98 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



|3 14— APR., 1907 



I thought that was the time that he got fooled. I took and put it in 

 the sun and then I cared for it. One time I got scart. It didn't 

 seem to grow one bit. I watered it about two times. I had been 

 watering it two much and the leaves begun to fade. Then I thought 

 it was a goner." 



Another pupil in the 4th grade writes: "I w r as interested in my 

 spinach (beet). I cut it off but not to the root and it came up three 

 times. Everytime I cut it off it would come up again and I took 

 good care of it myself, and spinach (beet) has a big leaf and we had 

 two or three meals off it and it came up again. I learned about my 

 spinach." 



The compositions go into all details about the work required in 

 raising the plants as in the following: "I got some seeds of beets 

 and cosmos at school. When I got the seeds I first went to the 

 greenhouse to get a flower-pot. I then dug up enough earth to fill 

 it, then mixed some manure with it. then when I had clone that, I 

 made it very fine and sifted it, then put it in the pot and put a little 

 water on it, then took a stick and made a small hole in the middle of 

 the pot, about one and a half inches deep, got the cosmos seed and 

 put four of them in." 



Not to weary our readers with commonplace compositions of 

 doubtful value, I shall close by quoting from two or three of the 

 eighth grade compositions, to show that valuable moral lessons are 

 learned from nature-study. One girl says: "I was quite pioud of 

 my flowers but there were many more beautiful flowers. I wondered 

 if the other girls and boys had misfortunes and joys and anxieties like 

 I had. But after all it taught me some good lessons. It taught me 

 that we have to have misfortunes, patience, woik, carefulness and 

 you get rewarded at last with a red ticket." 



I have no doubt this girl really learned these lessons. What more 

 could a teacher wish to accomplish with her pupils ? 



A boy planted some broom-corn in two ways — in hills and broad- 

 cast. He says: i4 I tried to see which would grow the fastest and I 

 soon found out. The seeds that were in hills grew fastest. I planted 

 seeds in the hills out in the sun and the rest under a butternut tree. 

 The stalks that were under the tree are weaker than those in the 

 sun." There are two facts, well worth knowing learned by exper- 

 iment. That boy developed considerable brain power along with his 

 gardening. 



1 have in my possession one composition of five closely written 



