viii Handbook of Nature-Study 



The writer's special work for fifteen years in Extension teaching has been 

 the helping of the untrained teacher through personal instruction and 

 through leaflets. Many methods were tried and finally there was evolved 

 the method followed in this volume : All the facts available and pertinent 

 concerning each topic have been assembled in the "Teacher's story" to make 

 her acquainted with the subject; this is followed by an outline for observa- 

 tion on the part of the pupils while studying the object. It would seem 

 that with the teacher's story before the eyes of the teacher, and the subject 

 of the lesson before the eyes of the pupils with a number of questions leading 

 them to see the essential characteristics of the object, there should result a 

 wider knowledge of nature than is given in this or any other book. 



That the lessons are given in a very informal manner, and that the style 

 of writing is often colloquial, result from the fact that the leaflets upon 

 which the book is based were written for a correspondence course in which 

 the communications were naturally informal and chatty. That the book 

 is meant for those untrained in science accounts for the rather loose termin- 

 ology employed; as, for instance, the use of the word seed in the popular 

 sense whether it be a drupe, an akene, or other form of fruit ; or the use of 

 the word pod for almost any seed envelope, and many like instances. Also, 

 it is very likely, that in teaching quite incidentally the rudiments of the 

 principles of evolution, the results may often seem to be confused with an 

 idea of purpose, which is quite unscientific. But let the critic labor for 

 fifteen years to interest the untrained adult mind in nature's ways, before he 

 casts any stones ! And it should be always borne in mind that if the author 

 has not dipped deep in the wells of science, she has used only a child's cup. 



For many years requests have been frequent from parents who have 

 wished to give their children nature interests during vacations in the coun- 

 try. They have been borne in mind in planning this volume; the lessons 

 are especially fitted for field work, even though schoolroom methods are 

 so often suggested. 



The author feels apologetic that the book is so large. However, it does 

 not contain more than any intelligent country child of twelve should know 

 of his environment; things that he should know naturally and without 

 effort, although it might take him half his life-time to learn so much if he 

 should not begin before the age of twenty. That there are inconsistencies, 

 inaccuracies, and even blunders in the volume is quite inevitable. The 

 only excuse to be offered is that, if through its use, the children of our land 

 learn early to read nature's truths with their own eyes, it will matter little 

 to them what is written in books. 



The author wishes to make grateful acknowledgment to the following 

 people: To Professor Wilford M. Wilson for his chapter on the weather; 

 to Miss Mary E. Hill for the lessons on mould, bacteria, the minerals, and 

 reading the weather maps; to Miss Catherine Straith for the lessons on 



