STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. IO9 



We have heard about the possibilities of bulbs as nature study 

 subjects, and they certainly are among the most attractive of 

 plants for children to use. Here is a little class coming out to 

 examine the condition of their bulbs, as they are growing them 

 near the school yards. 



Then we have a number of groups of school children. In 

 Elmira a winter school has been doing splendid work. As 

 in other works, you will find certain cities, certain schools taking 

 the lead, and Elmira, Albany and Rochester are three of the big 

 cities in New York which have taken a decided lead in this 

 work. Here is a wonderful lesson. Sometimes the teachers 

 are rather hard put in the winter for material. Twigs, and if 

 they have them, window boxes, furnish useful material, and 

 classes of the more advanced pupils study the winter condition 

 of buds on fruit trees. They probably will have these in flower 

 later on. 



This work is not confined to New York, as you have heard 

 to-night. The spirit of nature study is in the air. In the South 

 it is taking hold of the schools. It is making headway, and 

 with even such apparently unpromising material as colored chil- 

 dren good work is being done. 



Perhaps you will be interested in seeing the faces of two or 

 three persons who have this work very near to their heart and 

 who have been most instrumental in carrying it on. This is 

 Mrs. Anna Bosford Comstock, the wife of Prof. Comstock, 

 author of Insect Life and Comstock's Manual, who is one of 

 the most effective workers at teachers' institutes in the state. 

 The next is Prof. L. H. Bailey, who has always had this work 

 very much at heart. 



And now as we are getting along to the end of our series, 

 and you may ask, "Is this work accomplishing anything? Have 

 you any tangible results ?" We who are connected with colleges 

 of agriculture naturally wonder if all our efforts are unavailing, 

 if the boys are still going to the cities. It is a very good thing 

 when you come to think of it that a great many of them are 

 going to the cities. It would be a bad thing for the cities if 

 they had to build up of their own material, if they did not draw 

 from the fresh blood of the country from time to time to infuse 

 new life, energy and intellectual vigor into their classes. Is 

 this work then doing anything? You see this letter is dated 



