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LOANED BY AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

THE

NATURE-STUDY
REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

OFFICIAL ORGAN OF

AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

MONTHLY EXCEPT JUNE, JULY, AUGUST

MAURICE A. BIGELOW

TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

EDITOR

Volume IV, 1908

Published by the Editor
GENEVA, N. Y. and NEW YORK CITY

vV

A

PRESS OF
W. F. HUMPHREY

GKNEVA, N. V.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 JANUARY, 1908 No. 1

FIRST MEETING OF AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

Report of the Secretary

The first meeting of the American Nature-Study Society was
held at the University of Chicago on January 2, 1908. Professor
L. H. Bailey, chairman of the Organizing Committee, was un-
able to be present and the Committee appointed Professor Otis
W. Caldwell, of the University of Chicago, vice-chairman.

The first hour was devoted to hearing (1) the report of the
Organizing Committee, which is given below, (2) to discussion of
various points in the proposed constitution, leading to some
changes and finally to adoption by unanimous vote; and (3)
election of officers for 1908. The suggestion made in the Decem-
ber Review that final vote be taken by mail was deemed im-
practicable by all members present and by many who had
written their suggestions. It seemed highly desirable that the
first meeting should be followed by the announcement of com-
pleted organization.

Following the transaction of business, a series of short papers
opened discussion of the topic, "Should Nature-Study be dif-
ferentiated from Science Teaching?" This topic was selected
because so many men of science have questioned whether there is
a distinct field for the new society. The result of the discussion
was satisfactory, for near the close of the meeting there was
evidently agreement that, however much those entering the
discussion disagreed on minor points, nature-study adapted to
young children differs from the science of higher schools suffi-
ciently to warrant the name "nature-study," at least as a
matter of great convenience in handling the educational problems
of the most elementary studies of nature. The papers read and
abstracts of the discussion will be printed in The Review as

rapidly as space allows.

1

2 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4 : i-jan., 1908

The following persons took part in the reading of papers and in
the discussion: Professor C. R. Mann, of the University of
Chicago; Professor Stanley Coulter, of Purdue University,
Lafayette, Inch ; Professor C. F. Hodge, of Clark University,
Worcester, Mass. ; Professor M. A. BigeloAv, of Teachers College,
Columbia University, New York City; Professor F. L. Charles,
of the DeKalb (111.) State Normal School; Professor F. L.
Clements, of the University of Minnesota; Mr. W. W. Whitney,
of the South Chicago High School; Professor S. B. McCready, of
the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Ontario; Professor
John G. Coulter, of the Normal (111.) State Normal School
Professor W. E. Praeger, of the Kalamazoo (Mich.) College
Professor W. D. Merrel, of the University of Rochester (N. Y.)
Miss Louise Klein Miller, Supervisor of School-Gardens, Cleve-
land, Ohio; Mr. J. H. Smith, of the Chicago High School; Dr.
Katherine Dopp, of Chicago; Professor J. H. Shepherd, of the
Chicago Normal School; Mr. I. B. Meyers, of the School of Edu-
cation, University of Chicago; Professor O. W. Caldwell, of the
University of Chicago. It is quite possible that the secretary
may have ommitted names of others, for in the last hour the
speakers followed each other in rapid succession and at times
there was difficulty in getting names.

Report of the Organizing Committee

The first definite move towards the organization of a national
society for study and advancement of nature-study was the
editorial in The Nature-Study Review for March 1907 (Vol. 3,
p. 68) in which it was proposed that all readers who would join
in organizing such a society should send their names to the
editor of The Review.

The hearty responses from readers in the first month following
publication of the plan proposed for a national society seemed to
justify definite movement towards organization, and the details
were placed in the hands of the Organizing Committee. This
committee was appointed by the majority vote of prospective mem-
bers who followed the suggestion in the March Review and sent
lists of names nominated for the committee. The following ac-
cepted and have cooperated in the work of organization : C. F.
Hodge, L. H. Bailey, O. W. Caldwell, Stanley Coulter, H. W.
Fairbanks, V. L. Kellogg, Anna B. Comstock, D. Lange, M. F.

MEETING OF AMERICAN NA TURE- STUDY SOCIETY 3

Guyer, F. L. Stevens, W. Lochhead, M. A. Bigelow, C. R. Mann,

E. F. Bigelow, J. F. Woodhull, and Alice R. Northrop, The
Organizing Committee elected L. H. Bailey, chairman, and M. A.
Bigelow, secretary.

The -work of the Organizing Committee has consisted chiefly in
circulating information concerning the proposed society, in
drafting a constitution, and in appointing a nominating sub-
committee. In the two latter duties the committee has been
guided closely by the suggestions made in the March Review,
because numerous letters indicated that the plan of organization
there proposed in general outlines would be most acceptable.
In making nominations the sub-committee has depended almost
entirely upon the suggestions from many persons whose influence,
local and national, made their recommendations valuable.

Officers for 1908

The following officers were elected by unanimous vote :

President — L. H. Bailey, Cornell University.

Vice-Presidents — C. F. Hodge, Clark University; F. L.
Stevens, N. C. College of Agriculture; V. L. Kellogg, Stanford
University; W. Lochhead, Macdonald College, Quebec; F. L.
Charles, DeKalb (111.) Normal School.

Secretary-Treasurer — M. A. Bigelow, Teachers College, Colum-
bia University.

Directors — (for two years) D. J. Crosbv, U. S. Department of
Agriculture; C. R. Mann, University of Chicago; S. Coulter,
Purdue University; H. W. Fairbanks, Berkeley, California;
M. F. Guyer, University of Cincinnati; (for one year) O. W.
Caldwell, University of Chicago; G. H. Trafton, Passaic, N. J.;

F. L. Clements, University of Minnesota; Ruth Marshall, Uni-
versity of Nebraska; E. R. Downing, Marquette (Mich.)
Normal School.

A glance at the list above will make it clear that the officers
elected for this year represent a wide range in geographical
territory, educational institutions, and lines of science and edu-
cation. Of course, there are many others who "ought to have
been on the list of officers." The Secretary can easilv name
more than 50 people who ought to be in the list of officers and
most of whom will probably be officers within five vears;
certainly so if advice from several members of the present council

4 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [4 . ,~JAN. ,908

continues co have weight. In the meantime there will be
abundant opportunity for present officers and other members to
demonstrate by efficient activity their right to be official repre-
sentatives of the American Nature-Study Society.

Interest of Men of Science in the Nature-Study Society

The organizing meeting held at the University of Chicago
has been pronounced a great success by' many prominent edu-
cators and scientific men who were present ; and the great interest
in the work of the Society shown at the organizing meeting and in
many informal meetings of the members of the various scientific
societies makes it certain that the newr society will have hearty
support.

Never before has nature-study been discussed so much within
a short time as during the four days at Chicago. It wras a
very popular topic for conversation. Many scientific men
asked for specific information concerning nature-study, to which
their serious attention was for the first time attracted. The
presidental address, by Professor McMurrich of Toronto, before
the American Society of Naturalists contained a strong plea for
better nature-study in schools. In short, it was evident that
interest in nature-study Avas in the ascendancy so far as men of
science are concerned. Here is a most important point, for
many of these men have long been inclined to regard nature-study
as merely a fad.

All this does not mean that the scientific men are now heartily
approving nature-study in general — good, bad, indifferent, and
sentimental. On the contrary expressions of approval were
commonly coupled with qualifying remarks concerning the kind
of nature-study. Especially was there hearty approval for the
attitude of the American Nature-Study Society as shown in
Article I of the Constitution; and there was approval for the
stand of The Nature-Study Review for conservative and
scientific study of nature-study problems.

CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY

SOCIETY

[Editor's Note — .The Constitution as adopted is printed below. The
chief changes made in the Constitution as proposed in the December issue
of The Review are as follows: (i) A slight change in wording of Article I,
(2) Omission of reference to fellows and honorary members (3) Provision
for life members and patrons, (4) Twenty-five votes necessary for inde-
pendent nominations, (5) In Article VI substitution of section for branch,
(6) In Article VII, reading October in place of June.]

ARTICLE I— NAME AXD OBJECTS

The objects of the American Nature-Study Society are, by
publications and by national and local meetings : ( 1 ) to promote
critical investigation of all phases of nature-study (as dis-
tinguished from technical science) in schools, especially all studies
of nature in elementary schools ; and (2 ) to work for the establish-
ment in schools of such nature-study as has been demonstrated
valuable and practicable for elementary education.

ARTICLE II— MEMBERS AXD FEES
Any person interested in any phase of nature-study or ele-
mentarv science may become a member upon election by the
Council. A school or library may be enrolled as a member, and
be represented at meetings by one of its officers.

There shall be no admission fee. The annual dues shall be one
dollar, payable before February first, or upon election to mem-
bership. The official publications of the Society shall be sent
without charge to members not in arrears for dues. Members
residing outside of the United States shall pay the necessary
foreign postage on publications mailed. The name of any
member two vears in arrears for annual dues shall be omitted
from the list of members, but may be restored by payment of
arrearages or by re-election.

ARTICLE III— PATROXS AXD LIFE MEMBERS
Members paying twenty dollars at one time shall be enrolled as
life members exempt from annual dues. Any person paying to

THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE IV

U : i — Jan., igo8

the Society one hundred dollars shall be permanently enrolled as
a patron and entitled to all the privileges of members. All
monies collected from life members and patrons shall, under
direction of the Council, be invested as a permanent fund and
only the income used for expenses of the Society.

ARTICLE IV— OFFICERS

i. The officers shall be a President, rive Vice-Presidents, a
Secretary-Treasurer, Editor (when the Society assumes financial
control of an official journal), ten Directors elected by general
vote of the Society, and additional Directors elected by sectional
organizations as provided for in Article VI. The President, Vice-
Presidents and Secretary-Treasurer shall constitute an Executive
Committee for the transaction of routine business authorized by
the Council. All the officers together shall constitute a Council
with the following duties: Consider and report to the Society all
business proposed for a general vote and manage the business of
the Society according to the constitution and by-laws. The term
of office for the President and Vice-Presidents shall be one year,
for the Secretary-Treasurer and Editor two years and for the
Directors two years (five of the first Directors shall be elected for
one year, and five for two years).

2. Elections of officers. The Council shall make nominations
for all offices and publish them in the official journal before
November fifteenth of each year. Members and fellows shall have
the right to suggest nominations by mail, and any name thus
receiving at least twenty-five votes before October fifteenth
shall be published with the nominations by the Council. The
annual election shall be held in the last week of December, at a
stated meeting if such is ordered by the Council to be held at that
time; otherwise by ballots mailed to the Secretary. Members
unable to attend any meeting of the Society shall have the right
to mail their ballot to the Secretary. All ballots mailed must
reach the Secretary before December twentieth, in order to be
counted at tire annual election. A majority of the ballots voted
by mail and in person shall be sufficient for election.

Any section of the Society, as provided for in Article VI, con-
sisting of more than one hundred members may elect a delegate to
serve two years as a Director in the Council of the Society.

In case of vacancies the Council shall appoint officers for unex-
pired terms.

COXSTITL 'TIOX OF NA TURE-STUD Y SOCIE TY 7

ARTICLE V— OFFICIAL PUBLICATION'S

All official communications approved for publication by the
Council shall be published in The Nature-Study Review,
which shall be sent free of charge (except foreign postage) to all
members whose annual dues have been paid. This journal shall
continue to be published privately and on the personal responsi-
bilitv, financial and editorial, of its editor or editors, until the
annual income of the Society justifies the Council in assuming
the management and publication as the official organ of the
Society.1 Until such official management, the Secretary-
Treasurer of the Society shall, before February first of each year,
pay to the editor the estimated cost (not to exceed eighty cents
and foreign postage) of annual subscription for each member
whose dues have been paid, provided that the editor contracts to
return at the end of the year any unexpended balance to the
Treasurer of the Society. -

The members of the Council shall serve as an advisory Editorial
Committee for The Nature-Study Review.

ARTICLE VI— SECTIONS OF THE SOCIETY

Members of the Society in any city, state, group of states, or
Canadian province may, with the approval of the Council, organize
sections. Any Section with more than one hundred members
may elect a delegate to serve as a Director of the Society for two
years.

ARTICLE VII— AMENDMENTS
Amendments to this Constitution recommended by the Council
and published in the official journal before October first of any
year may be adopted by a two-thirds vote of members voting in
person or by mail at the annual election in December.

i[It is probable that the financial condition of the Society will justify
this move within six months — Secretary.]

2[After discussion this was agreed upon as most satisfactory for present
purposes without in any way involving the Society financially before the
annual income can be safely estimated. The present legal owner and edi-
tor has agreed to transfer The Review to the Society free of all indebted-
ness whenever the Council votes to assume the management and in the
meantime to carry out the publisher's side of the arrangement given
above. — Secretary.]

FUTURE WORK FOR THE SOCIETY

The foregoing report on the first meeting is encouraging, but a
word of warning may prove valuable. Those interested in de-
veloping the American Nature-Study Society must guard against a
lapse of interest. There must be no reaction. Organizing and
adopting a constitution and electing officers is simply a beginning
of work which should enlist every member in some way. Nat-
urally the work of leading is assigned to the officers who constitute
the Council. They invite suggestions from all members of the
Society- What are the important lines of activity which should
be undertaken?

As suggestions of lines of desirable activity we may now
mention (i) work of Sections of the Society, and (2) studies
of committees assigned to special problems.

The Constitution provides for local Sections. A meeting to
organize a New York City Section will be held at Teachers Col-
lege on January 18th. Members of the Society in other cities
and in certain States are planning for similar local sections.
They are important and absolutely necessary in order to organize
the work in the schools. The annual national meetings will be
important for study of general principles, but the test comes in
application to the schools. Local sections can best reach the
schools, and so it is quite important that officers and all other
members should interest themselves in developing the work of
the Society.

Plans for the appointment of some committees will soon be sub-
mitted to the Council of the Society. Such special phases of
the nature-study problems as physical nature-study, school-
gardens, agricultural nature-study, relation of nature-study to
high-school science, and relation of nature-study to geography will
probably be assigned to committees. The Secretary will gladly
transmit suggestions in this line from members to the Council.

Increase in Membership Needed

The membership list is rapidly approaching the one thousand
mark which was set for a beginning. In order to carry on the

8

FUTURE WORK OF THE SOLVE TV 9

work which ought to be done the Society needs 2000 members
before October and a little extra effort on the part of present mem-
bers will soon result in rapid increase of the enrollment. Articles
I and II of the Constitution ought to attract the interest of all
persons who believe in scientific education. In order that
present members may be able to suggest new names for member-
ship the directory of members will be prepared as soon as the list
has one thousand names. Application blanks, briefly stating the
aims of the Society and conditions of membership, will soon be
ready for distribution to members who wish to enclose such slips
in their letters and pamphlets.

Notice Concerning Fees and Membership

The annual dues are payable before February first, or upon
election to membership. To avoid expense for clerical work a
money order or a dollar bill should be sent with each application
for membership, and postal-card receipts will be sent by the
Secretary-Treasurer. Members already enrolled should use the
subscription blanks enclosed in this magazine, giving name,
address, and the words "Member A. N.-S. S., 1908 dues." In
this way the great waste of labor and postage involved in sending
personal bills will be saved. The date on the address-label of the
wrapper should read 12-08 if you paid your dues for this year
more than one month ago. A star before the date indicates
membership in the Society; and if it is not present on the label
for January and February issues, notify the Secretary in order
that your name may appear in the directory to be printed.
Subscriptions to The Review are not recorded as membership
unless accompanied by applications for membership. If sub-
scriptions for 1908 have been paid through agencies, applications
for membership in the Society should be accompanied by
20 cents in stamps or money order. Members are requested to
read the notices relating to the Society and to The Review, on
the second and fourth cover-pages of this issue.

THE RELATION OF NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE

TEACHING

[Editor's Note. — This' is a series of discussions in answer to the ques-
tion, "Should nature-study for elementary schools be differentiated
from science for higher schools ?", presented at the first meeting of the Ameri-
can Nature-Study Society, January 2, 1908. It is evident that upon the
answer to this question will depend the outlining of the field of work for
the new Society. The practical conclusions to be drawn from a summary
of all the discussions are that: (1) In method nature-study for young
pupils must resemble in an elementary way that of more advanced science.
(2) In selection of materials differentiation is advisable but not funda-
mentally necessary. (3) In organization of facts to be taught there is a
fundamental difference in that nature-study must keep close to every-
day life and neglect the technical aspect, that is, the characteristic scientific-
organization of science in the strict sense. (4) There is obviously a
tendency towards setting a somewhat arbitrary limit to the most im-
portant field of nature-study in the late years of the grammar school near
the borderland of the high school ; but there is at the same time a strong
tendency towards applying the nature-study point of view to high- school
science. Obvious with such conceptions of nature-study the field of the
new Society is primarily that of studies of nature in elementary schools;
but also there is a point of contact with high-school science, and possibly
with the so-called popular nature-study for those adults who prefer to
know things from the nature-study point of view as distinguished from
the technical science point of view.]

I

By STANLEY COULTER
Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.

To those of us who have dealt with nature-study from a
practical, rather than from an academic viewpoint, it has seemed
a long journey through the stage of definition-mongering and
material-peddling to the present conception of its significance
and recognition of its pedagogic value. It is very doubtful,
indeed, if any modern educational movement has been so
hampered by definition, so obstructed by material, so deflected
by sentimentalis'm. It is an evidence of the vital quality of the
movement that, in spite of these obstacles, it has not been entirely
driven from the schools, but has on the contrary gained a firm
foot-hold in many educational centers.

It is at present a matter of substantially unanimous agreement
that nature-study is not a subject with fixed and definite material

10

coulter] NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE TEACHING II

involved, such as botany or zoology, but that it stands as
the rather unfortunate name of an educational device or tool
through which it is sought to accomplish very definite results.
It is regarded as a movement to relate education to daily life, to
make education a part of life instead of something apart from
life. It seeks to accomplish this end by a wise training of the
senses, using for its material the natural objects or phenomena
surrounding the child. This training of the external organs of
relation if properly done, involves a knowledge of the develop-
ment of the child-mind in order that the successive steps may
follow in a perfectly natural and, therefore, perfectly logical
sequence. Some of these steps may be indicated as follows: —
perception of things; continued perception; perception of kin-
ship; of relationship to surroundings; of parts to their functions ;
of protective devices; of economic relations. Evidently dif-
ferent educational values are involved in these groupings and
their proper arrangement and emphasis does much to determine
the educative results of nature-study work. It is plain that a
clear-cut conception of the significance of the pedagogic steps in-
volved is of infinitely more importance than even a fairly wide
range of knowledge of material suitable for nature-study work.
Indeed, it is evident that the intellectual end, the pedagogic
result, can be reached by the use of the most varied material;
that the material in a certain sense is but an incident, the
intellectual end supreme; not only can varied material be used,
but it must be used if nature-study reaches its true educative
values.

The daily life of a boy is not altogether related to birds and
flowers, it may at certain points at least, touch cattle and vege-
tables. In other words the material should be as varied as the
surroundings demand. But training in seeing things definitely
and clearly, in seeing them in relation to each other and their
surroundings, in seeing them in their economic relations, this can
be secured by the use of any one of a hundred material objects,
provided, always provided, that the object is in some way re-
lated to the daily life of the child. A teacher in Brooklyn once
wrote asking advice as to how to present the "blue bird" to her
school in which not one of the pupils had ever seen a blue bird.
Not the least of her difficulties lay in the fact that the blue bird
was to serve as nature-studv material for an entire month. Of

I 2 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE W [4 : i-JAN., igo8

course such work was not nature-study, neither was it science;
it was merely a sign of educational imbecility, a disease by no
means confined to a single locality.

All of which goes to show that nature-study is not a definite
and specific body of knowledge, but an attitude of mind; that its
results are in no wise to be measured in terms of accumulated
facts, but in an attitude of mind in the presence of facts. The
thought that nature-study is a body of knowledge has done very
much to retard its advance, very much more to confuse a matter
which is, after all is said, extremely simple. If nature-study is
merely the name for a device for securing a symmetrical intellect-
ual development through a wise training of the senses by the use
of environmental material, then the notion so widely prevalent
that nature-study necessarily means birds and flowers and in-
sects and trees is an erroneous one. If it were true, nature-study
would be practically impossible in the congested districts of our
great cities or could at best be but imperfectly presented. It is
difficult, however, for one to see why the habits of life, the food-
gathering and food-storing, the architecture and activities
of the animal known as man should not furnish material as valu-
able and interesting as do other animals.

It is extremely doubtful whether nature-study in narrow
connotation of the past and of far too many schools at present
is of any value at all commensurate with the time given to it in
the schedule. On the other hand it is obvious that work which
closely relates the daily life and the school life, which uses the
objects and phenomena of the environment as educational
material has a value so high that it can scarcely be over-
estimated. These values can be secured only through the
orderly and logically progressive training of the senses — the
external organs of relation; by at least keeping functional
these powers upon the strength, rapidity and precision of which
so much of self-reliance and initiative ultimately depend.

It goes without saying that the great bulk of nature-study
work of the future as in the past will be done with plants and
animals as the material; that in some cases it will be even
narrowed to useful plants and animals in the name of agriculture
in the schools, but any attempt to organize the plant studies
so as to present even the grosser, salient points of botany or to so
organize the studies of useful plants and animals that, by a sum-

coulteh] NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE TEACHING 13

mation there may be gained a science of agriculture however
elementary, is to remove the work from the category of nature-
study and place it in the group of memory-studies.

Nature-studv deals with the materials of science, but from a
different viewpoint and with a different purpose. Its primary
viewpoint is the attitude of interest on the part of the child in its
surroundings; the purpose, growing out of that viewpoint to
increase this interest, to broaden it, to deepen and co make it
educative. Bv a series of small intellectual conquests it seeks to
awaken a permanent enthusiasm for greater conquests. By
awakening a sense of power in gaining knowledge through the
senses, to stimulate an exercise of that power in a constantly in-
creasing degree. Out of such work one may expect to see
naturally developed a sympathetic and responsive relation with
nature; through it there should come a great enrichment of life
because of multiplied points of contact with nature. These
purposes are luminous before those who grasp the real signifi-
cance of the movement and make any and all material available
for the work.

With such a varied material, a material necessarily determined
partly by the surrounding and partly by the aptitude of the
teacher, it is evident that uniformity of work, as the phase is
understood in educational circles, is impossible. Every attempt
to make uniform courses in nature-study has but resulted in the
introduction of elementary science of a very feeble and tenuous
sort. Such courses do exist, however, and nature-study is com-
pelled to bear the burden of the pedagogic absurdity. The
craze for uniformity more than any other one thing has led to the
great success of our schools in the development of mediocrity.
Uniformity looms so large before the eyes of the average school
authorities that power, self-reliance, initiative, enthusiasm, all
seem pathologic symptoms demanding vigorous and heroic
treatment. Nature-study has been prevented from coming to
its own because of this irrational demand for uniform courses of
study, uniform material and uniform methods.

The objection may be made, as it has been made, that such a
conception of nature-study leads to scattering and unrelated
work. It is urged that if the subject is really one of high value,
that some material or some method of universal application
should certainlv be found. It must, however, be remembered

14 THE NA TURE-STUDY REIVE IV u . ,_JAN., Ig0&

that in nature-study the purpose is not the accumulation of facts,
it is the development of power or an attitude of mind. This
remains true, however, that the facts clearly and definitely
perceived are the very ones that are clearly and definitely re-
lated and that those which have become a part of the furniture
of the mind by right of conquest by the senses, constitute the
raw material of subsequent acts of reason and judgment. Power
is not exhausted in order to accumulate facts. Facts are used
that power may be developed. If one wishes to climb a mountain
he may choose any one of many paths with absolute confidence
thac if persistently followed it will lead him to the summit.
The path he chooses may be determined because of the side of
the mountain on which he finds himself, or because it is hard or
because it is easy, but whatever the determinative factor of
the choice, the path leads to the summit. It is so in the develop-
ment of power in the external senses; anyone of many materials
may be chosen with the absolute certainty that it will lead to the
summit of power if it be persistently followed. The uniformity
lies in the result, not in the methods by which the result is
reached. The uniformity lies in the attitude of mind, not in the
material used to induce that attitude.

The net results sought in nature-study may be summarized
somewhat as follows: The development of: (i) the external
senses to a high degree of rapidity and precision; (2) an attitude
of close and sympathetic relationship with nature in her varied
manifestations; (3) an avidity for further knowledge through
conquest by the senses; (4) a sturdy self-reliance born out of
first-hand knowledge.

Science concerns itself with a definite body of knowledge and
the laws which may have been deduced from that body of
knowledge. These laws it seeks to verify or disprove, to broaden
or limit by new facts, by more critical and recondite observations.
Its assumption is that the pupil possesses power for the mastery
of the subject. This means a mastery of the facts themselves,
of their relations and of the deductions drawn from them. The
primarv purpose is the mastery of the facts. What power is
possessed is of course increased by its exercise; but this is an
incident of the work, not its purpose. This purpose is the
mastery of a bodv of facts definitely organized and referred so far
as our knowledge permits to laws of greater or less comprehensive-
ness.

, , ., , TER] NA TURE-STUD Y A. YD SC/EXCE TEA CHING 1 5

A series of independent, non-related lessons bearing upon
natural objects or phenomena is neither science nor nature-
study. For real science work there is no place in the lower
grades of the secondary schools, a statement which should go
without argument. Any attempt to relate the methods of
nature-study and science is to the detriment of both.

Nature-study should not attempt to present the material with
which it deals in scientifically organized form. By this is meant,
if we instance the case of plants, that the material selected for the
work need not be such as to cover even the chapter headings of
a modern text-book in botany. Nor should the tests of efficient
work in nature-study be the same as those which might be
properlv used in science. The fact in nature-study, or, if you
please, the observation should always be subordinate to the
power which it was employed to develop.

Nevertheless there is a very real and a very natural relation
existing between nature-study and work in science. The
foundations for work in natural science are: the trained eye
which sees clearly, swiftly and with certitude, and the eager
mind keenlv alive to all of the manifestations of nature. Upon
such foundations real science work is possible, without them it is
too often the barren-wa^te, so sadly evidenced by many of our
doctors of philosophy, who after writing their theses for the
doctorate have been absolutely non-productive. From the
alert and eager senses comes knowledge so complete and of such
clarity that accurate and comprehensive generalizations in-
evitable follow. From the attitude of interest springs the
permanent enthusiasm which makes research work possible, for
onlv from a fine enthusiasm can be born the ability to toil
terribly and patiently until the goal is reached. Nature-study
properly administered develops the intellectual muscles used in
science work and trains them to a swift yet certain functioning.

Incidentally, the facts of nature-study are the facts of science.
We appreciate a law as we are able to refer to it the facts within
our knowledge. The greater the number of facts we can so refer,
the more comprehensive and significant does the law appear.
The work in nature-study serves to furnish a large series of such
facts which, in due time tcke their proper place in the syntheses
of science vitalizing the work of both the lecture room and
laboratory.

1 6 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV u . ,_, AN., igo8

Much of the so-called work in nature-study should be regarded
as wholly without the educational pale, it is without form and
void. The pedagogy, the real intellectual significance has been
lost in material and method. In secondary schools and uni-
versities alike each day sees intellects drowned in the great flood
of facts of our complex age. It is necessary to hark back to first
principles and to answer a few simple questions. What is the
underlying educational purpose in nature-study? In what terms
are its results to be expressed? What is the purpose sought in
science teaching? In what terms are its results to be expressed?

The attempt has been to show that in the case in hand the
purposes and methods of the subjects are widely different. If
this contention is true, the similarity of material, even the identity
of the material, ought not to lead us to the inference that the sub-
jects are interchangeable or that they possess -some necessary
relation which a wise administration would emphasize.

The relation between true nature-study and true science work
is perfectly simple and perfectly natural: It is the reflex in-
fluence of work well done in an elementary subject upon the
work done in another subject which is more recondite and more
intellectually exacting.

II

By C. F. HODGE

Clark University

The organization of this Society is timely and opportune. 1
take it to be the natural and spontaneous next-step in the evolu-
tion of a sane elementary science teaching which has been
developing in the public mind and has taken a definite trend
toward what we now call nature-study for nearly thirty years
past. This meeting thus marks a natural epoch in American
nature-study, and I especially wish to express my approval of
Article I of our Constitution: "Critical investigation," "estab-
lishment in schools of such nature-study as has been demonstrated
valuable and practicable for elementary education" here ex-
pressed, as the purpose of our Society is exactly what the
present needs.

I have been called to scores of places to try to answer the
question of earnest teachers, as usually expressed, "what is the.
matter with our nature-study?" My many written attempts

hodge] NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE TEACHING 17

to answer this question, with which some of you are familiar
must excuse me this afternoon for passing over this fundamental
subject with but a single word. The "matter" with nature-
study, as I find it everywhere in schools and in books and
courses, lies at the bottom in the lack of vital relation between
the subject-matter selected and the life of tha child and the
home or community. I cannoc endure any of this talk, some of
which we have heard here today, that "material is incidental."
"Teach anything you are interested in, fellow teachers, one
thing is just as good as another." A leader in some section of the
country begins to preach this doctrine, and I am certain to hear
the Macedonian cry : "Come over and help us."

The truth is we are face to face with the deepest problem in
education, the problem of feeding the human soul and mind
during the period of its active growth. It is the time when the
child's philosophy of life must be built into its organization by
the subject-matter and methods of its education. This philosophy
of life must unite the child witli its race and make it fit to take
a place in the social order. Hence it is not sufficient to say
that subject-matter selected must be of interest to the individual
child. The course must go deeper than that and embody the
fundamental and universal interests of the social organization.
Some courses of nature-study have brought vividly to my mind
the picture of feeding a baby "water- worn pebbles" with a
spoon. As well, yes, even better, say, gravel, "sow-thistles and
brambles" are as good as milk to feed babies on, as to say that
one thing is as good as another for nature-study. We must all
realize, when we think seriously about it, that there are a few
things which every man, woman and child in a civilized community
ought to learn for dear life, and that there are thousands of other
things which it makes little difference whether the majority of
good people ever hear about at all. To discover what those
things are in the natural environment which condition the
health and happiness of the individual, the wholesomeness and
beauty of the home, the efficiency of each to do his or her part for
the best good of the whole is, I take it, the function of this
organization.

Our attention has been directed to possible distinctions be-
tween science and nature-study. I am in full accord with the
carefully prepared paper of our Secretary that classified and

18 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 4: x-jan., 1908

arranged knowledge, worked over from the point of view of
logical and exhaustive presentation of subject-matter, so es-
sential to college and university courses, has no place in nature-
study. Still I also wish to second Professor Mann's position that
there is no essential difference between science and nature-study;
that science in essence throughout is "problem solving." This
is Lessing's definition of science as: "The everlasting struggle of
the human mind after truth." To arouse and inspire the child
to try to solve problems, to struggle for the truth, not dead
Gradgrind, Mr. Choakumchild loading of the memory is the
prime factor of good science or nature-study instruction. Here
again, as it seems to me, the inspiration to work, the motive force
which impels the child to strive, is the feeling that the truth
sought is worth the effort.

Froebel has pointed out the wonderful progress of the child
during its first three years of life. Nowhere do we find deeper
suggestions for nature-study than here. Even the way a young
animal learns is illuminating to our problems. A partridge chick
in its first active day tries hundreds, if not thousands, of experi-
ments, pecks at all sorts of conspicuous objects, pecks at the eye
of a fellow, gets no satisfaction, pecks at a dew-drop, learns how
water tastes, pecks at its own toes, and tips itself over, at its
fellows' toes and tips them over, is served likewise in its term,
learns that toes are not food. It learns that some things taste
good and other things bad and by the end of the day has solved
the fundamental food problems of the species. If some students
of education could give us from this point of view a detailed
picture of even this first day in the life of a bird, it might awaken
us to appreciate more keenly the possibilities of early education.

Touching as it does the whole people, and occupying these
plastic years of youth, there can be no doubt that nature-study
in the public schools is the most fundamental and most vital
problem in the whole field of modern science instruction. Here
we must answer the question (as Dr. Coulter puts it) ; How may
we keep the "tentacles of enquiry" of the young child alive be-
tween the kindergarten and high-school or college age? We
might say: How can we keep the children alive mentally and
morally and prevent them from becoming parasitic word-eaters?
If any university specialist in science or education deems this
problem too low or easy for his powers, let him join this Society

hodge] NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE TEACHIXG 19

and tackle it for a while. The farther I go, the more it is born in
upon me that our exigency is grave, and that science teachers and
specialists of every grade must get together and all put their
shoulders to the wheel. For such united effort this Society now
affords an adequate, working organization, in which, I hope,
teachers in primary and grammar grades, high-schools, normal
schools, colleges and universities may unite on absolutely equal
footing.

Sir William Macdonald is now devoting his time and his millions
to elementary, rural scientific education. Some years ago he
began bv endowing scientific research in McGill University. I had
long wished to ask him why he had turned from university re-
search to elementary science, and, being at his house in Montreal
recentlv, I surprised him with the question. His eyes twinkled
as he replied: "The younger the better, the younger the
better. If science is worth anything, the younger we teach it the
better. Yes," he continued, "I did begin with science in the
Universitv, and I have no fault to find with that; but I soon
realized that if we made science mean anything much to the
whole people, we must begin with +he boys and girls. The
Catholic Church is the wisest organization in the world and it
says: "Give me a child till he is twelve, and you may do with
him what you please after that? We ought to be as wise for
science."

Fellow teachers in science, how do we meet such a test as this?
Where is the body of method and matter upon which we agree as
well and teach as patiently and successfully for science as do our
Catholic friends for religion? From what an incubus of ignorance
and all its consequent folly and misery would this free us as a
people — preventable disease and invalidism, patent and quack
medicines, faith cures and unchristian science, end, we might add,
if everyone knew enough to do his part, preventable insect
ravages due largely to ignorant destruction of birds and other
insectivorous animals.

When we consider how fundamental and how universally
needed this elementary struggle for truth is, we must admit that
all our endowments for higher science, great as they are, and all
our expenditure for public education, large as this is, are in-
adequate to cope with the present situation. We need, as we
need nothing else, on our side of the line, some man of wealth who

2 o THE NA TURESTUD Y RE VIE W [4 : ,_ JAN., iqo8

has the faith in the possibilities of elementary science that Mr.
Macdonald has for Canada. And with the Macdonald Con-
solidated Schools, the Macdonald Institute at Guelph, and the
Macdonald College at Ste. Anne de Bellevue, all working to-
gether in demonstrating good methods and results and in training
teachers, Canada will outstrip us in this great work. We need at
least one Macdonald Institute in each State, and we need decent
nature-study facilities, equipment, laboratories and dignified
courses in nature-study in all our normal schools. These courses
should not be exclusively college science, which can result in
nothing better than futile attempts at teaching college sciences in
the public schools, they should be such practical "problem
solving" as will strengthen, inspire and prepare for teaching
nature-study.

Much interest has been awakened by the establishment of the
Sage Foundation for the investigation of the causes of povertv in
this country. What larger and more widely disseminated
causes of poverty can we hope to discover than our tax for
preventable disease (about $3,000,000,000 annually), our bills
(unestimated) for patent medicines, our tax for insect damages
($800,000,000 a year), our forest-product famine and the de-
vastating floods and fires on account of national ignorance of
forestry, our ruinous soil impoverishment, our wanton destruc-
tion of bird life, and many other drains on our national prosperity
equally unnecessary. Here are problems which lie sclose to the
life of the child and the home, problems of wholesome homes and
clean, living, problems of birds and insects, gardens, fields and
woods and pure water. These are problems which meet the
criterion, of basal and universal human interest which its must be
the function of a system of public education to begin to solve.
May our organization be the means of hastening and establishing
the good work.

Ill*

By C. R. MANN
The University of Chicago

In launching this new organization for the promotion of the
interests of nature-study in the elementary schools, it is im-
portant to define as clearly and as definitely as is possible the

*Abstract of Professor Mann's address.

MANNj NATURE-STUDY AXD SCIENCE TEACHIXG 21

exact purpose or aim of the society ; and this resolves itself into a
discovery of the fundamental principles of the subject, and of the
place of nature-study in schools. In other words, we must first
know what nature-study is for. Until the problem before us can
be stated accuratelv and specifically, the efforts of the society
will accomplish little; since it will be, as it were, shooting at
random, with small chance of hitting the mark. In the hope of
assisting in this definition of the aims of nature-study, the follow-
ing two working hypotheses are suggested as guides in the
future work.

The attempt is often made to draw a sharp line of distinction
between nature-studv and that which usually passes under the
name of science in the high schools and colleges. Is this dis-
tinction real, or has it been forced on nature-study as a sort of
protection against the inroads of the later so-called science?
This is the first fundamental question.

This question cannot be answered until we agree on a defini-
tion of what we mean by science; and upon the nature of the
definition accepted will depend the answer to the question. The
most universally accepted definition of science is this: "Science
is organized knowledge;" yet while this definition has much to
commend it, it is barren of results for the purposes of education,
since it points to no clue, either explicitly or implicitly, to the
motive that impels men to scientific work. Besides, it does not
tell the teachers anything about the aims of science in the course,
nor does it give any indications of the manner in which science
should be presented in order to obtain the highest educational
results. On the contrary it is frequently considered to contain,
by implication a justification for teaching science as a series of
organized facts, to be committed to memory without any con-
ception of the methods used in the organization of those facts.
Hence this definition will not prove of assistance in the present
connection.

A much more vital and usefrd definition for the purposes of
education is this: "Science is problem-solving." This de-
finition is very rich with suggestion both as to the motive that
impels to scientific investigation, and as to the ways and means
of carrying on the work; for anyone who is able to solve
a problem must be able to recognize the motive in the curiosity
aroused by the problem, and to analyze ,with thought, the mental

22 THE NA TURE-STUD Y REIVE W f 4 : ,-jan., igo8

processes involved in the operation of obtaining the solution;
and when this has been done, and the operation has become clear,
he will be in a position to understand how to present science to
children. This definition also implies several other points which
are vital to nature-study; as, for example, this: that the
problem must be spontaneous with the child, — must be the
child's own problem, — or, in other words, must be real to him in
order that his curiosity be keenly aroused. If this is to be the
case, the problem must arise naturally out of the child's own
concrete experiences, so that the materials of the problem must be
connected closely in some way with the child's life. Furthermore
the answer must not be given him, and he must not be dogmatically
corrected if his first solution seem to the teacher to be wide of the
mark; but he must be directed to further evidence, and thus
trained in the most precious habit of weighing evidence and
verifying conclusions.

This definition of science as problem-solving is not only rich in
implications for the teacher, but it also furnishes a very satis-
factory answer to the problem of the distinction between nature-
study and science. In the light of this definition we see that
there is and should be no essential difference between them.
In the elementary school the child solves his real problems, but
these are of a simple and more concrete kind; as he proceeds,
and acquires power in the art, his problems become more complex
and more abstract; until, in the graduate school, under the
name of research, he is working at very complex and very ab-
stract problems, — problems on the borderland of human knowl-
edge,— but with no essential difference in the spirit and the
methods of the work. This is the ideal condition, the one to-
wards which, let us hope, we are moving. In this condition there
will be no distinction of kind between nature-study and science,
but only one of degree. This condition is far from the practice
of the present time. We now have the true scientific investigat-
ing spirit only in the elementary science and in the research work.
The intermediate work, extending, say, from the seventh grade
through the college, although devised presumably to prepare
for research, is too often actually carried on by dogmatically
cramming the memory with "facts and laws," with a total
neglect of motive and a consequent deadening of the research
spirit.

M Ass] NA 7 URE-S TUD Y A XD SC/EA'CE TEA CHING 2 3

But while this definition, or one like it, helps in defining the
aims of the nature-study work, it by no means furnishes all the
information needed by the teacher. We need a further working
hypothesis to guide in the selection of problems for the suc-
cessive grades, and to tell us the use of the solutions of the prob-
lems when they have been obtained. For science is not mere
skill in solving problems; but the facts learned in the process,
and the organized knowledge obtained from the work have an
added value of their own. Is there any suggestion that may
guide us in defining this side of the problem?

The following, drawn from a study of the history of science,
is suggested as possibly defining the greatest use of the results
of scientific work to mankind, and hence also as defining the
ultimate use of this scientific knowledge to the individual.
This use does not lie in the increased physical comfort of life,
which is often ascribed to science; nor yet is this greatest service
of science to be found in our greater control of the forces of nature.
These are but the external signs of the results of the problem-
solving of science. The real use of these results of scientific
work is that of furnishing the mind with a concrete, ordered
basis for abstract, organized thought. The concrete pictures
of system, order, and organization, which result from the scientific
study of natural phenomena, are necessary to order, system, and
organization in the worlds of the intellect and the soul. Were the
natural world a physical chaos, the mind would be a mental
chaos, and the soul an ethical chaos. The fact that the modern
soul is somewhat of an ethical chaos is thus in part the reproach
of modern science teaching.

This conception of the use of scientific knowledge may be
illustrated by many, many examples. Perhaps the most striking
is that of the establishment of the Copernican system of astron-
omv. This piece of scientific work may be said to be en-
cumbered with a minimum amount of practical use; but its use,
as furnishing a concrete picture of a system of order, organized
about a central body, which is the life of the whole, has performed
services of inestimable value in revolutionizing religious concepts,
— in fact, we may believe that the complete consummation
of the Reformation would have bean impossible without it.

The idea underlying this conception of the use of scientific
work is verv similar to that on which Froebel bases his mother

2 4 THE NA TUKE-STUD Y RE VIE W \ 4

play and kindergarten games; since these are given to the child
to furnish him, through his own personal experiences in living
them, with concrete pictures of relations which he is to meet in
his later life; thus preparing the way for a real comprehension
of those relations, and an appreciation of their actuality. Much
of the unreality and the emptiness of modern, religious, organized
life is doubtless due co the failure of science to have stored the
mind of the modern man with suitable concrete pictures of law
and order during his early education.

Hence, in closing, let me urge this newly-born society to define
its purpose clearly and with precision, and to take suitable account
of the two fundamental principles here set forth. "Science is
problem-solving." "The results of scientific work should furnish
the mind with a real, ordered, concrete basis for real, organized,
abstract thought." These are, for the cohorts of science, the
two hands of Moses; and so long as we hold these aloft, we need
not fear, in any struggle we may be called upon to enter, lest
Israel will not prevail.

This Nature-Study Society, therefore, has before it a research
problem in education to be solved by the methods of science. It
should enter the work in true scientific spirit; should inaugurate
experiments to test its working hypotheses; should modify these
hypotheses, if necessary, by the results of its experiments ; and so
should endeavor to organize a unified course of scientific in-
struction, extending from the kindergarten to the graduate
school, — a course that would preserve as its most valuable asset
the research spirit in the students, and would at the same time
fill the mind of every one of them with such clear and powerful
pictures of the organization and the law-abiding system of
Nature that intellectual and ethical chaos would no longer be
possible.

In conclusion it, must be noted that the organization of the
science work as here set forth carries with it the solution of the
problem of the adequate preparation of the teacher. For if the
science work from the kindergarten on is so conducted as to pre-
serve the research spirit, all that will be required of a teacher
will be that he take enough work in science to have mastered his
subject-matter to a sufficient degree.

NEW YORK CITY SECTION OF A. N. S. S.

A meeting was held at Teachers College, New York, January
18, 1908, in response to a call issued by Mr. M. A. Bigelow,
secretary of the American Nature-Study Society, for the purpose
of forming a New York Section of the national society.

Dr. H. A. Kelly, of the Ethical Culture School, was chosen
chairman; and Mr. F. L. Holtz, of the Brooklyn Training Schcol,
secretary for the meeting.

Dr. Bigelow then reported concerning the recent organization
of the American Nature-Study Society at Chicago. He explained
the constitution, organization, method of election and the official
organ of publication. Dr. Bigelow then explained the purposes
of the meeting : To get enough members to form a local Section
of the national Society; to carry on practical local work in
nature-study ; to discuss local adaptation of the general principles
of nature-study teaching; to meet the problems of teaching
nature- study in a large city.

The matter was then put before the meeting for general dis-
cussion. Mrs. Northrop, of Yonkers, urged the formation of such
a Section and spoke of the way in which it could be of practical
service to teachers in the public schools, e. g., by furnishing
nature-study materials, and also it might help to prevent the
destruction of wild flowers and park plants, etc. Dr. Call, of
the DeWitt Clinton High School, also favored the formation of a
Section. He urged that the grade teachers should be aided, and
that thev especially should be enlisted. Dr. Bigelow said that
anyone who was a member of the national society may be con-
sidered a member of the local section, if organized, and that as
there were already 75 such members in New York City and vicin-
ity, it would be simplest to proceed directly with the election of
an executive committee and a secretary to arrange programs
and outline work for the Section. He, therefore, moved that
such a committee and secretary be elected and that this Section
apply to the Council for recognition as the New York City Section
of the American Nature-Study Society. The motion was sec-
onded and carried. A nominating committee was appointed

25

2 6 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [4 : ,-jan., 19o8

by the chair which reported the nomination of the following
executive committee: Mrs. A. R. Northrop, Secretary; Mr.
H. G. Parsons, Dr. G. Straubenmuller. Dr. H. A. Kelly, Mr. F. L.
Holtz, Mrs. Howard Van Sinderen. The report of the committee
was adopted and the persons named were declared elected. It
was decided by vote that the time of meetings should be in the
evening. It was suggested that the Section meet three or four
times a year.

In later discussion of work for the New York Section, Mr. F. L.
Holtz, of the Brooklyn Training School for Teachers, suggested
that the meetings be devoted to the discussion of the pedagogy of
nature-study as well as to the presentation of subject-matter of
use or interest to grade teachers. He believed chat the Section
could be instrumental in inducing park boards, museums and the
school authorities to furnish nature-study material to the
teachers of the public schools. He said that the Section could
also stimulate school principals and other officials to take more
interest in nature-study. He suggested that the Section might
arrange nature-study excursions. He hoped that the Section
would try to get practical results in the schools.

Mr. Spencer, of the New York Aquarium, said that the
school authorities expected their teachers to make bricks without
straw when thev did not provide material with which to teach
nature-study. He spoke of the work the Aquarium had done in
assisting teachers to secure marine material.

Mr. Parsons, of the Children's School Farm, DeWitt Clinton
Park, also spoke of the difficulty teachers had in securing material
and said the School Farm stood ready to assist in this respect.

Dr. Kelly referred to the help that might be secured from the
Aquarium, the Museum of Natural History, the Botanical Gar-
dens, etc.

Miss Maud Staber, Brooklyn Training School for Teachers,
said the Section could assist teachers by making lists of available
materials and also showing good localities for field study.

Mr. C. H. Robison urged the formation of standing committees
to look after different interests represented in nature-study.
This was left for the executive committee to work out.

There were about thirty-five members of the A. N.-S. S. in
attendance. The following interests were represented : Teachers
College. Ethical Culture School, Brooklvn Training School for

THE NATURALISTS OUTLOOK' 27

Teachers, New York Training School for Teachers, Children's
School Farm, the Public Education Association, New York
Aquarium, DeWitt Clinton High School, High School of Com-
merce, St. Agatha School of Xew York, and several public
schools of New York and neighboring cities.

F. L. Holtz, Sec. Pro Tern.

THE NATURALIST'S OUTLOOK AND SCHOOL
NATURE-STUDY

By EDWARD F. BIGELOW, Stamford. Connecticut

One of the best sentences ever published in The Nature-
Study Review, the most expressive, the fullest of truth —
mighty solemn truth, is this from the article on "Booming
Nature-Study," on page 260 of the issue for December, 1907 :

"We who are naturalists in vocation or avocation must remem-
ber that, after all, naturalists represent comparativelv a rare
variety of the human genus, and our own outlook on the world
may be quite unintelligible to a large majority of our intelligent
fellow men."

Will our nature-study specialists please take that fact into
their mental laboratories and dissect it, and tell the whvs and
wherefores of it? In the word of the great philosopher who in-
quired, "Where are we at""", please explain what we are "at"
that will change the situation (so well described in the excellent
quoted sentence) a generation from now. Is it desirable that it
should be changed? If not, why not?

In the same number was a notice of my book, "The Spirit of
Nature-Study," in which the reviewer says, "Most chapters of the
book have no particular bearing on school nature-study." Will
some one please explain wherein "the spirit" of school nature-
study (I do not mean materials or methods) is different from that
of the amateur naturalists, different from that we would like to
see all men and women possess; but that, as the editor of The
Review so truly says, they do not now possess.

In all this nature-study talk, do we not limit it too much to
children and schools ? Will we ever achieve our aims by so sharplv
setting off a "school nature-study" from "our intelligent fellow

-'8 THE NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW u . ,_,,,., igcS

men" who regard us as "unintelligible?" —possibly as harmless
lunatics or hopeless idiots, I venture to add.

Edward F. Bigelow.
Office of the

Agassiz Association,
Stamford, Conn.

ARE CHILDREN NATURALLY NATURALISTS?

A Series of Letters from Readers

I

By CLAYTON F. PALMER

State Normal School, Los Angeles, Calif.

The article in the November number with the title, "Are
Children Naturally Naturalists?" appeals to me as being pecul-
iarly frank. And now we may rind ourselves wondering why
this view has not been more generally voiced before. But I sus-
pect that as biologists we have been over-zealous of the im-
portance of biological subject-matter, and perhaps a bit fearful
lest the physical sciences have an opportunity competitively to
show what they can accomplish in the elementary school nature-
study work. Many of us, I believe, must accept Professor
Bigelow's contention; and doubtless some of us find in his
article an expression of a truth that has been haunting us for
some time; and yet, for one reason or another, we had not
reached the point where we were ready to confess our convictions.

That now and then a naturalist is "born and not made," no
one can doubt; but that many naturalists, if not most of them,
were made, may not meet with general admission at first. And
while each of us probably shows somewhere in the warp or woof
of his nature a stronger or weaker tendency in certain directions,
is it not true that one may find a considerable and real interest in
any one of several vocations or avocations, should circumstances
conspire to acquaint him with the essentials of the same?

Is a child naturally fond of animals? How manv children are
ever given the opportunity to indicate their natural atcitude
towards animals sufficiently to enable us to answer this question?
Most young children, at least, show a natural interest in dogs,
cats and other animals, seen at a distance. It is apparently the
activity, however, that attracts them, just as a mechanical toy
might hold their interest for a time But when these pets are

palmer] ARE CHILDREN NATURALLY NATURALISTS? 29

brought near, they almost invariably frighten, at first, and a
further acquaintance is forced by teaching the child to like the
"nice doggie" or "pretty kitty."

It would appear that it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at
anything like a safe conclusion as to what a child would naturally
do in these and many other cases. The human animal is trained
continually from the day of its birth. Is it not another case of,
"How much is hereditary, and how much is due to environment?"

My Own experience as a boy coincides pretty well with that
related by Professor Bigelow, and I believe he has shown us the
average, active, healthy boy — the "typical" boy — but there are
some puzzling things about this boy nature. Most of us, as boys,
probably went through that stage, which may be characterized
for the average boy by warfare against the harmless and de-
fenseless "critters" of the earth, air, and water. And I would
say that little of it could be classed as intentional cruelty; at
least, the sufferings of our "enemies" were not long drawn out
according to the nature of the high art practiced by "Tabby"
with her unfortunate mouse.

But how can one explain such an outcropping of the savage
nature in a boy? Cruelty cannot answer for all this, for as we
well know, many just such boys have their pets for whose com-
fort and care they are very solicitous. It seems to me that most
of it is due to the innate tendency in mankind to subdue and sub-
jugate all things possible; for, is he not to have "dominion,
over every living thing that moveth upon the earth?" Most of
these boyhood "sports" are the result of misdirected "dominion;"
the boy loves and cares for the useful, and dispatches the use-
less, according to his understanding. To correct such pernic-
ious "sport" as killing toads and robbing bird's nests, it will be
found that the average boy will usually respond to wise effort
directed towards showing him his true relation to his environ-
ment. Moreover, this should be one of the leading objects in
teaching the zoological side of nature-study.

[Editor's Note. — Other letters in this series will appear in later issues.]

3° THE NA TURE-STUD V RE I 'IE IV u . ,_JAN;j ,9oS

II

By WILLARD N. CLUTE
Editor of American Botanist, Joliet, 111.

It looks to me as if your remarks on the query as to children
being naturally naturalists are about right. I never heard of
anybody that collected more than I did when a boy, but I see
now that my collections were made to beat the other fellows.
All our long tramps for specimens were not taken for the know-
ledge to be gained, but for the specimens to be exhibited. I do
not recall spending much time with these collections by myself.

I question whether many of the adults who claim to be in-
terested in nature are really so. How many do you know that
are enough interested in nature to prefer che study of it to other
things? How many who study nature b\ themselves and bring
home no specimens? Mighty few, I'll warrant! I have been
trying for seven years to get our people to take a real interest in
plants by publishing all the curious and remarkable things about
them that I can find in books, the periodicals and the field; but
to very small avail. Meanwhile Dana's "How to Know the
Wild Flowers," which guides one to the names of his specimens,
has sold 65,000 copies. How many of our students of botany
do you suppose keep up the study after they leave high school?
Not many.

Possibly some such ruminations as these caused nature-
study to be dubbed a "fad" by that Chicago professor. It
seems to me that if nature-study is ever to get anywhere, it
will have to be used as a drill in observation not as a stimulus
to the child's interest in nature for which most children have
no abiding interest. The child is very much like an electric
motor. It keeps going and interested as long as you turn on
the current. All this in the face of the fact that in our high
school we have a club of 50 ex-botany students managed
exclusively by themselves.

As you can see by the rambling nature of the foregoing, it
was not written for publication.

CONFERENCE ON AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

At the meeting of the Department of Superintendence of the
National Education Association in Washington, D. C, February

EDITORIAL NOTES 31

25-26-27, considerable attention will be given to agricultural
education. A Round Table Conference will be held at which
will be discussed among other things "Cooperation between the
State Agricultural College and the State Normal School in
Training Teachers for Elementary Agriculture" and "Cooperation
between the U. S. Department of Agriculture and State School
Authoritie ; in promoting Agriculture in the Public Schools."

Arrangements have also been completed to organize at the
Februarv meeting a "Department of Rural and Agricultural
Education" coordinate with other departments of the National
Education Association. Permission to organize this Depart-
ment was given by the Board of Directors at the meeting in Los
Angeles in July, 1907.

U. S. Department of Agriculture. D. J. Crosby.

EDITORIAL NOTES

The last number of The Review, the end of the third volume,
has led many readers to write letters offering congratulations to
the editor, who takes this opportunity of dividing the honors
with the members of the editorial committee and the dozens of
contributors and advisors whose co-operation has made The
Review successful educationally. Anyone who has carefully
read all the articles printed in the twenty-four numbers since
Januarv, 1905, must recognize that the combined work of the
many contributors has made a splendid record of nature-study
as it has been developing in recent years. In short, the magazine
has been true to the prospectus issued in 1904 which announced
that "there will be timely notes and reviews on important new
literature relating to all phases of nature-study, news notes,
short articles and notes on the materials and methods involved in
the practical side of the teacher's work, queries and answers, and
correspondence and discussions. In brief, it will be attempted
to keep readers in touch with the latest and best of theory and
practice in nature-study."

The organization of the American Nature-Study Society and
the adoption of The Review as the official organ makes the
future of the journal assured. The co-operation which has made
the journal successful will surely lead to far better results in the
work of . the new nature-study society. Individual ownership

32 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4: i-jan., 1908

and control, made necessary by the financial problems to be
solved, have in some cases worked against The Review and
support has sometimes been withheld because it was essentially
a private journal. Such an objection can no longer obtain, and
complete cooperation is to be expected.

According to the constitution of the A. N.-S. S., the Council of
the Society will hereafter be the advisory editorial committee in
place of the original committee. The editor takes this oppor-
tunity to express his appreciation of the help and encouragement
which, in the founding of The Review and in the editorial work
on the three volumes published, has been given by his colleagues
■of the original editorial committee: Professor Bailey, Professor

Hodge, Dr. Fairbanks, and Professor Woodhull.

M. A. B.

It has proved impossible to publish in this issue all the papers
and discussions presented at the first meeting of the American
Nature-Study Society; and the fourth paper, by M. A. Bigelow,
and the discussions by many members will be published in the
February issue, which will be mailed next week.

The attempt to begin the fourth volume with a full report
of the meeting of the A. N. S. S. has led to an unexpected delay
in publication. This issue should have been mailed in the third
week of January, but it was impossible for the editor to get all
the manuscripts before January 16th. It seems certain that the
printer will be able to mail the February and later issues in the
months of date.

A series of special issues edited by members of the A. N. S. S.
are being prepared for publication. The March number is con-
tributed by Ohio teachers, and edited by Professor Guyer, of
Cincinnati; and the May number will be edited by Dr. Fair-
banks, of California. Six other specially edited numbers are in
1 (reparation for next autumn and winter.

The managing editor asks for suggestions regarding topics
which deserve special attention, especially on practical lines.
We must have more practical material for teachers.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 FEBRUARY, 1908 No. 2

THE RELATION OF SCIENCE AND NATURE-STUDY

[Editor's Note. The following is the conclusion of the report of the
first meeting of the American Nature-Study Society which was begun in
the January issue of this magazine.]

IV

By MAURICE A. BIGELOW
Teachers College, Columbia University

It has been well said by one of the foremost leaders of the
American nature-study movement that "Nature-study is a re-
volt from the teaching of mere science in the elementary grades."
For many years the leaders of the movement have been de-
manding that lines be drawn between nature-study for elementary
schools and science for higher schools; and within recent years
it has come to be generally recognized by very many educators
that the best nature-study for the primary and grammar grades
is that which is differentiated from the existing science teaching
in high schools. Nature-study then stands for a reaction from
science teaching as we commonly understand science teaching.
Nature-study is simply the result of looking at elementary-
school problems from the standpoint of educational principles
rather than from that of science in the strict sense, and the
recognition that the prevailing science teaching of the higher
schools is utterly unsuitable for young children of the elementary
schools.

Such, in brief outline, are the causes of the movement away
from the prevailing science teaching of higher schools and to the
establishment of nature-study as something differing from
science teaching sufficiently to warrant the introduction of the
new name for elementary studies of natural things. To under-
stand the nature-study movement and to view logically and con-
servatively the problems of coordination, correlation or different-
iation between nature-study and science teaching, we must first

33

34 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u . 2-fkb., 1908

be clear as to the characteristics of the two phases of study of
natural objects and processes which we now commonly call
nature-study in elementary schools and natural science in higher
schools.

In the first place we must clearly recognize that nature-study
and science teaching can not be two fundamentally different
things. Each deals with natural objects and processes and the
approved method of teaching has its basis in direct observation.
Obviously there can be but two possible differences between
nature-study and natural science teaching, namely: (1) point of
view and (2) elementary versus advanced study. Are these ap-
parently slight differences of great significance in scientific edu-
cation? We can best answer this question by contrasting in
careful analysis nature-study and science teaching.

Viewing critically the best existing theory and practice of
nature-study in elementary schools, it seems clear that the fol-
lowing are essentials1 in nature study: (1) direct observation as
a basis of study, (2) study of common things of nature, and (3)
from the standpoint of our human interests in nature as it touches
our daily life directly. Putting these three together, I am glad to
define nature-study as primarily the simple observational study
of common, natural objects and processes for the sake of personal
acquaintance with the things which appeal to human interests
directly.

As we pass to the science side of the problem, let us keep in
mind for comparison the three striking characteristics of nature-
study: (1) observation, the fundamental method; (2) common
things in nature, the important materials; (3) human interests
in every-day life, the point of view.

Before contrasting nature-study with science, let me make the
prefatory note that until the last paragraphs of this paper I
shall speak of natural science from the standpoint of the investi-
gator, the scientist, the man whose primary interest in study of
nature lies in the attempt to increase little by little the already
vast organization of knowledge concerning nature. For my
present purposes I shall define and discuss science from this
point of view of the strict scientist; and this is legitimate be-
cause it is the dominating point of view in our colleges and de-
cidedly influences the science teaching of most high schools. At
'See this journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, Jan. 1907.

BICiELOW,

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE TEACHING 3 5

the close of the paper I shall express agreement with Professor
Mann and other science teachers who, in recent years, have begun
to question whether the point of view of science in the strict
sense should control introductory science courses in high schools,
or perhaps even in colleges.

What then do we understand by the term science? Is it
merely study of nature? Is a boy chasing butterflies engaged in
studying the science of zoology ? Is a child testing the wonders of
a magnet studying the science of physics? Or is the cook who
observes the reaction between water and baking powder nec-
essarilv a student of chemistry? Obviously, "study of nature"
is not sufficient to define our conception of modern science.
But here is a definition which has proved satisfactory: "Science
is organized knowledge concerning nature." Classification of
facts and organization into principles or generalizations — this is
the characteristic, the spirit and the aim of all modern science.1

One of the striking proofs of this is the fact that so many
times during the reading of scientific papers in the meetings
of the last few days we have seen that the interest manifested by
the members of the scientific societies has largely depended
upon whether the author of a paper succeeded in organizing his
own results and connecting them with the established principles
of science.

Organization, then, is the great central thought in modern
scientific research and advanced study. It was organization
which led from the old alchemy to the modern chemistry with
its center in the atomic theory; and it was organization, be-
ginning with the facts within the domains of anatomy, taxonomy,
paleontology and physiology, that finally culminated in the great
central evolution theory that transformed the old natural history,
which literally claimed lo be nothing more than a record of
observed facts, into the modern science of zoology. Likewise
the history of all modern science is a continuous story of known
facts being organized into generalizations which in turn have
stimulated the search for more facts leading to more organization.

Now thus far we have looked at science from the scientist's
point of view. But what shall be the teacher's point of view?

'See this journal, Vol. i, No. i, Jan. 1905, p. 14. Also note in the
preceding paper by Dr. Mann, and approved by Dr. Hodge, the definition
of science teaching given is based on what it should be ("problem
solving"), not on what it usually is.

36 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW u : 2_FEB., ,90s

A large proportion of the college scientists who teach as well as
investigate have made their scientist's point of view their teach-
ing point of view. In other words, they have organized their
courses with the apparent aim of training special investigators
and not in the direct interests of the great mass of students who
want knowledge of science for liberal culture.

Likewise in the secondary-school field the scientist's point of
view has largely prevailed, chiefly because the college men have
through advice, example and entrance requirements controlled,
and have attempted to make the high-school science lead directly
to the science in the college.

We see, then, that in both high school and college the scientist's
point of view usually controls the science teaching. In other
words: Science study and teaching is the close analytical,
synthetical study of natural objects and processes primarily for
the purpose of knowing and understanding the organized prin-
ciples or generalizations which constitute the foundations of
modern science. An examination of the majority of text-books,
laboratory guides and lecture note-books will show the truth of
this statement.

Contrasting nature-study and science teaching in the light of
the above analysis, here are the essential points; (i) the
materials for study may be the same; (2) the method of study
is the same except in degree of advancement; but (3) the point
of view is radically different. Nature-study stands primarily
for every-day human interest. Science study, as commonly
understood, stands primarily for scientific principles; and while
every-day human interest is not necessarily eliminated, as a
matter of fact it is certainly not prominent. At any rate, the
one important thing in the above contrast is that nature-study
cuts loose from the principles, the organization of science, and
leaves these for the later work of high school or college.

At this point I fear my hearers may raise serious objections
because I apparently advocate that nature-study should be
entirely unorganized, that there should be no continuity of
lessons, no building up of larger ideas, no principles. Un-
fortunately much of the nature-study of the past has been that
and even worse ; but there is something better available. Nature-
study may be quite independent of scientific organization, but
still have an educational organization. Let me illustrate: In

BIGELOWl

RE LA T/Oy OF XA TURE-S TUD Y A XD SCIENCE 3 7

teaching the science of botany we take up higher plants in some
such order as root, stem, leaf, flower and fruit. Why? Because,
for the sake of scientific organization, we must compare stem with
stems, and leaf with leaves. It is even very probable that
for the sake of intense comparative study we will at times ask
students to study many roots or many leaves entirely apart
from their natural relations and without regard to interest not
directly derived from organized knowledge of the science of
botany.

On the other hand, in nature-study the point of approach
should be radically different. It must be from the child's
center of interest. Imagine the absurdity of studying a rose
plant in full bloom by first making a comparative study of roots,
perhaps even going back to seeds, then stems and leaves, and
finallv get to the one point of intense interest, the flower. Science
study from the standpoint of the scientist may (I believe not
necessarily) start with the most uninteresting parts; but nature-
studv must be true to its claims for interest in daily life and start
with the point of greatest interest. Nature-study must study
the rose from the standpoint of life as it exists in the child stand-
ing before the plant, not from the viewpoint of the man of science
who looks through the eyes of the thousands of investigators
whose united labors have given the scientist's outlook. No
order of comparative botany will suffice for nature-study. The
child does not care for the scientific conception of root, stem,
leaf, etc. But each plant has a center of interest — the flower in
the rose, the root of a radish, the leaf of a lettuce, the fruic of a
peach, the stem of an asparagus, — such may be the variations in
human interest which decides the point of approach in nature-
study.

