THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED TO ALL PHASES OF NATURE-STUDY IN SCHOOLS 



Vol. 2 NOVEMBER, 1906 No. 8 



PROGRESS OF NATURE-STUDY IN CALIFORNIA 



BY B. M. DAVIS 



State Normal School, Chico, Cal. 



In the following account of nature-study in California I shall 

 attempt to present some of the most important facts with respect to 

 (a) its early history, (b) its progress and tendencies, (c) its promotion 

 through various factors and influences now at work. 



Early History of Nature Study in California 



It is difficult to determine when nature-study really began to be 

 introduced in the State. Although it is mentioned in several school- 

 manuals as early as 1894, it was certainly given a place in some 

 schools at a much earlier period (e. g. in Riverside County). It is 

 of interest to note that in the early '8o's entomology was a required 

 subject for the grades. For several years Cooke's "Insects, Injurious 

 and Beneficial," was used as a text-book in the schools. The scheme 

 was promoted chiefly by Matthew Cooke, then head horticultural 

 officer of California, with the idea of disseminating knowledge of 

 insects among public-school children, and thus indirectly aiding in 

 the preservation of crops from injurious insects. The plan never 

 worked, for it became almost from the beginning a prefunctory text- 

 book subject. In fact teachers paid barely enough attention to it to 

 carry out the letter of the law. The later conservative attitude of the 

 California teachers toward the introduction of nature-study may have 

 been, in part, due to this early experience with entomology , 



At the annual meeting of the State Teachers' Association of [896 

 nature-study was vigorously discussed. Two committees were 

 appointed to report at the next annual meeting: one on " the state of 



