35* 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Good Work in Progress by Our Coun- 

 try Life Chapter. 



Middletown, Connecticut. 

 To the A A : 



I wish to tell you something about 

 the work of the Country Life Chapter of 

 the Agassiz Association. Having' been 

 guided somewhat by the plan of 

 the Meriden Chapter, we inserted 

 in our By-Laws this clause : "Each mem- 

 ber must agree to devote some time dur- 

 ing the year to the special problem des- 

 ignated by the Assignment Committee 

 and report results at one of the meetings 

 of the Chapter. 1 ' As yet our results rela- 

 tive to the special reports of members 

 on assignments have been rather indiffer- 

 ent. The tendency seems to be to regard 

 these assignments as burdensome rather 

 than recreative and this attitude we wish 

 especially to avoid. As I gather from our 

 history the original purpose of the Ag'assiz 

 Association was to create a love for na- 

 ture study by observation incidental to 

 healthful recreation. Erom a short ex- 

 perience I feel that our most successful 

 work has been in our field trips. On 

 one occasion about twenty members spent 

 a day at Mt. Higby near Meriden. We 

 walked the entire distance, about fourteen 

 miles in all. To some of us, girls es- 

 pecially, such a long tramp was a new 

 experience that opened up great possibili- 

 ties for enjoyment. Besides I am sure 

 that in climbing over the trap rocks we 

 gained more vivid ideas of their structure 

 than we could possibly have had from 

 anv single report. 



I do not mean to imply that individual 

 activity is on the decline. At a recent 

 meeting one of our members, a freshman, 

 gave a most fascinating account of his 

 work collecting moths and butterflies and 

 illustrated his talk with choice specimens 

 from his collection. Others are keenly 

 interested in birds, in ferns, and in 

 flowers. T am confident that when we 

 can get out into the woods and fields 

 again we shall have even better times 

 than we did last fall. 



At our meetings this winter papers have 

 been read by different members and some 

 very entertaining readings have been 

 given from such authors as Dallas Lore 

 Sharpe and Ernest Thompson Seton. 

 "Turtle Eggs for Agassiz," written by 

 the former author, nearly broke up one 

 of our meetings. Mr. John FT. Sage of 

 Portland has promise:! to speak to us 



soon on his work with birds. Before 

 spring opens we are planning to visit the 

 Pierson greenhouses in Cromwell, the 

 model dairy at the State Hospital farms 

 and the Portland sandstone quarries. 



A large addition to the high school is 

 being built and next year we are to have 

 a better equipped biological laboratory. 

 This room will be open to us for meet- 

 ings and we hope to start a museum then. 



At times we are a little discouraged 

 because of small attendance at meetings 

 but as there are so many high school 

 activities here, such a condition is not 

 surprising. When the warm spring days 

 come The Agassiz Association interest 

 will greatly increase. 



Very sincerely yours, 



G. L. Lawton, Pres. 



Saving the Vines. 



Farmington, Connecticut. 



To the Editor:— 



I am venturing to make a suggestion 

 to our readers. It may or may not ap- 

 peal to your fancy, but you are the 

 judge. It is this — that all lovers of 

 the country woodside help to train the 

 vines along the fences, instead of pass- 

 ing them by. My father, wdiose very 

 soul is in tune with nature, although 

 he (like myself) knows not the science 

 of it, spent much of our time last sum- 

 mer in helping the little tendrils of the 

 wild clematis, the wild honeysuckle 

 and ivy. As summer progressed, these 

 vines showed such gratitude, and as 

 we passed them they seemed to wish 

 to show it. So often these vines strug- 

 gle along the ground and so the pas- 

 ser-by does not see their beauty. 



Another suggestion. This same 

 good father, together with my mother, 

 the latter possessing the affection for 

 plants as for her children, and who 

 tucks the seeds into the ground just 

 as gently as she used to cover her lit- 

 tle ones at night, these good people 

 carried matches and paper and de- 

 stroyed the horrible caterpillar nests in 

 the wayside bushes. It took time and 

 trouble, but the results were good, and 

 then there was something so exhiler- 

 ating in the doing for the free wood- 

 side. 



With best wishes for your good "na- 

 ture" work, 



Yours truly, 

 (Mrs. Edward D.) E. F. Tenner. 