So also in animal nature-study. The tail of a fish is interesting
because significant ; but not so is a cat's tail which may be
"conspicuously absent" without affecting seriously the life of the
animal. In all cases the animal nature-study should start with
the most striking habits, uses, and adaptations — these are the
centers of interest, — and never mind the comparative zoology of
"head, thorax, abdomen, appendages, and internal anatomy."

And the same principles apply to physical nature. It is
possible from the nature-study point of view to give a series of
ten or twelve interesting: lessons on heat starting; with such a

38 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ 4: 2-feb., .908

question as " how does heat affect our daily life?", and omitting
all reference to atoms and molecules and ether wave motion and
coefficients of expansion, etc. — a series of generalizations in the
common physical science teaching which reminds us of the
root-stem-leaf order of study in botany and the head-thorax-
abdomen order of zoology.

One more illustration must suffice. In nature-study we make
an educationally organized study of trees, grouping the facts
learned around such topics as "Trees in their Relation to Man,"
or "Elementary Forestry." Here again the every-day interest
prevails, and obviously such a study of trees might be no less
organized in an elementary way than are the same facts in a
"Manual of Trees." The "Forestry" touches the nature-study
point of view, the direct human interest in trees; the "Manual,"
is the science point of view, interest primarily in organized
knowledge as such. This illustration suggests that the nature-
study point of view might lead, in more advanced work, to
application of scientific principles, e. g., in forestry and agriculture.
In fact much of the so-called "applied science" of our day seems
to be in line with what we have agreed to call the nature-study
point of view in contrast to that of pure science. But applied
science differs from nature-study in that it depends upon the
principles of pure science. It is simply technical, organized
science modified by the nature-study point of view.

Nature-study, then, stands for educational organization based
on the direct human interest in nature. Science stands for
scientific organisation based on direct interest (1) in organized
knowledge for its own sake, and (2) with the hope that possibly
such organized knowledge may some day become of direct
interest in applied science.

Thus analyzing science and nature-study, it does not seem
probable that anyone with experience in schools will dispute the
statement that nature-study, minus the scientific organization
adapted to mature minds, is the proper work for elementary schools.

And now we come to the latest chapter in the science of
teaching. In previous paragraphs I have had in mind the science
of advanced research, the science of the scientist, which has
been and, on the whole, in practice still is the science of high-
school and college teaching. From that nature-study for young
children should beyond question be sharply differentiated. But

bigklow] RELATION OF NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE 39

a new right-about-face has recently come in science teaching for
high schools. Within five years there has come a reform move-
ment, a new science teaching for higher schools. To be brief,
that reform movement philosophically and educationally con-
sidered is simply the nature-study point of view, the every-day
life point of view, adopted for high school teaching. It is the
nature-study attitude for which the leaders of nature-study have
stood for many years.

The present situation must be obvious. High-school
science is tending towards adopting the nature-study point of
view and rejecting the scientist's point of view. Does it mean
that nature-study for elementary schools and high-school science
from the nature-study point of view are to be wasteful duplica-
tions in our educational system? I believe not. We must still
continue to draw the line along scientific organization. The
ideal of nature-study should be held primarily for the elementary
schools, that is, study of nature in these schools should not
deal with the larger principles of organized science, although its
educational organization may give scientific training and facts
and grouping of facts which will well lead the way to the real
science of the high school. I believe that the nature-study
point of view, the human interest point of view, the applied science
point of view will vastly improve our high-school science, but to
advocate that high-school science should be changed to nature-
study without the great principles of science would be taking a
decidedly backward step. Experience has demonstrated be-
yond a shadow of a doubt that high-school pupils properly
taught on a basis of nature-studv are able to grapple intelligently
and eagerly with the outlines of the great principles of our modern
science. If you doubt, I should like to introduce to you many
high-school boys and girls graduated from the schools into life's
work, not into college, within recent years and let you persuade
yourselves that even a high-school pupil may get a glimpse of the
meaning of great science generalizations, — for example, the
atomic theory, the law of conservation of energy, the theories of
light, heat and electricity, the biological theories of evolution —
all of which we must admit are ideas which should be of great
interest to every liberally cultured citizen. In short, we must
continue to have introduction to organized science, to scientific
generalizations, in our hign schools; and those who in theory

4 o THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u . ,-feb., 1908

advocate that organized science should be left for college surely
have forgotten the fact that the vast majority of intelligent
citizens can not have the advantages of college education.

Summarizing the whole matter: Nature-study educationally
organized is beyond question best for the elementary school.
Introductory science, scientifically organized on the educational
basis of nature-study, is the ideal for the secondary school.
Here are two points of view, the scientific and the educational,
strict science and nature-study, each with something important
for all liberal education involving studies of nature. The method
of study is fundamentally the same, but should be modified to
suit the advancing maturity of the child's mind; the materials
for study are drawn from the same source, the nature around
us, but may be selected and graded without exhausting the
supply; the point of view is the fundamental difference —
scientific versus educational organization, real nature-study
versus strict science.

It must be evident from the above discussion that the problems
of the relation of elementary-school nature-study and high-
school science teaching involve differentiation chiefly in organiza-
tion of facts to be taught, but in all other respects the relating of
nature-study to elementary science is chiefly a question of adapt-
ing essentially the same method of study to pupils of advancing
stages. However, the difference in organization of facts is
educationally of sufficient importance to justify the term "nature-
study" for very elementary work without the great principles of
modern science.

Here, then, is the field for our new society: To develop a
general appreciation of the nature-study point of view, the direct
human interest point of view; to organize educationally on this
basis the studies of nature in the lower school ; to avoid un-
necessary duplication of the proper work of the higher schools
and, without departing in the least from the nature-study idea or
point of view, to pave the way for introduction to science prin-
ciples in higher schools; to adjust nature-study to coming high-
school science based on the nature-study 'point of view; and to
work for the training of teachers who can apply the nature-
study idea — thus, in the broadest outlines we may now view the
purposes and the outlook for the future activity of the American
Nature-Studv Societv.

clements] RE LA TION OF NA TU RE- STUD Y AND SCIENCE 4 1

By F. L. CLEMENTS
Professor of Botany in the University of Minnesota

In turning away from the work that has done so much to
bring nature-study into disrepute, we must take care not to go too
far in the opposite direction. We see clearly that there have been
too many trifling and unrelated facts; and no method, or a mis-
taken one, in presenting them. It is but natural to conclude
that method must be emphasized and facts deprecated, and the
point is soon reached where method becomes supreme. Pro-
fessor Hodge has just shown us that, if he were called upon to
choose between the possession of truth and the struggle to attain
it, he would unhesitatingly choose the latter. Fortunately, a
choice between the two is both unnecessary and undesirable.
True science involves both the seeking for truth and the finding
it. It is an endless circle in which the seeker finds truth only to
recognize that the latter makes possible further and deeper
search and this in turn new truths. Let us not think then that
the mental disciplining of the child is the one object of nature-
studv. It is no more important, no more fundamental than the
acquiring of those facts which put him in touch and keep him in
sympathv with the natural world about him.

Questions of what nature-study is and how it should be taught
have been much befogged by the view that nature-study and
elementary science are totally different things. A careful ex-
amination of this point shows that this is a mistaken idea.
The method of independent observation at first hand is as vital
to the one as to the other. The material to be used is the same,
and to give the best results in either case it must be used in some
definite sequence. In both nature-study and science, there is
one best method and others less good. There is the best material,
that which touches the student closely and every day on all sides,
and the poorest, in which the points of contact are artificial or
infrequent. In neither should the material be merely an incident.
The single difference between the two is merely one of degree, or
better, one of time. Nature-study is science for the child, science
is nature-study for the "grown-up." They are the two parts of a
life-long search for truth ; they make up the continuous task of
"problem-solving," in which the problems must be graded
according to the age of the student.

42 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:2-feb. 1908

The crux of the whole question of the future value and position
of nature-study lies in training teachers to teach it in nature from
nature alone. Nature-study, like all studies in the schools,
suffers from over-teaching. The teacher must organize the work
and must guide the student intelligently through it, but he must
do no more. His task is to put the student in the right attitude,
to show him how to work, and then to keep his hands off. We
all know that it is only the things which a student sees and does
and thinks for himself that become a part of him and are really
worth while. Unfortunately we often forget this. School is
but a part of life, and one's own experience the only real teacher.
For these reasons, we must expect no real improvement in nature
teaching, no broader recognition of its fundamental value until
we have trained a new generation of teachers. The teacher
needed cannot be adequately trained by six weeks in a summer
session, no matter what the school. Nor can he be trained by a
year or two cf botany or zoology as taught in the vast majority
of colleges and universities. Nearly all such courses are formal
and special, and have very little of nature in them. They are for
the most part intensive microscopic studies of structure, parti-
cularly of the lower plants and animals, Many of them indeed
actually unfit the student for the teaching of nature-study. In
spice of these facts, it goes without saying that the preparation of
teachers will still be carried on by the colleges and universities.
This will be done successfully only when they radically change
both the method and the matter of teaching elementary science.
The laboratory must be replaced by the greenhouse and the field,
in a large part if not wholly, and the microscope must be recog-
nized as a valuable accessory and not the chief means of study.
More important still will be the development of courses which
will give to the student, not only the exact methods and materials
that he will use as a teacher of nature-study and of high-school
science, but also that broader training without which a compe-
tent and enthusiastic teacher is impossible.

We may discuss the problems of nature-study year after year,
.and we may come to agree fullv as to methods, materials and re-
sults. If, however, we fail to take steps at once to point out
what constitutes adequate training for the teacher, and to see
that this training is actually made available in fact and not in
name, we have wrought to little purpose. Vital changes in edu-

coulter] RELA TION OF NA TURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE 43

cation are pending, and the friends of nature-study must be ready
to take advantage of them. The traditional rule of the three
R's cannot last much longer in education. Industrial and house-
hold training on the one hand, and nature-study on the other,
together with the personal training of the body and the mind in
hygiene and possibly in music and art, must soon be made the
foundation of our educational system. The R's will not be lost.
They will merely cake their rightful places as tools, not as ends in
themselves. It is against this time that the believer in nature-
study must hold himself prepared.

VI

By W. E. PRAEGER

Professor of Biology in Kalamazoo College

In the papers we have just listened to there is one very radical
difference in the points of view. It has been stated with equal
positiveness that nature-study is and is not science. It is evi-
dent that the acceptance of one or the other of these statements
mav have far-reaching influence on the content and the method
of teaching. I hold that nature-study is science and is simply
the name applied to such parts of natural science as can ap-
propriately be taught in the grades. The method of presenta-
tion of these facts will differ widely from that in usi in the high-
school or college, but it is science teaching nevertheless.

There should be no break in the continuity of science teaching
from the kindergarten to the college, no more than there should
be in the teaching of literature or mathematics. The idea that
nature-study is not science leads to serious results, the responsi-
bility for accuracy seems to disappear, and much of the nonsense
and weak sentimentalism that has brought discredit on the
subject is due to this fundamental error.

VII

By JOHN G. COULTER
Professor of Biology in Illinois State Normal University

I am glad that the discussion has turned to the adequate
preparation of teachers of nature-studv, for surely herein rests
any adequate fulfilment whatsoever of the ideals with respect to
which there appears to be general agreement. Our own train-
ing department has made the fair criticism that our courses in
biology do not supply them with eager teachers of nature-study,

44 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE W u : 2-FEB., igo8

and I am prepared to believe that this is largely due to the non-
use of the nature-study method in those courses. We now have
in operation a course entitled "Nature-Study Methods," open to
students who have completed the general courses in biology, by
means of which we hope to turn out a somewhat better crop of
practice-teachers for the spring term.

But we find ourselves distinctly restricted in the effort to use
the nature-study method in our biology courses by the limita-
tions of time, by the rigidity and conservatism of country super-
intendents' examinations, which demand an acquaintance with
too large a body of facts, and, somewhat, by college requirements
for entrance and advanced standing. Here appears to be a point
of attack.

I take it that Mr. Bigelow in differentiating between "human
interest" work in nature-study and the "research method" in
science will permit the translation of his "human interest"
qualification into "things of common experience," xfor I am not
prepared to think that research lacks in human interest or that
nature-study should be lacking in the research method. It is
evident that there is really slight, if any, difference of opinion
among us upon this point, and that nature-study is believed to
merge as gradually into science as the boy into the man; but it
would be a matter for regret if on account of any ambiguity of
terminology the impression should be created that we are stand-
ing for so distinct a separateness between nature-study method
and science method that a teacher might deem her science courses
really worth little in successful nature-study work. I have seen
teachers distinctly handicapped by just such an impression, and
reluctant to use at all of the store of facts gained in the science
courses for fear they would be used in the wrong way.

If it comes to a discussion of what science generalities may be
properly used in the nature-study course, I should like to have
the idea of "plant food" discussed for one.

VIII

By J. W. SHEPHERD
Director of Science in Chicago Normal School

(i) Nature-study is not Science, but it is scientific.

(2) In projecting a nature-study course one should distinguish

carefully between nature-study and other subjects dealing with

'In the paper referred to the author said "human interest in everyday
life."

chahles] RE LA TION OF NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE 45

the same material, for example, between nature-study and
science and between nature study and geography.

(3) The chief difficulty with nature-study teaching today is
not so much a lack of knowledge of the subject-matter as it is
a lack of a workable, consistent point of view on the part of the
teacher.

(4) The function of the teacher in nature-study is to select
problems that have their roots in the experiences of the children
and then see to it that these problems are the children's before
they begin to work upon them. Nature-study should furnish
an opportunity for children to work out problems with material.

IX

BY F. L. CHARLES
State Normal School, DeKalb, 111.

It is a very suggestive fact that we humans seem to interest
ourselves first in those things which are farthest away from us
and onlv later come back home to study the near-at-hand.
Astronomy was old when Physiology was young. The agri-
culturist hitches up and drives to town to spend his good time
and money upon some lusus naturae when he could not be induced
to expend the price of a postal card to obtain useful information
on some matter of vital importance to his immediate welfare.
Is it not possible that in our preliminary survey we have over-
looked a most important portion of the very wide field which we
are attempting to cultivate? Writers and general texts in
nature-study give scant consideration — if any — to topics bearing
upon the structure, activities, and immediate welfare of the
human body. Some, unfortunately, speak disparagingly of
subject-matter of this character in elementary schools.

I raise the question: May it not be considered orthodox to
include the human body and its environmental relations in the
realm of legitimate nature-study material ?

Is there any natural, material thing under the sun more
worthy of study than the human body? Many children are
being taught grasshopper anatomy who hear no helpful word
concerning their own bodies. This cannot be right. Surely, so
long as man lives in a temple he should aspire to a fairly intimate
acquaintance with the parts and purposes of his domicile. One
who is fitted to teach the child concerning plant and animal life

46 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u . 2_MB., iqo8

is doubtless as well prepared as any to instruct the child concern-
ing himself.

My argument is that we can best present this subject from a
comparative viewpoint and as nature-study material. I know
of no better approach to the study of human teeth than the
study of the dog, the squirrel and the horse as illustrating
different food habits and dissimilar dentition.

We are best acquainted with our worst selves. We know
pleurisy but not the pleura; and tonsilitis but not the tonsils;
we cannot locate the vermiform until we have experienced
appendictomy. When men come to look at their own physical
selves as interestedly and as inquisitively as they examine into
any new phenomenon or into most ventures, then there will be
less of quackery and fewer who prey mercilessly upon the
ignorance and credulity of their fellow men. In other wrords,
nature-study values apply to the study of the human bodv, and
it should receive fuller consideration from the wrorkers in this
field.

X

BY S. B. McCREADY
Macdonald Institute, Guelph, Ontario

Nature-study is essentially an out-of-doors and out-of-school
study. W"e argue that it brings the out-of-doors into the school,
but that is only incidental. Its chief operation as that part of
nature's system of education recognized and used by the school
goes on in the individual boy away from his class and out from
the school. The schoolmasters have been too diligent in cutting
and fitting it into a piece with all the other pieces that go to
make up our courses of study. It is in danger of being organized
and systematized to death. It is forgotten that it is a reflection
of nature's education and "Nature, that dear old nurse," doesn't
give her beneficent training through systems nor does she ever
turn into a pedagogue.

The quality of nature-study is not strained. It is not fever-
ishly impatient; it is not attempting the whole programme of
outlined study; it is not inciting far-fetched interests. It is
going about one's business or one's play soberly and patiently;
it is concerning itself with the simple things that meet us indoors
and at the doorsteps; it is making the near things the important
ones and the interesting ones.

MccKKAm] RELA TION OF XA TURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE 47

From the teacher's standpoint, three views are essential for
normal procedure: (i) the realization that schools, school-
classes, school-books, school-studies and even school-teachers
are artificial things imposed upon children by civilization's
necessities; (2) that after school days there is "a life to be lived
and a living to be made;" (3) that a large and important part of
an individual's education comes from his contacts with in-
numerable out-of-school experiences.

The school has divorced itself from this influence. Nature-
study is a call back to these touches with Nature and to a
resulting natural education. It is no new thing. Every good
teacher has taught nature-study. It is essentially good teaching.
It is that good teaching — good pedagogy if you will — that selects
and emphasizes right and essential things for the training of
children while rejecting or minimizing the importance of non-
essentials, even if time-honored in their use. The nature-
lesson may be taught everywhere and anywhere in the school
program; it may be contained in a word or story, a nod, a smile,
a pat on the shoulder, a thank-you, a reprimand, a suggestion;
indeed bv anv of the kind old nurse's methods of instruction.
It isn't a thing apart from arithmetic ; it is realized there when
new views of common out-of-door operations or transactions
are brought into the life's experiences; it isn't a thing apart
from any subject.

From my three years' experience in the training of Mac-
donald scholarship teachers. I have concluded that this contro-
versy between nature-study and elementary science is confusing
and needless. The schoolmaster is too pedagogical -for the
teacher who is to bring her children and nature into intimacies.
The prime need is to become an ardent lover of some phase of
nature, willing to woo and win by pursuit and search. It doesn't
make so much difference what the special interest is in. One
taste of nature makes an appetite for the wider interests that
may be needed for a full sympathy with a schoolroom of children
from different homes. The need is to acquire a hobby after the
old naturalist's manner rather than after that of the scientists;
at our school of agriculture it may be chickens, cattle, sheep;
fruit growing, tree growing, vegetable growing; gardening,
plant-experiments, weather, soils and rocks, or what you will.

48 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW u : 2_FEB., ,9o8

But being a first-hand nature-lover, and given a love for children,
the school teacher will find her method and her field.

XI

BY I. B. MEYERS
School of Education, University of Chicago

We seem to agree that in theory and spirit it should be our aim
in nature-study to deal with the nature materials and phenomena
around us which are of direct interest to the children, and to deal
with them from the viewpoint of their interests. If we adhere to
our theory it seems that our main problem in nature-study is
that of bringing children into free and direct contact with their
nature environment, to note the genesis and nature of their
interests, and to try to establish some method of teaching pro-
cedure which insures the utilization, multiplication, and growth
of these interests. Such practice will tend to eliminate the
vexed problems, so prominent in educational discussions, of
what to teach and how to teach it, and will turn our attention
to a study of conditions essential to the genesis and growth of
genuine interest. In fact it should do much to rid the teaching
fraternity of its antiquated conception of teaching for the sole
purpose of communicating a fund of knowledge which it believes
to be of future value to the children. We will strive to gain the
child's viewpoint, to establish ourselves in his sight as an under-
standing and sympathetic aid in helping him to gain an enjoyable
acquaintanceship and an intelligent understanding of the things
about him and in aiding him to establishing relationships with
his nature environment. If we believe that a certain phase of
nature should be known and understood by a group of pupils we
should bring the subject to their attention in the way we believe
most favorable to securing that acquaintanceship and under-
standing. If in the experiment interest is generated and if the
children exhibit a certain eagerness to extend their acquaintance-
ship with the subject at hand, and we can furnish means giving
opportunity for extended investigations, then we have conditions
for genuine school work. Some such condition as this must
form the basis for selection in our courses of nature-study rather
than certain topics which we believe essential for pupils to know.
This does not in any sense eliminate our pre-selection of topics;
it only demands that wre secure the genuine interest of the
children in the subject before settling down to organized study.

RE LA TION OF NA TU RE- STUD Y AND SCIENCE 49

XII. EDITORIAL REVIEW

It seems desirable that, for the convenience of some readers
who have not systematically followed the literature of nature-
study in recent years, the foregoing discussions should be reviewed
in this connection. Otherwise some misunderstanding is sure to
follow.

The general conclusions are as stated in the editorial note at
the head of the first article in the series; but a number of minor
points deserve comment.

(i) Obviously there is in all essentials agreemenc with the
line drawn between nature-study and science in paper No. IV.
It is true that papers No. V and VI state that "nature-study is
science for children"; but we notice that No. V says "Problems
must be graded according to age of student" and No. VI speaks
of "natural science which car be appropriately taught to children."
In other words, both these authors (and all the others)
admit that we must distinguish between elementary and advanced
studies of natural things, which is obviously in harmony with
those who urge a distinction between nature-study and science.
The one slight difference in words, but practically of great
significance, is that the authors of V and VI offer no suggestion
as to how we are to determine what subject-matter is proper
"science for children;" but No. IV urges that the generalities
of science are not proper and that the absence of these is charac-
teristic of good nature-study — the nature-study approved by all
the men of science who in recent years have carefully studied
elementary education. You may call such proper elementary
work "science for children," if you prefer; buc for brevity and
definiteness most experts in elementary education will prefer the
term "nature-study." To say that "nature-study is science for
children" is logically parallel with the statement that "a puppy is a
dog not grown up and, therefore, there is no difference between a
dog and a puppv." But there is sufficient difference to make it
useful to distinguish between dogs and puppies by using the two
words. Likewise, while good nature-study should in the gram-
mar school begin to develop into science, its characteristics are
distinct enough to warrant the term "nature-study" for elementary
study of nature independent of the characteristic generalizations
and technicalities of science. Think of nature-study as a young,
an immature, a "puppy" stage of science teaching, if you wish;

5° THE NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW u : 2_Fbb., .90S

but for the sake of great convenience and definiteness let us agree
that "nature-study" means that elementary stage. We need the
word "nature-study" in scientific education just as we need the
word "puppy" in connection with the canine genus. There is no
reason why we may not attach, in truth the best usage already
has attached, a very definite meaning to the word "nature-
study," just as to the word "puppy." And in that distinction
between nature-study and science we need to mention only one
thing, namely, leave out of nature-study for elementary schools
the characteristic organized generalizations and technicalities
of science; but in the early high-school years let nature-study
grow into science as gradually and as surely as the puppy grows
into the dog. We must agree that nature-study and science are
not two things; but simply two stages in the same continuous
process of scientific education which for convenience we call
nature-study in the elementary phase and science in the advanced
phase.

(2) A practical suggestion is to be found in the report that in
some schools where nature-study is called science in the ele-
mentary school, the pupils enter high school and try to avoid
science because the name leads them to think it a duplication
of the elementary study.

(3) Some of the speakers seemed to urge that nature-study is
science because they wanted nature-study to be scientific. In
fact, all who have emphasized the method of teaching, "problem
solving," rather than subject-matter, have evidently meant that
nature-study and science teaching are the same (in method).
Then instead of saying that "nature-study is science," which as
above pointed out forgets to consider proper grading of subject-
matter, let us avoid the quibbling with words by saying that
"nature-study should be scientific" in method and aims. In
other words, nature-study is science in method; but we should
make it different in subject-matter adapted to elementary pupils.

There is really no danger now that nature- study will tend away
from scientific methods and aims. Only one or two articles in
The Nature-Study Review in three years have definitely
pointed away from the approved methods of modern science
teaching, and the replies from readers showed clearly that nature-
study as a general movement could not go far towards becom-
ing decidedly unscientific in method.

RE LA TION OF N'A TURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE 5 I

(4) The question of training teachers is entirely outside the
line of the main discussion and should introduce no confusion
regarding principles. As an independent topic it deserves dis-
cussion at the next annual meeting of the Society.

(5) Earlier discussions in this journal have pointed out, in
harm on v with the first paragraph in paper No. V, that facts and
methods must be considered together in nature-study and in
science. There is certainly a close relation between the value of
the mental discipline given by application of the modern scientific
method and the value of the facts in the getting of which the
method is used. We are certainly tending to revamp our high-
school and college teaching of science in line with this recently
recognized principle.1

"See this magazine, Vol. I, No. 2, March, 1905, Page 55.

CHILDREN AS NATURALISTS

[Editor's Note. — -This series of letters from readers is continued
from the January issue of this magazine.]

Ill

By H. N. LOOMIS
Normal-Training School, New Britain, Conn.

The article ".4 re Children Naturally Naturalists," in the Nov-
ember Review is timely, indeed, long overdue. I know of no
assertion which I have come to regard more groundless, or one
that has led more astray and generated more bad spirit in the
nature-study movement than the doctrine challenged by the
writer of this article. Among my acquaintance with teachers,
the really able men and women engaged in bringing school
children into helpful contact with the outdoor world, almost
none are allying themselves with the nature-study movement.
In fact, it requires some courage to use the term in their presence
without qualifications and apologies. When one seeks the
reason for this estrangement among the workers in this particu-
lar field, he finds it in certain dogmatic and unproven assertions
of nature-study writers and speakers. Prominent among these
assertions is the statement that children are naturally interested
in plants and animals, while the attention they give to machines,
experiments and the operations of street, factory and railroad
are forced and unnatural and even harmful before a certain
mystical age. For some years I have watched for some state-
ment in reliable quarters setting forth when, where, by what
means and by whom this fundamental doctrine was scientifically
settled. The matter, is of considerable importance for it has
driven apart earnest men and women striving for a common end.

Without attempting at this time to trace the history of the
modern nature-study movement, or to determine who first broke
and prepared the soil, I wish to suggest the probable origin of the
doctrine under discussion : (a) Of late, teachers of biology have
written more, and perhaps more persuasively, than those en-
gaged in teaching the physical sciences, (b) It is during this
time that teachers of the physical sciences have had to face a new
and difficult philosophy; and it has not been evident to all just
how the vortex theory, electrons, etc., would effect popular ex-

52

LOOMls] CHILDREN AS NATURALISTS 53

planations. This has had without doubt some effect on ele-
mentary teaching of these subjects, (c) Publishers have been
active in turning out a vast quantity of attractively gotten up
matter on plants and animals. This includes, of course, the
product of "nature-fakers," big and little, (d) Public speakers
have been susceptible to this run on biological subjects and
have done free advertising, (e) I think it must also be admitted,
that the physics introduced from above into high and grammar
schools has not proven entirely satisfactory. This attempt to
replace the excellent point of view of Arnott, Ganot, Huxley,
Stewart and others, by a mathematical one is quite generally rec-
ognized as having failed to meet the needs of tjie majority of
pupils. Certainly it has given ample grounds for the biologically
inclined to exclaim, "I told you so!" (f ) During this same period
the culturists have been fighting in their last ditch, as some of
us believe, for their peculiar definition of education. They
have clearly seen that if they could adopt the material of their
antagonists — the scientists — and yet shape it to meet their
ends, they would in so doing succeed when apparently acknowledg-
ing defeat. The path to the most valuable type of nature-
study has without doubt been more blocked by the lingering
fears of those inclined toward the cultural definition of education
than we have been in the habit of thinking. Educational
conservatism when analized is largely found to consist of a
dread of "the useful, the practical, the helpful, the necessary,"
prefering rather to dwell in the comfortable abode of the past
than to engage in the problems of the modern home, shop, farm
and street. Consequently, the curious and trivial has marked
the nature-study movement. Anything, anywhere; so long as it
has no immediate connection with the present and future needs
of the child. The color of autumn leaves, but not the color
of the soil and its cause; a trip to the meadows to see the wild
flowers, but no visiting of nurseries to see the methods of pro-
ducing and rearing of food plants; frequent mention of toys, but
no attention to the pump and the steam-engine. Such you will
bear witness has been a marked characteristic and tendency of
the nature-study movement, (g) The tendency to restrict
nature-study to the presentation of plants and animals has beer,
reenforced by certain aspects of the doctrine of evolution.
While one would be exceedingly brave to attempt a definition that

5 4 THE NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW u :2_FEB., ,9o8

does justice to the various efforts at denning, it requires, however,
no special skill or insight to see chat in all modern attempts the
idea of development, individual and social, is more or less promi-
nent. Development in this connection means change from some
form or state of activity to some other form or state of activity,
presumably more complex. The particular portion of the
development theory that has been used to strengthen the plea for
the study of plants and animals in the lower grades, to the ex-
clusion of all other aspects of nature, is the culture-epoch theory.
This theory states, in general, that the stages by which the race
has risen from savagery to modern culture are reproduced in
their natural order in the life of the individual. If it can be
established that primitive peoples take greater interest in plants
and animals and only relatively late develop interest in the
physical portions of their surroundings, then the teaching of
plants and animals to children seems the only portion of the
natural realm with which to begin. This is true of primitive
people, however, only in a very general way. If one turns to the
writings of anthropologists, he finds that the savage's dependence
on the physical agencies employed in securing the benefits of
plants and animals is only second to his dependency on the plants
and animals themselves. The uses he makes of flint, clays, bones
and metals and the needless labor spent in decorating them is in-
disputable evidence as to where his interest lies. But if we need
further evidence to show that the interest of primitive peoples
are at least as much centered on the physical as on the biological,
we should recall the often very elaborate explanations of the
origin and working of the forces of nature as they encountered
them. Were, therefore, the culture-epoch theory of unquestionable,
educational validity, we should have to declare, if not in favor of
the physical realm, then for its equal educational value with the
biological. But the culture-epoch theory itself is extremely
difficult and uncertain of interpretation; at best it "does not
hold in details, but only in a rough and general way." There-
fore, in fairness to the theory, we cannot call it in to decide be-
tween the claims of closely related topics.

We have now before us some seven or eight influences that
have conspired to elevate the study of plants and animals above
their natural settings. And it must be evident that not one of
them, or all of them combined, furnishes sufficient foundation

loomis] CHILDREN AS NATURALISTS 55

for the dictum. We must turn therefore, to the testimony of
those who have had experience in teaching children lessons
taken from different parts of the outside world , and wo have
studied the reactions of the children to both of the great divisions
of nature — the biological and the physical. Agreeable to the re-
quest of the editor of The Review for experience bearing on the
question, "are children naturally interested in living things, and
very little in the lifeless," I will answer the question first and
give my experience afterwards. My experience with children
and observation of the work of other teachers lead me to reply
to the question with an emphatic no, not in the least, is it true !

I think I can lay claim to a fairly broad and comprehensive
experience with this question. I have taught elementary
science in two of the larger New England normal schools for
about fourteen years. My teaching experience during this time
has been about evenly divided between the biological sciences
of botany and zoology and the physical sciences of chemistry,
physics, mineralogy, and physiography. I am practically always
teaching a biological and a physical science during the same
term. So far as I can analyze my mental attitude, I have no
particular bias toward any of the sciences, unless it be that of
physiography, and curiously enough, this is the one science
which has least entered into the selection of topics for the
various grades under my observation. Connected with each of
these normal schools are model and practice schools in which are
enrolled more than a thousand children from kindergarten to
grammar school. During these fourteen years I have been in
close touch with the nature work of the various grades, visiting
rooms during lessons, preparing material for lessons, drawing up
lesson plans, serving as "consulting" teacher and supervisor.
In fact I have had that opportunity of studying first-hand the
responses of children of all grades below the high school, en-
joyed by science teachers in all well organized normal schools.

It must be clear why this bit of personal history is introduced
at this point. The attempt has been made to show that the
statement, "children are naturally interested in living things
and very little interested in the lifeless," is a statement that does
not rest on secure foundation. If, therefore, it is to remain, it
must find support in the testimony of competent witnesses.

Of the hundreds of lessons which have come under mv ob-

5 6 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W f 4 . 2-FEB., igo8

servation, those taken from chemistry, physics and mineralogy
have been almost always satisfactory. By satisfactory, I mean
the teachers have secured the results they were after, and the
children have been unusually attentive and have manifested un-
mistakable pleasure at the prospects of another lesson. I wish
I could report equal satisfaction and interests for the lessons
taken from botany and zoology. I have known instances in the
first grade where observation and discussion of some simple
physical change has been seized with avidity by the children,
while an attempt to stimulate an interest in a plant has fallen
flat. I will cite an instance that has come under my observa-
tion during the last two years. A young teacher taught minerals
to a class one year out of the kindergarten. So interested were
the children that they carried quartz, feldspar, mica, calcite, barite
etc., as pocket pieces, searched for them in the fields, and by the
road, traded them with one another and disputed their physical
properties on the playground. The same teacher was asked
to turn to some lessons on local animals with a later class. The
interest displayed by the class in grasshoppers, snails, fish,
toad, etc., was not particularly marked, and noticeably in-
ferior to that displayed in minerals by the preceding class under
the same teacher. I understand, of course, that this single in-
stance proves nothing ! But taken with a score of other instances
having very similar results, it does demonstrate a certain
tendency quite as convincingly as it would had it been per-
formed under standard scientific conditions. Of the hundreds
of teachers whose teaching of lessons from nature I recall, but
two or three have frankly said they did not enjoy giving simple
observational lessons on physical phenomena. On the other
hand, many have frankly expressed a dislike for lessons on plants
and animals, and few, any pleasure in giving lessons on these
objects.

This testimony from teachers is misleading if taken without
reference to their educational environment. For more than
twenty years in the normal schools referred to, influence of a
very persuasive kind has been applied in favor of lessons chosen
from the physical realm. During the same period much less
thought has been expended on selecting and preparing lessons
from biological topics. As a consequence, a teacher con-
necting himself with either of these institutions enters an atmos-

loomis] CHILDREN AS NATURALISTS 57

phere, the "set" of which is strongly toward lessons taken from
the physical realm. He sees lessons of a high grade on simple
chemical and physical properties and changes; he is led to recog-
nize the peculiar disciplinary training of such lessons; to review
the dependence of modern society on the applications of physics
and chemistry. While therefore, the above testimony affords
sufficient ground on which to maintain that children of all school
ages are interested in the physical portions of their surroundings,
it would not be fair to infer from it that children are more in-
terested in the non-living than in the living portion of their
surroundings.

It must be recalled that the purpose of this paper is to submit
evidence bearing on the question, (i) "are children naturally
interested in living things and very little interested in lifeless
things," (2) to offer an explanation for the possible origin of this
statement in current literature. I am not expressing an opinion
as to whether we oughc to interest children of the lowest grades in
the physical side of their surroundings, or to pass any judgment
on the relative value of the physical and biological subjects to
children. In reply to the first question, I must say in the light
of my experience that children of all school ages display a keen
and well-sustained interest in the lifeless portion of their sur-
roundings when presented objectively by competent teachers.
Furthermore, I hold as a theory that the general run of children
are not interested in anything in particular, and everything in
general, and that a skillful teacher, equally equipped in biological
and physical topics and without prejudice in favor of either,
will secure about equal responses from the two realms. As for
the origin of the idea that children are naturally interested in the
living part of their surroundings and without interest for the non-
living, it may have been in the statement of some over-zealous
biologist, more probably, however, it was used as an argument in
support of some contention. Once started, it came into verv
general use. It must be acknowledged that there has been a
good deal to strengthen it and give it apparent validity as an
educational doctrine.

PRACTICAL NATURE-STUDY WITH BIRDS

BY GILBERT H. TRAFTON
Passaic, N. J.

One of the most effective phases of. work in iiatnre-study is
that which calls into play the manual activities of the child in
providing for himself opportunities for making studies on the
life around him. Bird study lends itself especially well to this
line of work in the matter of furnishing nesting houses for the
birds. The very fact that the child is doing something for the
birds is a means of developing in the child that helpful sympathy
with nature which is the chief end of nature-study. And further-
more an excellent opportunity is offered for developing the per-
ceptive powers of the child by watching the birds that may come
to his house.

These observations will be carried on with much greater ardor
and thoroughness because the child has himself helped furnish
the conditions which make his observations possible.

The writer has sought to encourage this kind of work both in
building bird houses and feeding birds in the winter. But
there has been one almost universal result which has discouraged
both teachers and children, namely, that whatever was done
was rendered of no avail through the intervention of the quarrel-
some English sparrow. If other birds came, the sparrows came
too in greater numbers and drove them away. In many parts of
the city this discouraging result was so universally the outcome
that this line of work had to be abandoned.

In that section of the city where a few native birds remained,
an effort was made to see if any plan might be devised by which
this difficulty could be overcome without resorting to a whole-
sale slaughter of the sparrows. The author had seen reports
from several observers to the effect that the sparrows would not
occupy a moving bird house suspended by a wire; and some
experiences of the author in feeding winter birds had pointed to
the same conclusion. In order to try this plan on a large scale
the author visited the schools situated in the more favorable
localities, explained the matter to the children and asked their
cooperation. Some bird-cage springs were furnished the children,
but as the supply was soon exhausted, the children were told

58

traftos] PRACTICAL NATURE-STUDY WITH BIRDS 59

simply to suspend their houses by wires. As a little incentive, a
prize was offered for the best account of experiences with the
bird houses. The children responded in large numbers with
great enthusiasm, which showed how easily this locality might
be made a paradise for the birds were it not for the discouraging
intervention of that annoying pest, the English sparrow.

In the fall statistics were gathered from the children relative to
their experiences with the bird houses, and the results are given
below.

In 33 moving or suspended houses 26 pairs of birds began to
build nests (12 bluebird, 12 wren, 3 robin, 1 starling, 6 English
sparrow); young were reared in 8 (2 bluebird, 4 wren, 2 spar-
row) ; birds were driven away from 6 houses by sparrows
(3 bluebird, 2 wren, 1 robin). In three other moving houses
the sparrows attempted to drive out the inmates, but were
unsuccessful. The sparrows attempted to drive out the star-
lings, but were unable to do so, one of the sparrows being killed
in the fight. It is interesting to note that robins are beginning
to nest in these houses.

In 27 stationary houses 24 pairs of birds began to build nests
(13 bluebird, 7 wren, 2 robin, 3 sparrow); 15 reared young (8
bluebird, 5 wren, 1 robin, 1 sparrow) ; the birds were driven
from 3 houses (2 wren and 1 robin) by the English sparrows.

These results show that the English sparrows were not out-
witted by the device of a moving house. The sparrows began
to build in six of these houses and two pairs successfully reared
their young, and doubtless others would have done so, had they
not been driven away by the children. In nine cases the sparrows
attempted to drive out birds which had begun to build in these
moving houses and in six cases were successful.

These discouraging experiences have disheartened the children
in their efforts to do something for the birds, both in providing
nesting houses for them and in feeding them in winter. The
author would be very grateful to hear from anyone who has suc-
ceeded in outwitting the sparrows, or has any suggestions as to
how it may be done.

NATURE-STUDY AND HIGH-SCHOOL SCIENCE

BY HERBERT BROWNELL
State Normal School, Peru, Nebraska

To the teacher in the normal school come those who have
various degrees of preparation in the high-school sciences, and
the problem of fitting them, some for teaching science in high
schools and others in the grades, makes the teacher appreciate
keenly the unsatisfactory condition of the science work of the
elementary and secondary schools, especially as regards the pre-
paration of those who are to teach it, and its differentiation in
the stages of advancement through the schools.

By way of illustration of distinction between the nature-
study of the grades and high-school science teaching, both as
regards matter and method, the Lessons on the Moon, used in my
own class in Elementary Science, are here given. The study of
the moon in the class in astronomy, based though it is on ob-
servations made by the pupils themselves under direction of the
teacher, needs no particular discussion, even for purposes of
contrast.

In nature work there is chosen from the immediate life-sur-
roundings what is readily comprehended by the children, what
will best serve to train them in being close, intelligent observers
of such surroundings and of what goes on in the w jrld about them,
and what at the same time provokes thought, arousing the
spirit of inquiry as to the significance of what is observed. The
facts are not grouped with reference to any branch of science;
the matter selected and its manner of presentation is made to
conform very largely to the mental needs and abilities of those
taught. In the high school the student is to adapt himself as best
he may to a mastery of the facts of the science, grouped and
classified according to some system and in accordance with the
laws and principles of such science. And whether the change in
primary purposes of science work in grades and in high school —
an adaptation of matter and method to what best promotes the
rapid development of an intelligent being, or, on the other hand,
the mastery of a certain mass of classified knowledge — be made
gradually or abruptly, a radical difference in such science teach-
ing exists and should be kept well in mind.

60

browkbll] NATURE-STUDY AND HIGH-SCHOOL SCIENCE

61

It is a difference not so much in subject-matter as in the spirit
of the instruction, in the immediate purpose to be served, and
in the manner of procedure. Such is the thought in the
lessons similar to those on the moon given here. And for those in
high schools who may never have had nature-study in the grades,
nature lessons might well be used as introductory work.

Not least among the ends sought in the nature lessons is a
growth in confidence in every pupil of his ability to master the
facts of his life surroundings and also the significance of these.
While it is the teacher's province to adapt means to ends, and to
at all times give direction to the work as it progresses, in no wise
is the teacher to come in between the child and what he is to ob-
serve, nor rob him of opportunity to think and to tell his thoughts.
Assistance must needs be given when and where needed, but only
as needed. The problems that now vex the teacher of science
in the high school must needs largely disappear when those enter-
ing the high school as students shall have had nature work under
properly trained teachers in the grades. But when shall such
teaching be required, and whence the teachers!

Lessons on the Moon

A. Who of you saw the moon last night? At what time? Go to the
blackboard and make a drawing to show its shape as you saw it.

(Direction: All are to look "to-night" (or first clear night) for the
moon, and as early as it can be seen. To-morrow be ready to help fill out
the first line of this "Record" (at blackboard.)

Date

Hour

Shape

Part of
Heavens

Hours since it rose
(or till it sets)

Time of rising
(or setting)

[Let data be gathered as above at intervals of two or three days for
a full month. If the weather has been unfavorable, continue the obser-
vations for two months or three. Have children get data of moon's
appearance in early morning, too, if possible.]
B.i. When the moon was seen in the west in the early evening :

(a) In what direction was it from the sun ?

(b) In what direction did its "horns" (cusps) point?

(c) What kind of line was its west side ? Its east ?

(d) What of its distance from the west horizon (and the sun)
evening; after evening;?

62 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIEW u . 2_FEE., ,9o8

(e) What of its times of setting night by night ?

(f) In what direction from us was it at sunset when it had become
a "half moon?" How many degrees (or what part of a circle) was
it then from the sun?

2. (a) When the moon had become "full," at what time did it rise? (b)

What part of a whole circle was it then from the sun? (c) How
long a time since it was first seen as a "new moon?" How long
since it was a half moon? (d) What was true of the times of rising
of the full moon night after night ? (e) How long from one full
moon to the next? (f) When the moon was a "half moon," what
fraction of this time had elapsed since the moon was "new?"
(g) Which "quarter" is complete when the moon is full?

3. If the moon shall have been observed mornings before daylight :

(a) What of its change of form (phase) from morning to morn-
ing?

(b) In which direction from the sun is the moon now?

(c) What of its distance from the sun morning to morning?
WThat must become true in several days time?

(d) When a half moon is seen in the morning, through which
"quarter" has it passed? To what phase does it come at the end
of the 4th quarter? Why do we not see the moon then for a time?

-1. With the moon full and rising at sunset, what is the position of
earth with reference to the sun and moon? At the time of "dark
moon" what is direction of sun and moon from us? Which side
of moon as lighted by the sun is toward us? What causes the
return of the moon ? What kind of body must the moon be as to
giving off light of its own (luminous or non-luminous?)

5. When the moon was new, what of its place of setting as compared

with that of the sun ? What when full ?

6. How many full moons in a year? Why the "months" of our calen-

dars ?
[Make use in connection with these lessons of such selections as:"Wyn-
ken, Blynken and Nod" (Eugene Field) ; "The New Moon" (Mrs. Follen) ;
"The Silver Boat"; "The Wind and the Moon." (Geo. MacDonald.)]

[Editor's Note. In the above outline for lessons on the
moon Professor Brownell has given Uo some very useful sug-
gestions for a very practical kind of nature-study. Of course
some people will object because this includes "everything from
the sun and moon to grasshoppers" in nature-study; and others
will say that this is not nature-study but geography." Call it
either nature-study or geography, if you want to, provided you
teach it by the observational method suggested; but be sure to
call it geography or something other than nature-study if you teach
it as book work. Certainly there are possibilities for good ob-
servational work. And as to bringing "even the moon" into

bkownell]

NATURE-STUDY A XD HIGH-SCHOOL SCIENCE 63

nature-study, we may be allowed to ask whether the moon is not
at least a little 'nearer the every-day life of the average man,
even the farmer, than are pussy-willows, grasshoppers, butter-
flies, pet rabbits, and similar things approved by those who
object to sun, moon and stars having a place in nature-study.
Certainly there is something to be said in favor of the fact that
material for observational study of the sun and moon may be
found in most parts (we must except congested quarters of big
cities) of the world. Will other readers who have experimented
with such studies report to The Review. Some readers may
not know that Dearness' "Nature-Study Course" contains good
notes for such lessons.]

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS

Decline cf Darwinism. So many times in the last few years have the
more or less sensational periodicals published articles on the " Decline of
Darwinism," the "Deathbed of Darwinism," or the "Fall of Darwinism,"
etc., that many readers unfamiliar with the advances of biology have
inferred that something is decidedly wrong with the theories associated
with the name of the greatest naturalist of the nineteenth century. More-
over there is such widespread confusion of Darwinism and organic
evolution that even scientific criticisms of some points in Darwin's work
have been popularly taken to mean that within the ranks of the biologists
there are grave doubts regarding the very foundation of the evolution
theories. With such impressions existing outside of scientific circles,
it is fortunate that Professor V. L. Kellogg, of Stanford University,
has prepared for the educated layman a very readable discussion of the
present-day scientific criticisms of the Darwinian selection theories to
which so much reference has been made in scientific and unscientific
journals. The new book in hand is entitled, "Darwinism Today," and is
published by Holt and Co., New York, price $2.00.

Chapter I. deals with the "Death-bed of Darwinism," taking the title
from a sensational publication of a few years ago. The reader unfamiliar
with biological terms does not have to read far in order to discover that
Darwinism is not synonomous with evolution or theory of descent, but
rather is simply the name for Darwin's theory that natural selection
("resulting in the survival of the fittest and best adapted) is the prime
factor, agent, and mechanism of evolution. Great changes in biological
theories have been made by the recent great activity in biological re-
search and Darwin's theories along with others have been subjected to
the scientific searchlights. The result has been the proposal of various
auxiliary and alternative theories of species forming and even in some
scientific writings there is evidence of some weakening in belief in
Darwinism. "The fair truth is that the Darwinian selection theories,
considered with regard to their claimed capacity to be an independently

64 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE I VEIV U: 2_ ¥RBmt I9oS

sufficient mechanical explanation of descent, stand today seriously
discredited in the biological world. On the other hand, it is also fair
truth to say that no replacing hypothesis or theory of species-forming
has been offered by the opponents of selection which has met with any
general or even considerable acceptance by naturalists."

But in all this change of minor theories it must not be forgotten that
Darwinism may fall completely without seriously affecting the theory
of evolution. "While many naturalists doubt whether Darwinian selec-
tion theories satisfactorily explain descent, organic evolution, that is,
the descent of species, is looked on by biologists to be as proved a part of
their science as gravitation is in the science of physics or chemical affinity
in that of chemistry. Doubts of Darwinism are not, then, doubts of
organic evolution."

After careful critical discussion of the various facts for and against
natural selection, Professor Kellogg concludes: "Darwinism as the
natural selection of the fit, the final arbiter in descent control, stands
unscathed, clear and high above the obscuring cloud of battle. But
Darwinism, as the all-sufficient or even the most important causo-mechan-
ical factor in species-forming and hence as the sufficient explanation of
descent, is discredited and cast down." It is interesting to note that
Darwin's friends and followers, not Darwin himself, claimed allmacht
(all-sufficiency) for his theory of natural selection.

Birds Every Child Should Know. By Xeltje Blanchan. New York:
Doubleday, Page* and Co., 1907. $1.00. This well-illustrated book
has sixty-three pages of good photographs from life, and the descriptions
of each bird is full of sympathetic interest. There are no minute des-
criptions as to size and color; but the author has selected those character-
istics which will help to identify the birds in the fields, as well as give a
glimpse of their "personality." The book can not fail to be very valuable
to children or grown-ups who are trying to become acquainted with
our most common birds. A. N. B.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

[Editor's Note. This department will be conducted by Chester A.
Mathewson, of the High School of Commerce, New York City. Notes
and suggestions may be sent to him in care of the editor of The Review.]

Forestry. The preservative treatment of railroad ties and piling has
been practiced commercially for a number of years. About fifty treating
plants are now being operated in this country, and the number increases
each year. The treatment of telephone and telegraph poles has made no
such progress, yet there is a strong desire on the part of progressive users
to find a satisfactory method for prolonging the life of poles. From
time to time experiments have been conducted by various telephone,
telegraph, and railroad companies, but either the treatment was faulty or
insufficient records of the treated poles were kept, and, as a result, neither
reliable data nor satisfactory conclusions have been obtained. The
Forest Service is actively engaged in experiments with treated ploes.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 MARCH, 1908 No. 3

AGRICULTURE IN HIGH SCHOOLS

By A. B. GRAHAM
Supt. of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, Columbus, O.

So long as the virgin soil, under traditional methods of tillage
and cultivation, responded generously to the hand of the farmer,
he felt little the necessity for that kind of education which would
make him the master over the materials with which he was
obliged to work. The productive power of the soil, the crude
materials which he was obliged to use, and the lack of necessity
for greater production to feed the city obliged him neither to con-
serve the productivity of the soil nor to improve the implement —
nor even to give a little care to the improvement of the product.
As far back as 1824, Daniel Adams wrote an "Agricultural Reader
Designed for the Use of Schools," and up to 1861 there were no
fewer than nine elementary books on the subject of agriculture;
vet no attention was given to them except by a few scientists and
a few publishers who were exerting every effort to give variety to
the state school libraries that were being put on the market in the
decade from 1850 to i860. A few of these books can be found
today as remnants of old state school libraries. The expensive
and reckless farming carried on during the past forty years has
reduced the productive power of the soil. The population of the
cities has increased rapidly; and with their growth has come so
importune a demand for the products of the farm that it has
become quite as necessary to produce in large quantities as to
produce of high quality. The people of the cities have been and
are now looking upon the farmer as an individual who must be
able to respond not only with his physical, but with his mental
ability to furnish products from his fields that will satisfy the
demands of the most fastidious.

65

66 THE NA TURESTUDY REVIEW U:3-mar., ,908

Under the Morrell Act, the land-grant colleges were established
to meet a necessity for scientific training in agricultural work, but
since these colleges are at such great distances from the people
needing agricultural education, and since the expense of attend-
ing such schools is beyond the means of many parents, the atten-
dance at these colleges is much lower than the most sanguine have
hoped for. These colleges, however, are performing a most
important work in preparing young men for instructional, deli-
cate, experimental work and for leadership in the practice of
modern farm methods. Since at least one-half of those attending
the public schools are in the elementary grades of the rural schools
the necessity for agricultural education has thrust itself more or
less into the elementary grades. Here the natural environment
of the child is being utilized, in a small degree, to prepare a
foundation for the more extensive education of the high school,
which will the better fit young men and women to carry on their
life work more economically and with a degree of joy and pleasure
that should be the reward of every citizen.

The function of an agricultural course in the high school should
be to offer studies whose general cultural value is quite as great
as is their agricultural value. A young woman or a young man
who sees in his agricultural work little else than the scientific side
will enter life with the all-too-prevalent belief that only the prac-
tical is the open sesame to the greatest pleasures of life.

Perhaps the county, township, or village high school offers its
courses at the period in the life of the child when its studies have
a most beneficial effect, since in this period the individual is seek-
ing the cause for the effect and is looking for results from certain
causes. Life habits are being formed not only for citizenship,
but for occupation. Neither an agricultural nor a manual train-
ing course should be offered as substitutes for present courses, but
rather as a more direct adaptation and application of the present
studies to the industries of the people who support the school. A
protest has often been sounded against secondary education in
the expression, "My child will never become a teacher or a law-
yer." The demand for industrial education, and the protest
against the so-called cultural and disciplinary studies, will never
be properly satisfied by substituting a majority of agricultural
studies or manual exercises for studies that reinforce or furnish
a foundation for the moral and social virtues incident to agricul-

GRAHAM] AGRICULTURE IN HIGH SCHOOLS 67

tural or applied science work in such courses. The question is
one of adjustment and adaptability rather than one of substitution.

The course in the natural sciences should be so arranged and so
taught that the child's own environment and the occupations
of the people in his own vicinity should, as much as possible,
become subjects for illustration and example. Any science
taught as an applied science should bear upon the industries of
the people who support the school. No high -school course should
be so intensely agricultural either in studies or exercises that it
leads to the formation of a caste. It should be reasonably liberal,
rather than technical.

The high-school agricultural course occupies a middle position
between the incidental agricultural exercises of the elementary
school and the purely technical courses in the agricultural college.
Since agricultural work is, in the main, scientific, a foundation for
such a course must be made in the science branches. Soil forma-
tion, surface drainage, temperature and its effects upon plant and
animal life, the distribution of animal life, etc., are agricultural
subjects coming within the scope of physical geography. Capil-
larity and porosity of soils, film and gravity water, evaporation
and mulches are subjects relating to tillage and the methods of
cultivation, and come within the field of elementary physics.
The setting of the plow to take more or less land, the adjustment
of collar, names, and traces to secure the most advantageous
draft, the mechanics of the horse, the manipulation of farm
implements, the use of gasoline and steam engines, the creaming
and separating of cream, the churning of butter, osmosis in the
stems of plants and evaporation from their leaves, ventilation and
color harmony, are all subjects to which some principle of physics
may be applied. The study of germination, vitality of seeds,
plant food, the effect of environment, heredity, and selection, fer-
tilization, budding, grafting, and the making of outdoor observa-
tions in the study of plant ecology only intensify the study of
botany. There are a few biological subjects, especially heredity,
.selection, and the principles involved in breeding, which are much
more impressive, and the results of which are more immediately
seen if taught by using plants. The principles of plant breeding
being practically the same as those of animal breeding, little or no
attention at this period of school life need be given to animals
beyond the external points of excellence.

68 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u . 3-HAR., I9o8

The new zoology will treat more or less fully of the economic
value of animals and insects as well as of their ecology and type-
forms. Chemistry as usually taught in small high schools without
proper apparatus is of so little value that if a substitution were to
be made in the high -school course, zoology should take the place of
chemistry. Elementary chemistry alone has so much less to do
with the ordinary practice of agriculture than is usually credited
to it that, if the elementary work can not be followed by qualita-
tive and quantitative analysis, the time spent on it is worth less
than that spent upon any other science study in the high school.
The subject of plant nutrition does not, for the mass of farmers,
necessitate a knowledge of chemistry, but rather of such studies
as physics and the biological sciences. The availability of plant
food requires a greater knowledge of methods of tillage and culti-
vation and of botany, than of chemistry.

Such subjects as may seem to require a knowledge of chemistry
to be applied on the farm or in the kitchen really require little
more than the ability to recognize and consider such chemical
characteristics of matter as may appeal to the senses, or the
phenomena of certain chemical actions. Determining the pres-
ence of albumen in milk, carbon in sugar, starch in food; genera-
ting carbonic acid gas, and knowing its characteristics; under-
standing the effect of salt upon juices in meats ; knowing how to
remove grease, fruit, and grass stains and paint or ink from woods
and fabrics, are all matters requiring no knowledge of chemical
reactions to make them practical. However, it is far better that
the teacher who offers such exercises understand enough chemis-
try to assist pupils in comprehending simple chemical formula,
more or less of the nomenclature of this science, and an occasional
reason that comes within the understanding of the class. The
subject of elementary chemistry may be taught as a part of an
agricultural course, but it is far from being as important as physi-
cal geography, botany, zoology or physics.

Exercises directly related to the mathematical and natural
sciences or incidental to the study of them should make up a
manual training course. The making of berry boxes, models of
gates, and trays for testing seed-corn; graft and bud-setting;
grinding tools ; rope splicing and knot tying ; and planning fields
and gardens, are exercises more or less closely related to the regu-
lar studies. These and similar exercises offer quite as much

graham] AGRICULTURE IN HIGH SCHOOLS 69

opportunity for self-expression and cultivating the desire to take
the initiative as is offered in any manual training school. The
joy that comes from achievements, and the acquisition of habits
of accuracy and manual skill result quite as much from manual
exercises that apply directly to the comfort, convenience, and
economy of the farmer and his family as from those exercises best
suited to the trades of the city.

The function of an agricultural course is further performed by
assisting young men and women to conduct tests and experi-
ments at home, when the conditions under which the work is
being done are those which they need immediately to know most
about. In conducting such experiments, soil conditions, artificial
drainage, topography, the demand of the markets and the keeping
of the necessary records, lead the young student to consider
adaptability from the point of physical conditions and the de-
mands of the market; the keeping of records obliges the experi-
menter to be economical and accurate. If, after an agricultural
course has been offered, there is no effort made to establish the
practice of economy, all that has been offered is of little pr-actical
value. The horse or sheep that "eats its head off," or the cow, hog,
or fowl that can't "earn its board and keep," are little more than
living objects, satisfying a fancy; the planting of seeds whose
vitality is low or those that are infected with smut or scab, results
in losses far beyond the belief of the average farmer. In such
farming there is not only not the least show of self-expression
initiative, or profitable achievement, but there is utter disregard
for accuracy, and an actual lack of good judgment and economy.

Not the least important function of high-school work is the
creation of a wholesome school atmosphere that will arouse an
interest in the beauties and pleasures of rural life, and the teacher
of a rural school who neglects an opportunity to spiritualize rural
life loses much of the joy that comes from doing good.

The value of an agricultural course or any other course must be
measured in terms of citizenship, pleasure, and utility. Any
course of industrial education will cultivate the spiritual, moral
and social virtues. This statement is especially true of agricul-
tural education, since it has so much to do with so manv of the
Creator's laws that are manifested in living things. To know
these laws dispels the darkness of ignorance and superstition.
Agricultural literature and natural phenomena are interpreted in

7° THE NATURE-STUD Y KE VIE W [4 ■ j-mar., .908

the new light of scientific truth. Drudgery is elevated to the high
plane of work, where cause is sought for the result, or where
results may reasonably be expected from known causes; where
the production is not of itself a standard of value, but where the
efficiency, skillfulness, and joy of the husbandman are the true
measures of the value of industrial education. Such courses are
conducive to producing enterprising citizens — they see more in
the pleasures of life ; the lawns, the country road, the little church
and the rural school, all show the touch of an aroused interest.
Contributions to public organizations are more liberal — especially
to the school where there are teachers who know the needs of the
farmer and who seek to offer as much for utility as for the enrich-
ment of life.

As to the utilitarian value to be placed on agricultural courses
in high schools, many specific results might be mentioned; but,
in a limited territory, the writer has especially observed a new
interest in the question as to how the productive power of the soil
may be maintained, and how an increase in the yield of cereals
and fruits can be secured. Work benches, milk testers, and
germination outfits are not infrequently found in the same room
with the air pump, electrical apparatus, and the microscope.

The attendance at the township and village high school has
increased; a new field for education has dignified farm work, and
many a country boy and girl now in the elementary grades is look-
ing forward to the work in the high school to prepare for their life
work on the farm. A country high-school course that is not too
intensely agricultural offers quite as much, if not more, material
than does any other school to prepare for any calling in life.

The function of industrial courses must be to answer to the call
of the millions who labor with both hand and mind in preparing
the individual to be an active citizen-artisan ; and the measure
of their value must, in a degree, be determined by the character
of the man and by the product of his hand.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AT THE WASHINGTON
MEETING OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPER-
INTENDENCE OF THE NATIONAL
EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

By DICK J. CROSBY
U. S. Department of Agriculture

A pretty good indication of the growing demand for education
in terms of the environment of the children may be found in the
emphasis given to agricultural education for children in rural
communities in the program of the Department of Superinten-
dence of the National Education Association at its convention in
Washington, D.C., February 25, 26 and 27. The Assistant Secre-
tary of Agriculture and the United States Commissioner of Educa-
tion in their greetings at the opening session referred to the grow-
ing interest in and importance of agricultural education. The
principal address at the first evening session was by Hon. Willet
M. Hays, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, on Agricultural
Industries and Home Economics in Public Schools, in which the
feasibilitv of providing a unified scheme of instruction in these
subjects extending from the primary grades through the high
school to the agricultural college was clearly shown. Professor
Havs also explained the purpose and probable effect of pending
legislation for the encouragement by the Federal Government of
mechanic arts and home economics in city schools and agriculture
and home economics in agricultural high schools.

On the third day of the convention the forenoon session was
devoted to a Round Table on agricultural education. Dr. A. C.
True, Director of the Office of Experiment Stations, outlined
broadly the educational work of the U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture. Dr. E. E. Brown, U. S. Commissioner of Education, in giv-
ing some notes on the training of teachers of agriculture, reiterated
his firm conviction that this subject must eventually be taught
in practically all schools for country children, and discussed pend-
ing legislation for the encouragement by the Federal Government
of instruction in agriculture, mechanic arts and home economics
in State normal schools. He pointed out that Federal aid to col-

7i

7 2 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u . 3_Mar., 1908

leges of agriculture and mechanic arts in the United States had, in
his opinion, led to greatly increased local appropriations for col-
leges of agriculture and mechanic arts ; at least, there had been no
diminution of local taxation — a result which had been feared by-
opponents of Government aid to education.

Honorable E. D. Cameron, State Superintendent of Public
Instruction in Oklahoma, outlined the "plans of the youngest
State," which contemplate instruction in agriculture in all public
schools of whatever grade.

The training of teachers of agriculture by State normal schools
was discussed by John R. Kirk, president of the State Normal
School at Kirksville, Mo., where agriculture has been taught for a
number of years. President Kenyon L. Butterfield of the Massa-
chusetts Agricultural College, outlined plans of co-operation
between the State agricultural college and one of the State normal
schools in Massachusetts for the training of teachers of agriculture.
This subject was further discussed by President W. M. Stewart of
the State Normal School at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Dick J. Crosby, of the U. S. Office of Experiment Stations, read
a paper upon Co-operation between the U. S. Department of
Agriculture and State School Authorities to Promote Agricultural
Education, in which the present status of co-operation was des-
cribed and lines of future endeavor were pointed out. The dis-
cussion of this subject was led by E. C. Bishop, Deputy State
Superintendent of Public Instruction in Nebraska.

The papers presented at this Round Table and the earnest dis-
cussions following each paper indicated that educators realize
that the movement for agricultural education, not only in colleges
but in secondary and elementary schools, is going forward so
rapidly that it presents many serious problems to the school
authorities in the several States. One of the most troublesome
of these problems is to train a sufficient number of teachers for
the work and train them in such a way as to give proper point of
view and proper balance to the teaching of this new subject.
Agricultxire is about as clearly defined in the minds of the great
majority of teachers as was nature-study a few years ago, and
there is serious danger that unless the agricultural colleges and
the normal schools exert themselves to the utmost in training
teachers the subject will be taught in many places merely as a
text -book subject, which will be about as serious a mistake as to
teach nature-study entirely from the text-book.

crosby] AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 73

At the close of the Round Table discussion a department of the
National Education Association to be known as the Department
of Rural and Agricultural Education, was organized by the elec-
tion of the following officers: President, E. C. Bishop, Lincoln,
Xebr. ; vice-president, D. B. Johnson, Rock Hill, S. C. ; secretary,
E. E. Balcomb, Weatherford, Okla.

A number of other societies met with the Department of Super-
intendence. Among these was the National Committee on
Agricultural Education, which held meetings on the evening of
February 24 and the afternoon of February 26. The main busi-
ness considered by this Committee was the training of teachers
for industrial work and a discussion of ways and means for pro-
moting legislation giving Federal aid to State normal schools.
For several years there has been under consideration in Congress a
bill known as the Burkett-Pollard Bill, which provides for an
initial appropriation of $500,000, to be increased by $100,000 a
year until it amounts to $1,000,000, to be divided among the
several States and Territories for the encouragement and support
of instruction in agriculture, manual training and home economics
in state normal schools. Another bill known as the Davis Bill,
which was introduced at the Second Session of the Fifty-Ninth
Congress, provides for an appropriation by the Federal Govern-
ment of 10 cents per capita to be used in the several states and
territories for the encouragement and support of mechanic arts
and home economics in city high schools and of agriculture and
home economics in agricultural high schools for rural communi-
ties. This bill would provide an appropriation of about $8,000,000
for the support of industrial education. While no attack upon
either measure was made by the friends of the other measure,
there was a feeling on the part of those attending the convention
that with two such measures under consideration in Congress at
the same time the passage of one or the other must be deferred
indefinitely. This led to an attitude approaching coolness
between the respective advocates of these measures, which was
happily dispelled before the convention adjourned. The National
Committee on Agricultural Education invited Congressman Davis
to meet with its subcommittee on ways and means, which he did,
and the meeting resulted in an earnest but friendly discussion on
the whole situation. This led to a proposition on the part of Mr.
Davis to amend his bill, deferring the giving of aid to high schools

74 THE NA TUNE-STUD V RE VIE IV [ 4:3-M ah., .908

for agriculture, mechanic arts, and home economics until 191 1,
and providing that an annual appropriation of one per cent capital
aggregating $800,000, be made available July 1, 1908, for the
encouragement and support of instruction in agriculture, home
economics, and mechanic arts in State and Territorial normal
schools. This would give the normal schools $300,000 more than
was provided in the Burkett-Pollard Bill, and would increase
their appropriation in proportion to the increase of population in
the United States. The normal schools would also have the use
of this money for three years before the high school bill goes into
effect, and would thus be enabled to aid in preparing a large num-
ber of teachers for this new work. Mr. Davis' proposition met
with the hearty approval of the Committee and he accordingly
introduced his amended bill into Congress on the following day.

