Nature-Studv ox the Farm. 703 



Some years ago we received at Cornell a letter from a Canadian 

 farmer boy, and in this letter he says, " I have read your leaflet entitled 

 ' The Soil, What it is,' and as I trudged up and down the furrows every 

 stone, every clump of earth, every sandy knoll, every sod hollow had for 

 me a new interest. The day passed, the work was done, and I at least 

 had had a rich experience." Who would doubt that such a man having 

 such thoughts would plow a straighter furrow than he who sees only the 

 earth he turn's and the horses, which he perchance swears at as he goes on 

 his dull routine, blinder than the mole whose wonderful galleried house 

 his plow disturbs." — The Cornell Countryman. 



" The nature-study idea is fundamental to the evolution of popular 

 education. Therefore it may be applied — in fact, must be applied — to 

 all branches of education. It is bound to have a tremendous influence 

 in carrying a vital educational impulse to farmers. The accustomed 

 methods of education are less applicable to farmers than to any other 

 people, and yet the farmers are nearly half our population." 



" The ideals of nature-study are everywhere the same ; but the 

 methods and means are capable of endless modification. There is always 

 danger that too much emphasis will be placed on mere " learning " on 

 the part of the child or the pvipil. The real value of the extension work 

 with the young, lies in interesting, enthusing, inspiring them. Mere in- 

 formation, however valuable, will not cause a person to be a farmer, nor 

 incline him to live in the country. Of course the work must be practical 

 — that is, it must be truthful, direct, forceful, and must put the child 

 into intimate contact with his own life. It must aim to give him power 

 and enterprise rather than assorted facts — although the facts may be so 

 handled that they become the means and not the end." — L. H. Bailey. 



It should be the object of all nature-study work to put the pupil into 

 touch and sympathy with the natural world in which he lives, and to use 

 the objects and phenomena in this environment as a means of education. 



* * * * 



The best nature-study lesson is that which has relation to something 

 normal or native to the environment. The kind of tree that grows in the 

 school yard or along the road, the birds that frequent the school yard 

 and adjacent fields, the brook, the hills, the character of the soil, any 

 unusual or striking feature in the neighborhood — all these are proper 

 subjects for nature-study work. — Report of the Coinnn'ttee on Industrial 

 Education in Seliools for Rural Communities to the National Educational 

 Association, July, 1905. 



