needham] field work RECORDS 205 



Drawings and diagrams are, and will continue to be, the principal 

 feature of laboratory records ; but they are much less available in 

 field work, for the obvious reason that in the field the conditions 

 for making good drawings are lacking. A notebook carried about 

 in one's hand may have a few graphic lines entered in it but hardly 

 a detailed and finished drawing. Sketches and diagrams of things 

 that can be rendered in a few simple lines are the practical limit. 

 To attempt more than this out-of-doors is to waste ^^aluable time, 

 for which there is better use. I have foimd my laboratory trained 

 helpers, one and all, inclined to grade field work drawings far too 

 much on their finish and far too little on their data-content. The 

 laboratory standard of details and finish is not applicable to field 

 work. 



2. Maps and place — diagrams. — These provide for graphic 

 records of a sort most useful in the field, where the spatial relations 

 of things in nature are to be set forth. They are quickly made, 

 they are easily read. They graphically recall the facts to memory ;. 

 they demand no special artistic ability. Blank maps need to be 

 supplied when a large area, such as a field or a stream, is studied: 

 for a small area or one with simple outlines, the student may make 

 his own map and then add the details. 



The limitations to the use of this sort of graphic record lie in 

 that but few things can be shown on a sheet without confusion : it 

 is applicable to showing broad relations — not abundant details. 



3 . Tables. — ^When close comparison of numerous characters of a 

 few classes is desirable there is no device more useftd than a table, 

 provided with column headings covering the points to be observed 

 and compared. In my course in the Natural History of the Farm, 

 I have used such a table for getting acquainted with the characters 

 of the local edible fruits: also, for other similar studies. The 

 fruits available in autumn are wild crabapple, hawthorns (several 

 species), wild grapes, choke cherry, bird cherry, mountain ash, 

 nannyberry (Viburnum lentago), spice-bush berry, poke berry, wild 

 gooseberry, hackberry, cranberry^ partridge berry, wintergreen 

 berry and several others. The colimin headings used have been: 



Kind of plant (herb, shrub or tree). 



Type of fruit (pom.e, drupe, berry, etc.). 



Cluster (diagram). 



Size (dimensions in mm.). 



Number of seeds. 



