264 Bulletin 159. 



the Journal of Education, and one of the leading educational 



critics of the day : 



Permit me, in thanking you for a set of the Nature-Study Leaflets, to 

 say, from a fairly complete knowledge of what is being done educationally 

 throughout the country, that there is no attempt through the schools to 

 give a knowledge of nature and love for it that will compare for a moment 

 in efficiency with the New York plan. It is intelligent, comprehensive, 

 practical. The information is reliable — which is of prime importance — the 

 presentation is interesting, and everything is adapted to the schools, even 

 to untrained teachers. 



The influence of this work is being felt in the teaching of other subjects, 

 so that Nature-Study, under the patronage of the State, has a mission in 

 many phases of school work. 



It was our first thought and effort to introduce the nature- 

 study into the rural schools. But the strictly rural school is the 

 most difficult to reach. The number of pupils is usually small 

 and largely of the 3^ounger class, and patrons are easily led to 

 believe that economy lies in emplojang a cheap teacher (commonly 

 $5 to $6 per week), which means a teacher having minimum 

 qualifications. If perchance an apprentice is employed and she 

 shows enough progressiveness to take up nature-study, it is not 

 long before this is recognized and better wages are offered by the 

 village or town school, and she ceases to be a rural teacher. 



Great educational movements are formulated and promulgated 

 in the cities. They are copied by the villages and hamlets, and 

 some of the impulse finall}^ finds its way into the rural district 

 school. We were therefore obliged to cast our pebble in the cen- 

 ter of the pool and let the ripples work outwards. The cities took 

 up the work with enthusiasm and often with avidit}'. We now 

 begin to see the fulfillment of our hopes, for this 3^ear the 

 requests for leaflets are coming mostly from the villages and 

 cross-roads. 



A year ago the nature-stud}^ work was still in its experimental 

 stage, but we now feel that the greatest difficulties have been 

 overcome. Nature-study will not revolutionize the world, but we 

 believe that it is the most efficient single agency recently devised 

 of affording permanent relief to the farming industries. It is 

 natural, simple, fundamental, attractive. We are convinced 

 that this enterprise alone is worth all the energy and money 

 which has been devoted to the extension work. 



