1 2 THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [ 3 : ,— JAN ., , go7 



toadstools of different sizes, shapes and colors, as well as the many 

 kinds of curious pond scums, and other inhabitants of the ponds and 

 streams. The boys and girls of eight to twelve or fourteen years of age, 

 if properly handled, are full of interest in regard to all of these forms 

 of plant life. Here is the place where the book must be kept in the 

 background and the work in the field put to the front. Here is the 

 place for a great deal of field work. This is the time when field 

 work should be emphasized. And yet I should not for a moment be 

 understood as suggesting that the whole of the pupil's knowledge of 

 plants should be limited to his own observations. We must remem- 

 ber that the pupil is young and immature, and moreover, that with all 

 of the keenness of eye which he sometimes possesses, he is still in 

 most cases only an ordinary boy who sees only a small part of what 

 he might see were he older and better trained. So he must be led, 

 and his knowledge must be supplemented by what other observers 

 have seen. Thus if he has found a white pine in his rambles, have 

 him collect his own observations into definite shape and then let him 

 read a good account of it from some standard work like Sargent's 

 "Manual of the Trees of North America. " Bv this means his 

 knowledge is considerably increased, and he has the opportunity of 

 measuring his observations against those of men who have made a 

 prolonged study of the subject. He is led moreover to connect his 

 own observations and the knowledge he has acquired at first-hand 

 with the knowledge recorded in the standard books. In such con- 

 sultations of books he will find many references to things that he has 

 not seen, and these will send him back again to find whether he can 

 verify them for himself. 



So I would have him become acquainted with all of the trees in his 

 neighborhood. Let him study them and get all he can through his 

 own observations, but let him supplement this with what he finds on 

 record in a standard book. And among these standard books I 

 should include a botanical manual or two of the res: on, such as 

 Britton's "Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and Canada," 

 or Gray's "Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States." 

 Of course he will find some terms in the descriptions that he does 

 not understand, but this can be made a means of enlarging his vo- 

 cabulary, a matter of no small importance in the training of the 

 young. 



In like manner the grasses can be taken up with much profit, for 

 it is a very poor region, indeed, where there are not as many as fifty 