' SCHOOL-GARDEN HELPS

By CLARENCE M. WEED
State Normal School, Lowell, Mass.

In many schools there are sand-tables which are not in use all
the time. If one can be obtained during the spring months it
makes an admirable seed bed for starting seedlings of flowers and
vegetables. Put in three or four inches of loamy garden soil,
sifted, and sow seeds of tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, Drummond
phlox or whatever plants you wish to grow, in rows. Keep well
watered and next the sunniest window.

The table I have used for some time in this way is mounted on
casters. In the morning I keep it next an east window and in the
afternoon push it over to a south window.

When the seedlings are large enough to transplant, the best
receptacles I have been able to find are the Neponset paper pots
which can be bought of any seedsman. The smaller sizes, cost-
ing but twenty-five or thirty cents a hundred, do very well for
many sorts of seedlings. These pots are cheap and not break-
able, and have the great advantage for school-garden uses that the
evaporation takes place only from the top of the soil and not all
over the sides — a fact that renders ordinary flower pots of small
sizes impracticable in most schoolrooms.

There are also zinc sand-pans in many schools. These serve
very well to hold the pots of seedlings if they can be placed near a
sunny window. Or a shallow, water-tight zinc box, made to fit
the window-sill will hold them all right. Such receptacles catch
the surplus water that runs through the pots and enables the
teacher or pupils to leave enough water in the bottom on Friday
to last till Monday.

With these simple things many schools that have no outdoor
garden can get pupils to grow seedlings to plant in home gardens.
And in autumn the same apparatus can be used to grow bulbs for
the pupils to carry home when flowering begins.

75

A RURAL SCHOOL-GARDEN

By RUTH B. FISHER

The school-garden for students in the Normal School at John-
son, Vt., is situated on a hillside, as this is the best land near the
main building. The garden consists of about thirty beds, 4 by 8
ft., for individual work; a rectangular strip in the rear for tall
crops; and a rhomboidal side plot for vines and general experi-
ments. Each bed contains vegetables and flowers, selected for
crops to be gathered in spring and fall as the gardeners are away
during July and August, best arrangement and color scheme.
Johnson is not only northerly but also mountainous and hence
the summer season is short. Heavy frosts occur as late as June.
Still, radishes, lettuce and onion sets are started by the second
week in May and gathered by the middle of the following month.
A succession of crops is planned by putting plants which will give
results in the fall harvest into the places occupied by the spring
produce. A typical bed may consist of two rows of radishes, one
of lettuce, one of onions; and these be followed by a tomato
plant, two hills of potatoes, one row of beets, and a block of asters
surrounded by alyssum. The beds are nearly all different.
Records of the varieties, time of growth, cost of seeds and plants,
and value of produce are kept. Some records show the cost to be
about twelve cents and the value of products at least a dollar.

In the rectangular strip and side plot are placed such plants
as pole beans, corn, squashes, sweet peas, cosmos; so arranged as
to aid in the general appearance of the garden. One year the rear
path was bordered by sunflowers and the front path by pansies.
Different groups of students are assigned to the care of these
plants.

The work is designed somewhat as a recreation, therefore the
record keeping has been reduced to the minimum. Still we have
had some serious objects in view. Among these have been: best
flowers and vegetables suited to a northerly climate, comparison
and selection of varieties, study of plant diseases and insects, soil
conditions and fertilizers. Some of the special experiments have
been : nitrate of soda for half of the plants, nitrogen cultures for
beans and clovers, formalin for potatoes.

76

FISHBr]

A RURAL SCHOOL-GARDEN

77

In our care for orderly arrangement and neatness we aim at the
improvement of grounds around the rural schools to which many
of the students go as teachers.

A garden for the training of teachers of nature-study. Johnson (Vt.) Normal School.

The school-garden has revived much interest in the cultivation
of plants. Though Vermont is quite prosperous agriculturally,
there are some communities where there is need of new life to
break up the industrial stagnation which has crept into the less
populous districts of the state.

For two years a school-garden was kept by the children of the
Training School. A description of this garden and its aims has
been published by the State Department of Education and can be
secured by writing to the Superintendent of Education, Mont-
pelier, Vt.

SCHOOL-GARDENS OF CLEVELAND, OHIO

By LOUISE KLEIN MILLER
Curator of School-Gardens

The school-gardens of Cleveland were the direct outgrowth of
the work inaugurated by the Home Gardening Association. They
were organized about three years ago under the auspices of the
Home Gardening Association and Board of Education, but last
year the Board organized a Department of School-Gardens, under
the direction of the Curator of School-Gardens.

There are various avenues of work. The home-gardens are
made from penny packages of seeds sold by the Home Gardening
Association. Annual flower shows are held in the various schools
to exhibit the season's harvest of flowers and vegetables. Year
after year there is a marked improvement in quality of products,
demonstrating the fact that the children are increasing in intelli-
gence and skill. The Home Gardening Association and interested
friends have always given bulbs for indoor and outdoor planting
at the schools, and last year Judge Dellenbaugh presented a
Catalpa speciosa to each school that had a flower show.

The home gardens are not under supervision, although many
of them are visited during the summer. The practical instruc-
tion in gardening is given in the school-gardens, and we have
found that the influence is far-reaching, The preparation of soil,
planning, laying out of the garden, artistic arrangement, har-
monious color effects, succession of flowers and vegetables, all
appeal to the children's appreciation of the eternal fitness of
things, and a more rational, systematic arrangement of the home-
gardens is the consequence.

Before the seeds are sold to the children in the spring, a series of
stereoptican lectures is given by the Curator of School-Gardens in
the various schools, and such pertinent suggestions and recom-
mendations made as shall be conducive to the most intelligent
and effective work.

There has not been the stability in the school-garden work that
is desirable, because in many instances we were obliged to depend
upon property loaned for the purpose. The Board of Education

78

.miller]

SCHOOL-GARDENS OF CLEVELAND

79

has acquired property which makes it possible to do work of more
permanent value. The conditions at Rosedale School are proba-
bly most propitious. There is space for a large lawn, play-ground
and school-garden. For educative purposes, the garden is divided
into a rock garden, formal flower garden, vegetable garden, her-
baceous botanical garden. As this garden was visited by thou-
sands of visitors, it is hoped there was something suggestive for

At a school-garden in Cleveland, O. Studying corn, especially its pollination.

home-gardens. There was the most fascinating succession of
blooming: fox-gloves, columbine, Canterbury bells, larkspurs,

poppies, lilies, to the boltonia and hardy chrysanthemums

when the snow fell. Likewise, the vegetable garden is always
full of interest.

The botanical garden should be a Mecca for pilgrimages for all
high-school students of botany. The food-producing plants will
be of especial interest to children studying commercial geography
and domestic science. There will be something of interest for
each child, from the lowest grade through the high school.

80 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4: 3-mak., 1<3o8

Plans are being made for the establishment of an arboretum of
trees and shrubs which will serve as a propagating center for stu-
dents who will take up landscape gardening, arboriculture, horti-
culture and elements of forestry. The nurseries will also supply-
trees and shrubs for the improvement of school grounds.

A laboratory will be equipped at Oakland School, a manual
training and domestic science center, where the children will learn
something of the air we breathe, the chemistry of the water we
drink and soil beneath our feet. Simple exercises will be given
which will make the children familiar with the most important
chemical elements of great importance in gardening, horticulture
and agriculture. The students in domestic science will be inter-
ested in studying the compounds which make up the plant
structure and which have been organized in the life-processes of
the plants, into starch, sugar, oil, protein, fiber, cellulose; and
furnish food for man and animals.

The adaptation of roots, stems and leaves to the soil, shedding
moisture and arrangement to sunlight afford some of the most
interesting problems in nature-studv.

The color, form and arrangement of flowers in their adaptation
to insect enemies and friends, the gradual transition from flower
to fruit, the death of one generation giving birth to another, pro-
vides a series of observations which can not be anything but
inspiring.

OUR EXPERIENCE WITH A SCHOOL-GARDEN

By M. A. BIGELOW

Teachers College, Columbia University

Eight years ago, Miss Elizabeth Carse, then supervisor of
nature-study in the Horace Mann School of Teachers College and
now principal of a private school in New York City, laid out a
small school-garden (about 14 by 60 feet) on a lot adjoining
Teachers College. Two years later the purchase of more land
made it possible to add a second plot of 80 by 100 feet. Four
years ago we added a third plot of 90 by 1 20 feet and built a very
plain greenhouse, 18 by 40 feet. Now the erection of a new
building has taken away the third plot and we must again be con-
tent with the first and second plots. These, too, will probably be
required for a building before many more years pass.

The conditions in the Horace Mann School have never been
ideal for a typical school-garden. The school year omits June
and September, the great months for making gardens and for
garden studies. The pupils are not in the city in the summer and
so most of them plant seeds in May and next see their gardens late
in September. Thirty or forty pupils who attend a summer ses-
sion of the Speyer School are able to make good use of the garden
in midsummer, both planting for themselves and helping culti-
vate plots planted by other classes in May. Throughout the
year we have a gardener, who does the greater part of the work in
caring for the garden.

The following points have been most interesting to those who
have observed the work in our garden :

1. Obviously the usual claims for value in garden work do not
apply to pupils who do not see their gardens between seed-sowing
and harvest. Nevertheless we have felt convinced that the work
of planting teaches lessons important enough to justify the gar-
dening.

2. We have found the greatest value in the abundant material
available for study in the autumn months. To this end we have
learned to select late-maturing varieties and in some cases have
the gardener start a late crop of certain vegetables, like radish, so
as to have materials for study in September and October.

81

bigblow] EXPERIENCE WITH A SCHOOL-GARDEN 83

3. We have found great value in plants, such as geraniums,
started from cuttings in the spring and in the autumn transplanted
from garden to window-boxes and there kept all winter.

4. So far as the pupils' studies of gardening are concerned, we
have found that our greenhouse and our window-boxes offer a
very satisfactory substitute for the gardening which we miss
between May and September. In the greenhouse and in the
window-boxes the pupils follow many plants to maturity. To
our surprise we have found that many old-fashioned flowers,
(such as zinnias and phlox) and very common vegetables (such
as radishes, squash and beans) are excellent greenhouse plants for
educational purposes.

5. We have found it more desirable to encourage class owner-
ship rather than individual ownership of the small garden plots.
It early proved impracticable to allow many kinds of plants in a
bed, because it rendered the gardener's work of cultivating too
difficult in mid-summer. We, therefore, decided to mass varie-
ties whenever possible. This also gave a wider range of materials
for study, e. g., one class of thirty pupils has as many beds each
with a difficult variety of vegetable.

6. We have learned that some plants with large seeds(sun-
flowers, beans, corn, nasturtiums, four-o'clocks), or bulbs, or
easily-grown annual flowers (such as marigold and zinnia), are
best for the small children. We have preferred to give the small-
seeded flowering annuals to third-or fourth-grade children. They
have suceeded splendidly with dwarf larkspur, California poppy,
petunia, verbena, phlox, cosmos, mignonette, centaurea, alyssum,
ageratum, calliopes, cockscomb.

7. After many trials, we have come to prefer beds about 40
by 72 inches with paths 24 inches wide on sides and 18 inches on
ends of beds. Even small pupils can easily reach to the center of
each bed. We have rows about 10 inches apart so as to allow the
gardener to expedite his work of cultivating with the scuffle hoe.

8. We have come to believe in the manual training value of
preparing beds neatly, but it is often impossible to get satisfactory
results when the work must be rushed in the last two weeks of
May. The children naturally tend to get seeds planted in the
shortest possible time.

9. We have come to believe that the greatest value of the
school-garden for most schools is as a demonstration garden

84 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW U^-mar., .908

teaching the children so that they can make home-gardens.
These latter have been possible in only a very few cases among
our pupils because of the crowded conditions on Manhattan
Island.

10. Some experiments made bv our graduates who have
worked on school-garden problems outside of NewT York suggest
that the "committee system" is the best way of keeping the
school-garden in shape during the long vacation. A committee
of pupils should be appointed for each week of the summer and
report when the next school year opens. Of course, everything
depends upon the organizing powers of the teacher.

A CORRECTION

In the paper by Professor Stanley Coulter which was published
in the January issue of this magazine, part of a sentence on page
i 2 was in some unexplained way changed after the manuscript
left the author's hands and much of the force of the paragraph was
lost. The last sentence in the paragraph should have read as fol-
lows : "It is difficult, however, for one to see why, if the habits of
life, the food-gathering and food-storing, the architecture and
activities of the animal known as the ant constitute valuable and
interesting: nature-studv material, the habits of life, the food-
gathering and food-storing, the architecture and activities of the
animal known as man should not furnish equally A-aluable and
interesting material."

As printed it read: "It is difficult, however, for one to see why
the habits of life, the food-gathering and food-storing, the archi-
tecture and activities of the animal known as man should not
furnish material as valuable and interesting as do other animals."
[Editor.]

THE AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

A conference on the training of teachers of nature-study (in
the broadest sense) will be held at Cleveland, Ohio, on the after-
noon of July the third, which is the last day of the meetings of the
National Education Association. This conference will be under
the general direction of the A. X.-S. S. Committee on General
Principles and the training of teachers of Xature-Study. The
personnel of this and other committees being arranged by the
Council will be announced when certain correspondence is
completed.

The Council has decided that the next regular meeting is to
be held in Baltimore next December when the meetings of many
scientific societies will bring together more of the active members
of the A. N.-S. S. than could attend at any other time and
place possible for this year.

85

NATURE-STUDY LESSONS OBSERVED

Reported by M. A. BIGELOW

The following is a careful report of two nature-study lessons
which were given in one of the New York City private schools last
September. It is not made up from lesson-plans, but has been
written out from notes made during the progress of the lesson and
dictated to the editor of The Review on the same day. It is
highly desirable that such reports, stenographic if possible, should
be made of some typical lessons. Such accounts of what has
actually been done will help many teachers much more than could
any theoretical discussions or outlined plans.

The apparatus at hand for the lesson consisted of small wine-
glasses, one for each pupil, and hand-lenses. Each glass was filled
about half-full of water and contained a number of larval mosqui-
toes. There were ten or twelve pupils in the class, which was a
fifth grade with pupils averaging about ten years.

The teacher introduced the lesson by saying: "Today we are
going to study the life-history of mosquitoes. We are going to
keep the mosquitoes in these glasses and watch them carefully as
we have already watched the life-history of butterflies. The
specimens which you have in the glasses are obviously not full-
grown mosquitoes but they are immature larvae. What is the
common name for the larval stage of the butterfly which we have
already studied? (Pupils answer, "caterpillar.") The problem
for this day is to find out how this mosquito larva moves in the
water, what it does in eating, feeding and moving. First look for
the head-end, then the tail-end, then more carefully for the
structure of each and find out how each is used. Also look at the
arrangement of hairs, feelers, eyes and such things. First, now,
see how the animal moves and in a few minutes I will give you
a chance to report to the class."

After a minute or two of careful looking at the specimens in
the glasses several pupils were ready to report. This first answer
was typical: "The larva starts from the bottom to the surface,
wiggles his body, usually keeps the head-end first, and when he
gets to the surface he turns around and sticks his tail-end out of
the water." After some more watching, most of the pupils in
the class agreed that these were essentially the things which they

86

bigklow] NATURE-STUDY LESSONS OBSERVED 87

saw. The teacher then said, "Look again carefully and when the
larvae come to the surface, jar the glass and see what they will do."
The answer from the pupils was, "When the glass is jarred the
larva falls to the bottom and does not have to wiggle down."
Then, after more watching, some pupils reported that "sometimes
the mosquito comes to the surface and bites his jaws together."
At this point the teacher looks at the specimens to verify this
statement heretofore unknown to her. A pupil then asked,
"Why do all the larvas hang at the surface of the water with the
tail-end out?" The teacher replied, "Look carefully and think
of something which all animals must do. Is the larva eating with
its tail-end?" In a moment the pupils replied "no." Again the
teacher questioned "what else besides eating must animals do in
order to live?" Several pupils replied, "Breathe," and suggested
that possibly the larvas were breathing at the surface of the water.
The teacher told them that scientific men had found that this was
true. One pupil remarked, "Isn't the tail a funny place to
breathe?"; and another one said, "You couldn't drown a mos-
quito by holding his head under water because he could stick his
tail out to breathe, and another one remarked, "You couldn't
drown a caterpillar either by sticking his head under water because
he breathes all along the sides of his body." At this point the
teacher showed them how to transfer a larva to a watch-crystal
and how to examine it with a small hand-lens with a tripod sup-
port. After looking carefully for a moment, various pupils
reported that there were "rings" on the body, "whiskers" as they
called the hairs, "more whiskers on the big ring next to the head,"
and "black lines inside of the body from head to tail." The
teacher here explained that these lines represented the food-tube.
Pupils next saw feelers and eyes on the head. The teacher asked
about the size and the pupils reported that some were smaller
than others. The teacher asked why ; and some pupils suggested
that caterpillar larvas, which they had studied, were at first small
and after eating for a long time became large.

After thus noting the more striking features of the animal's
structure, the pupils were instructed to make sketches. Exami-
nation of their sketches afterward showed that some were life-
size, some were three or four times the life-size, some represented
a wine-glass with the larva at the surface of water and there were
many other variations due to the fact that the pupils were left to

88 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [4!J— mab., 1908

their own ways of drawing. This was the close of the lesson. The
teacher instructed them to cover their glasses with pieces of
mosquito-netting, held in place by rubber bands, and told them
that the' glasses would not be touched until the next lesson which
was to occur two or three days later. The time of the lesson was
approximately thirty minutes.

At the beginning of the second lesson it was to be noticed that
pupae had developed from some of the mosquitoes under the
netting, and it was evident to the pupils that these must have
developed from the larva? which had been studied and left in the
glasses at the end of the first lesson.

The teacher began the lesson by asking, "Have your larvas
changed since the last lesson ?" The first answer was typical of a
number: "We have in the glasses some things which are black
with queer, hunched-up backs." The teacher said, "These are
called pupae. Look carefully and tell me what you see." In a
moment came the answer, "The pupae float up like a balloon, but
they have a mighty hard time getting down." Another pupil
said, "When they get down they paddle and paddle and when
they stop paddling they shoot up to the surface." The teacher
asked, ' ' Do they stick their tails out at the surface as did the larvae, ' '
and in a moment several pupils replied, "No, they stick their
hunched backs out." The teacher said, "Look carefully at this
back." A pupil replied, "I see two horns." The other pupils
verified this observation. The teacher asked them what these
horns might be for and several pupils in chorus answered, "For
breathing." Other remarks showed that the pupils inferred this
because the tubes projecting out of the water in the larva stage
were used for breathing.

The teacher instructed the pupils to watch for eating. There
were no results. The teacher asked, "Do the pupae of butterflies
eat?" A pupil replied, "No, for those pupae are quiet and do not
need to eat, but these pupae are moving and need food to keep
them going." Another pupil remarked, "Bears do not eat in
winter when they curl up andgo to sleep." The teacher explained
that an active pupae stage could exist without food because of its
short duration.

Then the teacher poured some of the pupae out into watch
crvstals and used a handdens as in the first lesson. Vai"ious
pupils reported that they could not see a head. One of them

bigelow] NATURE-STUDY LESSONS OBSERVED 89

said, "The animal is all one hunch and six or seven rings and a big
pair of paddles." Another one reported, "There's no breathing
tube like the larva has on its tail." Another pupil saw two
tubes on the hunch of the back. Others saw eyes. All looked to
verify these points. The teacher said, "I wonder why pupas stay
at the top." After looking a moment one pupil said, "It would
be better to stay down in the mud so that other animals can not
eat them." Another pupil said, "I think that is why they wiggle
down when we jar them." Another pupil said, "I think the pupa
stavs at the top most of the time so the mosquito won't get
drowned when it comes out." Another pupil discovered a mos-
quito sitting on its empty shell, and others looked to see the same.
One little girl remarked, "Goodness, you would not think there
was so much to nothing but a mosquito, would you?" Another
pupil said, "If the mosquito flies in the air, how does the larva
get into the water?" ; and quick as a flash another pupil answered
"the lady mosquito lays the eggs in the water." (The pupils were
convulsed with laughter.) At this point the teacher replied, "We
will keep the mosquitoes penned up in some of these jars and will
watch for eggs." The pupils made some sketches in their note-
books and at this point the second lesson closed. The time was
about thirty minutes.

It is evident from many points in the foregiong outlines that
the pupils had had an earlier lesson on the adult mosquito.

To the observer the most interesting thing was that it was a
lesson largely conducted by the children, for there was very little
talking on the part of the teacher. As shown in the report above,
the teacher's remarks were chiefly in the line of setting problems
in order to direct the observation of the pupils, and it is obvious
in many places that there was plenty of opportunity for expression
of originality on the part of the pupils. There are some points
in this lesson, which are open to criticism, but on the whole
they have some excellent points. If others have different
views they are invited to send them to the editor of The Review
for publication.

Perhaps other readers of this magazine will be able to give
reports of especially interesting lessons which they have observed.

INTEREST OF SCIENTIFIC MEN IN NATURE-STUDY

The following extract is from the address of Professor McMur-
rieh before the American Society of Naturalists at the recent
Chicago meeting. The remarks here quoted followed a discussion
of various ways in which the Society could be of value to scientific,
movements.

"Do we as a body of working biologists properly understand
the conditions of science-teaching in the schools, and have we
shown sufficient interest in bringing it to that state of efficiency
which its importance demands? In later years a wave of nature-
study has passed over our primary schools, driven by Froebelian
breezes. But, unfortunately, in many schools it seems that the
Froebelianism which should blow as a gentle zephyr has been
permitted to increase to a hurricane and the wave of science
study, instead of being an educational blessing, has carried
devastation on its crest. Two of our members have accomplished
much by their endeavors to establish nature-study upon a proper
basis and their work deserves a greater meed of credit than it has
hitherto received. But even yet, so far as my observation and
information extend, the teaching of nature-study is in many
schools in the hands of inefficient instructors, untrained in the
methods and purposes of such instruction, and the result is a
minute crumb of solid food overlaid by a heavy coating of maw-
kish sentimentality. The principal aim of nature-study should
be to train the child to the observation of natural objects and
phenomena and to awaken in his mind a healthy curiosity as to
their meaning and significance. In other words, its purpose
should be to develop in the child the scientific spirit, which is not
inborn but requires development. Its primary object should
not be a directly utilitarian one and it should certainly not be used
as a means of evoking an unhealthy and unnatural sentimentalism
when no sentimentalism should exist. Surely in a search for the
sentimental, nature is the last place to which we should turn.
Perhaps the causes of the mistakes in nature-study are largely
due to conditions which are beyond our control, but have we done
our duty in upholding the hands of our fellows who are striving
for efficient instruction, in calling the attention of those in
authority to errors in method, and in endeavoring to set science
teaching in the primary schools upon a proper basis?"

90

NO TES ON NE IV BOONS 9 1

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS

Biological Projection. Professor A. H. Cole, of the Chicago Normal
School, has for many years been experimenting with projection apparatus
as a means of illustrating the study of living plants and animals. His
results are incorporated in a book entitled "Manual of Biological Projec-
tion," published by the Neeves Stationery Company, Chicago. The book
gives very complete accounts of the various kinds of projection apparatus
and their management, and also very complete directions for exhibiting
living animals and plants. Especially interesting are the suggestions for
anesthetizing animals which are so active that in the normal condition
they could not be exhibited by means of projection apparatus. Very
many of these suggestions would be useful for work with an ordinary
microscope. Mention should also be made of the chapter which gives
directions for collecting many species of animals or plants and for keeping
them alive in aquaria. This chapter will be of value to many teachers
who do not use a projection microscope.

General Physiology. The tendency in recent years has been to teach
human physiology in close connection with the biological sciences in our
high schools, rather than as an isolated topic concerned solely with the
human body. In other words, physiology is being taught as general phy-
siology, drawing a large, part of its material from various animals and
plants. To meet the demand for such a general treatment of physiology,
Dr. W. H. Eddy, of the New York High School of Commerce, has prepared
a text-book, which has been recently published by the American Book
Company. Throughout this book he has laid special stress upon the
physiological processes; and while retaining the human body as the main
subject of application, he has attempted to teach the universal application
of these processes to all diving matter. It would be possible to use the
book not only for the study of the human body, but also for a supplemen-
tary text in the study of zoology and botany. It is intended to be used as
supplementary to laboratory study, such as is outlined in the "Experi-
mental Physiology and Anatomy" by the same author. Such a book
deserves very careful trial by good teachers, because its general arrange-
ment indicates that in practice it will be found far superior to the usual
treatises limited to human physiology and anatomy.

New Elementary Physiologies. In an article published in this magazine
in February 1906, page 67, it was pointed out that the great difficulty
with our present instruction in physiology and hygiene for elementary
schools arises from the fact that in presenting the subject every year, be-
ginning with the Third Grade, there is a large amount of useless and tire-
some repetition in all of the series of text-books which have been prepared
to meet the legal requirements. Especially has there been much repeti-
tion because authors have attempted to cover the entire subject in each
book. Professor L. H. Gulick, Director of Physical Education in the
New York City Schools, has attempted to overcome this difficulty by pre-
paring a new series of text-books, published by Ginn & Company. In

9 2 THE NA TURE- S TUB Y RE VIE IV [ 4 : 3-m a * . , iqoS

order to maintain the interest and avoid the effect of annual review of the
same subjects, Professor Gulick has endeavored to supply for each year
some distinctive and separate topic in hygiene. For example, in the first
volume ("Health") some very simple hygiene of the skin is presented.
In the second volume ("Emergencies") such things as burns and scalds
are discussed. In the third volume ("Town and City") the skin is pre-
sented as a conveying agent. In the fourth volume ("Physiology"') the
general functions of the skin will be discussed, and in the fifth volume
("Control") the skin will be discussed as a nervous organ. Thus there are
five different phases of the subject. This is certainly an interesting at-
tempt at gradation of the subject-matter of physiology and hygiene.
Probably more interesting and more important than this is the fact that
the author has found it possible to say very little about internal organs in
the first four books of the series, and this will meet with the hearty approval
of very many teachers of science whose experience has led them to doubt
the advisability of discussing internal organs very extensively with young
pupils below the seventh or eighth grades. The books deserve careful
consideration by teachers, because they evidently contain many sugges-
tions which may help in solving the present problems connected with
physiology and hygiene in the elementary schools.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES

[Editor's Note. This department will be conducted by Chester A.
Mathewson, of the High School of Commerce, New York City. Notes
and suggestions may be sent to him in care of the editor of The Review.]

"The Country Boy" is the appealing title of a leaflet issued by the
Massachusetts Civic League. The author is George E. Johnson. He calls
attention to many things now done for children in cities, and points out
that the needs of the country child are no less pressing.

"The free plays of the earlier years are continuing, on a larger, more
venturesome scale. Passion for nature, which lies in every normal child's
breast at this age [8 to io years], impels him to press beyond his former
narrow bounds. He must search the earth and appropriate what he finds.
It is the beginning of the apple-stealing period. This passion for nature,
if rightly guided, will lead to a higher and better appreciation of the world
and of his own relation to it. But this passion needs direction, needs a
headquarters for information and inspiration. Only rarely is such fur-
nished the country boy, who, therefore, often remains impoverished amidst
incalculable wealth and opportunity. The country play-ground can
easily provide a 'back-yard fish-pond,' aquarium, insect cages, aviary, and
menagerie, which would furnish more information, interesting study, and
incentive to look for things, probably, than the city park and menagerie
can furnish city children, because the former fall directly in the line of the
child's activities and experiences, and because they are largely of his own
creation. But, without these aids and wise direction of the passion for
nature, the vast majority of village boys miss entirely the scientific
interest, loving appreciation, and moral inspiration that ought to result

NA TURE- S TUD Y NO TES 9 3

from contact with nature. The passion for nature finds expression in
seeking, maiming, killing, destroying. Wild flowers are greedily and
ruthlessly gathered, creatures are chased and slaughtered, in a kind of
impetuous savagery. It is so easy to change all this. Dr. Hodge's
experience with Worcester children in the matter of toad killing is
a notable illustration. In "Nature-Study and Life" he says:

"While walking once around a small pond I counted two hundred toads
dead or mangled and struggling in the water, and learned next day that
two boys had killed three hundred more, carrying them off in an old milk
can to empty on a man's doorstep. This five hundred does not represent
probably one-tenth of the number killed by the children that spring (1897)
around this one pond. A "civilization" in which such abuses of nature are
possible ought to be eaten alive by insects, and something must be funda-
mentally wrong with a system of public education that does not render
such a thing impossible. My first impulse was to get a law passed and
appeal to the police ; but the wiser counsel of a friend prevailed, and I was
inclined to try education of the children instead. Accordingly a prize of
$10.00 was offered to the Worcester school-child who would make the best
practical study of the "Value of the Common Toad." This was offered
March 31, 1898, and there was no evidence that a single toad was harmed
at the pond the following April and May."

Wolves and Coyotes in the West have caused enormous losses to live-
stock interests in the past. The offering of bounties for predatory animals
has proved quite inadequate to ridding the western country of the animals
which, in Oregon alone, caused a loss of $250,000 in 1907. The U. S.
Forest Service, in a recent circular, states that trained hunters and syste-
matic campaigns are the only means which avail in any .considerable
degree to protect a given region .

Instruction in Agriculture is now given in the normal schools of twelve
states in the Union. Seventeen states have one or more public high
schools giving such instruction.

Nature-Study in Country Schools. O. J. Kern, of Illinois, in a recent
number of the Western Journal of Education, says: "For inspiration in
my efforts to create a new ideal with reference to the beautiful in count ry
life, I am indebted to various agencies given below, though not necessarily
given in order of importance.

1 . Bulletins issued by the United States Department of Agriculture,
especially the ones issued by the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Bureau
of Forestry.

2 . Publications of the American Park and Outdoor Art Association.

3. Literature and pictures given by the Youth's Companion Publishing
Company.

4. Various magazines like Country Life in America.

5. Arbor and Bird Day manuals issued for the past six years by the state
superintendents of Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
Those of Wisconsin have been especially helpful.

6. Books like Babcock's "Bird Day"; Ely's "A Woman's Hardy Gar-

94 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:3-mar., 1908

den," Miller's "Children's Gardens"; Blanchan's "Nature's Gardens";
Dugmore's "Nature and the Camera"; HemenwayV'Howto make a School
Garden"; Roth's "First Book of Forestry"; Robert's "The Heart of
the Ancient Wood" ; Roger's "Among Green Trees" ; Miller's "The Brook
Book"; Gibson's "Eye Spy"; Burrough's "Pepacon" ; and many others.
7 . A closer study of road, stream and field in my own county of Winnebago.
There is much of beauty in each school district which the children do not
yet see. If they do see it, they are like the lad who said to me a few days
ago (when we were discussing Bryant's "What Plant we when we Plant
the Apple Tree?"), in answer to the question about the beaujty of common
things. "We may see the beauty, but we don't think of it." This was
from a boy ten years old. I feel sure that teachers can get an inspiration
from some one or more of the above sources, which will lead them to see
and think more of the beauty of common things."

The Home Gardening Association of Cleveland has issued its eighth
annual report in the form of a handsome booklet containing many splendid
half-tone illustrations of various phases of school and home gardens.
Most of the work of this organization is done in Cleveland, but it extends
its influence all over the country by means of the penny packets of seeds
which it sells. In 1907 the Association sold 546,946 packets, of which
over fifty per cent went to schools and organizations outside of Cleveland.
During 1 908 these packets can be secured from the Cleveland office at one
cent each. They offer a choice of eighteen flowers and eight vegetables.

Anopheles in Sea Water. Dr. L. O. Howard gives in Science a summary
of an article by Dr. Vogel, of the Dutch East Indies, in which are the fol-
lowing interesting and extremely valuable conclusions: 1. There are
species of Anopheles which can live very well in sea water. 2. These
mosquitoes lay eggs which develop even in sea water which has been
evaporated to half its original quantity. 3. These larvae in the gradually
evaporating pools of sea water can stand an evaporation of the water to
one-third of its bulk, but do not appear to transform to adults if the con-
centration be greater than this. 4. The larvae coming from eggs laid in
sea water of high concentration can accomplish their entire metamorphoses
in almost the normal time. This is true even when the water has such
concentration that the development of larvae originally hatching in un-
concentrated sea water, would be retarded by this salt water.

Not only are these observations of great interest as bearing upon the
health of certain sea-coasts, but they have an important bearing in pos-
sibly explaining the cases of malaria observed upon sailing vessels that
have not made port for months, since it indicates the possibility that
Anopheles may breed in the bilge-water of such vessels. In such cases it
is only necessary that one of the sailors should have gametes in his blood
in order to start an epidemic of malaria aboard the vessel. The bad
reputation which the coral islands of farther India have is explained by
Doctor Vogel's observations, since so many cases of malaria are observed
along the coast during the dry season when all the rivers and fresh-water
streams are dried up.

NA TURE STUDY NO TES 9 5

The proposed destruction of Anopheles by the introduction of sea
water seems not to be rational.

Shields' Magazine. The recent numbers of this magazine have con-
tinued the good fight for bird and game protection. Mr. Shields is doing
a good work and his magazine deserves far better support than it has so
far received. If any readers of The Review know real boys of 15 to 20
years who are interested in hunting and fishing, do not fail tobrder Shield's
Magazine for them. It will be good nature-study for the boys and soon
will enlist them in the cause of game protection.

St. Nicholas for January has some interesting notes in the "Nature and
Science for Young Folks" department; especially the illustrations of
snow images of animals made at Andreasburg, Germany ; and the account
of the large pigeon farm at Los Angeles with 100,000 birds and selling
1,000 dozen squabs per month, bringing a gross annual income of more
than $30,000 a year.

Bounty for Cats. In his annual report the Secretary of the Pennsylvania
State Game Commission recommends that the house cat be added to the
bounty list, because it is such a great destroyer of bird life.

Sesquipedalian Words in Science. A recent critic (See Science, Dec. 27,
1907, p. 909) calls attention to an article on ants in the December Popular
Science Monthly as "an attempt to parade an aggregation of inane
verbosity." Most of the examples cited, like symbiosis and polymor-
phism are useful scientific words ; but when the average man reads in this
article that "Slavery or dulosis is rare among ants" and then looks up
dulosis to find it simply a Greek synonym for slavery, he is inclined to
agree with the critic in the suggestion that science men introduce such
words "to show that the author has some knowledge of Greek" or wishes
"to clarify his meaning and make science popular." It certainly reminds
one of the text-books which read: "The crayfish has a beak called
rostrum and legs called ambulatory appendages."

Humor in Nature-Study. The funny man has seen possibilities in the
line of nature-study and his publisher now offers "Nature Series, No. 23,
How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers." The publisher is not en-
gaged in the text-book business and hence we need not fear that the book
will be adopted for regular work in schools.

Economy in Christmas Trees. Those interested in forest preservation
will be glad to learn that, probably owing to business complications, the
New York City wholesale dealers ordered 65,000 less evergreen trees than
last year.

Dandelions as Food. This despised weed seems to be steadily gaining
ground as an edible and in the Old World is frequently cultivated. In the
markets of our larger cities the cultivated dandelion is often exposed for
sale while in smaller towns the plants that grow so profusely in waste
grounds are not disdained. But even in so apparently simple a matter as
cooking dandelions there seems to be some tricks. The majority simply
cut off the leaves, wash them and cook until tender. A better way is to

96 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW ]4:3-mar., ,908

select the large plants and after digging remove most of the green part of
the leaves and all of the root except just enough to hold the leaves together.
The lower part of the leaves are blanched from being in the ground and
are sweet and tender. They should be washed thoroughly, parboiled for
a few minutes and then copked as usual. {American Botanist]

Mosquito Extermination. The Xew York Legislature has passed a law
which confers upon local boards of health the power to declare breeding
places of mosquitoes public nuisances. The owner of the property upon
which such conditions exist may be required to abate the nuisance at his own
expense. If the owner fails to take action the law empowers the local
board to do the work, assessing the cost equitably on the abutting property.

Study of Trees in our Primary Schools. This is the title of an elaborate
quarto volume of 48 pages prepared by Professor C. M. Weed for the
Massachusetts State Forestry Department (office at Boston). It contains
detailed directions for the study of selected trees during the first three
years of the primary school. The following principles of selection are
laid down by the author: (1) To select for the youngest pupils the most
diverse forms so that the visual images will be distinct and easily differen-
tiated. (2) To include in some cases related forms which have points of
difference easily grasped by young pupils. (3) To include as many trees
as practicable which may be utilized in sense impressions through feeling
or smelling, thus reinforcing the visual images. Suggestions are made for
drawing, modelling, coloring and printing leaves, for excursions, and a
sample lesson is given.

Quail and Woodcock. The Xovember 1907 number ofthe"Xature
Guard" contains a very interesting account of the habits of these valuable
game birds.

Sugar-Beet Industry in the United States. One of the "Farmers' Bul-
letins" states that ten years ago the consumption of sugar in this country
amounted to almost 2,000,000 tons, or 62 pounds per capita, annually.
Of this amount over 1,500,000 tons came from abroad. The Department
of Agriculture deplores the necessity for this enormous importation and
has worked hard to learn whether it is possible to produce more in this
country. The experiments have shown that there are wide areas in the
United States adapted by soil and climate to sugar beets.

Mushrooms as Food. There is a widespread idea that mushrooms and
other edible fungi are very nutritious foods. They are commonlv said to
contain very large quantities of protein (nitrogenous material) and to
rank close to meat as sources of this important nutrient. The term
"vegetable beefsteak" has been applied to them, and other equally extrava-
gant statements are frequently met with.

An extended study of the food value of edible fungi has recentlv been
made at Yale University. Analysis does not show that the edible fungi
(mushrooms) possess a high food value. The following conclusions are
deduced from the comparative tables of analysis.

It will be seen that the mushrooms contain a very high percentage of
water. In ordinary food materials protein is the most important nutrient.

A A TURE- S TUD Y NO TES 9 7

As regards protein content, the mushrooms rank about the same as
potatoes, though they are decidedly inferior in food value, since they con-
tain much less carbohydrates. Xon-albuminoid nitrogen is thought to
have little food value. As will be seen, the mushrooms do not contain a
high percentage of nitrogen, and a considerable portion of the nitrogen
present is in the form of non-albuminoids.

When it is remembered that mushrooms contain 75 to 92 per cent of
water, and that the total amount of protein present is comparatively
small, it will be seen that they correspond with fresh vegetables. Indeed
they are decidedly inferior to many vegetables. The expression "vege-
table beefsteak" seems peculiarly inappropriate when applied in a strictly
chemical sense. A person depending upon mushrooms to furnish the
amount of protein necessary in a day's diet would be compelled to con-
sume about 8 pounds, if the morel, a fair average species, were selected.
The carbohydrate content of mushrooms is relatively high, but there is no
lack of carbohydrate foods in the ordinary diet, and consequently, no
great need for this constituent of the mushrooms.

Although mushrooms and other edible fungi can not be considered as
highly nutritious foods, they are undoubtedly useful condiments or food
accessories. They add to the palat ability of many food materials when
cooked with them, and may be served in many appetizing ways. Their
use can undoubtedly be extended by skillful growing and careful market-
ing. The principle edible fungus raised by market gardeners is the com-
mon field agaric (Agaricus campestris), and the term mushroom is generally
understood to mean this variety.

Although the number of wild edible fungi is comparatively large, there
are many poisonous varieties, and too great care can not be exercised in
gathering fungi for food.

Criminal Animals. In McClurc's Magazine (February) Dr. W. T.
Hornaday has an interesting article on this topic. The following criti-
cism from the New York Times, well expresses the doubts which many
psychologists must have concerning extremely human interpretations of
animal actions.

"Mr. Hornaday has a curious theory to the effect that, just as men show
their real nature only when tried by adversity, so the mind of the animal
is revealed only in captivity, and those who have studied animals in the
wilds alone have no conception of their psychological possibilities. The
one proposition is probably as sound as the other, and neither needs serious
consideration. The point Mr. Hornaday tries to make is that, while
animals in a state of freedom are a virtuous lot, when prisoners they
develop a large capacity for what he calls crime, and he presents many
anecdotes in demonstration of his thesis.

They are excellent stories, and of all exactness, no doubt, as to the exact
order of events in the several tragedies of cage and paddock, but Mr
Hornaday 's interpretation of the events is — well, rather desperately
anthropomorphic. He sees deep-laid and malignantly executed plots to
murder where others will see only the manifestations of chronic or acute

98 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:3— mar., 1908

brain disease, due to confinement in artifical conditions, and he charges
with criminality poor beasts that did their poor best to obey instincts upon
which the perpetuation and progress of their race have depended for
centuries. Of all the tales he presents, that in which Black Beauty, a
buffalo, "murders" Apache, an interloping rival for the overlordship of
the herd, best illustrates the laborious bringing from afar of a complex
human explanation when a simple animal one was close at hand."

NEWS NOTES

The Graduate School of Agriculture will hold its third session July 6-31
at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., under the auspices of the American
Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. Instruc-
tion adapted to the needs of graduate students will be given under
the general heads of biochemistry, agronomy, horticulture, dairy hus-
bandry and dairying, poultry, veterinary medicine and entomology.
Prominent specialists in these lines will have charge of the instruction.

Lecture periods of one hour each will be provided for, principally in
the forenoon during five days of each week. After each lecture period
there will be an open period of a half-hour, which may be used informally
for answering questions asked by individual students, etc. In the after-
noon seminars or demonstration exercises will be held for about two hours,
five days in each week.

By vote of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Ex-
periment Stations a matriculation fee of ten dollars will be charged for the
whole session or any part thereof. No laboratory fees will be charged.
Board and room may be obtained in the neighborhood of Cornell University
for from $6.50 to $8 a week.

All correspondence relating to membership in this school should be
addressed to Prof. G. N. Lauman, Registrar, College of Agriculture,
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

A prospectus giving a complete schedule of courses and instructors and
other information will be issued later. A. C. True of the U. S. Department
of Agriculture is the Dean of the School.

Dr. Mary Wood-Allen, the well known author of books and leaflets for
instruction concerning sex physiology and editor of "American Mother-
hood," died recently at a sanitarium in Washington, D. C.

Prof. Austin C. Apgar, of the Trenton (N. J.) Normal School died early
in March. Professor Apgar was a naturalist-teacher of the old school.
Among his published writings the best known are the handbooks on birds
and trees.

Summer Courses in Science will be given in most colleges and schools
which have summer sessions. The compiler of these notes has received
specific information from Cornell and Columbia universities, Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory, and Maine Biological Laboratory and the Lake
Laboratory at Sandusky, O. Some of the institutions give information
on the advertising pages of this magazine.

IMPOR TA NT NO TICKS 99

Bertha M. Chapman, for several years supervisor of nature-study at
Oakland, Cal., has been appointed instructor in Professor 0. W. Caldwell's
department at the School of Education in the University of Chicago.

The Ohio number will be published for April. It seemed best to ad-
vance the present number, containing articles on gardening, to March.

"The Guide to Nature" (and to nature literature) is announced as a new
monthly magazine for adults, "devoted to commonplace nature with un-
common interest." It will be the official organ of the Agassiz Association
and edited by Edward F. Bigelow, well known as editor of the science de-
partment in St. Nicholas . The price is $i .50 a year. Publication office is
at Stamford, Conn. Write for prospectus.

The following interesting note occurs in the Prospectus under the head-
ing "Pedagogical":

"Down in your heart, haven't you become tired of so much one-sided-
ness in all this talk of 'nature-study' for the child in school ? Is it possible,
is it reasonable to suppose, that this beautiful world is so much more im-
portant for the little child than for the youth and the adult as one would
infer from the deluge of books on the subject, and from the articles in the
periodicals devoted to 'nature-study?' It is not reasonable, for we should
never outgrow our childhood in this kindergarten of God, never cease to
wonder and admire", and to learn.

For a few years the theory, the pedagogy, the arguments pro and con of
nature-study in the schools, of nature-study that centers in the child, have
been excellently presented in The Nature-Study Review, and in connec-
tion with that publication there has recently been organized The American
Xature-Study Association [Society.] All this is from the point of view of
pedagogy and the child. The Guide proposes to supplement and aid by
materials from the point of view of the teacher. Xature-study is progres-r
sing. Yet some teachers in their enthusiasm often ask why it does not
progress faster, more generally, and come more extensively into general
adoption. There surely is no lack of talk, of books, of theory, of argu-
ment on nature-study for the child. The greatest need at the present
time is, in the opinion of the editor of The Guide, more teachers with
greater enthusiasm, more teachers who believe and live the creed that
nature-study and love of nature are in themselves worth while, regardless
of any teaching to a child. In other words, to teacher and general public
knowledge and love of nature should be more an end than a means."

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Payment in Advance. Hereafter this magazine will be published on
a strictly paid-in-advance basis for two reasons : (1) The new rules of the
U.S. Post-office Department require a higher rate of postage on copies to
subscribers who are in arrears. This together with the clerical work
involved in keeping such names on separate lists and sending bills makes
it too expensive to carry subscriptions far in arrears. (2) Experience in
the past two years proves that a surprising percentage of subscriptions
ordered continued and to be paid later will not be paid. The Review

i.oo THE NA TURKS TUD V RE VIE W [4 : 3-mar, 1908

lost nearly $75 in this way last year, and also the cost of postage and
clerical work in sending bills several times. Even a normal-school princi-
pal refused to pay because the "copies could not be found in his office,"
but he did not give this information until the fifth bill and a special letter
called his attention. It seems impossible that all copies for two years
could have strayed in the mails. Other subscribers have ordered the
magazine continued and then removed to other places without ordering
second-class mail forwarded. But the majority of delinquents — many of
them personal or professional friends of the editor — simply forget the bills
for unpaid subscriptions. This has been the experience of many other
publishers.

The editor feels sure that the vast majority of readers will agree with
him in the opinion that economy should be practiced by adopting a pay-
ment-in-advance rule. This has already been done by the American
Nature-Study Society and other subscribers ought not to be carried on a
basis which means, at least indirectly, increased expense for the Society.

Please examine the date on the address-label and wrapper of this issue
and if you find no record of payment for 1908 sent more than three weeks
ago, notify the Secretary of the A. N. S. S. at once. Otherwise, the April
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earlier.

Incomplete Sets for 1907. Please report at once any numbers paid for
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zine.

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for authors at a low rate if ordered when manuscript is mailed. Extra
copies of The Review will be supplied to authors of articles free of
charge if request is made before printing.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 APRIL, 1908 No. 4

OHIO NUMBER

Managing Editor's Note. — This number of The Nature-
Study Review has been prepared under the editorial direction of
Professor Michael F. Guyer, of the Department of Biology,
University of Cincinnati. All the papers were written by educa-
tors connected with Ohio schools and colleges.

This is the first of a series of numbers to be prepared under the
direction of members of the Council of the American Nature-
Study Society. The May issue will be a "California Number,"
edited by Dr. H. W. Fairbanks. Beginning in the next school
year, there will be a "Canadian Number," edited by Professor
Lochhead; a "Nature-Study and Industrial Education Number,"
edited by Professor O. W. Caldwell of the University of Chicago;
a "Nebraska Number," edited by Dr. Ruth Marshall of the Uni-
versity of Nebraska; an "Illinois Number," edited by Professor
P. L. Charles of the DeKalb Normal School; a "Minnesota Num-
ber," edited by Professor F. L. Clements; an "Indiana Number,"
edited by Professor Stanley Coulter; a "Southern Number,"
edited by Professor F. L. -Stevens. These special issues are in
preparation and others are being planned. In most of these
issues there will be pages reserved for publication of notes, dis-
cussions, etc., which come direct to the Managing Editor; and
therefore readers are requested to send in their communications
as heretofore.

An article by Professor Hodge has been added as t his issue
goes to press.

101

ORGANIZATION OF NATURE-STUDY IN THE
PRIMARY GRADES

By B. M. DAVIS
Ohio State Normal College, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

"We have not yet organized nature studies in the schools into any well

knit adjustment to general education" — (Elmer Ellsworth Brown, "Are

we an Inventive People in the Field of Education?" Science, N.-S., vol.

26, p. 5).

Nature-study is passing out of the stage of propaganda into
the stage of appreciation. It has not proceeded much further.
So far its progress has been due to individual rather than to organ-
ized effort. There is an irregularity in its use as a school subject
which is not found in the use of other school subjects excepting,
perhaps, manual training.

It is not unusual to find emphasis placed on nature-study in one
grade and none at all in the next; or to find the -same topic
repeated in several grades by different teachers. An example of
the latter is one of the stock subjects of the Thanksgiving season :
the pumpkin.

The idea of the harvest, Thanksgiving day. turkey, cranberry
sauce, and pumpkin pie, etc., has at this season a more or less
prominent place in the minds of everyone from the youngest to
the oldest. It is fitting, therefore, that the schools recognize and
make use of the spirit of such a time.

But when the pumpkin is discussed in all its relations — seed,
vine, color, fruit, and reasons found for its color, peculiarity of its
pul]), special way of taking care of its seeds — in the first grade,
and repeated witli the same child in each of the three succeeding
years or perhaps longer, one naturally feels that the pumpkin is
receiving undue prominence. I sometimes wonder if such a pro-
cedure might not prejudice the child against the pumpkin and
detract just a little from his enjoyment of the real functions of
the pumpkin, viz., its use in pies, and for making jack-o-lantcrns.
1 am tempted to digress a little, to suggest that if the energy of
these four years could be lumped together in such a way as to
have the child raise a pumpkin from the seed, harvest it and
finally follow it personally into a jack-o-lantern or a pumpkin
pie, the pumpkin would then have filled a happy mission as a
nature-study subject.

ioi

davis! NATURE-STUDY IN THE PRIMARY GRADES 103

There arc at least two reasons for the irregularity just noted.
One is the lack of direct interest in nature on the part of the
teacher. If she teaches nature-study at all, she often gets her
information from books, or mechanically plans her lessons ac-
cording to a certain type familiar in primary lesson-plans. The
other reason is lack of proper sequence from grade to grade, and
year to year.

It is my purpose here to discuss the organization of nature-
study for the primary grades (I— III), and to point out a few im-
portant principles which seem to me to underlie such a plan. In
presenting this I have in mind chiefly the needs of the smaller
school systems where no well planned work in nature-study is
undertaken.

In the first place there should be a definite idea of the place and
use of nature-study in these grades. "Training the powers (?) of
observation" is most too vague; "learning to interpret nature"
except in very simple relations is too difficult; and "instilling in
the child a love of nature" is unnecessary for this love is already
there in some form or other.

I have already indicated at another time1 that two elements arc
greatly neglected in our elementary schools : (a) giving the child
new experiences, and (b) creating in him wholesome interests
< >utside of school hours. It is assumed that the experiences of the
child before school age and outside of school hours are sufficient
for him to understand whatever is presented to him in school.
As a consequence his use of words far outruns his knowledge of
their meaning. What they really represent may never come into
his life sufficiently for him to understand them. I appreciate
the fact that reading and language lessons are now planned to
come as far as possible within the experience of the average
child and that in this respect conditions are far better than a few-
years ago. But it must be apparent to every one interested in
primary education that in spite of these carefully planned and
well illustrated lessons they often go beyond the child's real
experience. I found, for example, that the children of a second
grade of a certain school in California knew the names of fourteen
birds. But these words and some of the pictures illustrating
them, and not the birds themselves, were the concrete objects to

'B. M. Davis, "School Gardens," this journal, vol. 2, pp. 82-83.

104 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:4— APR.,i9q»

the children. On testing their actual knowledge none of the
children knew by sight or song more than three birds, and most
of them failed to recognize the linnet which is as common there
as the English sparrow is in the east.

Without going further, we may assume that directing the
child to new experiences in his natural environment — getting
first hand acquaintance with the common things — is an impor-
tant function of nature-study, and one that we may reasonably
expect to be carried out in the average school. We may call
this experience-getting or data-gathering. These data are
mostly things that impress themselves upon the child through
his senses and his own activities. The child proceeds somewhat
as follows: He sees something and wants to handle it. He is
often satisfied if he is simply allowed to hold it. But if he can
come into a still more vital personal relation with it by having it
serve him in some useful way, the experience is more satisfying
and definite. Of the many things he learns in this manner he
finds that some things are more useful than others. His activi-
ties in data-gathering for himself are therefore directed to the
tilings that serve him best, and also through imitation to those
that he sees serving others. Hence his first questions in the
presence of something new are usually: "What is it for.''
"What is its name?" "What does it do?" What the child is
really trying to get at is whether the thing may be of use to him.
The answer to these questions determine the value he sets upon
it. He is not interested in details, however important they may
seem to the adult mind. As the child advances in experience
his gathering of data grows less promiscuous. There is a classi-
fication. Only those things are selected and become conscious
to him that serve his purposes or which he may try to make
useful through imitation. His own initiative and his social
environment therefore determine the amount and character of
the data which he gathers.

When the child enters school it is assumed that among the
data that have thus been accumulated there is enough to introduce
and carry on an entirely different method of getting knowledge.
The school selects what it needs without trying to add new
data. The reason that cat, dog, cow, etc., have such a prominent
place in early primary lessons is not merely that they arc simple
words, but also because they are associated very intimately with

davis] XATURE-STUDY IN THE PRIMARY' GRADES 105

the experience of the average child. Ax and ox which were
honored in the first lessons of the primer of the early days do not
have the same significance now and hence have been eliminated,
though perhaps unconsciously.

It may be noted here that in the high school, the laboratory
exercises furnish the data for understanding the subject. Few
science teachers think now of simply using a text book and ex-
pecting the undirected experiences of the pupil to suffice for him
to understand the subject.

It is not less reasonable to expect the primary teacher to
direct the experiences of the child and help him through sug-
gestions and by other means to gather data that will be definitely
useful to him in his school career. As a matter of fact the success-
ful primary teacher does do this although she may not be con-
scious of it.

Applying this idea to nature-study the problem of the primary
teacher as concerns this subject is to direct, as far as circum-
stances will permit, the data-gathering of the pupil.

A concrete example will illustrate what I mean. A few m< mths
ago a favorite nature-study topic for the primary grades was the
leaf. I find in a certain state manual these questions from a
sample nature-study lesson intended for the first grade: "Why
does the leaf turn red?" "Why does the leaf fall?" and a num-
ber of similar ones. The answers were not given in the manual
for obvious reasons. These are hard questions for a botanist to
answer, let alone a six year old child. The teacher might get a
lot of answers to these questions. The child would be getting
experiences, or rather vocal exercises, but surely not experiences
with nature. Such a procedure would be questionable even in a
language lesson where oral expression is desired, for language
presupposes something to say — not guessing.

It is just such lessons as this under the guise of nature-study
that are doing more harm than good. Here all that we may
reasonably expect of a first-grade child is that he become con-
scious of the fact that many of our trees drop their leaves, and,
that associated with this phenomenon is a prominent display of
color on some of the most common ones. This is one of the
great aspects of nature in the autumn. We ma}' pretty safely
assume that the child is already aware of it, for he is delighted
with the gorgeous colors and makes use of the leaves in his play

io6 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4: 4— apr., 1908

because of the color. Likewise, he enjoys piling up the fallen
leaves and kicking them about. Further than this he is not
much interested. But if the teacher really wishes to add to his
data concerning leaves, she may direct his activities in collecting,
we will say to a few kinds that are strikingly associated with
particular trees, for example, the white ash. The new experience
here is that the white ash (at least in the northern states) has
purple leaves. The purple is so characteristic that the tree may
be identified from a considerable distance. The child likes to
collect leaves and often does so without suggestion. In directing
his attention to a few particular kinds of trees he gets a good
mental picture of these trees in their fall aspect.

Ignorance of the teacher as to the identity of the most common
trees may be urged against such a plan. But she may find out
easilv, whereas it is impossible for her to answer the questions
above quoted, at least at the level of the children.

Dewey savs: "Things hardly come within his (the child's)
experience unless they touch, intimately and obviously, his own
well being, or that of his family or friends."2 This suggests that
the data which the child collects is to be found in his immediate
environment, or in other words the common things which may
have a part in his activities It also suggests the method of
handling the material. The ordinary recitation method — that
of question and answer — limits the activities of the pupil to oral
expression. Whatever interest is shown is really due to the
limited opportunities for self-activity afforded by participating in
the recitation, and not to the subject under consideration. For
example, an October lesson on the "red or yellow woolly bear"
involving questions and answers concerning such details as color,
covering, number of legs, kind of food, etc., would no doubt
bring a lively response from the child. But here the insect
furnishes the occasion for about all the self activity allowed in the
schoolroom. To be sure, some impression may be made, and the
child may be sufficiently interested to learn of his own accord
something first hand about the animal. The teacher's aim here
is concerned chiefly with the recitation. Suppose instead of this
formal recitation the attention of the child is brought to the

2John Dewey, "The Child and the Curriculum." University of Chicago
Contributions to Education, Xo. 5, pp. 8-9.

davis] NATURE-STCDY IN THE PRIMARY GRADES 107

"woolly bear" not for the purpose of having him tell what he
knows but to learn more by means of his own efforts. The first
thing that she is to be sure of is that the child really knows the
"woolly bear" when he sees it. Simple directions are then given
as to how to find the caterpillars as they are crawling around
seeking a place to transform into pupae for hibernation ; how to
capture and keep them in small paper boxes; and how to watch
them from time to time. By some such procedure the child will
be able to see the caterpillar transformed into a pupa within a
felt-like cocoon. If the child has discovered all this through his
own efforts, he has learned one of the great facts about this
insect, and insects in general. If in the spring the cocoons are
placed in glass jars or bottles in a warm sunny room, another
great fact will be learned: The transformation into a moth.
The mental image of the restless, crawling caterpillar, the cocoon
of hairs and silk is made vivid again in this new association.
The story of the caterpillar getting ready for winter may then be
told by the child, for it has been made clear by real experience.

If in the spring silkworms are reared by the pupil and followed
through their entire life-history, the experience with the "wooly
bear" has a new significance. Suppose that similar experiences
with other insects are obtained during the next three or four
years. The child thus equipped with data is ready in one of the
grammar grades to take up special problems concerning some of
our common injurious insects, e. g., the codling moth. But such
problems will involve the use of other nature data such as birds,
for birds are useful in destroying insects. Reading will have an
immediate practical use as a tool to handle bulletins and other
accounts of the material investigated.

Nature work of this character thus unifying the previous ex-
periences which were interesting in themselves gives the child
some training as an investigator. He is naturallv at the gram-
mar-school age an investigator, but gets little help or en-
couragement from the schools.

Such studies not only stimulate in the pupil wholesome
interests outside of school hours but give him the right attitude
toward the subject. He will be less inclined to be superficial,
and less apt to feel that he knows all about a thing because he has
read about it in books or has been told of it in school. He will
also be keen for science when he gets into high school. Here

1 08 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIE IV U ■ 4-apr., "9°8

science may help him to a further interpretation of his experi-
ences.

1 have tried to indicate that the basis for organizing nature-
study in the primary grades may be reduced to simple data-
gathering, and to show also the relation that such work bears
to the subject in later grades.

At first glance such a proposition may seem too indefinite, and
lacking in unity. Dewey has answered this objection, at least
in part: "He (the child) passes quickly and readily from one
topic to another, as from one spot to another, but is not conscious
of transition or break. There is no conscious isolation, hardly
conscious distinction. The things that occupy him are held to-
gether by the unity of personal and social interests which his
life carries along. Whatever is uppermost in his mind consti-
tutes to him, for the time being, the whole universe."2

Each experience if it is made real by self activity and par-
ticipation is an unit in itself. If this experience is secured we
need not be concerned about unity, for when various experiences
are brought to bear on special problems in later years they
become unified through new associations.

Since the material for nature-study is almost unlimited, some
selection must be made. Certain things are more important
than others. The child is ready to be directed within certain
limits. Therefore it matters not so much what material is used
as how it is used.

I would suggest the following considerations in the selection
of material : (a) some vital human interest; (b) a content which
is worth while; (c) a sequence from grade to grade and from
year to year.

It is obvious that the natural and industrial environment of
the school should furnish the material. On these the child has
already drawn for his experiences. But environments differ,
and likewise the industries of the people. No course of nature-
study may be planned that will exactly suit any two places.
Each school presents a separate problem. It should be the
business of the primary teachers of each school to get together,
take stock of what is being done, and determine what is to be
considered in each grade. Suppose, by way of illustration, that

2 ioc. cit.

davis] XATURE-STUDY IN THE PRIMARY GRADES 109

twelve common birds are regarded as a reasonable number for
children to know by the time they have completed the third
<?rade Four of the most common ones mav be taken up in the
first grade, and four in each of the succeeding grades. In each
of the groups of four, at least one winter resident should be
included, so that the children 'may have a special interest in
seeing that it obtains food during severe weather.

One exception to having the immediate environment furnish all
the material for nature-study is the case of the larger mammals.
These are of great interest to children. Whether this interest is
due to folk-stories, or the circus with its posters scattered every-
where, or something else, the fact remains that it is very real.
Perhaps the best evidence of the child's fondness for these ani-
mals is found in the juvenile department of the bookstore where
there is alwavs a demand for books containing pictures and
simple accounts of the lion, tiger, bear, elephant, etc. Such
subjects must be studied mainly by means of pictures and stories.
In using them two things are desirable: (a) that the child
should get a clear visual image of the animal ; (b) that he should
also have as definite an idea as possible of the animal in its
natural environment, for without this the animal's characteristics
will have no meaning. The picture will give the image, and the
story will animate the picture.

If an acquaintance with a number of animals is thus made in
the primary grades, the pupils will be well prepared for such
studies as suggested by Downing2 where the cat and dog are com-
pared with their wild relatives; or to make the most of visits to
zoological gardens by following directions for observation like
those prepared by Guyer3 for the Cincinnati schools.

It is not possible within the limits of this paper to go further
into the details of selection of material except to add that a wide
range of subjects should be included: Domestic animals; com-
mon local wild animals; animals of the circus; ten to fifteen com-
mon birds ; life-histories of several common insects — at least one
each year ; seed and their distribution ; seasonal aspect of several
trees; development of seedlings from seed; a few common

2Elliot R. Downing, "Methods in Xature-Study," this journal, vol. 3,
p. 225.

3 Michael F. Guyer, "How to Study the Animals at the Zoological Gar-
den." Published by the Cincinnati Zoological Garden.

1 1 o THE NA TUKE-STUD Y RE VIE W [4 : 4— apr., igoS

spring flowers; life-history of the toad and frog; a few examples
from pond-life; the most important field and garden products of
the region, including cultivated flowers; physical phenomena
(weather, erosion, etc.). From such a range of subjects it ought
not to be difficult to select a series having a sequence from grade
to grade. When such a series of nature-subjects has been
planned for the primary grades it should be understood as
merely tentative — a beginning of organized effort. A year's
experience and acquaintance will furnish a basis for reorganiza-
tion and better results.

There is one serious difficulty connected with such a procedure
in our smaller school systems, viz., the shifting of teachers. If
the same teachers remain for several consecutive years it is a
simple problem to adjust the work. But if a group of
primary teachers (or one primary teacher in the small graded
school) attempts to plan the work as I have indicated, not much
will come of it unless some provision is made for the future which
will take into consideration the probabilities of new teachers.
Some sort of a record, therefore, should be kept showing just
what subjects are taken, and such other details as to source of
material, dates, etc., as may seem important. A record of tins
kind is valuable whether the teacher remains or not.

What I have said in regard to the importance of records of
nature-studies is equally important in its application to other
phases of school work. I can think of no other great work where
business is carried from one year to another, often in new hands,
in such an unbusinesslike way as is the common practice among
schools. All the new teacher lias for guidance is the meagre
information in the register containing merely the names, ages,
attendance and stages of advancement of the pupils. No com-
mercial business could possibly attain much success with such
methods.

SOME FUNDAMENTAL NEEDS IN NATURE-STUDY

By MICHAEL F. GUYER
University of Cincinnati

It is not the writer's intention to dwell upon the value of
nature-study in educating children but rather to inquire into a
few phases of the nature-study situation as it now exists, at least
in some parts of the middle states, and to point out what to him
seem to be some of its urgent needs.

As we all know, the idea has had powerful and brilliant advo-
cates for hundreds of years, ever since the time of Comenius and
probably long before. We have had such precepts as Bacon's
"We should accustom ourselves to things themselves" and
Agassiz's "'Study nature — not books," dinned into us year after
year. But notwithstanding all this, the old memory grind goes
on in the school. Why' Why is it that much of the work in
nature-study cannot be reckoned successful today and in not a
few instances falls little short of farcical?

