2 FARMERS BULLETIN 606. 



the solution of this problem that it is intended to deal particularly 

 in this bulletin. 



Materials for class use should, as far as possible, be fresh and in the 

 natural state rather than in mounted form, and will therefore gen- 

 erally be collected just prior to the time they are wanted and put 

 away only temporarily. No great degree of care or skill will, in 

 general, be necessary to do this, but the preparation of materials for 

 the permanent collection in a school museum often requires con- 

 siderable technical knowledge and ingenuity in preparing and pre- 

 serving the specimens and preparing convenient receptacles in which 

 to keep them. This is particularly true where the means at hand are 

 limited and the resourcefulness of the teacher must be rehed upon to 

 produce inexpensive methods and devices of home manufacture. 



SOURCES OF THE MATERIAL. 



In recent years many commercial houses, educatiqnal institutions' 

 and Government bureaus have distributed collections of specimens 

 and samples of various sorts to schools. Such collections are of 

 great value, undoubtedly, and there is no objection whatsoever to 

 schools securing materials from such sources whenever possible, so 

 long as they do not rely upon these sources for all their illustrative 

 material. It is, however, a much better policy to attempt, as far as 

 possible, to have the pupils collect and prepare their own materials 

 from original local sources, because of the possibihtios for educative 

 work involved in the process of gathering the various specimens. 



Every community affords opportunities for collecting insects and 

 other materials of vital importance in the study of agriculture, and 

 the work of gathering these specimens will afford definite tasks upon 

 which to center the interest of numerous field trips, so that the 

 danger of aimless wandering, which so frequently makes this method 

 of instruction devoid of practical results, may be minimized. The 

 instructor who takes liis class out into the field or orchard with the 

 definite purpose to collect insects, for example, has the very best 

 possible opportunity at the same time to teach, not only identifica- 

 tion of the local insect species, but also useful facts as to their eco- 

 nomic importance. 



GENERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR FIELD WORK. 



It is important that the pupils should be provided with notebooks 

 and pencils for ma'king complete and accurate records which should 

 be kept for each specimen collected, in order to supply the data neces- 

 sary for the proper labehng of the mounted specimen. 



All work of this sort should be constructive and never destructive. 

 Wanton destruction of insects, except those which are injurious to 

 man or his crops, should be denounced and the young encouraged to 

 watch the living insects and learn all they can of their habits. 



