86 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



should become familiar with the Nature World of which every 

 child is a part, so that in manhood he can take his place in the 

 more complicated world of action. 



In one of the rooms which I visited regularly this spring as 

 special Nature Study teacher, the pupils were so interested they 

 would leave their seats and come to the desk without permission 

 with questions for me to answer. At last the teacher told them 

 they would have to remain after school if they did so again. 

 It had no effect. They came just the same and I was obliged to 

 tell them myself that they must stay in their seats if they wanted 

 me to talk with them. The school was one of the best disci- 

 plined, buf their interest in this study made them forget the 

 regulations of the school. The pupils in this school were no 

 exception to pupils in every school. Boys and girls the world 

 over love the fields and woods, the hills and brooks, and they 

 are always ready to respond w^hen they are appealed to by the 

 teacher. This teacher, as she leads them on from insect to 

 flower, must show them the inter-relation between the animal 

 and the vegetable world and the important part played by each 

 in the economy of Nature. 



She should teach them to be able to distinguish the beneficial 

 plants and insects from the poisonous and injurious, to know 

 where they live, and some of their characteristics and habits. 

 Under her instruction they would soon learn that some of our 

 most injurious insects are the beautiful moths and butterflies 

 and that thev should be destroyed ; that the ichneumon flv is 

 beneficial as it lays its eggs in the chrysalis of the moths and 

 butterflies, and that these when they hatch feed upon and destroy 

 the contents. She should also teach them to see the beauty and 

 art in all things pertaining to Nature, and above all the love 

 and nearness of the One who has put these wonderful things 

 here for us to see and enjoy. She should lead the child to 

 understand that he is a part of this grand subject and that he 

 has a special place in it, and nine times out of ten she will find 

 that Nature Study appeals to that big overgrown boy up there 

 in the back seat w^ho never studies but is always looking out 

 of the w'indow with a dreamy expression in his eyes. His 

 teacher calls him lazy and dull, but see how his eyes brighten 

 and his form straightens w-hen the Nature Study teacher comes 

 into the room. Watch him some day when he is playing truant 



