1906] Nature Study No. 38. 173 



NATURE STUDY No. XXXVIII. 



School Exhibits of Pressed Plants. 

 By James Fletcher, Ottawa. 



Largely as an outcome of the Nature Study movement, much 

 attention has recently been given in rural schools to the formation 

 of collections of various Natural history objects. The apprecia- 

 tion of the value of this work has found expression in the efforts 

 made by the authorities of local Fairs and Exhibitions to encour- 

 age the teachers and scholars of their several districts, by offering 

 prizes to be competed for under stated conditions. It cannot be 

 doubted that the small expenditure involved has in the main been 

 amply justified by the results. There are, however, some features 

 of this work which may be advantageously considered by the 

 teachers when themselves entering upon these competitions or 

 persuading their scholars to do so. In this, as in every other kind 

 of work, the first consideration should be: Is it advisable? If 

 this is decided in the affirmative, then some definite idea should be 

 formed beforehand as to the educational use the effort is to be put 

 to and the way it is to be carried out. The writer has had many 

 opportunities during the past ten years of examining and judging 

 collections of plants, native woods and seeds, etc., which have 

 been entered for competition at various Exhibitions. In most 

 cases, there has been evidence of much energy, patience and care 

 in making and preparing the specimens for exhibition ; but there 

 have also been signs that the makers of some of the collections 

 have not quite understood the main principles involved in making 

 a collection at all, or ot making it educationally valuable. Most 

 of the short-comings seem to have been due to a lack of know- 

 ledge of what the results of long experience, gathered from many 

 different students, have shown is the best way to make a repre- 

 sentative collection of natural history objects. It is with the hope 

 of helping my many friends among the teachers and scholars of 

 our country that I write this note. 1 believe that the encourage- 

 ment of these natural history competitions, extended by Exhibi- 

 tion Associations, is a very wise one : from their own point of 

 view in the first place, the large number of visitors who invari- 



