2IO The Ottawa Naturalist. [February 



given to teachers who could take this extra time, for which a 

 special diploma and prize were awarded, and an additional provin- 

 cial grant of $100 when they were engaged in teaching in an efficient 

 rural school. This idea has been cariied out in a fuller manner by 

 Dr. James W. Robertson, director of the Sir William C. Mac- 

 donald Rural School Fund, when $175,000 were donated to 

 build the Macdonald Institute of Nature Study, etc., at Guelph, in 

 Ontario, and additional funds were provided for Nature Study 

 teachers and school garden demonstrations. 



For about twenty-four years the idea has been in the public 

 course of study, developing gradually from morphological to 

 biological observation — from the observation of forms to the 

 observation of action. For a number of years records have been 

 made of the biological and meteorological facts capable of being 

 accurately observed by pupils and verified by teachers, such as 

 the dates of first flowering, leafing and fruiting of plants ; the 

 migration of birds ; thunderstorms, frosts, high and low water, 

 etc. These have proven so valuable as scientific records, that for 

 some years they have been annually compiled into averages for 

 the different regions of the province as well as for the whole pro- 

 vince. The schedules have to some extent been utilized in the 

 other provinces of Canada, and a similar system has been intro- 

 duced in imitation of it into some of the schools of Denmark. The 

 main object of the scheme originally was to give some objective 

 work to the pupils on their way to and from school, to be reported 

 to the teacher in school. These schedules are being carefully 

 bound up into annual volumes, for the benefit of future students 

 of climatic and ecological conditions in the province. 



In the provincial course of study special directions are given 

 for each of the eight grades ot the common schools. The general 

 directions published in each school register give in brief form 

 the substance of the special directions published annually in 

 the "Journal of Education," which is the official bulletin of the 

 Department, sent free twice a year, in April and October, to each 

 school board in the province. These general directions, which 

 indicate the view taken by the Nova Scotia Education Depart- 

 ment of the character and importance of this elementary work in 

 the public schools, are as follows : 



I 