It is evident that any movement towards improvement of
existing conditions must be based upon an analysis of the causes
of the present shortcomings of the subject. While there are a
number of important contributory factors, the fundamental one,
it seems to me, we must admit is the poorly prepared teacher.
And this may be said without casting any reflection upon our
present-day teachers, because the subject has come into favor
since they had their pedagogical training. As a rule where
nature-study is required, it has been put into the curriculum by*
some one in authority and then each teacher has been notified to
teach it. The prevailing idea seems to have been that any one
can teach nature-study and so the work has been saddled onto
teachers who have had no training in the subject-matter, who are
not imbued with the spirit of the movement, and who, in conse-
quence, have but vague ideas of what the subject is intended to
do for the child. Their own training has frequently been of the
formal type, based upon memorized ideas instead of personal
experiences, and the result is that they become bewildered when
called upon to teach something that cannot be prepared for
directly from books. These facts together with the tremendous
pressure under which the modern teacher works are far from be-

iii

1 1 2 THE NA TUNE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [ 4 = 4-apr., 1908

ing conducive to the development of an educational point of view
which is new to them.

Indeed, it is very questionable if our present attempts to make
over our whole body of existing teachers into teachers of nature-
study will meet with any great measure of success. For it means
a recasting of the whole mental being on their part ; a breaking of
old and the establishment of new habits of thought. We are
certainly over sanguine if we expect to jostle them out of their
bookish ways in any considerable numbers, and lead them to the
proper point of view for the teaching of nature-study, while they
are still occupied day by day with the numerous cares of the
schoolroom. Fortunately, there is a certain proportion "vvho
have always had some bent toward nature-work, independently
of the school, and it is chiefly to these we must look until ade-
quately trained recruits are forthcoming from our normal schools
and colleges.

However, granted that the teacher is able and willing to under-
take the work, it will be found that man)' teachers have had
difficulty in finding out just what nature-study is. Nor are their
hazy ideas in this respect to be wondered at when one considers
the confusion that has reigned to within the past two years, even
among the professional advocates of the subject. One needs
only to read the symposium on nature-study in the earlier num-
bers of The Nature-Study Review to agree to this. According
to the training and predilections of the respective contributors,
now one, now another conception has been advocated as ap-
proximating most nearly to the ideal course in nature-study.
. It would appear that at least two distinct ideas are masquerad-
ing under the name of nature-stud}'. The first verges on the
sentimental. Its aim is to awaken in the child the proper emo-
tional attitude toward nature. It has in mind more the child's
feelings and sympathies. The other idea regards more the child's
intellect, the necessity of training him to observe accurately and
to think clearly.

During the past two or three years it has become evident, I
think, that both ideas have their value; but it has also certainly
become manifest, as far as the writer's observation has gone, that
there is great danger of overdoing the sentimental side and that
the "thrillers" are not the best teachers of nature-study nor the
ones who best know nature.

given] fundamental needs in nature-study 113

While we want the child not only to observe and reason about
natural things but to enjoy nature as well, the fact remains that
just in proportion as his powers of observation and reason have
been trained on the material of nature, will he be able to approach
that personal appreciation which, with its accompanying in-
fluences, all admit is the final purpose of the nature work. Some-
where Goethe has said "Man sieht nur was man weiss," and
certainly this is nowhere truer than in appreciation of the beauti-
ful in nature. Once we have examined an object or phenomenon,
our attention and interest is more quickly attracted a second
time, and with the constant reappearance of kindred phenomena
-ve are stimulated to seek out relationships, and we thus grow in
appreciation of the fitness and beauty of nature. No amount of
ecstacy on the part of the teacher will arouse this in the child.
As his knowledge of the facts of nature broaden, nature must
make its own appeal. I believe I am safe in saying that to one
who is training teachers of nature-study this very question of
sentiment towards nature is the most unmanageable one that
confronts him. If any favorable recommendations are made at
all, the chances are that by the time the matter filters down to
the young child it has dwindled into the veriest twaddle.

Sentiment is of so ethereal a nature and appeals to different
persons in such diverse forms and degrees that it is a hazardous
undertaking to try to engraft ones own variety upon another
personalitv. While the great painter or literary artist may ac-
complish this with some degree of success, it seems saner to
recommend to the teacher of nature-study to attempt it but
sparingly. Certainly the personality of the young child is far
from being ready for the sentiments of the adult. The apprecia-
tive attitude toward nature which radiates unconsciously from
the intelligent lover of natural beauty is usually of far greater
value in its effects upon his childish associates than any amount of
conscious inculcation of sentiment can be. A teacher full of the
spirit that emanates from such works as Lubbock's "Beauties of
Nature," Van Dyke's "Nature for its own Sake," or the writings
of Thoreau, Ruskin, Burroughs and Gilbert White, will un-
consciously imbue his pupils with the proper attitude toward
nature in the full measure of their respective capacities. It is a
safe rule to say, first know the thing. After that there is ample
time to see how this same or similar things have affected the
sentiments of our best writers of prose and poetry.

[14 THE NA TURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:4— apr., .908

But the question arises, if our present teachers are poorly
trained for nature-work, wherein lies the fault. Teachers in
elementary and secondary schools naturally look to normal
schools, to colleges, and to universities for adequate training, hut
it must be confessed that not infrequently they have looked in
vain. There can be little doubt that some of our normal schools
merit the charge sometimes brought against them of stocking
their students with a plethora of method without giving them an
adequate foundation in subject-matter. On the other hand,
there is equal justice in the claim that many of our universities
and colleges are ignorant of the needs of teachers in the lower
schools or are not interested in them. Seemingly many university
professors have no conception of the nature of the work which will
be required of the majority of their hearers who go into the pro-
fession of teaching, or for that matter into any other profession
where initiative and creative effort are at a premium. While
our ideals of what true university work should be, may be cited in
justification of present university methods of instruction, still the
practical fact confronts us that here in America, besides affording
opportunity for research and supplying information for such pur-
poses, most of our universities must likewise perform the func-
tions of a college in supplying the more disciplinary work of
teaching their students how to think and how to approach truth.
And it is from a lack of this very disciplinary work that our
nature-study teachers of today are suffering. They have been
fed largely by the funnel method. They have sat at the feet of
their scientific or literary Gamaliel instead of rolling up their
sleeves and bending to the work with him — a fact for which he is
responsible rather than the}*. Their shortcomings as teachers
are due not infrequently to his failure to realize that, in the
foundations of his subject at least, his own efficiency as an edu-
cator is measured not by how much he imparts but by how much
he reveals*, and that if his hearers are to become successful teachers
his own methods must be exemplary. Instead of this, we have
predominantly the learned lecture.

The reason for this is perhaps not far to seek. Many of our
professors received their advanced training in German universi-
ties where the lecture svstem prevails, and they have attempted
to follow out the same plans in our American schools without
duly eonsidering the fact that the American student upon enter-

guyer] FUNDAMENTAL XEEDS IN NATURE-STUDY 115

ing the university is much more immature and undisciplined
mentally than the beginning university student of Germany who,
in fact, has had his formal disciplinary work largely completed
in the gymnasium.

As applied in nature-work in this country, the deplorable
effects of the lecture system are seen in the great prevalence of
the telling of facts and the reading of stories to children by
teachers who have the mistaken idea that they are thus teaching
nature-study. Whereas, the keynote to the nature-work is not
primarily what facts are learned but how they are learned. A
certain amount of fact-telling is, of course, necessary, and we may
admit that the story if used judiciously may be made a valuable
adjunct to the work. It is valuable, though, chiefly in so far as
it stimulates the child to independent inquiry, and thus while it
may become an excellent appetizer, the teacher certainly should
not mistake the condiment for the substantial part of the dinner.

Another unfortunate tendency manifested in some of our
universities is the putting of inexperienced men in charge of
beginning courses. They are cheaper! Thus the most vital
work of all, work that should command the careful attention of a
skillful teacher, is turned over to the neophyte. When this ex-
perimenter has begun to learn something about how to teach
and incidentally requires more salary, he is replaced by another
recruit, doubtless of unquestionable ability as a student, but
crude and unshaped as a teacher. It is little wonder that the
products of such tutelage when graduated perpetrate frequent
pedagogical enormities on children. Happily, there seems, at
present, to be a movement on the part of some institutions to
remedy this very serious fault.

While the success of nature-work must ultimately rest on the
merits of the teacher, there are a number of accessory factors
which are scarcely of less importance in determining the status
of this work in our common schools.. To the writer, the nature-
study situation appears to be just at a crisis, at least in city
schools, and the near future will reveal whether it is to be con-
tinued as a valuable addition to the course of study or to be
rejected as one more fad that has had its clay. Those of us who
have given thoughtful attention to the content and purpose of the
subject are ready to proclaim its values, but it can scarcely be
said that a similar unanimity of opinion exists among public-

1 1 6 THE NA TURESTUD V RE VIE IV U ■ *— apr., 1908

school educators who are daily facing the facts instead of che
theories of the schoolroom. Certainly if the subject is to make
good on any considerable percentage of the glowing prospects
held out by its propagandists, its advocates must bestir them-
selves into proposing and agreeing upon some rational plan of
organized subject-matter. It may really be questioned if the
highly idealized schemes of some of its more enthusiastic advo-
cates have not hindered rather than helped the cause in the eyes
of some of our practical school principals. However this may be,
we are now at a point where propaganda is no longer sufficient.
There is urgent need of suitable organization of material and
ideas.

Again, I find that the concurrent opinion of the several pro-
fessors of nature-study subjects with whom I have been able to
confer recently, is that too much has been attempted in nature-
study. All agree that it is better to restrict the work, at least,
until it is more thoroughly established. As a matter of fact this
restriction is going on unconsciously, and plants and animals
have come to make up the chief material in many schools. The
older idea of a helter skelter type of work has been found too
Utopian for realization, if for no other reason, because of human
limitations. A sufficient number of teachers does not exist
who can handle any and all kinds of material that may come to
hand, a fact, however, which doubtless works out for the best be-
cause while it is true that the child is largely systemless in his
observations, one of the prime objects of education is to teach
him to systematize things. Where a catch-as-catch-can variety
of nature-study has been attempted, the usual result has been
that if the children were at all interested, the teacher has been
deluged with a mass of material as unfamiliar to her as to them,
and with their enthusiasm thus nipped in the bud the children
have lost all interest in the work.

Again, from a survey of the general school situation as it exists
at present, I believe that if nature-study is to meet with any
immediate success in our schools with their inelastic curricula,
it must have a being of its own apart from other subjects. This
is not true because nature can be made to order but because our
school curricula have been so made, and, on account of the inertia
of routine, will continue to exist in that Avay for a number of years
to come. In my opinion, one important reason that the subject

guybr] fundamental needs in nature-study 117

languishes now in many schools is largely because it has no back-
bone of its own, no proper raison d'etre in the eyes of the teacher.

This does not mean, of course, that the work commonly called
nature-study which is used for furthering the child's knowledge
of geography, for example, should be abandoned. Such work
might well be incorporated in the regular geographical work as a
more rational way of teaching geography and not be reckoned as
a part of the specific work in nature-study.

The advantages, in having a thoroughly systematized line of
nature-work with carefully selected materials properly appor-
tioned to the various grades are evident. If the work is planned
with the aim of having gradually developed certain fundamental
principles by the time the course has been concluded, certainly
the child, although unconscious of the fact, has been grounded
in proper habits of thought that no amount of desultory ob-
servation could have developed. If his investigations have been
directed along carefully selected lines he loses none of the joys of
discovery which are reckoned so highly by the advocates of
nature-study, and yet in the end he will get a cumulative effect
of evidence which will be of the greatest value to him. Further-
more, by properly restricting the work, he will have time to grasp
something of the significance of a given field, since he is not con-
fused by a mass of totally unrelated phenomena. Moreover,
the busy teacher will be benefited in that she has to become
familiar with a more limited field and make preparations for
handling or supplying a less varied range of material.

As an example of some of the difficulties with which the
teachers of city schools are struggling, the replies enumerated
below are interesting. They are arranged in order of their
frequency and are responses of a large number of city public-
school teachers to an inquiry by the writer as to what their main
difficulties in teaching nature-study are and why in their opinion
it is not more successful.

1. Want of proper material and apparatus; the difficulty of
getting material. 2. Taking care of material. Most teachers
do not know how to care for material. 3. Lack of specific direc-
tions concerning the work for each grade and insufficiency of
detail as to what to teach under each subject. 4. How to manage
a class of forty or fifty so as to have all of the children, (a) study
the various materials individually and, (b) observe objects in

1 1 8 THE NA TL 'RE-STUD Y RE VIE W U^-apr., 190S

their natural environment. 5. The avoidance of material in the
upper grades which has been worn threadbare in the lower grades.
For example, children have been "caterpillared" to death, as one
teacher puts it. 6. A definite time for the work apart from
geography. 7. Principals are not in sympathy with the work.
8. Parents object.

The replies require little comment. The teachers plainly need
further instruction in both subject-matter and method. There is
a clear demand for a svstematized course of study with definite
allotments to each grade. The committee of the school-board in
charge of buildings needs to be awakened to the fact that the
best work can not be done unless proper provisions are made for
taking care of material, as for instance, keeping it from freezing
over Saturday and Sunday. Finally, judging from replies seven
and eight, it would seem that some further propaganda is
necessary.

The writer believes that it would be feasible to have in each
building some teacher, who has shown special aptitude for nature-
study, to act as a supervisor of the nature-work of the entire
school. He could confer with each teacher about specific
materials, methods and apparatus, see that duplications in the
grades were avoided, and act as a general advisor for teachers
who were less well prepared. Some such plan, it would seem, is
at least well worth trying.

By way of summary it may be said that, as far as the writer
can see, the nature-study movement is at a critical point in its
development. There is a pressing need for teachers who are in
sympathv with the work and who have been adequately trained
for it. We can look upon the present attempts to make over
mature, conventionally trained teachers into teachers of nature-
study as at best but a temporary makeshift to tide us over until
the work can be put into the hands of the recruits from our higher
schools, and these new teachers will be successful largely in pro-
portion as they themselves have been doers rather than hearers.
The responsibility for their kind of training rests largely upon
their instructors in these higher institutions of learning. There
is need of a definitely svstematized and graded course of study,
as we now have in geography, for example, which at the conclus-
ion of the sixth or eighth grade, as the case mav be, will have un-
folded before the pupil and made him conscious to some extent of

guyf.r Fl WD A ME NT A L NEEDS IN NA TURE-S TUDY 119

some of the great principles of unity and order which pervade
nature. Manifestly, it is absurd to expect teachers to attain to
this desired end unless they themselves have traversed the ground
and have a general understanding of these principles.

SOME CAUSES OF DEFECTIVE METHODS IN TEACHING

NATURE-STUDY

By FANNIE M. PERKINS
Principal of Glenwood School, Toledo, O.

Nature-study forms a part of our school-curriculum whether it
appears under that title or one more or less formal. That our
present system of presentation is defective is a fact so evident as
to need no proving. To find the cause or causes for these defects
is necessary, since causes must be known before difficulties can be
overcome and a failure in efficiency is far less dangerous to us as,
teachers than a failure to frankly acknowledge and bravely face
facts.

We may perhaps glean some comfort from Professor John M.
Coulter's statement that "Perfect adaptation means stagnation,"
and rejoice that our work is not stagnant since it falls so far short
of adaptation to the recognized needs of modern life.

That we are not teaching children to look upon life with "see-
ing eyes" is one root of the evil, though it may be possible, by
digging deeper, to discover that we ourselves were not taught
to see, intelligently, this "great wide wonderful world" or even a
very small part of it. We look but we do not see. We hear, but
seldom listen. Life moves in panoramic pictures before our
eyes, and, beyond a passing thought, the beauty and infinite
wonder of it all is not realized. The Japanese conception of the
spirit of life, abounding in flower, tree, rippling stream, bird and
bee wrould seem much more refining and civilizing in its influence
than is our appalling twentieth-century indifference, more
dangerous by far than ignorance.

Another cause for defective nature work may be found in the
fact that we seem to be living in a "taking things for granted age."
Miracles of science have become so common as to pass almost
unnoticed. Miracles of nature are plainly sharing the same fate.
In our efforts to remove all possible obstacles from the road to
knowledge, we seem to have allowed the pendulum to swing too
far. Our children are becoming so blase that it really seems as
if nothing astonishes them. If in place of the almost perfect
modern school-building, a palace of marble could spring up in a
single night, children would walk in through bronze doors, up

I20

fefk.ns] CAL'SES OF DEFECTIVE NATURE-STUDY 121

stairways of onyx, seat themselves on chairs of gold and go to
work at diamond-studded desks in a perfectly serene, matter-of-
fact manner. The spontaneous joy of discovery evidenced by
the kindergarten child has given place to a tolerant acceptance of
"tilings as they are." This picture may be a trifle overdrawn,
but it is not a pessimistic view at all. The older child is quite as
lovable, though spoiled by our over-indulgence, and all of this
may perhaps be more truly called an effect of our work than a
cause of our failures. In this case the fault must be wholly ours.

We can truly say that the real teachers have always led children
back to "Nature, the kind old nurse," though all programs did
not show a formal period set aside for nature lessons. A reading
lesson has been so skillfully taught that the child "flitted across
the lonelv beach" and realized in some measure the Providence
vast enough to encompass the universe and include "one little
sandpiper" and himself. Bryant's "Forest Hymn" has, with
wise interpretation, taught the mystery and magnitude of the
forest. Many and varied inspiration poems and stories have
been means of turning the child mind to the sources of such
inspiration. Picture-study deals largely with nature-study.
Drawing teachers call special attention, not only to drawing
from nature directly, but also to the conventionalized forms of
leaf, flower, and seed-pod used in designing. Physical culture
drills emphasize by imitation the graceful motions of trees, birds
and butterflies. Live teaching in geography creates an interest
in the study of atmospheric conditions, soil and rock formations,
fauna and flora.

All this being true, why are we not accomplishing anything
near the desired result? The answer of the biologist will prob-
ably be, "Because you are working in the abstract, while all
about you lies a world full of concrete materials." Nature-
study implies the actual observation and study of common
natural objects. The three essentials, upon which all authorities
agree, are lacking: (i) direct observational study, (2) common
things of nature as subjects of study; (3) the standpoint of hu-
man interest in nature as it touches our lives directly. You are
confusing science lessons with nature lesson, and overlooking
entirely the great fundamental "education of unification," so
well understood and taught by Froebel. By a logical sequence
the child in the kindergarten is taught many and wonderful

1 2 2 THE NA TUKESTUD Y REVIEW [4: 4-apk., ,qo8

things. He learns that in the tiny seed and inert chrysalis are
concealed life forces which under favorable conditions will ex-
pand into plant and butterfly. He learns, by seeing, the home-
making instincts of bird and insect and the mother-care of nature
for her children. He is taken out-of-doors and his attention is
directed to a few of the concrete phases of nature and a sympa-
thetic interest is easily aroused. This is done without formality
but with system, and there can be no excuse offered for failing to
continue the work so well begun in the kindergarten, to keep up
the love and study of nature from nature and from that inex-
haustible source lead to the love of art, science and religion.
Continue also the walks and excursions so valued by Froebel.
Try to see not how much but how well. Select materials fitted to
the growing interests of the child. Win him to an appreciative
knowledge of how "Spacious and fair is the world," and artificial
vulgarisms will not attract him. By thus using the "all-quicken-
ing creative power of child-life" we should be able to overcome
some of the glaring defects in our present well-intentioned but
desultory system and at the same time solve some of the sociologi-
cal problems of the day. It is surely time we realized that
"To know nature and man is the sum of all earthly knowledge."

NATURE-STUDY WORK AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

By HERBERT OSBORN
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

In response to the request for information concerning the work
done the State University in the line of nature-study, I am
pleased to give some details; but perhaps should preface these
by the statement that while a small amount of work is included
under this particular head there is a large amount of work done in
the Departments of Geology, Botany and Zoology which is directly
available as training for teachers who are engaged in nature-study
teaching. A course in nature-study is offered in the College
of Agriculture which includes a general treatment of the subject
embracing the different points of view, these being open to
election by the various students who may have the teaching of
elementarv agriculture or nature-study in view. There is also
a department of extension work in which a large amount of time
is devoted to institute work and assistance of country teachers
in the direction of the best methods of teaching nature-study in
the common schools. This work in charge of Professor Graham
and a competent assistant who give their entire time to the sub-
ject, is supplemented by the publication of the Extension Bul-
letin devoted to illustrations and guidance in this direction.

In the Department of Geology the courses in physiography
are offered and embrace much that is of fundamental importance
in the matter of laying a foundation for a full understanding of
the ecologic relations in the different kinds of animals and plants.

The Botanical Department offers courses which are of special
value to teachers, and provides a summer course at the Uni-
versitv especially intended for teachers, and during the winter
months provides for a tropical course under the direction of
Professor Kellerman. For this course a number of students
travel with Professor Kellerman in Central America and have
excellent opportunities for the outdoor study of tropical life in
native conditions.

The Department of Zoology provides general courses and a
course especially designed for teachers which aims to emphasize
particularly the ecologic features of zoology with a view to
furnishing the best foundation for thorough nature-study work.

*23

124 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW Uu-apr., 190S

The University maintains also the Lake Laboratory located at
Cedar Point near Sandusky, offering summer courses which are
attended by an increasing number of students and teachers from
the schools and colleges of Ohio and adjacent territory. This
laboratory has a very favorable location looking from the front
directly out upon Lake Erie and one of the finest beaches of the
lake region, while within a few steps at the rear is a quiet cove
opening into Sandusky Bay with extensive stretches of open
water and swamp. On one hand is a considerable area of native
forest, while in the other direction is a series of sand dunes, and
altogether the locality furnishes an opportunity to study plant
and animal life under a very great variety of conditions. The
courses offered here, are given with special emphasis upon the
ecologic side, in fact many of the lectures as well as the regular
field work being given out of doors with the immediate environ-
ment of the plants and animals under discussion directly at
hand. The courses involving especially this out-of-door treat-
ment are devoted to plants, birds, insects, fishes and aquatic life
in general. The laboratory has been fortunate in securing the
assistance of a number of the best known teachers in special sub-
jects, and among the names that have been upon the instruction
staff are those of Professors W. A. Kellerman, W. E. Kellicot,
M. F. Guyer, L. B. Walton, E. L .Rice, F. L. Landacre, W. B.
Herms, M. E. Stickney, Lynds Jones, and Chas. Brookover.

ORGANIZING A FIELD TRIP

By H. M. BENEDICT
The University of Cincinnati

Field trips are considered to be of the utmost importance by the
teachers of nature-study and — are seldom made. The idea of
an excursion to the woods or fields is most alluring at first thought.
One sees in fancy the eager children searching out the secrets of
nature and can picture the new enthusiasm with which they will
be inspired.

And yet, perhaps, the field trip when it actually occurs turns
out to be a wild scramble of excited children in which few of
nature's secrets seem in any danger of capture, while the return
resolves itself into a reti"eat led by a hoarse and discouraged
teacher.

The reason why the field excursion is so often unsatisfactory
is that insufficient preparation is made for it. The plain fact of
the matter is that a field trip requires more careful preparation
on the part of the students than any recitation or laboratory
period. Not only this, but if the class is a large one there must be
a special organization effected. If the proper preliminary work
is done the field excursion is an inspiration to the students and a
pleasure to the teacher.

Probably the best way to explain the methods which have
proved valuable in the writer's experience will be to describe the
preparation made for a specific trip. For example the manner of
organizing an excursion to a pond may be taken.

Field Excursion to Jones Pond

i. The teacher must make a preliminary scouting trip to the
pond in order to become familiar with the surroundings, as well as
for the special purpose of determining what plants and animals
are present in sufficient numbers to serve as practical objects for
study.

2. A plan of the forms to be studied and the points about each
to be considered must then be carefully, very carefully, made.

3. This plan must be reduced to an outline as concise as possible
and the following outline must be read to the children and written
on the blackboard, at least one week before the excursion is to
occur.

125

1 26 THE NA Ti 'RE-STL TD Y RE VIE IV [i-v-apr., ,9oS

We shall start at 2 o'clock, one week from today. Each one is to take
along a mason fruit-jar with its cover.

( )ur object is to find out what animals live there and how they get their
food and escape their enemies. Each one must find out these things for
himself; do not ask anyone else to tell you nor answer any questions.
Each must be a true investigator.

Plants and Animals Living in [ones Pond
A. Annuals that jump into the water when frightened.

Walk up to the bank of the pond very slowly and carefully in order to get
a close look at the frogs as they jump in.
Frog.

How it escapes enemies.

1. Does it jump in head first or feet first? Is this way quicker

than the other would be?

2. Can you see the frog after it touches the bottom when this is

mud or clay? What does the frog do when he strikes the
bottom that hides him from his enemies' eyes?

3. Watch very quietly to see where the frog comes up to breathe.

How long did he stay under? Time another frog.

4. Does he come up at the same place at which he went in? Do

you think there is any advantage in this habit?

5. Does he come up where the water is clear or where there are

plants growing or floating? Does he act as if he were try-
ing to hide and yet keep his eves on you?

6. Can you see the two little holes he breathes through on top of

his nose5 Are these breathing holes so placed on his head
that he can get air without lifting his head out of the
water? What is the advantage in this?

7. How are his eyes placed? What power does this give him

that will help him to escape from his enemies"
. S. fan the frog go backward into the water when frightened or
must he first turn around and then dive?
9. Catch a frog if you can and find out whether his skin is
slippery? Is it hard to hold him ? Why?
10. What peculiarity of his hind feet helps him greatly in swim-
ming? Is the same structure found in his front feet ?
How it captures food.

1. Very quietly watch a frog resting on the shore or on some

floating object to see if you can find how he catches flies or
other insects. You will have to be very quiet and patient.

2. Tie a little rag of red flannel to the end of a string on a pole and

dangle it in front of a frog slowly, being careful not to
frighten him. If he is not frightened he will show you how
he tries to capture food.
.;. It you can find a frog in the grass you will probably see him
catching insects. A toad catches them the same way, and
it you hnd one watch it.

benedict ORGANIZING A FIELD TRIP 127

4. Put a living frog in your mason-jar to take back with you.
When you reach home put flies in with the frog and then
you can plainly discover how it gets its prev.

B. Animals that run on the water.

Examine the surface of the pond to see whether there are any insects
present that stand on and run over the water on long legs.
Water- st riders.

1 . How do they get away from you ?

2. Can they see you? Do thev have eyes?

3 . How many legs do they run on ?

4. They catch and hold smaller insects and suck their blood.

Can you see one do this ?

C. Animals swimming in the water.

1. Can you see any fish"' How do they capture insects and worms?

2. Are there any "whirligig beetles" swimming in circles on the

surface of the water?

3. Does their body rest on the water or do they stand on their

legs as did the water-striders?

4. Catch one and note the odor. Do you understand why thev

are not bothered much by enemies'

D. Animals that crawl on submerged leaves.

Lift leaves and water plants out of the water and examine them care-
fully for small animals. Find the following kinds:

1. Water-Armadillos — flattish, segmented' animals with feelers

and hard bodies.

2. Snails — have a coiled horny shell. Can thev pull their bodies

entirely within this shell when frightened?

3. Water-Fleas — these are very small active animals with jointed

legs. In order to see them plainly you must place a num-
'ber of leaves and water plants in your mason-jar and fill it
two-thirds full of water scooped from the pond. Screw' the
lid on tightly. Look through the glass after the water has
begun to clear, holding the jar as steady as possible, and
see how many kinds of water-fleas are swimming around in
it. Find at least two kinds —

1. One with an arched back which swims so fast that it seems

to dart, and which often swims upside down — fresh-
water shrimp.

2. One that looks a little like a very minute three-leaf-clover.

which moves by little jerks — this is the female Cyclops

so called because it has but one eye. The two oval parts

on each side of the longer central part are clusters of

eggs which the mother Cyclops carries with her for safe

keeping.

Take the mason-jar back to the schoolroom or your home as

these little animals will live for months and you can watch

them at their daily work. If you keep the tops screwed on

you will not need to add water to the jar for several weeks.

128 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [*4-apr., ,9os

E. Plants floating in the water.

Most plants are fastened to the ground by roots but you must find in the
pond two kinds that are not.

i. One kind looks like a very minute leaf flat on the water with

delicate white roots hanging down — called duckweed.
2. The other kind of plant looks like a tangle of green threads
floating in the water and such plants are called Algae. Do
the Algae have any roots?
Put some of each kind of plant in your mason-jar.

Much of the above outline could be given in the form of
verbal explanation of the outline, but it seemed well to indicate
rather fully the details necessar\ for the student to know.

4. The list of the animals to be studied and the facts about each
to be discovered must be memorized by each student. A sufficient
number of rehearsals of these points should be required of the
class to make sure that each child when he reaches the pond will
knowr exactly what he has to do and in what order it is to be done.
He must have all of the questions in his head in order that he may-
turn directly to nature for the answers, independent of teacher
and fellows. The mental attitude of a boy thus prepared is radi-
cally different from that of one who in obedience to vocal direc-
tions "sees this and sees that." The importance of this pre-
liminary knowledge on the part of the student cannot be over-
estimated. A field trip properly conducted will make an impres-
sion which will last for a life-time and there should be no slip-
shod methods.

5. Each student must know that he is to be held responsible
for the working out of each detail of the outline and that he must
do it without help. A careful test should be given the class as
soon after the excursion as possible. Give the child the know-
ledge of what he must do and then hold him individually responsi-
ble for doing it and success follows inevitably.

6. If the class is very large, divide it into sections, let each
section elect a leader, and assign to each the direction from which
it shall approach the pond.

Any one desiring to conduct an excursion to ponds or streams
will find the following books helpful in identifying common water
Eorms: ••Aquatic Microscopy for Beginners." by Stokes; "/;/-
sect Life," by Comstock; "Fresh-Water Aquaria," by Bateman;
"X at ura/ History of Aquatic Insects," by Miall (best).

The general nature-study trips in which the attention of the
children is called to everything in the heavens above, the earth

bfm-dict] organizixg a FIELD TRIP 129

beneath and the water under the earth are impractical because
the field covered is so great that there can be no proper prepara-
tion, no sense of responsibility and therefore very little real
individual observation. Our pupils must discover some of the
secrets from nature herself before they will begin to love or even
appreciate nature.

The only seed from which a love of nature can grow is a fact
personally discovered by the child. AA^e may radiate the sun-
light of enthusiasm and pour the showers of loving appreciation
but there can be no growth until that seed is planted.

OHIO NOTES

At Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, nature-study is given during the
spring and summer terms. The course includes held study of birds,
insects, flowers and trees.

Ashland College, Ashland, Ohio, gives a -course in nature-study four
times each week for eight weeks consisting largely of field work and notes
on the same.

The Cincinnati Society of Natural History has recently prepared a num-
ber of portable cases of birds, insects and woods which are to be passed
around from school to school as supplementary material for the nature-
work.

The nature-study work of the University of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio,
occupies five periods a week for one term. Field work and the note-book
form prominent features.

During the year 1906, The Home Gardening Association of Cleveland,
Ohio, distributed 435,038 packets of seeds, 244,199 packets of which went
to the children of Cleveland schools and 1 go, 831, to schools and organiza-
tions outside of Cleveland. During the same period 101,000 bulbs were
distributed. The report for 1907 is not at hand.

The University of Cincinnati offers two courses for teachers of nature-
study, one in plant life and the other in animal life. The courses arc
given in alternate years and continue throughout both semesters. Each
week one hour is given up to discussions or lectures and three hours to
laboratory or field work.

Cleveland, Ohio, in 1901 had one "test" garden in the center of the city.
By 1906 eight school gardens had been established.

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, gives fall and spring courses in nature-
study, the materials for which are selected with special reference to their
availability and utility for instruction in elementarv schools.

A number of educational institutions in Ohio give courses in elementary
agriculture which are also proving of great value to teachers of nature-
study. The same is true of several institution- in ving special courses in
ornithology.

Professor B. M. Davis has issued recently a very practical, illustrated
pamphlet on "The Soil and Its Relation to Plants." (The Miami Bulletin,
N'o. 3, May 1907. Oxford, Ohio). The purpose of the bulletin is set
forth in the author's own words as follows:

"The exercises outlined in this bulletin represent work that has actually
been done by pupils of the sixth to eighth grades. Part of the work was ■
done by pupils of the County Model School \'o. 1, Ohio State Normal
College, an ungraded district school enrolling about twenty five pupils, in
Oxford Tp., Butler Co., Ohio."

"The bulletin is intended to encourage and assist teachers who wish to
introduce elementary agriculture into their schools and do not know just
how to begin or how to conduct the instruction."

130

OHIO .VOTES 13 x

"The subject of the soil and its relation to plants is taken up partly on
account of its fundamental importance in farm practice, and partly be-
cause it represents fewer difficulties in the way of experimental study to be
carried on by pupils of the grades or of the first year of high school.
Furthermore, it is one of the few phases of the subject of agriculture that
may be studied to advantage during the winter. Indeed, experience has
shown that such work as suggested in the following exercises offers a
practical solution for the problem of school management during bad
weather."

The editor of this number of The Review has taken the liberty
of publishing the following excerpts from a letter written to him
by a prominent educator who, perhaps, as much as any one else in
the State has had the opportunity of coming into contact with
the nature-work of the rural schools of Ohio: "As to notes con-
cerning nature-study in the country schools, I know very little.
Judging from my experience with teachers during the past sum-
mer I think there is very little if anything done. Some atten-
tion is given in many townships to agriculture in the higher
grades. * * * In the small cities such as Bellevue, Fremont and
Van Wert some attention is given to nature-study. The superin-
tendents are in sympathy with the work and urge their teachers
to take courses in nature-study in summer schools. Over forty of
such students were in my classes last summer. On the whole,
judging from my short residence in the state, I should say that
the nature-study idea has not reached the country schools not-
even the village schools; and that it will come to them under the
name of agriculture. They will hardly recognize it under the
guise of nature-study. The use of Hodge's "Nature-Study and
Life" a few vears ago may have made some impression here and
there. I find also that nature-study is a rather popular institute
subject. But my experience was that those who were interested
were mostly city teachers. * * * These are merely my im-
pressions. I shall know more about it in another year."

AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

As a result of a recent communication by mail, with all mem-
bers of the A. N.-S. S., the secretary is authorized to announce
that the second annual meeting of the Society will be held in
Baltimore next December in connection with the meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science and other
scientific societies; and also to announce that a conference of the
Society will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, on July the 3d at 2:30

1 3 2 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIE IV U ■ 4-apr., .908

p.m. The National Education Association will begin its meet-
ings on Monday. June the 29th and will close on July the 3d. It
has seemed advisable to place the Nature-Study Society meeting
at the close of the N. E. A. meetings because most members of
the Nature-Study Society will wish to take part in the N. E. A
meetings, especially in the Departments of Science and of Rural
Education. Since so much material of interest to workers in
nature-study will be presented in these Departments of the
N. E. A., it has seemed advisable not to attempt a regular meet-
ing of the A. N.-S. S., but rather to call together the members of
the Society for a conference on one afternoon only. This con-
ference will have the advantage of bringing the Society into
touch with many educators who can not attend the annual
meetings of the scientific societies; and at the same time a con-
ference will avoid many of the disadvantages of a more extensive
meeting. Also, with the short time for preparation, it would not
be possible to prepare for the program which the officers of the
A. N.-S. S. are planning for the annual meeting in December.

The topic for discussion at the conference on July the 3d will
be the Training of Teachers of Nature-Study and Elementarv
Science in Normal Schools and Colleges and the discussion will be
opened by six or seven short papers, not to exceed fifteen minutes
in length, presenting the work done in some of the best schools
and colleges. This conference may be regarded as preliminary
to a much more extensive discussion and study of the same sub-
ject under the direction of a committee appointed by the Council
of the A. N.-S. S. to consider and report on the training of
teachers of nature-study and elementary science. It is hoped
that the committee may make its first preliminary report next
December and then carry on the work for a term of years.

Members of the A. N.-S. S. who expect to go to the N. E. A.
meeting at Cleveland are requested to inform the secretary of
the Societv. Those wishing programs of the N. E. A. meetings
may obtain them direct form the Secretary of the N. E. A. at
Winona, Minnesota, or through the Secretary of the A. N.-S. S.
New York City Section of A. N.-S. S.
A meeting of this section will be held at the American Museum
of Natural History on Friday, May 8 at 8:30 p. m. The meeting
will be devoted to a survey of the existing conditions which affect
the teaching of nature-study (in the broadest sense) in the
elementarv schools of Greater New York.

NATURE-STUDY AND THE PRESERVATION OF
AMERICAN GAME BIRDS

By C. F. HODGE
Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

I feel that I would willingly give $10.00 just to see a flock of
wild swan flying over Worcester this spring, a dollar just to see,
and hear, a flock of wild geese once more, $10.00 just to know
where in Massachusetts I could go off into the woods and get a
glimpse of a flock of wild turkeys in their ancient native haunts,
and a $20.00 bill just for a glimpse of a flock of wild pigeons
straggling across the sky. I can hardly say what I would not
give and how far I would not travel just to hear the prairie chick-
ens booming again, as I used to hear them when a boy.

One by one, as the country has been settled to the west, our
magnificent game birds have been exterminated. For more than
a century all manner of game laws have been tried to stay the
destruction and have been found wanting. Why not try public
education? What could not twenty million school children and
their teachers do, if they determined to reestablish and preserve
all American game birds in their native habitats? Our educa-
tional system could mould public opinion and nationalize the
effort as no other organization in the country could. Is it not
legitimate work for the modern nature-study movement?

Not to deal further with the theory, I wish in the present brief
note to call attention to a few of the most urgent problems in this
field.

Passenger Pigeon — Fifty years ago this pigeon existed in
countless millions. Mr. Mershon writes me (Feb. 13, 1908) that
he does not believe that this magnificent species is represented by
a single living wild specimen on the American Continent. John
Burroughs writes me (Feb. 15, 1908) that he is convinced that a
considerable flock was seen last April and again last fall in Sullivan
County, X. Y., and President Roosevelt saw a small flock at
Pine Knot, West Virginia, last May. Might not the schools of the
courtly give us some reliable information through The Nature-
Study Review ? What a satisfaction it would be to know that
every school child on the Continent is watching the sky a little on
his way to school and wishing even against hope that lie might see

*33

1 3 4 THE NA TURESTUD Y RE VIE W U : 4-apr., .908

with his own eyes a flock of wild pigeons. Then if a flock should
be found nesting somewhere this spring, how the news would thrill
the land with hope. What a relief it would be to feel that wher-
ever they are, the people sense the vital problem of saving a
splendid species for the whole Nation and for future time. How
glad we should be to feel that the little flock is surrounded by a
living wall of absolute protection, formed by people who would
be quick to tar and feather any bird-skin' fiend or egger or pot
hunter who offered to harm a single bird. Then, no matter what
the laws of the different States may be, with this sort of unified
and nationalized protection we could, if there are any left alive,
in ten years time have the species restored, and again transform-
ing the mast which falls from our forests into beautiful and use-
ful life.

After the birds had become fairly abundant again, but
hardly before, I should suggest undertaking seriously the arti-
ficial propagation of the species. This should be done by be-
ginning with the eggs. All previous attempts of which I can
learn have failed of permanent results, probably because they
have started with adult netted birds.

If it could be done so carefully as not to frighten the parent
birds from their nests, it might be safe to begin picking up the
eggs or squabs that fall out of the nests and would otherwise
perish and try to rear these by hand or with the help of domestic
pigeons. Then when a thoroughly domesticated strain was
developed, we should aim to distribute it as widely as possible
over this country, and, possibly Europe, so that the present
danger of extinction shall not menace the species again.

"A warhoop has been sounded against some of our western Indians for
killing game in the mountain region. Now if these red men are guilty of a
moral wrong which subjects them to punishment, I would most prayer-
fully ask in the name of Him who suffers not a sparrow to fall unnoticed,
what must be the nature of the crime and the degree of punishment await-
ing our white neighbors who have so wantonly butchered and driven from
our forests these wild pigeons, the most beautiful flowers of the animal
creation of North America." (Chief Pokagon, The Ckautauquan, Nov.
i 895, reprinted in "The Passenger Pigeon." by Mershon, p. 58).

Another problem: The wild turkey— A number of people are
interested in reestablishing the wild turkey in New England,
where it furnished the Pilgrim Fathers with their first Thanks-
giving dime/. I would be willing to do the work of incubating and

hodge] NATURE-STUDY AND AMERICAN CAME BIRDS 135

rearing to maturity from 20 to 30 eggs gratis and then distribute
the birds in pairs or trios to State reserves or private estates if
assurance can be given that they will be afforded reasonable pro-
tection. The eggs should come from at least two clutches so
that we could mate the birds without danger of inbreeding. For
the above purpose, I would also be willing to pa}' Si. 00 apiece for
up to 30 unincubated wild turkey eggs, payment to be made upon
hatching of some of the eggs at least. In clearing forest land and
in logging operations in the southern Appalachian Mountains,
nests are sometimes disturbed and deserted, so that no loss would
result. Or if a nest is located and the eggs taken as soon as the
clutch is complete and before incubation begins, the bird will
probably lay a second time, and thus little loss would occur. At
any rate, on finding a nest, it would be advisable to telegraph me
at my expense and receive a reply before sending the eggs.

The Prairie Chicken. Nests are often broken up during
spring plowing or haying. It is desirable to domesticate and
reintroduce this species into its eastern habitat. As above, I
will pay for unincubated eggs $.25 apiece and all expenses of
collecting, telegraphing and express for the chance of helping
in this work.

The Bobwhite or American Quail — This bird is beginning to be
appreciated as probably the most effective insect destroyer f the
field and garden. Innumerable nests are broken up in haying
and harvesting. If incubation has begun, these eggs may be
saved by wearing them in the crown of a hat until they can be
slipped under a brooding hen. In this way the writer lias had
ruffed grouse eggs carried as much as a day in an}' stage of incu-
bation and all have hatched perfectly. The eggs may also be
hatched in an incubator by giving long periods of cooling — one to
two hours — in hot weather. It would be well in connection with
this important work if the children kept a fe v cochin bantams
and let them brood all summer, for quail nests may be broken up
while cutting the rowen in September. The writer has bob-
whites hatched September 13 and by November 1 they were
scarcely distinguishable from birds hatched earlier.

No birds make more charming pets and the quantities of injur-
ious insects which they destroy ought to give them the place of
honor in every garden and field in the land. A bobwhite hen ate
1286 rose slugs July 2 and laid the first of 20 eggs July 4. Another

1 3 6 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV [4 ■ 4-apr., 1908

ate 568 mosquitoes in two hours. Another ate 5,000 plant lice in
a day. "A tablespoonful of chinch bugs," "over 100 potato
beetles" in a crop and representing a single meal, are reports from
government experts. In the warm months the quail eats largely
insects and during the cold months specializes on weed seed. If
the estimate of insect damage at $800,000,000 a vear is correct,
this one bird might save half of this tax, if given a chance to do
its work in nature. Alight not nature-study at least try to give
this species its chance?

The writer is now engaged in rearing bobwhites with this end
in view, and in order to secure the most vigorous stock possible,
\\t would like to obtain unincubated eggs from widely different
parts of the country. He will pay all expenses of collecting,
packing, telegraphing and expressing, and, if successful in hatch-
ing and rearing, will return at least one pair of breeding birds for
each ten eggs received. No cash is offered for fear that it might
result in nest robbing, and it is desired to save the eggs only in
nests unavoidably disturbed which would otherwise go to waste.
If in doubt as to the age of the egg, an egg-tester will show the
embryo or one should be broken and carefully examined. All
eggs with visible embryos in them should be retained for local
rearing, possibly at home or, probably better, until methods are
perfected, at the nearest State game commission hatchery. Quail
reared in domestication are held at from $3.50 to $5.00 per pair.
Properly supplied with insect food, they are reasonably sure to
breed and will produce from 1.5 to 30 eggs per hen per season, of
which nearly 100% are fertile.

Ruffed Grouse, or American Partridge ("Pheasant" in South-
ern states) Bonasa umpellus and B. togata — Work in domesticat-
ing this species is now entering its sixth season and is being car-
ried forward under a grant from the Carnegie Institution. The
former flock was poisoned with arsenic by cat fiends, but the past
season ten fine specimens have been reared from the egg. The
hen has been demonstrated to carry an internal parasite which is
fatal to grouse, but it has also been discovered that by the
brooder we can rear practically every chick hatched.

In order now to collect the best possible stock with which to
establish a domestic strain, it is desired to gather eggs from many
different parts of the range, north, south, east and west. In this
collection of living birds we mav be able to discover where dif-

HODGB] NATURE-STUDY AND AMERICAN GAME FIRDS if, 7

ferent varieties occur and where the species attain its largest size
and most vigorous development. The object is to learn the
biology of the species, including its practical propagation, in order
to insure its safety on the American Continent. To all who assist
due credit will be given in the final monograph which is in prepara-
tion. First, send in all unincubated eggs from nests that have
been accidentally broken up. Simply express to me, collect, and
write information about the eggs that you may have, location of
nest, date and address. I will reimburse all co-laborators to the
extent of necessary expenses in collecting, packing, and telegraph-
ing. In order to insure securing eggs from the entire range, I
may also be obliged to ask that a few nests be collected that are
not broken up. In case of finding a nest, before disturbing it,
telegraph me and await a reply. The ruffed grouse must be
reared away from ground contaminated by poultry, the chicks
require to be fed largely on insects, and it is not advisable for an
amateur to attempt to rear them without special instruction.

I hope the nature-study movement will take on the preserva-
tion of our game birds. The work should extend to our water-
fowl, shore birds, doves, to all our grouse, quails, and possibly to
the species that have been imported as well. For American
nature work, however, we should first deal fairly by our native
species.

I must add in closing that my own time and resources, as well
as knowledge, do not permit of my trying to handle species other
than those mentioned above, the wild turkey, bobwhite, ruffed
grouse and passenger pigeon and prairie chicken. In sending
eggs, great care should be taken to secure the necessary permits
and not contravene anv of the game laws of the different States.

NATURE-STUDY AND SCIENCE NOTES.

[Editor's Note. This department is conducted by Chester A.
Mathewson, of the High School of Commerce, New York City. Notes
and suggestions may be sent to him in care of the editor of The Review. |

Nature-Study in Connecticut. One of the most interesting pamphlets
for the guidance of teachers in this work that has come to our notice in a
long time is that written by Professor H. N. Loomis in the Connecticut
School Documents series with the title "Lessons on Plants." It consists
of sixty-two pages, embracing in a comprehensive way the following
topics: Germination, roots and soil, buds and stems, leaves, flowers and
fruits. The booklet bears evidence of having been carefully worked out,
and the general plan of it seems admirably adapted to the end in view,
which is obviously to place before the teacher very definite and concrete
materials to work with, together with directions for handling these materials.

There are sixty-four exercises and experiments in all. In many cases
an experiment or exercise is followed or preceded by an elucidation or
amplification, and the exercise being in bold type makes it quite easy to
distinguish between the two kinds of matter contained in the pamphlet.
In order to make it easy for a teacher to do the work the State has pro-
vided sixty cabinets of materials. Any Connecticut teacher may secure,
gratis, one of these and keep it for three months. Professor Loomis re-
1>( »rts that these cabinets are out the greater part of the time.

As to just how much of the subject matter would measure up to the
"established principles" of nature-study, which are fast securing recogni-
tion, we are somewhat in doubt. The topics are for the most part taken
up in such a vivid manner that it is hard to see how they could fail to arouse
interest. This certainly is a most important advantage. On the other
hand there are a number of topics whose value must be questioned on
the ground of their lack of connection with the every-day life of the child.
It seems safe to say that we now recognize the fact that we must eliminate
scientific minutae from our nature-study courses, however fascinating
they may seem to us. Thus, for example, we find, (page 33) an exercise
which includes these questions: "How many buds are there on the shoot
or branch? How many last year leaf scars? If they are unequal in num-
ber, how can you account for the difference? Assuming that every bud
produces a branch which bears the same number of buds that this shoot
produced last year, work out [sic] what would be the number of branches
borne by the simple twig at the beginning of the sixth year, assuming
that no buds were suppressed or killed, or, in other words, ignoring the
laws of struggle and survival?" Following this is an exercise on the "nature
of the phyton." It is easy to see in all this the mind of the trained scientist
working toward abstractions which are important to him. It would seem
difficult to find adequate reasons for including such details in nature-study
work. So, too, with an experiment on page 5 1 entitled "Effect of Sunlight
on Chlorophyll." Here we have the question "What rays does the
chlorophyll absorb?" Such a question can hardly be reconciled to the
principle that nature-study must approximate the every-day life of the
child.

<3«

NA TURE- S TUD Y NO TES 1 3 9

To Keep Cut Flowers. Violets: in bowl of fresh water, cover, cold room
at night; not in a draft in daytime. Flowers in warm room: put small
pinch of salt in water. Holly and other woody stems: peel bark from
lower stem and put peeled part in water. Flowers with porous stems
(like asters): small piece of charcoal in water: Heliotrope: revived by
adding small drop of camphor to water. These are recommended in the
Garden Magazine. Will some readers try to find out the best methods
for keeping flowers in schoolrooms and report to The Review?

Reasonable But Unreasoning Animals. In the Outlook recently, Mr.
John Burroughs again attacked the problem which he once discussed so
well in the "Ways of Nature." The following extracts indicate his main
points in his discussion of the question "Do Animals Reason?" which he
answers in harmony with the leading modern comparative psychologists
who agree with Lloyd Morgan that animals "do not perceive the why and
think the therefore."

••There is much in a hasty view of animal life that looks like reason,
because instinct is a kind of intelligence and it acts in a reasonable manner.
But when we get something like an inside view of the mind of the lower
orders, we see how fundamentally it differs from the human. And we get
this view of it, not in the ordinary course of the animal's life, because the
ordinary course of its life is appointed by its inherited instincts, but under
exceptional conditions, when it is up against a new problem. Now, when
a reasoning intelligence is confronted by a new problem, it recognizes it as
such, and, having a fund of knowledge and experience to draw upon, it
proceeds to deal with it accordingly; not so the animal. It does not
know the new problem when it sees it, and in its dealings with it acts much
like a machine that was made to do something else.

"Take the case of a robin or a bluebird fighting day after day its reflected
image in a window pane and never discovering how it is being fooled, or of
the birds that Darwin saw in South America drilling through and through
an artificial mud wall, mistaking it for the clay bank in which they nested
like our kingfisher. Such instances reveal as by a flash of light the nature
of animal mentality — how blindly, how unreasoningly the beasts act. If
a person ever behaved in that way, we would say he had lost his mind,
reason was dethroned. We would not merely say he was unreasonable,
we would say he was insane.

"In its ordinary course of life the animal behavesin a reasonable manner,
its course of action follows regular lines. Its progenitors have followed
the same lines for countless generations; habit has worn a groove. But
when a new, unheard-of condition confronts it, then there is no groove
and its activity takes these irrational forms. When the phcebe-bird
covers her nest in the ledge with moss, she does a reasonable thing; she
blends it with the rock in a way that is both good art and good strategy.
Now, if this was the result of reason, when she comes to the porch and
to newly hewn timbers she would leave the moss off, because here it be-
trays rather than conceals her nest. But she sticks to her moss wherever
she goes.

"Such natural history facts as the above, I say, reveal in the animal
w orld an order of mind that differs fundamentally from our own. Unless

1 40 THE JVA TURE-STUD V RE I 'IE W U = 4-apr., .908

we are to abandon that comparison and classification which is the basis
of all our knowledge, we must call it by another name — we must call it
blind instinct. It does not see the why of anything which it does.

"Touch the spring of an animal's instinct or inherited habit, and it
responds; but appeal to its power of independent thought, and it is,
for the most part, as helpless as any other machine.

"There are but few things we could teach the animals in their own proper
sphere. We could give them hints when they are confronted by new pro-
blems, but these new problems in the ordinary course of nature rarely
turn up. When the animals are confronted by conditions made by man,
then man could give them valuable hints.

"Animals know what they have to know in order that the species may
continue, and they know little else. They do not have to reason because
they do not progress as man does. They have only to live and multiply,
and for this their instincts suffice them. Neither do they have to have
any of our moral sentiments. These would be a hindrance rather than
a help, and, so far as I can see, they do not have them."

Molasses as Feed. Experiments on horses and cattle show that molasses
has a high value as stock feed and also increases the digestibility and
palatability of hay and grain feeds with which the molasses must be
mixed. [Exp. Station Record]

Staff-tree. It has often been stated that in times of famine some tribes
of North American Indians have made use of the bark of this tree. Recent
experiments made at Harvard University show an abundance of car-
bohydrate food in the bark. [American Naturalist]

Peat for Paper. An English company using American patents has
started a large factory in Sweden for making pasteboard and wrapping
paper from peat. This will tend to lessen the enormous demand upon
our forests. The world's supply of peat is so large that it will not soon be
exhausted by this new industry. [Gardoi Magazine]

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 MAY, 1908 No. 5

CALIFORNIA NUMBER

[Managing Editor's Note. — The material for this number has
been collected by Dr. H. W. Fairbanks, of Berkeley, Cal. The
articles are all by California teachers, and largely deal with the
various aspects of nature-study in that State.]

THE PLACE OF NATURE-STUDY IN THE NORMAL SCHOOL

By LOYE HOLMES MILLER
State Normal School, Los Angeles, Cal.

The presence of any course of study in the normal-school curri-
culum is dependent ontwo factors : (1) its so-called culture value
and (2) its value as professional training. The extent to which
the first factor should be considered is dependent upon the pre-
paration which the entering student has had. The second point
involves the questions of demand for the subject in the course of
study for the public schools and of the difficulty of presentation of
that subject.

Whatever the attitude of mind toward nature-study as it is, all
must concede that the study of nature has a culture value unsur-
passed by any of the branches of learning. The old conception of
the plebeian caste of natural science has crumbled in ashes along
with those scholars who conceived or who championed it. We
can not but agree upon the desirability of an acquaintance with
nature on the part of the student. The consideration of the first
point then becomes a consideration of the student's preparation
for matriculation.

Students come to this normal school with the same preparation
as to the State University. All have had one science course,
many have had two, a few offer three, almost none offer four. Of

141

1 42 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV U : 5— may, 190S

the sciences offered, physics is the most constant, because this
subject is given in the high schools as college preparatory work.
Some high schools recognize two classes of physics work — one to
prepare students for the colleges of applied science at the uni-
versities, the other to give the literary student a measure of
manual training through the laboratory practice. In the one
group of students it inspires or fosters the spirit of the mechanic
or of the engineer ; to the other group it remains a bugbear that
must be gotten through with in order to satisfy the requirements
for college entrance.

Chemistry, as given in the high school, is too often of no value or
interest to the pupil after he leaves the laboratory.

Botanv, zoology and physical geography, the sciences which
would contribute toward a nature-study preparation1, are offered
by a very small proportion of applicants. The work done in the
biological sciences is morphological and systematic, sometimes
physiological, almost never dynamic. Such preparation is of
some value for nature-study in acquainting the student with
terminology and with some facts of general interest, if both of
these phases of knowledge are not used improperly. The cases
are more rare, however, where they afford an enjoyable personal
acquaintance with the organisms studied. In the writer's own
case, he was a graduate student doing research work with a cer-
tain group of animals, working over preserved material for
months before he saw the live animal and appreciated its deli-
cate, translucent coloring.

The sins of the educational father are visited upon the children
even unto the third and fourth school generations. The college
graduate, teaching in the high school, given the same kind of
work as he himself is most full of, does not stop to consider that
the university might have been training him for research in pure
science or for such applied sciences as medicine, sanitation or
plant pathology. The high-school graduate, certificated by ex-
amination, teaches such science as he has not forgotten and calls
the result nature-study.

The experience of the writer thus far is that, even to the stu-
dent matriculated with credit in several sciences or to the college

['Editor's Note. — The author obviously has in mind biological nature-
study, but such limitation of nature-study is disappearing rapidly.]

MiLLERj NATURE-STUDY IN THE NORMAL SCHOOL I43

graduate with credit in science courses, the nature-study atti-
tude is a new, fresh and altogether delightful point of view.

The second point, that is, the demand for nature-study in the
public school system is a question of the present and of the
future. The present demand is rightly insistent, the future de-
mands that we who teach the subject should make good. Nature-
study must meet the expectations of those who have called for its
introduction. To this end we need trained teachers who can
make the subject effective.

The difficulty of presentation lies, to a great extent, in the fact
that the teacher has not the proper viewpoint. As a result
nature-study becomes either elementary science on the one hand
or the coddling of a false sentimentality on the other. The
object of nature-study is not to impart knowledge but to train the
power of attaining knowledge. It is not to inspire sentimen-
tality but to arouse sympathy free from affectation. Between the
Scylla of science teaching and the Charybdis of sentimentality
lies the course that nature-studv must navigate. The normal
schools and colleges which train teachers must act as pilots.

NATURE-STUDY IN THE SAN DIEGO STATE NORMAL

SCHOOL

By WM. T. SKILLING
Supervisor of Nature-Study and Geography,

In this school the two subjects, nature-study and geography,
are in the training department given equal time and emphasis
throughout the course. Both are begun in the third year and
both are continued through the eighth year. One period of
forty-five minutes is devoted daily to the two subjects, half the
period to one and half to the other. In the seventh and eighth
grades alternate days are given to one or the other, instead of
dividing the period, in order that the work may be more thorough.

There is no special effort to have the work of the two subjects
closely correlated throughout the whole course, but in the lower
grades especially, the nature-study work greatly strengthens
that of geography. There is, however, complete divergence in
the eighth grade where physiology and hygiene furnish the sub-
ject-matter for nature-study.

The object of nature teaching is to give children the seeing eye
and the hearing ear, so that the child will not be blind to the
fleecy cloud and the spring violets, nor pass by the cricket's call
and the thunder clap without the mind being stirred to some
thought as to the cause of each.

In the mind of the infant and of the savage there is little won-
der or admiration evoked by witnessing the most intricate and
delicate mechanism or the most marvelous phenomenon. Every-
thing in nature is taken for granted by the immature or untutored
mind, and nothing, be it ever so strange and interesting, calls
forth much intellectual activity. Well is it for the infant that
this is so, for otherwise it would die from nervous prostration
before arriving at school age.

It is the province of the school, and especially of the nature-
study class, to prevent this state of mental lethargy from ex-
tending into adult life as it does in the savage.

Nature-study, then, is fundamentally a training of the ob-
servant powers of the mind so that sense stimuli becomes trans-
formed into mental stimuli ; so that when any of the five senses
receive an impression the mind receives an impression; so that

144

shilling] NATURE-STUDY IN SAN DIEGO NORMAL 145

our surroundings make us think. This was the object of the old-
time object-lesson, but in the hands of unskillful and superficial
teachers so little information of any vital interest to the children
was brought out that the method soon fell into disrepute. In so
far as the object-lesson trained the mind in observation, it was
fulfilling an important mission, but it usually failed in doing this
for the reason that facts presented to the child about the objects
were not, to his mind, of sufficient importance to make him crave
more of them.

There is a vast wealth of facts in nature lying just below the
surface, if we will look for them, which the child has never
realized and which he will appreciate if rightly presented. There
are wrigglers in the stagnant pool and buzzing insects in the air
all about us, which, if seen by the child using the microscope, a
very valuable adjunct to the nature-study equipment, are full of
interest and instruction. There are physical and chemical facts
of which most teachers have considerable knowledge, which if
presented to the child accompanied by sufficient illustrative
experiments can not fail to stimulate thought and incidentally to
increase his love of school.

Nature-study is frequently called elementary science.
"Science" is a very indefinite word if taken in its literal sense and
means simplv knowledge. With this liberal definition of the
word no harm can be done to the cause of nature-study by bur-
dening it with this rather pretentious word. But if we mean' by
science what is meant by scientific men, namely, a systematic
classification of facts accompanied by many technical terms and
the deduction of facts from general principles, then we kill nature-
study by making it a subject entirely unsuited to the child
mind.

To the children generalities are meaningless because to be com-
prehended thev must rest upon a multitude of concrete facts
which as yet are not a part of the child's mental equipment.
Technical terms are in themselves valueless and should, as far as
possible, be avoided. Many a teacher has imagined that her
little children were adepts in the knowledge of flowers because
they could glibly tell you the names of all the parts of a plant and
the number of each, although their attention had never been
directed to the study of flowers themselves and their habits. The
letter killeth ; but if the spirit of nature-study asserts itself in the

1 46 THE NA TU RE-STUD V RE VIE W u . S_M AV| I9o8

mind and heart of the child his observant power will be culti-
vated, his interest in the world increased, his character developed.

Nature-study, then, is not the study of science as we usualh
interpret the word, referring it back for its meaning to courses
labeled science which we took in the university. It is rather a
study of the concrete things about us, paying more attention to
individual examples than to relationships and underlying prin-
ciples. The foundation must be laid before the superstructure is
erected. The child can not generalize without concrete material
with which to generalize.

Nature-study, then is not science, but is a valuable preparation
for the study cf science. It furnishes mental images without
which science study would be an abstract, meaningless subject.
Not only does the early childish study of flowers and animals pave
the way to an intelligent study later of botany and zoology, but
nature-study throws a flood of light upon the subject of geography.

To show the relationship between nature-study and geography
it is necessary to free nature-studv from the restricted definition
tacitly given it in the minds of most teachers, namely an ele-
mentary study of botany and zoology. It includes these, but it
c lso includes a study of those fundamental laws of nature which
an be easily demonstrated in concrete ways and which we call
physics and chemistry or natural philosophy. A knowledge of
these laws will make clear many geographical topics such as
winds, rainfall, climate, etc.

Instead of narrowing nature-study down, as has been done so
largely, to a study of flowers, there is no reason why it should not
include that great mass of facts lying all about us which are the
results of human nature acting upon lower nature. This would
open the door of the nature-study class upon all those materials
and activities of our neighborhood which we designate in geog-
raphy as "products" and "occupations." In other words nature-
studv would in fact be identical with what we are familiar with as

J

home geography.

That part of nature which affects human life most is of most
importance to us. Things in nature with which we come into
daily contact are most worth studying. The study of a forest
tree as it stands unmolested by man upon the mountain side may
be made to stimulate the student's love for the beautiful and thus
serve an important ethical purpose. But the further study of

skill. n,,] NATURE-STUDY IN SAN DIEGO NORMAL 147

that tree after it has been cut down and taken to the paper fac-
tory or the saw-mill is a vastly more suggestive and many-sided
consideration. "We are still dealing with nature, but nature now
in the hands of man. We are taking into account human nature
and are close upon the realm of geography.

As an illustration of this sort of nature-study, suppose we take
the building of a house. From the drawing and blue printing of
the plans to the planting of a lawn and suitable shrubbery the
lessons may be made exceedingly instructive and interesting.
Xo one would deny that a study of minerals is legitimate nature-
study. But the mixing of paint and the preparation of plumber's
and tinner's materials is applied mineralogy, and therefore
doubly valuable. The drawing of plans, though of practical
value and great interest to older children, is not in itself nature-
study, but the making of a blue print is a natural phenomenon,
the studv of which leads the way to that most interesting realm of
nature, photography. The study of different kinds of woods
used in the construction of a house forms a fitting close to the
studv of the trees themselves.

There are physical laws which find themselves illustrated in the
plumbing, the gas-fitting, and the wiring. In short, although
the house is a work of art rather than of nature, the artisan em-
ploys the materials and forces of nature, so with the proper
treatment, instruction in house building may be made excellent
nature-stud}'.

The relationships existing between successive topics in the fol-
lowing brief outline may not be apparent to the reader, but in the
teaching their interdependence is seen. As for example, why
bees are taken after flowers is clear when we consider that the life
of plants is largely dependent upon the pollen distributers.

In the selection of material throughout the whole course, the
controlling thought has been to lead up through plant and ani-
mal life and the conditions that surround them to the higher life
of man and his environment, including those conditions which are
necessary for perfect development which we call hygiene.

In the third and fourth grades the germination of seeds and the
growth of plants is taken along with conditions of soil and air
which make such life possible, and those animal forms which are
intimately associated in some way with such plant life.

1 48 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIE IV U :s— may, 1908

In the fifth grade are studied those forms of plant and animal
life which exist in the sea and the desert where environment is so
vastly different from that previously studied.

In the sixth grade the forces of nature, chemical and physical,
form the subject-matter, leading up to a study in the seventh
grade of agriculture and forestry, and in the eighth of physiology
and hygiene.

The school-garden, consisting of a fenced plot of ten thousand
square feet back of the building, is of great value in the study of
soil, germination and plant growth generally. It furnishes a
ready means of making the work concrete. It helps to make the
connecting link between nature and the child's mind.

In the third, fourth and seventh grades the nature-study work
is of such a character that it can be largely illustrated in the gar-
den, and these grades are often taken to the garden at the recita-
tion period. A sufficient number of hoes, rakes, spades and
watering pots are furnished by the school so that all the children
in a grade may work at once.

