l82 



The Ottawa Naturalist. [January 



easier to create an interest in things which are not of as practical 

 value; but much of the value of the lesson will depend on whether 

 it promotes a spirit of investigation in the student and helps his 

 powers of observation. Nature studies in class room« should be 

 with things with which the child will be sure to come in contact 

 with through life. Be it what it may, some practical turn should 

 be given to the study, although the arousing of interest in, and the 

 creating a love for, the beauties and wonders of nature should 

 always be one of the chief features of the lesson. Success in ob- 

 taining this object should be much more certain if one began with 

 the practical and used the theoretical to aid him, than if one began 

 with the theoretical and hoped to get something practical out of it. 

 The writer's main purpose in presenting this article is to 

 show, if possible, that the amateur gardener, as a student of 

 nature, combines the love for nature with the practical, in an 

 almost ideal way. I do not refer to the amateur as opposed to 

 the professional, but to the man, woman or child who grows and 

 cares for plants mainly for the love of it ; and it seems scarcely 

 possible that one can be a true lover of nature unless, as far as 

 his circumstances will allow, he prepares soil, sows seeds and 

 cares for plants ; for it is only in this way he can come into closest 

 communion with nature and become best able to understand and 

 appreciate the growth and development of the wild flowers and 

 forest trees. From personal experience he finds that some plants 

 succeed best in heavy soil and some in light ; that some require 

 much moisture and others comparatively little. His observation 

 becomes keener, and he soon perceives that when growing in their 

 native homes some species of plants will be found under certain 

 conditions of soil and moisture, and others under different con- 

 ditions. From his experience with beneficial and injurious m- 

 sects, he appreciates far more than he could otherwise do, the 

 effect these have on the growth and development of plants. He 

 is brought into daily and closer relation with the birds and soon 

 becomes familiar with their appearance and can identify all the 

 commoner species. 



It is a small garden, indeed, in which a robin or at least a 

 chipping sparrow does not built its nest. Hence there is an 

 opportunity for nearly everyone who has a garden, to study the 



