surrounding's in life, and find their daily duties less irksome, and iifather 

 information that will he helpful to them in overcoming dilliculties and in 

 working" for a share of the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life. 



The materials for nature study are everywhere, — the soil, the plant, 

 and the animal ; and the judicious study of soils and soil formation, or 

 useful and troublesome plants, or noxious and benelicial insects — first, 

 as objects of beauty or interest in themselves and afterwards as things 

 which are useful or troublesome to man — opens up a field of unending 

 pleasure and profit to the average boy or girl. 



The eyes, ears, and other organs of sense in children are wide awake 

 and keenly attentive ; and the one thing needed is nature-loving, well- 

 trained, competent teachers in the Public Schools, to direct and develop 

 ihe love for natural objects which is so strong from infancy to twelve or 

 fourteen years of age. 



One of the best aids -in fact the ever-necessary handmaid — of 

 nature studv is drawing. Nothing contributes more to exact and reli- 

 able information, say in the study of plants and insects, than an attempt 

 to draw a representation of the object or organ under examination. All 

 parts and the arrangement of parts, with every angle, curve, and peculi- 

 arity, must be noticed and represented in some way ; and I regret to sa\- 

 that there is nothing in which our Canadian teachers and schools are 

 more deficient than in this important branch of elementary education. 

 Bovs from England are far more proficient in drawing than Canadian boys 

 and girls ; and those who have given any attention to the subject, know 

 what excellent work is being done under this head in some of the leading 

 cities of the United States (say Boston, New York, and Philadelphia), 

 where everv teacher, in almost every division from the kindergarten up, 

 teaches drawing. The children at school in these cities are taught to 

 describe by some kind of diagram or drawing nearly everything they look 

 at or read about ; and the results are very satisfactory, — far beyond what 

 one would think possible in a Public School course. 



Those who have had experience, almost without exception, say that 

 nature study, properly pursued, does not interfere with ordinary schocil 

 duties. On the contrary, it breaks the monotony of school routine and 

 increases the interest in the regular school studies to such an extent 

 that the most and best book-work is done where a little time is given every 

 week to the examination and study of some portion of the great world of 

 nature around us. 



This Bulletin is, we think, the first formal attempt in the Province 

 of Ontario to present items of information and simple, common-place 

 incidents regarding natural objects, in the hope of interesting some of our 

 young people, and inducing teachers to undertake such work in the 

 Public and High Schools of the Province. These simple stories are, no 

 doubt, very imperfect ; but they constitute a beginning, — the opening up 

 of a very wide and interesting field for observation and study ; and with 

 more time and a careful selection of writers according to their special 

 tastes and aptitudes, we may be able to furnish something nearer what is 

 required in this important department of educational work 