Experiments with fertilizers are made and some fruit trees will
be planted for experimental grafting, and grapes for propagation
by layering.

In addition to the garden, there are more than twenty varieties
of ornamental trees and shrubs growing upon the grounds, and
others within easv reach of the school, the names and habits and
origin of which form an essential part of the course. It is im-
portant to know the kinds of trees adapted to our climate and the
conditions under which they thrive best. Were such knowledge
more general and an interest in trees awakened our cities would
become beautified to a far greater extent than at present.

Following is a brief outline of the principal topics taken up in
the various grades :

Outline for Six Grades

Third Grade.

A stud v < if many different kinds of seeds. Planting seeds in the school-
garden. Conditions, observed in the garden and discussed in the class-
room, which are favorable or unfavorable to the growth of seeds and
plants.

Some birds which feed upon seeds. A study of stems. Of Leaves.
The horse (whose food is leaves). Roots — A study of the gopher, a feeder
upon roots. Flowers. Bees (the distributers of pollen). Seed dispersal.

skilling] NATURE-STUDY IN SAN DIEGO NORMAL 149

Fourth Grade.

The work here is of a similar nature to that in the third grade, except
that different birds, animals, insects, etc., are taken.

A study of the mosquito. Lessons upon its habitat, swampy places, their
causes, means of draining, swamp vegetation, malaria. Soil and soil
water, seeds. Work in school-garden. Birds — ostrich, pelican, sea gull,
etc. Stem and leaves. Cow and dairy products. Roots — The earth-
worm (being of use to roots). Flowers — Butterflies (or silk- worm). Seed
dispersal. Physiography of plants.

Fifth Grade.

This grade is devoted to life of the sea and desert, both animal and vege-
table. A good collection of preserved specimens is at hand to make the
instruction concrete.

Coelenterates (Hydrozoa, sea-anemone, coral, jelly-fish, etc.). Starfish,
crabs and barnacles. Insects. Desert animals. Frog. Desert condi-
tions and desert vegetation. Adaptation to environment.

Sixth Grade.

Devoted to natural phenomena. Air, its composition, etc. Tempera-
ture. Winds. Water, its forms and uses. Combustion. Respiration.
Fermentation. Decay. Inertia. Gravitation. Centrifugal and centri-
petal forces. Work. Machines. Heat. Engine. Gas-engine. Sound.
Light. Magnetism. Electricity.

Sevevth Grade.

A thorough study of the soil based upon some elementary book on agri-
culture. Cereals and other important farm products. Forestry. Fruit
trees of California, including grafting, tree pests, etc. Work in the school-
garden. In connection with forestry a study is made of the building of
houses. This study is based upon excursions to the saw-mill and to a
house in course of construction. Names and habits of the ornamental
trees of the neighborhood.

Eighth Grade.

Physiology with special reference to hygiene. The skeleton. Muscles.
Digestion. Circulation. Respiration. Nervous system. Eye, ear, taste,
feeling, smell. First aid to injured.

NATURE-STUDY IN THE CALIFORNIA STATE NORMAL

SCHOOL AT CHICO

By RILEY O. JOHNSON
Head of Department of Biology

The work in nature-study at this institution is made to center
about the school-garden. The main garden is a plot of ground
containing something more than a half acre. Also several smaller
plots about the campus are utilized for garden purposes, making
the total amount of ground under cultivation about one acre.
Each pupil in the training school has a garden all his own in which
he plants and cares for radishes, lettuce, beets, and a few other
vegetables, as well as nasturtiums and a few other flowering
plants. The older pupils also do work in budding, grafting, and
practice the various methods of plant propagation.

The garden furnishes us with abundant materials for lessons
with plants. The relation of plants to moisture, to light, to
temperature and to different kinds of soil, are all carefully ob-
served and the various adaptations enabling them to sustain these
relations are worked out with the pupils. The necessity of irriga-
tion during the dry season affords opportunity for experimenting
to determine the optimum amount of water required for any
given plant in the garden. Surface cultivation as against deep
stirring of the soil is also tested in connection with the varying
amounts of water used in irrigation.

During the last year the depredations of insects, notably of
plant-lice, led us to consider the structure and habits of these
pests and to experiment on different means of eradication. First,
natural means were tried. Several of the pupils had seen ants in
attendance on plant-lice, so a number of these were brought and
placed with plant-lice to see what was the real relationship exist-
ing between them. After this had been determined, lady-bird
beetles were brought, and also the larvae of the lace-wing fly.

After a time there were immense numbers of the plant-lice and
the few predaceous insects which had been brought could not
effectually hold them in check, so more drastic measures were
determined upon. Various sprays were tested, among which a
kerosene emulsion was found to be most effective. Some of the
plant-lice isolated and reared in captivity showed us how rapidly

johnson] NATURE-STUDY IN CHICO NORMAL 15 1

they multiply and also demonstrated to us the fact that not all
insects come from eggs previously deposited by the mother. We
are hoping for an opportunity, which will no doubt come this
autumn, to see in our gardens the work of still another of nature's
checks on these pests, namely, the parasites which infest them
and keep their numbers effectually reduced.

Further opportunity for the study of insect friends and foes is
afforded us in the great variety of scale-insects to be found on the
various plants of the campus and on the fruit trees in the im-
mediate neighborhood. The fact is thus impressed upon us that
there are comparatively few plants which are not infested with
some sort of scale-insect. We are further furnished with the
strongest motives for seeking to find the best means of eradica-
tion. All discussion of the means of control must of course be
preceded by an examination of the structures of insects and care-
ful observation of their habits of life, etc. Wherever possible
all the means which nature has provided (such as parasites) must
be encouraged. Thus pupils are led easily to distinguish be-
tween the noxious and the beneficial, and to seek to destroy the
one and to preserve the other.

Some damage was done to our cabbages during the latter part
of spring, and it became an interesting problem to determine what
bird was the guilty one and to devise means of preventing the
injury. After the offender had been identified, observation and
reading brought us readily to the conclusion that the slight toll
taken from the cabbages was all too little recompense for the in-
jurious insects and noxious weed seeds eaten by this same
feathered intruder. Thus a new appreciation for the birds was
brought about by this incident of the garden and a desire was
created to find out by observation (supplemented by reading) as
much as possible concerning the other birds of the locality, their
recognition, food and nesting habits, food of nestlings, etc. The
literature of the Audubon and humane societies, national and
state, and the numerous pamphlets from state experiment sta-
tions and the Department of Agriculture did good service here.

At the close of the summer vacation the children returned to
find that their gardens which had been left in good condition in
June were now overgrown with weeds. Thev naturally asked,
"Where did all these weeds come from ;" Thus the way was pre-
pared very naturally for a study of the migration of plants, and

152 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE VIE W U ■ 5~m ay, 1908

more particularly in this instance for some experiments on the
vitality of seeds and methods for effectual eradication. Many of
the weeds in the garden had borne seeds and thus furnished
materials for a study of adaptations for dispersal by various
agencies. Bird visitors to the gardens during the early days of
the term were watched intently to see what seeds were preferred
by the different species. Thus the birds, touching us, as seen
above, in two vital points, call forth a natural enthusiasm in bird
study.

After the garden had been reclaimed the natural interest of the
children led them into a desire to make excursions into the im-
mediate neighborhood for the purpose of finding what garden
weeds grow also in the open. Also to see if they were as success-
ful in their competition with other wild plants as they had been
with the cultivated plants of the garden. They were also curious
to know the names, and something of the habits and adaptations
of other weeds of the locality and thus an interest has been
aroused in making a natural history survey of the vicinity as it
applies to weeds. This will be extended later to include all forms
of animal and plant life.

In their study of weeds and the miscellaneous plants about the
campus the pupils have noticed that plants are often infested
with galls, and that these are sometimes of animal (generally
insect) and sometimes of vegetable origin (fungi). So a way is
opened quite naturally for the study of plant disease in general.
The consideration of plant pathology (admirably illustrated for
us in pear blight) leads easily and naturally into bacteriology and
opens up the very interesting relationships of plants and animals
to disease in man. Pupils will also notice in their study of weeds
that insects are often helpful in destroying noxious weeds and will
be led further to observe structures, habits, and adaptations of
these to their environment.

Comparative study of a few plants has aroused an interest in
the relationships of plants to each other, and the ability to recog-
nize a new plant is immediately followed by a desire to know
whether any of those formerly learned are related to it. In an-
swering this question pupils compare structures, habits, etc.,
form a judgment in the matter and then go to the teacher or to
the book for confirmation. Comparison of the roots of any con-
siderable number of plants will lead to the discovery that the

johnson] NATURE-STUDY IN CHICO NORMAL 1 53

leguminous plants have tubercles on the roots, thus we are
brought around once more to those very interesting organisms,
the bacteria, and we find them playing an entirely different role in
nature. It is further seen that plants belonging to the same
botanical family are often infested by the same species of insect
or plant disease, thus the pupil has a new (if not very accurate)
means of determining relationships. He will be interested in try-
ing to find insects which are partial toward certain plants and
what plants suffer most from depredations of insects. Learning
, the relationships of plants to each other serves to organize in the
pupil's mind the bits of information he is picking up here and
there concerning plants.

There has long been a sentiment against learning merely to
recognize animals and plants so as to be able to call them by
name when seen. Nevertheless such ability very often leads to a
desire for a more intimate acquaintanceship. We are making
use of this as one means of arousing an interest in nature in the
classes of both the normal and training departments. The re-
sults are very gratifying, for students and pupils after learning the
name, are in most cases desirous of making an examination of the
organism in order tc find in what respects it differs from or
resembles other organisms of its kind. Moreover, unless one
knows the name of the plant or animal tinder consideration he is
unable to get any help whatever from books concerning it. We
are seeking in all our nature-study teaching first to get the pupil
and student to see all they can and then by references to the
literature of the subject in question to arouse in him the desire to
investigate further. In this way the spirit of nature-study will
develop into the true scientific spirit.

From the above it will be seen that the school-garden furnishes
us with material in abundance for all our nature-study work, and
with more than we can find time for, though each class gives a
part of every day to the subject. What shall be raised in the
school-garden and consequently what shall be the materials of
nature-study should be determined by the locality in which the
school is situated. In California, where gardening and horti-
culture are carried on so extensively and where so many noxious
insects and plant diseases occur, we feel more than justified in
shaping the nature work as indicated above. The children of our
State should be enabled through what they learn in the public

1 5 4 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W U ■ 5-may, .908

schools to recognize easily the various insect pests and plant
diseases and to know something of the methods of eradication.
Furthermore, they should be taught how to use intelligently the
vast bulk of literature issued by State and nation each year in
the interest of the rancher.

While we have not in the past made the nature-study work co-
extensive with the work in geography, yet a great deal of the
geography work up to the fifth grade has been taught in connec-
tion with nature-study. It is a matter of common note that
pupils who have taken the greatest interest in the study of nature p
are our strongest pupils in geography. We believe that the re-
lationship between these two studies should be developed as
closely as possible through the first four grades and we expect
constantly to keep this point in view in nature-study work in future.

Our plans for the coming year include a line of experimenting
to determine what plants can be grown in our gardens through the
winter season, in addition to the already great variety of plants
on our campus (removing some which are duplicated three or
four times), and greenhouse experiments in forcing. We shall
also do some work next spring in the construction and planting of
ornamental beds. All this work is to be done by pupils and stu-
dents under direction.

During the time our students are with us they are expected to
learn to recognize the two hundred fifty or more plants (culti-
vated and wild) that grow in and about Chico, the common birds
of the locality and about fifty of the insects of greatest economic
importance. They are required to learn by actual experience the
methods of plant propagation, care of plants and how to direct
garden work generally. They are further required to familiarize
themselves with the literature of school-gardening and nature-
study in general by being often referred to bulletins and books;
and they are encouraged to begin at once the collection of such
literature as is inexpensive and not cumbersome. The Biology
Department of our school has a library separate from the school
library, and in this are contained more than twenty-five hundred
pamphlets (most of which have been collected in the past eight
months) and the best books to be had on the subjects under con-
sideration in this paper. We also receive regularly about two
dozen periodicals (most of them weekly) on agriculture and
horticulture.

hoak] : OUTLOOK FOR NATURE-STUDY IN CALIF. 155

Judging from the enthusiasm which our students are showing
for the subject, and the great possibilities of the work when in the
hands of well-trained teachers, we predict for California very
shortly a new era in its educational progress.

THE PRESENT NEEDS AND THE OUTLOOK FOR NATURE-
STUDY IN CALIFORNIA

By CHARLOTTE M. HOAK
Los Angeles

The nature-study idea is not new to California, but we are slow
in working out our practical demonstrations of its theories.
Except for splendid work done here and there bv those bold
enough to be pioneers in the field, little has been accomplished
toward getting the work firmly rooted in our rural and city
schools. Aside from laying out provisional outlines which are
still just so much untried, or little tried, material in our courses of
study the whole matter is practically at a standstill. At this un-
certain stage we need: (1) a true conception of the nature-
study idea; (2) a realization of its practical values; (3) a nature-
study outline and manual that can be used as a guide for Cali-
fornia teachers in the grammar grades in both city and country
schools; (4) trained teachers; (5) a familiarity with our own
field of work that will give the California nature-study broadness
of outlook and originality in the application of nature-study
principles.

It is first necessary that we get our bearings with reference to
the nature-study idea. At the present time nature-studv is in-
terpreted to mean almost anything from the elementary agri-
culture taught in our normal schools to the sentimental effusions
given by many of our well-meaning teachers. To those of the
biological bent it means anything from simple lessons on plants
and animals to elementary biology and practical physiology.
To those who revive their recollections of the old "object les-
sons," it is informal teaching about natural things. The ad-
herents of the physical sciences claim recognition and advocate a
free use of the simple phenomena of the inorganic world and pre-
sent a wide range of material selected from the fields of geologv,
physics, chemistry, astronomy and physical geography. To
those who have no special bent, but are truly interested in the

156 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:s-may, iqo8

welfare of the child, nature-study is primarily an effort to place
the child in direct, harmonious and sympathetic touch with his
environment.

Any or all of the above fields are available, provided they
furnish material having common interest or that vital intrinsic
value that will stimulate the latent activities of the child.
Nature-study is not science neither is it elementary science. It
selects material from the same field as the sciences, but the point
of divergence is the use made of the material. The jist of the
whole matter was long ago succinctly expressed by one of our
leaders in the nature-study thought who said, "The keynote of all
nature-study is sympathy." Science on the other hand allies
itself with the formal, comprehensive, and more or less complete
addition to the sum of human knowledge. Having grasped this
underlying principle, sympathy, we may widen our vision until it
includes the whole range of natural phenomena, realizing at last
nature-study is not restricted to one line of investigation and
owes much of its very power to the fact that it deals freely with
the raw materials of all the sciences.

The primacy given to the biological sciences has been too well
established and exploited to need further discussion ; but hitherto
we have been somewhat reluctant to admit into the "charmed
ring" the so-called "physical nature-study." Now, there are
many things in the inorganic world which are of common interest,
of vital human importance which we pass by because we, a book-
trained generation, have first become familiar with the abstract
phases presented by the formal sciences of astronomy, geology,
physics and chemistry. The simple facts of the inorganic world
always appeal to the child. Approached from the child's point
of view, the earth, the air, the sky, the properties of matter, the
forces of nature are all full of absorbing interest. Let any teacher
who doubts the truth of this statement take an inventory of the
confiscated toys in her desk. Has not the growing boy a peren-
nial interest in such mechanical toys as compasses, motors, bells,
and a legion of other practical demonstrations of the application
of the formal laws set down in physics? Even the youngest
child is interested in the mystery of the heavens, and it is quite
possible to teach the children in the grades simple facts about the
sun, stars and constellations without even mentioning the nebular
hypothesis, or going into the intricacies of astronomical calcula-

hoak] outlook for nature-study in calif. 157

tions. Sympathetic touch with the beauty, order and im-
mensity of the universe should be one of our earlier lessons and
where is it better exemplified than in the starry heavens ? Much
of the physical nature-study work, especially in the lower grades,
may be correlated with the observational geography. Phenom-
ena of the weather and climate, simple lessons on temperature,
wind, clouds, the seasons, observation of the simpler and more
superficial features of the home geography, lay the best and
truest foundation for the more formal study of geography later
on. With the child's bottle of pebbles as a starting point we
may make excursions far afield into the realm of rocks and
minerals. Material from the realm of chemistry has long been
so popular that it is hardly worth while to re-discuss the matter
here. Thus we see that we should omit nothing from our nature-
study courses that will widen the outlook of the child, and we are
at liberty to make free use of all or any material that may be
utilized to excite a living and lasting interest in the world about
us.

In our present embryonic and experimental stage of develop-
ment it would be well if we could keep in mind some of the practi-
cal values that have already been accredited to nature-study
wherever it has been given a fair show to work out its ideals. In
Europe, in Canada and in many of the eastern states it has al-
ready been clearly demonstrated that this new movement
"nature- ward" is one of the most vital, wholesome, and sane, as
well as an effective and practical method, yet put forward to
advance the cause of true education. Here on the Pacific Coast
we need to put ourselves in sympathetic touch with the great
national movement and after having gained the inspiration of
the higher ideals we will have the courage to strike out boldly
and realize our own ideals in practical lines.

We have been inclined to place too much reliance on eastern
authority and eastern texts, and we are just waking up to the
fact that owing to peculiar conditions of soil and climate we have
many original and distinctively local problems to solve. In
nature-study we must learn the lessons that our farmers have
already learned in the hard school of experience, that eastern
conditions are widely different from those west of the Rockies, and
many of the well-known practices as well as the demonstrable
theories must here be thrown to the winds. We now feel confident

1 5 8 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV U- s-m ay, .908

that a nature-study outline and manual adapted to this particular
locality would be a great help. It must be a simple, compre-
hensive, flexible, non-technical text that may be used as a guide
for the grade teachers in both city and country schools. It
should present a suggestive outline of work in nature-study com-
mencing with the lower grades and blending logically into the
science work of the high schools in the upper grades. Aside from
the outline, it should contain several sets of suggestive and
simple lessons and experiments that have already been tested
and will help the busy teachers to make the best of our available
material in the best way. Lastly a helpful bibliography con-
taining a list of the best books that have been written both on
theory and in demonstration of successful practice might be
appended.

One of our greatest needs is trained teachers. It matters little
whether they be trained in the colleges or in the school of practical
experience, if they are only able to meet and overcome the many
obstacles that stand in the way of doing the proper kind of work.
We have already begun to make a provision for this great lack by
incorporating in our normal training schools for teachers courses
in elementary agriculture. The task undertaken by the teachers
of this subject is an arduous one due both to lack of genuine
sympathy and lack of proper equipment for laboratory and field
work. Few have courage to stick by the problem until they ar-
rive at its ultimate solution. Our State University through its
agricultural department has fostered this phase of the work and
under able and efficient leadership has fought a good fight for its
cause. It is now equipped with a splendid experimental farm,
and we hope that this great open-air laboratory will prove a train-
ing school for teachers as well as for successful farmers.

To nature-study we look for efficient aid in the solution of
many of our perplexing problems. A proper understanding and
a practical application of its underlying principles will have a
sane and wholesome influence on the school, the home, and the
community at large. The rural school problem, the use of the
school-garden, our forestry and irrigation questions, our relation
to important matters of home, municipal and national hygiene,
the nature, source and purity of our food supplies, the much dis-
cussed question of humane education, our attitude toward home
industries — these open up a wide and interesting field wherein we
can already see the promise of doing effective work.

hoak] outlook for NATURE-STUDY IN CALIF. I.S9

The economic welfare of California has long centered and will
center in the future around the rural industries, the basic ones
being agriculture and horticulture. In spite of the fact that
California's fame has gone forth as "the land of gold" in a literal
sense, the following statistics prove something very contrary.
Annually for the last few years the total value of the farm pro-
ducts has been over $132,000,000, while the mineral production
has only amounted to $30,000,000.

The rural school has in no wise kept pace with this rapid devel-
opment of rural industry. California has been strangely indif-
ferent to the welfare of her country schools. Dr. True of the
Dept. of Agriculture writes thus of our astonishing indifference:

"The writer went not long ago to a flourishing agricultural community
in the midst of which was a fine and wealthy city. On invitation of lead-
ing citizens he went to a splendid high-school building in that city and ad-
dressed the teachers and students. In that school were gathered some six
hundred active and intelligent American boys and girls. They were pur-
suing courses in English and other languages, mathematics, history,
political economy, and a number of natural sciences. With much justifi-
able pride the principal of the school showed his visitor the good equip-
ment for carpentry and wood carving. There was also instruction in
various forms of commercial business. But agriculture and horticulture
were entirely neglected. The farms and horticultural plantations sur-
rounding that city aggregated millions of dollars in value. The prosperity
if not the very existence of the city depended on the success of the agri-
culture in its vicinity. Grave evils afflicted that agricultural region, the
removal of which required much intelligence and expert skill. Hundreds
of the pupils attending that high school would naturally, if not necessarily,
make agriculture in that region the business of their lives. Yet no pupil
was learning anything about the requirements of successful agriculture or
the aid science may give the farmer in his struggle with the forces of nature
vitally affecting his business. The whole drift of the education given in
that school was away from the farm. Could anything be more unwise?
Is it not absolutely certain that, considering it merely as a matter of business
policy, the taxpayers of that city could well afford to pay all the additional
expense which would be required to maintain courses of agriculture in that
school? Undoubtedly the farmers of the vicinity ought to share in this
expense, and there is good reason to expect they would do so. There are
hundreds of American communities where a similar state of things exists.
The enduring prosperity of the city is inextricably bound up with the suc-
cess of agriculture. Technical education has proved a sure road to com-
mercial development and greatly increased wealth in connection with
every industry which has received its benefits. It will prove equally so
with agriculture."

1 6 o THE NA TUKE- S TUD Y RE VIE W U'-S-may, i 908

It is with great regret that we notice this condition of affairs
in our schools. The beginning of the change in our educational
ideals was heralded in 1903 when the State Legislature passed a
law making it possible to consolidate the rural school districts.
This step, significant as it is as a beginning, will never have the
desired effect as long as the country schools continue to follow the
courses of study laid out for city schools. These courses must be
reorganized and adapted to meet the needs of the rural communi-
ties. We believe that the nature-study idea properly applied will
prove the means of solving many of the hitherto discouraging and
perplexing problems which beset those who are working for the
betterment of our rural schools.

The practical and far-reaching values of school-gardens have
already been fully-demonstrated abroad, in Canada and in the
eastern States. In California, however, the school-garden is in the
experimental stage and we are just beginning to realize its possi-
bilities. Surely California of all places ought to be a splendid
field, because the climate and soil conditions are so favorable.
Oakland and San Jose have established gardens in connection
with their public schools. In the former over one thousand
children possess gardens and work them successfully. The
normal schools have for many years made gardening a center for
their courses in elementary agriculture and the nature-study work
of the training departments. Sporadically by civic clubs and
others interested in bettering the conditions of the poor chil-
dren, gardening has been used effectively in the slum districts of
Los Angeles. The general adoption of the school-garden, how-
ever, is one of our "futures." It has splendid promises and is
worthy immediate acceptance in both rural communities and
large cities.

In the field of forestry and irrigation there is again room for
practical nature-study to do effective work. The problem is just
being brought home to us by the statement of Secretary Wilson
who says: "If better care, a more general propagation, and a
fostering of present conditions are not observed, the forests of the
United States will be practically wiped out inside another ten
years." We need to have the public conscience aroused to the
realization of the crime it is committing against the welfare of the
future generations by laying waste to our forests, and especially
here in California, destroying our water resources. Why not be-

hoak] outlook for nature-study in CALIF. 161

gin with the child? It lies within the province of nature-study
to place the child in touch with these vital forestry issues. We
may profitably learn a lesson from Germany, France and other
European countries where the forestry resources are carefully
conserved. In Germany especially a large part of the tree pro-
pagation is done by the women and children of the forest districts.
What splendid work might be done right here in California; it
would give profitable and enjoyable employment to many a boy
and girl of our forest sections. Not only in the wooded districts
mig:ht this work be carried on but many of the waste and barren
places might be utilized and made a source of revenue by being
planted to hardy and drought-resisting trees. Why not enlist
the interest of the children?

Under the old regime physiology had much to do with the "dry
bones" formal side and we have been inclined to cut it more and
more from the curriculum of the common schools. Under the
inspiration of the nature-study idea new fields have opened up.
Instead of a physiological diagnosis of the technicalities of di-
gestion, we have now learned it is better to approach the same
subject by a series of interesting experiments on foods and food
values, correlating the work closely with domestic science.
More stress is laid on the simple facts of hygiene taught in such a
way as to help the child to meet the emergencies of life and en-
able him to become an intelligent citizen.

Our food supplies, their nature, origin, and purity, put the
child in vital touch with some of our great industries. It is not
trespassing at all on the field of technicalities to teach the child
the truth of the matter concerning our pure food laws. A
knowledge of the subtile crimes committed in the name of in-
dustry might be used to open up the meaning of good citizen-
ship to the child mind.

Humane education is at present receiving much attention in
California. A committee of the Faculty of the State Normal at
San Diego have issued a bulletin on this subject. Its purpose is
to aid the teachers in the elementary schools in carrying out the
provisions of a recent amendment to Section 1665 of the Political
Code of California prescribing instruction in humane education.
This provisional outline throws itself in line with the general
trend of nature-study. The same work could be accomplished by
nature-study which recognizes that the child is cruel and thought-

1 62 THE NA TUKE-STUD Y RE VIE W U = 5-mav, 1908

less in his destruction of animal life only because he has not a
sympathetic knowledge of its proper place in nature's plan.
Throughout the grades the child should not be taught to see ani-
mals, birds and insects with the eye of the zoologist, but rather to
look on them as fellow creatures whose lives with their manifold
doings become objectsof sympathetic interest. The finesthumane
education comes through the channels of the unconscious posi-
tive training of a well-regulated nature-study course.

Sympathetic insight into the home industries falls within the
limits of a comprehensive nature-study course. In rural districts
and small towns there is an opportunity to see first hand the
agricultural and horticultural methods pursued in the country
adjacent to the schools. In the larger cities the child can be
brought into sympathetic touch with the innumerable industries
which keep the complex mechanism of city life going.

A consideration of our moral and civic difficulties viewed in the
light of nature-study opens up a field of discussion large enough
to occupy a separate paper. Only a few salient points can be
touched in a paper of this type. Nature-study educates towards
the simple life in an age where there is an inordinate love for
material things, and a feverish struggle for wealth and power and
position. Nature -study educates towards the healthful life by
emphasizing in a thousand ways the old saying that it is of ut-
most importance to have a "sound body as well as a sound
mind. ' ' These things alone which are the direct results of nature-
study would amply justify our giving it freer scope in our educa-
tional system. There are other silent and indefinable influences
which react on the public good and make nature-study worthy
to hold both now and in the future a high place as a practical way
of realizing high ideals.

NATURE-STUDY IN CALIFORNIA— A SUMMARY

By HAROLD W. FAIRBANKS. Ph.D.
Berkeley, Cal.

The following notes are based upon an examination of the
courses of study of 42 out of the 58 counties in the state of Cali-
fornia, supplemented by information gained at various county
institutes. The counties from which no information was ob-
tained are mainly the more remote and less populous ones so that
we may safely say that 90 per cent of the schools are represented.

Of the 42 counties heard from, there are 34 in which nature-
study has more or less standing. The remainder make no
reference to the subject, or to any phase of it such as agriculture
or "science." It would appear from the above statement that
nature-study occupies an important place in the schools of the
State ; but the results of our investigation gives much less cause
for satisfaction. In many counties in which the subject is re-
ferred to in the course of study, little if anything is attempted in
actual practice.

There are probably no more than half a dozen counties in which
nature-study receives its due attention at the hands of the
framers of their respective courses of study. Even in these few
counties the amount and value of the work given depends largely
upon the inclination of the individual teacher. That is, while
work is laid out extending through the grades, it is not usually
made obligator)' because so many teachers have not the right
kind of training to make it profitable.

In the first place as we look over the courses of study, it is
evident that while progressive teachers recognize the value of
nature -study there has been no general state movement to pro-
duce a rational course of study. The various county superin-
tendents and boards of education have worked independently of
each other. With each election the attitude toward nature-study
is likely to change. All depends upon the taste and training of
the county superintendent. This it can be readily seen is wholly
wrong, and tends toward the discouraging of effort upon the part
of the individual teacher. I have in mind a county bordering up-
on San Francisco Bav which offers an excellent course of nature -

163

1 64 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV U ■ 5-may, 1908

study throughout the elementary course, while stepping over the
line into an adjoining county we find the whole matter ignored.

Nature-study is not yet understood by the great majority of
even educated people. Two years since one of the leading daily
papers in San Francisco ridiculed a bill introduced in the legis-
lature which was intended to extend the teaching of nature-
study in a more uniform and systematic manner through the
State. The bill was defeated. What hinders most the spread of
nature-study at the present time is, however, the lack of teachers
who appreciate and understand what is wanted. Even in those
counties where nature-study is supposed to be taught, compara-
tively few teachers attempt to do anything with the subject and
fewer still go at it in the right way.

In past years several cities in the State have employed special
teachers of nature-study, but as far as I know there is not a
single city which does so at present.

Instruction in nature-study is given in each of the five normal
schools, and this should in time have a marked influence upon the
schools. It is found in actual practice, however, that this nor-
mal instruction often fails when the test comes. The young
teacher knows the theoretical side of nature-study, but is not
able to apply it, because of lack of actual contact with nature.
We have yet to thoroughly appreciate the fact that it is the same
with nature-study as it is with all those science branches which
deal with phenomena, and that is, that knowledge which can be
applied is gained only by going out into the presence of nature
and there taking lessons.

The emphasis laid upon the teaching of agriculture during the
last few years has resulted in the introduction of this phase of
nature-study in many schools. The utility of the subject has
appealed to many where the common pleas for the teaching of
nature-study have failed to awaken any response. At least 17
counties in the State recommend the teaching of agriculture in the
seventh and eighth grades. This is one step in the direction of a
common basis for nature-study teaching; and if gone at in the
right spirit must result in great good. I can not help but depre-
cate, however, a tendency toward the formal study of agriculture
in the elementary school. We should not introduce specialized
science at this period. Formal lessons from a text-book, no
matter what the science, have no place below the high school. In

Fairbanks] NATURE-STUDY IN CALIF. 165

the elementary school the effort should be not so much to impart
information as to inculcate a general interest in and familiarity
with nature. Facts about the soil and what it produces and the
relation of these to life is for the child only a part of the infinitely
varied world phenomena about him. He does not distinguish and
set by themselves the facts of agriculture any more than he does
facts about the animals, or of physical phenomena.

Two vears since a committee of educators after a discussion as
to the place of physical science in the elementary school recom-
mended that this subject be taught, but in an informal manner
without a text -book in the hands of the pupils. This is another
step in the right direction, but as yet seems to have borne little
fruit. Each county superintendent lays out his course of study
from his own personal viewpoint and as a result we find almost as
many variations in the course of study as there are counties in the
state. About 10 counties make some reference to the teaching
of physical phenomena in the upper grammar grades, but no
more than two or three outline any regular work. Experiments
are recommended, but these are to be performed by the teacher
after the manner of physics of years ago, instead of being devel-
oped from the interests and experiences of the pupils. The city
of San Francisco makes no reference to the study of physical
phenomena in its elementary-school course, while Los Angeles
introduces a little work defined as "physics and chemistry" in the
fifth grade.

We see, then, the pupils in nearly all the schools of the State
passing out of the grammar grades with almost no introduction
to the phenomena of the physical world about them. This is un-
fortunate for those who go no farther than the grammar school as
well as for those who enter the high school. The first, embracing
the larger number, never acquire the outlook upon their physical
surroundings which they should have ; and the second, from their
lack of elementary training, find the science of the high school
more difficult.

Nature-study as developed in this State, and in most others, is
predominently organic; but except for the work in agriculture
it exhibits little plan or system. It is given without any regard
to the problems of geography with which it is in reality so closely
bound up.

1 66 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:s-may, igo8

In the above criticisms upon the condition of nature-study
teaching in the State of California it is not intended to convey the
impression that the State is behind other States in its general
school system, for it is not. In the adaptation of wide-awake and
progressive methods its schools are in most ways at the front.
Nature-study in its present development is everywhere subject in
a greater or less degree to the defects pointed out above.

The true meaning of nature-study is not understood or its value
everywhere appreciated. The vast majority of teachers feel
their inability to teach the subject, often thinking, though
wrongly, that scientific training is more important than a simple
appreciation and love of nature.

While the work in nature-study in the various parts of a State
like California, whose vast extent brings in such varied condi-
tions, can not be made uniform in all parts, yet a common ra-
tional plan should lie behind it all. The laying out of the work
should not be left to the individual counties, but should have
some central authority behind it. The larger cities and counties
can afford to employ special teachers of nature-study and the
smaller counties should be grouped with an instructor for each
group.

It seems more than likely from the present tendency that
nature-study as a State movement will be agricultural in its main
bearings. It is to be hoped, however, that this phase will not
be emphasized at the expense of others. It should not be the aim
of the elementary school to train the pupil in the elements of any
particular science, even though it be one as important as agri-
culture. In the symmetrical development of the pupil, in his
sympathetic introduction to the world of nature about him, ele-
mentary agriculture equally with the beginnings of the other
sciences may justly claim attention.

Can we not develop here in California, where so much money is
spent upon the schools, a more just appreciation of the relative
values of the different studies, a more true understanding of the
fundamental fact that education should deal less with books and
more with real things? I believe we would then reap such a har-
vest of broadlv intelligent men and women as would surprise
even the most ardent supporters of nature-study, to say nothing
of those who are at present indifferent or openly opposed.

NOTES

Edited by C. A. MATHEWSON

Instruction in Agriculture. Along the line of the note on page 93 of the
March number of The Review, I might say that data furnished me by
D. j. Crosbv, based on questionnaires recently sent out by him, show that
instruction in agriculture with experiments, school-gardens, etc., is given
in nineteen states instead of twelve. It is mere text-book work in some of
the normals in some of the above states, and also in others.

I have records of public high schools giving instruction in agriculture in
2 6 states instead of 1 7 as stated.

Xew York, April 20, 190S. C. H. Robison.

Edible Trees and Shrubs. Perhaps the most striking feature of the flora
of the central portion of Australia is the large proportion of trees and
shrubs which are edible. In the western districts of Xew South Wales,
where the rainfall is meagre and subject to prolonged periods of dry
weather, these trees and shrubs are of peculiar value. One of the most
pronounced adaptations is the storage of plant food in tuberous-like
structures. This food is drawn upon in dry years. Sheep have been kept
alive for many months in this way. Cattle have fattened upon some of
the best of these trees. They are practically useless for horses. Goats
thrive upon them. Cows milk fairly well and produce good-flavored butter
upon a tree diet. Working bullocks work hard when they can obtain
nothing else. Camels prefer nothing better. Rabbits are far too fond of
manv of the best varieties, and have done much towards their annihilation.
Such is regrettable, and if unchecked, these in conjunction with overstock-
ing with sheep, must eventually alter the nature of the western flora for
the worse. [Agricultural Gazette A7. 5. IF.]

Wood Paving. The first attempts to pave streets with wood, three-
quarters of a century ago, were failures, and for years after that no satis-
factory progress was made. The blocks were round, which left large,
unequal spaces between them. Their edges broke down and wore off, the
wood rotted, and the pavement was soon uneven and rough, and, therefore,
difficult to clean and unsanitary. At the present time, through the selection
of suitable woods, cutting the blocks into rectangular shape so that their
edges may lie close together, and treating them chemically to increase
their durability, wood pavement is better in many respects than any
other in common use. It is smooth, quiet, resilient, easily cleaned, and
easily repaired. In wearing qualities it is superior to macadam, brick,
or asphalt, and inferior only to granite and sandstone. In sanitary quali-
ties it exceeds all but asphalt. [U. S. Forest Service Circular 141.}

Paper Birch. Practically every spool used for thread in this country
is made from this species alone, and about 20 million feet board measure,
are cut every year for this purpose. Insignificant as a spool may seem,
its manufacture is by no means an easy task. From the tiny spools hold-
ing only 200 yards of thread, to the large, three-piece ones holding 12,000
yards, there is an almost innumerable variety of shapes and sizes. Yet
each of these types must have every single spool belonging to it precisely

167

1 68 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:s-may, 1908

identical. In order that the thread may afterwards be wound upon the
spools without difficulty, accuracy in manufacture is a prime requisite.
This necessity has led to the invention of a number of very ingenious auto-
matic machines which not only turn the spool with great accuracy, but
also with great speed, some of them at a rate of a spool a second.

In order that all of the spools of a particular type may be absolutely
uniform, the wood must be thoroughly seasoned before it is used and it
must also be of some species which holds its shape after it has once been
seasoned. Paper birch possesses this quality to a large degree, and this is
one thing which adapts it so well to spool manufacture.

Still another industry which uses nothing but paper birch is that of the
manufacture of shoe pegs and shoe shanks. These are used quite largely
in this country in making the cheaper grades of shoes; they are also ex-
ported to quite an extent to foreign countries, principally to Germany and
Japan. The industry does not consume so much wood as the spool
industry, but it is nevertheless an important one and helps to make inroads
into the forest.

The toothpick is still another article for which the paper birch is used
almost exclusively. Perhaps it may seem to some that so small an article
as the toothpick can not consume very much wood. In comparison with
many other things, this is relatively true, of course; yet a single mill in
Maine uses 2,000 cords of birch every year for this purpose alone. Quite
recently important shipments of toothpicks to England, France and Ger-
many have begun to be made.

Still another very interesting peculiarity of these industries, particularly
of the three first mentioned, is that they not only confine themselves to
paper birch, but that they are also limited almost entirely to a very small
section of the country, Maine and eastern New Hampshire. Although
paper birch is one of the few North American trees with a transcontinental
range, being found from Newfoundland and Labrador on the east to
Alaska on the west, it occurs in the United States only along the northern
border, and is most abundant and most accessible in the extreme north-
east. Maine, in particular, is the great paper-birch state, and here large
tracts of it in almost pure stands are found. This is due to the fact that
the birch readily takes possession of land that has been burnt over, and the
great Miramichi fire in 1825, together with other similar fires of about that
same period, gave it a chance to obtain quite a foothold there.

Unfortunately the paper birch is a short-lived tree and becomes red-
hearted quite early in life, so that many of these stands are now over-
mature, and ought to be cut at once. The red heart is inferior wood and
can not be used except for the cheapest grade of spools and novelties, so
that these old stands are constantly decreasing in value. The birch near
the railroads has also been very largely cut out and the lumbermen are
having to go far back to get the necessary supply. In the case of these
species, as well as practically all others in the country, the decreasing
supply is beginning to make itself felt, and conservation in its use must be
practiced if the woodworking industries now dependent upon it are to
continue. [Press Bulletin of U. S. Forest Service]

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 SEPTEMBER, 1908 No. 6

THE NATURE-STUDY OUTLOOK

By L. H. BAILEY

[Abstract of introductory remarks made by Professor Bailey at the con-
ference of the A. X. S. S., Cleveland, Ohio, July 3, 190S.]

Professor Bailey, President of the A. N. S. S., stated some
points of his attitude toward nature-study. He considers the
movement to be well under way and, therefore, not to need the
kind of propaganda which it has been necessary to give to it in
years past. It is not necessary to make any apology for nature-
study, nor anydefense of it, although it is, of course, always need-
ful to explain what it is, and also to discuss the methods that
are to be employed. "For myself I read and ponder, and reply
not. The movement is now so well under way that it does not
need the approval of any person, nor does it depend on individual
opinion. There are differences of view in regard to many of the
methods. No one of us can say which of these methods is right.
Perhaps all are right. Inasmuch as the work represents a fund-
amental attitude or point of view, it is necessarily larger and more
far reaching than any body of opinion that may be current at
any particular time."

The underlying motive of nature-study is to put one into touch
and sympathy with his surrounding conditions. In order to do
this, it takes hold of the things next at hand. It sees the important
thing to do and does it. Its result is the enrichment of life.

It is very important that we do not place too much stress on
mere subject-matter. It will be a mistake to make nature-study
mere biology teaching. "I hope that the American Nature-
Study Society will not become a natural history society. We are
here to discuss not so much biological and other fact as to con-

';=*

169

i 7 o THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE IV U ■ e— sept., 1908

sider the educational process." The effect on the child or the
student should always remain the end and aim of nature-study
work.

The schools at present seem to lack motive power. They do
not train in leadership. They are largely static. They do not
seem to be able to send pupils out to take hold of the first things.
They do not seem to develop the desire or power to put pupils to
work in city improvement societies, civic organizations, farmers'
clubs, or other homely and common necessary work for the com-
munity. They are dominated very much by regularity and by
system. They are also far too much dominated by colleges.
The formal literary college entrance requirement is not an ex-
pression of the best activities of living. The nature-study motive
which takes hold of the objects and affairs next to the individual
and which develops spontaneousness, should have great influ-
ence in changing all this. Nature-study is merely a free, natural
and direct educational process: various kinds of subject-matter
are the means, but we must always be on guard that the means
do not become the ends.

It is, of course, very important that all work in nature-study,
as in anything else, should be accurate; but the end after all is
not mere accuracy. We are so intent in some cases, I fear, on
the importance of mere verbal accuracy that we develop in our
students a depressing fear of making mistakes and the student is
likely to lack starting-power. Nothing can be more deadening
than mere insistence on accuracy in details. Of course the desir-
able thing is to have accuracy in all details at the same time that
we develop point of view and the vigor of a personal initiative.
We seem to be drifting into a kind of artistic idleness due, in part,
to the change of modes of living, and to the fact that children
are not brought up to the responsibility of work so much as they
once were, and also to some of our educational methods; it should
be the intent of all of us to overcome this growing tendency.

I have said on more than one occasion that the nature-study
movement is an affair of the public schools. I am more and more
convinced that the nature-study idea is very much needed in
colleges. From a long experience I am convinced that a good
deal of our college physics, botany, zoology and chemistry is
very poorly taught if we are to consider its effect on the pupil;
and this effect is, of course, the end of teaching. A pupil may

bailey] the nature-study outlook 171

take college physics and yet have no idea of the common physical
phenomena of life. He may take physiology and have little real
conception of his bodily functions or of every-day sanitation.
These subjects are likely to be taught with the special student in
mind rather than the general student. The teacher is likely to
think of the necessity of developing a whole subject rather than
to give the student a rational and vivid conception of the subject
as it relates to him. I have been interested all my life in plants;
but I should not care to have one of my children devote four or
five periods a week for a whole freshman year to the study of
botany unless he were specially interested in botany. I am con-
vinced that much of the beginning teaching in the sciences in
colleges and universities is very bad. It is no doubt accurate,
and it is also no doubt well adapted to the few students who de-
sire to specialize in the subject; but such students should be
taken further in courses designed for them.

There has been much criticism of the nature-study work be-
cause it is not "thorough"; that is, because it does not go far
enough and deep enough. There is undoubtedly reason for such
criticism. There are no doubt lax and lazy teachers, but it is
not at all necessary to go into the long minutia; of a subject in
order to teach it thoroughly as far as we go. It is necessary to
organize our nature-study work so that it will be systematic, def-
inite and have relation. This is necessary if for no reason than
that it may be adaptable to school method. Yet it is easy to
make the work so formidable as to take the life out of it. We are
likely to think because we have laboratories and teach by the
laboratory method that we are thereby teaching nature-study.
As a matter of fact, however, laboratory teaching may be just as
far from life as book teaching is. It all depends on the intention
and the mode. We are likely to feel that persons who are put
through a form of training in any subject are thereby qualified to
pass it. The fact, is, however that our colleges are turning out
great numbers of uneducated persons.

It is apparent that there is a general dissatisfaction with the
text-book method of instruction. Personal work with the object
or the phenomenon itself is coming to be the accepted procedure.
It is, of course, necessary to have text-books, but they must be
written from the point of view of the particular grade or school in
which they are to be used. A good part of our public school text-

1 7 2 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIE IV U: 6-SEpt., ,908

books are now a reflection of the college text-book and this is
likely to be a great misfortune. Even in the college realm many
of the books are beyond the abilities and the experience of the
student.

The practical question before the American Nature-Study
Society is how to extend the nature-study idea and to establish it
in a greater number of schools. While we are safely past the epoch
of propaganda it is nevertheless incumbent on us to see that the
nature-study spirit is kept before the public. If this society
meets its full opportunity it will come to be the recognized expres-
sion of the nature-study idea. It is, therefore, important that
this society be free from confusion of interests. It must proceed
in singleness of purpose on a purely educational basis. It may
also be necessary for the society, or some committee of the society
to agree on some few subjects that can at first be offered to
inexperienced teachers as concrete pieces of work that they may
be able to undertake. Such recommendation should not be made
for the purpose of limiting any one who is competent to handle
nature-study topics, but only to suggest to those who are not yet
quite sure of themselves, and to direct their efforts into the most
productive channels. It is important that the nature-study
work should be a popular work. It is very easy for societies to
drift into merely technical discussions and to lose sight of the
larger processes and ends. I think it would be a misfortune if
the American Nature-Study Society should become an organiza-
tion for technical discussion. It should be in the best sense pop-
ular, inasmuch as it is not the aim of the organization to expound
the importance of any special line of information or subject-mat-
ter, but to set persons free.

THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS OF NATURE-STUDY

By JOHN WILKES SHEPHERD,
Head of Dept. of Science, Chicago Normal School

[A paper read at Cleveland conference of A. N. S. S., July 3, 1908.]

One's teaching of a subject bears the strong impress of his stu-
dent work in that subject. This is particularly true of a begin-
ning teacher both as to subject-matter and method of handling
it. It is a well-known fact, for example, that a beginning teacher
of science in a secondary school selects material for his classes
from that which he has studied and presents it in much the same
way as he had it presented to him in college. This may be re-
sponsible for the fact that a large part of the science work in our
secondary schools seems to be diluted or elementary college
science, and it too often happens that the diluting degenerates
into an almost useless taxation of memory under the guise of
proof or generalization from laboratory work. In general, too
much of our science work lacks the vital touch to produce initia-
tive in its students. Is it not true that much of our laboratory
work, which we consider essential to even an appreciation of
science, is of the same mental quality as that of the individual in
the industrial world who does what he does because he is told to
do it? How many students of science go into the laboratory
because they are told to go, instead of going in to solve some
problem which is their own !

If science work in the secondary school has been largely diluted
college science, what kind of work should we expect in the elemen-
tary school from the foster child, or perhaps lineal descendant of
science, namely, nature-study? The answer is to be found in the
early nature-study — diluted secondary-school science. The early
efforts in nature-study were made by science teachers, mainly
biologists, and it is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the
work was an attempt at very elementary science, or at least
pointed toward science. It is an easy matter to trace the parallel
between science and nature-study, both as to subject-matter
and method of treatment. When science work was largely dem-
onstration by the teacher, supplemented by reading, nature-

i73

I 7 4 THE NA TURESTUD Y RE VIE W U ■ 6-sbpt., .908

study was chiefly a matter of demonstration by the teacher, with
occasional readings. And later when science insisted on each
student being provided with individual specimens or apparatus,
nature-study made similar demands. When biology empha-
sized morphology, nature-study required the same. So much
for the nature-study of the past, whose chief end was to furnish
advantages to those of the children who at a later time took up
the study of science. Such form of study was useful in its time,
but is not in keeping with the present views of education.

It is now rather generally conceded that nature-study is not
science — that in science the teacher holds close to fundamental
principles or laws, but that in nature-study she moves over and
stands among the children. The perspective, the point of view,
is different. Nature-study is not interested in developing broad
generalities, but in furnishing the children with rich, vital exper-
iences. And here I may say that I believe this can be done best
by furnishing these experiences through the stimuli of problems
— the .children's problems, and this will make the work vital and
full of human interest. To illustrate, I know a teacher who had a
class of city children and concluded to furnish them with some
simple experiences in the application of current electricity.
Through her tact, the children decided to install a small electric
light in the cloak room. In reaching this decision the initiative
passed from the teacher to the class, — the problem and its solu-
tion were the children's and the results most gratifying.

What, then, should be the training of one who is to furnish sit-
uations out of which problems grow whose solution is with ma-
terial,— what should be the training of a teacher of nature-study?
Furnish the candidate with student experiences similar to those
the children are to have, that is, the prospective teacher in nature-
study should have experiences with material, the experiences
superinduced by problems of her own. Furthermore, the stu-
dent teacher should have an opportunity to work out her own
problem according to her own plan. For example, I knew a
class of student-teachers at one time interested in the determina-
tion of the relative conductivity of different solutions. In mak-
ing the determination they wanted a current of 6—8 volts. Their
immediate problem was how to get the current. It was their
problem and they solved it according to their own plans The
teacher of the class saw to it that their schemes were workable.

shbphbrd] TRAINING OF TEACHERS OF NATURE-STUDY 175

but otherwise kept hands off. At the. conclusion of the work
five different kinds of cells or batteries had been made and each
student had contributed one cell. A sufficient amount of this
kind of work would develop the method of handling nature-
study material with children and now I should like to say some-
thing as to the specific material handled. I think it is very de-
sirable that the student-teacher have experiences as a student
with the same kind or class of material that the children in nature
study will use. For example, if the children are to grow plants,
then the student-teacher should have experience in plant grow-
ing; and if the children are to have experiences in making cells
for current electricity then the student-teacher should be ac-
quainted with cell making. At this point I wish to make my
position plain. I do not advocate the student-teacher doing the
same work as the children in nature-study, — it would not be pos-
sible and if she undertook it she would not be working on her
plane as a student, but her effort would degenerate into a poor
quality of imitation, a stagnant, deadening procedure. Secondly
I do not advocate the student-teacher working with all the ma-
terial that the children may use in nature-study, for under such
conditions one could not suggest a connected, unified course such
as would conform to the habit of thought of the mature student.
I should want the student-teacher to solve problems with ma-
terial in the general field of my nature-study course and would
then rely on the germinating influence of this work to help in the
student-teacher's subsequent handling of her nature-study class.
When the student-teacher has had all the academic prepara-
tion of the kind indicated that her course will permit she still
lacks another very important part of her training, namely, an
opportunity to apply her student attitude as a teacher under the
guidance of those who appreciate her point of view. She has
worked as a student on a problem of her own and as a teacher it
remains for her to have the children work on problems that are
theirs and this transition is not easily and quickly made. The
student-teacher should have an opportunity to teach a class of
children in nature-study so as to get training in the teaching
attitude. One of the most efficient helps in this phase of the
work that I know is part of a general scheme in the Chicago Nor-
mal School. When a student-teacher is teaching in any subject,
she together with all others teaching the same subject meet twice

1 7 6 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV U- 6-sept., .908

a week in a class called special method. According to this scheme
then, all the students teaching nature-study meet twice a week
on common ground with a common, specific purpose; and the
discussions are always lively and permeated by every-day teach-
ing experiences. All the teacher of special method needs to do
is to guide the discussion, for more than an arrlple supply of ma-
terial for discussion is furnished by the class. As a result of ex-
perience, I have come to the conclusion that any particular
course of nature-study should receive but slight consideration
in such class; also, that the main lines of all the work should
thread their way back to the great fundamental, namely, an
opportunity for children to have vital experiences with common
things, under the influence of problems to them. The problem
aspect of the experience is important; it is the chief vitalizing
element of the children's work.

TRAINING TEACHERS FOR NATURE-STUDY

By O. P. DELLINGER
Winona Normal, Winona Lake, Ind.

[Read at Cleveland Conference of A. N. S. S., July 3, 1908.]

The best training to make a good nature-study teacher is, of
course, different from that needed to produce a good botanist or
zoologist. Courses in agriculture which may be good for men
who are to superintend farms are of little value to teachers who
are to plan nature-study courses. The man who is best qualified
by training will come out ahead in the end but he must be trained
in his chosen profession, not in the profession of another. Just
here is where the difficulty lies. Colleges and normal schools
have courses planned in botany, zoology, and agriculture and
they do not like to add to these, courses in nature-study. The
result is that teachers are forced into courses which are planned
to train botanists, zoologists or farmers, not teachers of nature-
study. A few may be able to adapt what they get from these
courses to their needs but the majority find themselves hopeless-
ly confused and are never able to use satisfactorily the knowledge
or training they received.

This being the case, it is immensely important that courses
planned for teachers of nature-study be offered in training schools
for teachers. These courses need to be fairly complete within

dellingbr] TRAINING TEA CHERS FOR NA TURE-STUD Y 177

themselves. If nature-study is to receive universal respect and
approval among educators and teachers it must have a character
of its own. It can have this character only when it becomes
divorced from the subjects so nearly related to it and stands out
with its own aims, purposes, and materials.

Teachers who take the work in nature-study should feel the
same confidence in their ability to plan a course for this subject
that they feel in the older and better established ones. To give
them this confidence the nature-study course should do the fol-
lowing things :

First, it should indicate the nature of the materials. Teachers
need some standard by which to determine what is nature-study
and what is not. Until they have this standard they will never
take up the subject. Many good teachers have failed when they
attempted to teach nature-study because they had no basis for
selection. They had somewhere received the impression that
any common object, just any thing, would do. Such teachers
know from experience that other qualifications need to be added.
Of course the materials for one community will be different from
those for another and they must be different for country and
city. Yet the teacher who has selected materials for one place
has received a training that will help him wherever he goes. He
has the habit of selection.

Second, it should make clear the purpose and aim of nature-
study which sets it off from other related subjects. It is
very essential that the teacher get early in the course some defi-
nite point of view. Many teachers have enough knowledge of
the materials to be used if they only had some point of view
around which to organize them. Bailey and Hodge, the leaders
of the nature-study movement in this country, agree that the
purpose of nature-study is to teach those things in nature which
best adapt the individual to live in "effective harmony with his
environment." That people are out of harmony with their en-
vironment is shown by the prevalence of unkept and unbeautified
homes, the enormous leaks in our natural resources, the rav-
ages of disease, the flow of the country people into the city, and
the ever increasing artificiality in our city life. If the teacher
understands the purpose of nature-study as stated above he will
have no hesitation in rejecting much of the material advocated
today for nature-study.

1 78 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [4:6- sept., 1908

Third, it should acquaint the teacher with the literature of the
subject. There is so much bad nature-study literature mixed up
with the good that the teacher is often unable to make any selec-
tion. Of the many texts on nature-study few are of value. The
others should be avoided except where they are used as bad ex-
amples.

Fourth, it should give a few type outlines. Some object should
be studied as it is expected that it be studied in the grades.
Enough of this work needs to be done to make the teacher feel
somewhat at home in the subject.

Fifth, it should stratify the work for the different grades.
There is no other need more urgent. The repeating of the same
lessons on the same animals or plants in each successive grade is
not conducive to the best results. There is enough material for
all grades and some to spare to the high school and college, but
it needs to be graded and arranged.

Whenever the course becomes as definite as the courses offered
in other subjects, nature-study will cease to be twaddle and take
its rightful place in the curriculum.

TRAINING OF TEACHERS OF NATURE -STUDY

By MAURICE A. BIGELOW
Teachers College, Columbia University

[A paper read at the conference of the A. N. S. S., Cleveland, Ohio,
June 3, 1908.]

For a dozen years or more the leaders of nature-study in
America have been answering criticisms by the claim that with
properly prepared teachers nature-study will always be a decided
success. On the other hand, some of those who are engaged in
training teachers for school work defend their own failure in pre-
paring teachers on the ground that they are very uncertain as to
the kind of training needed for nature-study teaching, because
there has been so little agreement regarding what nature-study is
or should be.

It is obvious that for the A. N. S. S. there is a three-fold work:
(1) in securing more general agreement and understanding of
nature-study ideals, principles, methods and materials; (2) in
determining how teachers of nature-study should be prepared;
and (3) in working for increased attention to nature-study by
those who are in charge of training schools for teachers.

bigblow] TRA INING OF TEA CHERS OF NA TUR E- S TUD Y 179

The subject of this conference today, as announced in the
official journal of this Society, is the training of teachers of
nature-study and elementary-school science. I take it that that
last phrase, "elementary-school science," was tacked on in order
to catch the attention of that almost extinct species of science
teacher who fails to understand by nature-study anything more
than some simple observations of plants and animals by children
of the primary school, everything else being "science." For-
tunately we have almost forgotten that narrow interpretation of
nature-study and the A. N. S. S., true to the broad working defini-
tion involved in the first section of the constitution, stands for
nature-study dealing with any phase of nature which touches
every-day life closely enough to justify attention in elementary
education.

I understand, then, that in the discussions of this Society we
are using the term nature-study as a convenient general designa-
tion for all elementary-school studies of any objects or processes
in nature which deserve attention in elementary schools, and I
am not forgetting that even the human body is a part of nature.
It is obvious, then, that in considering nature-study, and especial-
ly the preparation of teachers of the subject, we must keep in
mind the fact that nature-study may in its subject-matter have
close relations to what, in higher schools, we classify as biology,
physics and chemistry, geography, physiology and agriculture.

I have already pointed to the fact that a great work to be done
by this Society is the determining of what is the best nature-study.
It may be urged that until this is done, and well done, we can
make little real progress in the training of teachers. My answer
to this is that already we have reached great agreement on the
most vital problems, the fundamentals ; and now we need teach-
ers trained in the light which we now have, in order that, true to
the scientific instincts, we may subject our present-day hypotheses
to careful critical experimentation, and thus slowly but surely
build upward the superstructure of nature studies on the founda-
tions of principles well laid today. We have agreed that nature-
study should not be limited to any particular phase of nature-
study, that it should deal with the common things of nature, that
direct observational study is the essential method, that the study
should be made from the standpoint of nature as it touches our
daily lives directly, and that close imitation of the technical

1 80 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV U :6— sbpt., 1908

science of higher schools is highly undesirable for nature-study in
elementary schools. Such agreement on fundamental prin-
ciples ought to justify greatly increased activity in giving special
preparation to teachers of nature-study. We need not wait for
this Society to work out the details of the best nature-study
before beginning to train teachers. In fact most of the details
will be best worked out by the teachers at work after we get them
trained.

Time limitations compel me to review hastily several methods
suggested for training nature-study teachers:

1. College-extension lectures: The college professor (999
times in 1000 the professor of biology) accepts an invitation to
give a short series of lectures before a teachers' institute or a
teachers' club. Packing up his most gorgeous lantern slides, the
professor goes forth to teach the teachers of a town or country how
to admire the beauties of birds and trees and flowers. You know
the result. The audience probably is enthusiastic, especially if
the lantern slides are good and the speaker has a good assortment
of nature stories ; but one who looks afterward for results is con-
vinced that extension lectures will not transform the vast majority
of teachers into good teachers of nature-study. I am not oppos-
ing the university extension lectures on nature-study. They are
valuable for inspiration, not to mention harmless entertainment;
but we must not expect to solve nature-study problems with
teachers who begin and finish their own studies of nature in a
limited series of lantern-slide lectures. We must have something
which gets nearer to natural things themselves.

2 . The nature-study supervisor : A few years ago there was a
great demand for supervisors. Principals and superintendents
seemed to think that a year's work by a supervisor ought to solve
the problem for all time. The plan might have given better
satisfaction if there were more permanence of teachers ; but it is
nonsense to think that once started by a supervisor, nature-study
will go on like a perpetual-motion machine. Moreover, it is not
reasonable to expect that busy teachers who never spent an hour
studying science can be supervised into good nature-study
workers by occasional visits and suggestions from a supervisor.
Supervisors are needed, not for one year but regularly; but the
best of supervisors can never solve the problem of training teach-
ers of nature-study so long as the rank and file of teachers do not

bigblow] TRAINING OF TEA CHERS OF NA TURE-STUD Y 1 8 1

get good nature-study and science in their preparation for teach-
ing. The supervisory system has done great harm because so
many school officials have failed to see that they were attempting
the impossible and that failure of a supervisor does not mean
failure of nature-study.

3. Training by colleges: All colleges give technical science
courses; but experience shows that these alone are not adequate
for training teachers of nature-study. The college science does
not give the proper point of view and knowledge of needs of
elementary schools. Of course this is not necessarily so; I am
simply stating facts easily observed in most colleges today. In
fact, in very few colleges do the science courses give adequate
preparation for even high-school teaching, and elementary schools
are still more distant from the colleges. But changes are coming
rapidly. Many college teachers of science are beginning to
recognize that introductory science courses in colleges should deal
with those facts and great ideas which appeal most to the man
who can take but one course in any one science. We are cer-
tainly coming to an age when the first college course in zoology
will not omit half the great groups of animals and the first course
in physics forget to mention light and electricity, because the
professors want to reserve these topics for advanced courses.
Introductory science from the viewpoint of liberal, not technical
education, is the demand of the hour; and the final result will be
courses which approach much nearer the nature-study point of
view. Such improved science courses, added to the courses in
education now being introduced into colleges, will go far towards
making the average college graduates of science sane and useful
workers in elementary-school nature-study and in high-school
science.

4. Fourth and finally, and most important, normal-school
training: All that has been said concerning college training can
be applied legitimately to many normal schools, because their
science departments copy closely the ordinary undergraduate
college courses and forget (or have never learned) that normal
schools are intended to train teachers for public schools. It is
true that a few of the better normal schools are now working hard
at nature-study problems. Some of them offer technical science
courses, in order to give students the subject-matter; and then in
a pedagogical course, select and adapt the materials to nature-

182 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW U^-sept., 1908

study teaching. At present this seems to be the most hopeful
plan, for the reason that it is unsatisfactory to give introduction
to^all the various phases of subject-matter in one course. More-
over, students need for their general education some knowledge of
biology, physics, chemistry and geography; and should get part
of these in the high school. Hence, all things considered, it
seems necessary to make the nature-study course of the training
school a pedagogical course which will work over materials
gained from science courses and adapt them for nature-study
teaching. So far as permanent advance is concerned, we can
have little faith in an isolated nature-study course for teachers
which tries to give knowledge of subject-matter and of method
needed by a teacher in elementary schools.

In conclusion, it is evident that the future of nature-study
teachingjests with the normal schools which will directly prepare
the teachers. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that the
A. N. S. S. should take every opportunity to encourage and
improve preparation of teachers of nature-study in normal
schools. That there is a great field for development here is
shown by the fact that the large majority of the State normals,
and the majority of the city, county and private normals in the
United States, are making no effort at training teachers of nature-
study; and in most cases these institutions have no members of
their staffs interested in the nature-study movement.

TRAINING TEACHERS: ABSTRACTS OF DISCUSSIONS

[Editor's Note. In addition to the speakers represented by the fol-
lowing abstracts, several others are not recorded because the secretary has
not received abstracts in time for this issue of The Review.]

I

By STANLEY COULTER

Purdue University

I have been extremely interested in what has been said this
afternoon, both in the opening address of Professor Bailey and in
the papers concerning the preparation of teachers in nature-study.
As regards the valuable suggestion of Professor Bailey, that in
order to meet the existing school conditions the subject must be
standardized to a certain extent as to materials, method and pur-
pose, I have something to say. It is evident from what has been
said that standardization cannot be effected along the lines of
materials, for we have been told these materials embrace plants
and animals, the phenomena of physics and chemistry, the indus-
tries and a host of other things. It is evident to me that the
standardization, if possible at all, is possible only along pedagogi-
cal lines. The gradation of our schools suggests the possibility
of developing in an orderly and natural way very definite intellect-
ual powers. In the early years of school-life the purpose in view
might well be a development of the power of seeing things clearly
and sharply, and for the development of this power every school
environment furnishes abundant material. In the selection of
the material utilized, care should be taken to choose that most
closely related to the daily life of the child and therefore the most
vitally interesting. Later the purpose might lead by a continued
perception of familiar objects up to the power of compelling each
object or phenomenon to reveal itself in its completeness. Then
we would have the relationship of objects or phenomena to each
other, the relationship of objects to their surroundings, the
adaptation of parts to the function they perform ; and running
through all and vitalizing all, the economic relations. With such
purposes in mind, purposes adapted to the developmental stage
of the child, the wealth of material is greatly increased, the points

^3

1 8 4 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE VIE W U- 6-skpt. , iqo8

of contact with nature multiplied and the life of both pupil and
teacher wonderfully enriched. All of this means, as I said in
Chicago last winter, that the teacher must realize and realize
definitely, that nature-study is not a body of knowledge, but an
attitude of mind. This cannot be repeated too often nor em-
phasized too strongly. Nature-study is not a body of knowledge,
it is a new view-point; a new view of natural objects and phe-
nomena, a new view of the environment and growing out of this a
new view of the meaning and significance of life.

