88 THE PLANT WORLD 



be applied, the interdependence of individuals, the interrelation of physi- 

 cal laws, the inability surely to forecast results, and the difficulty in read- 

 ing many of them correctly, all prove these sciences of great value for 

 the training needed. Here the child may and should use the methods 

 he will be forced to use later. Here the child may become an original 

 investigator ; the pupil who completes successfully one piece of work 

 must assume the attitude of a scienti.st toward a new invention, a busi- 

 ness man toward a new venture, or that of a professional man in adopting 

 a new method. 



Believing this, the following experiment was made with a class of 

 seventh grade (year) boys. There were seventeen in the class, from ten 

 to fourteen years of age, and showing the usual range of mental equip- 

 ment and facility. Beside the language-nature work, the class had had 

 little work of the kind, especially in the grammar grades. This was due 

 to certain conditions beyond control ; not because the subject was not 

 part of the course of study. 



The boys were told that they were going to make a tree book — one 

 that their people at home could use to name the trees. The tree books of 

 Professor Apgar and Miss Keeler were held up and the illustrations shown, 

 but the keys or text were not shown nor referred to in any way. The 

 books were shown for the sake of the illustrations and to make the pupils 

 feel that the subject was worthy of effort. The class decided to make a 

 collection of leaves instead of drawing the leaves — a fortunate decision, 

 as they found it often necessary to refer to the leaves to correct errors or 

 to add omitted points. 



At the school store the pupils purcha.sed a package of unruled paper 

 for five cents and a manila cover (two for one cent). The paper and 

 the cover were perforated by two holes on one long side, but not tied 

 together until the work was completed. The leaves of various trees 

 were provided for the class. The class worked two hours a week, or 

 four periods of forty minutes each, of which ten minutes was usually given 

 for a study period. The work described below made a series of eighteen 

 lessons. 



Most of the work was individual work, but the class thought over the 

 suggestions or criticisms of any member, accepting or rejecting them as 

 the majority thought best. 



The silver maple and the sugar maple were taken first. The boys 

 began by writing full-sentence descriptions. Terms were given them 

 only when needed ; the boys were allowed to use any word their expe- 

 rience suggested (as wavy instead of sinuate, etc.), it being the thing, 

 not the term, which is important. Before all had finished the two trees 

 mentioned above one boy said that it would take a long time to write 

 about very many trees and even longer to name them from pages of 



