THE STUDY OF LOCALITY. 



73 1 



and recorded, until school closed, 

 the lovely procession of the flower- 

 ing plants. One year we observed 

 the blooming of about two hundred 

 of our native plants of wood, swamp 

 and field. In this way the boys 

 gained some conception of the 

 wealth and variety of the Ottawa 

 flora. We also made a special study 

 of some one family throughout the 

 year. I inserted glass tubes in the 

 desks, and in these the boys were 

 able to keep flowers fresh and 

 beautiful. The boys also drew and 

 painted the plants and made orna- 

 mental designs from them.* 



During the spring, also, the 

 boys went to the woods and took 

 home trees or shrubs or flowering 

 herbs or ferns, according to their 

 choice, and planted them in their 

 gardens. Just before winter set in, 



The Natural History of Hemlock Lake. 



A Valuation Survey of Beechwood. 



the boys took home herbs from the 

 woods to have the pleasure of a bit 

 of spring in their homes in the 

 middle of winter. In this way we 

 induced hepaticas and spring beau- 

 ties to bloom at Christmas time, 

 and sweet cicely a couple of months 

 later, when the plants in the woods 



* For an account of the manual 

 work of the school see my article on 

 ' Manual Training ' in Acta Victoriana 

 for December, 1904. 



