184 The Ottawa Naturalist. [January 



when the thrill and ecstacy of life is in us and all about us ! The 

 turning of the soil and the feel of it in our hands ! Even though 

 our plants may later be destroyed by frost or cutworms, it is 

 worth the labor just to feel that contact with the warm and steam- 

 ing soil in spring. Then follows the sowing of the seeds, their 

 germination, thinning to ensure perfect development, cultivation 

 to conserve moisture, aerate the soil, and promote a heallhy 

 growth of the plant, the benefits of which are learned by experi- 

 ence and hence are never forgotten. With what expectancy he 

 watches the developing flower buds, and when, at last, the tender 

 petals expand, what pleasure is derived from studying the form 

 and color of the perfect flower ! 



The vegetable garden furnishes ample food tor thought as 

 well as for the table. Its economic value is only of secondary 

 moment to the true amateur. He grows his vegetables mainly 

 for the love of it, and hence watches his crop with quite diff'erent 

 feelings to the man whose livelihood depends on it. There are 

 few methods of studying nature that are at once so practical and 

 yet so delightful as gardening, for definite knowledge of nature's 

 methods is here obtained by personal observation, which is one 

 great object of Nature Study. 



Not only is the amateur gardener a true student of nature, 

 but he is a public benefactor as well. His garden is a delight to 

 all who see it. It improves the appearance of the city, town, or 

 place in which he dwells, and even if everyone who attempts to 

 follow his example does not catch his enthusiasm and the true 

 spirit, he will exert a very powerful influence for good. 



One of the most hopeful turns which Nature Study has taken 

 is the establishment of school gardens, where each child, with a 

 little garden of his own, prepares the soil, sows the seed, cares 

 for the plant, and where he should learn more about nature from 

 his own practical experience than could possibly be taught him by 

 another. If his garden is in a city, or town the child will prob- 

 ably be more interested at first in studying the growth of orna- 

 mental plants and perhapsof fruit and vegetables, for these are what 

 he has been brought most in contact with, and, in the teacher's effort 

 to create a love for plants and a definite knowledge of how they 

 grow, success will be quicker and surer if he begins with known 

 rather than with unknown objects. In the country, where pupils 

 are likely to become farmers or farmers' wives, special attention 

 should be paid to economic plants, such as wheat, oats, barley, 

 pease, corn, potatoes, grasses, and roots of various kinds, and 

 fruit. Here Nature Study will in part take the form of elementary 

 agriculture, although the main purpose, as elsewhere, should be 

 to uplift the mind of the child to a nobler conception of life, 



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