge the affairs of the District of Columbia. Jimmy was
pleading for the continuance of nature study in the Washington
schools and it is to be hoped that the Committee received en-
lightenment through his testimony. Jimmy's statement is worth
the consideration of educators; this phase of the value of nature
study has been ignored by too many. As soon as a child becomes
interested in a plant or a creature and comprehends the way it
solves its problems in order to keep on living, he becomes its
protector without any preaching on the part of anybody. That
is, — ^he does if he is "a regular fellow" and happily to that honor-
able class belongs a majority of American Lads.
A sense of justice is an invaluable asset to a citizen of a republic.
Upon it^depends our future as a Nation. As we wax greater in
numbers and in diversity of interests, the greater is the danger of
cleavage between classes struggling for what they believe are
their "rights." Therefore it is most essential that our citizens
possess a sense of justice whose motto is "Live and let live."
An enlightened vision that sees the other fellow's standpoint
and a will to treat it justly may well have their origin in the
protection of song birds or trees given in early boyhood by "any
regular fellow."
394
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