12 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



our race, and that is still fundamental to a 

 good education, and that contributes largely 

 to one's enjoyment of his own environment. 



The best place to begin is near home . Any 

 large farm will furnish opportunities. It is 

 the object of the lessons that follow to 

 help you find the wild things of the farm 

 that are most nearly related to your perma- 

 nent interests, and to get on speaking terms 

 with them. You will be helped by these 

 studies in proportion as your own eyes see 

 and your own hands handle these wild 

 things. The records you make will be of 

 value to you only as you write into them 

 your own experience: write nothing else. 



Suggestions to students : The regular field 

 work contemplated in this course makes 

 certain demands with which indoor labora- 

 tory students may be unfamiliar. A few 

 suggestions may therefore be helpful: 



1. As to weather: All weather is good 

 weather to a naturalist. It is all on nature's 

 program. Each kind has its use in her 

 eternal processes, and each kind brings its 

 own peculiar opportunities for learning 

 her ways. Nothing is more futile than 

 complaint of the weather, for it is ever with 

 us. It were far better, therefore, to enter 

 into the spirit of it, to make the most of it 

 and to enjoy it. 



2. As to clothes: Wear such as are 

 strong, plain and comfortable. There are 

 thorns in nature's garden that will tear thin 

 stuffs and reach out after anything detach- 

 able; and there are burs, that will cling 

 persistently to loose-woven fabrics. Kid 

 gloves in cold weather and high heels at all 



FIG. 1. Metric and 

 English linear measure. 