Concerning the preparation of the teacher, I have not much to
say. I am inclined to the opinion that the teachers are much
better prepared than superintendents and the officials directing
school affairs. The madness for uniformity is so widespread and
has become so firmly fixed in our school systems that originality,
initiative, enthusiasm, are not merely suppressed, they are
actually anathema maranatha. The results of this craze for
uniformity are obvious and would be ludicrous were they not so
infinitely pitiable. Nature-study is really revolutionary. It has
been and still is a groping, somewhat blindly indeed, after some
device by which education can be brought into touch with the
daily life of the child; to make it so attractive, so vital, that he
goes to the school as naturally as he goes to his play or to his rest,
since it, too, is a part of his daily life. Professor Bailey told us a
moment ago of his belief, that in the near future our school system
would be redirected. This new viewpoint, that education must
be related to the daily life is the redirecting force and is
nothing short of revolutionary. Of course a thorough training in
elementary botany and zoology and chemistry and physics and a
whole line of other subjects is extremely valuable, since it gives a
splendid back ground of knowledge; but of infinitely more im-
portance is the. possession of a quick eye, a sympathetic heart and
an honest purpose. With these and with the wealth of material
surrounding every school the real teacher cannot go far astray.
In teachers of the other sort, I have no interest; the law of the
survival of the fittest will surely operate and those who teach the
schools of the future will be those of sympathetic heart and honest
purpose, who have grasped the conception that the school and
life are one and the same thing. The really important matter is,
that we as teachers should recognize th e fact that there is such a
thing as a new education in which the supreme problem is the

charles] ABSTRACTS OF DISCUSSIONS 1 85

symmetrical development of the child, and that in that education
much of the pedagogical material will naturally be found in the
environment.

II

By LETTA BERNICE BURNS
Jamaica [N. Y] Normal and Training School

First, careful attention should be given to the difference in the
needs of city and country schools. The point of view of the city
child is widely different from that of the country child, but it is as
necessary that he have a knowledge of real things in order that he
may read and understand things of every-day life. More material
is needed in city schools.

Second, that the instruction given in nature-study be of a
practical kind as well as asthetic. Pupils need a better under-
standing of the agricultural interests of the country, forestry,
gardening and other phases of work related to nature-study. Too
frequently the meaning is in words only and not in actual con-
tact with the real things.

Third, the time given to the training of teachers for nature-
study work is too brief in most normal and training schools. The
work of the city and village teacher requires careful preparation.
They must know and be able to handle the problems found in the
environment of the child.

Ill

By FRED L. CHARLES
De Kalb [111] Normal School

Few situations are more highly artificial than the atmosphere
of many schoolrooms. Nature-study, by taking the child where
it finds him — akin to the creatures of the wild, immersed in the
natural world, the world of things — gains a foothold at once upon
his interests and his emotions.

If the teacher can stay young, keep the child attitude, listen to
stars and birds with open heart, she is fit for the calling of nature-
study; at least, if she cannot do these things, she is unfit. But
there's the rub — to take the book-tutored graduate of today and
restore his heritage of contact with and enthusiasm for the won-
ders of the commonplace. Eugene Field puts it well in his poem

1 86 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW U :6-sept., iqo8

"Long Ago," when, after telling of his boyhood intimacy with
birds, flowers, woodchucks, toads and bees, he says:

"And pining for the joys of youth,

I tread the old familiar spot
Only to learn this solemn truth:

I have forgotten, am forgot.
Yet here's this youngster at my knee

Knows all the things I used to know;
To think I once was wise as he —

But that was very long ago."

Iii the primary grades the aesthetic is legitimately prominent
and can be presented by a teacher without much preparation or
acquaintance with the material. However, this same aesthetic
becomes anaesthetic when given in repeated annual doses. There
must be meat in the lesson if the fourth grade boy is to give his
approval to the exercise.

The work, ordinarily, should be thrown into the form of the
problem; hence the point of attack — of contact with the pupil's
experience—becomes a matter of strategic importance.

All this means that the best preparation of teachers of nature-
study involves a groundwork of scientific training, not merely for
the mastery of subject-matter, but also for the appreciation of
scientific method and the peculiar functions of science instruction.

It means also that there must be a course of study — not one
course for all communities, but some form of insurance that deadly
repetition will be avoided and that the expanding interests and
needs of the child will be pedagogically respected.

IV

By GILBERT H TRAFTON
Passaic, N. J.

When I first became interested in the nature-study movement,
one of the earliest conclusions at which I arrived was that the
solution of the problems lay in the normal schools in the prepara-
tion of the teachers. Subsequent experience has strengthened
this conviction. This Society will probably not discuss any sub-
ject within the next decade so far reaching and significant as the
one before us this afternoon.

I would like to discuss this subject from the standpoint of the
teacher. My experience as supervisor of nature-study in a small
city has given opportunity to see what preparation teachers have

trafton] abstracts of DISCUSSIONS 187

received for teaching nature-study, to ascertain what preparation
they need and to appreciate the teachers' standpoint. There are
many problems which can be solved only by the teacher in the
schoolroom; and a very important field for this society lies in
securing the cooperation of grade teachers through the local sec-
tions of the Society.

.Several years ago a few data were secured from the teachers of
Passaic, representing 21 normal schools located in six States.
The following questions were sent to the teachers, with results as
appended after each question :

1. What are the chief difficulties vou encounter in teaching
nature-study? Answers: Securing material, 37 per cent. ; lack
of knowledge of the subject-matter 30 per cent.; lack of time 18
per cent.

Difficulty in securing material may have been due to two
causes*, unfavorable location, or ignorance on the part of the
teacher relative to the habitat of the material. As a matter of
fact the second was one of the chief reasons, suggesting the need
of field work in the teachers' preparation.

2. What do you think should have been the nature of your
preparation in the normal school ? Answers : A line of work to
develop the teacher's power of observation, 47 per cent; field
lessons, n per cent. ; model lessons, 20 per cent.

My experience with the teachers furnishes abundant evidence
that they feel the need of a keener power of observation so that
they may first traverse the path over which they wish to lead their
children.

3. What do you feel to be your greatest present need?
Answers: Model lessons, 41 per cent.; more knowledge of sub-
ject-matter, 14 per cent.; assistance in securing material, j 1 per
cent.

The first item referred to suggests one of the greatest needs of
teachers today, that is, training in method in the normal schools.
A teacher can not he expected to handle successfully so difficult a
subject as nature-study unless she has had very definite sugges-
tions relative to methods of teaching it, and actual practice in the
training school. Herein lies one of the chief opportunities for the
normal schools to prepare our teachers to render more efficient
service. The teacher who is truly interested in nature-study will
eventually evolve successful methods of her own initiative; but

188 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW U:6-sbpt., 1908

the great majority of teachers will not do so, nor can they be
expected to, without special instruction in the subject.

A few months ago there was published in School Science and
Mathematics a symposium on the work being done in biology and
nature-study in some of our normal schools. This suggested that
it might be instructive to ascertain the opinion of experienced
teachers regarding the kind of work which they thought should be
done in this connection. The following questions were sent to
about 125 teachers of Passaic, representing as previously ex-
plained, various States and normal schools. "As a result of your
experience in teaching, what kind of preparation in your normal
school course do you consider would have been most helpful to
yoti for the purpose of teaching nature-study. (1) Courses in
botany and zoology separately or one course in biology taking the
study of plants and animals together. (2) A course in which
plants and animals are taken up in accordance with the seasons,
or one in which they are studied in the order of their complexity,
beginning with the simplest and proceeding to the higher forms?
(3) A course in systematic biology, or one in nature-study, fol-
lowing somewhat the lines of the course you would be expected to
teach in the grades?"

Following are the results : Biology, 63 per cent. ; botany and
zoology separate, 37 per cent.; order of seasons, 62 per cent.;
order of complexity, 38 per cent.; nature-study, 82 per cent.;
systematic biology, 18 per cent.

In conclusion the following summary may briefly state my
opinion in this matter: The nature of the preparation which my
experience with teachers indicates would be most serviceable to
them in teaching nature-study, and the kind which I think the
teachers themselves feel that they need most, is a course in
biologv or nature-study, if one may choose to call it so, in which
plants and animals are studied together in accordance with
nature's classification by seasons and in which the teacher is
taken over somewhat the same ground that she is expected later
to lead her pupils. In connection with this there should be
constant suggestions regarding the question of method to be
employed in the schoolroom, and there should be practice in the
training school. If in addition to this, the time allotted allows a
broader and more extended survey of the field, the efficiency of
the preparation will be increased ; but these other features seem

shepherd] abstracts OF DISCUSSIONS 189

to me to be the first essentials in the training of teachers of nature-

studv.

V

By J. W. SHEPHERD,
Chicago Normal School

It has been suggested a number of times this afternoon that
there should be at least a general nature-study course outlined,
and on this point I should like to say that in such event there
should be at least two, one for rural schools and another for the
schools of cities. Nearly all our efforts in nature-study have been
with things common to the environment of the country boys and
"iris and in an effort to teach nature-studv along these lines the
city teacher lias felt obliged to furnish the material for the
children, often at tremendous expenditure of time and energy, or
else allow the work to drift into a mere talk-fest. The experiences
of country children are different from those of city children, but I
do not see that within themselves these experiences are neces-
sarily better from an educational standpoint. Therefore, I think
that if city children should work with the environment of country
children it would be equally well for the country boy and girl to be
furnished with the experiences of the city. My point is that
country children should work with the actual and possible things
of their environment, and that city children should work with
different things, in conformity with their environment.

Another point I wish to make is that nature-study has fallen
heir to a term that is unfortunate. I mean the word "observa-
tion," which it seems has become too narrow to comprehend the
spirit of nature-study. It is not sufficiently dynamic, and per-
mits of too little initiative on the part of the children. T would
suggest the substitution of the word experience, which compre-
hends observation, and more. An incident that happened in my
nature-study special method class this spring will make the point
clear. One student-teacher said she wished to take her nature-
study class out to observe the difference between the leafing of
two trees in the school neighborhood. Another student-teacher
suggested that a much better plan would be to have the children
find out which of the two trees furnished the more shade, and why.
There is a vast difference in educational value between these two
plans. The initiative in the first is at least very largely with the
teacher and the class might be quietly receptive, but in the second

190 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:6-skpt., 1908

the initiative is with the children and would result in vitalized
experiences which comprehend the observations of the first, and
much more.

VI

By J. DEARNESS, M. A.
Normal School, London, Canada

I wish to emphasize the objection taken by a previous speaker
to the term ''observation." It tends to contract the aim of the
subject to mere looking and naming. Instead, however, of the
proposed richer term experience I should prefer investigation.
Nature-study is self-activity on the part of the child to discover
something that it desires to know — doing something to find out
something. On the teacher's side it is leading the child into full
possession of all his powers to react on his environment to the end
of efficiency and happiness. Learning facts about natural
objects, even facts that adults think worth knowing, may have
extremely little educational value. The teacher who forces his
adult interests in scale insects and wheat-rusts for example, upon
the child is liable to miss completely the nature-study value,
whereas a scientific toy which a child had brought to school to
amuse his companions with may be made the subject of a fruitful
and genuinely educative nature-study lesson. Seek first among
the children's daily experiences for subjects for nature-studies and
then treat these by the heuristic method.

VII

By HORACE H. CUMMINGS
Salt Lake City

In view of the fact, brought out by previous speakers, that
pupils in large cities have so little experience with plants and
animals, it is a great mistake to confine their nature work to
biology. Physics should form the basis of one-third of this work,
as they are at all times in touch with one or more of its laws.
Gravity, light, heat, sound, electricity, the pressure of gases and
liquids, friction, capillarity and a hundred other phases of this
science have been observed by city children all their lives; and
these observations should be systematized and interpreted by
them.

pattersonj ABSTRACTS OF DISCUSSIONS 191

A unifying and guiding element in arranging any course in
nature-study must be the home experience of the pupils. Les-
sons in the first grade should he based upon the things seen and
experienced in the home — the house, its rooms, furniture, uses;
pets and domestic animals ; window and garden plants ; toys and
games: and such occupations as cooking, washing, etc. For
study of succeeding years, follow the child's expanding mind from
the home activities and supplies to the store, the farm, the factory
the mine, the forest, and other sources of supply, the ways of
transportation and the laws of nature are manifest in all these
things. In short, the child's physical and mental environment in
his various stages of growth furnish a natural and abundant sup-
ply of topics for nature lessons so that no lesson needs to be
repeated. New and interesting material is found in greatest
quantity in each grade and if presented aright will keep the pupil
in intelligent harmony with his environment at each step in his
development.

The Training School of the Utah State Normal School has
developed a correlated course of study based on this principle,
including other branches than nature-study, and the results are
highly satisfactory.

VIII

By ALICE JEAN PATTERSON
Normal, Illinois

I wish to add a word to what has already been said regarding
nature-study in its relation to children. To me a recognition of
this principle is of vital importance. We must meet the children
on their own ground if we make nature-study a real force in edu-
cation. We must make an effort to fit the needs of the children
at every stage in their development, both as regards selection of
material and methods of presentation. We must bear in mind
that children, especially little children, gain most of their ideas by
motion activity. Nature-study gives ample opportunity to
exercise the muscular activity ; no other subject is better adapted
to train hand and mind and heart at the same time.

In regard to training teachers for this subject, one difficulty we
have encountered is getting teachers to realize that nature- study
can not be treated in the same way as other subjects. What they
wish to do is to plan and teach formal lessons which are complete
units bound together, tied up and put away once for all. They

192 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE W [ 4:&-shpt., 1908

are afraid of leaving dangling threads, afraid of unsolved problems.
It is hard to have them realize that problem solving is the very
life of nature-study, that it does not matter how long it takes to
solve a problem so long as the children are intelligently investi-
gating and earnestly working.

A word about physics and chemistry as nature-study material:
I fully agree with some of the speakers that plants and animals
must constitute the bulk of our nature-study material. Never-
theless, I do not agree that these should be studied exclusively,
or that they toucli the lives of the children more closely than
material gathered from the field of physics and chemistry. What
could touch the lives more closely than the heating, lighting and
ventilation of the home, water supply, and weather phenomena?
We have found nothing that has been worked out with more
interest and profit on the part of the children than the simple
principles underlying the working of the every-day appliances of
the home.

IX

By DORA HARGITT
Hamilton, Ohio

It has been said that "nature-study is, not botany, is not
entomology, is not ornithology, it is none of the 'ologies,' is not
science." I think, however, that for the teacher it is all these and
more ; so let us have the course for her preparation made as heavy
and full as possible. But for the child in the school let us have as
little formality as possible in the study of nature. Rather let us
as far as possible send the child into the fields to see for himself
and then to return to report what he has seen of interest. Thus
we may arouse "the seeing eye, the hearing ear and the feeling
heart" of the child and make him a better moral and intellectual
being.

COLLEGE BIOLOGY IN RELATION TO TRAINING

OF TEACHERS

By C. F. HODGE, Clark University

[Editor's Note. — This paper by Professor Hodge was prepared for
the Cleveland conference, but did not reach the secretary of the A. N. S. S.
in time to be read at the meeting.]

The greatest present need in biological instruction is a com-
mon-sense stratification of matter and method for the different
strata of our educational system. A plan must be worked out
which shall command the assent of teachers of every grade from
kindergarten to university, and which shall unify, organize and
correlate biological instruction through the entire course. This
alone can bring order out of present confusion and give us a course
of instruction which shall be consecutive, vital and adequate for
the needs of intelligent citizenship. This task can only be accom-
plished by the united effort of teachers of all grades working on
absolutely even footing, trying experiments and comparing
results. In work like this there is no high or low; or if there be,
in point of number of lives affected and hence in vital importance
to the people as a whole, the instruction in the common schools is
highest, not that of even the university should take first rank.
Sir Wm. Macdonald's dictum, "If scientific education is good for
anything, the younger the better," holds true; for if we give it
adequately to the fountain head of our education, our universi-
ties shall not lack for spirit or men to push forward the advance of
science.

Shall college biology continue to be a culture for and of itself
alone and without regard for the strata of public instruction below
it? This is the central question, and concerns the chief source of
present confusion.

I can do little more in this brief note than give the bare con-
clusions of several years' study, and even these are in process of
taking form and are subject to change without notice as good
reasons for change are advanced in course of the discussion.

Colleges have been, and are more and more, giving high-school
teachers of biology their professional fitting. I think I ought to

193

1 9 4 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u- 6_SEPT. , I9o8

say "misfitting." In consequence the grave mistake has been
made of trying to force technical biology, or zoology and botany,
which is much worse — which may not be so bad for college strata —
down into the high schools. This course is sheer waste of time
for pupils who do not go on into college and a good deal worse for
those who do.

Confusion worse confounded arises when college students of
biology go to teach in normal schools. Then the children in the
grades get college biology three removes out of its proper place.
It would be far better if biology teachers in our normal schools be
drawn from graduates of our agricultural colleges, or from the
ranks of intelligent gardeners and horticulturists, than from those
who have had the present biology course in many colleges, and
have been given no hint that it is not and cannot be "'adapted"
to the needs of normal-school students and grade pupils. If the
colleges are to train normal-school teachers in biology, it is
imperative that they supplement their present technical courses
by a thorough-going course in biological nature-study. That is,
there are a few things of vital import to the life of the child and
the home which his instructors must be able to teach. There are
innumerable other things — technical botany and zoology, among
the number — which are of no present importance to child or home,
to teach which is not only waste of time but often a positive
injury.

There are also a few things that every decent member of a
community ought to know about the forces of living nature.
Every individual ought to learn — and the community has the
right to demand that he be taught and that he does learn — the
things of vital import to community life, before he assumes the
functions of citizenship. Here, then, is the legitimate field of
high-school biology at the threshold of active citizenship. These
vital matters are the interdependences of living things with
special reference to human health, life, and other interests.
Technical botany or zoology as commonly taught have little rela-
tion to these fundamental community interests.

Health, individual and civic, is the paramount interest, a.
pound of which outweighs a ton of mere scientific information.
Cannot colleges give courses in hygiene and bacteriology which
shall enable their graduates to teach high-school pupils to keep'
themselves healthy and be more efficient in checking the spread

hodge] COLLEGE BIOLOGY 195

of contagious diseases? If they are to prepare high-school
teachers, is it not the duty of the college to do this? How better
could the great movement for American Health be effectually
advanced?

Conservation of natural resources, next, presents the largest
civic problems, in the solution of which every intelligent citizen
must bear a part. This on the side of biological resources should
be understood to include not only conservation of forests with the
holding of soils and storing of water, but conservation of native
animals and plant species of mammals, birds, and fishes, even to
conservation of natural beauties of landscape and native plants
on account of purely aesthetic values. The way we have devasta-
ted forests and exterminated valuable species is a national dis-
grace and a crime against future generations. Forces and
motives of waste and destruction must be speedily reversed
toward general conservation, and this can only be done by
adequate education. Problems in this field may be illustrated
as follows :

Seasons of flowering and ripening seeds in about 40 of our most im-
portant forest, nut and ornamental trees; together with methods of saving
storing and planting the seeds and rearing the trees.

Function of forestry in controlling water flow and washing of soil.

Outlawed weeds and poisonous plants.

Native plants in danger of extermination.

Common ferns.

Elementary agriculture and horticulture.

Common mushrooms, edible and poisonous.

Common parasitic fungi, blights, smuts, rusts, mildews, locally im-
portant forms.

Insects, life-histories and natural enemies of about 1 5 1 most important
species.

Economic status and foods of about 100 birds.

Common amphibia, natural history and value as destroyers of insects.

Important fresh-water fishes, food, spawning seasons and habitats.

The above is not put forward as a complete statement and it
is not intended that this entire body of knowledge shall be taught
during a possible one year's course in the high school. Much of it
must be taught in the nature-study of the grades. The high-
school course could finish out and especially give the civic and
national bearings and points of view.

The college may do: (1) Nothing, and withdraw still fur-
ther from the main currents of American life. (2) Prepare its

196 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y RE VIE IV 1 4 : 6-srft^ 1908

students to teach ; by modifying present biological courses or by
putting in coordinate courses specially designed to fit teachers for
normal, and high schools. The present tendency toward the
latter course seems to be a more adequate solution of our problem
■ — efficient biological instruction adapted to all our educational
strata.

AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

The first directory of members of the American Nature-Study
Society will be published in November of this year and will con-
tain the names of all members whose annual dues ($1.00) are paid
for 1908. It is important that this directory should register from
1300 to 1 500 names of teachers, authors, school officials or public-
spirited citizens who are interested in increasing and improving
any studies of nature in elementary education. During the
autumn months the officers of the Society will attempt to increase
the membership and the hearty cooperation of all members now
enrolled is needed.

Attention of persons who may become interested should be
called to the fact that the Society is not committed to any limited
creed of nature-study, but stands for (1) the investigation and (2)
the advancement of all phases of study of natural things desirable
for elementary education. With such a broad platform the
Society appeals to all persons who are seriously interested in
biological nature-study, physical nature-study, elementary
physiology, elementary agriculture, school-gardening, home
geography, and manual training in correlation with any of these.
In all these lines the A. N. S. S. will undertake important work
looking towards unifying, correlating, and firmly establishing
studies of nature as an integral part of elementary education.

To all who believe in the aims of the A. N. S. S.- — Will you not
give your co-operation in at least one of the following ways? (1)
Instruct the Secretary to enroll you as a member, ($1 per year),
life member, ($20), or patron, ($100). (2) If you are connected
with a school or college, enroll the institution as a member in
order to have The Nature-Study Review for reference of
teachers and students. (3) Enlist the interest of others, especi-
ally in your own State. (4) Subscribe to the publication fund. v*'

Application blanks may be obtained from the Secretary of the

NOTES 197

Society, but are not necessary. Simply write as follows: "I am
interested in the aims and work of the A. N. S. S. and wish to be
enrolled as a member. T enclose $1.00 as my fee for the year
190 — . Send the official journal (The Nature-Study- Review)
without charge to the address given below. My official position
or business (for the directory of members) is - — ." Make

money orders or checks payable to American Nature-Study
Society, and add five cents to checks on banks not in the free
exchange limits of New York City, Boston and Philadelphia.
Mail to vSecretary of A. N. S. S., 525 West 120th St. (Teachers
College), New York City. Receipts are sent for all remittances.
New members enrolled before the ^directory is published for
1908 will receive all numbers of the official journal for 1908 and
three numbers of 1907 which refer to the organization of the
Society. For a limited time, a full set of 1907 and 1905 will be
sent to new members who enclose 50 cents extra or 30 cents for
one of these years. A full set of The Review from the beginning
in January, 1905, can be obtained through former subscribers for
$4.50 or $5.00, depending upon the condition of certain rare
copies of the 1906 volume.

NOTES

Methods of Attracting Birds around our Homes. The undersigned is
preparing for the National Audubon Society a monograph on "Methods of
Attracting Birds around our Homes." He desires to make this suggestive,
especially to teachers for school use ; and to that end he asks that any who
have had experience in this line of work in connection with schools or else-
where will cooperate by sending him an account of their methods and re-
sults. Photographs will also be welcomed.

Passaic, X. J. Gilbert H. Trafton.

Sale of Bird Plumage. Recent issues of Bird Lore have called attention
to work in the line of prohibiting the sale of plumage of protected birds.
Recently a raid has been made on millinery firms in Columbus, Ohio,
resulting in fines of from $25 to $50 for having in possession aigrettes. It
is reported that the dealers have cancelled their orders with New York
firms for all bird plumage which is effected by the law. Similar reports
have come from other States, and it is evident that the very efficient Exec-
utive Department of the Audubon Societies is making rapid progress in
securing enforcement of the laws. In fact, this is only one line in which
the laws are being enforced and those interested in bird protection should
read regularly the department of Bird Lore devoted to reports concerning
the le^al work of the Societv.

1 9 8 THE NA TURE- S TUD Y RE VIE W

Injured Sycamores. Last year it was reported in several botanical
journals that the leaves of the sycamore trees had been injured by frost.
Later it was stated on the authority of prominent botanists that early
the trouble was not due to frost but rather to the attacks of a fungus. In
the Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Dr. Von Schrenk states that
the leaves were killed by the severe frosts. This explanation seems more
reasonable because the injured trees were scattered over a wide territory.
However, it is certain that a fungus does grow on the leaves, and it is diffi-
cult to decide whether frost made conditions favorable for the fungus or
whether the fungus itself killed the leaves.

Bird Migration. In the April and May numbers of School Science and
Mathematics, Professor Walter of Brown University has contributed an
interesting series of articles on theories of bird migration. It is interesting
to note that the following explanations have been offered for migration:
Instinct, magnetism, semi-circular canals, sense of direction, landmarks,
and follow-the-leader. Professor Walter is inclined to think that an
adequate explanation for the path of migration is found in the temporary
leadership of some individual within sight or hearing of the others who
knows at least a fraction of the way by experience and strikes out a safe
path by means of landmarks. As to why birds migrate there are theories
based on temperature, premonition, short days and food supply as expla-
nations of why birds go south; and instinct, homesickness, a desire to
disperse, seeking nestling food or safe nesting sites are offered as explana-
tions of why birds go northward in the spring. In summarizing the whole
matter, Professor Walter concludes that in spite of the great mass of
interesting theory and observation we not only do not know why birds
migrate but as yet we do not know how they migrate except in a general
way. For example, the naturalists from Aristotle to the present day have
failed to find where the swallows pass the winter. "Until the store of
facts as to why birds migrate has greatly increased, we can only delight
ourselves with interesting explanations as to why birds migrate, acknowl-
edging the problem unsolved."

Nature-Study Exhibit. At the next meeting of the New York State
Science Teachers' Association to be held at Syracuse during the Christmas
vacation there will be an exhibit of materials, apparatus, charts, aquaria
and other things that biology and nature-study teachers find useful. The
exhibit will be made up of the things actually in use by the teachers of the
State. One afternoon will be spent examining and explaining the exhibit.
Prof. O. C. Kenyon, of Syracuse, is president of the Association.

American Health League. The Committee of One Hundred, of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, on National Health
is organizing the American Health League in furtherance of the cause for
which the Committee of One Hundred was originally appointed, namely
the betterment of the national health. The annual dues willbe$i.oo
to $5.00 per year and the official organ, American Health, will be sent to
members free of expense. The first number of that journal has recently
appeared. As a suggestion of the kind of big problems with which the
American Health League will deal, we take the following from a letter
recently sent to members :

NOTES 199

Which of the following conditions effecting public health at the present
time presents the most imperative demands for attention from the next
Congress and should command widespread popular justification?

(a) The facts that the Ohio River represents a thousand miles of
typhoid fever, and the Hudson River a cloaca maxima from Albany to the
sea; the prevalence of deadly infection among millions of our people, aris-
ing from the contamination of drinking water, and of ice, and the rapid
increase of pollution of our rivers, the boundary lines between states,
which only federal authority can control; or

(b) The facts, that out of 80,000,000 of our people, 8,000,000 must
perish from tuberculosis, the white scourge, which with proper regulation
enforced by the federal power can be exterminated as completely as the
once dreaded smallpox ; and that the uniform enforcement of national
health regulations in all states is absolutely imperative, because infected
persons travel from state to state spreading the disease ; or

(c) The facts, that the public have no means of obtaining reliable
health information, and the thousand questions which anxious fathers and
mothers ask themselves go unanswered simply because there is no office at
Washington equipped for the purpose. If strawberries wilt in New Jersey
or lambs fall sick in Arizona the Department of Agriculture gives elaborate
instructions as to what should be done. But two millions of human beings
die each year, a large proportion, and literally because they cannot find
out how to live.

American Egret. The April number of Bird Lore has an interesting
article on the home life of this bird by Dr. Chapman. The illustrations
from photographs are especially attractive.

Alexander Wilson. The March number of the Wilson Bulletin, published
at Oberlin, Ohio, contains an interesting article on the famous ornithologist.
It especially discusses the famous misunderstanding between Audubon and
Wilson.

Birds-Eye Maple. The cause of bird's eye appearance in maple has
never been satisfactorily explained by botanists. A recent writer believes
the eyes to be due to adventitious roots which do not continue to develop.
A possible objection to this theory is that maples rarely produce this kind
of roots. [American Botanist.]

Double Flowers. It is interesting to note that certain double flowers are
not so much in demand as formerly and that there is a tendency towards
cultivating the single or natural varieties. [American Botanist]

Hydrophobia. Recently great interest in the subject of hyrdophobia in
dogs and cats has been developed in the United States, particularly in and
near Xew York City. A recent circular of the Department of Agriculture
deals with the disease and points out that it is becoming increasingly pre-
valent. Reports of a society dealing with cruelty to animals have given the
impression that it is not a real disease, but a product of the imagination.
That this is not true in all cases has been demonstrated beyond doubt, but
it is equally clear that mad dog scares are very frequently caused by ani-
mals suffering from some temporary cause like indigestion or mistreatment.
For the real disease there is only one treatment, namely the Pasteur

2 oo THE NA TU RE- STUD V RE VIE IV

method; and in cases where competent veterinarians find that a dog has
the disease, persons who have been bitten should be sent at once to the
Pasteur Institute for treatment.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS

The Eoy Problem. An excellent 36-page pamphlet with this title, deal-
ing with the problem of sex instruction, has been published for parents and
teachers by the American Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis. It
may be purchased from the Secretary, Dr. E. L. Keyes, Jr., 109 E. 34th St.,
New York. Price 10c per copy or $3 for 50. A special pamphlet "For
Teachers" is also for sale at 10c per copy.

Arbor Day and Bird Day in Illinois. The Annual Circular issued by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction is an especially attractive pamphlet
of about 100 pages. Most interesting of the papers, which it contains are
one on Animal Pets, by Professor F. L. Charles of DeKalb, and the one on
Winter Birds, by Professor T. E. Hankinson of Charleston. The paper on
Animal Pets is especially worthy of mention because of the splendid,
original illustrations showing a wide range of possibilities in the line of pets.
There are dogs and cats of many breeds, goats, horses, sheep, calves, rab-
bits, guinea pigs, chickens, squirrels, bears, raccoons, foxes, snakes, lizards
turtles, ferrets and many birds and a coyote which have actually been
adopted as pets at the DeKalb State Normal School. The excellent photo-
graphs and descriptions of the habits of these pets will do much to en-
courage this phase of nature-study work.

Practical Nature-Study. By John M. Coulter, John G. Coulter and Alice
J. Patterson. A preliminary, limited edition subject to alterations and
additions. It is a manual for the use of teachers and normal students.
The first chapters deal with the mission of nature-study, the dangers of
nature-study, the principles and spirit of nature-study. This is followed by
a topical outline for all the grades of the elementary school. The advanced
sheets in hand show only the first forty-two pages of the book, but others
are in preparation and will probably be ready before September. The
writer of this review is informed that the authors will sell at cost price
copies of this preliminary edition until it is possible to issue the final edi-
tion. Correspondence concerning the book should be addressed to Pro-
fessor J. G. Coulter, Normal, Illinois. It ought to be in the hands of every
normal-school teacher who is attempting to prepare teachers of nature-
study. Price 58 cents, postpaid.

Nature-Study. By F. L. Holtz. Xew York, Scribner's Sons, iqoS. Pp.
546, illustrated, $1.50. This new book by Professor Holtz, formerly of
Mankato, Minn., Normal School and now of the Brooklyn Training School
for Teachers in New York City, is designed as an aid and guide for teachers
and a text-book in nature-study for normal and training schools. Part I
is a discussion of underlying principles and methods and Part II is an
excellent discussion of subject-matter of the biological nature and with
practical hints and suggestions on handling material and presenting les-

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS 20 1

sons. Part III is a course of study for eight grades. The appendix con-
tains many references. The book is a valuable contribution to nature-
study literature and will certainly do much to solve the difficult problems
with which many teachers in schools are confronted, and it will also give
much-needed help in the training of teachers in many normal schools.

Guide to Nature. The second number of this new magazine contains
several interesting articles, especially in the sections devoted to growing
plants, domesticated animals and photography.

American Botanist. This valuable popular magazine of botany has now
been changed from a monthly to a quarterly, and the subscription price is
75c a year. It is especially valuable for notes. It will continue to be
published by the editor, Dr. W. X. Clute, Joliet, 111.

Plant Breeding for Farmers. This is the title of an important pamphlet
recently issued by Cornell University. It is especially valuable because of
its suggestions for improving through selection many of the common varie-
ties of cultivated plants.

German Report on Nature-Study. Dr. W. Schoenichen, editor of Aus der
Natur, whose address is Friedenau- Berlin, Germany, has recently published
an interesting report on nature-study in the United States. It strikes the
reviewer as a very fair interpretation of the best work which is now being
done in this country.

Leaflet on Cotton. A recent addition to the series of Hampton leaflets is
devoted to cotton. It will undoubtedly be a valuable publication for
teachers in southern States.

Conservation of Natural Resources. This important pamphlet by the
United States Forester, Mr. Pinchot, is especially interesting at the present
time. It deals with resources in forests, minerals, oil, natural gas and soil;
and points out the importance of considering all of these resources together.
As is well-known, we are rapidly tending to exhaust our natural resources
and this paper points out the great importance of careful studies of methods
of conservation.

Books on School-Gardens. The Children's Museum Library of Brook-
lyn, New York, has recently printed a selected list of books on "Xature-
Study with Special Reference to School-Gardening." Each book is briefly
characterized and its important features mentioned. The list may be
obtained without cost by any teacher upon application to the librarian.

Children's School Farm. A report concerning the work of this interest-
ing school-garden in Xew York City has been published by the editor, Mrs.
Henry Parsons, of 29 West 56th Street, Xew York City. It gives a very
good account of the childrens' school farm at the Jamestown Exposition,
last year.

What Forestry Has Done. A pamphlet of this title published by the
U. S. Department of Agriculture points out the values actually obtained
from application of principles of forestry in Germany, France and other
European countries. It is interesting to note that France and Germany
spent $11,000,000 last year on their national forests containing about 14
million acres and obtained net returns of $30,000,000, while the United
States spent $1,400, 000 on 160,000,000 acres of national forests and secured

2 o 2 THE NA TURE - S TUD Y RE I 'IE IV

a net return of less than $130,000. Aside from such financial facts, the
pamphlet contains many others, especially pointing out the value of
forests as protective covering for the soil and relation to water conserva-
tion. It will be a valuable pamphlet for teachers who deal with principles
of forestry in their nature-study work.

Farmers' Bulletins. The Department of Agriculture has published an
index to these valuable bulletins and thus the contents are made available
for school or practical use.

High-School Agronomy. A recent circular of the Department of Agri-
culture outlines a high-school course for one of two years recommended for
agriculture in high schools. The pamphlet gives a syllabus and outlines of
work, general instructions to teachers, and references. A teacher of
general science who carefully reads this outline will note the numerous
duplications of work already done in the regular science courses, and it
becomes evident that the problem of articulation between existing courses
in biology, chemistry and physics and proposed courses in agriculture ought
to be carefully considered in these early days of high-school instruction in
agriculture. Otherwise it is quite probable that in our enthusiasm for
agriculture we will attempt to do some work which in later years will have
to be decidedly changed.

Poison Ivy and Swamp Sumach. This is the title of a beautifully printed
little book of 58 pages written by Annie Oakes Huntington, author of the
well-known "Studies of Trees in Winter." The book is intended for people
who indulge in an out-of-door life and therefore need to know these poison-
ous plants. The descriptions and the pictures make it possible to recog-
nize the plants at any season of the year. There is an interesting account
of the latest studies regarding the poisonous effects of these plants. The
price of the book is 75 cents and it may be obtained from the author at 3 1
Glen Road, Jamaica Plain, Mass.

Insect Manuals. The Funk 8z Wagnalls Company of New York has
recently sent to the office of The Review two small Manuals of Insects
prepared by Dr. Beutenmueller of the American Museum of Natural
History- One of these small hand-books deals with common butterflies
and moths; the other deals with other insects. The booklets consist
entirely of colored pictures cf insects and about 120 species are -figured in
each book. Thev ought to be very useful for teachers who do not have the
larger books with colored plates. The booklets referred to sell at 25 cents
each.

NEW BOOKS RECEIVED

Nature Study Made Easy. By Edward B. Shallow and Winifred T.
Cullen. Pp.. 136, illustrated. A guide for teachers and pupils. New York :
The Macmillan Company, 1908. $.40.

Nature Study. By David Worth Dennis. "One hundred lessons about
plants." Marion, Ind. Teachers' Journal Printing Co., 1906.

American Birds. By William Lovell Finley. "Studied and photo-
graphed from life." Pp. 247, illu. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1907.
$1.50.

DISCUSSIONS

Organization of Nature- Study Lessons. The suggestions in the
October and November 1907 issues of this magazine will be help-
ful to all teachers who attempt to organize nature-study facts
into lessons. However, there is a possible danger in such outlines
or formulas in that teachers may fall into a deadening routine.
Also, the best of formulas for lessons may at times fail to center
attention on the most important or most interesting point and
may fail in pointing the way to the big problem which might be
chosen for study. As an example of a lesson plan organized
quite independently of the formula approved by Professor Guyer
and by Dr. Taylor, the following study of radishes may be
described :

Two years ago one of the graduate students in Teachers College
planned to raise some vegetables in the greenhouse and radishes
were chosen because of their many advantages for such work. In
order to have some problem as a center around which to organize
the work, the attention of the children was called to the fact that
radishes are grown under glass by gardeners near New York City
and that the most important problem with which such gardeners
must deal is the selection of the most profitable radishes which
can be grown under glass in the winter. By reference to the seed
catalogues it was pointed out to the children that there are a great
manv possibilities in selecting varieties. There are radishes
which are scarlet, red, white, yellow and black and mixed colors
and any of these colors may be found in varieties which are
turnip-shaped, oval or long forms; and that by combining color
and form it is possible to pick out many distinct varieties of
radishes. Seeds of ten of these varieties were chosen and the ten
packages were mixed in the schoolroom. The children planted
them in boxes in the greenhouse and after about twenty-four days
the plants were ready for the lesson. It was pointed out to the
children that the market gardeners must consider the following
things:

First, what variety comes to maturity in the shortest time,
because of course this makes possible more crops in the year.

203

204 7 HE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

Second, what variety, owing largely to the relative smallness of
the leaves, takes the least space and therefore makes it possible
to grow the largest number of radishes per square foot. Third,
what variety has the most attractive color and is therefore most
likely to appeal to purchasers. Fourth, what variety is finest in
flavor and texture. These four problems were carefully worked
out by comparison of the abundant specimens, and to my surprise
the result was that the conclusion of the pupils pointed to the red,
turnip-shaped, forcing radishes which are the favorites in the New
York markets and have proved most profitable from the garden-
ers' standpoint. These came to maturity in about twenty-one
days, while some of the long varieties had scarcely begun to
thicken the roots. The red color is especially attractive. In
proportion to size of roots the leaves of this variety are remark-
ably small and hence a much larger number can be grown on the
square foot of surface. As is well-known, the flavor and texture
of this variety is all that could be desired in a radish.

Here is one example of a nature-study lesson organized inde-
pendently of any formula and simply based on a practical pro-
blem. The teacher needed no formula or set of questions, but
simply some idea of gardening. The results from such a lesson
were in my opinion very superior to any which could be obtained
if the radish had been studied under the formulas suggested in this
magazine last October and November. Many other such cases
have come to my attention and so I am inclined to urge that when-
ever possible to organize a nature-study lesson around some pro-
blem which is full of appealing interest, such a plan for organization
should be adopted, rather than any set formula. In fact. T am
inclined to believe that a teacher whose information about the
material is sufficient to make her a good teacher of nature-study
will do best to cut loose from all set formulas and instead develop
every lesson from the center of greatest interest, especially from
the standpoint of the interests which are most intense in the
children.

M. A. Bigelow.

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 OCTOBER, 1908 No. 7

NEW JERSEY NUMBER

[Managing Editor's Note. — The papers for this number
have been collected and arranged by Mr. Gilbert H. Trafton,
Supervisor of Nature-Study at Passaic, N. J., and one of the
1908 Directors of the American Nature-Study Society. As in
the case of all other special numbers of The Review, the manag-
ing Editor has simply taken charge of the mere mechanical
editing necessary to secure uniformity in printing the series of
special numbers."

The following paragraph from a personal letter from Mr.
Trafton well states the editorial policy for this number of The
Review:

"I have endeavored to make this issue a record of actual
performance, a discussion of work actually being done, believing
that these kinds of records will be of value to other teachers as
suggestive of what may be done and of value to all interested in
nature-study in any capacity, as a means of orientation and as
furnishing opportunity for intelligent criticism, that the work
that is worth while may be encouraged, and that which is worth-
less condemned.]

205

WANTED: A PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE -STUDY

By C. H. ROBISON

State Normal School, Montclair, N. J.

By coming into practical agreement as to what nature-study
really is and is not, the leaders in the nature-study movement
have taken a great step forward. We do not, however, find a
correspondingly convincing assurance regarding its justification
in the curriculum, regarding what we hope to do, or what should
be the final product in education.

Our choice of subject-matter must depend on our aims.
Noting differences between the serrate edge of the leaves of the
elm and beech requires closer observation and keener discrimina-
tion than distinguishing between the potato-bug and the lady-
bug that eats its eggs; but with aims other than mere practice
in sense perception the former furnishes much less valuable mate-
rial than does the latter, especially since there are other much
better ways of distinguishing the trees.

In no less degree does our method of approach depend on the
philosophic basis of our theory; on whether we regard the child
as a member of a present and a future society or as an isolated
individual, as a social creature or solely as an intellectual being;
•on whether we regard education as a process of adding on adult
ideals or as a "re-making of present experiences." While quite
generally rejecting the classification of phenomena made by the
scientists, the question may be raised whether our "naturists,"
if we may so call them, have gotten away from adult standards
of interest and have sufficiently adopted the child's valuation
of a given subject of nature as the criterion of use or of approach,
be it a valuation from the standpoint of his personal needs, or
of needs of society as he recognizes them.

Leaders in methods of teaching reading, history, and even
arithmetic, are straining every nerve to provide in those subjects
opportunities for the child to participate in real social situations,
as witness the dramatizations, the play store, the class savings
bank, and even the demand upon nature-study by these branches
to help them out in this respect. Yet in nature-study, rivalled

206

robison] ■ PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE-STUDY 207

only by manual training in such potential opportunities, have
not our writers quite largely taken this social activity for granted
as a part of the instruments for certain disciplinary ends, and do
they not seem to have failed to view such participation as a
social end in itself? It is as if nature-study must not lag behind
any other study in claims to disciplinary value; when in fact
we are not sure that much that is ascribed to discipline is not
really a matter of selection.

Both aims and theory are still in a chaotic state, and are in need
of a master's treatment. Some of the aims, as practically ex-
pressed by superintendents in a large number of courses of study,
are not the peculiar possession of this branch of the curriculum.
Some are trivial. Some are vigorously called into question by
recent experimental psychology, such as the supposed training
of various general "powers" or "faculties" of the mind by exer-
cise in narrow limits. This "training" has been so exalted that
the real thing of nature as such becomes a subsidiary matter, a
mere tool, and leads to a disregard of the question of whether it
has worth in itself, either from the standpoint of society in
general or of the immediate world of the child. Psychologists hold
that the amount of improvement in a general ability resulting
from practice within narrow limits depends on the elements
common to all the acts of observation. Is it true, as suggested
by some psychologists, that these are much fewer than com-
monly supposed, and therefore, that there is not the general
improvement so generally claimed?

Who will rise up and determine these common elements, and
with carefully devised units, measure the amount of improve-
ment ? Exact studies have been made in memory, sense dis-
crimination, and muscular activities. More or less successful
efforts have been made to measure quantitatively the relation
between certain methods of teaching and the results in spelling
and arithmetic. Why not in nature-study? Much of our
procedure must rest on such determinations or on faith.

While some of the questions raised might be treated more at
length, these remarks are intended only to call attention to the
fact that, while the what is rather definitely understood, the
why leaves much to be desired, and that the how must be largely
conditioned on a clearly worked out rationale.

A SURVEY OF NATURE -STUDY IN NEW JERSEY

By EMMELINE MOORE
State Normal School, Trenton, N. J.

In general, it may be said, that nature-study is not yet prop-
erly amalgamated into the curricula of the schools of New Jersey.
But viewed in the light of experiences through which other
States have passed, this unsettled condition of things is not
unusual or exceptional.

In some sections of the state a lethargic attitude toward the
subject has prevailed for a long time; in others, the over-ambi-
tious program in nature-study has fallen into a state of innocuous
desuetude; and in still others, the energy of teachers and super-
intendents has been expended largely in dodging the issue.
Nevertheless a majority of the leading educators of the State
have recognized, from the first, the value of nature-study and
have persisted in giving it a place, even though it has not always
been an adequate one, in the school curriculum.

Despite the general indifference in certain localities, it is
apparent that the State has made slow but definite progress in
nature-study. Moreover, it is a significant fact that the recent
wave of industrial education has very materially accelerated
the pace throughout New Jersey.

Reports from county and city superintendents show that
nature-study appears in a more or less general way in all but
three counties of the State. A deplorable condition brought to
light by these reports is that very little nature work is being
done in the smaller towns and rural districts, places where it
should from the very nature of the subject receive the most
attention. In many schools, also, where' nature-study is
scheduled it is dropped in the upper grammar grades.

As a rule there are outlines or syllabi, infinite in variety and
purpose. In some instances these are based on a topic of local
interest. In other cases the work is apportioned to cover a broader
field by giving attention, and very properly so, to the biological,
geographical, and physical phases. In still other outlines,
the work is vast enough in scope to do credit to a university
course. It is evident, too, that much work which passes for
nature-study resolves itself into reading, language, or drawing
lessons.
208

moore] NATURE-STUDY IN NEW JERSEY 209

In those cities and towns where there are special teachers
in nature-study this subject is one of the potent educational
factors of the community. Indeed there are many grade teachers
here and there whose progress in nature-study teaching is note-
worthy. The majority of grade teachers, however, by whom
much of the nature-study is carried on and by whom much of
it'will necessarily be conducted in the future are worthy subjects
for consideration, because few are adequately equipped for
the work and few have a natural aptitude for it. Teachers who
are rather bookish conduct nature lessons with reluctance.
Many teachers are afraid of the discipline in a field excursion
or afraid of handling nature-study materials indoors. To such
nature-study does not pose as a panacea for all the ills of dis-
cipline in a schoolroom but it does create an added interest in
school work. Were the training of the mind not considered,
the added interest in itself would be cause enough for its being
in the curriculum.

The Trenton Normal School, the various city training schools,
and special teachers are giving much time and attention to
the training of student teachers along nature-study lines. More-
over the activity of the State Department of Education in
promulgating courses of study for teachers as well as pupils in
this subject is an added source of encouragement.

The general awakening to the need of the more practical
phases of education; a more tolerant attitude toward nature-
study by teachers of the more classical turn of mind; and a
revision of courses of study to satisfy in part, at least, the claims
of nature-study are unmistakable and hopeful signs of growth.
Perhaps the most hopeful indication, because the most imme-
diately fruitful of results, is the consideration that is being
given to the subject by our State Science Teachers' Association
at whose meetings the discussions along nature-study lines is one
of the chief sources of interest and profit.

Now that the stimulus for greater effort has been given, it is
necessary to agree upon a plan of action which will give greater
unity of purpose. In agricultural communities nature-study
will necessarily take an agricultural trend; in the so-called
industrial centers it will in part follow along lines of those
pursuits. But what ever the locality or industry the main
purpose should not be to introduce the science of agriculture

2 I o THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u 7_OCT.i 19Q8

or the teaching of the various trades however much we may be
laying the foundation for specialized effort along these lines in
later years.

NOTES ON NATURE-STUDY IN NEW JERSEY

By GILBERT H. TRAFTON
Supervisor of Nature-Study.lPassaic, N. J. •

Nature-study is quite favorably looked upon by the school
authorities throughout New Jersey. There is a very general
sentiment in favor of giving it a trial, and in the last few years
it has been introduced into quite a number of our towns and
cities, in addition to those which had previously included this
in their curricula. It does not follow however, that in all these
places effective work is done, for there exists the same difficulty
here as elsewhere, the lack of teachers properly trained to teach
this subject. But the introduction of the subject into the
curriculum is the first step and a very essential one.

The following statistics, which were furnished by the State
Department of Public Instruction indicate the extent to which
the subject is considered as a part of the curriculum.

The following cities have nature-study in all grades: Bur-
lington, Montclair, Morristown, Newark, Orange, Passaic,
Paterson, Plainfield, Trenton, Woodbury City, Lakewoodr
Westfield, Cranford, Roselle. The following have the subject
in the first five or six grades: Bayonne, Camden, East Orange,
Englewood. The following have it in the elementary grades:
Bloomfield, Jersey City, Millville, New Brunswick, North Plain-
field, Rahway and Weehawken. Bridgeton, Dover, Salem, Town
of Union, Livingston, Norma (in Jewish public schools) teach
the subject to some extent in their schools. In the counties of
Bergen, Hunterdon and Mercer it is quite general and in Warren
County is found in a few schools.

The State Board of Education has taken a special interest in
the development of industrial education in the public schools,
and recently adopted the following resolutions:

"Resolved, that it is the sense of the State Board of Education
that a knowledge of manual training, home economics and
elementary agriculture should become a part of the professional
equipment of each teacher in the public schools of New Jersey.

trafton] na ture-stud y in ne w JF.RSE Y 2 11

"Resolved, that the Committee on Education consider the pro-
priety of adding to the list of subjects in which every person must
be examined the subjects mentioned above in order to receive a
license to teach in any of the grades below the high school, or in
any department of industrial or manual training in a high school,
and of requiring that no course of study shall be approved by the
State Board of Education, unless it shall include proper courses in
manual training, home economics and elementary agriculture,
and when the same shall take effect, and to report to this board
at its next meeting."

Inquiries were sent by the writer to most of the cities and
towns in the State relative to the work in school-gardens. The
replies indicate that very little is being done along this line, only
seven reported -as attempting anything of the sort : Glenridge,
Jersey City, New Brunswick, Newark, Nutley, Montclair, Passaic
and Trenton in connection with the city and state normal schools.

In a few other cities seeds have been distributed to the children
to plant in home gardens. In Passaic the Cleveland plan of
selling penny packets of seeds to the children has been adopted
for several years with very satisfactory results. Much enthusiasm
has been aroused and the interest has gradually increased.
Last Spring about 3000 children (approximately one half of
the total enrollment) bought a little more than t 0,000 packets.
Some years flower shows have been held in the Autumn at the
various schools and prizes awarded, or prizes have been given for
the best individual gardens. A valuable feature of this line of
work is that it connects the school with the home life. A
similar plan has been followed in East Orange.

In Montclair and Passaic the school-gardens have been estab-
lished for five or six years. The following note is from F. C.
Clifton, Principal of Chestnut Street School, Montclair:

"We have been doing school-garden work in Watchung School
for six years and in Chestnut Street School for three years with
satisfaction to pupils and teachers, making the work a part of the
course in nature-study and field work. Quite a definite course
of study is followed, our idea being that the only justification
for garden work, is its value as means of instruction. We have
650 gardens, four by eight feet.

"After having tried the various kinds of gardens, flower and
vegetable, individual and community, spring gardens and gardens,

212

THE NA TU RE- STUD Y. RE VIE W

[4:7 — OCT., igo8

running over the summer and into the fall, we have decided upon
the use of the spring vegetable garden as best suited to our needs
and sufficient in both time and opportunity for this phase of
nature-study. We make little of the garden as a means of
manual training, except to insist that whatever is done shall be
done well."

In Passaic the garden work has been carried on in connection
with three schools. In one school, where most of the children
had home gardens, a large bed was planted in mass for decorative

effect; in the
other two
schools, the
garden was
d i v i d e d up
into individ-
ual plots and
the time
assigned to
nature-study
was employed
entirely in
working in
the garden.
The planting
has been re-
in a school -garden at Passaic, N. J. Stricted large-
ly to early maturing vegetables and flowers, but this season
two experiments are to be tried in the summer care of
the gardens. In one case committees of children are to be
appointed to come each week to care for the garden ; in the
other case, a prize is to be given. to the child having the best
garden at the opening of school in fall, and those who wish to
care for their gardens during the summer may have the use of
any land left by the other children.

At one side of the garden have been set out plants of the
grape, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, currant and goose-
berry; and seeds of apple, pear, cherry, peach and plum have
been planted. These plants will be used to teach the children
the various methods of propagation used to raise these fruits.
The seeds of a few shrubs and perennial vines were also planted.

tkafton] NATURE-STUDY IN NEW JERSEY 213

These will be used to decorate the school grounds and the borders
of the garden ; and the extra plants will be given to the children
to set out in their home grounds.

In Jersey City school-garden work has been done for several
years at Public School No. 17 under the Principalship of Miss
Martha G. Evans, who contributes the following notes:

"Our first attempt was made in 1901, the garden plot being
made on or in a "dump ground." The pupils did most of the
gardening before nine o'clock and during the noon hour, very
little of the school day being given to this out-of-door work.
The children's observations gave excellent material for thought,
to be expressed both in oral and written work, and they wove
them into stories, illustrated by sketches from the plant in
hand, thus giving an opportunity to use one of the best
methods in drawing.

"In the spring of 1905 the janitor spaded and prepared a
sunny space, 15 by 50 feet, and the pupils of the lowest grade
had a garden. The little folks planted the seeds, watered,
weeded and daily watched the development, and took entire care
of this, their own garden, under the guidance of their able
teacher, Miss Mary C. Davies. When the radishes matured,
each child of this class pulled with great pride, the largest one
he could find to use for an object lesson or to take home to
mother. All classes in the department were taken to the garden
several times during the season to observe and study the points
of plant work as outlined for each grade in our course of study.
Each pupil of the department had at least one radish to use as an
object for drawing, or story writing."

"The last week of June was one of delight to all the garden
workers, when the peas and string beans were ready to harvest.
The little ones of the baby class, all on the lawn, with the vines,
picked and shelled the peas. The teacher cooked them and that
afternoon a feast was enjoyed. To the child it was a feast from
MY garden."

"A few flowering plants were also cultivated and they were in
full bloom and splendor on our return in September, but the
children enjoy the vegetable garden more than the flower
garden."

A long felt need in the State is now met by the opening of the
new normal school at Montclair. A course in nature-study will

2 1 4 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [< ■ 7-oct., 1908

be given four periods a week during the first year of the curriculum .
Several acres of the large grounds will be devoted to school-
gardens. The departments of Nature-study and Geography
are in charge of Dr. Clarence H. Robison.

At the Trenton Normal School one half year courses in botany
and zoology are given during the first year, five periods a week.
The Department of Biology, in which Professor Apgar rendered
such long service, is now in charge of Dr. Robert G. Leavitt.

For the past two seasons a Summer School of Agriculture,
Industrial Art and Science has been held at Cape May. Courses
have been given in elementary agriculture, home economics and
manual training. During the season of 1908 the work in ele-
mentary agriculture was under the charge of Professor H. 0.
Sampson of the II. S. Department of Agriculture.

ELEMENTARY SCIENCE IN THE SCHOOLS OF

NEWARK, N. J.

By DAVID B. CORSON,

Assistant City Superintendent.

The claim is made by some that elementary science should be
in the curriculum as a supplement to geography or some other
branch, but it should be taught for itself or not at all. That it
does correlate with other branches is apparent. It is interrelated
with the geography in the study of the various animals, first
as types in the environment and then in the different zones as
related to the types. Geography calls for a study of ocean cur-
rents and winds, tides, and climate in general. These various
topics can be clearly apprehended only when their causes are
understood. Their causes are solar and not terrestrial. A proper
course in elementary science requires the observation and study
of the sky, including the sun, moon and the planets. The child
will better understand the earth when he realizes it is a planet;
that is, that there are other heavenly bodies beside the earth
that revolve around the sun and are influenced by gravitation,
solar light, and heat. The study of trees is both an elementary
science and a drawing topic, and the one subject reinforces the
other. The subject also correlates very closely with the music
in the first and second years inasmuch as many of the songs
used in these lower grades relate to birds and flowers and other

corson] ELEMEXTARY SCIEXCE IX XEIVARK 215

natural objects. These correlations are not forced or artificial in
character, but are natural. They must not be permitted to rob
the subject of a place in the curriculum.

The expert biologist, at the present time, is inclined to em-
phasize too much the utilitarian view of his subject, especially
in connection with elementary work. All phases of it must have
an economic coloring to meet his approbation. While this may
be right from one viewpoint, it cannot be entirely so from another.
To study a pine tree in order to recognize another of its kind is
justifiable in itself. The man who knows the pine tree will be
profited in discussing the uses to which its products are put.
The student will be profited, too, after he has become familiar
enough to be able to relate the information acquired to the tree
itself. For the elementary pupil, economic values cannot be the
only ones sought either in the biological or other divisions of
elementary science. Its chief purpose in these grades cannot be
to furnish knowledge and to exercise the intellect. Its appeal to
the emotional or feeling life, should not be ignored.

The true aims in teaching elementary science as a subject in
grades below the high school are to create a love for nature and
to arouse interest in plants and animals and in the ordinary phe-
nomena in the world about the child. The ability to observe care-
fully and to perceive quickly is trained by the proper treatment
of the subject, and much information is obtained; these results,
however, are less valuable in themselves than are the attitude and
habit of mind which the observation and study of nature develop.
Kindness to animals, a delight in plants as living things, and a
love and enjoyment of the beautiful and the wonderful in nature's
adaptations and operations are more desirable ends to be sought.

There are two aspects of biological science that must be con-
sidered in any plan for the elementary school. One is the approx-
imate description for identification of plants and animals, and
the other, the observation of the living animal and the growing
plant. The descriptions suggested should not be such as the
scientist or even the adult student would give. They should be
made without any thought of the analytical method used by biolo-
gists in high schools and colleges some ten or fifteen years ago.
They are merely a means to an end, the study of the life history
of the specimens being considered far more important. The
observational work should not, on the other hand, degenerate

2 1 6 THE NA TURE- S TUD Y RE VIE W U- 7-oct. , 1908

into mere entertainment, lacking point and worthless in results.
Neither of these aspects can be altogether profitable without
the other, but one is secondary, and the other primary in im-
portance.

We have arranged the material for study in the lower grades
in concentric circles, each succeeding one requiring more ability
on the part of the children and opening new fields of effort and
discovery. While the material is not entirely identical, it is
much alike. In successive years the treatment of the same kind
of specimen is somewhat different, to preserve the interest and to
call into activity the developing power of the children. To
illustrate, plant study includes the observation of germination,
the study of the growing plant in window boxes, and the keeping
of a school-garden. For younger children the apparent thing
will be the plant itself. The characteristics of form and color
will appeal to them, and the pupils will naturally speak of the
striking facts of appearance. Any attempt to force upon them
things which the teacher considers valuable, or which the scientific
expert claims should be taught will fail. When a little older the
children will discover things not at first apparent. To tell
children who have acquired some power to observe, that light is
valuable for plants makes less of an impression upon them than
to plant beans in a box in the dark corner of a room, and let them
discover it for themselves. As the plants grow up under their
observation and lean away over toward the light, they will say:
"The plants need light." Such a fact will then be interesting,
and the observation will be valuable. Again, when they have
still greater power to observe and to perceive, they will study
the more difficult things, such as pollination.

During the summer of 1907 there were maintained five gardens
for the use of the vacation schools, and as many will be equipped
in 1908. They were about fifty by one hundred feet, each in
charge of a teacher. The gardens were plotted into individual
plots varying somewhat in size in the different ones. There were
raised beans, corn, lettuce, carrots, beets, each one in the same
general order and arrangement. Those having charge reported
very favorably upon the experiment and recommended that the
school-garden be adopted as a permanent feature of our nature-
study work. It is claimed, and rightly so, that in addition to
the interest and love of plants it teaches incidentally order,

corson ] EL EMENTA R Y SCIENCE IN NE WARK 217

system, mathematics, thrift, industry, and is thus of great
educational benefit.

The work of the Shade Tree Commission of the city is reinforced
and the attempt is made to secure the interest and active coopera-
tion of the children in the preservation of shade trees on the
streets and shrubbery in the public parks. In some schools there
are made tree maps of the school blocks. The Commission has
been requested to distribute the elms, poplars, lindens, maples,
and other trees so that the children might become interested in
and familiar with the various kinds of trees, and to tag one of a
kind on each city block to assist in their recognition. To some
extent the request has been complied with, and it is believed it
will be granted in full in due time. The study of trees is pursued
in the winter as well as at any other season. Trees are as interest-
ing then as at any time. The symmetry, the strength, the grace,
and the delicacy are revealed in the winter even more than in the
summer, but there is even here more involved than interest in the
trees themselves, although that is of prime importance. It is to
cause children to realize their part as members of society and the
common duty of preserving and protecting that which is for the
enjoyment and good of the whole community. Such instruction
may be made valuable as part of the training for good citizen-
ship.

The economic phase of plant life and the value and need of
scientific culture of our forest areas receive attention. Arbor
Day celebrations emphasize this, but it is taught also in the
regular recitations. It is best, however, to have experts to do
it. It is unreasonable to expect that the class teacher with many
subjects and many practical difficulties to engross her attention
should acquire the scientific information necessary. To insure
the most satisfactory treatment, there has been given for two
years, in the spring, what is called "The Children's Course of
Illustrated Lectures in Elementary Science." The plant pro-
ducts useful to man as food, beverages, clothing, or medicine, and
the study of plants injurious to man, mammals, birds, glaciers,
pre-historic plants, electricity, light, sound, properties of matter
(with simple experiments) were some of the subjects. The
lectures were more instructive than entertaining, and the speakers
were authorities in their respective fields. There was much
interest on the part of teachers and children. The notes which

2 1 8 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VTE W U = 7~ oct., .908

many of the latter took were afterward used in the language work
as reports. The plan demonstrates the possibility of making
this kind of work especially valuable in the development of a
course of study in elementary science. The scheme followed
was to divide the city into districts using certain school-houses
as centers. To these were brought by their teachers the several
classes of designated grades at four o'clock in the afternoon.
Teachers were permitted to select the lecture to attend, although
as a rule they went to the one in their own district. The lectures
were about forty minutes long, and the time of the year selected
enables all children to reach their homes before dark.

The preservation of birds is so necessary to plant life that
the children are instructed as to their value so that there may be
due appreciation of their worth and so that wanton destruction
may be stopped. The close interrelation between birds and
plants and insects and plants as shown in the seed eating and the
seed carrying in the fall warrants the study of the two together.
"Whenever animals are studied, except in the lowest grades,
attention is called to structure, and its wonderful adaptation to
environment and to function, and as many specimens as possible
are observed on the excursions to the parks and on the visits to
the zoological gardens or the circus parade.

City schools are unfavorably located for the most satis-
factory work in this phase. Schools in the suburbs have the
opportunity to note the birds and insects in their habitat; those
in the congested urban districts can have, as a rule, only the dead
specimen near at hand. To supply the need for such specimens the
Board of Education rented from the American Museum of
Natural History fifty cases of birds, insects, corals, and woods,
and their use has been very helpful. The city is divided into
eight districts and once a month the boxes of specimens are
moved from school to school by an employee of the Board of
Education. This is in accordance with a prearranged plan,
and records are forwarded to the office so that close personal
supervision is thus insured.

In one school there is a room fitted up for experiments in
physics, in several there are dark rooms for lectures with lantern
illustrations, and in others there are aquaria in courts. The
following is a report from Principal B. C. Miner of the Ann
Street School of the work actually done in his school, and some
opinions of his teachers:

cor.sonJ ELEMENTARY SCIENCE IN NEWARK' 219

"Interest began early in the spring by planting seeds in paste
jars filled with sawdust and kept sufficiently moist to promote
germination. Several jars were used in a classroom. Peas,
beans and corn were planted. Seeds were also planted in the
germination boxes made in the manual training shops.

"A ib room lined a sand table with oil cloth, filled it with
good rich soil, and started a small farm. Here they built a
house, barn, chicken-house and coops, and made fences and farm
utensils, etc., planted garden truck, sowed grass seed for a lawn
and developed a small but well equipped farm.

"The kindergarten had a land turtle, a water turtle, polly-
wogs, newts, frogs, and fish; also a space in the yard for the
wild flowers transplanted from the woods — jack-in-the-pulpits,
ferns, violets, etc. A family of ants lived comfortably in a
fruit-jar in one room. Three classes tried their hand at garden-
ing in the yard. Several classes furnished twigs of different
trees and placing them in bottles of water noted leaf and blossom
development. Last but not least the Board carpenters con-
structed a combination hutch and chicken coop, the home of
Molly Cottontail, her two children 'Nig' and 'Gray,' a Plymouth
Rock hen — nearly pure blood as the farmer who raised her wrote
me — , and eight little chicks. These latter, rabbits and chicks,
cost us S3. 60, paid for out of the school fund. The children
brought most of the green food for all the family to eat. The
hen responded to the kindness shown her by contributing a few
eggs, which of course added to the interest.

"Some 2,200 penny packets of seeds were purchased by the
children from a Boston firm and gardens started at home.

"Miss L. reports that a week's occupation was gathered by a
visit to the hutch.

"For illustration; hen scratching with her brood; in the
coop at night; sitting on eggs; chicks breaking shell; chicks
taking first walk; children gathering eggs; Henny Penny; Herr
Oster Haas coloring egg; mother using eggs for cake.

"Manual work; coop; water pan; corn pan; basket for eggs;
cotton chicks.

"They also noted the hen's kindness in caring for chicks,
that she helped provide for them by scratching.

"Miss M. reports that the best set of language papers of the
term was about 'Our Pets.' One child brought in beans sprout-

2 2 o THE NA TURE- S TUD Y RE VIE W \ a ■ 7 - oct. , 1908

ing on moistened blotting paper. One poor boy to whom was
given a few pennies for doing an errand wanted to buy seeds.

