702 Home Nature-Study Course. 



Some Expert Opinions on the Relation of Nature-Study to 



Agriculture 



"If the farmer as he trudges down the corn rows under the June 

 sun sees only clods and weeds, and corn, he leads an empty and a barren 

 life. But if he knows of the work of the moisture in air and soil, of the 

 use of air to root and leaf, of the mysterious chemistry of the sunbeam, 

 of the vital forces in the growing plant, of the bacteria in the soil liberat- 

 ing its elements of fertility ; if he sees the relation of all these natural 

 forces to his own work ; if he can follow his crop to the market, to foreign 

 lands, to the mill, to the oven and the table ; if he knows of the hundreds 

 of commercial products obtained from his corn or the animals that it 

 fattens ; he then realizes that he is no mere toiler ; he is marshaling the 

 hosts of the universe, and upon the skill of his generalship depends the 

 life of nations." — David Fclmlcy, President of the Illinois State A ornial 

 School. 



The art of agriculture and nature-study may overlap so that part of 

 nature-study may rest entirely upon agriculture. Indeed agriculture is so 

 vast that enough subject-matter may be drawn from it to constitute an 

 entire course of nature-study. Then this course would be agricultural 

 nature-study. It would be the method of nature-study applied to the 

 teaching of agriculture, but that would not make nature-study and agri- 

 culture identical any more than a selection of the subject-matter for 

 nature-study solely from the field of mineralogy would make mining and 

 nature-study identical. Nature-study is broad, inclusive, comprehensive. 

 It is an invaluable aid in the teaching of agriculture. It opens the way to 

 agriculture in the schools, by awakening interest and quickening observa- 

 tion, and creating a love for all out-doors, but it is not agriculture. — 

 Professor F. L. Stevens, Professor of Botany, North Carolina College of 

 Agricultxire and Mechanic Arts. 



"The pupil should be taught to follow from effect to cause and 

 from cause to elYect ; to classify objects; to correlate activities and ideas; 

 to observe in detail, and also to view the general relation of things. As 

 the personality of the teacher is the most important element in the school- 

 room, so the development of individuality in the pupil is the most im- 

 portant element of school work. The objects, the activities, and the per- 

 sonal contact with the teacher which comes from nature-study, often 

 prevent the narrowing efifect in methods of thought of mere book teach- 

 ing and avoids suppressing individual initiative. Nature-study may not 

 result in such apparent accumulation of facts as mere book work does ; 

 its greatest function is to prepare the pupil to acquire facts in after life 

 as they are needed." — Jf. M. Hays, Assistant Secretary, United States 

 Department of Agriculture. 



