274 NA T URE-ST UD Y RE VIE W [13 :6— Sept. , 1917 



Before ]Mr, Oldy's arrival, study classes had been held in the public schools for 

 children in the afternoon and for adults in the evenings. The bird specimens 

 so freely loaned by Director Hoffman of the Carnegie Museum were of great 

 assistance. The manual training classes of the public schools turned out 

 quantities of bird houses, which resulted in there being scarcely a garden in the 

 vicinity not supplied with one or more bird houses. 



North East has a wide-awake Nature Club which recently showed its vitality 

 by donating $5 to the National Audubon Society and by arranging to keep Bird 

 Lore magazine and The Monthly Star Map at the public library free of access 

 to all. 



The manner of conducting the meetings of this club is truly a model. 



Each member brings an exhibit of some specimen in which he is personally 

 interested and about which he has prepared a brief talk. At the May meeting 

 this included an exhibit of moths by Miss Ruth Porter, who showed five speci- 

 mens mounted under glass. Her talk told of gathering the cocoons from trees, 

 of cutting out the side of one so that she could see the changes of the pupa, and 

 how she finally saw the beautiful moth emerge. Miss Esther Leet showed a 

 lively pair of Pickering's tree frogs and told of their wonderful concerts in spring 

 and fall, and of how they change color, like the chameleon. 



Other exhibits and talks included a spotted salamander, novel mushrooms, 

 false and true mitrewort, staminate and perfect maple blossoms. Attention 

 was called to the fact that the showy cowslip blossom has no petals. 



Mr. L. B. Cushman talked on St. Petersburg, telling of the town, the climate, 

 the churches, the saloons, the birds and the snakes. 



Several teams were appointed for special summer work. One team will work 

 on ferns, another on moths and butterflies, another on mosses. The fern team 

 has eleven members and is doing individual work. 



RHODE ISLAND 



Rhode Island Normal School. The recent Arbor Day festivities of the State 

 Normal School, under the direction of Professor Wm. G. Vinall, were so exten- 

 sive and so inspiring in character that readers of The Review are going to 

 enjoy learning of the splendid Field Day in the Woods and of the special school 

 exercises, as we publish them in the October number of the magazine. 



Rhode Island State College is cooperating with the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 

 in the endeavor to reduce the cost of living. Garden and canning clubs have 

 been organized among the children and in local societies of men and women. 

 Bulletins, demonstrations, and lecturers are sent upon request. 



The Providence Chamber of Commerce through its Planting Da}' Committee 

 for 191 7, repeated in April the plan so successfully inaugurated a year ago for 

 the beautification of homes in the city. School children and factory employees 

 cooperated in the planting of 50,000 Bush Honeysuckles and Golden Bells. 

 Two days before the Planting Day, Mr, Carl Bannwart, of the Newark, N. J., 

 Shade Tree Commission, lectured on "The City Beautiful," to which the public 

 was cordially invited. 



Last year the Committee planted 23,000 Spiraea and Rose Bushes in hun- 

 dreds of yards. 