"Miss W.'s class noted that hens do not fly as birds do, and
rabbits wash their faces in a manner similar to cats.

"A very interesting and instructive lesson was the result
of transplanting our little plants to the school garden.

"Our nature work has brought the parents into closer touch
with the school work, and this cannot fail to bring forth good
results. The children have interested their parents to the
extent that one hundred forty-two packages of seeds for home
gardens have been distributed.

"The little ones are eager each day to report as to the progress
of their home gardens and we not only see what benefits they
derive materially but are unconsciously implanting in their
hearts and minds seeds that will later blossom into the best
kind of citizenship.

"The children are intensely interested in caring for the school
pets, and every day brings forth fresh evidence that the idea is
well worth fostering.

"Language and drawing have been interesting, instructive
and entertaining because of the intimate association with our
nature work. Songs, and most pleasing to state, nature thoughts
embodied and set forth so beautifully in poems, have been
studied with appreciative delight.

"Others report greater willingness to express themselves,
more fluency in writing, better understanding of the uses of
seeds. In the home gardens it was learned that all plants do
not thrive under the same conditions. Real experiences were
gained by actual care of gardens and animals; a better humane
spirit.

"5A class reports — 'Descriptions given of their observations
of trees were in a large measure gratifying. Distinguishing
between trees was quite clear.'

There is in a number of our schools much usable material for
teaching science lessons. This illustrates the subjects of miner-
alogy, geology, botany and other sciences; but it has been stored
away so that no one knows just what is available. It is our wish
that in each building there might be a special place to be known
as the science room, and several have been established during the
last year. Such a room enables principals to gather all their

corson] ELEMENTARY SCIENCE IN NEWARK 22 I

resources into one place, to properly catalogue the same, and to
assign a caretaker. It is expected that the class teachers will
systematically arrange their lessons, and call for what they
want. Without such a provision the elementary science col-
lections are mere curiosities. Throughout the year, it is hoped
to keep therein material illustrating germination and pollination
and other important phases of botanical study; growing plants,
insects in cages, fish, and some other living animals. In the out-
lying schools we hope to have a few bird boxes in the yards.
They will more than repay the trouble of building them by
attracting the birds.

A few years ago our schools were generously equipped with
the "fact nature readers." During the past two years this stock
has been reduced by wear as desk books until it is now nearly
exhausted, and all requests to replenish have been denied. Most
of these books were supplied for the primary grades. It seems
almost needless to say that as a means of teaching elementary
science they were useless, the children having too small a basis
of knowledge founded upon personal observation to make the
reading valuable. There can be no reasonable dispute as to the
desirability of having children in grades below the sixth, study
nature at first hand. In grades above the fifth there is a place
for this kind of information reader, the world of the child having
expanded beyond that of sense experience and his power of
representation having developed so that he can profitably gain
knowledge through reading. Even in these grades, however,
elementary science should be studied by means of the real object
and by experiment, the reader being entirely supplementary.
The school of nature teaching represented by the works written
by William J. Long and Ernest Thompson Seton has opened a
new field for the children, and the pleasure given by books of this
class is evident. Interest is aroused in animals as living beings,
not as specimens, and sympathy is awakened in such a manner
that the inclination to consider their needs, to care for and to
protect them is created. They thus harmonize with the end
sought in biological study in the elementary school.

NATURE -STUDY AT HOME

By EDWARD UEHLING, JR.
Passaic, N. J.

[The most effective kind of nature-study in the schools is that which so
thoroughly touches the life of the child that he is lead to study nature out-
side of school hours and school lessons, and to acquire an interest and
pleasure in it for its own sake.

The following contribution is given as an example of this kind of results.
The author, now a boy in the high school, was in the 8th Grade at the time
the work referred to in this article was done. G. H. T.]

Bird feeding in winter is exceedingly interesting and important.
Important, because heavy snows hinder ground feeding birds from
getting food, and heavy sleets prevent tree trunk birds from
getting their food. Therefore, it is the duty of all bird lovers
to aid their feathered friends by putting out food in winter.

The interesting habits of our aerial neighbors can, with a little
patience, be easily studied at the feeding trough. The birds
can be watched more closely while feeding than with a pair of
glasses in the open field.

My first stationary feeding trough was placed about fifteen
feet from the ground, on a sour-gum tree, on October 25, 1906.
The tree is about thirty feet from the back of the house. Here I
placed a supply of suet.

My next step was to put up a wire, slanting from my bed-room
window to a tree near the stationary trough, a distance of about
forty feet. I then made a moving trough to run on this wire by
iwo pulleys. By attaching a cord to this trough, I could let it
run down to the tree, or pull it up any distance between the
stationary trough and the window.

Each trough had several partitions, made of thick bark, and
the sides were covered with bark, in order to make the birds
think it a natural trough, rather than an artificial one. The
older the wood a trough is made out of, the better, but if old
wood cannot be obtained the wood should be stained a dark
brown. Bark on the sides not only makes the trough look more
natural, but also greatly aids the creeping birds in getting food,
as they can easily cling to it. After my moving trough was com-

222

UEHLINfi]

NA TU RE-STUD Y A T HOME

223

plete, I put suet on it and let it run to the tree to wait for hungry
birds.

There are many advantages in having a moving trough. In
the first place, it is easier to pull in the trough to the window
to add the food, than it is to walk to the trough in the snow.
Another great advantage is that the birds can be made accustomed
to feed a little nearer to the window each day, until they finally
feed at the window sill. After birds feed at the window-sill,
or near it, they can be closely watched, and their habits studied
with little trouble.

Upper left — hermit thrush, a belated traveler. Upper right — blue jay. the autocrat of
the lunch-counter. Lower left — brown creeper, the silent shadow. Lower right —
junco and hermit thrush feeding together. Photographs by G. H. Trafton. (The
•picture of the brown creeper should have been placed with body vertical.)

On November 5th, a pair of white-breasted nuthatches were the
first birds to discover the food, and they became daily feeders all
through the winter. The next day a chickadee came to feed, but
did not come very regularly until November 18th. During
this interval a downy woodpecker also came to feed occasionally.
November 18th a blue jay found the supply of suet, and soon
became quite a regular feeder. These birds soon became ac-
customed to eat from the moving trough, as well as from the
stationary one.

Knowing that the birds had already become acquainted with
the moving trough, I took down the stationary one, and put a

224 THE NA TURE-S TUB V RE VIE W [4 . 7-oct. , .908

trough at the window-sill. November 22nd I also moved the
moving trough in a few inches. In a short time a brown creeper
and several more blue jays came to feed.

I continued to move my moving trough from one to two feet
each day, until on December 23d my trough was at the window,
where the same birds continued to come.

When birds become accustomed to feed at the window sill, there
is a possibility of having them become so tame that they will eat
from your hand. Birds must not be approached too quickly,
or they may become frightened. If the bird observer is quiet
and very patient the birds will soon feed from his hand. Some
people, perhaps, would be tempted to hold a tame bird by force,
but by so doing the bird would probably be frightened away for
good.

December 24th, while watching a number of chickadees feed, I
held out my hand with some ground walnuts, hoping that some
chickadee might see the food and eat from my hand. I had not
long to wait, for several chickadees saw the food and ate. The
next day was a joyous Christmas, for almost all the chickadees
that came to feed ate out of my hand. The chickadees from
that time on seemed very tame and would frequently eat from
my hand.

The person trying to feed the birds rmist not be discouraged if
they do not feed in mild weather. It is the hard winter weather
that compels the birds to take food supplied by man.

My success did not begin until after the heavy snowstorm on
January 17th and 18th. On the 19th, about a dozen chickadees,
several brown creepers and downy woodpeckers came to feed at my
moving trough, which I let out to the tree on several days after
the storm. A flock of about fifteen juncos also came to feed upon
crumbs on the .ground.

A few days after the snowstorm a new visitor, a hermit thrush,
came to feed on the crumbs with the juncos. This rare bird was
gladly welcomed. I put up another feeding trough about three
feet from the ground on a cedar tree not far away. Here before
long the hungry thrush became accustomed to eat suet.

February 6th, the juncos and hermit thrush came to feed at the
moving trough, the thrush eating suet, and the juncos sun-
flower seeds.

February 10th, all birds that had so far fed, came to the window

ubhling] NA TURE-STUD Y AT HOME 225.

trough to feed. February 19th and 20th, several tree sparrows
and white-throated sparrows came to feed on the ground with the
juncos, but did not feed regularly.

March 2nd, several myrtle warblers, which were around the
place, came to feed at the window trough. They ate suet and
continued to feed for several weeks.

Some birds approach the trough differently than others. The
nuthatch first views the trough from a tree, and then with his
nasal "hank, hank," flies to the trough. The downy wood-
pecker comes quietly down a tree, and flies to the trough. Blue
jays can be heard a long time before they come to the trough.
They usually can be heard approaching by their noisy "jay,
jay." The chickadees can be heard coming by their usual "chick-
adee-dee-dee." The brown creeper comes so quietly that his
short visits are sometimes not noticed until he flies away. The
hermit thrush came to the trough quietly. It would sit on
some small twig, bobbing its tail up and down while looking
at the trough. After giving its tail sufficient exercise, it would
fly to the trough. The juncos would come to feed quite quietly,
sometimes uttering their twittering notes. The myrtle warblers
would also come to feed in a quiet manner. Different birds
also feed differently, and prefer certain foods. All the birds
that fed, except the juncos and the tree and white-throated
sparrows, ate suet. The following diagram shows the kind of
foods different birds ate, and the kind each preferred:

Birds. Food Eaten. Food Preferred

Brown creeper. suet suet.

Blue jay. nuts, sunflower seeds, nuts, seeds and suet.

bread, suet.
Chickadee. nuts, sunflower seeds, nuts andsunflower seeds.

hemp seeds, crumbs, suet.
Downy woodpecker. suet. suet.

Hermit thrush. suet, crumbs. suet.

Juncos. crumbs, sunflower seeds, crumbs.

Myrtle warbler.
White-breasted

nuthatch.
Tree sparrow.
White-throated

sparrows.

Chickadees and blue jays eat sun-flower seeds in a similar way.
They fly to the trough, pick up a seed, and then fly to some

9
10

suet.

suet.

same as chickadees.

same as chickadees.

crumbs.

crumbs.

crumbs.

crumbs.

226 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE IV U ■ 7— ocr., .90S

horizontal twig or limb. Here they hold it between their toes,
and peck at it until the shell falls off. Then they eat the kernel
piece by piece.

The nuthatches, when eating sun-flower seeds, fly to the
trough, pick up a seed, and then fly to a tree trunk. They
deposit the seed in a crevice in the bark, and start to peck at
the shell with their heads downward. After the shell is broken
apart, they eat the kernel piece by piece.

The downy woodpecker and brown creepers, which I have
never seen eat anything but suet, fly to the trough and stay
there until they have had enough, or until some other bird has
frightened them away.

The blue jays when eating suet, fly to the trough and stay
there till they have finished, unless another hungry jay happens
to be around.

The juncos, when eating sun-flower seeds, wTill crack them
wherever found. This they do by placing the seed between their
bills. After the shell is cracked and has fallen to the ground,
they swallow the kernel. It is amusing to watch juncos look for
food on a slightly snow covered trough. The amusing part is
that they scratch with both feet at once.

Tree trunk birds can be made to feed in their natural positions,
by tacking a piece of suet on a tree trunk, fixed at the window.
The nuthatches will feed with their heads downward, and with-
out the support of the tail. A brown creeper and downy wood-
pecker will feed in an opposite position, supported by the tail,
while the chickadees will peck at the suet in almost any position.

Beginning about March 17th, the birds gradually fed a fewrer
number of times each day, until about April 10th, when bird
feeding for the season of 1906-1907 ceased. Although no more
birds came to feed after that time, the hermit trush still continued
to stay around the place.

On April iSth, a flock of hermit thrushes, on their way north,
stopped in a neighboring wood for several days. After this
flock left, I never saw my winter friend again.

DEVELOPMENT OF TOAD'S EGGS

(A Second-Grade Study)

BY MARY A. DWYER

Washington School, Passaic, N. J.

Time: Three 15 minute periods per week, for seven weeks.

Material: One glass dish, two inches deep, eight inches long.
About 35 toad's eggs.

Method: The first period was given to making ready our
aquarium. Two large boys from the class were sent to a near-
by pond, one to get a small pail of water the other to carry some
pond gravel and a few large pebbles. These were placed in
our dish. Lifting: one

string

of

eggs after

& ®

af^j/3

aj^

<s>

js-

tf

Of**

another, so the class
could see, the teacher
placed the eggs in
the dish or aquarium ,
as we called it after
this. The last few
minutes of the period
were given to conver-
sation between teach-
er and pupil, about
the toads' eggs ; as
to size, color, number
and manner in which
they had been depos-
ited by the, "mother
toad."

The second period
was also a conversa-
tion lesson about the
fully grown toad. Topics like the following will give some idea
of the work covered: How many children have ever seen a
toad? Where did you see him? What was he doing? How
large was he? Of what color? How did he move about?

t

fcwyy

hoy J?

Drawn by a second-grade pupil in Washington School,
Passaic, N. J.

227

228 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W U ■ 7-oct., 1908

The third period was given to making our booklets, in which
to record our observations from time to time (in lead pencil.)
The date and drawing of the eggs in first stage was then placed
in the booklet. Being II Grade this required much individual
attention.

The second week we began our work .of class observation and
the recording of each observation. The method followed during
this week, and until the close of our observation was: (i) The
dish was placed on a low desk and the pupils, to slow march
time, passed row after row around the dish until the entire class
had had an opportunity to see the eggs in the aquarium. (2)
The dish was replaced on its stand. The pupils were ques-
tioned as to any change in the eggs. The pupils who could not
"tell" of a change, that is give a word picture, were given yellow
crayon and sent to the blackboard to make a large drawing of
what they saw. Several worked at the same time. (3) The
drawings were compared with the eggs in the dish, and the less
observing pupils were led to see the change. (4) Booklets
were distributed and each child recorded his observation with the
date. (5) The question "What story do we wish our picture
to tell? led to the short sentence written under each recorded
observation.

The pupils took pride in keeping neat and exact records.
The interest was kept alive and the power of quick observation
was strengthened. At the close of the study the booklets were
exhibited, then taken home as treasures by each pupil.

AN EMBRYO WILD FLOWER GARDEN

BY MERCY A. PEARSON
State Model School, Trenton, N. J.

Last September "a wild flower garden" was found among
the requirements in nature work for the fourth Primary grade.
Owing to circumstances over which the teacher had no control,
the plot for the garden was not available till too late to utilize
for the autumn work. As early this spring as it was safe to be on
the ground the class was taken to the garden to select the best
site for wild flowers. Recalling places where they had found
them, a shady corner, protected from the sun on the south by a
large barn, and on the east by a high board fence, was chosen.

To hide the fence and make the surroundings more woods}'',
seeds of the wild cucumber were planted. The boys spaded
the ground while the girls placed the seeds. One pupil insisted
that the point of the seeds be placed upward and the plant
would come up sooner. That she might see her error seeds
were placed in various positions between glass and blotting
paper, the latter kept moist that the seeds might sprout. Thus
the truth was reached.

A trip to the woods was next in order to procure stock. Be-
fore starting, the unnecessary uprooting of plants was empha-
sized. The destructiveness for which Americans are proverbial
was commented on. A child exclaimed, "Oh yes, that is why
Plymouth Rock had to be enclosed and guarded. If it hadn't
been there wouldn't be any of it left."

The radius of the extinction of wild flowers increases about
cities each year. Not a plot of ground is set apart for a public
park but in a short time all the wild flowers disappear. Tren-
tonians justly proud of Cadwalader Park can remember when
innumerable jack-in-the-pulpits preached to large congregations
there. But the young iconoclasts have torn down the pulpits
and driven out the ministers till there is not one left to lift a
warning finger to those who would desecrate the Holy Day by
base ball. It is hoped that the planting and caring for wild

229

230 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W u : 7_oct., 190S

flowers will create so much love for and interest in them that the
tendency to protect will take the place of that to destroy.

The Woman of Thought knowing "Satan finds mischief for
idle hands" gave to each child a paper bag to fill with the wood's
soil that the plants be insured against homesickness. In this
first outing jack-in-the-pulpits, spring beauties, violets both
white and blue, and ferns with their fronds still rolled were
taken carefully from the ground and packed for the moving.
As the outing took place on an afternoon the transplanting was
done the following morning. The children who remembered
to bring the bag of leaf mold to school that morning earned the
privilege of going to the garden to assist, first, in selecting the
part of the plot best suited to each plant, which they did after
recalling its former location, then in breaking the soil, setting
the plant, and firming the earth about it.

An interested friend found some orchids, the wild lady-slipper
variety, which she donoted to the garden. After telling the
children where she had found them, and of their environment
they were suitably placed.

Only one more addition was made to the garden, that of a
mass of roots of the star-of-Bethlehem.

The variety of roots, fibrous, creeping, corm and bulbous
were noticed ; and the two kinds found in a single plant aroused
speculation as to the function of each.

The necessity for keeping the plot damp was inferred by the
children, and the task allotted to them. But the copious rains
of May proved all that was needed, and at the close of the school
year the transplanted wild flowers were as thrifty as though
in their native woods.

So the first chapter of the wild flower garden is ended, the
garden only just begun. But everything must have a beginning.

INDEPENDENT OBSERVATION

BY SARAH CONSIDINE
Grant School, Passaic, N. J.

Webster says, "Observation is an expression of an opinion
or judgment upon what one has observed." Even the most
trivial objects around us or the most unimportant events of life
will convey education in some form if thoughtfully considered
or observed. We all know that children are very keen observers
and many of us have often heard the remark, "If you want to
know all that is happening take a child with you as he always
sees everything." Let a stranger enter your class room if only
for a few minutes and then depart. The children if given a
chance to express their opinion of the person, will surprise you
with their cleverness of observation. We do not always give
them credit for this keen sense which they possess.

In their nature work as in all other things there is very little
but what they can tell you if given the opportunity to observe
and report what they have seen. In our lessons on birds, trees
and flowers where each child is given an opportunity to tell what
he has observed, I tell the class several days ahead that on a
certain day we shall talk on such a subject — say the chimney
swift, the elm tree, or the violet, as the case may be. I tell
them to be observing on this subject, to be able to report to the
class what they have observed.

Always try to give each pupil an opportunity to say some-
thing and encourage those who hesitate or seem afraid to report.
Supposing their observations are not always correct, do not
make them feel as though they hadn't seen anything and in as
many words or by your manner tell them so. Rather tell them
that you do not agree with them, or did not see it as they did,
and that you would like to have them look again and then tell
you. As soon as the time can be taken, hear what they have
to say. You will find they will come back eager to tell you
what they have seen, and that this time their observation will
be correct as they have been more careful.

If you have a class not especially observant, tell them at

231

27,2 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW U^-ocr., 1908

first just what you wish them to note. Give one or two things
so they will have ample opportunity to see and think about it.
It is well for the teacher to know where the various subjects
to be studied are found so as to direct her class where to look
for them.

In studying a tree it would be well to tell the class to observe
along these lines — where the tree grows, height (compare with
a telegraph pole or an electric light pole,) how tall the trunk is
before it begins to branch, in what direction the branches grow
(upward, outward, or drooping), condition of the bark found
on the trunk, color, compare with the bark of a twig, leaves if
tree is in leaf.

I give the following as a type lesson which was given one day
while we were studying the scarlet tanager. All these facts
were given by the pupils after they had been told to observe
the bird. "The scarlet tanager is quite a little larger than an
English sparrow." "It is a red bird with black wings and tail."
"It has a short beak." "It builds its nest in the oak or the pine
tree." "Its nest is high in the tree." "Often times it is near
a brook or stream where it can bathe." "I saw one in the water
.and I thought it was drowned, when I went to go near it flew
away and I knew it was taking its bath." "Nest is somewhat
like a robin's." "It is made of mud, sticks and straw." "Eggs
are bluish-green and there are three or four in the nest." "This
bird does not come so very near to the house." "It is shy."
"It flits from tree to tree." "It has a voice somewhat like a
robin's."

Children who can use their observation powers and get such
facts as the above do not need a book.

How much more we could enjoy the beauties around us if our
powers of observation had been trained. As we realize this,
it seems to us a pleasant task to help our pupils to gain what
we have missed. And for this reason subjects for nature-study
should not be difficult to find. Despise not small things; every-
thing around us is of some importance and can be used to ad-
vantage.

PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS IN THE SCHOOLROOM

By M. LOUISE VAN NOSTRAND
Lafayette School, Passaic

All work done by pupils, 6th grade.

First experiment: To show that water rises in soil and to
compare soils in their power to absorb and retain moisture. Two
glass tumblers were filled; one with rich soil, the other with
sand. A piece of muslin was tied over each, each tumbler
then weighed one pound. They were inverted in saucers
containing water. At the end of three days they each were
heavier in weight, proving that the water had risen. For
several days the tumblers were left on the window-sill and then
by the use of the scales the sand was found to have lost much
more water than the rich soil. So after a rain water not only
sinks into the soil, but rises again and this is of great value to
plants. With house-plants it is well to keep w^ater in the saucers
so the water will rise through the roots to the entire plant. As
rich soil retains moisture the longest, it is better to plant most
of our seeds in that.

Second experiment: To showT how moisture can be kept in the
soil. Two tumblers were filled with the same kind of moist
soil and their weight was the same. One tumbler was then left
untouched. The soil in the other tumbler every night and
morning was loosened for a depth of about three-fourths of an
inch. After several days the weight of the tumblers showed
that the one whose soil was loosened twice daily retained more
moisture. Thus it was proved that to keep a garden well watered
hoeing must often take place. In other words, the soil must be
cultivated to keep in the water.

Third experiment: To show7 air relation of soils. Tw^o
tumblers were filled with rich soil and peas were planted in each.
One tumbler was kept moderately moist, while the other had the
soil covered with water all the time. A fine healthy plant was
soon thriving in the soil which was kept moderately moist,
while in the tumbler where the soil was saturated the seeds
rotted. So water acts like a blanket, keeping out air as well
as sunshine, and plants cannot grow without air.

2 33

234 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW U:7-oct., 1908

Fourth experiment: To show whether plants as well as
animals breathe, giving out carbonic acid gas. Lime water
was poured into a glass, and upon blowing through a glass tube
the lime water became milky. Now, would plants have the
same effect upon lime water? Peas were soaked over night and
a glass quart jar was half filled with them. On the top of peas
was placed a small glass containing lime water and the cover of
the glass jar was screwed on. In less than an hour the lime
water presented a milky appearance. Plants breathe the same
as human beings, giving out carbonic acid gas.

Each pupil kept a record of the experiments performed, one
of which reports is given below.

Report on Experiments, by Elsie M. Long, VI grade

We put soil in a glass and turned it upside down in a saucer of water and
left it there for a week. When we took it up, the water was all through
the soil; this proves that water rises in soil. In one glass we put sand and
moistened it and in the other glass soil. They each weighed one pound.
When we took and weighed them the next week the soil weighed more so
it shows water evaporates quicker in sand than in soil.

We put water in a glass of soil and kept it loosened for three-fourths of
an inch. The other one we did not loosen at all. The one we loosened,
weighed more so it proves the soil keeps water longer when it is loosened
than when it is kept hard.

A farmer should keep his soil loose as it keeps it much nicer looking. It
keeps more moisture and keeps it much longer.

REPORT ON LESSONS IN SCHOOL-GARDENS AT MONTCLAIR

[The following report is given as an example of the way in which the
records of the school-garden work are kept in some of the Montclair
schools. A printed blank is used for reports of teachers. G. H. T.]

Chestnut St. School Report of Field Work

Subject: School-Gardens.

Special Topic: Planting.

Preparation of Teacher: (a) In the Field, (b) Literature. [No
report in this case.]

Preparation of Class: Calculation of the amount of fertilizer necessary
for a garden, 4x8 if an acre takes one ton. Directions as to the depth of
planting and illustrative planting on the desks.

Place Visited: The gardens on Fullerton Avenue.

A ME RICA JV NA TURE- S TUD Y SO CIE TY 235

Work done in the field and time occupied: The gardens were marked into
fifteen rows with the markers and the seeds planted — the radishes and
lettuce about a quarter-inch apart and the onions about two inches apart.
The seeds were lightly covered and the earth trodden over them. Last of
all the fertilizer was sprinkled over the gardens. (It was late in arriving.)
One hour.

Review in class-room and time occupied: Review on May first consisted
of a discussion of the whole garden and a written paper concerning the
whole subject. Time two hours.

Remarks: [Blank in this case.]

Xante of teacher: Marion Terhune. GradeVl. Date, May 1, 1908.

AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

The annual meeting of the Society will be held in Baltimore,
in affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, December 28 to 31. The exact dates of meetings
and subjects will be announced in the November issue of The
Review. It is probable that one session will be devoted to
nature-study and elementary agriculture, and another to nature-
study as related to high-school biology. Members of the
Society who can use printed matter concerning the A. N. S. S.,
may obtain such from the secretary (525 W. 120 St., New York).

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 NOVEMBER, 1908 No. 8

AMERICAN NATURE-STUDY SOCIETY

Announcement of Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the American Nature-Study Society will
be held in Baltimore on December 29th and 30th. There will be
two sessions (at 9 or 9.30 a. m., Tuesday and Wednesday,
December 29th and 30th) and a business meeting at 5 o'clock on
the 29th. The program of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science will be distributed at Baltimore and
should be consulted for final announcements regarding exact
hours and places of the meetings of the A. N. S. S. The meetings
will probably be held at the Eastern Female High School.

Members of the A. N. S. S. will be able to take advantage of
whatever reduced rates are granted to the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. It is probable that the rate
will be about cne and three-fifths fares for the round trip on the
certificate plan. Consult local ticket agents.

It has been decided by the Council that one session will be
devoted to a discussion of "The Relation of Nature-Study and
Agriculture in Elementary Rural Schools," and one session to
"The Relation of Nature-Study and High School Science."
A number of well known educators will open these discussions
with short papers, and there will be much time for general dis-
cussion. These are timely topics, and they ought to result in
meetings as interesting and profitable as was the meeting at
Chicago last January and the one at Cleveland last July.

The secretary of the A. N. S. S. calls attention to the fact that,
in order to mail The Nature-Study Review for 1909 to mem-
bers, it is necessary that annual dues be paid not later than
January. Payment before January will save the Society con-

131

238 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:S-nov., 1908

siderable expense in dealing with the records. It is suggested
that as far as convenient the fee ($1.00) for 1909 be mailed in
envelope containing sealed ballot (see nominations on another
page) for 1909 officers of the A. N. S. S.

Nominations for Officers of A. N. S. S. for 1909

In accordance with provisions of the constitution, the Council
submits the following nominations for officers to be elected at a
business meeting of the A. N. S. S. to be held in Baltimore, in the
room assigned for the regular sessions, at 5 p. m., Tuesday, Decem-
ber 29, 1908. The constitution provides that other nomina-
tions signed by twenty-five members shall be added to those
made by the Council, but no such nominations have been re-
ceived by the secretary.

Members who do not plan to go to Baltimore may mail their
ballots to the secretary of the Society, and in accordance with
the constitution all ballots received before December 25th will
be counted with those voted at the annual meeting. Ballots
mailed to the Secretary should be enclosed in sealed envelopes
marked "For officers 1909, A. N. S. S." They must be signed
by members voting. A printed ballot is enclosed in the ad-
vertising pages of this issue of The Review, but a written one
will be legal.

It will be noted that there are more names printed below than
there are officers to be elected. This results from (1) that all
thece names received a decided majority in a vote cf the Council
taken by mail, but there were several tie votes; and (2) it seems
desirable to present a ticket which allows all members to partici-
pate in the election. In other words it is important that the
A. N. S. S. should guard against the Council becoming self-
perpetuating by having its nominations for officers become
tantamount to election. It is to be hoped that next year mem-
bers of the Society outside the Council will make the selection
of officers more democratic by presenting nominations signed by
25 or more members as provided for in the constitution.

To the great regret of the members of the Council President
Bailey finds that great pressure of duties connected with the
Country Life Commission makes it impossible for him to accept
any office in the A. N. S. S. for the coming year.
{Blank ticket for use in voting, is printed on advertising page 2.)

A ME RICA X XA TURE- S TUD Y SO CIE TV 239

For President: C. F. Hodge, Clark University, Worcester,
Mass.

For Viee-Presideuts: (Vote for five only): 0. W. Caldwell,
School of Education, The University of Chicago; V. L. Kellogg,
Stanford University, California; F. L. Charles, DeKalb (111.)
Normal School; F. L. Stevens, College of A. and M. A., Raleigh,
N. C. ; W. Lochhead, Macdonald College, Quebec; B. M. Davis,
Miami University, Ohio; W. A. Baldwin, Hyannis (Mass.)
Normal School.

For Directors (Vote for five only): G. H. Trafton, Supervisor
of Nature-Study, Passaic, N. J.; F. L. Holtz, Brooklyn (N. Y.)
Training School; John Dearness (London, Canada) Normal
School; F. L. Clements, University of Minnesota; E. R. Down-
ing, Marquette (Mich.) Normal School; A. B. Graham, College of
Agriculture, Ohio State University; J. W. Shepherd, Chicago
Normal School; Anna Botsford Comstock, Cornell University;
S. B. McCready, Macdonald Institute, Guelph, Canada; Ruth
Marshall, Milwaukee High School.

The secretary and five directors (Crosby, Mann, Coulter, Fair-
banks and Guyer) were elected last January to serve two years.

For list of 1908 officers consult The Review for January of this
year. It is also given on back cover pages of most issues.

Concerning Organizing Sections of the A N. S. S.

The secretary again calls the attention of members to that
article of the constitution which provides for sections of the
Society in any city. State, group of States, or province of Canada.
According to the constitution it is not necessary to have 100
members, except in order to elect a delegate to the Council of
the national organization. The Council will approve an appli-
cation for establishing a section by twenty-five or more members
of the A. N. S. S. In addition there may be any number of
associate members of the section who are enrolled only in the
section. This arrangement is entirely in harmony with the
constitution, and provides for those who do not care to be mem-
bers of the national organization, receive The Review, and pay
the regular fee of $1 per year. It is probable that many associate
members of local sections will later become regular members of
the A. X. S. S. At any rate there is an advantage to the work
of the A. X. S. S. in that those most likely to be associate mem-
bers are teachers who must deal with local nature-study problems.

240 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W U* -nov., 1908

There is no provision in the organization of the A. N. S. S.
for financing sections. The income from the membership fee
C$1.00) is just sufficient with 1000 members to pay for free copies
of The Review, postage en correspondence, special printing
and expenses of national meetings. Until the membership
reaches 1500 to 1800 members stenographic and clerical work,
costing $250 a year, must be paid by the Secretary from entirely
private sources. Under such conditions it is obvious that the
small expenses of local sections must be met by local contribu-
tions and fees of associate members. However, the question of
local expenses is easily solved when the situation is explained to
members.

More Members Needed

Again the secretary begs to call attention to the need of more
members (1) in order to increase the influence of the Society and
(2) in order, to provide funds for the work. For the latter reason
alone it is important that the membership list be raised to 1500
or other plans devised for providing an annual income of $1500.
Just how that $1500 is needed will be shown in detail by the 1908
report of the Secretary to be published after the annual meeting.
We have not reached the 1000 mark in paid memberships. We
have a large number of applications not yet paid. Perhaps it
was expecting too much that a society organized in January
should have 1000 members in full standing by November. At
the rate of which new members have enrolled during the past
month the Society will easily reach 1200 early in 1909; but we
want 1500.

It is reported that the National Geographical Society has
thousands of members paying a fee of $2 per year. Of course
that society reaches far outside of educational circles; but the
American Nature-Study Society might do likewise to some
extent. We have now a large number of members who enrolled
as "citizens interested in elementary education." We- need
many more such members and we can get them interested if
several hundred members will cooperate with the officers in call-
ing attention to the aims of the A. N. S. S.

Suggestions regarding membership of the Society will be gladly
welcomed by the secretary. Especially does the secretary
want names of teachers and others who might be interested in the

A ME RICA .V NA TURES TUB Y SO CIE TY 241

A. N. S. S. If you can distribute small circulars concerning the
A. N. S. S., please inform the secretary as to number you can use.

New York City Section of American Nature-Study Society

A joint meeting of this Section and of the School-Garden
Association of New York will be held at Public School No. 165 on
Friday, December fourth at 8 p. m. The meeting will be devoted
to papers on and discussion of the relation of local school-gardens
to nature-study in the New York City schools. This is the
second of a series of meetings planned to make a survey of
existing conditions and practice of nature-study teaching in the
public schools of Greater New York.

Communications regarding the New York City Section should
be addressed to Mrs. Alice R. Northrop, chairman, 500 War-
burton Ave., Yonkers, N. Y.

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Since the above was set in type, the preliminary announcement
of this society has been mailed to members. It should be in the
hands of all members of the American Nature-Study Society
who think of going to Baltimore. Write direct to Dr. L. O.
Howard, Washington, D. C.

During the year 1908, members of various scientific societies
are being enrolled in the A. A. A. S. without payment of
the usual admission fee of $5.00. It seems probable that
members of the A. N. S. S. might be included in this arrange-
ment, and the secretary will be glad to present any application
to the officers of the A. A. A. S. The fee in that society is
$3.00 per year, which includes the weekly journal Science.

NATURE COURSES AND SCIENCE COURSES

By W. F. GANONG
Professor of Botany, Smith College

Among the many who are watching the progress of the nature-
study movement represented by the American Nature-Study
Society and The Nature-Study Review, there is no person who
views it with greater sympathy and appreciation than the writer
of these lines. Accordingly it is with very deep regret that I
observe among some of its advocates a tendency not only to
disparage but even to condemn the elementary science courses
as given by our colleges and high schools. Were the criticism
specific and well-grounded it would be welcome ; but in fact it is
vague, uncharitable and unjust, and I desire to enter an emphatic
protest against it.

The disparagement of which I speak seems to have been grow-
ing of late, and it has reached its extreme in the paper by Profes-
sor Hodge in the September number of this journal. But Pro-
fessor Hodge's article has this marked merit, that it is not simply
destructive, but is also constructive, for he outlines a substitute
for the scientific courses which he condemns. Now, I maintain
that the usual scientific courses, where even only passably given,
are vastly superior to his proposed substitute in three of the most
fundamental features. First, they are practicable of educational
administration, while his is impossible of such administration;
second, the information they impart is worth far more to the
great majority of students than that involved in his course;
third, they give an intellectual training far superior.

I can assume, I think, that Professor Hodge's suggested elemen-
tary biological course for colleges and high schools is accessible
to my readers in their copies of the September Review, and I
need only recall that he groups the subjects under some four
heads thus: — "a few things of vital import to the life of the child
and the home" ; a few things that every decent member of a com-
munity ought to know about the forces of living nature ;" "health,
individual and civic, is the paramount interest;" "conservation
of natural resources." Professor Hodge then proceeds to give
certain illustrative problems of the field, which are as follows:

242

ganongJ NATURE COURSES AND SCIENCE COURSES 243

Seasons of flowering and ripening seeds in about 40 of our most
important torest, nut and ornamental trees; together with methods of
saving, storing and planting the seeds and rearing the trees.

Function of forestry in controlling water flow and washing of soil.

Outlawed weeds and poisonous plants.

Native weeds in danger of extermination.

Common ferns.

Elementary agriculture and horticulture.

Common mushrooms, edible and poisonous.

Common parasitic fungi, blights, smuts, rusts, mildews, locally impor-
tant forms.

Insects, life-histories and natural enemies of about 151 [probably a
misprint for 150] most important species.

Economic status and foods of about 100 birds.

Common amphibia, natural history and value as destroyers of insects.

Important fresh-water fishes, food, spawning seasons and habitats.

Every teacher of the usual scientific courses knows that a num-
ber of the topics in the above list, notably some of those relating
to hygiene, actually do find a place in their courses. But as to
the remainder, including the great majority, I maintain that they
are at present wholly impossible of profitable teaching in the
elementary courses of the schools and colleges of this country.
If our classes consisted of a very few pupils all eager to learn
(that ideal pupil which Professor Hodge, and especially that
arch-optimist of us all, Professor L. H. Bailey, seem to have
exclusively in mind in their writings and addresses) , and if they
all lived in places easily accessible to the country, and if they
could give well-nigh unlimited time to their biological studies,
and if they worked in the summer when the birds and the plants
are active, then indeed Professor Hodge's course might come
within the range of practicability. But, what are, in fact, the
conditions under which we must actually work? They are these:
solid blocks, often several of them, of thirty or more students — a
few of them interested, the majority indifferent, and some incapa-
ble of any effective teaching, hut all of whom must be kept con-
stantly busy, — in most cases working in the city with the country
inaccessibly remote, able to give but a few scattered hours per
week to the work, and in session only during the winter months
with a little of the spring and fall. Xow, if the reader will once
more look at Professor Hodge's course with these conditions in
mind, I think he will agree with me that the whole scheme is
simply impossible, the more especially as Professor Hodge would
himself be the first and most strenuous in insisting that his list
of field topices must be studied in the field and not in the labora-
tory. On the other hand our scientific courses in college and

2 44 THE NA TURE-STUD V RE VIE W U :8-nov., .908

high school are administrable — they are adapted to large num-
bers and various grades of students, to city schools, to a winter
session; and further I maintain that where even only passably
taught, they are doing much good, sitmulating the interested to
higher work, giving the indifferent some uplift, and keeping the
mediocre at least busily occupied. Our college and high school
courses are adapted to a condition, Professor Hodge's to a theory.
So much for the practicability of Professor Hodge's course.
But I maintain further that even if his were practicable it would
be inferior educationally to the scientific courses as commonly
taught. The educational value of a course consists in two things,
the information imparted and the training given. I place infor-
mation first because Professor Hodge lays practically his whole
stress upon it. Now, remembering that several of the topics in
his course are already treated in our biological courses, I will ask
my readers wTho are teachers to compare the knowledge-value of
the subjects in Professor Hodge's list with those in the usual
scientific courses, remembering also the all-essential point that
the vast majority of our students are to dwell in cities, and will
have a contact with nature that is general and not specific. I
maintain that for all such people a knowledge of the way in which
a seed unfolds and develops into a mature flowering and fruiting
plant, even if the facts are seen only in pots and boxes in a
laboratory, is much more worth while than a knowledge of the
"Economic status and foods of about 100 birds;" that a knowl-
edge of the construction of plants and animals from tissues and
cells is worth more than that of the "Important fresh-water
fishes, food, spawning habits and habitats;" that a knowledge of
the significance of the green color of vegetation to plants, the
animals and man, is worth more than that of the "common
amphibia, natural history and value as destroyers of insects;"
and so on through most of the list. In fact most of the topics
studied in our scientific courses illuminate a wide circle of
phenomena beyond their own limits, and are such as are likely
to interest men and women no matter what their future residence
or occupation may be, while Professor Hodge's topics for the
most part have not that merit. On the other hand, I admit that
some of the topics in his list should receive more attention in our
courses than they do, e.g., relations of forestry to the public good.
But the trouble is that most of these subjects are not yet organized

ganonc] MATURE COURSES AND SCIENCE COURSES 245

for practicable utilization in our courses, and they ought not to
be generally introduced until they are thus worked out. And
just here in my opinion lies a rich held for educational endeavor
in the immediate future — the organization of important economic
topics for practicable educational use; and I regard the two pages
of Professor Bigelow's "Organization of Nature-Study Lessons"
in the September Review as exactly in this line and worth many
pages of indefinite criticism and untested suggestions.

I have left for the last the most important matter of all, that of
training. To this Professor Hodge gives little attention and no
emphasis, but it is that for which the scientific courses pre-
eminently stand. The practical impossibility of teaching most
of our students through field work would make it necessary that
most of Professor Hodge's topics be taught from books, (supple-
mented of course by diagrams, stuffed specimens, etc.), and his
course must necessarily resolve itself, in the great majority- of
cases, into a book-and-memory study of nature. Thus he would
eliminate from the course the one great distinctive feature which
science courses have to offer to education, viz., that training, upon
the basis of personal contact with original phenomena, in the
correlated use of hand, eye and mind. This training has the great
educational merit that its benefits are not confined alone to the
subject in which it is acquired but can be felt in any occupation
the student may later take up. The results in the case of our
science courses are not very striking it is true, for we have our
students too short a time to make any great impression upon
them; but that impression is nevertheless real and lasting as far
as it goes and wholly in a good direction. And we are to do
better in the future. Some of the nature-study advocates, and
notably Professor Bailey (in the September Review), maintain
that the science courses lay too much stress upon training in
accuracy of detail, and not enough upon training in generaliza-
tions. From this view I wholly dissent, for in my opinion there
is no training which the American* youth needs more than that in
a power to be accurate in details. Carelessness as to particulars
and a tendency towards easy generalities is a chief fault in the
American character, and one against which our educational
institutions ought to set themselves, even if they must, to use
Professor Hodge's expression, "withdraw still farther from the
main currents of American life." I do not understand that it is a

2 46 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE VIE IV U- 8-nov , 1908

duty of our educational institutions to take note of the tendencies
of American life, and then rush in with a grand hurrah to lead the
mob, yet this is not an unnatural inference from Professor
Hodge's remarks. It is the function of college and school to give
stability to those elements of American life which are virtues, and
strenuously to resist those which are faults. That training in
accuracy in particulars is a great problem of American education
at the present day is vividly brought out in the Declaration of the
National Education Association at Cleveland in July last,* a
document which every American teacher should thoroughly
know, and I commend to my readers' attention a comparison of
the articles of Professor Bailey and Professor Hodge with para-
graphs 1, 2, 5, 14 of that Declaration. Upon such a comparison
I am willing to rest my case.

In a word, with all the burden of their faults, I maintain that
the tolerably-taught scientific elementary courses of college and
high school are not only educationally of high value but are in-
comparably superior to any of the substitutes which have yet, in
the name of nature-study, been offered for them. There are two
ways in this wrorld in which we can surpass our competitors.
One is to rise by merit above them, and the other is to push them
dowrn. I hope in their efforts to advance their interests, the
nature-study advocates will rel) upon the first of these.

*Pub]ished in Science 28,

METHODS IN NATURE-STUDY

By L. S. HAWKINS
State Normal School, Cortland, N. Y.

What particular material to use in nature-study work will
always be an open question. The great diversity in conditions
makes the problem a different one for each teacher. Equipment,
time, weather, and locality, all variables, enter into its solution.
Most nature-study teachers agree upon the general character of
the material. Concerning the treatment of that material there
is great diversity of opinion. That is to say, nearly all agree that
animals, plants, or rocks serve equally well for material; the
question most discussed is whether the children should be asked
to classify these materials, either naturally or artificially, or to
consider them in relation to their environment, or to dissect them
and study the structure, or to treat them in some similar manner.
If we think for a moment, we will see that these questions and all
similar ones can be discussed intelligently only after the solution
of the fundamental question of how our nature-study is to be
taught. In other words, the real problem of nature-study is, how
can we state our method so that the results will be independent of
the material.

If we carefully examine the accepted aims of nature-study, we
will find that most of them contain the idea that the purpose of
nature-study is to train the child to ask and answer for himself
questions about nature. Asking questions is natural to the child.
Answering these spontaneous questions usually necessitates a
separation of the main question into several subordinate ques-
tions which are more easily answered. Early in life the child
learns the relationship of cause and effect. An effect is often
present to suggest a question concerning the why. Thus we
find the question, "What makes it do so?" This usually is an
excellent foundation for suggestion of related questions to which
there may be found an answer. Thus if a boy sees a magic egg
which persists in standing on end, the question immediately
comes into his head, if not to his lips, "What makes it do that?"
At that moment he can not answer the question. The teacher
has three ways of answering: (i ) explanation by word of mouth ;
(2) explanation by a series of experiments illustrating the center

247

2 48 THE NA TURE- S TUD V RE VIE W [ 4:8— nov., .908

of gravity; (3) assistance given the boy in planning a series of
experiments which will enable him to answer the question for
himself. There is quite general agreement in favor of the third
method.

This brings us to a consideration of the factors concerned in
the method of solution of a problem. Prof. DeGarmo says;
"There are at least three plainly marked' stages in all educational
methods that aspire to scientific completeness. (1) The acquisi-
tion of facts by means of authority, observation, or experiment.
(2) The determination of the meaning of these facts through the
process of reasoning. (3) The development of efficiency in the
use of the knowledge so acquired." Our nature-study methods
have thus far been based on the first of these stages and attempts
have been made to bridge over from this one to the third stage
without sufficient consideration of the second. (Incidentally the
main discussion concerning the first stage has been centered
around the method of securing the facts to the neglect of the
question, what facts are needed.) The present status of the
nature-study question indicates that we shall find the second
stage the foundation on which to build our method.

The capability of the student should determine the problem.
It must be within his range and still not so easy that the answer
is self evident. Once the problem is set, there is a definite aim
toward which the accumulation of facts is to point. These facts
are then acquired with some idea of their immediate use.

In the determination of the meaning of these facts through
some process of reasoning, we find two general methods of pro-
cedure. The teacher may carefully explain some general law
or principle and, after showing its meaning, lead the student to
apply that law or principle to the problem in hand. (A deductive
method) . On the other hand he may lead the student to observe
the facts, relate them to other experiences, and formulate a
general idea. (An inductive process). The several phases of
these two methods include the possibilities of method. It is here
that the problem of nature-study rests. The method must be
progressive along the line of setting and solving problems of
nature that constantly appear in the experience of the child.
Mere acquisition of facts in any manner whatsoever can never
demand more than passing recognition.

NATURE-STUDY IN CITY AND RURAL SCHOOLS

By E. EARL DUBOIS
Ogdensburg, N. Y.

Now that the nature-study movement has become recognized
as a permanent factor in education, many of the agricultural
colleges which have done so much to promote it are beginning to
devote their efforts more and more to purely agricultural subjects
and topics related directly to farm life. I believe, most firmly,
in the teaching of agriculture in the rural common schools because
the farmer, more than anyone else, needs a knowledge of the sub-
jects related to his life-work and, as so few of them go to any
other school, where else can they obtain it. I do believe, how-
ever, in the teaching of nature-study in all public schools in city
and country alike — nature-study that will interest the child in
his surroundings and broaden his outlook upon life, whether
those surroundings be those of a farm or of a city. In other
words, is agriculture, nature-study? To the farm boy, it is; to
the city child it is science.

During the past winter I have been watching the work of a
class of about 30 girls who comprise a teacher's training class in a
high school. All of them, excepting one or two, have always
lived in a city and know but little about farm life. The nature-
study syllabus which they are attempting to follow requires such
subjects as stock feeding, rotation of crops, fertilizers, insect
pests and general farm and dairy management. Knowing
nothing about farm life and not having yet become familiar with
the principles underlying farm work, this class of girls cannot
understand or appreciate these subjects and when they begin to
teach they will either neglect nature-study altogether or do
what might be worse, attempt to teach it in a wrong way. If this
same class had been required to study only those things which
were near at hand, things more closely related to their own lives,
the simple facts of plant growth and nutrition, the work of the
trees and the life history of common birds and animals, could all
be learned naturally and they would learn how to study nature.
Then if later on they are called to teach in rural schools their
study will have provided them with a key to their new surround-
ings and they will meet the problems of the farm in quite a differ-
ent spirit.

249

250 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:8- nov., 1908

The agricultural colleges are issuing publications on agricul-
ture in the schools. The state syllabii are requiring agriculture.
Where are the teachers in cities and villages to get their material
for nature-study work on subjects of direct interest to the pupils.
Would we not have better agricultural education if we had more
nature-study in the earlier grades? The great aim of nature-
study is to give the child or the man a simple observational
knowledge of the objects with which his daily life is surrounded
in order to put his life in harmony with the forces at work around
him. This is best accomplished by using subjects near at hand
in which the child has a natural interest. If he is forced to study
something in which he has no spontaneous interest, the object of
nature-study will be defeated.

I believe that all our schools, both rural and urban, should
teach nature-study in the first five or six grades with freedom
enough so that any subject to which the different children are
attracted may be used. The work for the more advanced
grades should be divided so that the rural school may teach
agriculture, dairying or whatever it needs and the city school
may teach elementary natural sciences, school gardening, or any
subject which may be of direct interest to the students. If the
same subjects are used for both in the higher grades, neither one
can attain to the fullest success. It seems to me to be time that
we had better nature-study materials for the city schools.

In the conference on Agricultural Education this morning,
Dean Williams, of the State Normal College at Athens, Ohio,
made the statement that every graduate of that institution is
required to teach nature-study. The point appears to be that
method in successful nature-study, involving outdoor work,
garden studies, etc., is sufficiently a method of its own to justify
such requirement. It would be difficult to find a teacher of
nature-study in disagreement with this proposition, but I know
of no other normal school which, under the pressure of other
demands upon the student within the two-year course, has
found it practicable to make this work required of all graduates.

CORRESPONDENCE AND DISCUSSIONS

Training Teachers of Nature-Study. The impression that
nature-study is one thing and elementary agriculture another
appears to need checking. A recent bulletin of our State
University contains the folllowing paragraph :

"For several years instruction that may properly be called
agricultural, though it certainly is not agriculture, has been
given under the titles Nature-Study and School-Gardens.
The trouble with this work is that it fails to connect with any
serious business of life. There is a wide breach left here between
the life in school and the life beyond the school. Many people
have the impression that Nature-Study and School-Garden
work are what is meant by school agriculture. They are not. '

That such distinction is unfortunate goes without saying here.
Is it not surprising if the Nature-Study Society and the leaders
in elementary agriculture find themselves at cross purposes in
any degree whatsoever ? Yet perhaps the instance cited attracts
attention more through its singularity than through evidence it
affords of any very general sentiment, though we have evidence
that such sentiment is not uncommon among schoolmasters in
Illinois.

Surely criticism of nature-study as "failing to connect with

any serious business of life" finds no more plausible basis than

instances of nature-stucby badly taught. Is it not desirable that

every effort be made to prevent in popular conception any such

divorce of ideas as is indicated in the paragraph quoted? Surely

it will work injury to what should be a common cause.

[Professor JohnG. Coulter, Illinois State Normal University, at the
Conference of the American Xature-Study Society, at Cleveland, July 2.]

Passenger Pigeons. While tending my birds this morning, a
flock of 30 to 40, what I believe to be passenger pigeons flew over
my head. It was about 6 a. m. and they flew almost due west.
The morning was a little misty — real pigeon weather — and they
were flying so low — within thirty feet of me — that my attention
was called to them by the loud rush of wings. Mourning doves
are out of the question here, and the only other possibility is a
compact flight of blue homing pigeons ; but I have seen no such
flock of homers before. I am familiar with homing pigeons and
do not think they flock or fly quite like the wild bird. At the

251

252 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:8-nov., .9o&

instant I had no doubts, but on thinking the matter over, I find
that I am not quite so sure as if I had been able to make out the
individual birds a little more sharply. I had but an instananeous
retinal "snap shot" as they disappeared over the low tops of
the apple trees close by, and before I looked up they had swept
over my head and were flying almost straight away up the hill
beyond. The size and shape of the birds, the sound as of water
over the slashboards of a dam, the flock formation, and, most of
all, the clean, straight, swift rush are all so characteristic and un-
mistakable that I feel fully warranted in making this report. I
hunted the birds and was very familiar with them in Wisconsin
up to 1882.

We may hope for other reports; but very few know the bird
in this section, fewer appreciate the significance, and fewer still
would report even if they saw and knew. Almost all who have
studied the matter consider the wild pigeon totally extinct. If
stray flocks, or even pairs can be located, the whole continent
should be aroused to accord them absolute protection to feed and
breed. In this way we may even yet mitigate the national dis-
grace of having exterminated the finest race of pigeons the world
has produced.

Worcester, Mass., C. F. Hodge.

Sept. 25, 1908.

The Point of View. In The Nature-Study Review for
September so many voices have spoken that it is difficult to get the
"dangling ends" together in a strand by which to hold oneself.
"Nature-study, it must take the things next at hand. . .
It sees the important thing to do and does it. . . . Schools
seem to lack motive power, do not train in leadership. They
are static, and do not seem able to send pupils out to take hold of
the first things." (Squeers did that much for his young people—
"They went and did it.")

What does the author mean by "first things." He explains
that certain subjects "develop no power or desire to put pupils
to work in city improvement societies, civic organizations, Far-
mers1 Clubs, or other homely and common, necessary work for the
community." These are the "first things," are they' Some
may not agree with the author, and be inclined to regard these
the last things in which one could expect children of grade-school

braamI CORRESPONDENCE AND DISCUSSIONS 253

age to take spontaneous and natural interest. I go farther:
Some may think these the last things in which children should
take interest. It is true that we have had them: "Bands of
Mercy," "Mosquito Leagues," "Paper-Picking Associations,"
et al.; and we may yet have a "Childrens' Smoke Consuming
Crusade." If it were not so serious from the standpoint of
time, economy, and taxes, one might laugh at it, take hold of
"the thing next at hand" and forget it all. Besides, what of the
effect of it all, on the children? What effect on mind and heart
of the millions of children has the advocated "free natural and
direct educational process." For, although it must be "ac-
curate, in detail, yet it must furnish point of view, and vigor of
personal initiative."

In reading much of this, I ask myself continually: Is this all
for children of the grade schools? Must they seem to imitate all
sorts of civic concerns — and solve all sorts of sociological prob-
blems?. It is to me a strange phenomenon and one having little
good, this shifting upon children the responsibility of delivering
us from evil, while permitting at large adults who violate by
overt acts all laws of decency. We wonder at the fanaticism
of the middle ages, and stand aghast at the sacrifice of innocents
led forth to exterminate the moslem hordes, and yet demand of
our own babies that they shall do battle for us — for us grown-
ups— so that birds shall not be slaughtered for vanity, mosquitoes
not spread disease, our streets not be polluted, our forests not be
destroyed, our soil not wasted, our courts not be conniving, our
votes not be bought and sold, our cows not fed on slop, and
our men not get drunk. And, note now the logical indictment:
"So long as our public school does not turn out children who
can and do imitate these measures, so long it stands self con-
demned as a useless institution that ought to be summarily
dealt with. Therefore, go too now, ye teachers (some of you
'no doubt' are lax and lazy) — I say, go too now, and do raise
radishes or anything else that makes for a "center of interest."
Let go reading, writing and the inculcation of obedience to
authority. Let every thing be free and natural, and get initia-
tive in children.

Let us look at this thing again. Children are children. As
such they are in the objective stage of. mentality. Much like an
animal — they see the thing, but lack power to trace it to its

254 THE NA TU RE- STUD Y RE VIE IV [4:8- nov , 1908

■course, or to see its direct relations to other things. With this
in mind, we cannot present to them problems involving such in-
direct relations without seriously interfering with the spontan-
eous activity that naturally characterizes creatures in that
objective stage of intellectual development. They can do much,
they can be made to do much, they must do many things of
■a certain kind which, if they do not do in childhood cannot be
done for them, or by them at all. They can learn facts, but not
philosophy of facts, nor interpret facts. The facts of nature,
they can learn, can learn systematically] and if they do so learn
them, it will become fruitful knowledge to them when experience
of riper years shall have given them interpretive power. I em-
phasize systematically to call attention to the different counsel
given by many who advocate "free and natural processes,"
regardless of the fact that no colt by any such process ever be-
came an efficient horse. Harnesses and traces and systems,
and hard and fast lines for beginners, and out of that, at length,
comes initiative, and spontaneity, and grace, and movement, and
results that count. I cannot see it any other way.

Hughes High School, Maximilian Braam.

Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Relation of Agriculture to Science. In a recent issue of the
School News, Dean Davenport of the Illinois College of Agricul-
ture says that "when I speak of teaching agriculture in our high
schools. I mean agriculture. I do not mean nature-study nor do
I mean that some sort of a pedagogical kink should be given e^en
to geography and arithmetic. Let agriculture introduce new
matter into the schools and with it a new point of view." It is
certainly difficult to understand what all this means, because
agriculture is certainly only an application of the principles of the
various sciences. A splendid illustration is found in the same
number of the same magazine in an article by Professor Barto,
also of the Illinois College of Agriculture. This article discusses
how water is held in the soil and the sub-topics are texture of soils,
pore space, the relation of pore space to weight of soil, the impor-
tance of careful tilth in order to give the open porous texture of a
fertile soil, the difficulty of handling clay soil because of the fine-
ness of the grains of the particles, the capacity for water depends
upon pore space, and the forms of soil water and control of soil

bigblow] CORRESPONDENCE AND DISCUSSIONS 255

waters. In fact, from beginning to end this excellent article is
nothing more or less than a "pedagogical kink" given to chemis-
try and physics with special reference to soils considered as a
basis for plant growth. This is good agriculture, and apparently
good agricultural teaching, but it certainly is not "introducing
new matter." Every one of the important points in this article
are perfectly familiar to thousands of students who have followed
courses in physics which did not contain the words "soil" and
"agriculture." In short, this lesson in agriculture is simply the
old material of physics and chemistry from the point of view of
agriculture. Perhaps this is "new," but it is obvious that there
is nothing to be gained and much to be lost if we continue to insist
that this new subject in the school curriculum is new matter and
not simply an educational application to special problems of
matter and methods which are familiar in the various sciences.
The above illustration shows that the agricultural teaching is after
all a sort of a "pedagogical kink" (the writer would prefer to
describe it as an educational application) of physics, chemistry
and biology. This being the case we can certainly make head-
way by working towards a proper correlation with the existing
courses in the sciences, rather than by trying to establish the absurd
claim that agricultural instruction is an entirely new subject which
ought to be kept quite independent of the regular science courses.

M. A. Bigelow.

Will Agricultural Teaching Keep Boys on the Farm? One of

the most striking characteristics in the numerous arguments
advanced in favor of agricultural instruction for public schools is
the statement that if properly educated with reference to the
agricultural business, boys will tend to stay on the farm. This
idea that somehow nature-study and agricultural teaching will
tend to keep the boys on the farm and prevent migration to the
cities has become widespread throughout the land and at the
present time it is the greatest motive power back of the move-
ment for agricultural education in many States.

Looking at the facts verified by observation in a large number
of concrete cases, the writer is led to question whether it is "safe to
base our agricultural instruction on the theory that it will tend to
keep the boys on the farm. I doubt it because I know that a
large number of boys do not leave farms because they find it

256 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W W- 8-nov., ,9o8

uninteresting, even without special agricultural instruction, but
simply because the economic conditions are such that a very large
number of boys, no matter what their education may be, must
look to the cities for their life work. The following case will
illustrate my meaning:

A well-known professor has for years owned a farm and his
family has spent most of the time there. The four sons are
intensely interested in agriculture and so far as interest is con-
cerned there is no question about all of them giving great promise
of becoming successful farmers. The writer was talking with this
professor the other day and learned that one of the sons, the eldest,
is taking an agricultural course and the father has deliberately
steered the other sons into the regular course of the college of arts
and science. As an explanation of this, Professor - — made
essentially the following statement: "I am financially in a posi-
tion to start one of my sons in business as a farmer, because I can
let him use my farm which will make it possible for him to get an
annual income of from $1 ,600 to $2,000 a year. But having done
this, for my eldest son, I ran not start any of the three other sons
in the farming business. I am convinced that the day is past
when an educated young man can see a hopeful outlook in farm-
ing without capital with which to begin. I know that by giving
these other three sons a classical or scientific education I can
prepare them for professional or business life which will make it
possible for them to make an annual income perhaps even better
than can be made by the one son who remains on the farm." It
is clear that this case is one of applied economics; but no doubt
some enthusiastic believer in the all-sufficiency of agricultural
education will come along some fifteen or twenty years hence and
say that if the sons of Professor - ■- had had nature-study and

agricultural education when they were boys, they would all have
become successful farmers. Obviously it is not true. The eco-
nomic conditions will inevitably force the majority of the sons of
the average successful farmers into the cities.

Another case is that of a farmer with an investment of about
$20,000 in farm and equipment. With that investment he has
been able to make during his active life an income of from $1,400
to $1,800 a year. That farm with its equipment is sufficient to
provide profitable work for one of the three sons during the
father's lifetime. This was foreseen. Two sons were given a

e>*

bigblow] CORRESPONDENCE AND DISCUSSIONS 257

college education at a State university at an average cost of $1,200
each. Now, after ten years, these sons who went to a city to
enter business and professions have an average annual income
above 82,500 as a result of an investment of $1,200 in edtication
for city life. In short, this farmer has been able to give only one
son capital for farming; and in order to give the other sons a fair
chance, his best opportunity was in the line of education for pro-
fessional or business life in cities. It is another clear case where
economics has forced the solution of the problem. So far as
interest in agriculture is concerned, either one of these sons now in
the city would compare very favorably as to their interest in
country life with most of the authors who write interesting
articles about agricultural education keeping boys on the farm.

It must be evident to any one who seriously considers similar
facts, verified from an extensive acquaintance in farming com-
munities, that it will not be safe to arrange all our agricultural
education with reference to keeping boys on the farm. It will
not apply except to the very smallest families, because the
financial situation will force an economic outlet to the cities.
These being the facts wdiich must be faced, it is obviously unwise
to plan the work in agricultural education entirely with reference
to practical application. So far as concerns the boy who remains
on the farm, it may be all very well for him to serve an apprentice-
ship in agriculture while he is in the public schools. So far as
such boys are concerned there may be some value in learning the
details concerning such practical things as insecticides, fertilizers
and testing butter fat and similar things which are abundant in
current courses of agriculture; but how about such things for the
majority of boys who must enter professions or business simply
because they can not have the capital for engaging in agriculture?
It seems very questionable whether serving an apprenticeship in
agriculture under the guise of school work is the best thing for
such individuals. This leads one to question whether it must not
sooner or later be recognized that the best kind of instruction in
agriculture designed for all pupils in the public schools of the
rural communities will be that which deals with the great princi-
ples and the great ideas, leaving for special apprentice work
(elective for those who plan to go directly to the farms) the
technical things such as are of very little interest except to those
who are actually going to put them into practice.

M. A. Bigei.ow.

BOOK NOTES

Elementary Agriculture. A complaint is often heard that the current
texts are so general as to lack force in a given locality where specific agri-
cultural industries are prominent. The recent text bv Ferguson and
Lewis (Ferguson Pub. Co., Sherman, Texas) is avowedly written for the
Southwest, and the most casual examination leaves no doubt on this point.
The best and most vital, in the sense of being most related to the environ-
ment, that there is in physiography, botany, and zoology, are here brought
together, and the reader is not permitted to forget that it is real science,
and not nature -study. Herein lies the merit or weakness of the work ac-
cording to the use made of it. The theory of variation and crossing is
thoroughly but plainly treated, but not apart from its application. For
that matter hardly a page lacks evidence of the direct bearing of the facts
of the sciences on agriculture. One almost wonders why some expansion
of the work here outlined would not allow it profitably to supplant any
formal presentation of one or two of the usual high-school sciences. The
treatment of subject-matter is less uneven than in many texts. Most of it
is more difficult than some parts of other texts, and none of it quite so
difficult as some parts of most texts written ostensibly for the grades.
There is too much taking for granted of chemical knowledge which not two
children in a county possess. Most of the plant physiology is within the
grasp of seventh-and eighth-grade children, but much of the morphology is
hopelessly beyond them. The lack of laboratory directions would be
amply supplied by Bulletins 186, and 195, of the Office of Experiment
Stations, Department of Agriculture. The text is one of the best yet
written for children of first year high school age. Much of it involves
knowledge which even teachers of the rural common schools do not have.

Montclair, X. J., Normal School C. H. Robison.

American Birds. By William L. Finley. Xew York : Scribners. igo;.
$1.50.

This book is a series of studies with note-book and camera of the life-
history of about twenty-five common birds. It is not a reference book,
but simply a collection of readable essays, illustrated by a large number of
good photographs from life.

Romance of the Reaper. By Herbert X. Casson. Xew York: Double-
day, Page. iqo8. $1.00.

The story of the invention and manufacture of harvesting machines.
Reads like an Arabian Xight's tale, and deserves to be required reading in
every class in agriculture.

Indiana Arbor and Bird Day Annual. This excellent pamphlet from the
office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is especially
interesting because more than twenty pages were contributed by the pupils
of the School for Feeble-Minded Youth at Fort Wayne. Principal
Cyrus D. Mead of the school is an enthusiastic believer in nature-study and
its correlations.

358

THE

NATURE-STUDY REVIEW

DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS

Vol. 4 DECEMBER, 1908 No. 9

ILLINOIS NUMBER

This number of The Review has been prepared under the
editorial direction of Professor Fred L. Charles, of the DeKalb,
(111.) State Normal School. M. A. B., Editor.

NATURE AND THE OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION

By FRANCIS G. BLAIR
Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of Illinois

Xature-study as a thing in itself has had its ups and downs, its
ins and outs in the programme of instruction. At times, heralded
by loud trumpets, headed by mounted police, it has forced the
other subjects back to the fences in order to make for itself a big
open space on the highway of learning, but before the dust of its
coming had fairly settled the older subjects closed in upon it and
trampled it under foot. Today it spreads its tents and unfurls its
banners; tomorrow nothing remains but the litter and the muss
of the encampment. One superintendent drags it in and another
drags it out. Coming and going, but rarely abiding. Some
teachers love it, some hate it and others preserve an armed
neutrality.

This, with some exaggeration, is the story of nature-study as a
special study in the programme of the common schools of Illinois.
But it is not all of the story. Neither the success or the failure
of the great nature-study movement depends upon its having a
special and a permanent abiding place upon the daily programme.
Its spirit, its method, its point of view, are its great gifts, its last-
ing contribution to the common-school curriculum. Here the
nature-study leaders have done their great work. They have
practically re-created the other subjects of study. They have
given them a concrete, tangible basis. The old geography with

259

260 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:9-dkc. 1908,

its first question, "What is the earth?" and with its ready-made
answer, "The earth is a great globe revolving in space," has given
place to the new with its first statement, "Children, you have
often played in the dirt." That's bringing the earth down from
the rarefied regions of mature speculation and placing it under
the finger tips of the child! All the so-called natural sciences
which, sewed and bound in "fourteen weeks" doses, were quite
apart from nature and all that is natural, have felt the thrill of
this nature-study life along their keel. Work in reading and
literature, in history and mathematics have responded to the
levening influence of this lump of nature-study. Books and
apparatus, sand-tables and museums, aquariums and window-
boxes, excursions and experimental farming, this is the path and
the course of events along which and through which the nature-
study spirit has lead the old time course of study. If the moun-
tain could not be brought into the schoolroom to Mahomet,
nature-study made one for him in the sand-table. If Mahomet
could not go to the mountain his teacher took him to a near-by
hill.

While the text-book, the picture, the model, and the stuffed
specimen are the friends and allies of the nature-study spirit, they
are but its leserve batteries planted within the fort, — its outposts
are in the fields, along the streams, among the trees. It has con-
verted field, forest and stream into a laboratory, a demonstration
room. It has made the school a part of the life that is. It has
not only put "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, ser-
mons in stones," but it has put trees in the tongues of the children,
running brooks m their reading books, and the story of the stones
into the choicest sermons.

When primitive man went into a school to get the interpreta-
tion of a book he did well, but when the book of symbols began to
close for him the book of nature it was not well. Each book lias
its place and that place is close beside the other. The nature-
study movement has done its great work in placing these two
books closer together and in filling them both fuller of meaning.

RECENT ASPECTS OF THE NATURE-STUDY MOVEMENT

By EUGENE DAVENPORT

Dean of College of Agriculture and Director of Agricultural Experiment Station, University

of Illinois

Nature-study in its various forms and with all its successes and
failures, with its advantages and its short-comings, ought to be
regarded, it seems to me, as one of the many attempts of educa-
tors to connect the school with the real things of life. The world
has changed much since the old days when the scholar attempted,
first of all, to withdraw from the world and free himself from
mundane facts and influences that his mind might dwell in a
world of idealism. We have also gotten beyond the stage when
it was believed that the greatest study of mankind is man. and
we are now trying to study man in his relations not only to his
Creator and to other men, but to his own activities and to other
created things.

The first effect of nature-study was doubtless to cultivate the
powers of observation, to attract attention to things close by,
to lead the student to realize vividly how information is secured
and how books are made. All this would be worth while even if
it led to nothing better but, like all new movements, it rapidly
developed into something of deeper consequence than the original
effort.

I believe the time is coming when we should construe nature-
study in the broadest possible terms: that we should under-
stand it to mean not merely the observation of things going on
outside of us and our affairs, but that it should also include those
phases of nature activity which especially concern us, and in
which we, ourselves, are able to take a hand and exert influence.

It seems to me it is this phase of the matter which accounts for
the great interest in the developing of the study of agriculture.
This element of personal influence is a strong one in the education
of the child. It is the powerful element lending interest to the
study of household science, art, manual training and industrial
subjects generally, and when it is exerted upon living things, as it
is in agriculture, it cannot help but appeal to the interest of the
student and exert a peculiar usefulness in his education.

261

262 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:9— dhc., .908

If now we add to this matter of nature contact and personal
influence the idea of producing something, as we do in agriculture,
we have then awakened the three strongest impulses of which the
ambitious student is capable; his observing powers, his ability to
exert controlling influences over the processes of nature, and in
the end to really produce something that- had no existence before.

The average teacher can have little conception of the natural
impulses of the masses of the people in the direction of produc-
tion, nor can she have a full comprehension of the importance of
this impulse in a people such as ours. The great problem which
faces 99 people out of 100, or which ought to face them, is how to
make a living, that is, how to produce enough to meet the ex-
penses of their food, clothing and shelter, which are the three
great physical requirements of civilization. If we are to have a
system of universal education, meaning by that a system that is
to apply to all people, then it must touch them at this point, first
of all, because it is a fundamental requirement that all must meet,
or ought to meet, before they are ready for higher things or are
entitled to possess them.

Education, therefore, is no escape from this fundamental obli-
gation that rests upon all of us, and we are not to ignore this
obligation nor forget its presence by failing to mention it in polite
society. It would be funny, were it not pathetic, to contemplate
the eager earnestness with which a certain type of so-called educa-
ted people worship the intellectual, and profess to regard the
commercial and physical things of life as sordid and mean, when
the largest of all the problems of life which they themselves live
in common with the rest of us, is to meet the balance at the end
of the month with the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick
maker.

All this means, it seems to me, that we have developed the
matter of nature-study until it has reached the field of agricul-
ture ; in other words, that it has come into contact with this great
throbbing necessity of ours to take a hand in the affairs of nature
and thereby earn our living. This form of nature-study is espe-
cially valuable, it seems to me, because it serves us well as an
introduction to real life afterwards. Not only the information
that is secured but the impulses that are engendered are all in the
right direction, and a person trained through such experience not
only possesses a larger stock of knowledge than the one who has

uavknpoktJ ASPECTS OF THE NA TUKE-STL D V MO VEMENT 263

relied entirely upon books, but he has learned, in the meantime,
how to put his knowledge to account; how to impress himself
upon his surroundings, and how, in a large share, to meet the
issues ol life as they come.

Nor will the influence of this study be to lower the purely intel-
lectual side of life nor to lessen the artistic perception of the stu-
dent. No man can appreciate art when his stomach yearns for a
good dinner. No more can he have high and notable thoughts
except when he is well sheltered and clean. As the first business
of an individual is to feed, clothe and shelter himself, and after-
ward to develop his higher faculties to his utmost, so is the busi-
ness of the educator to instill early those fundamental qualities
that will enable the students to meet these ordinary issues of life
as a matter of training or habit, with some surplus energy left
over for the other things. There is no more pitiful object than
the person who has been trained in everything else except to be
useful, and then pitched headlong into the whirlpool of ordinary
affairs without chart, rudder or compass.

The hopeful thing, it seems to me, is that such a large propor-
tion of our educators are coming to realize the meaning of this
modern movement, especially in the teaching of agriculture.
The impulse did not begin with the educators. It began with the
people. But the best of the teachers were quick to see its signifi-
cance and its possibilities, and they are exerting wonderful energy
in meeting the new conditions which are really revolutionizing our
ideals and our methods of instruction.

In this connection, I would emphasize the need of clear percep-
tion as to the real purpose in view when we teach agriculture or
any other form of nature-study in our public schools. It is one
thing to teach this subject for the general educational effect
which is certainly pronounced upon all classes of students; it is
quite another and different thing to teach it for the professional
bearing upon the business of farming. I am one who believes
that every school situated within reach of agricultural environ-
ment should do both things, even though the individual student
will need but the one ; that is to say, certain phases of agriculture,
as they can be taught, especially in a good high school, are a
valuable means of education for any man. whatever his later
occupation may be. But if that school is situated in a farming
community, it should add many other courses for professional

264 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW Urg-DBc, 190I

reasons, which would be valuable chiefly, if not exclusively, to
those who look forward to farming as a business.

It may be a violent stretching of the term nature-study to apply
it to technical instruction in agriculture, and yet I am thoroughly
satisfied that the impulse that gave rise to this form of instruction
culminates in this very thing. It is well to study the grasshopper,
but I believe it is better to study the grass. It is well to study
the frog, but I believe it is better to study the horse and the cow,
the pig and the sheep. There is no plant known to botany more
significant in its histological and physiological aspects than is
Indian corn, which has the added advantage of a deep significance
to our social and economic welfare. In other words, when we are
studying corn, we are studying ourselves and our interests as
well, and in this we have a practical example of the large fact that
we learn more by inference, even in school, than we do by the
direct method.

The importance of all this, it seems to me, and the matter of
chief concern at this time, is that teachers pretty generally realize
the full meaning of this modern movement which is expressing
itself in various ways from the simplest form of nature-study up
to the more complicated one which is agriculture. If we are to
stop with observation simply, the movement will mean little, and
will come to an end, because its full fruition has been prevented.
But if we look upon the observation form of nature-study as
suited to children, they begin there and expand the field and
intensify the problems as the child grows, then we shall have a
form of nature-study that will be effective in the schools, and
tremendously efficient in turning out resourceful men . Regarded
in this light, nature-study should free itself from the merely
curious and interesting at the earlier stages of child development
and undertake its study in a more serious aspect during those
years ot adolescence when the boy, especially, is bent on doing
big things. Tnat is a natural impulse that ought to be recognized
and developed through careful education lest it dwindle with the
years and die out, leaving the possessor to swell the ranks of the
learned incompetents.

A SCHOOLROOM STUDY OF A ROBIN'S NEST

By JESSIE REBECCA MANN
Assistant in Biology, Northern Illinois State Normal School, De Kalb, 111.
[Two robin nests on window sills — one in May and one in June — -were
under observation by classes in this institution last Spring. It is believed
that the most complete data on record were obtained. This article deals
with the pedagogical aspects of the study of the June brood. The record
of the May brood is being prepared by Miss Mann and the undersigned
and will probably appear soon in Bird-Lore. If all nature-study were so
real — so rich in content and in interest, as was this, the problem would
be well-nigh solved. — F.L.C.]

Our campus at the Northern Illinois State Normal School with
its grove, stream, pond and meadow gives us most unusual facili-
ties for the field study of birds. It is owing partly to this fact and
partly to the intrinsic interest of the subject that the bird course
is perhaps the most popular one given in the science depart-
ment. Last spring we had an opportunity to study the home
life and nesting habits of one bird, the robin; to put more reality
into the laboratory work; to understand the relation between
structure and function so admirably exemplified in the birds'
body and to come into close sympathy with bird-life as never
before.

It came about in this way. Late in April a pair of robins was
discovered building a nest on the sill of a second-story window of
the Normal building and the class had the pleasure of watching
the rearing of the brood. Complete all-day records were kept
for five days in which everything that happened in or about the
nest was carefully recorded.

Just before the close of the term a second nest was discovered,
also on a window sill, but in another part of the building. The
young birds, three in number, were three days old when our sum-
mer term opened, June 22, 1908.

At the first recitation the class was taken to see the nest and
young birds. The vine-framed window stood wide open and the
teacher gently lifed one of the nestlings from the nest so that it
might be better seen. As we stood there the mother came with
her bill full of wriggling earthworms which she dropped into the
gaping yellow mouths of the young in the nest. The interest of
the class was at once aroused in the operation and many ques-

265

266

THE NA TURESTUD Y RE VIE tV

[4 : q — DEC, 1908

tions were asked. "How many times a day are they fed?"
"Does the father help in the feeding?" "What kinds of food do
the parents bring?" "How long before they will fly?"

Robin's nest on the sill of a vine-framed window of a schoolroom.

These questions gave us a starting point. Here were problems
which had arisen in a perfectly natural way. How should they
be solved? Of course, the only way would be by careful and
constant observations. We discussed the value of making such
observations; what others had done on the same or similar prob-
lems, and decided that the undertaking was well worth while.

As the room was unoccupied at the time and furnished with
desks, the class decided to move in and live as much as possible
with the birds. The observations necessary to solve the prob-

mann] A SCHOOLROOM STUDY OF A ROBINS XFST 267

lems naturally took the form of those made on the previous nest.
Sheets of paper were prepared, ruled with columns for each set of
observations to be made: 1. The number of the feeding for
that day. 2. Time of the feeding. 3. The parent bringing
the food. 4. The kind of food. 5. The number of pieces of
food brought. 6. The nestling fed. 7. Remarks: any be-
havior of parents or nestlings.

We decided to make complete all-day observations for six days,
three of the days to be at once while the birds were small and
three just before we might expect them to leave the nest. The
observations had to begin at daylight, about 3 :5c) a.m., and con-
tinue until the birds had settled for the night. We prepared a
regular schedule and each student observed and recorded for an
hour and never left until the one who was to relieve him was
seated at the window and ready to begin work. The window was
open and the observer sat so near that at any time he could put
out his hand and touch the nest. The mother soon became
accustomed to our presence and was rarely disturbed by it unless
an unusual or quick movement was made ; then, if absent, she as
a rule immediately reappeared ready for protest and defense.
We soon learned that the young birds were half orphans — the
dead body of the male being found upon the ground near the
nest — and that all the care and feeding would necessarily devolve
upon the mother. This made conditions somewhat unnatural,
and life at the nest was less varied and interesting than it had
been with the May brood when both parents took part in the
duties. But the constant activity and the devotion of the bird
mother were something to be long remembered.

The nestlings were marked on the bill with inks of different
colors and designated as Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Each morning any
interesting change in appearance or any unusual behavior of the
young birds was reported to the class. One day it was that No. 3
had opened its eyes; on another day that No. 1 had flapped its
wings as if trying to fly or that No. 2 had stood on the edge of the
nest. Every day at recitation time the little ones were carefully
placed in a bowl lined with cotton wool and weighed on a plat-
form balance. Their weight was recorded and the gain during
twenty-four hours ascertained and compared with that of the
previous day, together with the amount of food taken during the
period. Some interesting and unexpected relations were dis-

268 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:q-uBc.,.qo8

covered. Later a graph was made which showed these relations
in a very striking way.

One of the first things done was to sketch a young bird in
dorsal view, indicating the location of down and of the dark
streaks where feathers soon began to appear — the feather tracts.
Sketches were also made of the head showing the eyes, the ears
and the character of the bill as compared with that of the adult
bird. Even the fact that birds have ears was new to some mem-
bers of the class.

The leg and foot were examined and the parts compared with
the parts of the human leg and foot. Every one interpreted the
ankle joint as the knee. To correct this misconception a study
of the frame work of the leg was made from chicken bones (col-
lected from the remains of clubhouse Sunday dinners) carefully
cleaned and mounted in position upon cardboard. These leg-
skeletons were compared with drawings of corresponding parts
in the human skeleton and we discovered that a bird stands upon
its toes and that "its heel is well up the leg."

We also noticed the little bare wing, the end of which much
resembled a tiny mitten with hand and thumb. The framework
of the wing was studied in the same manner as the leg and its
parts compared with those of the human arm. We found that
the little mitten really covered a hand with two fingers and a
thumb. Drawings of both leg and wing skeleton were made and
fully labeled.

By this time, when the birds were six days old, the feathers
(still in their sheaths), had become conspicuous and gave the
explanation of the dark streaks down the head and back and on
the wings. The natal down, the only covering at first, was
plainly seen to be growing out from the skin attached to the end
of the new feather. In a few hours, at the end of the sheath and
still bearing its little shred of down, appeared the vane of the
feather, very much resembling a tiny camel's hair brush, the
sheath forming the handle.

Now was the opportune time for studying the structure and
development of the feather. Sketches were made and labeled as
laboratory work; the minute structures were studied under the
microscope, explained and sketched on the blackboard until the
relation of barb, barbule and barbicel was clear and the nice
adaptation of this wonderful structure- -a feather — was seen in

mann] A SCHOOLROOM STUD Y OF A ROBIiV'S .VEST 269

quill and vane, in form and material. The development of the
feather is a difficult subject and it was presented by the teacher
and illustrated by means of blackboard sketches and simply
constructed paper models.

We next studied the wing itself, noticing the mother as she
came and went folding and spreading her wings and rising or
alighting. Primaries, secondaries, and coverts were now easily
distinguishable on the wings of the young birds. Wings of
pigeons- (or chickens), prepared and spread upon cardboard
mounts were studied concerning the arrangement of the feathers.
Here again we sought the adaptations.

But the wing alone does not tell the story of the bird's power
of flight. The whole body is built so as to secure the greatest
strength with the least weight. Pigeons were used for demon-
strating the air sacs and the relation of these to the lungs and to
respiration. The trachea and syrinx were noted and also the
large pectoral muscles by means of which the wings are moved
We also found and worked the automatic device of bone and ten-
don that makes the act of perching and clasping a branch so
simple and so sure. We sketched the viscera in position and
learned the work of each part of the alimentary canal in preparing
the food which must furnish the energy for all the activities of
bird-life.

The amount of food consumed increased as the birds grew
larger but the actual gain in weight steadily decreased. There
was an actual loss in weight on two days when feather formation
was very active and the question, Wny ? came up for discussion.
The difference in the kinds of food brought to the May brood and
to the June brood was interesting. The former received a con-
siderable variety; earthworms, ants, beetles, small moths, flies
and various insect larvae, among which were injurious cut-worms.
The June brood was fed almost entirely upon earthworms. Here
again we sought the reason. In this connection we took up
briefly the economic value of birds, especially at the nesting sea-
son, as destroyers of injurious insects. We referred to the work
of other observers of nestling birds and compared their work and
results with ours.

By the tenth day the nest had become quite crow'ded and as
the birds were active, moving about and clambering over each
other continually, No. 3 had the misfortune to fall from the nest

270 THE NA TUKE-STUD Y RE VIE W U ■ 9-dec, 1908

to the ground, where he was picked up dead. This was a real grief
to the class but it helped — with the death of the father bird — to
show us how the balance of nature is maintained and why the
number of birds and other animals in a given locality does not
increase from year to year unless some disturbing factor enters in.

One warm, bright morning in July when the young birds were
thirteen days old they hopped from the bowl when we attempted
to weigh them and refused to stay when replaced. When put
into the nest they at once tried their wings for a longer flight.
With the cry, "They're gone !" the whole class crowded about the
empty nest on the sill and watched the progress of the two little
adventurers across the lawn. All that day different members of
the class followed their course up and down the terraces and
among the shrubbery until the two birdlings put their heads under
their wings beneath a honeysuckle bush for their first night out in
the big, strange world.

The birds were gone. What had they left with us beside the
memory of their interesting ways and a series of accurate records?
As we think over the work which was certainly a delight to
teacher and to students we can summarize our gains :

1 . We had gained some idea of scientific methods of observa-
tion and a greater respect for careful, painstaking effort in all
lines of work.

2. WTe had learned to make careful and accurate records, to
record only what we actually saw, — to tell the truth.

3. We had learned that seemingly insignificant details may
be of great value in solving a problem— to tell the whole truth.

4. We had a first-hand knowledge of bird-life in its most in-
teresting phase and had accumulated a number of valuable facts.

5. We had gained these facts not in a perfunctory way but by
solving problems of our own which we felt to be worth while.

6. By having the birds growing and developing before us we
were able to see a vital relation between structure and function
which is often missed in the usual laboratory study of an organ-
ism. (This amount of work could not be done in ten days' time
with one recitation a day. In the summer term our classes recite
twice a day in a major subject.)

7. We had, in short, studied birds instead of studying about
them. We had gained a broad and intelligent sympathy with
bird life and with all life a — sense of kinship with our humble

mann] A SCHOOLROOM STUD Y OF A ROBIN'S NEST 27 1

brothers of the field and wood, and we must be better nature-
study teachers for it. Every bird song will be more meaningful
and every nest more sacred because we have known the home life
of one bird — our robin on the window sill.

THE JOHN SWANEY SCHOOL

By VICTOR C KAYS
Magnolia, 111.

Note. — Nine years ago a farmer lad from Putnam County, 111., en-
rolled as a student in one of the state normal schools of Illinois. Grad-
uating in 1902, after teaching biology for two years in a township high
school he entered the state university. Returning to the farm, he joined
vigorously in a campaign then waging for the consolidation of three one-
room country schools of the neighborhood. Eventually a $12,000 two
story building was erected upon a large and picturesque campus. This
young man was elected to membership on the Board of Directors and has
been closely identified with the enterprise in all its details. Upon request
he has prepared the following paper for this number of The Review.
Through the efforts of such as he the rural school will take form and the
country child will come into his own. — F. L. C]

The "John Swaney Consolidated School," is in Putnam County,
Illinois. This school is in the country, planned and built by
country people for the education of country children. Three
ordinary sized school districts have been merged into one large
district. It is a little difficult to think over the events which led
to this culmination and select any one thing which made this plan
of consolidation appeal to the people of this community more than
any other; but probably the offer of Capt. John Swaney, a
veteran of the Civil War, to deed to the new district, if such were
formed, twenty-four acres of land as a building site lent impetus
to the slowly gathering movement. In 1905 a majority of the
voters in the area under consideration were not in favor of the
proposition, but in 1906 the sentiment had changed and 79% of
the voters signed petitions favoring the proposal. With this
overwhelming majority in favor of the step, a suitable building of
brick was soon erected, courses of study planned and teachers
procured.

The element that was in the minority here was largely com-
posed of non-resident land owners, childless land owners and
tenants influenced by landlords that were opposed to the scheme.
These people urged as reasons for opposing the plan : excessive
and burdensome taxes, the illegality of using school funds to pay

2-] 2 THE NA TUKE- S TUD Y REVIEW [4:9 dec, .908

for the transportation of children to and from school, and the im-
possibility of such transportation on account of the bad roads of
the neighborhood. Of these three reasons two have been shown
to be false; 79% of the patrons declare that they are getting full
value for every cent expended; for two years the hacks have
made their daily trips, thereby disproving another contention;
and at the present time there is a suit in the courts testing the
legality of spending school funds for the transportation of pupils
to and from school .

The school-building is a two-story brick structure which con-
tains rooms for the grades and high school as well as two labora-
tories, manual training room, gymnasium, boiler and playrooms,
dressing rooms, closets, etc. It is heated with steam, lighted
throughout by gas, has a water-pressure system and power for
machinery in the work shop. The laboratories are fitted for
biology and agriculture and for chemistry and physics.

The nature-study is carried on throughout the grades, and
special emphasis is laid on that wnich pertains to the farmer. As
illustrations of this we find the children emphasizing tne work on
noxious weeds; study being directed toward the life-historv, the
seed and its dissemination as well as the eradication of the plant.
In their study ol trees, aside from the identification, the super-
ficial characteristics, etc., the boys and girls go into the character-
istics of the wood and its uses on the farm. In the bird work a
study is made of the interrelation existing between the birds and
trees, birds and insects, birds and the farm crops, — both direct
influence and their indirect influences. In their study of insect
life in tliis work special attention is called to the life-history and
characteristics of those insects which are of economic value or are
a detriment to the farmers, as the cut-worm, wire-worm, white
grub and corn-root aphis, all of which are the commonest of insect
pests. These are some of the problems which the boys and girls
are working upon.

In the high school tour years of agriculture and the same
amount of domestic science is offered. During the freshman
year one semester of agronomy and one semester of horticulture
is offered. The agronomy work covers the identification of the
seed of noxious weeds and a study of the habits of each plant.
Each student makes collections of these seeds and note-books are
required. The selection and judging of seed corn is also studied.
Contests in selection and in judging are carried on.

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274 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4=9-1*0, 1908

The horticulture consists in orchard work, spraying, pruning,
layering, grafting, budding, orchard pests and means of combat-
ing them, and the selection of fruit. There is a young orchard on
the campus and the classes do the work necessary to keep it in
ideal condition.

During the second year one-half semester's work in animal
husbandry is given. It consists of a study of the market classes
and grades of swine. Bulletins issued by the University of
Illinois and the daily stock journals are used as texts and the
stock of neighboring farmers are used for laboratory practice.
The people wish their boys to be able not only to identify the
ideal type of animal but also to read and intelligently interpret
their market reports and thereby be able to determine accurately
the correct value of their own property.

During the third year the first semester is devoted to agronomv
consisting of a study of the physical characteristics of the differ-
ent soils. Experimental work is carried on for the determination
of specific gravity, water holding capacity of the soil, capillarity
and the mechanical analysis of soil. A study of the effects of the
various farming operations on the soil is made, including plowing,
harrowing, rolling, etc.

The animal husbandry work of this year during the first half of
the second semester consists of a study of the principles of feed-
ing. The boys study the activities of the animal body and the
products of its metabolism. The foods are considered as meat,
milk or wool producers as well as energy and heat producers.
The art of feeding for a specific purpose is studied, and since these
boys' fathers are always feeding for some one of these purposes
the students take a great deal of interest in this kind of work.

During the second half of this semester the judging of the
market classes and grades of beef cattle is taken up. The same
practices are in use in this course as in the swine course, that is,
neighboring farmers' stock is used for laboratory practice and the
same classification is used that is found in the leading live-stock
markets of the country. When practicable, classes are taken to
fairs to score and judge stock that they may compare their work
with that of the expert.

During the senior year a course is given in soil fertility. In
this course chemical analyses are made of various soils, fertilizers,

kays] THE JOHN SWANEY SCHOOL 275

etc. The different systems of farming are studied as well as crop
rotation, succession, cropping, fertilization, soil renewal, etc.
Bulletins of the University of Illinois and of the U. S. Department
of Agriculture are a great aid in this work.

Aside from the agriculture work above described, this high
school presents enough work to obtain full entrance credit at the
State University.

This school has been in successful operation for two years.
The pupils like it and the parents believe in it. The patrons help
in each forward movement and the school is truly the center of
the community life. The larger district makes a larger communal
life and enables the country people to obtain for themselves bet-
ter literary and social advantages. The idea of this community
seems to be to present to their children such courses that they
may be educated to gain a livelihood, that they may enjoy this
livelihood to its fullest extent, and that they may appreciate in
their rural surroundings all of the beauties and blessings of nature.
For after all, our thoughts are the measure of things and the
value of the days and the sun and rain and soil lies in what we
think and how we think it. Hence this little school among the
farmers to lead the boys and girls to true manhood and true
womanhood. If by its influence these boys and girls become the
school children of nature, then these people will be satisfied that
they have indeed done well.

WINDOW GARDENS

By FRANK K. BALTH1S
DeKalb, 111.

i'he successful cultivation of plants in the ordinary dwelling or
schoolroom may be anticipated if care is' exercised in procuring
proper soils, judicious watering, the selection of suitable varieties
and a congenial situation where light and heat may be regulated.
Then, too, the natural habits and requirements of the plants
should be learned, if not already known, by consulting any of the
excellent works on gardening (Bailey's "Cyclopedia of American
Horticulture," Nicholson's "Dictionary of Gardening," Hender-
son's Manual of Plants.") This could well be correlated with the
study of geography. For example, we find that the common
geranium came originally from South Africa. It delights in
bright sunshine, and in a firm, clayey soil. Again, the common
rubber plant was found in the rich, damp forests of Tropical Asia.
It requires a soil rich in humus and an abundance of water during
the growing season. Turning to the Western Hemisphere, we
find that practically all of the cacti are indigenous to the arid
regions of Mexico. Therefore, we should secure a sandy soil for
cacti and water only occasionally when at rest, which is during
the fall and winter months.

It must be borne in mind that all plants have a growing and a
resting season, and will not grow continuously. In the geranium,
for example, to secure an abundance of bloom during the winter,
cuttings ("slips") should be made in late July or early August.
Old plants that have bloomed during the summer require severe
pruning if lifted in the fall, but even then will be inferior to those
propagated during the summer.

Air and Light. The dry atmosphere usually found in the
schoolroom is troublesome, but by a careful selection of varieties
the difficulty may be reduced to a minimum. Some plants will
endure dense shade, but all the light possible should be given. A
south window is the best for all plants, but when such a location
is unavailable only those plants possessing leathery leaves, or
leaves with small stomata, should be selected. Some of the

276

balthis] WINDOW GARDENS 277

tropical plants, the rubber plant, the palm, cacti and English
ivy are good examples. Frequent syringing removes dust and
allows uninterrupted transpiration. Any device for promoting
moisture about the plants is beneficial. Potted plants may be
placed in shallow zinc lined boxes partially filled with moss-
sphagnum moss is excellent ; this keeps the roots cool and moist
and is sufficiently loose to enable the air to enter. The kitchen
is sometimes designated "The Plant Hospital," because the steam
and vapors rising promote a moist atmosphere. Gas and kero-
sene stoves or lamps are very injurious to all plant life, espec-
ially ferns.

Soil. Owing to the fact that the roots of potted plants are
confined to a small area it is necessary to secure good soil. The
best plan is to procure a supply from the local florist, otherwise
one can make a suitable soil. Sod taken from a vacant lot or
pasture land that is free of weeds, cut into convenient lengths for
handling, stacked in piles in any out-of-the-way place with the
turf side down and allowed to stand for about six months will be
ready for use. By adding about one-third of well rotted cow
manure the soil will be greatly enriched.

Sod soils are full of fibre, which indicates a condition of great
porosity, and permits the unhindered circulation of air. A small
quantity of sand should be added to the soil and thoroughly
mixed. The addition of sand keeps the soil from packing and
permits the free passage of water. Snail pieces of charcoal
added are beneficial in that it keeps the soil pure and sweet.
Leaf mould added to the sod soil is the best for plants with fibrous
or thread-like roots, such as ferns. A good proportion of leaf
mould to soil is one to three. To procure a supply of leaf mould,
save all the fallen leaves instead of burning, as is usually done;
pile them in a pit, dry goods box, or frame exposed to the weather
and allowed to stand for about a year. By forking over and
watering occasionally decomposition is hastened.

Lessons in soils and soil making should be given whenever
practical. Various combinations should be tried and results
noted by the pupils.

Potting. The kind and the size of pot used must be given some
consideration. A good standard clay pot is very porous and
requires more water than a glazed pot. To grow plants success-
fully do not paint the pots, as all pores are stopped up and the

278 THE A'ATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:9— dkc, 1908

free circulation of air prevented. When potting, the soil should
be moist, not wet, and never dry. If dry add a little water and
mix well until in the proper condition. Avoid over potting (us-
ing too large a pot and too much soil) else the danger of over
watering is increased. A good plan is to plant all plants in pots
about one inch larger than the size of the root system. To secure
perfect drainage cover the hole at the bottom of the pot with a
piece of broken pot, brick, a few small stones, or a little moss.
If potting geraniums, rubber plants, palms or plants of a similar
nature, firm the soil about the roots with the fingers, or with large
plants use a stick. For small plants the soil should be sifted
through a fine meshed sieve to remove all lumps. Soil for large
plants need not be sifted, but all large lumps should be crushed or
thrown out. The operation of potting plants that are easily
handled is quite simple. Place the pot on the table or bench in
front and cover the hole in the bottom for drainage. Then with
the left hand place the plant in the center of the pot, and with the
right hand fill partially with soil and firm. The left hand may
assist the right in filling and firming as soon as sufficient soil has
been added to steady the plant. Do not fill the pot completely
as space must be left for water and do not plant too deep. Plants
taken up in the fall should be potted, watered and set in a cool,
shady place until the roots have begun to grow, after which they
may be placed in their permanent positions. Practically all
newly lifted plants exhibit a tendency to wilt and it is easy to
over water when in that condition.

Interesting experiments may be conducted with newly potted
plants. For instance, take a geranium, cut back the top to with-
in four to six inches of the ground, cut the roots back corres-
pondingly, pot in a pot of suitable size and water slightly at first,
thenkeepdry. Watch the result. Again, take a geranium, do not
prune at all, pot in a large pot and water thoroughly every day.
What happens and why? The same principle would hold in
practically all cases.

Watering is the most important detail in plant culture. No
definite rule can be given, but a safe method is to water only when
needed and then thoroughly. When to water may be readily
ascertained by simply thumping the side of the pot. If the
sound produced is hollow, it is time to water. Each plant must
be considered as an individual and should be examined every day

balthis] WINDOW GARDENS 279

and watered accordingly. Care must be exercised in watering
plants in small pots as they dry and very rapidly. Seedlings
should be given close attention at all times to avoid over watering
and subsequent loss from "damping off." "Damping off" is a
fungous growth caused by over watering. Plants grown in
window boxes require less water than those grown in pots as the
area of the soil is greater and it does not dry out so rapidly.
Potted plants growing in jardiniers should be removed when
watered and allowed to drain. When in a shady situation plants
require less water than when in direct sunlight. Plants in a
dormant condition need not be watered, though the soil should
not be dust dry, else the stems will shrivel away. Keep dormant
plants in the cellar with the temperature at about forty degrees.
When watering hanging baskets set them in a tub or bucket of
water, they may then be thoroughly soaked. Unhealthy, or
sick plants are greatly benefited by withholding water until they
have regained their vigor. The temperature of the surrounding
atmosphere must be considered when watering. Less water will
be required when plants are grown in a comparatively low tem-
perature, as evaporation is then slower.

Window Boxes are probably the best for growing plants in the
schoolroom. The box should be about seven inches high and the
width and length to fit the window. Cleats placed on the bottom
will allow the air to circulate underneath the box. Holes must
be bored in the bottom to allow for perfect drainage. If the
boards show a tendency to warp, the box should be reinforced at
the ends by nailing on strips of tin or zinc. The box should be
painted before using, as the paint is a preventative against rot.
The planning and construction of window boxes is an interesting
and instructive diversion for the boys.

Ventilation is another important detail in plant culture. On
all warm or bright days the window should be opened, preferably
from the top because the foul air ascends. Discretion must be
observed in cold weather, but one will soon learn to ventilate
without injury to the plants.

Fertilizing Soil. It is a well known fact that soil becomes
exhausted if plants are grown in it for a long time, and in order to
keep the plants in a healthy condition the soil must be changed or
food in some available form administered. Growing plants
respond readily to manure steeped or soaked in water. Apply a

280 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:9— dec, .908

weak solution at first, gradually increasing the number of applica-
tions. Well-rotted cow manure may be mixed with the soil at
the time of potting. Many of the commercial fertilizers are
indispensible for some plants, but unless known they should be
carefully used. Dried blood and bone meal are quickly available
to the plant and contain an abundance of nitrogen. Kainit or
German potash contains about twelve per cent of potash. Sheep
manure also is excellent, but should be used sparingly. Such
fertilizers may be procured from any first-class seedsman at a
comparatively small expense. It should be remembered that
plants in a flourishing or growing condition take up manure more
rapidly than at any other time, but do not over feed.

Insufficient nourishment in the soil is often indicated by weak
stems and yellow leaves. For class work nothing is more interest-
ing than making various combinations of soils with different fer-
tilizers and recording the result as compared with soils unfei-
tilized.

Selecting Plants. The best plan upon which to build a collec-
tion of plants for window culture is to select plants that are
known to endure the dry atmosphere of our schoolrooms.
Plants with small stomata or leathery leaves possess this resisting
power. The teacher, however, is usually obliged to confine her
collection to the specimens brought by the students. It is well
to know the names of the plants, also learn their native habitat,
geographical distribution, and whether or not they possess any
economic value. The teacher should encourage the students to
visit the local florist, ask questions and discuss what they have
learned in the class-room.

One of the best window plants is the geranium, but some varie-
ties do better in the winter than others. The foliage of the rose-
leaf geranium and fish geranium are sweet scented; they are
easily grown in either a box or pot. The beautiful Lady Wash-
ington geranium does equally well, but must be given a rest dur-
ing the summer months. Some of the fancy-leaved geraniums
are excellent for foliage effects.

The bulbous plants are among the best for early winter bloom-
ing. They should be potted or boxed as soon as possible after
purchasing, or stored in a cool place until wanted. After potting,
the pots should be set in a cool, dark place until root-growth is well
along, when they may be brought to the light. If the pots are

BALTHIS]

WINDOW GARDENS 281

set in direct light immediately after potting, leaf growth will
begin and become far advanced before the roots develop. The
flower spike will also be short and imperfect, this is especially true
of the hyacinths and tulips. If no cellar or cold frame is at hand,
the pots may be placed close together out-of-doors and covered
with a thin coating of chaff, and then about four inches of loam.
If allowed to remain undisturbed until severe weather sets in, the
loam may be removed with a pick or axe.

The paper white narcissus and the Chinese sacred lily are
among the choicest of the bulbous plants. They may be easily
grown either in soil or in bowls of water. Good effects may be
secured by growing them in an aquarium. The buttercup
oxalis, with its beautiful trusses of canary yellow flowers, is one
of the earliest bulbs to grow. It does well as a basket plant. The
culture of numerous other bulbs could be attempted with reason-
able assurance of success. The amaryllis, calla and Easter lily,
are magnificent.

The addition of vines to the window box is very effective.
The English ivy succeeds in almost any situation. For light and
favorable rooms the German ivy or the climbing nasturtium are
excellent. A box of sweet peas planted in early autumn will
give good results, and is excellent for class work.

Of the tropical foliage plants the following are among the best
for house culture: Indian rubber plant, Chinese fan palm, sago
palm, Aspidistra, rattan cane, paper reed, century plant, night -
blooming cereus, Australian silk oak, umbrella plant, date palms.
All the cacti are interesting and easily grown if carefully watered.
The begonia, fuchsia, dwarf orange, lemon, wandering jew and
Impatiens sultana should be grown if procurable. The Boston
fern is probably the best fern for most windows.

The insect enemies to window plants are usually confined to a
few species, all of which may be easily destroyed. For aphis or
green fly, spray the foliage with an extract of tobacco stems
steeped in water, applied weak at first and gradually increased in
strength will soon eradicate fly. Mealy bugs may be washed
from the plant or sprayed with fir-tree oil. If, however, a plant
is very badly affected, it is better to throw it out entirely. Scales
are often troublesome but may be checked by spraying with
whale oil soap. When palms are affected the scales may be
easily rubbed off with a wedged shaped piece of garden hose, or

282 THE NA TURE- S TUD Y RE VIE W [4:9-

1908

the flayed end of a piece of cedar. Red spiders occasionally
make their appearance if a dry atmosphere is maintained, but
may be removed by spraying the plant with clear water forcibly
applied through a hose or syringe. For the general health of the
plants it is well to scrub the pots occasionally. Tobacco stems
scattered about the pots for a few days will soon rid the plants of
many unwelcome visitors.

While much more might be written on window plant culture, I
have endeavored to bring out those points of special importance
and to give some hint of an interesting field for experimental
work in the school. The simplest exercise in soil making, potting
or watering may arouse in the child a greater interest in plant
lore, and the ultimate results may be far reaching.

THE NATURE-STUDY SITUATION IN ILLINOIS

By FRED L. CHARLES
State Normal School, De Kalb, Illinois

From what has appeared in The Nature-Study Review and
elsewhere it is apparent that in matters with which this publica-
tion is especially concerned conditions are practically the same
throughout the country. The field has been cultivated more or
less assiduously and often with disastrous results; but better
methods are being introduced, a better understanding of the
aims prevails, those who were proceding somewhat timidly
though on a sound basis are becoming bolder, and every year able
men are joining the ranks. At the Cleveland meeting of the
N. E. A. last summer, in section programs, in the lobbies and at
the meeting of the American Nature-Study Society the most strik-
ing feature to an interested observer was the number of univer-
sity men of the- first rank who are allying themselves with this
movement.

This we believe to be a fair statement of the situation in Illinois
today. Quoting from a paper by the present writer, read at the
fifty-third annual meeting of the Illinois State Teachers' Associa-
tion, in 1906, on "What has been accomplished by the Nature-
Study Movement," "The advance line thrown out fifteen years
ago comprised three groups of skirmishers: First, those whose
aim invariably was too high, who overshot the mark; second,
those who in the midst of battle found themselves devoid of

charlhs] THE XATUKE-STUDY SITl'ATIOX IX ILLIXOIS 283

ammunition ; third, here and there a sharpshooter who did valiant
service. With this unorganized and ill-formed skirmish line
defeat was inevitable. A retreat was ordered. The lines are
now reforming ; there is a better understanding of the purpose of
the assault. There is more bullet and less powder. We are all
but ready for the forward movement, but as the bugle sounds,
may we plunge into the fray well armed and fully comprehending
the plan of the campaign. ' '

It may not be unbecoming to note that Illinois, agriculturally,
grants precedence to no other State. Producing 300,000,000
bushels of corn, she is growing men who can handle corn intelli-
gently. With Hopkins and others blazing the way, with Dean
Davenport directing a large corps of investigators and himself
spreading the gospel of education for efficiency, with Hall, Farr,
Barto and many others at work in the Farmers' Institutes and a
progressive body of land owners throughout the state, agriculture
is fast assuming the aspect of a profession. The University of
Illinois through its School of Agriculture is initiating young men
into the secrets of the soil and in increasing numbers these trained
men are returning to the farms.

The State has had its quota of advanced workers in the nature-
study movement. Jackman stood as a foremost leader, coming
from Pittsburg to Chicago to ally himself with the forces under
Colonel Parker. A host of others have been worthy contributors
to the cause — Forbes, Colton, Coulter, McMurry, Caldwell, Kern,
Mann, are but a few names which come to mind. In the normal
schools, in the high schools and in very many elementary schools
are found teachers in whose hands nature-study values do not
suffer. Many college and university men are contributing
generously to the popularization of science. A State commission
of educators, through the initiative of Governor Deneen, is
engaged in the work of codifying the school laws and studying
the entire educational system with a view to recommending
needed changes. The movement toward agriculture, manual
arts and industrial education in general is very marked.

We are fortunate in securing for this number of The Review
articles from State Superintendent Blair and Dean Davenport.
Mr. Blair is devoting himself with untiring energy and enthusiasm
to the betterment of the school system, and has not overlooked
the needs of the countrv schools. One of his innvoations last fall

284 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [4:9-1)110,1908

was a proclamation appointing Friday, November 6, as Corn
Carnival Day in all the country schools of the State, and Friday,
November 13, as Corn Exhibition Day, to be held, if possible, in
the office of the county superintendent of each county. With the
opportunity which he has of viewing the work of the entire State
his paper estimating present conditions is of much interest.
Dean Davenport has been attracting much attention of late
through his masterly addresses on the subject of industrial educa-
tion and education for efficiency. His views on the subject of
special agricultural high schools are well known. His statement
of values in nature-study and agriculture should be especially
suggestive to all workers in these fields.

In company with a county superintendent the writer has
recently visited a number of one-room rural schools. Driving an
automobile which over fair roads made a mile in two minutes we
were able to enter seven schools during the day and to witness
actual work in three of them. With about 150 such schools
scattered over a large county, with endless details of office work
to attend to, to say nothing of the graded schools of the county,
the personal visitation of the isolated school by the county
superintendent is at best infrequent. In fact, a visit from any-
one is a rare event. Many directors never visit the school. The
only assistance or guidance afforded the inexperienced and un-
trained teacher (whose name is legion) is found in the few hurried
words of the visiting county superintendent. The service ren-
dered by this official, devoted to his calling and the possibilities
for good in the way of correction, counsel, admonition or en-
couragement can scarcely be overestimated.

A number of county superintendents of Illinois who are known
to be actively interested in the problems of the rural school were
asked to contribute brief statements of the situation in nature-
study and agriculture in their respective territories. Some failed
to reply, but the following may be taken as typical :

Co. Supt. Cyrus Grove, of Stephenson County, writes: "In an
elementary way we have been endeavoring to study nature
instead of studying about nature. Agriculture in the schools is
no longer a vague hope, but a present reality. Nature's practical
book has remained sealed only too long." He directs his teach-
ers to do as a minimum the work in agriculture as outlined in the
State course of study. In the semi-annual examinations given

chaflbs] THE NA TURE-STUD Y SITU A TION IX ILLIXOIS 285

throughout his county the pupils from first grade up are examined
in rudiments of agiicultural lore.

Co. Supt. B. C. Moore, of McLean County, writes: "Most of
our schools do something along the lines of nature-study and
agriculture. The aim is not very clear in the minds of many
teachers, but some very good results are obtained. It is observed
that pupils are made more observant, more interested in the
ethical and practical phases of their environment and become
better thinkers. The communities for the most part support the
work 'because the teacher wants it so' and because the children
are interested. They scarcely see the meaning. In some in-
stances, however, parents actually object to nature-study and
agriculture. Teachers generally are not well prepared for the
work, either from the standpoint of knowledge or method. The
present trend is for the teaching of these things, and the needs are
for prepared teachers and some good nature-study courses that
will outline good material, not all to be done, which will be general
and pedagogical in its nature."

Co. Supt. G. W. Conn, Jr., of McHenry County, writes: "There
has been a marked increase in the interest in out-door art, agricul-
ture, nature-study, and the general improvement of rural condi-
tions in McHenry County in the last few years. This manifesta-
tion of a deeper sympathy for nature and its improved forms is
due to several different causes.

"The Farmer's County Institute has been a potent factor in the
awakening. However, this has been greatly strengthened by the
County Federation of Rural Forces, an organization that unites
the forces of seven or eight distinct county organizations. This
association in its efforts to biing about "a greater symmetry and
higher form of rural community life" has stimulated the public
consciousness along the lines of scientific agriculture, out-door
art, household arts and nature-study that is economic, aesthetic
and humanitarian.

"Farmer's clubs have been formed that hold several local insti-
tutes during the year. These are probably the most effective of
any of our local organizations in promoting all of the afore men-
tioned lines of interests as well as inducing a higher type of institu-
tional life for the country neighborhood. The Riley Country Club
stands out preeminent in its successful undertakings andfin its

286 THE NA TURE-STUD Y REIVE W [4:9-dec, 1908

unique method of working and organizing its forces. These
clubs promise much for the future.

"Work among the young people of the county who are largely
residents of the farming districts has not been wholly desultory in
its character. Corn contests have been held. Three country
schools have done some work with the Babcock tester. This
aroused unusual interest among the farmers who are patrons ot
the country schools. It touched the home on the economic side,
this being a dairy county, and established a strong point of con-
tact between the school and the home. The introduction of that
phase of agriculture into the schools that has closest economic
reference to the community life cultivates a school sentiment that
will not only "permit" the general study to be introduced into
the country school, but will demand its introduction.

• ' A Dairy JudgingContest was held in one community last spring.
The school lasted for two days. During this time the boys, and
the girls too, received instruction from a University man on the
characteristics of a good dairy cow. The third day was devoted
to the contest. Thirty-two contestants enrolled, twenty-four
boys and eight girls and a high school girl won. She will be given
her expenses to the short term of the University during the com-
ing winter. We are planning two more contests.

"The school teachers of the county have not been idle. They
have done the best they could with the time and equipment at
hand. Sewing has been taught in the schools. Household arts
has received some attention. Agriculture, as stated before, has
been attempted with some degree of success. One of our city
systems, Marengo, has introduced this subject into its eighth
grade for the coming year. School-gardens have been planted
and tended in many schools of the county for the past four or five
years. This fall, though the ground is dry for five feet below the
surface, the county superintendent in his visitations has seen
several flower beds in school yards with the flowers still blooming,
and in two instances the yards were unfenced. This indicates
initiative and perseverance on the part of the teachers.

"On the whole we feel that we are doing some things that need
to be done and that our county is better for the doing."

Co. Supt. 0. J. Kern, of Winnebago County, is known through-
out the country for his advanced stand for the country school.
Consolidation of rural schools, beautifving buildings, rooms and

charles] THE XA TURE-STUD Y SITU A TION IN ILLINOIS 287

grounds, boys' clubs, libraries, etc., are among the interests
which he has been instrumental in promoting. He publishes
annually a report of the Winnebago County Schools which is
richly illustrated and filled with data and suggestions for all who
are interested in the improvement of rural schools and the amelio-
ration of country conditions.

Physiology in Illinois Elementary Schools.

A presentation of the situation in Illinois would be incomplete
without reference to the matter of "scientific temperance instruc-
tion." A bill passed in 1897 through the efforts of the W.C.T.U.
prescribes that "the nature of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics
and their effects on the human system" shall be taught every year
for ten weeks in every grade below the second year of the high
school (three lessons per week in primary grades and four lessons
per week in all others), from text-books in the hands of the pupils
(except in primary grades, where the teacher shall teach from
such texts), said text-books to give "at least one-fifth their space
to the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks and narcotics."
Pages in a separate chapter at the end of the book are not to be
counted, and high-school texts "shall give not less than twenty
pages" to the drink and narcotic feature.

This law, still in force with suitable fines attached, has been
severely attacked and warmly defended. Finally, at its 1906 meet-
ing, the State Teachers' Association appointed a committee of six
representative school men to confer with a similar committee
from the Illinois W. C. T. U. to consider and recommend changes
in the statutes governing the teaching of physiology and hy-
giene. As brought out in the meetings of this joint committee,
the present law is objectionable for several reasons — as is doubt-
less patent to teachers who read this statement. Literal com-
pliance with the law is rarely met with; open violation is com-
mon; many high schools graduate pupils with no instruction in
physiology — a fact to be deplored.

Much good was accomplished through the meetings of the joint
committee. However, no result was reached, as it developed
that the W. C. T. U. committee was appointed to confer, but not
to concur in recommending any change in the law. At the 1907
meeting of the State Teachers' Association its committee re-
ported, recommending changes in the law. The committee was

288 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW |4:9-dec. ,908

continued, with instructions to present the proposed bill to the
legislature. It is assumed that this bill will come before the ses-
sion of the legislature this winter. The Illinois W. C. T. U. is
opposed to any change in the law, being satisfied with the present
statute and fearing that to bring the matter before the legislature
may endanger the existing provision.

It is indeed unfortunate that two bodies of earnest workers in a
common cause should differ so radically in their convictions. It
would seem that methods of instruction should be determined by
authorities in pedagogy rather than by laymen, just as medical
treatment is determined by the physician. No one objects to the
state passing upon the qualifications' of a candidate for the medi-
cal profession, but, once qualified, he should resent dictation as
to his mode of procedure in a given case. This is met by the
argument that without legal enforcement the subject of tem-
perance is neglected.

It is simple justice to state that many members of the Illinois
W. C. T. U., including some of the State officers, sympathize with
the contention of the teachers' committee and grant the validity
of the arguments against the present statute. On the other
hand, certain activities so clearly indicate the attitude of at least
some who wear the white ribbon that it may be worth while to let
the facts be known.

Since the publication of the report of the Committee on Phy-
siology* of the Illinois State Teachers' Association, the members
of that committee have been in receipt of a number of communi-
cations from ministerial associations throughout the State pro-
testing against any change in the present law. Courteous replies
to these and inquiries concerning the basis of action has revealed
the fact that many if not all of these protests were prompted by
an appeal from Miss Marie Brehm, then vice-president of the
Illinois W. C. T. U., and that in at least a portion of these cases—
if not all — the action was voted without any hearing or investiga-
tion of the teachers' side of the argument. Later (in May, 1908,
A. D.!) the following petition appeared and was given circulation
through the State by members of the women's organization.

*This may be obtained from J. E. Armstrong, Englewood High School,
Chicago.

charles] THE NA TURE-STUD Y SITU A TION IN ILLINOIS 2 89

While its sources are understood, be it said that it did not emanate
from the State headquarters. The document reads:

To the President and Members of the Board of Trustees of North-
western University, Evanston, Illinois:

Whereas, the name of Professor G. A. Coe, of Northwestern
University, appears in the list of members of a teacher's commit-
tee which propose to ask the Illinois legislature to repeal the law
requiring instruction in the public schools of the State in Phy-
siology and Hygiene with special reference to the nature and
effect of alcoholic liquors upon the human system. We, the
undersigned members of the Methodist Episcopal Church hereby
enter our protest against the use of an institution so conspicuously
identified with Methodism as Northwestern University, or any of
its professors or representatives, for the purpose of depriving the
children in the public schools of Illinois of the law which provides
for their instruction against the great evils of alcoholic liquors and
other narcotics.

We demand the withdrawal of the name of Professor Coe from
such effort, or his resignation from the faculty, for we cannot
conscientiously send our children to Northwestern University or
recommend the institution to others for the education of their
children unless this stigma on our temperance principles is re-
moved.

Such a document savors of the middle ages or the inquisition.
To the credit of the State president, Mrs. Mary E. Kuhl, the fol-
lowing was issued immediately from State headquarters:

BULLETIN No. 4
Most Important
Dear Comrades:

A circular letter, with a petition to be circulated against Pro-
fessor Coe, of Northwestern University, one of the members of
the Committee of Educators appointed to confer with us, has
been sent out to the several unions of the State.

Said letter and petition are unofficial and unauthorized, nor
has such petition or such action ever been ordered bv the State
\V. C. T. U.

Our mid-year executive body did order that a committee of
one hundred leading educators of the State be asked to make care-

290 THE NA TURE- S TUD V RE I rIE W [4:9-dec. , 1908

ful investigation of our Scientific Temperance Instruction Law-
relative to its merits. Said investigation has been going on with
profit, and results in most cases, for the retention of our law by
the several parties.

The Illinois W. C. T. U., stands for the present law without any
change, but to circulate a petition against any one member of a
duly appointed committee is most unwise, unjust and uncalled
for, it is a drastic measure which certainly cannot be approved by
our white-ribboners.

Therefore, as State President, I herewith urge our women not
to circulate said petition for it will work untold harm to our cause.

Mary E. Kuhl,

Chicago, May 20, 1908. President of Illinois W. C. T. U.

Two days later appeared the following rejoinder, which only
too plainly verifies our worst suspicions as to the animus of those
who are crying for an operation to remove this "stigma" from
their "temperance principles."

To I he Local Unions of Cook County:

Chicago, May 22, 1908.
Dear Co-Workers:

Upon my return home last night, I was informed that our
County President, Mrs. Emily Hill, had called me over the tele-
phone for an immediate interview. This morning I responded to
the emergency call before breakfast. The occasion of the call was
a Bulletin issued by our State President, Mrs. Kuhl, calling atten-
tion to the circulation of a remonstrance among Methodist peo-
ple. Your union has doubtless received Bulletin No. 4, so you
know to what I refer. As County Superintendent of the Scientific
Temperance Instruction department, I wTish to call your attention
to the fact that this remonstrance is a Methodist document circu-
lated and signed by Methodist people, urging the recall of Prof.
Coe's name from the list of the Teacher's Committee, which is
urging the repeal of our state law requiring instruction in Phy-
siology and Hygiene, etc.

Another item to consider is that this law is a State Law, for the
instruction of all the school children who are being educated at
the expense of the State, and any group of people has a right to
protest against the use of any of its representatives or institutions

charies] THE NATURE-STUDY SITUATION IN ILLINOIS 291

being used to repeal a law which is so beneficent in its require-
ments, and so necessary for the salvation of the people of Illinois
from the burdens and iniquities of the liquor traffic.

Mrs. Hill does not pretend to send this petition referring to
Prof. Coe as an official W. C. T. U. document, but is sending it as
a representative and at the expense of Methodist people, and not
at the expense of the Cook County W. C. T. U. treasury. Per-
sonally, were I a Methodist, I would consider it a privilege to sign
my name to such a document, for the great Methodist church has
a world-wide reputation for its pronounced stand on the Temper-
ance question.

It is to be regretted that a representative of its most famous
educational institution, in Miss Willard's own town of Evanston,
should have allowed his name to be used in connection with the
attack on our S. T. I. law, particularly in view of the fact that the
law does not affect him as an educator.

As County Supt. of S. T. I. work, I rejoice that the battle is
reaching beyond the circle of the W. C. T. U., not only in Cook
County but all over the State of Illinois, and is enlisting the activi-
ties and influences of the religious denominations and temperance
people of the entire State. Urging your most earnest co-opera-
tion for the retention and preservation of the law, and with faith
for victory, I am,

Hopefully yours in White Ribbon bonds,

Marie C. Brehm,
Cook County Supt. of S. T.I.

While such sentiments as the above are not shared by all mem-
bers of the W. C. T. U., it cannot be denied that the dissemination
of such literature has its prejudicial effect upon local unions
generally.

The Illinois Watch Tower, published in the interest of the Illi-
nois W. C. T. U., in its issue of March, 1908, devotes much space
to a discussion of scientific temperance instruction and a com-
parison of the present law with the proposed bill. For anyone
who wishes to familiarize himself thoroughly with the nature of
the W. C. T. U. argument the reading of this issue of the Watch
Tower is recommended.

It now appears that a petition has been circulated in Chicago
calling upon the Board of Education of that city to remove from

292 THE NA TURE- S TUB Y RE VIE W

office (or from pernicious activity in attempting to improve the
method of instruction in hygiene) Principal J. E. Armstrong, of
the Englewood High School, Chicago, chairman of the State
teachers' committee.

Local option has carried in a large portion of our Illinois terri-
tory and if the movement continues it may be that this "scienti-
fic" bone of contention may be snatched from the contestants by
an awakened citizenship.

MANAGING EDITOR'S NOTES

A Correction: In making up the page proof of the November
issue the last paragraph on page 250 was displaced from Pro-
fessor Coulter's discussion on page 251.

Directory of Members of A. N. S. S. has been delayed because
of new members added to 1908 list and many changes. It will
be supplementary to the January or February number of this
magazine.

Index to Vol. 4 will be mailed with January or February
number .

JXDEX

291

Agricultural education, 30, 65-74,
93, 98, 159, 167, 202, 261-264,

6 1

.> 1 >

Index to Vol. IV, 1908

[Names of contributors are printed in small capitals. Abbreviated titles of books
reviewed are in quotation marks. The abbreviation n.-s. for nature-study is used.]

Chickens in n.-s., 2ig

Children as naturalists, 28-30, 52-

57
Clements, F. L., n.-s. and science,

4 1 "4 3

Clute, W. X, children as natural-
ists, 30

Cole, A. If.. "Biological Projection,'

gi

College Science and n.-s. teachers,
242-246; college work in n.-s.,
123, 181, 1Q3, 242

Committee, organizing A. X.-S. S.,

-10,

Aigrettes, 107, 199
American Xat tire- St tidy
Secretary's notes, 1-

!()(), 234, 237, 2g2

Animals, as criminals, 97;

ing of, 139
Arbor day, 200, 25S
Astronomy, in n.-s., 60-63

Society,
85, 131,

reason-

Bailey, L. H., n.-s. outlook, 169

Bai.this, F. K., window gardens,
27'.

Benedict, H. M., field trip m n.-s.,
125

Bigelow, E. F., naturalist's nut-
look, 27; editor "Guide to
Nature," 99

Bigelow, M. A , n.-s. and science,
33-40, 49-51; school-garden, 81 —
84; lessons observed, 86-88;
training teachers, 178-182; or-
ganizing lessons, 203; notes and
reviews, 10, 30, 62, 63, 64, 91;
agriculture and science, 254;
keeping boys on the farm, 255—

25 7

Birch, 167

Bird study, 58, 59, 64, 95, 133, 197,
198, 222—226, 258, 270

Blanchan, X., "Birds every child
should know," 64

Blair, F. G., n.-s. and other sub-
jects, 259—260

Boys, in country, ()2\ problem of
sex instruction, 200

Braam, M., discussion, 252

Brownell, H., n.-s. and high-
school science, 60-63

Burns, L. B., discussion. 185

Burroughs, J., animal reason, 139

California number, May, 141 — 167

Cats and birds, 95

Charles, F. L., n.-s. and science,
45; training teachers, 185; editor
tor Illinois (Dec.) number; n.-s.
situation in 111., 284-291

Connecticut n.-s., 138

Conservation of natural resources,
201

Coxsidixe.S., independent observa-
tion, 231

Constitution of A. X.-S. S., 5

Corson, D. B., elem. science in
Newark, 2 14

Coulter, J. G., n.-s. and science,
43; training teachers, 251

Coulter, S., n.-s. and science, 10—
16, 85; training teachers, 183

Coulter's "Practical Nature-Study,'
200

Country schools, 92, 93

Crosby, D. J., agricultural educa-
tion, 30, 71-74

Cummixgs, H. H., physical n.-s.
190

Dandelions, 95
Darwinism, 63
Davis, B. M., n.-s. in primary

grades, 102-1 10
Davenport, E., recent aspects of

n.-s., 261—264
Dearxess, J., on observation, 190
Dellixger, 0. P., training teachers

176—178
DuBois, E. E., n.-s. in city and

rural schools, 249
Dwyer, M. A., toad's eggs, 227

Editorial notes, 10, 50, 49—51, 62
Eddy, W. H., "Generaf Ph\ si-
ology," 91

294

/ HE . \ 'A Tl A'E-S TUD Y RE I '//•. / / '

Fairbanks, II \Y , editor Cali-
fornia number (May) 141— 166;
n.-s. in Cal., 1 63- 1 66
Ferguson's "Elementary Agricul-
ture," 258
Field trips, 1 25

Finley's "American Birds," 258
Fisher, R. B., school-garden, 76, 77
Flowers, garden for wild, 229
Flowers, to keep cut, 1 39
Forestry, 64, 95, 160, 167, 201

Game Protection, 95, 133

Ganong, W. F., nature and science

courses, 242—246
Graham, A. B., elementary agri-
culture, 65-70
"Guide to Nature," 99, 201
Gtilick, L. H., books on hygiene, 91
Guyer, M. F., editor Ohio number
(April); fundamental needs of
n.-s., iii—i 1 <)

HARGITT, I)., training teachers, 192
Hawkins, L. S., methods in n.-s.,

247
Health League. 198
Hoak, C. M., n.-s. in Cal., 155
Hodge, C. F., n.-s. and science, 16-

20; game birds, 133-137 ; college

biology and teachers, 193-196;

passenger pigeons, 251; referred

to, 242
Holt?., F. I. .27; "Nature-Study,"

200
Huntington's "Poison Ivy and

Swam]) Sumach," 202
Hydrophobia, [99
Illinois, n.-s. in, 259-292; special

number, Dec, 259-292
Insect books, 202
Interest in n.-s., 4, 90
I vy, poison, 202

Johnson, R.
school, 1 50

()., n.-s. in normal

Kays, V. C, the Swaney school,

27 1-275
Kellogg, Y. L., "Darwinism Today,"

63

Language and n.-s., 220

Lessons in n.-s., 61, 86-89, I25_I27>
148-149, 205, 227, 233

us, II. X., children as natural-
ists, 52 ; n.-s. in Ct., 138

Mann, ('. R., n.-s. and science, 20-
24

Mann, J. R . robin's nest, 265—270
Maple, bird's eye, 199
MATHEWSON, C. A., notes, (14, 92-

98, 138-140, 167
McCready, S. B., n.-s. and science.

46
McMuRRICH, J. P., address, 4, 90
Meyers, I. B., n.-s. and science. l8
Miller, L. H., n.-s. in normal, \/\ 1
Miller, L. K., school-gardens a1

Cleveland, 78-80
Moon, lessons on, 61
Moore, E., n,-s. in X. J., 208
Mosquitoes, 86-89, 94, 96
Mushrooms, 96

Naturalist's Outlook, 27, 52-57
Nature-Study, relation to science,
10-24, 33 — 5 1 , 60—63; lessons, 61,
86—88; fundamental needs, 1 1 1 ;
methods, 120, 247; in primary
school, 102; physical, 1 56; practi-
cal, 265-271; philosophy of, 206:
see also agriculture and school-
gardens; Nature readers, 221
Xew Jersey, October number, 206-

2.vt

New York City Section of A. X.-S.

S.. 25—27, 132, 241
Nominations A. X.-S. S., 238
Normal schools and n.-s., 141-750,

i73-I93. l88

"Observation," 189, igo, 231
Officers 1908, of A. N.-S. S., 3
Ohio number, 10T-130
Organization of n.-s., 38, 102. 203,

2 45
Osborn, H., n.-s. at Ohio State
Univ., 1 23

Palmer, C. F., children as natural-
ists, 28

Patterson, A. J., training teachers
191.

Pearson, M. A., wild-flower gar-
den, 229

Peat, 140

Perkins, F. M., defective methods
in n.-s., 120— 1 22

Physical n.-s., 190

Physiology in 111., 287-292; new
books, 91

Pigeons, passenger, 251

Plants, in schoolroom, 276;
in n.-s., 138

Praeger, W. E., n.-s. and science,

43
Projection methods, 91

INDEX

295

Robisox, C.H., philosophy of n.-s.,
206; "Elementary Agriculture,"

258
Robin's nest, 265

School, consolidated, 271
School-gardens, 75-84, 94; books

on 201; wild-flowers, 229; 211-

214; Montclair, 234; window, 276;
Science, relation to n.-s., 10-24, 53

51, 60-43; anc* big words, 95;

elementary, in Newark, 214;

relation to agriculture in high

school, 254
Sections of A. X. S. S., 239
Sex instruction, 200
Shepherd, J. W., n.-s. and science,

44; training teachers, 1 73-176, 189
Shilling, W. T., n.-s. in normal

school, 144-149
Sycamores, and blight, [98
Swaney school, 27 1

Temperance instruction, 287-292

Toad, 93, 227

Trafton, G. H., bird study, 58, 59;

training teachers, 186-188; note

on bird study, 197; editor of X.

J. number (October), 206-234;

notes, 2 1 0-2 13
Training taechers of n.-s., 141-150,

158, 173-196, 242, 251
Tree study, 96, 2T7; see also

forestry

Uehi.ixg, E., n.-s. at home, 222

Van Xostaxd, M. L., Practical
experiments, 233

Weed, C. M., school-garden helps,

Weed. ('. M. "Tree Study," 96
Wilson, Alexander, 199
\Y< lives, 93

MBL WHOI LIBRARY

H 1ART A